Stuck In The Mud

Writers: Yvonne, Anika
Date Posted: 28th December 2014

Characters: R'taran, J'nus, Carlin, Cavip
Description: J'nus and R'taran get more than they bargained for when they go to retrieve copper wire being transported to the Weyr by a Trader caravan
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr, Elsewhere on Pern
Date: month 10, day 15 of Turn 7
Notes: Mentioned: Chaysea (in passing, not by name)

The sun's rays were just warming the muggy morning air. Although the rains had thankfully sapped much of the humidity, it was still present and R'taran was happy to be getting an early start. Hopefully, they could complete this transport task before the heat became oppressive. On a positive note, it might actually be a bit cooler given the most recent storms. He really wasn't sure how dire the situation was with the caravan or how difficult it would be to position the massive coils of wire for removal.

He secured the extra straps, giving Qharterioth a fond thump as he finished, and looked toward the bronzerider close by. "You about ready?"

"Yup." J'nus gave the last strap a yank, more out of habit than of actual concern that it was loose. "Let's go play in the mud." He gave Kopth the go-ahead and a moment later the bronze dragon was airborn, his dark wings casting a long shadow on the rock below.

The bronzerider looked over his shoulder to ensure that R'taran was following, and was pleased to see that the brownrider was right behind. As soon as they'd crested the Starstone he instructed Kopth to go /between/. The sticky heat was replaced by the shock of cold and black.

Three heartbeats later and they reappeared above a wide valley. Rolling mountains peeked their rocky faces above woodland pocketed here and there with meadows of mountains grass. A road cut through the center of it, winding its way down from the pass a day's ride behind. Their destination was clear; a large portion of one of the hillsides had collapsed and left a muddy brown scar that travelled half the length of the valley. The recent rains had been too much for the land to soak up and it had given way. J'nus grimaced into the wind. Hopefully no one had been buried.

Following J'nus and staying high enough to keep from spooking the caravan's beasts, R'taren had Qharterioth fly the length of the valley and circle around in an attempt to assess the damage, but they would definitely need a closer look. From what he could see there was more than one wagon bogged down in the mire, and he thought he noted two partially buried in the sticky mud. He appraised the valley below for a good landing spot and had his dragon descend and alight an outcropping of boulders a short ways from the landslide.

Running his hand across Quarterioth's dark brown hide before disembarking, R'taran noted members of the caravan approaching. He could almost sense the heightened anxiety and hoped the natural disaster had not taken its toll in human lives.

"Greetings, bronzerider." The man approaching the pair of dragonriders was covered head-to-toe in mud. He paused a respectful distance away to bow. "Thank you for the Weyr's aid, although we could have used it a day ago."

"We're here now," J'nus replied placidly. "I am J'nus, with Kopth. This is R'taran, with Qharterioth. Please-- come join us, and tell me what happened?"

The man heaved a huge sigh as he slogged his way over the debris to the patch of clear ground where the two dragonmen stood. "It's this rain-- made the bank unstable. It came down around noon yesterday, thankfull after we'd gotten past the worst of it. Nobody was anything but scared-- that copper wire was heavy enough that the wagons didn't tip when they got hit with mud, and the men in them were safe as well. Can't say the same for our beasts. We had to put three of them down with broken legs."

"Better to lose beasts than men," R'taran observed. "Looked as though you had a couple of wagons partially buried in mud, we should look more closely at those, see where we could attach straps to pull them out." He looked to J'nus, knowing he had experience with trader wagons and knew a dragon's strength as well. "Do you think the wagons will hold together if we just try pulling them straight up out of the muck? Could be a lot of suction."

The bronzerider shook his head. "They're designed to hold together from front to back, not top to bottom. Pulling them out from the top is likely to break them in two. What about the copper wire... I missed your name, Trader."

"Cavip." The Trader managed a small bow.

"Cavip. Is the copper wire out of the wagons?"

"No. It took five men and a system of levers to get them in."

"That's where we should start," J'nus said to R'taran. "Let's get the wire out of the wagons, and maybe Qharterioth and Kopth can pull them out from the front. Any broken axels or wheels?"

Cavip shook his head. "Can't tell."

