Her fair of fire-lizards came swooping into the weyr. Jaxom suppressed his annoyance at the interruption because he'd have preferred to keep Menolly talking in this unusually expansive mood. But the fire-lizards were clearly excited and, before Menolly could calm them enough to find out, Ruth came into the weyr, his eyes whirling with myriad colors.
D'ram and Tiroth are here, and. everyone is very excited, Ruth said, pushing his nose at Jaxom to be caressed. Jaxom obliged, and went on to rub eye ridges damp from Ruth's swimming. Mnementh is very pleased with himself. There was a note of grievance in that addition.
"Well, Mnementh couldn't have brought D'ram and
Tiroth back without your help, Ruth," Jaxom replied staunchly. "Right, Menolly?"
I could not have found D'ram and Tiroth without the fire-lizards' help, Ruth remarked graciously. And you thought of going back twenty-five Turns.
Menolly sighed, unable to hear Ruth's last comment.
"Actually, we owe more to those Southern fire- lizards."
"That's just what Ruth said..."
"Dragons are honest people!" Menolly exhaled heavily and rose. "Come on, my friend. You and I had better return to our own halls. We've done what j we were sent to do. Done it well. That's all the satis- ' faction we're likely to have." She shot him an amused look. "Isn't that so?" She gathered up her pack.
"Which is the way some matters have to remain.
Right?"
She slipped her arm through his, hauling him to his feet, grinning in a se'ni-conspiratorial fashion that oddly enough did dispel the resentment he was begin- ning to feel.
As they came out on the ledge, they could see the activity about the queen's weyr, as riders and women from the Lower Caverns came streaming across to greet D'ram and his bronze.
"I must admit, it's rather nice to leave Benden with everyone in a pood frame of mind for a change," Menolly said as Ruth bore her and Jaxom upward.
Jaxom expected to deposit Menolly safely in the Harperhall and return home. No sooner had Ruth an- nounced himself to the watchdragon on the fire-heights than Zair and a harper-banded little queen attached themselves with precarious talon holds to Ruth's neck.
"That's Sebell's Kimi. He's back!" There was an ex- ultant ring to Menolly's voice that Jaxom had never heard before.
The watchdragon says that the Harper wants to see us. So does Zair, Ruth told Jaxom. He means me, too, Ruth added with a note of pleasant surprise.
"Why shouldn't the Harper want to see you, Ruth? He's sure to give you the credit you're due," Jaxom said, still nursing a bit of resentment as he slapped the arched neck affectionately. Ruth had turned his head to choose a landing space in the courtyard.
Master Robinton and a man with a master's knot on his shoulder came striding down the Hail's steps. Master Robinton's arms were outstretched so he could encircle both Menolly and Jaxom with an enthusiasm that almost embarrassed Jaxom. Then, to his compiete surprise, the other Harper grabbed Menolly from Robinton's grasp and began to swing her around and around, all the time kissing her soundly. Instead of protesting this treatment of their friend, the fire-lizards went into spectacular aerial maneuvers of twned necks and overlapped wings. Jaxom knew that fire- lizard queens rarely indulged in tactile contact with queens, but Beauty and the strange gold were as joy- ously indulging as Menolly and the man. Glancing to see what the Harper's reaction was to such excess, Jaxom was astonished to see Master Robinton grin- ning with smug pleasure, an expression quickly altered when he noticed Jaxom's regard.
"Come, Jaxom, Menolly and Sebell have several months' news to exchange and I want to hear your version of D'ram's discovery."
As Robinton guided Jaxom toward the Hall, Menolly cried out and pushed herself free of Sebell's arms, although Jaxom noticed that her fingers re- mained entwined in Sebell's as she took a hesitant step toward Robinton. "Master?"
"What?" Robinton affected dismay. "Cannot Sebell command a measure of your time after so long an absence?"
Jaxom was gratified to see Menolly caught by un- certainty and confusion. Sebell was grinning.
"Hear what he has to tell you first, girl," Robinton said, more kindly. "I'll make do admirably with Jaxom."
Glancing back at the pair as Robinton escorted him into the Hall, Jaxom saw their arms linked about each other's waists, heads inclined together. Their fire- lizards spiraled above, following them as they walked slowly toward the meadow beyond the Harper Hall.
