Clutch 28--Eoth and Mazdath

Eoth's rumbling croon echoed off the stone walls of the hatching cavern. The queen snaked her head around her clutch of eggs, slowly heating on the sands, as her rider entered.
"The eggs still doing alright, Eoth?" The Weyrwoman asked.
Eoth snorted. Of course. She said, faintly offended. You think I don't know how to take care of my eggs by now?
Teah laughed at her gold's snippiness and knelt to feel one of the eggs, which was hard and warm to the touch. "They should hatch any day now."
Yes. Eoth said, eyes whirling proudly.

A'ra pushed through the undergrowth of the forest. It seemed to be much thicker here than he was used to, almost jungle-like. He winced as a branchful of thorns smacked into his arm, and glanced upward wistfully, where his bronze dragon Mazdath flew above the canopy. It would be much easier if he could just ride on Mazdath's back, but that would defeat the purpose of his being out here.
"Are you sure we're going the right way?" The Weyrleader shouted ahead of him, where, somewhere in the forest ahead of him, his guide was.
C'thu jumped out of the bushes in front of him, moving with ease as though he'd spent his entire life in a jungle like this. Then again, the man probably had.
He shrugged easily. "Sure. Come on, hurry up, we're almost there."
The reason the bronzeriders were in the middle of the forest was that they were searching for something. Exactly what, they weren't sure of; something that could kill the population of an entire village. A'ra suspected it was bandits of some sort-what kind of animal completely ransacks a village, leaving no animals or people alive? Regardless, the only tracks they'd found leading away from the destroyed village were definitely not humans'.
Wrapped in his thoughts, A'ra almost ran straight into C'thu when the other man stopped suddenly. He bit back a curse and tried to see what had made him stop. "What is it? What's wrong?"
Wordlessly, C'thu stepped aside to reveal the carnage. Bile rose in A'ra's throat, and he swallowed. "Well, I guess now we know what happened to the villagers."
They lay strewn around the fair-sized grove haphazardly, most of the time in peices. The entire area was covered in the strange, claw-tipped tracks which had lead them here. C'thu turned his head towards the Weyrleader. "Still think it was humans?" He asked rhetorically.
A'ra's jaw was set as he inspected the area, not answering C'thu. A rancid smell hung in the air, though whether it was from the corpses littering the area, or from the creatures that had killed them, it was uncertain.
A low growling came from the bushes to their side. C'thu heard it first, and he spun towards the sound. A'ra was just turning when a black creature burst from the underbrush, fangs gaping, and leapt at C'thu.
The man abruptly disappeared under the black thing, to be replaced by a golden-furred jaguar, who snarled and clawed back at the creature. A'ra was distracted from the fight as more of the faintly dragon-like creatures appeared from the trees.
They were roughly the size of a small horse, with black scales and bony armor plating along their bellies and on their backs. Their horns, spines, tails, and everything else differed from creature to creature, though it was obvious they were all of the same species. And they were all stalking towards him.
A'ra stumbled backward, well aware now of how stupid he was to have gone into the forest without a weapon of any kind. A loud, ringing roar echoed through the air, and Mazdath dived into the large grove, eyes swirling with red anger at the creatures threatening his rider. Three of the creatures leapt at the bronze dragon, and Mazdath attacked with his teeth and claws. The much smaller beasts were no match for the dragon.
A'ra vaulted onto Mazdath's back before more of the things noticed him, and looked around for C'thu. The man, still in his jaguar form, was fending off two more beasts on the far side of the grove. A dark, huge shadow signalled the arrival of C'thu's own bronze dragon, Onilaath, who hovered over his rider protectively. C'thu leaped up and caught his claws on the bronze's riding straps. Only after he was on Onilaath's back did he change back into a human.
Still shaking slightly at the suddeness of the attack, A'ra thanked the powers that be that they had both gotten out of there unharmed. Sending a telepathic command to Mazdath, he ordered the bronze to wing his way back to Darkling Dawn, and the two bronzeriders returned to report on what they had witnessed.

Back in the Hatching Cavern, Eoth's eggs began to rock, and the queen bugled to the rest of the  Dragonry and began to hum as the candidates were gathered.

