Sky Dragons: Dragonriders of Pern

by Anne McCaffrey

  Xhinna swore; she should have thought of that. Bekka smiled at her, shaking her head. “You’re doing fine. K’dan, Colfet, and I will stay with her and J’riz. We’ll see how she’s doing in the morning. Then we can see about rigging a wagon or something to move her.”

  “She’ll still be here in the morning?” Xhinna asked, pitching her voice for Bekka’s ears alone.

  “We’ll do our best,” the young healer told her earnestly.

  The night on the promontory was colder than Xhinna had feared. She, Taria, and R’ney kept watch in rotation. Xhinna jumped at every untoward sound. When the sun finally broke through the cloud layer at dawn, her eyes had dark circles under them from fatigue.

  “I’m going to check on the others,” she said as soon as she was certain that Taria was awake. She jumped up on Tazith, and in a moment she was fighting off the bracing cold of between—and then, just as quickly, she emerged in the air over their old camp.

  The fire had gone out. There was no sign of K’dan, J’riz, Bekka, and Colfet. They were gone.

  Desperation mounting, she had Tazith fly in a widening circle. She checked every one of their old ship-dwellings; Tazith called for Pinorth, for Lurenth, for Qinth, but got no response. Xhinna directed Tazith to fly out to the sea, where she searched for a sail but found none. Finally, in response to Coranth’s increasingly nervous queries, she returned to the cold stone promontory.

  K’dan had insisted that she take the twins with her and now, as she burst out over the small camp, she saw the two of them looking up, scanning the skies wildly, and her heart sank.

  What do I tell them? she asked herself forlornly. What do I say to Fiona?

  She thought of her friend, of her incandescent cheer, and decided that she’d do what Fiona would do in the same situation—she’d lie for all she was worth.

  “Your father has gone on,” Xhinna told Tiona when she asked. “He said that you’ll get to stay with us for a while until he’s ready.”

  “Okay,” Tiona said easily enough. The little toddler was very much her mother’s daughter: Fiona would likely have said the same, and just as easily.

  Even though he had his mother’s blond hair and sea-green eyes, in temperament Kimar was more like his father. The toddler was quiet, preferring to watch and absorb. As he grew older he had begun to spend more time caring for his twin, keeping her from the worst of her own excesses. Tiona accepted this as just another part of the world she lived in, neither fighting nor accepting too much her brother’s restraining behaviors. Both were just coming up to the third Turn of their young lives. Because they had grown up in the constant company of adults, they were more mature than their age suggested, seeming more a steady three or a young four.

  Kimar gave Xhinna a probing look, then turned to Tiona and hit her, hard.

  “Kimar!” Taria exclaimed. “Why did you do that?”

  Kimar shrugged just as Tiona went for his hair. Before another blow could be exchanged, Xhinna grabbed him and pulled him away from his furious sister, who had begun to growl in near-perfect imitation of a Mrreow.

  No, it was a Mrreow. The tawny long-furred thing came charging straight for Tiona only to find itself blocked by Taria’s swinging leg and pummeled by the fist of her free hand.

  R’ney came charging in with a poker from the fire, and the Mrreow, deprived of easy prey, veered off and loped away.

  As Xhinna’s breathing returned to normal and she saw that no one was harmed, she wondered why it was that the normally peaceful Kimar had chosen exactly that moment to hit his sister. Had he somehow known of or sensed the Mrreow’s impending assault? Certainly, if the toddlers hadn’t been so firmly in adult arms, one—or even both—of them would have fallen to the Mrreow’s claws or fangs.

  “We’re getting out of here,” Xhinna announced. She turned to R’ney. “Organize the weyrlings, get the dragonets in the center of a circle with their riders facing out. Build up the fire, start plenty of pokers heating up.”

  The ex-smithcrafter nodded and turned back to the other weyrlings who’d only now had time to realize their peril.

  “Taria, can you and Coranth fly guard?” Xhinna asked.

  “Yes,” Taria said instantly, handing Tiona to Xhinna and turning toward her dragon. Then she paused to call over her shoulder, “What about you?”

  “I’m going to take these two—” Xhinna jounced the toddlers in her arms. “—and scout us a new home.”

