Dragonsong (16 page)

‘This is Rill, Harper,’ G’sel said, extending his arm to Elgion. ‘Rill, be courteous; he’s a Harper.’

With great dignity the fire lizard extended his wings, executing what Elgion construed to be a bow, while the jeweled eyes regarded him intently. Not knowing how one saluted a fire lizard, Elgion tentatively extended his hand.

‘Scratch his eye ridges,’ G’sel suggested. ‘They all love that.’

To Elgion’s delight and amazement, the fire lizard accepted the caress, and as Elgion’s stroking eased an itch, Rill’s eyelids began to close in sensuous pleasure.

‘He’s another convert,’ said T’gellan, laughing and pulling out his chair. The noise roused the fire lizard from somnolence and he hissed softly at T’gellan. ‘They’re bold creatures, too, you’ll notice, Harper, with no respect for degree.’

This was evidently an old jibe, for G’sel, seating himself, paid it no heed, but coaxed Rill to step on to a padded shoulder rest so he could eat the dinner now being served.

‘How much do they understand?’ Elgion asked, taking the chair opposite G’sel so he could see Rill better.

‘To hear Mirrim talk about her three, everything.’

T’gellan snorted with good-natured derision.

‘I can ask Rill to carry a message to any place he’s already been. No, to a
person
he knows at another Hold or Weyr I’ve taken him to. He follows me no matter where I go. Even during Threadfall.’ At T’gellan’s snort, G’sel added, ‘I told you to watch today, T’gellan. Rill was with us.’

‘Yes, so tell Elgion how long it takes Rill to come back from delivering a message.’

‘All right, all right,’ said G’sel with a laugh as he stroked Rill affectionately. ‘And when you’ve one of your own, T’gellan …’

‘Possibly, possibly,’ the bronze rider said
easily.
‘Unless Elgion here finds us another clutch, we’ll just have to stay jealous of you.’

T’gellan changed the subject then to ask about Half-Circle Hold, general questions that did not embarrass or compromise Elgion. T’gellan evidently knew Yanus’s reputation.

‘If you feel too isolated there, Harper, don’t fail to fly the signal and we’ll pop you up for an evening here.’

‘Hatching’s soon,’ G’sel suggested, grinning and giving Elgion a wink.

‘He’ll be here for that certainly,’ T’gellan agreed.

Then Rill creeled for a bite to eat while the bronze rider chided G’sel for turning the lizard into an importunate beggar. Elgion noticed T’gellan, himself, finding a titbit for the little bronze, however, and he, too, offered Rill some meat, which the creature daintily accepted from the knife.

By the end of the meal Elgion was ready to brave Yanus’s worst displeasure and wrath to find a fire lizard clutch and Impress a fire lizard of his own. That prospect made his inevitable return easier.

‘I’d better do you the honors, Elgion,’ T’gellan said, rising at last from the table. ‘And I’d also better get you back early. No sense aggravating Yanus more than necessary.’

Elgion wasn’t certain how to take that remark or the wink that accompanied it, particularly as it was now full dark and for all he knew, the Hold doors were already barred for the night. Too late now to wish he’d gone back as soon as the dragonriders had returned from the Fall. But then he wouldn’t have met Rill.

They were aloft, Elgion reveling in the experience, craning his head to see as much as possible in the clear night air. He had only a glimpse of the Higher Benden Range hills before T’gellan asked Monarth to take them
between
.

Suddenly, it was no longer full dark: the sun was a handspan above the glowing sea as they burst into the air above Half-Circle Harbor.

‘Told you I’d get you back early,’ T’gellan said, turning to grin at the Harper’s startled exclamation. ‘We’re not supposed to time it, but all in a good cause.’

Monarth circled down lazily so that everyone in the Sea Hold was gathered on the holdway when they landed. Yanus strode a few paces ahead of the others while Elgion searched the faces for Alemi’s.

T’gellan leaped from the bronze’s shoulder and made a show of assisting Elgion as the
entire
Hold cheered loudly for their Harper’s safe return.

‘I’m neither crippled nor old,’ Elgion muttered under his breath, aware of Yanus’s approach. ‘Don’t overdo it.’

T’gellan laid his arm across Elgion’s shoulders in a comradely fashion, beaming at the oncoming Sea Holder. ‘Not at all,’ he said out of the corner of his mouth. ‘The Weyr approves!’

