Shipwrecked!

[phlysolo]

"Chirrup!"

"Chitter, chitter, chitter!"

"Cheecheechechee!"

"CHIRRUP!"

"SCREEEEEEE!!"

A bronze mouth clamped decisively around the ear of a creature half buried in the chilly sand on the beach just south of the Southern Boll. The body gave a feeble stir, but couldn't shake itself out of the sand and only barely lifted its head so that a tuff of dark brown hair lightened by a mixture of sand poked out slightly higher than it had been before. The bronze flit hastily let go of the boy's ear, hopping backwards, his eyes whirling vivid yellows of intense distress. Already his hide was graying feeling the life force of the young man he'd Impressed to fade away.

Instinctively, he knew that he had to get his face pulled out of the sand and assailed the youth once more, cawing desperately into his ear. Now, he evicted a groan from his weak lips and finally, finally, he managed to turn his head, coughing sand. His eyes remained shut, but at least he wasn't in danger of asphyxiating. As he began to breath again, the bronze flit warbled uncertainly, hopping and scurrying around his head, his smart eyes catching on the red-stained sand around his head.

Luckily, this boy was flung onto the sand at just the right angle for the densely packed earth beneath his head acted as a band-aid and a stopper for the slowly healing gash on the side of his head. Despite the sand, the wound looks remarkably healthy; possibly the cold and salty water of the beach kept the wound from becoming infected. Still, the boy looks broken and battered, his clothes shredded, his right arm looking mangled, but otherwise he appears as though he'll make a fine recovery.

The little firelizard with him doesn't appear to be so sure: Amazingly, the storm that blew this lad into bay happened almost two days ago, washing the youth to shore sometime in the night. Of course, his firelizard friend managed to help steer him along, keep his head up and rest on him when he grew tired. Still, if help isn't found for him soon, he will surely perish from hypothermia, taking the bronze Hatchling with him.

Chirruping in distress, he settled down on his slanted chest, curling into a ball. For now, at least, they could keep each other warm.

[stolenhart]

There were days when Ilayria just had to get away from the Weyr and today had been one of those days. Of course she couldn't go anywhere without Astogath's guard. With either gold days away from rising for a leadership flight, she didn't go anywhere without a green and brown for support. They were to keep any Southern bronze from winning a flight or stealing Ilayria. And in the event a Southern patrol came this far north as well. Though Astoth was a veteran of air battles it wouldn't pay for her to get too overwhelmed in an air battle.

Astoth lounged in the water with her two bodyguards, playfully flirting with the brown and ignoring the green. It was her way. Ilayria was walking down the beach, the brown rider following a respectful distance away. He was some Holder's son from way back, trained to be a bodyguard which is why he was her bodyguard. Her fellow weyrwoman had the same type of men to watch over her. She was just walking along when she heard chirping noises, which caused her to frown. "Firelizards?", she murmured. Sometimes a flitt clutch was found in Southern Boll, more likely hold Gar, but most just left the clutch alone. The little creatures were annoyances that served no purprose. And they were a mark of laziness, no respecting Northerner would be caught with one.

Ilayria was not a respectful Northerner and a flitt would be the icing on the proverbial sweetroll. She dashed forward, listening for the chirping and paused catching something strange in the sand. "Weyrwoman?", her bodyguard stood beside her. "It's a body", she told him, "Stay here", he gave her a look, "I hardly doubt some half-dragged person is here to kidnap me. Stay here", honestly. With a sigh she stepped forward, seeing a bronze colored firelizard resting on his chest. She rolled him over and caught sight of his gash. "W'nal, go fetch me some water", she ordered the brownrider. Astoth, my love, swim down here, the gold quickly complied, interested in what her rider had found.

[phlysolo]

The bronze firelizard, who had been about to slip into a troubled sleep, sat up instantly at the sound of creatures like his bonded. A low growl started in his throat as they approached. Where they trying to take his boy? Were they going to kill him, hurt him? As one of them, her scent informing him that it was a female, got closer, he stood on his boy's chest, hissing a warning to her. His little black talons gripped into the boy's chest, seeing that she probably wouldn't pay him no heed. Still, he didn't sense any malice in her presence. If anything, she seemed like she was merely curious in his boy and she didn't have one of those shiny, pointy thingies that he'd seen creatures like his boy carry around and chop things with.

Crooning piteously at her, he neatly hopped off crouched possessively next to his boy as the female gently turned his boy over. An angry chatter followed his croon as the boy stirred and groaned painfully. He knew it! This female was going to hurt his boy! But the boy was moving a little more now, weakly trying to struggle out of her grasp. The young man's eyes twitched, though perhaps they were so full of sand and grime that they were forced to remain shut for now.

"Mmmrrf..." The by now semiconscious young man grumbled, jerking slightly, his arms twitching.

[stolenhart]

Be quiet, Astoth told the flitt, climbing out of the water and shaking herself. She peered down at the boy then looked back to her rider, Is he alive?, she asked. "Be quiet to Astoth", Ilayria said softly, gently wiping sand from the boy's face. "W'nal?", a waterskin was put in her hand. She knelt in the sand and pulled the boy's head into her lap. Then she began to gently pour the water over his lips, "Drink slowly", she commanded him in a soothing voice as her green riding bodyguard caught up.

"Weyrwoman you ought to just let him die. He looks close to death as it is", she said quietly, ducking around Astoth's large figure. "I can't Nel, besides look to your beast", Nel's green was trying to get around Astoth's bulk to get a look at the boy. While the North didn't actively Search much, some of the dragons retained the skill and Nel's dragon was one of those. "I think we have to take him back", Ilayria smirked. She did like to foil her bodyguards when she could. "We have to get him to wake up long enough to keep the flitt, otherwise he'll be lost when we go between", really she just wanted to make sure the boy wasn't going to freak when they went between, otherwise she really would just pitch him off. Ilayria wasn't strong enough to carry a man who was fighting her. Though W'nal could do it.