Sky Dragons: Dragonriders of Pern Read online

“Qinth is too hurt,” Bekka said.

  “Thread is coming,” Xhinna told her. “We haven’t time.”

  “What do you propose?” K’dan asked, looking at the netting rigged under the blue dragon.

  “I’ll take her first,” Xhinna said. “With J’riz and Colfet. I’ve got the others set up already.”

  “Where?” Bekka asked.

  “When?” K’dan guessed, nodding in satisfaction when he saw Xhinna’s look. “Three Turns again?”

  “Yes, we’re all back in time on the Western Isle,” Xhinna told him.

  “Fiona said not to go there,” K’dan reminded her.

  “I think Fiona said it because we did go there,” Xhinna said. K’dan frowned on that for a moment, then nodded. Xhinna continued, “We must move quickly.”

  “Where’s Coranth?” Bekka asked.

  “Injured,” Xhinna told her. “She got clawed by a Mrreow when we took the last of the hatchlings.” She shook her head sadly as she added, “You weren’t here when I came back for you.”

  “Because you’re taking us now,” K’dan said with a tone of awe in his voice he normally used when referring to one of Fiona’s schemes. Xhinna found that she couldn’t speak, only nod.

  “Well, let’s get moving, then,” Bekka said, unhooking the netting and moving it toward the stricken green.

  “She’s small enough that I think we can lift her,” Xhinna told J’riz. “If we’re careful, it won’t hurt her too much.”

  Too much was the operative phrase; dragon and rider both moaned with the pain as the green was gently moved into the netting and then tied on to Tazith’s harness.

  “I should stay here,” Colfet said when Xhinna motioned for him to climb up in front of her.

  “No time,” Xhinna said, shaking her head. “I need you to keep camp.”

  The old seaman gave her a surprised look and grimly climbed up on the blue. Xhinna mounted and helped J’riz up behind her. He was becoming a young man, but Xhinna still remembered him as the cute boy who’d been such a help and a handful; so she was both pleased and surprised when he slipped his arms around her waist and leaned against her back as Tazith leapt into the air.

  Below them, Qinth gave one whimper and was silent.

  How is she? Xhinna asked Tazith.

  She is very brave, Tazith said with pride and affection for the green dragonet.

  Let’s go, Xhinna said, imagining their camp.

  Their arrival was greeted with cheers and a swift unloading as R’ney and C’nian gently helped Colfet and J’riz unhook the injured hatchling and lower her to her carefully constructed weyr. Xhinna waited just long enough to make sure that everything was right before going back again through time to the Eastern Weyr.

  “I can take two,” Xhinna said as K’dan helped Bekka guide her Pinorth toward the harness.

  “A gold and a bronze?” K’dan asked in surprise.

  “That’s about all we’ve got,” Xhinna reminded him with a lopsided grin, Qinth being the only dragonet that wasn’t gold or bronze. “We’ve managed that before.”

  Shrugging, K’dan helped his Lurenth into the harness and then handed Bekka up before climbing up behind her.

  “It’s been several days since the twins last saw you,” Xhinna told him as Tazith gained enough height to go between. “I hope you aren’t planning on resting anytime soon.”

  “No, not at all,” K’dan said. “Sleep is overrated, really.”

  THREE

  A Leap to Screams

  “It’s only temporary,” Xhinna said as she explained the camp layout to Colfet and K’dan the next morning. Bekka had turned a shade of green at their strange height and, too unnerved to speak to anyone, had gone quickly to sleep as soon as her queen was fed.

  “I see,” K’dan said drolly. “And after this?”

  “We didn’t have time to scout, with Coranth being injured,” Xhinna said. “We needed a high place that was safe from the Mrreows and tunnel snakes.”

  “This certainly is that,” K’dan agreed, still unable to keep the amusement out of his voice.

  “Harper,” Colfet growled at him, shaking his head warningly.

  K’dan’s grin slipped and he sobered. “You did fine, Xhinna.” His grin came back again, though, as he added, “Even Fiona would have a hard time outdoing this!”

  “There is that,” Xhinna allowed, catching on to K’dan’s teasing. “I suppose she’ll be jealous.”

  “Only if she ever finds out,” Bekka spoke up from her perch. “Of course,” she added with more spirit, “I’ll be certain to tell her.”

