Dragon Quest

by Anne McCaffrey

  "She, lives," and there was an uncompromising echo of the Farmer's coldness in Lessa's voice.

  "She lives?" The Masterfarmer stopped again, dropping Lessa's arm and staring at her with anger. "She lives? Her throat should be cut, her body ..."

  "She lives, Masterfarmer, with no more mind or wit than a babe. She exists in the prison of her guilt! Dragonfolk take no lives!"

  The Farmer stared hard at Lessa for a moment longer, then nodded slowly. With great courtesy he offered Lessa his arm when she indicated they should continue.

  F'nor did not follow for the events of the day were taking a revenge of fatigue on him.

  He watched as Andemon and Lessa joined the others at the main table, saw the Lemos and Telgar Lords come over. Lytol and young Jaxom with his white Ruth were nowhere to be seen. F'nor hoped Lytol had taken Jaxom back to Ruatha. He was more grateful to his discovery of fire lizards than at any other single time since Grall had first winked at him. He walked quickly toward the steep flight to his weyr, wanting to be with his own. Canth was in his weyr, all but one lid closed over his eyes. When F'nor entered, the final lids sagged shut. F'nor leaned his body against the dragon's neck, his hands seeking the pulsespots in the soft throat, warm and steadying. He could 'hear' the soft loving thoughts of the two lizards curled by Brekke's head.

  How long he stood there he couldn't gauge, his mind rehearsing the Impression, Brekke's release, Jaxom's performance, the dinner, everything that had jammed into one eventful afternoon.

  There was much to be done, certainly, but he felt unable to move from the presence of Canth. Most vividly he recalled Andemon's shock when the man realized that F'lar had proposed the end of dragonmen. Yet, F'lar hadn't. He certainly had some alternate in mind.

  Those grubs, yes, they devoured Thread before it could burrow and proliferate. But they were repulsive to look at and commanded neither respect nor gratitude. They weren't obvious, or awesome, like dragons. People wouldn't see grubs devouring Thread. They wouldn't have the satisfaction of watching dragons flame, sear, char, destroy Thread mid-air before the vicious stuff got to earth. Surely F'lar realized this, knew that men must have the visible proof of Thread's defeat. Would dragonmen become tokens? No! That would make dragonfolk more parasitic than Thread. Such an expedient would be repugnant, insupportable to a man of F'lar's integrity. But what had he in mind?

  The grubs might be the ultimate answer but not, particularly after thousands of Turns of conditioning, not an answer acceptable to Pernese, Holder, Crafter, commoner and dragonman.

  Chapter 16

  For the next few days, F'nor was too busy to worry. Brekke was recovering her strength and insisted that he return to his duties. She prevailed on Manora to permit her to come down to the Lower Caverns and be of some use. So Manora put her to tying off the woof ends of some finished wall hangings where Brekke could also be part of the busy Cavern activities. The fire lizards rarely left her side. Grall twittered with conflicting wishes when F'nor went off on errands, so he would order her to stay with Brekke.

  F'lar estimated correctly that Asgenar and Bendarek would accept any solution that might preserve the forests. But the incredulity and initial resistance he encountered showed him what a monumental task he had undertaken. Both Lord Holder and Craftmaster were frankly contemptuous of his claims until N'ton came in with a panful of live Thread, it could be heard hissing and steaming, and dumped it over a tub of verdant growths. Within a matter of moments, the tangle of Thread which they had seen poured over the fellis saplings had been completely consumed by grubs. Dazed, they even accepted F'lar's assertion that the pierced and smoking leaves would heal in a matter of days.

  There were many things about grubs that the dragonmen did not know, as F'lar was careful to explain. How long it would take them to proliferate so that a given area could be considered 'Threadproof'; the length of the grub life cycle, what density of grub life would be necessary to ensure the chain of protection.

  But they did decide where to start in Lemos Hold: among the precious softwoods so in demand for furniture, so vulnerable to Thread incursion.

