Cornered

[Memorie]

Tujal, for once very pleased with the answer she had gotten out of the older man, gathered her notes--she had taken them, as always--and left the classroom. When she walked out, she noticed how less stuffy it was in the hallway. "All those bodies packed together, I suppose," she said aloud to herself. She took a deep breath of the fresher air and continued down the corridor.

She thought she heard footsteps behind her, but when she turned, fists at the ready, there was no one there. Chastising herself for being so melodramatic, she relaxed her hand and continued on. Plat, plat, plat, and the sound of soft wherhide bootheels continued with her. She chalked it up to the echo of her own shoes. "What are we doing today, Amenth?" she said aloud, mostly to give herself some sort of comfort.

You're doing chores. I'm sunning with Weseaneth.

A hand grabbed her shoulder and whipped her around. Tujal gasped, but not loud enough to gather attentions before the same hand slapped over her mouth. "Shut up, goldrider. I heard tale that you think yourself above being properly prepared for First Rising?" A voice, full of twist and something else she couldn't name, accused her. "If you call out to any dragons, you'll get it." Tujal squinted at the man, far from scared. No, she was a little scared...and there was anger there. Righteous anger, for the desecration of her beliefs and of her body. The man, who she felt she ought to know, but couldn't place a name, pushed her against the wall. He began to grab for her tunic bottom. She bit against his hand, but it was no use. She raised her voice, but the sound was absorbed by the hand. Flame it! And Amenth was in a flurry.

There's someone there! I can feel him. Tujal!

[LyricalBlue]

Weseaneth roared, his voice shaking the very walls of the Weyr and I'slen stopped dead in his tracks. The bronze stood tall, wings unfurlled and eyes whirling brightly red. Not even thread brought the dragon to this furry.
TUJAL!
Without a second thought, I'slen whirrled around and sprinted down the corridor. Dropping his papers behind him. He raced, his long rider's legs carrying him foward. What was going on! Weseaneth had woken the whole Weyr from it's sleepy afternoon slumber and now both adult Queens bugled from the heights. Within moments the whole of the Weyr's dragons were roused. Good thing they can all hear her, with his heart in a icy knot he raced foward.

Stopping dead in his tracks I'slen saw what had happened. Another rider had pinned Tujal against the wall and was... he was... A growl issued from the rider's throat and he leaped foward, tackling the man to the ground. His knife belt was out before the blink of an eye and pressed to the man's throat. Somewhere a dragon screamed.
Rage boiling up within him, I'slen shook with the effort to keep it in control.
"I should kill you."
But he didn't, he couldn't. The man was a rider, he couldn't harm a dragon. I'slen stood and roughly pulled the other man up and slammed him against the wall, knife still at his throat.
Wes, get me help.

Within moments three more riders showed up and took I'slen's place holding the man down.
"She wanted it!" He yelled. "The little Holder taunted me! I was only giving her what she deserved." I'slen turned and spit on the man's boot, his eyes pools of frosty ice. When he spoke again it was with a tone that would make an sane man shiver.
"Shut it or I will kill you, dragonrider or not."
He could hear the Queens bugling from the heights and Wes answered with an angry roar, reflecting I'slen. The rider waved a hand.
"Get him out of here, get him out of this Weyr."
As the other riders wrestled the man away, I'slen turned to Tujal as they were suddenly left alone. He knelt down, not daring to touch her and all the anger melted out of him.
"Are... you ok?"

[Memorie]

The whole thing was rather surreal, really, and after Tujal had realized what was about to happen to her, she disconnected from the situation. It really seemed as if she were watching something through a dragon's eyes, something that wasn't really happening to her. "The little Holder taunted me!" The words replayed through her mind, over and over. Her head was cocked slightly to the left. Is that true? No one had ever dared accuse her of such a thing before.

Of course it's not true. Tujal ignored the dragon and reflected. But still, it had been like watching a play, something happening to someone else. When they pulled the man off of her, she watched him be dragged away, and she slumped to the floor. And again, I'slen and her dragon were her champions. Her eyebrows were knitted slightly as she thought about the impossibilty of the situation. She was a Lord Holder's Daughter! How dare he?! But not here, a little voice taunted. So? She was a Queenrider! That didn't stop him. The nagging voice was right.

The man was led away, and I'slen was near her, but not touching her. "Are...you okay?" he asked her. It was an innocent enough question, and she looked at him with eyes that clearly did not understand the situation.

"No, I think not," she told him. She knew her face was as white as a sheet. Her heart still pounded in her chest. Adrenaline surfed her veins, but quieted too soon. She fainted.

[LyricalBlue]

I'slen shrugged off his jacket and wrapped it around Tujal and then with as much care as one would have in handling an egg he picked her up. He wanted to take her back to his weyr, to kiss her and coddle her till she was better. For her to wake up and see him... only him.
Slowly he let a sigh escape, and with the girl laying against him he turned to walk to the Infirmary.
What she needed now was a healer.
Wes roared again when Tujal fainted and the rest of the Weyr answered. I'slen reached out and soothed the wildly raging dragon. And minded him to look to Amenth who might be panicking now that her rider had fainted. Many dragons did that, some betweened out of the shock. Amenth wouldn't between, the queen was too level headed for that, but she might have a bad reaction. Shards and shells, he was having a bad reaction.

As he trodded down the hall, he could hear the dragons quieting on the heights and looked down at the girl craddled in his arms.
"Oh Tujal." Why her, why did this have to be her. He wished this had never happened not to anyone. Not to Tujal, rage threatened to boil up inside him and he walked faster. He had to get her to the Healers. A little brown flit popped out from between, chittering like mad and moments later he heard the thuds of several people running down the corridor.
I'slen stopped and breathed a sigh of relief as MasterHealer Sagani rushed up to the bronzerider and took immidate control of the situation. I'lsen handed Tujal over, if reluctantly to the apprentices with him. In another few moments they were gone again, rushing back to the Infirmary. I'slen stared for a while at their fading backs and then slumped down onto the cold stone and cried.

[Memorie]

*To the Infirmary! Away! *dons a superhero cape and flies away**