  “Any time after you check on Coranth and Qinth,” Xhinna said. Bekka groaned but started—gingerly—to get up.

  “Why did you have to pick a spot so high?”

  “To avoid the Mrreows and the tunnel snakes,” K’dan reminded her.

  “I prefer a Weyr,” Bekka said as she edged toward Coranth. Taria moved toward her with the grace of one used to negotiating the springy treetops, causing Bekka to halt in alarm. “Won’t they break and drop us all to the ground?”

  “Not broom trees,” a voice called from the distance. It was J’riz. “They’re stronger at the top than at the bottom. And they’re like iron-wood at the bottom.”

  Warily, Bekka allowed Taria to lead her to the injured green. Presented with a professional challenge, Bekka soon forgot all about the height. She even managed to walk herself over to J’riz and Qinth without the least whimper.

  When she was finished with the injured weyrling, she made her way—slowly—to K’dan and Xhinna.

  “We’re going to need more supplies,” she told them. “We need better bandages, and we should have numbweed to ease Coranth’s pain.”

  “We’ll have to search for numbweed,” K’dan said.

  “On foot,” Xhinna added. Seeing his questioning glance, she explained, “Only Tazith can fly for the moment, so he’s our only source of food for the hatchlings.” She explained how they’d managed to catch wherries by the half-dozen.

  “That’ll do until we can arrange pens for herdbeasts,” K’dan declared.

  “No,” Xhinna said, shaking her head. “If we pen the herdbeasts, we’ll attract the Mrreows.” K’dan started to protest, but she raised a hand. “We don’t know if the Mrreows can climb.”

  “Oh.” K’dan’s brows furrowed in thought. “So we’re stuck up here until Coranth can fly.”

  “At least,” Xhinna agreed. “Or if we can find enough fruit or vegetables to tide us over—and build a supply of wherry meat that’ll last long enough to let me scout.”

  “Doesn’t Tazith need a rest?” Bekka asked, eyeing the blue with a frown. “His color isn’t too good.”

  “He says he’s all right,” Xhinna lied. Bekka took one long look at her and snorted derisively. Xhinna blew out a sigh and admitted, “He’s managing.”

  “We should find a way to give him a rest,” Taria spoke up, joining the group. Xhinna nervously noticed several of the weyrlings looking in their direction.

  “We could organize ground parties,” Jepara said. “We could go in groups, looking for herdbeasts or wherries.”

  “And, queen rider, if anything were to happen to you …?” Xhinna prompted.

  “Then it’d be the same as in Threadfall,” Jepara said. “We’ve got to take risks, Xhinna.” She paused, meeting Xhinna’s eyes. “You know that.”

  Taria closed the distance between them and stood on her toes to mutter into Xhinna’s ear, “Delegate. You know you can.”

  Xhinna gave her a half-hearted glare, which Taria shrugged off with ease, returning the challenge with raised eyebrows.

  “Let me go,” Colfet spoke up. “I know something of nets and spears.”

  “Actually,” Xhinna said in surprise, “why don’t we go fishing?”

  “Because we’re on land, Xhinna,” Bekka reminded her.

  Xhinna mimicked two hands holding a pole and Colfet chortled.

  “Fishing for herdbeasts or
wherries?” the seaman asked.

  “Wherries, probably,” Jepara said, catching on. “They usually stick to clearings, but if we were to hang the proper lure, I’m sure we could catch several.”

  Jepara, Colfet, and K’dan took charge, setting up four parties of three riders each, leaving the rest to guard the camp. Xhinna was given strict orders by Bekka, Taria, K’dan, and—surprisingly—Jepara to rest herself and her blue.

  K’dan sweetened the order by saddling her with two well-stuffed children and orders not to let them miss their nap. As it was impossible for Xhinna to keep sleepy children awake, she soon found herself resting her head against her blue with one sleeping twin on either side.

  Xhinna woke to the sound of excited voices and rose to see the twins beside her talking animatedly, eyes shining.

  “No, it’s too early!” Taria cried in the distance. Xhinna looked around in alarm. What was too early? A cry, half-rage, half-pain, came from Coranth, and Xhinna spun to see the green fling herself awkwardly into the air, bellowing a challenge to all around. Coranth was rising to mate.