"You brought D'ram and Tiroth back?" the Harper asked Jaxom.
"I found them. The Benden Weyrleaders returned them this morning, Benden time."
Robinton hesitated, his foot nearly missing the top step as he led Jaxom to his own quarters. "They were there, though, in that cove, all along? Just as I sur- mised."
"Twenty-five Turns back," and, with no further urg- ing, Jaxom recounted the adventure from the begin- ning. His listener was more sympathetic and attentive than either Lessa or F'lar had been, so Jaxom began to enjoy his unaccustomed role.
"Men?" The Harper, who had been lounging in his chair, one booted foot propped on the table, abruptly came off the end of his spine. His heel rang on the stone floor. "They'd seen men?"
Jaxom was momentarily startled. Whereas the Weryleaders had been alarmed and skeptical, the Master Harper acted almost as if he'd expected this news.
"I've always maintained that we came from the Southern Continent," the Harper said, more to him- self than anyone else. Then he signaled Jaxom to con- tinue.
Jaxom obeyed but was soon aware that only half the Harper's attention was on his narrative, though the man nodded and asked occasional questions. Jaxom told of his and Menolly's safe return to Benden Weyr, remembered to mention his gratitude to Mnementh for permitting Ruth to eat. He fell silent then, wondering how to ask a question of his own of the Harper, but Robinton was frowning at some pri- vate reflections.
"Tell me again what the fire-lizards said about these men," the Harper asked, leaning forward, elbows on the table, eyes fixed on Jaxom. On his shoulder, Zair echoed a querying note.
"They didn't say much, Master Robinton. That's the trouble! They got so excited, they made little sense at all. Menolly could probably tell you more because she had Beauty and the three bronzes with her. But—"
"What did Ruth say?"
Jaxom shrugged, unhappily aware that his half- answers were inadequate.
"He said the images were too confused, even if they were all about men, their men. And we, Menolly and I, weren't their sort of men."
Jaxom reached for the pitcher of klah, to slake the dryness of his mouth. He courteously filled a cup for the Harper who absently drained half of it while deep in thought.
"Men," Master Robinton said again, extending the last consonant and ending the sound with a click of his tongue. He got to his feet in such a fluid motion that Zair squawked, clawing for balance. "Men, and so long ago that the images the fire-lizards retain are vague. That is very interesting, very interesting in- deed."
•The Harper began to pace, stroking Zair, who chit- tered reprovingly.
Jaxom glanced out the window at Ruth, sunning himself in the courtyard, the local fire-lizards clus- tered about him. Jaxom listened idly to the chorus, wondering why they were stopped so often in the Ballad, for he couldn't detect discord in their har- monies. The breeze coming in the window was pleas- ant, soft with summer scents, and he was jerked back to his surroundings when Robinton's hand gripped his shoulder.
"You've done very well, lad, but you'd better get back to Ruatha now. You're half asleep. That time jump took more out of you than I think you realize."
As Master Robinton accompanied Jaxom to the courtyard, he had him rehearse the conversation with the fire-lizards just once more. This time the Harper nodded his head sharply at each point as if to insure accurate recall.
"That you found D'ram and Tiroth safe, Jaxom, is the least of this affair, I think. I knew I was right to involve you and Ruth. Don't be surprised if you hear more from
me on this business, with Lytol's per- mission, of course."
With a final affectionate grip of his arm, Robinton stepped back to let Jaxom mount Ruth, the fire- lizards shrilling their disappointment at the end of their friend's visit. As Ruth obediently climbed higher, Jaxom waved a cheery farewell to the diminishing figure of the Master Harper. Then Jaxom looked down toward the river for Menolly and Sebell. He was annoyed with himself, at the same time, for wanting to know where they were—and further ir- ritated, because, when he did spot them, the inti- macy of their attitude proved that they enjoyed a relationship of which he had been totally unaware.
He did not go straight back to Ruatha Hold. Lytol would not be expecting him at any particular hour. As he also saw no fire-lizards abroad to betray his delinquency, he asked Ruth to take him to the Pla- teau Hold. hi Ruth's cheerful compliance, he won- dered if the white dragon knew his mind better than he did himself.
