Night Horrors

Writers: Avery
Date Posted: 21st July 2016

Characters: Talwynn
Description: Talwynn's mind conjures up awful images.
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 6, day 3 of Turn 8
Notes: Mentioned: D'kere
Notes: For posting challenge week #1: Nightmares.

This fall would include the Weyr itself and terminate by Opal Cove and the
Sea of Azov. The /between/ point was to a spot a few miles away from the
Weyr. As soon as Talwynn and Riveth were passed the coordinates and the
signal, they went /between/ and re-emerged.

The gray smudge of Threadfall was visible. The Weyrleader up above dropped
his arm to signal engagement. The high-altitude wing was in first, searing
the first Threads that fell. They were doing a great job of sweeping
clear, but some slipped through, as always happened.

Riveth's eyes lost all shade of yellow and were pure red anger now. }:I
fly, I fight - :{ The green targeted a tangle of Thread in front and above
them. Riveth's jaws opened and a gout of flame blasted forward, long and
hot. It reached out to the tangle, catching one side on fire, which licked
its way up the Threads until it reached the center ball. Not satisfied
with her work, the green released another blast to singe it all to char.

**Good work!** Talwynn thought, pumping her arm in the air in triumph.

Through Riveth's eyes she saw a huge clump above them. The green sharply
executed an angle change to fly up towards the falling clump. }:I have
it,:{ she cried.

But the blue beside them didn't hear her. He swerved in their path and
breathed fire that reached out towards the Thread, setting it aflame. The
ball of flaming Thread began to break apart into tendrils falling down
straight at them. The blue's sustained his flame to get the rest without
suitably changing his angle, and it came right at them. Riveth threw
herself into a turn as Talwynn threw up a hand to cover her face, but it
wasn't enough to save them.

The green dragon screamed as the fire hit her right wing. Talwynn felt
blinding pain wash over her. Her right shoulder and side was aflame with
agony. Riveth was keening. Her own screaming was tearing her throat raw.
Her right arm was incandescent pain.

She grasped for a visual of Dragonsfall. The image of the weyrbowl was
fuzzy and indistinct - star stones yes, what was the point of the
mountain like? - but it was all she had.

They went /between/. Ice cold against their skin dampened the agony
temporarily, caused numbness. But /between/ brought blessed silence. She
kept ahold of that tenuous image and they popped back out of /between/,
into the air above Dragonsfall. Talwynn looked down. Her right arm had a
giant Thread attached. /Between/ had chilled it but not destroyed it.She
touched it with her left hand in stunned disbelief at the injury. It moved
and sent another stab of agony through her.

**The water,** she screamed. Riveth tried to comply, beating her wings
frantically and managing to point them towards the plateau weyrlake. She
was coming in far too fast.

Talwynn looked over to see that Riveth's right wing had the wingsails
close to the body destroyed. Dragonflame had seared it, burning away some
parts and leaving more tattered. Ichor was fountaining from the wing and
from her right side. Riveth was still keening with all her might. Talwynn
herself screamed again at the pain of Thread and burn.

They began to tumble down, miraculously still aimed at the water of the
lake. The impact was only slightly softer than hitting stone. Riveth
slammed into the water, sank downwards. Talwynn was thrown against her
straps, knocked silly by the impact.

The water was ice cold. She felt the Thread stop moving against her arm.
She also felt them descending. Riveth couldn't beat her wing to get them
higher up. It was so cold. Her hands hurt. She couldn't manage to unbuckle
the straps. Her chest was burning with the need for air. Green ichor was
filling the water, clouding it, making it impossible to see how far below
the surface they'd fallen. Riveth's eyes were going gray and her mindvoice
was fading, unable to shout for help from another dragon. They were
falling farther down...

And suddenly the perspective changed. She and Riveth were whole and
intact, no sign of injury on them. They were hovering in the air above the
weyr, keeping an eye out for returning pairs to direct them to the
Healers. Then a bronze dragon broke from /between/. Ichor was dripping
from his ruined wings and fountaining from his side. Kenirath fell
lifelessly towards the lake's water and plunged before the surface.

She kneed her dragon in reflex, but Riveth was already on the move,
beating her wings as fast as she could till she reached the weyrlake then
plunging downwards into it. Talwynn had one hand on her straps and one
hand pulling free her beltknife. The water impact was hard but she was
prepared for it. The ice cold temperature was awful. Riveth arrowed
through the water, following the trail of billowing ichor. Talwynn's lungs
hurt from holding in air.

She saw Kenirath floating below the surface. As Riveth pulled up beside
them she saw fat, sated Threads drop away from the bronze's body. His eyes
were open but gray and lifeless. His right wing had been burned completely
off and his left was a tattered ruin. D'kere hung limply from the straps.
It was obvious his neck was broken...

~*~

Talwynn registered a screaming voice. She bolted upright in bed suddenly.
Frantically she patted herself down - no Threads on her, right side fine
and unscarred. A mental touch revealed Riveth sleeping deeply and
unconcerned. That should have made her relax, but it didn't. She could
still feel the phantom pains from the dream. The burning of Thread chewing
through her arm. The ice cold water crushing the air from her lungs.

But none of that was real.

She remembered other parts. The sight of D'kere's form in the water, limp
and cold, with a broken neck. Kenirath's corpse, with the ravaged wings
and the marks of Thread's gorging.

But it wasn't real.

It might have filled her with profound horror, and with a sick, aching
sense of dread and loss. But it hadn't happened. She was - as whole as
she'd ever be.

And D'kere... She got up and paced to her ledge, looking out. Kenirath
slumbered on his ledge. He was there, so D'kere was here.

The stars told her it was another candlemark till dawn. But there was no
way she could go back to sleep now. She planned to go to the kitchens from
klah. She needed something warm and something. Something to forget the
night horrors.

But the images stayed with her...

Last updated on the July 25th 2016

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Night Horrors