  Taria waved and was aloft on Coranth before Xhinna had reached Tazith.

  Can you carry us all? Xhinna asked, as she hoisted first Tiona and then Kimar up onto the blue’s neck. She couldn’t have managed that if Tazith had even been a small brown, but the blue was of a size that, on tiptoe and with a bounce, she could just reach his neck.

  Certainly, Tazith replied and again Xhinna marveled at just how right his voice was to her, how perfect his blue hide was, how marvelous his whirling eyes were, how steady he made her feel. She might be a girl, but she was built to ride Tazith just as he had been born to carry her. Deftly she tied the twins one in front of the other on the narrowest part of Tazith’s neck.

  The blue lifted them effortlessly and, at Xhinna’s direction, started south toward the end of the western half of the great island. The twins, lulled by the steady beat of Tazith’s wings, were soon asleep, leaving Xhinna to scan for likely places without distraction.

  She found nothing worthy of note. She hadn’t expected to: Lorana and Kindan—before he’d Impressed and become K’dan—had scoured the whole island.

  She came to the great sea-filled rift that separated the two islands—Eastern Isle and Western Isle. Why had Fiona warned them to stay away from the western one? Was that strange note that had been found mysteriously at Eastern Weyr because Fiona somehow knew that they would need to use the Western Isle now?

  How had she known? Xhinna wondered. Clearly it was a Fiona from a different time and that could only mean from the future because if it had come from Fiona in the past she would have known and told them. Had that future come? Was Fiona on the western island already?

  Coranth is worried about us, Tazith relayed.

  We’re coming back, Xhinna said. She shook the two toddlers back out of their drowsiness long enough to tell them that they would be going between back to the camp so that they wouldn’t wake, terrified, in the cold darknes that was between. Kimar nodded sleepily and closed his eyes once more; Tiona perked up and took several deep breaths in anticipation.

  “Can we do that again?” she asked when they’d returned from between and spiraled down to the camp.

  “We’ll see,” Xhinna temporized, her eyes on the distant horizon. She had Tazith check his Turn as she peered into the distance. Something was falling, streaming down—

  “Thread!”

  TWO

  Flight to the Past

  Taria looked up as she heard Xhinna’s shout.

  “Thread?” R’ney repeated in surprise.

  “We’ve got to get out of here,” Xhinna said, as she came running toward them. Two dragons alone with no firestone were no match for a Fall of Thread, which was normally met by no less than ninety well-trained fighting dragons.

  “Where?” Taria asked.

  “Are you sure it’s Thread?” R’ney asked.

  “Sure enough that we’ve got to leave.”

  “Very well,” R’ney said, glancing nervously around the small camp. “I trust you to be right, blue rider.”

  “Where?” Taria repeated.

  “When,” Xhinna corrected her with a shake of her head. “How many hatchlings can Coranth carry?”

  “Two or three.”

  “Make it two—can you carry the riders, as well?”

  “Yes,” Taria said. Turning to R’ney, she added, “Can you help us rig the slings again?”

  Tazith carried three dragonets and their riders, Coranth two. They were airborne before Xhinna had an answer to the question of where.

  Tazith, go here, she s
aid, picturing a night sky over the channel between the Eastern and Western Isles. She examined the image carefully to be certain that it was three Turns in the past, carefully placing the stars to their positions back in time.

  I can go there, Tazith told her, and in an instant, they were between. Five coughs later, a blue and a green hovered, motionless, over the Big Channel.

  There, Xhinna said, directing Tazith toward a spot on the Western Isle midway up the length of the channel. The Eastern Isle had proved unusable; at least there was a chance that the Western Isle was more viable. Land there.

  They unloaded their passengers and returned between for the next load.

  On their fourth journey, they had only three hatchlings to carry back—which was just as well, as both Xhinna and Taria were bone-weary, though both dragons insisted they still had energy to spare.

  After settling his Rowerth into the sling carried by Tazith, R’ney handed Tiona and Kimar up to Xhinna and then climbed on himself. The sound of Thread hissing could be heard nearby. A Mrreow suddenly burst from the undergrowth, driven by fear, and charged toward them.

