Vyren was impatient. So he just started digging, tearing up chunks of cement and tossing them aside. He dug through the dirt, clawing it out of the way, until he got to more cement. Then he paused, moving aside so Corey could take a look.

"Can you guys hear me?" he called, pounding on the top of the ceiling. If they were in there, he could just have Vyren tear up the cement.

Xander jerked when she heard the pounding on the ceiling, looking up. "What the hell?"

"I think help has arrived," Faith replied. We can hear you all up there, she added to Lapis.

They're down there! Lapis said as she joined Vyren in digging. Her claws were just as suited to digging through rock as his were, and it didn't take long for her to break through.

When bits and pieces started to fall from the ceiling, Faith moved out of the way, pulling Xander with her. She didn't want to get hit with any falling cement, and she doubted her friend did, either.

Ryan and Yue hung back, keeping a lookout. Yue was no good for digging through rock and dirt; her claws weren't made for that kind of thing. Snow and ice? Yes. Rock? Not so much.

Vyren expanded the hole until it was big enough for the girls to get through at least, and then he backed off. He knew Lapis would want to get to Faith.

Xander looked at the big gap in the ceiling, her eyes narrowed. This was... odd to say the least. At least they'd be back to the weyr soon.

Lapis leaned down until she was practically half-way into the hole, reaching down to grab Faith. She didn't care, she wanted her rider back. Once Faith was safe, then she would get Xander. Gently, she set Faith on the ground, and then reached back in for Xander.

Faith glanced around nervously when she was set down again. Somehow, this seemed too easy. She stepped a bit closer to Lapis.

Xander was a little slower coming out, since it was odd to her to hang off another dragon, but she got out and looked around, frowning. She moved aside, closer to Ryan and Yue, and then she noticed the people coming up on them, surrounding them. They had guns, too.

"Uh, guys...?"

Vyren spotted them and growled, a deep, threatening sound that made the ground vibrate just a little.

Lapis noticed them as well and hissed angrily at them, pulling Faith close to her. She wasn't going to let them take her rider again. The ground started to rumble more as she used her natural talent without realizing it.

Faith looked around warily. She wasn't sure how much damage a gun could do to a dragon, but she wasn't all that keen on finding out. "I'm thinking this should be our cue to leave," she said.

Ryan stayed on Yue, and Yue herself shifted just slightly to protect Xander. Ryan wasn't sure how trigger-happy these people were, and he wasn't sure if the dragons could move fast enough to get out of range before someone got hurt. For the moment, he kept an eye on everyone he could see.

Corey nodded, slipping up onto Vyren's back as the dragon flared his wings out angrily. The other humans looked unnerved, their guns lowering or going off to the side as the rumbling in the ground unnerved them.

"May I?" Xander glanced up at Ryan, still half-hiding behind Yue. The other two were already settled, and she didn't want to expose herself any more than she had to.

Ryan nodded and held out a hand to help Xander up.

"Just stay in front of her wing joints," he said as he moved forward slightly to give her room to sit. Yue moved her wings a bit to give Xander some cover.

Lapis flared her wings as well, covering Faith as the rider climbed up onto her shoulders. She growled at the other humans on the ground, and the ground itself rumbled a bit more for a moment before fading back to the lighter, more insistent rumbling. Pebbles were jumping all over the ground, and some of the concrete that she and Vyren had pulled up was starting to rattle a bit.

Xander grabbed his hand, pulling herself up and settling where he told her to. Then she looked at the men nervously.

"You know, I bet some ice would freak them out enough that we could get back to the weyr," she said, glancing at Ryan and Yue.

The ground started rumbling more, the concrete chunks starting to really shake, and the people looked very startled now. Vyren shifted his weight so he could take off more easily, prepared to get away as soon as the humans were startled enough.

"Good idea," Ryan said. He didn't even have to relay instructions to Yue; she inhaled deeply, her sides swelling out more than they seemed like they should, and she gently exhaled again. Her breath seemed to come out as a white mist, but everything it touched was instantly coated in a layer of ice. She didn't let it touch any of the humans, since she didn't think Ryan would approve of that, but she did lay it on thick on the ground in front of them.

Lapis shifted her weight as well, spreading her wings. She was more than ready to take off and get Faith away from this horrible place.

That made the humans scatter. They'd never seen an ice dragon before, so they hadn't had a clue that dragons could do that. Which freaked them out far too much. So they scattered.

Vyren took his chance, taking off and heading back towards the weyr. Corey just stayed there, keeping track of the people.

Xander held on when Yue took off. She was too nervous about flying to try to keep track of the people with guns, which proved to be rather detrimental to her. One of the guns went of, startling the people on the ground as much as the dragons, and grazed Xander's leg. She barely noticed at the moment.

Faith jumped when one of the guns went off, but she held on to Lapis as her dragon took off. There was no way Lapis was sticking around here; she was taking Faith back to the weyr and they were going to stay there. No more of this going into the city nonsense.

Yue took off the moment the humans scattered, following Vyren back towards the weyr. She glanced back to make sure Lapis took off as well, and then faced back forward. It was time they went back to the safety of the weyr, even if it was far too warm in the eyries still.

Vyren kept track of Lapis, and he got back to the weyr first. He landed and moved off to the side, leaving room for the other two to land as well.

Corey hopped off, waiting for Lapis to land so he could check on Faith. He wanted to make sure she was okay.

Xander waited until Yue landed to slip off, patting the dragon's side in thanks. Only when she went to go take a step did she notice. Oh. Yue's hide had a nice little stream of blood. And she was bleeding. Oops.