‘Sea Holder, I am profoundly embarrassed at the inconvenience …’

‘No, Harper Elgion,’ T’gellan interrupted him, ‘any apologies are the Weyr’s. You were adamant in wishing to return to Half-Circle immediately. But Lessa needed to have his report, Yanus, so we had to wait.’

Whatever Yanus had been about to say to his erring Harper was neatly blocked by T’gellan’s obvious approval. The Sea Holder rocked a bit on his feet, blinking as he reorganized his thoughts.

‘Any fire lizard sign you discover must be made known to the Weyr as soon as possible,’ T’gellan continued blithely.

‘Then that tale is true?’ Yanus asked in a grumble of disbelief. ‘Those … those creatures do exist?’

‘They do indeed, sir,’ Elgion replied warmly.
‘I
have seen, touched and fed a bronze fire lizard; his name is Rill. He’s about as big as my forearm …’

‘You did? He is?’ Alemi had pushed through the crowd, breathless from excitement and the exercise of hobbling as fast as he could down the holdway. ‘Then you did find something in the cave?’

‘The cave?’ Elgion had forgotten all about his original destination that morning.

‘What cave?’ demanded T’gellan.

‘The cave …’ and Elgion gulped and then boldly embroidered on the lie T’gellan had begun, ‘I told Lessa about. Surely you were in the room then.’

‘What cave?’ demanded Yanus, stepping close to the younger men, his voice half-angry because he was being excluded from the conversation.

‘The cave that Alemi and I spotted on the shore near the Dragon Stones,’ Elgion said, trying to give the proper cues. ‘Alemi,’ Elgion had to address T’gellan now, ‘is the Sea Man who saw the fire lizards last spring near the Dragon Stones. Two – three days back, we sailed down the coast and saw the cave. That’s where I think it’s likely we’ll find fire lizard eggs.’

‘Well, then, since you’re now safely in your Hold, Harper Elgion, I will leave you.’ T’gellan
couldn’t
wait to get back to Monarth. And the cave.

‘You’ll let us know if you find anything, won’t you?’ Elgion called after him and received only a wild arm gesture before the bronze rider swung himself up to Monarth’s back.

‘We offered him no hospitality for his trouble in returning you,’ Yanus said, worried and somewhat aggrieved by the bronze rider’s precipitous departure.

‘He’d just eaten,’ Elgion replied, as the bronze dragon beat his way upward above the sunset-lit waters of the harbor.

‘So early?’

‘Ah, he’d been fighting Thread. And he’s wingleader, so he must be back at the Weyr.’

That did impress Yanus.

Rider and dragon winked out, drawing a startled exclamation of delight from everyone. Alemi caught Elgion’s eye, and the Harper had to suppress his grin: he’d share the full jest with Alemi later. Only would the joke be on himself if after all the half-truths T’gellan found fire lizard eggs … or a piper … in the cave?

‘Harper Elgion,’ said Yanus firmly, waving the rest of the holders away from them as he pointed to the Hold doors. ‘Harper Elgion, I’d be grateful for a few words of explanation.’

‘Indeed, sir, and I’ve much to report to you of happenings in the Weyr.’ Elgion respectfully followed the Sea Holder. He knew now how to deal with Yanus with no further recourse to evasions or lies.

Chapter 10

Then my feet took off and my legs went, too
,

So my body was obliged to follow

Me with my hands and my mouth full of cress

And my throat too dry to swallow
.

WHEN MENOLLY ROUSED
, she was in a quiet dark place and something crooned comfortingly in her ear. She knew it was Beauty, but she wondered how she could be so warm all over. She moved, and her feet felt big, stuffed and very sore.

She must have made some sound because she heard a soft movement and then the glow in the corner of the room was half-unshielded.

‘Are you comfortable? Are your feet painful?’

The warmth beside Menolly’s ear disappeared. Clever Beauty, Menolly thought with approval after an instant’s fear of discovery.

Someone was bending over Menolly now, securing the sleeping furs about her shoulders; someone whose hands were gentle, soothing, who smelled of clean herbs and faintly of numbweed.

‘They only hurt a little,’ Menolly replied untruthfully because her feet had taken to throbbing so hard she was afraid the woman could hear them.

Her soft murmur and her gentle hands denied Menolly’s stoicism.

‘You must surely be hungry. You’ve slept all day.’

‘I have?’

‘We gave you fellis juice. You’d run your feet to ribbons …’ There was a slight hesitation in the woman’s voice. ‘They’ll be fine in a sevenday. No serious cuts.’ The quiet voice held a ripple of amusement. ‘T’gran is convinced you’re the fastest … runner in Pern.’

