The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall

by Anne McCaffrey

  “It is today, Maureen,” Red replied, swirling the last of the klah around in his cup before he drained it. “Settling that chest means this place is definitely your mother’s home now.”

  “First thing Ma asked for when we landed here was glue to put the chest together,” Brian told his much younger sister, and winked at his father.

  “Apart from the stones we stand on, that’s the oldest object in this Hold,” Red remarked in a sentimental tone. “Cherished for generations in your mother’s family . . .”

  “And doubtless for generations here,” Brian added with an understanding grin. “So, when are we getting the front door installed, Dad?”

  “The invitations have been accepted,” his father said, “so let’s get the hoists set up.”

  Now everything was ready—and at last the great door was to be hung! Red had new trousers hiding the work boots, and a fine new shirt over which Mairi insisted he wear one of the leather jerkins that had been adopted as useful work apparel.

  “At least until that thing is in place. We’ve ever so much spare hide,” she’d said, “but no time to set up Maddie’s big looms yet, so spare the cloth and wear the jerkin.”

  Today, too, Sean and Sorka, with their newest son, would join the celebrations. A dragon or two might come in useful bringing in guests, though not in a million years would Red ask that a dragon be employed in any task but the one it had been bred to do. He knew how bitter Sean had been when all the dragons could do was carry things from one place to another. Of course, that was before they had learned to fly between and chew the firestone that made Thread-charring flame. Sean might be a tad arrogant over his present high position, but Red would not fault him. He and the other young dragonriders risked hideous death and many injuries to keep Thread from ravaging this one area of Pern that humans could survive in. And more power to the lad—no, the man that Sean had become—he was a true leader of his riders and a fine manager of the new species. The night that Alianne and Chereth had died had been the only time Sean had revealed any of the burden of responsibility he had undertaken. In one sense, Sean’s emotion had been a sign of real maturity in Red’s eyes: a man had the right to tears of grief, no blame attached. Red genuinely admired Sean for that. But then, he had always admired Sean, even when he’d been an unknown quantity as the wild and young proud possessor of two brown fire-lizards.

  Tantalizing odors of the beef and sheep roasting over the glowing coals in the barbecue pits wafted across the rough road that led past the fields to the front of the Hold. Red could hear the fuss from the open kitchen doors and windows as Mairi, Maureen, and most of the fosterlings were pressed into service to prepare the feast for those who would gather here to set the door in the portal.

  The mechanicals to perform that setting were already in place, awaiting the arrival of the guests; the hoist, securely supported, jutted from the window directly above, and the chains were already attached to the door to lift it out of the sled-wagon. The durasteel had been well rubbed with fine steel wool, removing the minor scrapes acquired during its first occupation. Red wondered briefly which shuttle it had been taken from. He hadn’t asked Joel Lilienkamp, too relieved to get the door released to him to irritate the old man with a minor detail. He’d say it was from the Eusijan, the shuttle in which Sallah Telgar and Barr Hamil had piloted the Hanrahans down to the surface of their new home. Who could argue with him? The shuttles had all been the same in design.

  Suddenly a bronze fire-lizard came streaking in through the opening, chittering wildly at him. Snapper appeared and the two conferred. The bronze then approached Red, who held out his arm for the creature to land. Snapper popped to his shoulder, overseeing any attentions from a stranger. Chittering again, the bronze held up one foot, and Red could see that a message capsule was tied to it.

  He carefully untied it, thanking the fire-lizard.

  Where the hell’s this ford you told us to take? PB

  Red laughed, sensing the frustration in the bold writing of the terse note. He poked his head out the window. “Someone saddle King for me. Paul can’t find my ford.”

  By the time he got downstairs, King was saddled and waiting—along with ten other mounts and their riders.

  “Should we bring a boat to make him feel at home?” Brian asked, grinning as he swayed easily with Cloudy’s excited cavortings.

  “No, let’s just make tracks and get him here, or the day’ll be done with no door in place,” Red said, swinging up into his saddle.

  “And no feast tonight either, if my front door’s not in place, Peter Hanrahan,” Mairi yelled from the kitchen door.