Mazdath and Onliaath burst out of between above the dragonry. A'ra told Mazdath to land quicky as he saw Teah below, signalling frantically to him. The bronze touched the ground, and A'ra leapt from his neck. "We've got a problem." He told his weyrmate.
"It can wait," The Weyrwoman replied. "Eoth's eggs are hatching."
"Now?" A'ra asked in surprise, but he didn't get an answer. Teah was already striding to the Hatching Sands entrance. He followed, having to almost run to catch up. "Listen, we found out what attacked the village. We followed some tracks to a big grove, where we were attacked by these...dragonlike things. Only they didn't have wings, they were a bit like lizards..."
"Are you okay?" Teah asked suddenly, sounding worried
"Yeah, we got away okay, but these things could really be dangerous. There were probably dozens of them-"
By now, they were inside the hatching cavern, and A'ra was interrupted as the first egg cracked and a sudden hush fell over the sands.
The egg split open neatly, and a tiny green hatchling fell out of the shell. Tradition dictated that the higher ranking the first-hatched dragon was, the better luck the Weyr would have. But then, traditions were just traditions, and A'ra had never been a superstitious man. He did not dwell on it, and watched as the green hatchling walked to the candidates.
Marri'ashta watched the green approach, and, though slightly put out that it wasn't a gold, readily accepted Auteth as her bond.

Dark shapes moved through the underbrush in the surrounding forest of Darkling Dawn. Most everyone was in the hatching cavern attending the hatching, so the area was mostly deserted, and no one was around to see them. A scaly black talon stepped out of the shadows as the first of the dragon-like creatures approached, having found their way to the thriving dragonry from their distant lair. They could smell fresh meat, and lots of it.

A dull roar echoed through the cavern as another egg rocked and hatched. This time, a light brown male emerged, dropping neatly onto the sands. He had a cheerful grin on his face as he moved towards the candidates. They all watched apprehensively as the brown moved among them, until finally, he stopped in front of one candidate.
Kurill! You want to be a warrior, right? Do you think I could be one too? Can I help you out, Kurill? The brown asked anxiously.
Kurill smiled. "Certainly you can, Eirynith."
The second bonded pair headed off to the kitchens as two more eggs began to crack.

A large purple shape crashed through the undergrowth outside Darkling Dawn Dragonry. Kuraren growled to himself in irritation as he stalked away into the forest, oblivious and indifferent to the impending hatching at the dragonry. To his dismay, a slightly smaller teal dragoness followed him.
It really didn't take a lot to pit Kuraren and Azielth against one another in anger. The slightest wrong look or word would have the two dragons at each others' throats, and there was no telling what had set them off this time.
It was a wonder they had survived being bonded to one another for so long.
Stop following me! The purple dragon called to the other dragon.
Azielth stopped short, sniffing and cocking her head as if that wasn't exactly what she was doing, and said, I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about. My favorite lake just happens to lay this way.
Kuraren growled irately again. After their latest argument, all Kuraren wanted to do was get away from his pushy bond for a while, if only Azielth would oblige and go away.
Of course not, what fun would that be? I can't annoy you then. The teal dragoness interjected smugly.
Kuraren was by now distracted. The bushes on his left seemed to be growling at him. This worried him slightly, as, even in Darkling Dawn's forests, bushes and trees did not usually growl. Uh, Azielth? He began, slightly nervous. Are those bushes supposed to do that?
Azielth glanced to the offending bushes, just as a black shape rocketed out and took a flying leap onto Kuraren's back.
The purple dragon roared, rearing onto his hind legs, and the smaller creature hanging onto his shoulder blades slipped to the ground, where it stood on four stubby legs, hissing at him. Kuraren snarled back at it, and eventually, the dragon-like creature decided it would be wiser to back down, and beat a hasty retreat.
Kuraren was snarling and muttering under his breath at the audacity of the creature, but Azielth was more contemplative. What was that, and where did it come from?
I don't know and I don't care, but if that thing comes near me again, it's so much roasted meat!
I don't like the looks of this. Come on, Kuraren, we're going back to the Dragonry. The teal dragoness said imperiously and set off, not bothering to look behind her to see that Kuraren was following her. Still mumbling to himself irritably, the purple followed her.
They arrived in the clearing which marked the entrance to the dragonry. Had they been able to, they would have paled at the sight which greeted them.

