Dolphin Rescue: Dragons Come to Help

Writers: Ames, Heather, Paula, Suzee
Date Posted: 27th April 2013

Characters: C'jex, Milga, Pierka
Description: The dragons arrive to help the dolphineers and the rescue continues
Location: Dolphin Hall
Date: month 12, day 16 of Turn 6

Pierka

C'jex had responded to the call of distress from the Dolphin Hall. He
knew a few of the other dragonriders were also on there way. Sliding
off Ohoneth's back, he hurried to the Hall to see what help was needed
from the dragons.

"How can we help?" He asked as he approached a group.

Kaellen's parents were dolphineers, and so she felt especially close
to the situation as she waited to be told how she could help. Her
green Iyliath waited outside, curious since she had never been to the
Dolphin Hall.

Milga had a knapsack packed and her driving gear in a separate
parchel. She saw the dragonriders coming, but waited someone with more
rank to greet them first. She felt nervous, she's never ridden a
dragon before.

As a former Dolphineer herself, Pierka had heard the drums and known
something bad was happening and volunteered to join the other riders
coming to help the Hall. She waved to Milga from Liddith's back then
climbed down and headed toward where the two blueriders waited for
instructions.

Master Taranat came dashing forward, gear in hand, hair rather askew,
eyes wide. "Thank you, thank you all for coming to our aid. We need to
get _that_ gear," he turned and pointed to a pile of supplies, "loaded
and ready to go as soon as possible. It is our job to scout the
situation and see what we can send back. They are asking that we also
have a means to communicate back with the others who will be following
on ship. We may need to administer emergency medicine, if that is we
can even _reach_ the dolphins." He paused and drew a deep breath. "I'm
in charge of this early scouting mission. It has been hectic to get
things organized quickly, but we _must_ work quickly. The other
dolphineers are coming. There will not be many of us," he Taranat
looked around the group again, nodding as he saw Milga. "Good, you are
here. If we can quickly load the supplies onto the dragons, we can go
as soon as the others arrive."

"Of course Master Taranat," Pierka said. It hadn't been that long
since she'd been in the water with the dolphins herself and she knew
she could swim and very well. She might even be able to help more than
just as a dragon rider. She began by picking up some of the equipment
from the pile and loading into Liddith's carry nets. "Milga," she said
to her friend. "Want to ride with me?"

Taranat nodded as the others hurried towards them. "Let's move quickly people."

C'jex stepped forward and began loading cargo onto Ohoneth. It wasn't
long before the supplies were loaded. He turned to one of the
dolphineers. "You can ride with me," he said, offering to help them
mount.

With the supplies loaded, Taranat looked at the others. "Who I am
with?" He inquired, not caring which dragon he rode on, just so they
could get to the trapped dolphins quickly.

"I'll love to, Pierka," Milga replied, happy to ride with a familiar
face. She helped to load up the supplies on dragons.
Then she found herself attached to Liddith's back, her heart bounding nervously.

Supplies were loaded and strapped to Iyliath's flanks, and not for the
first time Kaellen was grateful that she had impressed to a large
green rather than be smaller, daintier ones. As dolphineers scrambled
to get aboard dragons Kaellen held up her hand, "I can take a
passenger."

Master Taranat moved over to Kaellen. "Thank you. The dolphins were
supposed to have given some information directly to the dragons to
help us locate the site. On dragonback, it should not take us long to
get there. Let's get a move on. We've got dolphins to save!" Taranat
declared loudly enough for all to hear as he was assisted onto the
back of the green dragon.

Kaellen checked to make sure that the Mastercrafter was secure before
she swung into her place on Iyliath's neckridge. Once the coordinates
were passed along to the dragons they rose into the air, Iyliath's
mint green wings bearing them aloft until they went /between/.

Pierka and Liddith, loaded with many of the needed supplies along with
Milga, flashed /between/ a moment later.

C'jex, passenger onboard, joined the others as they followed /between/.

They arrived quickly. Taranat gave a sigh of relief to have emerged
from the black of /between/ unscathed. It was _not_ his favorite thing
to do, but in an emergency like this he was more than willing to take
the chance. With a keen eye for cartography and direction, he led them
quickly to realize they had come out farther away than they expected.

"Okay, the dolphins said we would see a large rock wall, and there was
some form of small island nearby. We will have to fly overhead until
we find it. Can you communicate this to the other dragons? We must
find them quickly." He was shouting rather loudly to Kaellen as the
wind whipped at him on back of the dragon. All Taranat could see from
this high up was the ocean. There were specks in the distance but
which one was what they were looking for? This was not good. They
_had_ to hurry.

Liddith curved off from the rest and headed swiftly toward a rocky
outcrop near the horizon. Pierka strained to see the area they were
headed toward but it was the sound... the whistle of dolphins that
brought them down on what was likely the peak of an underwater
mountain.

}:Dolphins!:{

"Yes," she agreed. "Hear that Milga?" **Call the others,** she told
Liddith. "We've found them."

The others soon followed. C'jex and Ohoneth landed beside Liddith.

Taranat was already giving orders to the dolphineers who were
scrambling off the backs of the dragons. He quickly suited up and
motioned to be taken down to the water.