  Since the former residents of the Southern Weyr had not been farmcraft trained they had been oblivious to the significance of the larval sacks in the southern woods. It was fall now in the southern hemisphere but F'nor, N'ton and another rider had agreed to jump between to the previous spring. Brekke helped, too, knowing as she did so many facets of the Southern management that she was able to tell them where they would not collide with others in the past. Though farmcraftbred, Brekke had been occupied with nursing during her tenure at Southern, and had deliberately stayed away from the farming aspects of the Weyr to sever connections with her past life.

  Although F'lar did not press Masterfarmer Andemon, he proceeded with his plans as if he had Farmcraft cooperation. Several times, Andemon requested Thread and grubs which would be rushed to him, but he issued no progress reports.

  Mastersmith Fandarel and Terry had been informed of the project and a special demonstration arranged for them. Once he'd conquered the initial revulsion over the grubs and horror at being so close to live Thread, Terry had been as enthusiastic as anyone could wish. The performance of the grubs elicited only a deep grunt from the Mastersmith. He had limited his comments to a scornful criticism of the long-handled hearthpan in which the Thread was captured.

  "Inefficient. Inefficient. You can only open it once to catch the things," and he had taken the pan, stalking off toward his waiting dragon-messenger.

  Terry had been profuse in his assurances that the Mastersmith was undoubtedly impressed and would cooperate in every way. This was indeed a momentous day. His words were cut off by Fandarel's impatient bellow and he'd bowed his way out, still reassuring the somewhat disconcerted Dragonriders.

  "I'd've thought Fandarel would at least have found the grubs efficient," F'lar had remarked.

  "He was struck dumb with amazement?" F'nor suggested.

  "No," and Lessa grimaced, "he was infuriated by inefficiency!"

  They'd laughed and gone on to the next job. That evening a messenger arrived from the Smith Crafthall with the purloined hearthpan and a truly remarkable contrivance. It was bulbous in shape, secured to a long handle from the end of which its lid could be opened, operated by a trigger inside the tubular handle. The lid was the truly ingenious part for it fanned open upward and outward so that Thread would be guided down into the vessel and could not escape if the lid was reopened.

  The messenger also confided to F'lar that the Mastersmith was having difficulties with his distance-writer. All wire must be covered with a protective tubing or Thread cut right through the thinly extruded metal. The Smith had experimented with ceramic and metal casings but he could turn neither out in great or quick enough quantity. With Threadfall coming so frequently now, his halls were besieged with demands to fix flame throwers which clogged or burned out. Ground crews panicked when equipment failed them mid-Fall and it was impossible not to accede to every urgent request for repair. The Lord Holders, promised the distance-writers, as links between help and isolated Holds, began to press for solutions. And for the ultimate, to them, solution: the proposed expedition to the Red Star.

  F'lar had begun to call a council of his intimate advisors and Wing-seconds daily so that no facet of the over-all plan could be lost. They also decided which Lords and Mastercraftsmen could accept the radical knowledge, but had moved cautiously.

  Asgenar told them that Larad of Telgar Hold was far more conservative in his thinking than they'd supposed and that the limited demonstration in the Rooms would not be as powerful a persuader as a protected field under full attack by Thread.

  Unfortunately, Asgenar's young bride, Famira, on a visit to her home, inadvertently made a reference to the project. She'd had the good sense to send her lizard for her Lord who had bodily forced his blood relative to Benden Weyr for a full explanation and demonstration. Larad had been unconvinced and furious with what he called 'a cruel decepti
on and treacherous breach of faith' by dragonmen. When Asgenar then insisted Larad come to the softwood tract that was being protected and had live Thread poured over a sapling, uprooting the young tree to prove that it had been adequately protected, the Telgar Lord Holder's rage began to subside.

  Telgar's broad valleys had been hard hit by the almost constant Threadfalls. Telgar's ground crews were disheartened by the prospect of ceaseless vigilance.

  "Time is what we haven't got," Larad of Telgar had cried when he heard that grub protection would be a long-term project. "We lose fields of grain and root every other day. The men are already weary of fighting Thread interminably, they've little energy for anything. At best we've only the prospect of a lean winter, and I fear for the worst if these past months are any indication."

  "Yes, it's hard to see help so close, and as far away as the life cycle of an insect no larger than the tip of your finger," said Robinton, an integral part of any such confrontation. "He was stroking the little bronze fire lizard which he had Impressed a few days earlier.