Inside the hatching cavern, the crowds roared as the next two eggs hatched, leaving a sturdy bronze dragon on the sands, along with a slightly smaller brown.
The bronze moved first. I don't want to bond right now. I'll wait awhile first, see the worlds. He said with a cocky grin. But first, I think I'll go to CloudFire City. The name's Ailtith.
There was a roar from outside suddenly. A'ra's head shot up, eyes narrowed worriedly, and he tilted his head towards Mazdath. What's going on?
The great bronze dragon winged his way outside. More of the things from earlier. Here! They're attacking the dragonry!
A'ra raced outside. The message must have been relayed to Eoth and Teah, because the Weyrwoman followed right on his heels, though the gold mother stayed protectively curled around her eggs.
Most of the dragonry's population was inside the hatching cavern watching the hatching eggs, but those who were not were outside now, fending off the invaders with whatever weapons they could find. The vicious dragon-like creatures were swarming everywhere; A'ra could see dozens of them, and this was only a small area of the dragonry.
Word had gotten around inside the cavern, and pandemonium ensued. Several of the older dragonriders tried to calm the crowds, while the dragons raced outside to drive off the strange-looking invaders.
Individually, the creatures were no match for the much larger dragons, but they obviously traveled in packs, and tended to gang up on one dragon at a time. No dragon could fend off that many at one time. Mazdath roared as he attacked the enemy creatures, while A'ra ran inside to make sure that the residents inside the hatching cavern calmed down and stayed there. Right now, that was probably the safest place to be.
The brown hatchling that had broken shell earlier was now sitting shakily beside his bond, a young boy named Talin. What's going on, T'lin? The hatchling asked plaintively.
T'lin shook his head. "I don't know, Ustaith. I-I think we can go to the kitchens to get you some food." They went through one of the smaller tunnels out of the hatching cavern, which lead deeper into the mountain and right to the kitchens where the other new weyrlings were feeding their bonds. T'lin was practically swamped as they asked what was happening outside.

"We're lost. You got us lost."
"Nah, we're not lost. I just...don't know...quite where we are, at present."
Rahel spun to glare at her companion. She was a diminutive woman, but that didn't make her any less intimidating, which the recipient of her stare knew quite well. He had, after all, been her friend and companion for years now.
Ean grinned, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly and ruffling his black hair. "Okay, maybe we are a bit lost. Do you have any idea how we ended up in a giant forest?" He asked.
Rahel rolled her eyes in an obvious no. There's something up ahead. An establishment of some kind. There are people, but... The voice of Rahel's gold queen, Micath, trailed off uncertainly.
"Micath says there're people up ahead. Come on." Rahel said imperiously. Ean grinned mockingly behind her and continued to hike through the dense forest.
They came upon the dragonry, but it was in turmoil, the dragon and rider residents trying to fend off the dragonish beasts.
"What's wrong?" Ean called from behind her, though when he caught up to her, he could easily see for himself. "Oh."
They stared at each other. "What's going on?" Rahel asked.
"Do you think they can handle it?" Ean asked. When he didn't get an answer, he looked around him, only to find that Rahel was already making her way down to the dragonry. "Hey!" He yelled. "Wait up!"
Rahel's and Ean's dragons followed behind them as they raced into the clearing. Rahel's gold Micath raged and leapt upon a small pack of the snarling creatures who had cornered a pair of tiny striped dragons, snapping the neck of one of the beasts and flinging two others away quickly.
Ean's dragon was handling the dragonish creatures quite easily. The dragon, Cusith, was huge, easily as large as Micath, and aside from his sheer bulk and heavy braided tail, he had a grand total of thirteen heads to snap up the smaller creatures with.
Their riders looked around to see where the heaviest concentration of humans were, which was the hatching cavern, and headed in that direction, when they were stopped in their tracks by a high, keening wail. A dragon's death knoll.