  Now! Xhinna cried to her blue. Tazith strained to get airborne. Behind them, she heard Taria cry out and Coranth bellow in pain. And then they were airborne and between.

  Coranth bellowed again when they broke out in the starlit sky above the Big Channel.

  Tazith landed first, and Xhinna wasted no time in directing the unloading. Coranth landed with another pained cry just behind them, and Xhinna raced to the green’s side.

  “A Mrreow got her!” Taria cried, tears streaming down her face.

  The Mrreow had managed to dig its claws into one of Coranth’s hind legs just after she’d jumped into the air. The cuts were deep and long.

  Xhinna looked around for an aid kit, but realized that they’d had no time to organize their supplies.

  “Get a blanket,” she snapped to the person nearest her. “We’ll use it to bind her wounds.”

  It was the best they could do. With Coranth’s wounds bound up, the green’s keening ceased and she fell into an uneasy sleep. Xhinna fought hard against the fatigue of so many quick jumps between time.

  “I’ll take watch,” R’ney offered. “You rest—you look as green as Coranth.”

  Xhinna didn’t have the energy to argue, merely nodding and trudging over to the twins. She lay down beside them and let their comforting presence warm her. A moment later, Taria joined them. Xhinna pulled Taria’s head against her shoulder, and soon they were all asleep.

  Xhinna woke at dawn to the sound of the twins giggling. She opened her eyes blearily, and then jumped bolt upright.

  “You were supposed to wake me!” she called to R’ney. The brown rider had bags under his eyes, but he was busily making faces for the amusement of the twins.

  “We’re hungry,” Tiona said, looking up at Xhinna. Xhinna noted that the toddler used “we” when she wanted to emphasize something, as if adding her brother would lend weight to her point.

  “There’s food in the trees, probably,” R’ney said, casting his gaze over the taller trees that grew up beyond the lower brush. “I think I recognize that one from Eastern.”

  “You were supposed to be resting,” Xhinna snapped irritably. She glanced down. Taria was still fast asleep. She debated waking her, but decided against it. Tazith was sleeping with Coranth, curled around her protectively. The green seemed comfortable; waking her rider might wake her.

  Xhinna made her decision, telling R’ney, “You stay here, I’ll scout.”

  R’ney nodded, turning back to the twins and starting to lead them on a circuit around their makeshift camp. With a smile for his skillful handling of the children, she started off toward the distant treeline.

  The brush was not much different than back on the Eastern Isle, Xhinna noted as she walked through it, her eyes scanning for signs of tunnel snakes or Mrreows. She saw what might have been a tunnel snake hole, but it could also have been the dwelling of any one of Pern’s other subterranean beasts. Still, she gave it a wide berth; they had too few supplies and fit riders for her to risk injury.

  Xhinna grinned when she spotted a grove of the large-leafed trees that bore the hard nutfruit. It took some ingenuity for her to climb high enough to reach the large nuts and deft work with her belt knife to cut them down, but after a few minutes, she had two ready to bring back to the camp.

  “Nutfruit!” cried Taria, who had been woken by the giggling of the twins, as she spotted Xhinna returning. “Where did you find them?”

  Xhinna pointed, and soon a large party set out to fetch more. The leafy outer covering of the nutfruit could be hacked away to reveal a hard-shelled nut. Inside, there was a thin, milky-white liquid—it could be drunk alone, but it was better when infused with mint or some of the other edible leaves they’d found on the Great Isle. The white flesh could be scraped off and eaten. It had a taste all its own.

  “This isn’t a good place to stay,” R’ney remarked quietly to her when his next circuit brought him close by.

  Xhinna nodded. “When everyone’s fed, we’ll start scouting.”

  “We?” R’ney asked, glancing pointedly at Coranth.

  “We,” Xhinna repeated, indicating the whole group. “We need meat for the hatchlings. We’ll have to send out a hunting party and a fishing party, while I scout for a better camp.”

  R’ney nodded, but then his eyes cut toward Coranth. “And when we have to move?”

  Xhinna sighed and shook her head. “I don’t know. Coranth will need more than a month to heal.” She pursed her lips. “Maybe Tazith can help her into the air.”