‘I’m not a runner. I’m just a girl.’

‘Not “just” a girl. I’ll get you something to eat. And then it’s best if you sleep again.’

Alone, Menolly tried not to think of her throbbing feet and a body which felt stone-heavy, immobile. She worried for fear Beauty or some of the others would come and be discovered by the weyrwoman, and what would
happen
to Lazy with no-one to make him hunt for himself and …

‘I’m Manora,’ the woman said as she returned with a bowl of steaming stew and a mug. ‘You realize that you’re at Benden Weyr? Good. You may stay here, you know, as long as you wish.’

‘I can?’ A relief as intense as the pain in her feet flooded Menolly.

‘Yes, you can,’ and the firmness of that reply made that right inalienable.

‘Menolly is my name …’ She hesitated because Manora was nodding. ‘How did you know?’

Manora motioned for her to continue eating. ‘I’ve seen you at Half-Circle, you know, and the Harper asked the wingleader to keep search for you … after you disappeared. We won’t discuss that now, Menolly, but I do assure you that you can stay at Benden.’

‘Please don’t
tell
them …’

‘As you wish. Finish your stew and take all the drink. You must sleep to heal.’

She left as noiselessly as she’d come, but Menolly was reassured. Manora was headwoman at Benden Weyr, and what she said was so.

The stew was delicious, thick with meat chunks and satisfying with herb flavors. She’d
almost
finished it when she heard a faint rustle and Beauty returned, piteously broadcasting hunger. With a sigh, Menolly pushed the bowl under the little queen’s nose. Beauty licked it dry, then hummed softly and rubbed her face against Menolly’s cheek.

‘Where are the others?’ Menolly asked, worriedly.

The little queen gave another hum and began to curl herself up in a ball by Menolly’s shoulder. She wouldn’t have been so relaxed if the others were in trouble, Menolly thought, as she sipped the fellis juice.

‘Beauty,’ Menolly whispered, nudging the queen, ‘if anyone comes, you go. You mustn’t be seen here. Do you understand?’

The queen rustled her wings irritably.

‘Beauty, you mustn’t be seen.’ Menolly spoke as sternly as she could, and the queen opened one eye, which whirled slowly. ‘Oh dear, won’t you understand?’ The queen gave a soft reassuring croon and then closed both lids.

The fellis juice was already melting Menolly’s limbs into weightlessness. The dreadful throb of her feet eased. As her eyes relentlessly closed, Menolly had one last thought: how had Beauty known where she was?

* * *

When Menolly woke, it was to hear faint sounds of children laughing, an infectious laughter that made her grin and wonder what caused such happiness. Beauty was gone but the space where she’d lain by Menolly’s head was warm to the touch. The curtain across the cubicle parted and a figure was silhouetted against the light beyond.

‘What’s the matter with you all of a sudden, Reppa?’ the girl said softly to someone Menolly couldn’t see. ‘Oh, all right. I’m well rid of you for now.’ She turned and saw Menolly looking at her. ‘How do you feel today?’ As she adjusted the glow for full light, Menolly saw a girl about her own age, dark hair tied primly back from a face that was sad, tired and oddly mature. Then she smiled, and the impression of maturity dissolved. ‘Did you really run across Nerat?’

‘I really didn’t, although my feet feel as if
they
had.’

‘Imagine it! And you holdbred and out during a Fall!’ There was a grudging respect in her voice.

‘I was running for shelter,’ Menolly felt obliged to say.

‘Speaking of running, Manora couldn’t come to see you herself right now so you’re in my
charge
. She’s told me exactly what to do,’ and the girl grimaced with such feeling that Menolly had a swift vision of Manora delivering her precise and careful instructions, ‘and I’ve had a lot of experience …’ An expression of pain and anxiety crossed her face.

‘Are you Manora’s fosterling?’ asked Menolly politely.

The expression deepened for a moment, and then the girl erased all expression from her face, drawing her shoulders up with pride. ‘No, I’m Brekke’s. My name is Mirrim. I used to be in the Southern Weyr.’

She made the statement as if that should make all plain to Menolly.

‘You mean, in the Southern Continent?’

‘Yes,’ and Mirrim sounded irritated.

‘I didn’t know anyone lived there.’ The words were no sooner out of her mouth than Menolly remembered some snippet of information overheard in conversations between Petiron and her father.

‘Where have you
been
all your life?’ demanded Mirrim, exasperated.

‘In Half-Circle Sea Hold,’ Menolly replied meekly because she didn’t wish to offend the girl.