"We may need one of the dragons to stay in the water so we have
something to anchor ourselves to," he directed just before he left the
mountain peak. Finding any openings was more challenging than they had
anticipated. After some time he motioned to rise again. On top of the
mountain peak he asked one dragon pair to scout out if there was a way
in from the top.

C'jex took the order and took to the sky on Ohoneth's back one more.
The flew over the mountainous area, keying in to where the sound of
the dolphins was strongest. Finally, there, they say a faint opening,
but there was no way he could fit inside. It was small. Returning he
informed the group about the discovery.

Taranat thought for a moment. "We need to assess the dolphins
immediately and then hopefully we can find another way to reach them."
Looking around he motioned for Milga to come over. "Milga, if we
lowered you by rope from up here, could you give us a fair assessment
of the dolphins condition and drop off food to keep them alive?"

"Yes,sir!" Milga replied promptly. She was stretching her muscles
after the flight. The trip on dragon back had been both exciting and
terrifying. She had discovered that such height made her dizzy and
nauseous.
"I'll just gear up," she continued and went for her parcels. It didn't
take her long to get into diving gear. There was no knowing how much
water and how much air there was where the dolphin were trapped.

"Those are some unhappy dolphins," Pierka mused to no one in
particular. It almost seemed a lifetime ago that she'd worked side by
side with Milga. Truthfully she was almost the same size as the young
dolphineer but this one was her honor and her craft. She was very
happy to be a dragonrider. She unconsciously stroked Liddeth's neck.

}:I love you too mine:{

It didn't take long before the group was ready. A rope had been
affixed to one of the dragons, just waiting for Milga to be ready for
them to lower her. A basket of food for the dolphins had been tied up
to another string and would be squished through the opening once Milga
had reported back to them. All was ready, the young dolphineer would
be lowered and could report her findings.

Attached to a rope, other end tied to a dragon's straps, Milga found
herself being lowered to the water.
It was murky and she wished for one of Naton's prototype-underwater glows.
She studied the rocks. There were cracks to let in air but none seemed
wide enough. They was also occasional groan when they shiften. She
didn't like that at all. Going deeped, under surface, she had to
resort mostly to her hands to feel around the wall of stones. Finally
Milga located the opening that dolphin cub had used to escape. She
couldn't see or feel how long it went or if it narrowed down. There
was no other option as to go in.

It was tight, even for a slim girl like Milga. None of the journeymen
would had fitted in. The tunnel twisted and Milga found herself
stuck...from the shoulders. She had too wide shoulders for the gap.
Cursing mentally, she pushed her body onwards. She managed to brace
her other foot against rock and used it as leverage. Slowly her body
inched forward. She could feel something tear and the sharp pain when
the rock scraped her shoulders, peeling away the surface of her skin.
It hurt. Ignoring the pain, she pushed on. Her shoulders slipped free
and rest of her body followed more easily. She heard a groan and
something brushed her leg. She prayed, ** Faranth, don't let it fall
down on me!** And the she was clear.

As soon as her body was out of the tunnel, she was almost instantly
assaulted by the trapped dolphins. So agitated and excited to see
someone they were, that they had forgotten how to speak, clicking and
whistling only.
In a while she got the calmed down enough to assess the situation.
There was four full grown dolphns and one younger one. They were
starved and some of them had wounds or bruises. They were trapped in a
cave, half full of water. Signs on the rock walls told Milga that the
cave was fully submerged from time to time. The air tasted stale when
she breathed it, she also seemed detect a wif of fresh air comming in
from _somewhere_, so suffocation wasn't a risk.
She tried to trace the source of fresher air but couldn't. The
incoming air breeze was just too weak to place. The biggest dangers as
far as Milga could see, where starvation, injuries and if the water
rose, the dolphins would drown.
After assuring the distressed dolphins that help _was_ coming and they
were not left to die, Milga headed back out. She felt bad to leave
them behind, but she had to report in what she had find out. Perhaps
Taranat would figure out a way to get food to them. Squeezing through
the tunnel wasn't any easier than first time and she felt she left a
cloud of blood to the water in her wake. She was soon standing before
the others, giving her report as thoroughly as she could.

When Milga returned and he received her report, Taranat, stood,
wondering how best to handle the situation. The opening was far too
small. None of them could fit inside based on her reports. How would
they even get the dolphins out if Milga herself could barely fit? This
was quite a quandary. He knew it would still be sometime before the
main group of dolphineers could arrive with more specialized
equipment.

"Milga, I know you probably don't want to go in again, but if you did,
could we rig a second line that we could use like a pulley?" Tarnat
demonstrated what he meant by folding a line in half around a metal
clip. As he pulled one side the other moved through the clip with
ease. "If we could attach the fish, some basic supplies, you might be
able to pull it in and at least get food to the dolphins?" He wasn't
sure how well it would work, but it might be there only chance of
success.

The thought of going through that tunnel again made Milga shudder with
claustrophobia.
But she couldn't refuse to help those poor dolphins.

"We can try it, sir," she replied. She glanced her skinless
shoulders. They were bleeding a little and she just knew they were
going to hurt in salt water. "Can I just patch myself first?" she
asked with flash of humour. Perhaps this time she could cover herself
with some grease or oil to get squeezed thru easier.

Last updated on the May 30th 2013

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Dolphin Rescue: Dragons Come to Help