"Maybe once the weight of the wire is lifted it will be easier to see." R'taran looked askance at the accumulated sludge, wondering if a closer look was really necessary at this point. He turned to J'nus, "So should we remount and see if Kopth and Quarterioth can get a good grip on the coils?" he asked hopefully.

}:It's just dirt.:{ Quarterioth pointed out with unmistakable humor at his rider's reticence to wade into the mess.

J'nus sighed. His boots would be ruined, with all that mud... but he could always get new boots, and wagons were irreplaceable to Traders. "Let's go see how the wagons are faring first," he said. "You can wait here if you want. I know wagons."

"Oh?" Cavip arched his eyebrows. "A bold claim from a dragonman."

"Raised in a wagon." J'nus offered a brief, small smile. "R'taran?"

The brownrider repressed a sigh. He didn't feel right about sending J'nus to do the dirty work while he stayed behind on dry ground. "I'll come and have a look," he stated motioning for Cavip to lead the way. As he followed he observed the people of the caravan, who were curiously scrutinizing the dragonmen in return. Something like this must be really hard on the traders, whose wagons were their homes as well as their livelihoods. "Do you still have family among the traders?" he asked J'nus curiously as they approached the wagons.

"Sure. I don't see them much, though," J'nus paused to pull his leg from the sucking mud. "They generally run a route between Garnet Valley and Jade Harbour, depending on the season and the goods they can sell."

"Who's the leader?" Cavip had been eavesdropping unashamedly.

"My brother Janik's got my father's caravan, and my cousin Lewin's started another." J'nus arched an eyebrow. "Heard of 'em?"

"No." Cavip turned his head and spat in the mud. "But Pern's a big place and there are a lot of caravans." By that time they'd reached the first of the three wagons, this one the closest to the fallen bank. Cavip slapped his hand on it's listing side. "Right wheel spokes are cracked or gone, axels seem all right though. Hard to tell with them being buried."

A small head poked out of the side of the caravan; a young girl with a blond braid hanging down behind each ear. She looked at the two dragonmen skeptically. "Who's that, then?" When she spoke, she revealed a gap between her two front teeth.

Unable to suppress a grin at the girl's imperious manner, the brownrider responded in a mock formal tone, "R'taran rider to brown Qharterioth and bronzerider J'nus. By your leave, miss, we are here to help extricate your wagons. Might I ask your name?"

The girl gave him a suspicious look as she jumped down from the wagon, revealing a calf-length skirt with a muddy hem over a pair of muddy trousers and high, muddy boots. She went over to Cavip and slipped her hand into his.

"Mind your manners, girl," Cavip told her.

The girl sighed. "Carlin, brownrider. You can't steal me to the Weyr."

"Hush!" Cavip frowned at the girl. "There here to get the wagons out, is all."

"Indeed we are. 'We'll be taking nothing but copper coil back to the Weyr today, Carlin," the brownrider assured the girl stepping forward to take a closer look at the wagon and the weighty cargo within, nearly losing his boot in the mire when he stepped wrong. "Shells this is a mess! This wagon is the worst, the dragons might not be able to get a good grip on the coils with all of the surrounding mud, but I think it's possible at least." He looked to see what J'nus thought.

The bronzerider made a face. **What do you think, Kopth? Think you can pull the coil out of the wagon, and then take off with it?**

The dragon cocked his head to one side as he thought. }:Yes. I will lift it.:{

**They're heavier than they look...**

}:But _I_ am very strong,:{ Kopth said, puffing himself up. }:I catch queens!;{

The bronzerider hid a smile as he turned back to R'taran and Cavip. "Kopth will give it a try. Let's open the wagon up as much as we can so he can reach inside, and see what we can do."

With a nod, R'taran set to help with the task, realizing as he did so that he was going to be covered head to toe in mud before this was over.

**I'll be the same color as you before the day is done.** He informed his dragon.

}:I think brown will be a good color for you.:{

He rolled his eyes and looked up from the chords he was working to loose. "Qharterioth fancies me being the same color as him before the day is done," he shared wryly.

J'nus smiled. "You'll be the brown rider brownrider."

"With all the Harpers on Pern, you feel the need to be a comedian?" R'taran responded dryly, continuing his task while shaking his head. He noted, however, that the assembled traders who were helping to open up the wagon were smiling at J'nus's jest and seemed to be more relaxed. That was a good thing. Cooperative tasks were always much easier when the participants were at ease with one another.