  “Let’s go then, lads, or we go hungry!” The moment Red eased the reins, King took off, and the others were showered by the pebbles the eager stallion kicked up behind him.

  The ford was an hour’s distance on a fast horse, four hours’ travel by wagon or cart. As he rode, Red hoped that his guests’ horses were still fresh enough to make the return journey at a decent speed. Maybe Paul had been practicing riding. Gorghe Logorides had bred a beast similar to a walking horse, but though the animals were easy to sit, they were plainsbred. Red’s Paso Fino types would be more useful here in the hilly North.

  They paused only once to give the horses a breather—and surprised the party on the other side of the ford by their sudden appearance.

  “Ahoy, there, Admiral Benden, be ye bogged down by a mere river?” Red shouted through cupped hands. Beneath him, King blew vigorously through his nostrils, but he was in such good condition that he was only slightly sweaty from the run and his breath rate quickly returned to normal.

  “Ahoy yourself,” Paul bellowed back, getting to his feet. “How’re we expected to get across that?” He pointed disgustedly at the swirling current of muddy water that separated them.

  “I told you to look for the cairn and line up the poles,” Red shouted back, pointing to the right and then indicating the plainly visible-to him—steel pole on his side of the bank. “Spare me from spacemen who need a bloody computer to navigate and a blinking beacon to guide them. Hi, there, Ju, Zi!” he added, noticing Paul’s wife and the big dark man among the nine or ten others who now joined the admiral where he stood just short of swirling water.

  Speaking loudly enough for his voice to carry across the ford, Paul directed some of his party to find the alleged cairn and pole of Hanrahan’s. The river was high from the rains the previous week, but not quite as high as it had been the night Red had gotten his party across.

  “River’s a bit high, isn’t it, Dad?” Brian said, a little anxiously. “Could the cairn have come down?”

  “I hope not. You did cement it, didn’t you, when you returned the sleds?”

  “Sure did, and put my initials on it, but there’s growth now along the bank on that side. Maybe it’s hidden.” Brian started to urge Cloudy forward.

  “Well, we’re just wasting time,” Red said, and kneed King forward, pressuring him just slightly to get him to yield left to the exact center of where Red knew the ford was. “Guess we’ll just have to lead the blind into the kingdom of the sighted.”

  As he entered the water, he heard Brian’s chuckle, and a surreptitious glance over his shoulder showed that his escort had fanned out in a phalanx as wide as the ford. The water was not quite to King’s knees as the big horse pranced across, all too eager to make a show of his stallion self.

  “I found it!” one of Paul’s party cried, planting his foot on the top of the cairn.

  “Hiding your precious landmarks, are you?” Paul roared. “The arrogance of you, walking on the water like that!” He stood, hands on his hips, grinning with sardonic good humor as the welcoming party splashed up to him.

  Leaning down, Red reached for Paul’s hand and gripped it firmly. “Well, the river’s running muddier’n usual, or you’d have seen the shale that makes fording possible right here,” he said. He motioned for Brian to go check the cairn and the pole.

  “You could at least have pai
nted it,” Paul suggested as his mount, One of Caesar Galliani’s lean-legged, ribby walking horses, was led forward by one of Caesar’s girls. She was giving King the once-over, too, and grinned up at Red.

  “I’ll add it to my list of chores,” Red said, grinning, “and maybe build the cairn higher so no one can miss it.”

  The Galliani girl, whose name escaped Red, gave Paul a leg up, checking the girth and deftly slipping the stirrup on the admiral’s foot when she was finished.

  “You got here so fast, you can’t be far away?” Paul’s remark had a tinge of hope in it.

  “Not at the rate I usually ride,” Red said with a slightly malicious grin. “But even at a steady pace, we’re not more than an hour and a bit away. Had a comfortable ride?”

  It was clear to Red that Paul was not really riding into his saddle as one accustomed to the exercise. As the bay gelding stepped out into the very smooth flowing pace that was his natural stride, the admiral winced slightly and eased his butt. Riding would never be more than a necessary evil for Benden. Still, he had come, so Red made no disparaging remarks. Zi Ongola looked more comfortable on horseback, and so did Ju Adjai Benden. In fact, she looked downright pleased, glancing about her, taking in the lay of the land.