  "Or the length of that distance-viewer," Larad said, his lips tight, his face lined with worry. "Has nothing been done about going to the Red Star?"

  "Yes," F'lar replied, holding firmly to an attitude of patient reasonableness. "It's been viewed every clear night. Wansor has trained a wing of watchers and borrowed the most accurate draftsmen from Masterweaver Zurg and the Harper. They've made endless sketches of the masses on the planet. We know its faces now ..."

  "And ..." Larad was adamant.

  "We can see no feature distinct enough to guide the dragons."

  The Lord of Telgar sighed with resignation.

  "We do believe," and F'lar caught N'ton's eyes since the young bronze rider did as much of the investigating as Wansor, "that these frequent Falls will taper off in a few more months."

  "Taper off? How can you tell that?" Hope conflicted with suspicion in the Telgar Lord's face.

  "Wansor is of the opinion that the other planets in our sky have been affecting the Red Star's motion; slowing it, pulling it from several directions. We have near neighbors, you see; one is now slightly below the middle of our planet, two above and beyond the Red Star, a rare conjunction. Once the planets move away, Wansor believes the old routine of Threadfall will be established."

  "In a few months? But that won't do us any good. And can you be sure?"

  "No, we can't be sure, which is why we have not announced Wansor's theory. But we'll be certain in a few more weeks." F'lar held up his hand to interrupt Larad's protests. "You've surely noticed the brightest stars, which are our sister planets, move from west to east during the year. Look tonight, you'll see the blue one slightly above the green one, and very brilliant. And the Red Star below them. Now, remember the diagram in the Fort Weyr Council Room? We're positive that that is the diagram of skies around our sun. And you've watched your fosterlings play stringball. You've played it yourself. Substitute the planets for the balls, the sun for the swinger, and you get the general idea. Some balls swing more rapidly than others, depending on the speed of the swing, the length and tension of the cord. Basically, the principle of the stars around the sun is the same."

  Robinton had been sketching on a leaf and passed the diagram over to Larad.

  "I must see this in the skies for myself," the Telgar Lord replied, not giving an inch.

  "It's a sight, I assure you," Asgenar said. "I've become fascinated with the study and if," he grinned, his thin face suddenly all creases and teeth, "Wansor ever has time to duplicate that distance-viewer, I want one on Lemos' fire height. We're at a good altitude to see the northern heavens. I'd like to see those showering stars we get every summer through a distance-viewer!"

  Larad snorted at the notion.

  "No, it's fascinating," Asgenar protested, his eyes dancing with enthusiasm. Then he added in a different tone, "Nor am I the only one beguiled by such studies. Every time I go to Fort I'm contending with Meron of Nabol for a chance to use the viewer."

  "Nabol?"

  Asgenar was a little surprised at the impact of his casual remark.

  "Yes, Nabol's forever at the viewer. Apparently he's more determined than any dragonrider to find coordinates." No one else shared his amusement.

  F'lar looked inquiringly at N'ton.

  "Yes, he's there all right. If he weren't a Lord Holder, " and N'ton shrugged

  "Why? Does he say why?"

  N'ton shrugged again "He says he's looking for coordinates. But so are we. There aren't any features distinct enough. Just shapeless masses of gray and dark gray-greens. They don't change and while it's obvious they're stable, are they land? Or sea?" N'ton began to feel the accusatory tension in the room and shifted his feet. "So often the face is obscured by those heavy clouds. Discouraging."

  "Is Meron discouraged?" asked F'lar pointedly.

  "I'm not sure I like your attitude, Benden," Larad said, his expression hard. "You don't appear eager to discover any coordinates."

  "F'lar looked Larad full in the eyes. "I thought we'd explained the problem involved. We have to know where we're going before we can send the dragons." He pointed to the green lizard perched on Larad's shoulder. "You've been trying to train your fire lizard. You can appreciate the difficulty." Larad stiffened defensively and his lizard hissed, its eyes rolling. F'lar was not put off. 'The fact that no Records exist of any previous attempt to go there strongly indicates that the ancients, who built the distance-viewer, who knew enough to plot the neighbors in our sky, did not go. They must have had a reason, a valid reason. What would you have Me do, Larad?" F'lar demanded, pacing in his agitation. "Ask for volunteers? You, you and you," F'lar whirled, jabbing a finger at an imaginary line of riders, "you go, jump between to the Red Star. Coordinates? Sorry, men, I have none. Tell your dragons to take a long look halfway there. If you don't come back, we'll keen to the Red Star for your deaths. But men, you'll die knowing you've solved our problem. Men can't go to the Red Star." Larad flushed under F'lar's sarcasm.