The candidates had gathered together on the sands, huddling together as the hatching was momentarily forgotten. A'ra and Mazdath fought their back into the hatching cavern, past the dragons who were guarding the main entrance from the dragon-like things.
Everyone's attention was brought back to the eggs when a young blue appeared, keening at the top of his lungs. One of the boys broke away from the crowd of candidates at the sound of the blue's distress.
"I'm sorry, Emaeth, I'm here now. It's okay!" Farlon hurriedly reassured the pale, icy blue-toned hatchling, who quickly calmed down now that his rider had appeared, and they went to the kitchens.
Three more dragonets had appeared now, and the candidates quickly broke apart at the sight. One of the hatchlings was a bright, metallic gold. The green and brown on either side of her hung back demurely from their larger sister, who strode confidently to the waiting girls. After a brief cursory glance, she quickly picked out SilverLight from the crowd. Her previously cold and arrogant look softened into something gentle. SilverLight? I am your bonded. My name is Hyushth. The gold said, nuzzling the girl's arm with her head. SilverLight smiled and hugged the dragonet briefly before leading her away to be fed.
Now the other two hatchlings stepped forward, the green to a girl, the brown to a boy.
Pith quickly picked out Kestrel from the crowd, and pushed her bonded towards the kitchens imperiously.
Chauth was gentler with his bond, Ardro, and raced the young man to the kitchens.
A'ra was watching the newly bonded riders when a terrible roar echoed through the hatching cavern. He craned his head towards the sound-Eoth. The clutchmother was shuddering and keening constantly, though a great deal quieter now than her initial roar, and Mazdath winged over to comfort his mate immediately.
A'ra paled and looked around him, suddenly aware that Teah hadn't followed him back in. Where was she? He rushed to the entrance, but was held back by a strong arm. He looked up into the scarred face of the young Weyrhealer, A'ros. "Where's Teah!?" The Weyrleader demanded.
Stoicly, the Healer shook his head. "She's...She's dead, sir." He had to move fast to catch A'ra as he collapsed.

The fateful events were peiced together later, with the help of dragons and witnesses. Teah followed A'ra outside, but was seperated from the Weyrleader shortly after in the chaos. Rushing off to help the wounded, she was caught off guard by a group of the attacking creatures. Eoth had refused to leave her eggs unguarded, and no one was around to sound the alarm until it was too late.

Unaware of the tragedy that had just occurred, eggs continued to spew forth dragonets in the Hatching Cavern. Despite her rider's death, Eoth hung on, watching over her eggs, at least until the Hatching was over. Mazdath refused to leave his mate's side.
Five eggs had hatched in the interval as the candidates huddled together on the opposite end of the hatching cavern, nervous and unsure for the most part. The majority of them were greens, with a blue and a stray bronze as well. The bronze looked mostly unconcerned, gazing around the hatching cavern lazily, though at one point, he crooned concernedly towards his mother.
A bouncy blue ball drew his attention to his clutchbrother, who stopped. Nayuhuth? Is that you? The blue asked, squinting at his larger sibling.
Yes, Neeysheth. It's me, bondmine. The bronze nodded sagely.
Oh good. The blue said in relief. Do you know where we can get some food around here?
Probably in the back. His bronze bond answered. They headed that way, and the smell from the kitchens lead them the rest of the way. We're going to go to Nidus Otykaii, by the way. Nayuhuth called over his shoulder as he left.
A small green broke away from her sisters, heading straight to the kitchens without so much as a glance at the candidates. Deluth soon made it known that she would be going to CloudFire City, before digging into the food.
The remaining two greens both headed towards the candidates, looking them over. A mossy green dragon stopped, and sat looking up at Lea imploringly. Lea? Can we get out of here, mine? She asked plaintively.
Lea hugged the hatchling and nodded. "Come on, Ageoth, let's go get you some food."
The other, bright green dragon, stopped in front of Isheila, nudging the girl's leg impatiently. I wanna go, too! I'm hungry!
"Hold on, Dhifath!" Isheila muttered, trying to keep her dragoness under control as they made their way to the kitchens.
Two blues had hatched while the greens were bonding, and wandered to opposite sides of the sands. The first, dark-toned blue went straight to Chokorin, and with the single-mindedness of a starving hatchling, said, You. I'm Bhyaith. Get me some food.
The other blue was quite a bit shyer, wandering around the sands with a lost look on his face. His eyes lit up happily when he saw a particular dragon candidate, and he crooned as he went to Wokendae's side and tucked himself under one of her wings. I'm Hiyuth. Can we go now, Woke'? He asked, and at Wokendae's hesitant nod, they went into the kitchens with Hiyuth's siblings and the other new riders.
Finally, the last two eggs hatched. A small green dragon rolled onto the sand from her egg, and picking herself up, began to shake the sand from her hide. Once that was done, she ran to the candidates and picked out Brecka from the much-diminished group.
Brecka! I'm here, I'm your Naldraith! Will you go and get me some food? Please?
"Of course I will, Naldraith!" The girl said, leading the green to the kitchens.
The final dragon drew gasps of surprise from the crowd, as she calmly cleaned bits of sand from her gilden hide. A second gold dragon?
The female candidates approached, as Eoth was in no condition to scare them away from her daughter. However, the gold hatchling could obviously take care of herself; she hissed as the candidates approached, backing away towards her parents. I'm not bonding! Not one of them. I'll stay here.
Eoth lifted her head to stare at her daughter. Leiomath? She crooned as silent words passed between mother and daughter, then, the Hatching over, the older queen leapt into the air with a roar-and disappeared. The other dragons in the chamber all let out a keening cry as one, and the little gold, Leiomath, joined her father in the dragon requiem.