  “K’dan!” Xhinna called, beckoning to the harper to come get his children.

  Tazith woke, hot and hungry. He was in the air after Coranth before Xhinna could say a word. She hasn’t had firestone, a part of Xhinna thought quietly. The part that was with her blue relished that thought, seeking only to catch the green.

  No, Xhinna thought, exerting her will on her dragon. She must eat first.

  Herdbeasts here, Tazith called to Coranth, punctuating his thought with a bellow even as he veered toward the open plain.

  “Xhinna!” Taria’s voice was full of worry, fear, and excitement. Xhinna grabbed her tightly, whispering hoarsely, “Don’t let her gorge.”

  “She’s injured,” Taria said.

  “So we make this quick,” Xhinna replied as she felt Tazith guide a buck toward Coranth. “Tazith will help.”

  “He’s the only one,” Taria said tremulously. Tazith was the only blue anywhere nearby, and the only male dragon old enough to be interested in a mating flight.

  “He’ll do,” Xhinna promised even as a squawk told of Coranth’s first kill. “Don’t let her gorge.”

  Taria closed her eyes and leaned into her, her breath coming fast as she grappled with her lust-enraged green. Xhinna closed her eyes and felt—

  Soaring, flying, tearing through space. Tazith watched as Coranth downed another herdbeast, giving an awkward cry as the beast’s death-throes brushed her injured leg, but she was full of the heat, the passion, she wanted to tear, rend, chew and—

  No, only the blood! Taria called to her. Coranth fought her, but her rider’s will was adamantine, unbreakable. With a shriek of rage, Coranth plunged her fangs into the dying beast and sucked furiously on the blood that poured out. Tazith sent another buck her way and she dispatched it, too, sucking the hot, flowing blood greedily.

  Then, with a taunting shout, she was airborne. The pain of her leg was nothing. She was a green, and below her was only a puny blue. Well, it was Tazith and he was strong and quick—Coranth dipped back down temptingly and swooped up again, but before she got far she felt something grab her—Tazith! How did he do that? And then—

  There was no thought, only feeling. Bliss, joy, ecstasy.

  They were falling like leaves through the sky. Idly, Tazith cupped air and Coranth imitated him.

  “Now,” Xhinna said hoarsely, “we bring them home.”

  Taria nodded mutely against her.

  “We are not losing those eggs,” Xhinna declared later when she and Taria and the rest of the camp had recovered from the euphoria of the mating flight. Taria gave her a grateful look and squeezed her fingers.

  “There’s no chance she can clutch here,” K’dan said, glancing around at their airy heights.

  “But the ground’s too risky,” Bekka said. “She can barely defend herself, let alone a nest.” She’d tended to Coranth’s injuries as soon as the green had landed. The strenuous flight had opened the wounds again, though it had caused no new damage.

  “We could defend it for her,” Xhinna said. “We could set a watch, keep guard.”

  “It would be easier with a green’s clutch,” K’dan agreed. “It’ll be smaller. But then what?”

  “And where?” Jepara asked. They had caught three small wherries with their new “fishing” technique—hardly enough to feed the twenty-three ravenous weyrlings and two exhausted full-grown dragons. Colfet had offered to organize a real fishing party, if Tazith could provide transport, but even that would not add significantly to their supplies.

  “You brought us three Turns back. Why?” K’dan asked Xhinna.

  She shrugged. “It seemed the right time to be,” she said. “I suppose I was thinking …”

  “What?”

  “I was thinking that perhaps we could stay here until the weyrlings were mature,” Xhinna said. She gave Taria a wry look, adding, “I never thought we’d have mating flights.”

  “Fiona said we weren’t to feed the greens firestone,” K’dan recalled, his face set in thought.

  “And we didn’t,” Xhinna said. “We didn’t even feed the blues, if you recall.”

  “Only the browns and bronzes,” K’dan said with a nod. It had not made sense to train the blues in firestone without training the greens, or so Fiona had said. T’mar had agreed with her suggestion, knowing that the new hatchlings could learn the skill quickly enough back at the Weyrs.

  “And Coranth just rose …,” K’dan continued.