Now, it was close to midday in western Pem, and Jaxom wondered how he was going to attract Corana's attention without every dependent in the hold knowing of his visit. His need of her was great enough to make him irritable.
She comes, Ruth said, dipping his wing so that Jaxom could see the girl emerging from the hold, walking in the direction of the river, a basket balanced on one shoulder.
What could have been more fortuitous! He told Ruth to take them to the river edge where the women of her hold generally did their washing.
The stream is not very deep, Ruth said casually, but there is a large rock in the sun where I can be comfortable and warm. And before Jaxom could an- swer, he began to glide down to the river, past the rapid boiling waters flowing across treacherously strewn boulders, to the calm pool and the flat stone outcropping. Angling himself neatly so as not to foul his wings in the branches of the heavy shade trees that bordered the river, Ruth landed lightly on the biggest rock. She comes, he repeated, ducking his shoulder so that Jaxom could dismount.
Suddenly Jaxom was assailed by a conflict of de- sires and doubts. Mirrim's angry remarks resounded in his head. Ruth was indeed well beyond the usual age of mating and yet...
She comes and she is good for you. If she is good for you, it is good for me, Ruth said. She makes you feel happy and relaxed and that is good. The sun here makes me warm and happy, too. Go.
Startled by the strength of his weynnate's tone, Jaxom stared up at Ruth's face. The eyes were whirling gently, with the blues and greens of a con- tentment at odds with the force of his voice.
Then Corana reached the last loop in the path to the river's edge and saw him. She dropped her basket, spilling the linen, and ran, embracing him so fiercely, kissing his face and neck with such uninhibited delight, that he was soon too involved to think.
Together they moved toward the soft moss that car- peted the ground beyond the stones, out of sight of the river bank, out of Ruth's actual vision. Corana was as willing and eager as he was to satisfy desires thwarted on his previous visit to the hold. As his hands touched her soft flesh and he felt her body press against his, he wondered briefly if she'd have been as willing a lover had he not been Ruatha's Lord. But he didn't care! He was her lover now! He gave himself to that pursuit with no further reservation. At the precise moment of his release, exquisite to the point of pain, he was aware of a gentle touch and knew, with a sense of relief that enhanced his own, that Ruth was joined to him then, as always.
Chapter XII
Ruatha Hold, Fidello's Hold, Threadfall, 15.7.6
KEEPING A SECRET from one's dragon was not easy. About the only safe time for Jaxom to think of any- thing he didn't wish Ruth to perceive was very late at night when his friend was sound asleep, or in the morning if Jaxom happened to wake before Ruth. He had seldom needed to shield his thought from Ruth, which further complicated and inhibited the process. Then, too, the pace of Jaxom's life—the now-boring training with the weyrling wing, helping Lytol and Brand to gear up the Hold to full sum- mer activity, not to mention excursions to the Pla- teau Hold—caused Jaxom to fall asleep as soon as he pulled his bed furs about his shoulders. Mornings, he was often dragged out of his bed by Tordril or another fosterling just in time to keep appointments.
Nevertheless, the problem of Ruth's maturity cropped up in Jaxom's mind at inconvenient times during his waking hours and had to be rigidly sup- pressed before a hint of his anxiety reached his dragon.
Twice at Fort Weyr, to intensify the problem, a proddy green had taken off on a flight, pursued by such browns and blues as felt able to rise to her. The first time, Jaxom was in the middle of drill sequence and only happened to notice the flight above and beyond the weyrlings' wing. His attention was abruptly diverted from them as a most unconcerned Ruth continued in the wing's maneuver. Jaxom had to grab at the fighting straps to remain in place.
The second time, Jaxom and Ruth were aground when the mating shrieks of a green blooding her kill startled the Weyr. The other weyrlings were immature enough to be disinterested but the weyrlingmaster looked in Jaxom's direction for a long moment. All at once, Jaxom realized that K'nebel was apparently wondering if Jaxom and Ruth were going to join those waiting for the green to launch herself.
Jaxom was assailed by such a gamut of emotions —anxiety, shame, expectation, reluctance, and pure terror—that Ruth reared, wings wide, in alarm.
What has upset you? Ruth demanded, settling to the ground and curving his neck about to regard his rider, his eyes whirling in quick response to Jaxom's emotions.