  “Maybe,” R’ney said dubiously. “But you’d have to carry all the others.”

  “Tazith is strong for his size,” Xhinna declared staunchly. She couldn’t help but turn toward the sturdy blue, who craned his neck up and lowered his head to peer at her, his multifaceted eyes whirling green with pride and confidence in his rider.

  In that moment, with her dragon gazing at her with such adoration, Xhinna realized that everyone in the camp was looking to her. She was responsible for all six of the newest queens on Pern, more precious than anything, and fifteen bronzes who were just as valuable. And Fiona’s children. As well as R’ney’s brown Rowerth and J’riz’s ailing green Qinth—along with K’dan and all the others who had so mysteriously disappeared. The weight of their loss bore heavily on her. And now, because of Coranth’s injury, she was also responsible for Taria’s green.

  Xhinna straightened her shoulders as she nodded to R’ney. She thought she understood now how Fiona had felt when she’d gone to Igen Weyr. The weight of responsibility seemed both to crush her and buoy her up. She could not fail.

  “We’re three Turns back in time,” she said. “We’re safe from Thread. We can find a camp, find food, settle in, and let these weyrlings grow until help comes.” She nodded firmly toward R’ney. “And, if need be, we can survive until we return with all our dragons fully grown and ready to fight Thread.”

  To keep the twins out of mischief, Xhinna brought them with her when she went scouting. Once aloft, she set a course northward along the coastline. She wanted to find something like a Weyr, a safe rocky place up high where neither Mrreows nor tunnel snakes could threaten them. She searched in vain for over an hour. Tiona had fallen asleep only to be pinched awake by her brother and was now presently bawling quietly to herself. Xhinna tried to ignore both children as she strained to scan the land below.

  “Those trees are funny,” Tiona said suddenly, pointing. “They’re upside down.”

  “Broom trees,” Xhinna said, following an imaginary line from Tiona’s finger to its distant target. Silently, she asked Tazith to change direction. The blue complied with alacrity, spinning on a wing tip in a maneuver that still thrilled Xhinna and drew excited shrieks from the twins. “They grow larger at the top, like they were an upside-down broom.”

  “There are more branches at the top than the bottom,” Tiona agreed.


  “You could almost sleep in them,” Kimar said in awe as they drew nearer to the trees.

  “I’ve never seen them so close together,” Xhinna said.

  “Could Tazith sleep there?” Tiona wondered. “It looks itchy.”

  “Let’s see,” Xhinna said, the beginnings of a mad plan forming in her mind. She urged Tazith closer and the four of them inspected the forest. The broom trees, growing in a ring near the top of one of the taller hills in the area, were so close together that they formed a near-level canopy tens of meters above the forest floor.

  How about it, Tazith? Xhinna asked her blue. In response, Tazith descended and lightly touched down on one of the sturdier trees.

  “Xhinna,” Kimar asked, “could we live here?”

  “Let’s see,” Xhinna said, throwing one leg over Tazith’s neck and carefully climbing down. She had a moment’s fright as her foot almost slipped off the first branch, but soon, as she learned to choose her position carefully, she found herself at relative ease traversing the dense tops of the broom trees.

  The leaves were thick and prickly, but not so much that they hurt. She heard a noise above her and saw Tiona scampering down Tazith’s side.

  “Careful!” Xhinna called, reaching out to guide the girl’s foot onto a thicker cluster of leaves. Kimar followed after, and only on Xhinna’s invitation.

  “This is nice,” Tiona said, as she spread herself out over a thicker cluster of leaves, then, “Ouch!” as one of the pricklers stuck her cheek.

  “Careful,” Kimar said in an imitation of Xhinna’s voice. Tiona gave him an irritated look, but Kimar ignored her, asking Xhinna, “Can we climb down?”

  “Let’s see,” Xhinna said, looking for a way through the thick leaves. It was Tiona who found it, quickly bored with pretending to sleep and idly examining the canopy for an opening. In an instant she was through, calling, “Race you to the bottom!”

  “Tiona!” Xhinna called. “Come back here this instant!”

  The toddler’s head popped up through the canopy, her sea-green eyes wary.