The Monster of the Weyr

Writers: Paula
Date Posted: 1st June 2009

Characters: Tamah, Ondia, Diamah, Ondiah, Tamon
Description: Tamah tells a scary story for his children
Location: River Bluff Weyr
Date: month 3, day 6 of Turn 5

It rained. Tamah watched the downpour. It was kind of evening you enjoyed
being curled up indoors with your loved ones. Someone tugged his hand and
he looked down to see his four turn old daughter's face.
"Daddy, tell us a story," Diamah pleaded.

"A story?" Tamah asked and picked her up, carrying her back to the rest of
them. "Does anyone else want a story?" he asked.

"Yes," Tamon and Ondiah, the older children, replied in unison.

"All right then," the harbour master agreed. It took them a while to
settle in to the sofa comfortably. "Has anyone of you ever heard the
hidden lake beneath the lower caverns and it's monster?" The children
shook their head.

"When I was a child, I was told that somewhere deep inside the bluff,
beneath the weyrs and lower caverns, is an underground lake. The lake is
cold and dark and calm. There's no light but the very faint glow from
glowstones. The only sound is water dripping, dripping from the roof to
the lake. In that lake lives a monster. It is said to be a gigantic
tunnelsnake, who swam to the lake and was trapped there ages ago," he
lowered his voice and talked with quiet, ominous voice. "After many, many
turns in living in darkness, its hide has turned white and its eyes blind.
It lurks beneath the still, dark water, preying for the unwary weyrbrat
who gets lost and found their way to the lake. There isn't even a ripple
on the surface, until it lifts his head from the water; jaw's wide open to
swallow the helpless victim!"
The children gasped. Even Tamon seemed shaken.

"Is there a really a monster?" Ondiah asked.

"So I've been told. I never seen it nor found the lake. But who knows,
sometimes people just disappear. Maybe they got lost in the lower caverns
and went too deep..."
The three children looked scared.

"Mom? Is there a monster?" Diamah asked and turned to her mother.

"No, there isn't," the greenrider replied and glared at her weyrmate.
"Dad's making it up."

"How can you say that for sure?" Tamah asked innocently.

"Cause I've lived in this weyr whole of my life and I never heard that
story," Ondia said and moved Diamah to her lap. She hugged the little
girl.

"That doesn't rule it out," Tamah grinned impishly.

She just snorted. "If the kids wake up middle of the night with nightmare,
_you'll_ get up to comfort them. And if they get lost when looking for a
lake that doesn't exist, I hold you responsible. This is almost as bad as
the story of the phantom ship."

"I liked the story," Tamon said.

"You would. Now, go to brush your teeth and wash your face. It's bedtime,"
Ondia replied and shooed them into action.

Diamah was already half way when she suddenly turned around and asked
timidly: "What if that monster crawls out of that lakes and comes here
when we sleep?"

"There's no monster," Ondia said and shot a nasty look at her mate.

"It won't fit. It's too big to fit into the corridors. That's why it has
to stay in the lake, forever trapped," Tamah replied to her.

"How big? Bigger than Nizenath?"

"Much bigger, big enough to swallow a four turns old girl in one piece."

"TAMAH!"

Last updated on the June 21st 2009

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The Monster of the Weyr