  "If the ancients didn't record any intimate knowledge of the Red Star," said Robinton quietly into the charged silence, "they did provide domestic solutions. The dragons, and the grubs."

  "Neither proves to be effective protection right now, when we need it," Larad replied in a bitter, discouraged voice. "Pern needs something more conclusive than promises, and insects!" He abruptly left the Rooms.

  Asgenar, a protest on his lips, started to follow but F'lar stopped him.

  "He's in no mood to be reasonable, Asgenar," F'lar said, his face strained with anxiety. "If he won't be reassured by today's demonstrations, I don't know what more we can do or say."

  "It's the loss of the summer crops which bothers him," Asgenar said. "Telgar Hold has been spreading out, you know. Larad's attracted many of the small Holders who've been dissatisfied in Nerat, Crom and Nabol and switched their allegiances. If the crops fail, he's going to have more hungry people, and more trouble, than he can handle in the winter."

  "But what more can we do?" demanded F'lar, a desperate note in his voice. He tired so easily. The fever had left him little reserve strength, a state he found more frustrating than any other problem. Larad's obduracy had been an unexpected disappointment. They'd been so lucky with every other man approached.

  "I know you can't send men on a blind jump to the Red Star," Asgenar said, distressed by F'lar's anxiety. "I've tried to tell my Rial where I want him to go. He gets frantic at times because he can't see it clearly enough. Just wait until Larad starts sending his lizard about. He'll understand. You see, what bothers him most is the realization that you can't plan an attack on the Red Star."

  "Your initial mistake, my dear F'lar," and the Harper's voice was at its drollest, "was in providing salvation from the last imminent disaster in a scant three days by bringing up the Five Lost Weyrs. The Lord Holders really expect you to provide a second miracle in similar short order."

  The remark was so preposterous that F'nor laughed out loud bef
ore he could stop himself. But the tension and anxiety dissolved and the worried men regained some needed perspective.

  "Time is all we need," F'lar insisted.

  "Time is what we don't have," Asgenar said wearily.

  "Then let's use what time we have to the best possible advantage," F'lar said decisively, his moment of doubt and disillusion behind him. "Let's work on Telgar. F'nor, how many riders can T'bor spare us to hunt larval sacks between time at Southern? You and N'ton can work out coordinates with them."

  "Won't that weaken Southern's protection?" asked Robinton.

  "No, because N'ton keeps his eyes open. He noticed that a lot of sacks started in the fall get blown down or devoured during the winter months. So we've altered our methods. We check an area in spring to place the sacks that survive, go back to the fall and take some of those which didn't last. There were a few wherries who missed a meal but I don't think we disturbed the balance much."

  F'lar began to pace, one hand absently scratching his ribs where the scar tissues itched.

  "I need someone to keep an eye on Nabol, too."

  Robinton let out a snort of amusement. "We do seem beholden to the oddest agencies. Grub life. Meron. Oh yes," and he chuckled at their irritation, "He may yet prove to be an asset. Let him strain his eyes and crick his neck nightly watching the Red Star. As long as he is occupied that way, we'll know we have time. The eyes of a vengeful man miss few details he can turn to advantage."

  "Good point, Robinton. N'ton," and F'lar turned to the young bronze rider. "I want to know every remark that man makes, which aspects of the Red Star he views, what he could possibly see, what his reactions are. We've ignored that man too often to our regret. We might even be grateful to him."

  "I'd rather be grateful to grubs," N'ton replied with some fervor. "Frankly, sir," he added, hesitant for the first time about any assignment since he'd been included in the council, ' I'd rather hunt grubs or catch Thread."

  F'lar eyed the young rider thoughtfully for a moment.