  “Do you think the greens that went back with Fiona might have risen, too?” Xhinna asked, her eyes wide.

  “Or they’re about to,” he said.

  “There were thirty-six greens in the last clutch,” Taria remarked.

  “And if they clutched like the others, then there’d be sixteen eggs, more or less, in each clutch,” Xhinna said.

  “And then we’d have five hundred and seventy-six fighting dragons,” Bekka breathed in awe.

  “Five hundred and seventy-six dragonets,” K’dan reminded her.

  “Give them enough time and they’d be fighting dragons,” Bekka countered, drawing herself up to her full height. K’dan gave her a second glance: Bekka had always been mature for her age, but now that she’d reached her physical maturity, it was hard for him to remember how old she truly was because she hadn’t grown a millimeter taller. He nodded in acknowledgment.

  Turning to Xhinna, he said, “So your plan is to bring them here?”

  “Um, it wasn’t exactly a plan,” Xhinna said. “And how could we get the greens and the blues to come back from the Weyrs?”

  “What about the Mrreows and the tunnel snakes?” Bekka pointed out. “Unless your plan handles them, all we’ll have is more empty eggs.”

  The thought of another field of destroyed eggs caused them all to recoil.

  “Well, we’ll have to make a test with Coranth’s clutch anyway,” Xhinna said with an apologetic nod toward Taria, who said nothing, but her fingers fluttered against Xhinna’s.

  “And we’ve got about three months to figure out how,” Bekka said.

  Xhinna and Tazith returned exhausted from another expedition across the southern tip of Western.

  Her days for the past month had consisted of ferrying hunting and fishing parties out to their sites, scouting the land, and bringing the parties and their catch back afterward. Sky Weyr was solely dependent upon her and her blue for transportation with injured Coranth the only other full-grown dragon. And, she admitted to herself, it wasn’t enough. Day by day they were losing ground. There was no margin for error. A bad day’s hunt meant that either riders or hatchlings went hungry—so the riders went hungry. Everyone in the camp was gaunt, save the twins, who were extravagantly fed and spoiled by all.

  “No luck,” Xhinna reported to Taria, who had become something of the camp’s headwoman. Xhinna herself had become more Weyrleader than Weyrwoman. She consulted with K’dan and Colfet, but they
deferred to her, partly, perhaps, because she had the only dragon able to fly, but also partly, she thought, because she had started with the job and they saw no reason—yet—for change.

  If there was one good thing about their situation it was that Xhinna and Taria were together more than they had ever been before: They shared their private time with a passion that they’d never known previously, a sense that every moment was a gift to be cherished, every caress an act of love, and every soft word a caress. They had arguments, some vociferous, but that was nothing new—they were only arguments, nothing more. What was different was how much esteem they shared for each other as they exchanged the news of the day and realized how, quietly, each had done so much, so well.

  “Maybe tomorrow,” Taria said, pulling Xhinna over and stroking her short hair. Xhinna closed her eyes, luxuriating in the contact and the compassion.

  “I love you,” she said, opening her eyes to meet Taria’s shiny dark brown ones. Taria smiled and leaned down to kiss her. It was a gentle touch, lips on lips, soft, a promise of more later, a motion with more meaning than intent.

  Once again, Xhinna marveled at her luck. How could she have found someone so good as Taria? How could she ever have found the courage to open up when so many times before she’d been disdained, rejected? And then, to Impress Tazith, the most marvelous, amazing dragon ever to grace Pern’s Weyrs! She was the first woman to ride a blue and that made her a target for those who would say she couldn’t handle a man’s job, even more so than Taria or the other girls who’d Impressed greens. She knew this and she would rise to the challenge. She would not fail. She could not fail. But why?

  Xhinna snorted with amusement as she found the answer: Fiona.

  “What?” Taria asked.

  “Fiona,” Xhinna muttered with a grin. She felt Taria tense under her, confused and worried. Xhinna reached up and ran her fingers through Taria’s hair. “I was thinking that if it weren’t for her, we wouldn’t be here.”

  Taria relaxed. “I’m jealous of her.”

  “Why?”

  “The way you talk about her,” Taria said with some reluctance.

  “Mmm?” Xhinna murmured, opening her eyes once more to look into Taria’s face.