  Cecilia Rado had come along to see how Red had translated her architectural drawings. Balding and slightly tubby Arkady Stunt and the lean and grizzled Francesco Vasseloe were also in the party, and Red decided he knew who was joining Zi Ongola in settling the western peninsula. Three of the numerous Duff offspring and two more young Schultzes made up the rest of the expedition.

  Even at a gentler return pace, the imposing facade of the Hold was soon in sight, its stone blending from an orange to an orangy red. Indeed, Red had planned the sweep of the road with just that view in mind and listened with real pride to the complimentary remarks from all sides about the distinctive orangy red of the cliff face.

  Then the Galliani girl drew up beside him, sitting well on a rather fractious little chestnut mare.

  “Dad sent me along as a spy,” she said. “I’m Terry, in case you need to know.”

  “You’re welcome, Terry, and spy all you like,” Red said, grinning amiably down at her.

  “That stallion’s one of Sean’s Cricket’s produce, isn’t he?” she asked, her eyes feasting on the superb conformation and easy forward movement that came effortlessly from King’s shoulder.

  “He is.”

  “This weed is all Dad would let me have,” she said with disgust. “He’s such a pain sometimes.”

  “He’s your father,” Red said a little severely, though he sympathized with the girl, noting the mare’s jarring trot.

  “That is all too true,” she said, unrebuked, “but, if a person’s got a few ideas of her own to try, isn’t this planet big enough for differences?” Her tone was plaintive.

  “Going with Zi Ongola?”

  She nodded. “I’d like to. He’ll need a tougher horse than we breed.” Once again she admired King and the others that had been ridden out from the Hold. “You may well have a customer in Zi.” She gave him another grin and circled around to fall back beside Cecilia.

  “Baths can wait, Mairi,” Paul Benden repeated firmly when Mairi again tried to insist that he ease his sore muscles immediately. “I’d rather do the lot after we’ve seen that damned door in place. The klah’ll do me till then.” So he sipped from his mug and was even persuaded to eat some of the freshly baked sweets that the fosterlings were passing around.

  Tables had already been set up outside with klah and a variety of snack and finger foods, chilled and hot. The roasting meats were a good advertisement for the feasting to come.

  “Mairi, now we’ve all got travel dust out of our mouths,” Cecilia said, “why don’t you give me and Ju the five-credit tour while the muscles do their mite?”

  “We’ll give a shout before we shut you in,” Red said jovially as he was showing Paul, Zi, and Fran Vasseloe the preparations that had been made, and how cleverly Peter Chernoff had set the lock frame into the stone of the portal. Once he glanced toward the position of the sun and Paul sent him a querying look.

  “Sorka and Sean said they’d be here to watch the Dooring and join us in the feast. And . . .” Red paused, looking from Ongola to Benden. “Once we get producing, I plan to send the Weyr a tithe of all we grow and make. They’ve enough to do without having to forage for food, as well.”

  “Ah, yes.” Paul rubbed the back of his neck, not meeting anyone’s glance. “As it is now, they often bring us fresh meat and fruit when they’ve had to go south to feed the dragons. I don’t know how much longer the Ierne Islanders can hold out, but”—Paul grinned wryly—”as you all know, it’s meant the difference.”

  “Tell me, Paul,” Red said, leaning over conspiratorially, his eyes twinkling, “is it Ierne Island produce they get, or some of the stock the Logorides and Gallianis had to let loose?”

  “Well, now, you know, I’ve never asked,” Paul replied, regarding Red with a very bland expression.

  “Still and all, they shouldn’t have to scrounge for provisions,” Red said. “The Hold should supply the Weyr that protects it.”

  “I shall tithe from my holding, as well,” Ongola said, his deep voice making his words a solemn vow.