Calypso caught her before she fell, supporting her rider easily, crooning worriedly over her. The dragon managed to get her neck around Xander, pulling her close to protect her.

Once she landed, Yue was able to smell the blood. Turning her head as Ryan slid down off her back, she could see the smear down her side and she made a little sound of annoyance. Without waiting for anything else, she took off to find a pond or a stream to clean off in. Ryan carefully went over to Calypso and Xander to see if he could help with Xander's injury. He approached slowly, not wanting to anger Calypso at all.

Faith tried to get down off of Lapis, but the dragon wouldn't let her. As Faith tried to slide down, Lapis caught her and held her close, glaring at anyone who tried to approach.

Calypso growled softly at Ryan, upset that her writer was hurt. But Xander sighed.

Let him through, love. He can help. Xander looked over at Ryan.

Calypso growled quietly but moved so that Ryan could see Xander.

Corey approached slowly, holding his hands out in an 'I'm harmless' gesture. "You alright?" he called to Faith.

Ryan moved slowly as he got closer to Xander. He made sure not to get too close, or move too quickly.

"That's definitely going to need to be cleaned," he said. "It looks like you just got grazed, though. You would be bleeding a lot worse if you really got hit." He glanced from Xander to Calypso and back. "Am I allowed to help you inside to take care of that?"

"I'm alright," Faith called back. Really, Lapis, let me down.

No, Lapis replied stubbornly. I almost lost you, and I'm not going to lose you again. You're staying right here.

Sweetie, you can't hold on to me like this forever, Faith reasoned.

Watch me.

Lapis... Faith said warningly. Lapis resisted for another moment or two before reluctantly setting her down again.

Calypso growled softly. Xander tried to move away to go inside, and then hissed in pain when her leg almost buckled. Calypso supported her instantly, fussing over her and curling around her again, flaring her small wings in agitation.

"Maybe you should try bringing stuff out here," Xander suggested after a few moments, her voice pained.

Corey chuckled quietly and caught her, setting her on her feet gently. "I'm glad you're safe."

Ryan nodded.

"I can do that," he replied. Turning, he went inside to see what sort of bandages and such he could find.

Faith stumbled slightly when Lapis put her down, and clung to Corey for a moment.

"I am, too," she replied. She shook her head a bit. "I don't know what happened. Everything was fine, and then all of a sudden they had us surrounded and took us underground... I don't even know how they found us, or how they knew we were riders."

Xander leaned heavily against Calypso, letting the dragon worry over her, fending everyone else off and keeping them all away from her rider.

Corey shook his head, rather concerned and bemused.

"I don't know either. You went in plain clothes, and you didn't tell anyone. I don't understand how that could have happened." He shook his head.

"We were in plain clothes, and we even stopped at Queen of Tarts for breakfast... And I mean, we didn't like announce ourselves or anything..." Faith sighed. "I don't get it."

Ryan came back out a few minutes later with a box of medical supplies. He approached Calypso slowly and carefully.

Corey shook his head. "Strange..." He sighed. "I guess we'll never know." He shrugged. "Come on, let's go sit somewhere, maybe get something to drink."

Calypso moved aside enough for him to see Xander again. Her jeans had soaked up most of the blood, but now they were in the way, obscuring the wound from view. Her bleeding had mostly stopped.

Ryan paused, not wanting to cut away Xander's jeans without her permission and now sure how to tactfully ask her to take them off so he could patch her up. The wound was too high up for her to just roll the jeans, and they were pretty much ruined anyways, but he still wasn't sure how to ask without sounding weird or creepy.

Faith nodded.

"Alright," she said. Lapis immediately growled softly, and Faith sent her a look. We're not going to leave the weyr, sweetie, she said to the dragon. The growls slowly faded. Go on to your eyrie and relax, we're just going inside.

Alright, Lapis said reluctantly. Spreading her wings, she took off back towards her eyrie.

"Whatssa matter?" Xander was starting to slur with fatigue and bloodloss. But she did notice his hesitation, glancing down at him.

Corey walked with her to a table, letting her sit. "What do you want to drink? Or anything to eat?" He raised an eyebrow at her.

Ryan hesitated for another moment before shaking his head and digging a pair of scissors out of the box.

"Nothing," he replied. "Your jeans are already ruined, so I'm just going to cut away this section so I can patch this up for you." He worked as he spoke, being careful not to catch her with the scissors at all as he got the denim out of the way. Once that was done, he used a few sterile moist towelettes to clean the wound gently before patching it up with a pair of butterflies and covering it with a bandage. It wasn't a deep wound, but it would take a while to heal properly. Fortunately, he'd dealt with similar back home in the north. It wasn't uncommon for new, inexperienced riders to cut themselves on some sharp ice while training with their dragons.

That didn't stop him from turning a bit red as he helped Xander, though.

Faith opened her mouth to say she wasn't hungry, but her stomach beat her to it, grumbling loudly.

"I guess I could probably eat something," she said instead, fighting down a bit of a blush. "Maybe we should just head down to the kitchens and see if there's anything left of the last meal."

Xander nodded. "Mmmkay." She closed her eyes, letting him work. She could barely feel the pain now, and she relaxed against Calypso. She just wanted to go to bed after this, get some rest and relax. So she didn't notice his blush for a few extra seconds, and shen she did she just frowned in confusion.

"No, you stay here," Corey ordered. "I'll go get food and drinks. I'll be back in a minute, so don't wander off on me." He grinned at her and headed down to the kitchens to grab food.