Cavip joined them after a moment, and then Carlin appeared at R'taran's elbow to help to secure the heavy wooden door against the exterior wall with a pair of bolts half-hidden in splattered mud. Inside was a single round of copper wire as thick as a child's finger, wrapped around a wooden spool with a centre as big as a woman's waist.

A squelching sound heralded Kopth's arrival. The bronze dragon peered into the wagon, then, spreading his wings for balance, reached into
the small space with his muddy front claws. There was a long moment as the dragon strained, then the coil was dragged out of the wagon and landed in the mud with a farting sound that made Carlin giggle.

}:It is as heavy as a herdbeast,:{ the dragon said after a moment. }:It is only difficult to lift because I must not damage the wagon.:{

"Kopth says it weighs the same as a herdbeast," J'nus passed along to R'taran. "That means he should be able to take off from here, and once we've got a bit of altitude we can drop these off at Dolphin Cove Weyr. Why don't you and Qharterioth deal with the copper in the next wagon. Once they're all empty, we can figure out what to do with the wagons."

Qharterioth was already on his way to the wagon, unlike his rider he was anxious to join in. R'taran met him there and it was not long before he was indeed covered in mud. As Quarterioth gleefully dropped the second coil in the mud R'taran was splashed all down the front. Though he was unimpressed, the traders got a good laugh. With the cooperative efforts of the traders and dragonmen it was not long before the wire had been extracted from all the wagons. With the weight of the wire removed the first two wagons were not difficult to extract but the third proved more so. Cavip and the two riders studied the problem, trying to determine how to free the wagon without causing irreparable damage. The brownrider was beginning to think that the wagon was going to have to be sacrificed.

"Maybe if we run something under it and lift it from above...?" J'nus stood with his arms crossed, staring thoughtfully at the caravan.

Cavip shook his head. "It'd be days unpacking the muck from under there. Half of it is boulders."

J'nus cast a thoughtful eye on Kopth. "Maybe the dragons could dig it out."

Carlin, who had been using a stick to fish small rocks from the muck and toss them at her father's toes, perked up. "Dragons can dig too?"

"Some of them even enjoy the activity," R'taran commented, with a touch of frustration "Far more than they should. Quarterioth's more than ready to give it a go. What do we run underneath, though?" Planks would be useful here, like they used for ships and docks he thought looking around at the trees and wondering if they might be able to rig something.

J'nus shook his head. "Something solid enough to lift a wagon... not sure. Maybe let's dig it out first and see what the damage is. We can assess from there, and if we need to pick something up from the Weyr before moving it."

**What do you think?** R'taran asked his dragon.

Anxious for this new bit of fun Qharterioth, flew in close to the wagon and filled his talons with mud and rocks.

"Careful, now," the brownrider said aloud, seeing the wagon shift. "We don't want to make things any worse."

J'nus winced as the wagon creaked. Cavip edged a little closer to oversee what Qharterioth was doing while Carlin eagerly looked on. It wasn't long before the brown had cleared out enough of the mud to get a more accurate picture of the damage.

"Wheel spokes are broken, looks like both axels are cracked, and the frame is shattered on the right, here," Cavip said, knocking the side of his fist against the wood. "Thread take it."

"I'm not sure that the wagon could take it's own weight without some repairs first," J'nus said after a moment. "At least brace the frame and the axels with something so that it won't crumple when the dragons pull it somewhere safer. We can fetch some wood from the Weyr for you." J'nus shot a look at R'taran. That sort of request usually had to get approved by the Headwoman, but he was happy to take the brunt of her anger for making the decision himself. Traders didn't have a lot of resources to begin with, and their wagons were akin to a Cothold - priceless.

R'taran nodded. He was a stickler for the rules, but he could see how much these people needed help and somehow he didn't think the headwoman would raise much of a fuss. "We can take the first coils to the Weyr and return with the wood when we come back for the next load."

"Let's do that. One of us can come back tomorrow to move the caravan, once you've done enough repairs to move it," J'nus told Cavip.

"I'd be much obliged," Cavip said gratefully. "Thank you, dragonmen."

Last updated on the January 10th 2015

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Stuck In The Mud