  “Alianne’s death has certainly made all in Font aware that we’re asking a great deal from these young men and women,” Paul went on, “and they’ve met the challenge magnificently. I had a chance to discuss support personnel with Sean, and he’s suggested that we send him some of the older fosterlings to take over maintenance and domestic chores. They’d be available, too, as candidates for the new eggs. I got Joel to spring loose enough supplies so additional personnel won’t be a burden on the Weyr’s resources. They’ve got space, we’ve got. too many warm bodies . . .” He gave a wry smile. “Alianne’s mother is staying on, to help rear the grandchildren. She’s widowed and says the place needs a firm hand in its domestic management. The queen riders really don’t have enough time, especially if they’ve a broody queen.”

  “Seems to me one queen or another’s broody all the time,” Red said with a chuckle.

  “Which also means the dragon population is growing large enough to protect four Holds,” Paul said, with justifiable pride. “Maybe more, if the ‘premises’ are feasible. Telgar says he’d like to be closer to the ore lodes in the eastern mountain range. He’s done as much as he can to improve the warrens of the Fort.” He kept his voice level and added a smile at his use of the word “warrens.”

  Red wondered if his leaving, and Ongola’s projected Hold, was causing more, or less, dissension in Fort.

  “I think you and Ongola have given hope and inspiration. Despite Joel’s concern oven dwindling supplies, a lot of his inventory are items that will not be in demand again,” Paul said with a wry grin. “We’re stepping down to a lower level of technology, based on what is available to us here, not what we once had. That was, after all, the purpose of this colony. You’ve made it, so did Pierre, on a minimum of basics, and look what you’ve achieved.” Paul gestured to the imposing facade behind him. “No, it’s definitely time to stop huddling in Fort and move out. I’d like to see more evidence of courage in our people after the trauma of Threadfall and the dreadful loss of lives in the Fever Year.”

  “I think there’re more than just Sean and Sorka coming,” Ongola said, shielding his eyes with one big hand as he looked upward.

  Everyone had to crane their necks to see dragons, gold, bronze, brown, blue, and green, settling themselves on the top of the Hold cliff—careful, Red hoped, to avoid the solar-panel installation.

  “The more the merrier,” Red said, laughing. “They make a brave sight there, don’t they?”

  “But they’ve no riders,” Zi remarked.

  “Didn’t want to scare your beasts again, Red,” said Sean, emerging from the Hold, Sorka beside him, one arm crooked about her latest son. Behind them sauntered more riders. “We wante
d to do you honor, and half a wing seemed an appropriate escort.”

  Mairi and those she had taken inside the Hold were the last to emerge.

  “They took the stairs down,” she said in a distracted fashion, determined to wrest her grandson from his mother’s arm, “so now I know why you insisted on carving steps all the way up, Red. It wasn’t just to service the solar panels.” She turned to Cecilia. “But we’d just got the stories cleaned up when he cut those steps and dust sifted all over again. Oh, isn’t he a love, Sorka? What have you named him?”

  “Ezremil,” Sean said, slightly accenting the first vowel. It took a moment for people to register the fact that he had joined the names of two of the colony’s heroes.

  Tears came to Mairi’s eyes. “Oh, what a splendid notion!”

  “Oh, yes, indeed!” Ju Benden choked on a sob before she managed a laugh. “Much better than encumbering the poor lad with Ezra or Keroon or even Emile. We ought to use more such truly Pernese-style names.”

  Paul put an arm about his wife’s shoulders, smiling fondly down at her. “We could really dispense with surnames altogether. Ezremil of Fort Weyr! Ryan of—” Paul turned on Red. “What are you naming this place?”

  Red shrugged. “It’ll come to us. The right name will come to us. Now, can we get this door into position?”

  With the dragons safely out of the sight of any animals, Red sent Brian to get the bullocks whose mighty thews would haul the airlock door up to the opening. That was the signal for everyone to gather in front of the Hold. Red could see Mairi keeping an eye on the young toddlers, one of Brian’s being the sort that got into everything first and, when scolded, would reply that no one had said he couldn’t.

  Authoritative cracks of the bullwhips started four yokes of oxen moving forward, with men at each wide head, to steady them up. Slowly, the heavy metal door rose from the sled. When it hung free, the men whom Peter Chernoff had chosen to help turned, it sideways so that the hinges could be aligned. A very audible clunk indicated contact.