Outside, most of the fighting had stopped as the invading creatures were either killed or driven off. Rahel and Ean were able to make their way, finally, to the hatching cavern entrance, where they were able to find out what was going on.
"Hey, uh, could you take us to your leaders?" Ean asked.
They were approached by a tall, thin man, weariness plain in his dark eyes. "I'm A'ra, the Weyrleader." He said.
They introduced themselves. "I'm Rahel, rider of gold Micath. And that's...that's Ean." Rahel said shortly. Ean smiled, carefree and largely unaware of the tragedy which had sent the dragonry, and especially its remaining leader, spiraling into grief. His thirteen-headed hydra hovered behind him, a menacing, though quiet, presence.
"What's happened around here, and what were those things?" Rahel continued.
A'ra sighed. "To be honest? Hell if I know. Those...things came from the forest and practically overran the Dragonry. We only just now managed to drive them away. I don't even know what they are. We were caught completely by surprise." He explained, shaking his head sadly.
Another man, obviously a wingleader, approached A'ra with a "Sir?", and they seperated from the crowd of spectators. "The Hatching is over, and Eoth has gone between." A'ra sighed, it wasn't like he hadn't expected it to happen. The man continued. "What are we going to do about the leadership?"
A'ra mulled it over in his head. Much as he hated to admit it, the Dragonry had grown since they left the Old World, and in a place with over three hundred dragons, he couldn't run the Dragonry by himself. He sighed. "Tradition takes precedence. The first queen to rise will be the new Senior Queen. Where are the goldriders?"
The man shifted nervously. "None of them are here. They're all off rising at other places."
A'ra blinked. "Aren't there any gold dragons here?"
"Well, there's Mari-Su and her gold Preciousth." The man replied dryly.
A'ra shuddered. "No!"
Rahel had overheard the conversation. "What? The first gold to rise...? What kind of idiotic group chooses their leaders because of a dragon's flight!?" She asked, panic-stricken.
A'ra turned, glancing at her oddly. "It's a Pernese tradition. Besides, I don't see how it affects you, anyway."
Rahel, instead of replying, stormed off, followed by Ean. A'ra just shook his head.

He found out why she had been so upset the next morning. A dragon's bugle echoed throughout the halls of Darkling Dawn, waking A'ra from an exhausted sleep. Running down to the Great Hall, he asked what was happening.
"A queen is rising!" Was his answer.
Filling with dread, he asked whose gold it was. The person he'd asked shrugged. "I don't know, not one I've ever seen here before."
He raced to the Feeding Grounds, where a large, dark gold was calmly blooding a herdbeast. And beyond her, with a very sour look on her face, stood Rahel. She glanced at him accusingly, as if it was entirely his fault her dragon had chosen to rise at that particular time. "Micath's rising." She muttered, as though it wasn't obvious.
A'ra was livid. Only yesterday, the Weyrwoman, and his weyrmate of many years, had died, and now here was this new woman, a virtual stranger, who was taking her place. The bronzes gathered around the gold, and automatically, A'ra searched around for Mazdath, to find him in the thick of the chasers' crowd. Mazdath!
His bronze answered him calmly, a voice of reason in the turmoil of A'ra's mind. Do you want to lose your Weyrleadership now, A'ra? He snorted. Eoth would approve. Teah would approve.
A'ra sighed, resigned to listening to his bond's advice. With a roar, the queen leapt into the air, the bronzes close behind her. Meanwhile, Rahel and the assembled bronzeriders quickly made their way indoors, towards the Weyrwoman's quarters to await the outcome of the flight.
It wasn't a particularly long flight, and it was no surprise to anyone when the new Senior Queen was caught by A'ra's bronze Mazdath. The other riders quickly left, leaving A'ra and Rahel alone. He glared across the room at her, and she returned the icy stare.
Taking a deep breath to get his temper under control, he said, "Whatever happens after today is strictly business. I'm not going to let my Dragonry fall to peices. I can't do it by myself, so I'm going to need your help." That doesn't mean I have to like it. He added silently to himself.
Rahel nodded curtly. "Agreed."
Outside, the gold and bronze were already entwining in the clear sky.