"I'm all right. I'm all right," Jaxom said hastily, stroking Ruth's head, desperately wanting to ask if Ruth felt at all like flying the green and hoping in a muted whisper deep inside him that Ruth did not!
With a challenging snarl, the green dragon was airborne, the blues and browns after her while she repeated her taunting challenge. Quicker, lighter than any of her prospective mates, her facility strengthened by her sexual readiness, she achieved a conspicuous distance before the first male had become airborne. Then they were all after her. On the killing ground, their riders closed into a knot about the green's rider. All too quickly, challenger and pursuers dwindled to specks in the sky. The riders half-ran, half-stumbled to the Lower Caverns and the chamber reserved there.
Jaxom had never witnessed a mating flight of drag- ons. He swallowed, trying to moisten his dry throat. He felt heart and blood thudding and a tension that he usually experienced only as he held Corana's slender body against him. He suddenly wondered which dragon had flown Mirrim's Path, which rider had—
The touch on his shoulder made him Jump and cry out.
"Well, if Ruth isn't ready to fly, you certainly are, Jaxom," K'nebel said. The weyrlingmaster glanced up at far-distant specks in the sky. "Even a green's mating can be unsettling." K'nebel's expression was under- standing. He nodded at Ruth. "He wasn't interested? No, well, give him time! You'd better be off. Drill was all but over today, anyhow. I've just got to keep these younger ones occupied someplace else when that green gets caught."
Then Jaxom realized that the rest of the wing had dispersed. With a second encouraging clap on Jaxom's back, K'nebel walked off toward his bronze, agilely mounting and urging the beast up toward their weyr.
Jaxom thought of the skybome beasts. Unwillingly he thought of their riders in the inner room, linked to their dragons in an emotional struggle that was re- solved in a strengthening and fusing of the links be- tween dragons and riders. Jaxom thought of Mirrim. And of Corana.
With a groan, he sprang on Ruth's neck, fleeing the emotional atmosphere of Fort Weyr, trying to flee from his sudden realization of what he had probably always known about riders but had only this very morning assimilated.
He had intended to go to the lake to immerse him- self in the cold waters and let that icy shock cure his body and chill the torment in his mind. But Ruth took him instead to the Plateau Hold. "Ruth! The lake. Take me to the lake!" It is better for you to be here right now, was Ruth's astonishing reply. The fire-lizard says the girl is in the upper field. Onc
e again Ruth seized the initiative, gliding toward the field where young grain waved, brilliantly green in the noonday sun, where Corana was diligently hoeing away the tenacious creeper vine that grew from the borders of the field and threatened to strangle the crop.
Ruth achieved a landing on the narrow margin between grain and wall. Corana, recovering from sur- prise at his unexpected arrival, waved a welcome. Instead of rushing toward him as she usually did, she smoothed back her hair and blotted the perspira- tion beading her face.
"Jaxom," she began as he strode toward her, the urgency in his loins increasing at the sight of her, "I wish you wouldn't—"
He silenced her half-teasing scold with a kiss, felt something hard clout him along his side. Pinning her against him with his right arm, he found the offending hoe with his left hand. Wrenching it from her grasp, he spun it away from them. Corana wriggled to get free, as unprepared for this mood in him as he was. He held her closer, trying to temper the pressures rising within him until she could respond. She smelled of the earth and her own sweat. Her hair, covering his face as he kissed her throat and breast, also smelled of sun and sweat, and the odors excited him further. Somewhere in the back of his mind was a green dragon, shrieking her defiance. Somewhere, too close to his need, was that vision of dragonriders in an inner room, waiting, with an excitement that matched his own, waiting until the green dragon had been captured by the fastest, the strongest or the smartest of her pursuers. But it was Corana he was holding in his arms, and Corana who was beginning to respond to his need. They were on the warm ground, the dampness of earth she had just hoed soft under his elbows and knees. The sun was warm on his buttocks as he tried to erase the memory of those riders half-stumbling toward the inner room, and the mocking taunt of a green dragon in flight. He did not resist or deny Ruth's familiar beloved touch as his orgasm released the turmoil of body and mind.
Anne McCaffrey - Pern06 White Dragon Page 22