Dragonsblood

by Todd McCaffrey

  “Tullea, she’s trying to help,” B’nik said scoldingly.

  “Fine, let her try it on your dragon,” Tullea snapped.

  “If we give the cure to Minith, it will be passed on to her eggs,” Salina told her. “We only have the one dose.”

  “And Benden has only the one queen!” Tullea snarled in reply.

  “Yes,” Lorana agreed. “Minith is Benden’s last hope.”

  You say my eggs will live, if I do this? Minith asked Lorana.

  I hope so, Lorana replied honestly.

  I can do this, Minith told Lorana.

  “No!” Tullea jumped up, scything toward Lorana with her nails. B’nik rose and clutched her, keeping her from striking Lorana. “No, I won’t let you! You are not Minith’s rider! Minith, go between! Now!”

  No, Minith replied firmly. Tullea’s eyes widened in surprise. I am Benden’s last queen, it is my duty.

  “Minith says she will do it,” Lorana calmly informed the others.

  “No,” Tullea protested. She turned to B’nik, pleading, “You can’t let her. She killed her dragon and now she wants mine!”

  This is our only hope, Minith said. From her weyr, she bugled loudly. Her sound was interrupted by a sharp cough. This is my only hope.

  “She’s right, Tullea,” Lorana said.

  “We’ve tried everything else,” Ketan agreed.

  Minith ducked her head in from her sleeping quarters. What do I have to do?

  “I will inject you with this,” Lorana said, holding up a syringe.

  “Well, do it then,” Tullea growled. After it was done, she speared Lorana with a glare. “You can talk to all the dragons, can’t you?” She didn’t wait for a response. “Do you hear them die?”

  “And feel them,” Lorana admitted quietly.

  “Good,” Tullea replied heartlessly, storming from the room into her dragon’s quarters. “Then whatever happens to Minith, I hope it hurts you as much as anything.”

  We have to do this, it is our duty, Minith told her rider as Tullea scrunched down between her dragon’s forelegs. From the farther weyr, Caranth rumbled his agreement, which partway through turned into a long hacking cough.

  “And she never said anything more about the clutch?” M’tal asked B’nik as they sat in front of one of the fires in the Kitchen Cavern. M’tal had managed to lure B’nik away from the vigil over Minith late in the evening after Tullea had finally nodded off.

  “No,” B’nik answered. “When I mentioned it she called me a liar and started shouting.” He shook his head sadly. “She didn’t use to be like this. She’s as bad as some of those who timed it.”

  M’tal’s eyes lit. “She is, isn’t she?” he said slowly. His brows furrowed in thought.

  “What is it?” B’nik asked.

  M’tal looked up at B’nik. “I need you to come with me,” he said finally. He raised his hand to forestall any of B’nik’s questions. “We’ll take Gaminth. We won’t be long.”

  “What for?”

  “I’m not sure,” M’tal admitted, rising. “But if I’m right, I know why Tullea’s acting this way.”

  “Wake up!” Tullea’s voice carried across the room to Lorana. “Wake up, dragonkiller. It seems your precious potion hasn’t worked.”

  Lorana stood up quickly and looked at Minith. The gold queen was nearly orange; her head hung listless and her breathing was labored.

  “So, you’ve killed my dragon, too,” Tullea said, rising menacingly.

  “That’s not so!” B’nik’s voice startled them. They turned to see him enter with M’tal a step behind. “The cure will work.”

  From the pouch hanging on his side he took a small syringe, twin to the one Lorana had used before, and went to Caranth’s weyr. Quickly, he woke his dragon and, talking softly all the while, injected him.

  M’tal had a very smug expression on his face. “You know,” he said blandly, “I never could figure out why High Reaches became so rude several Turns back.”

  Footsteps behind him announced the arrival of Kindan, Ketan, and Salina.

  B’nik grinned impishly at the old Weyrleader. Lorana’s look of puzzlement faded.

  “Where I have just been, you are known as the dragons’ savior,” M’tal told her softly.

  “High Reaches!” Kindan exclaimed, slapping his forehead.

  “Yes,” M’tal agreed. He turned to Lorana. “Your cure worked. But it is not enough to hatch healthy dragons—”

  “They have to be old enough to fly,” Lorana exclaimed with a groan.

  “Tullea, it’s time to go,” B’nik said. He gestured behind her to Minith.

  “She’s not able to fly!” Tullea protested.

  “She is, and she will, because she has,” M’tal corrected her.

  “Where am I going?” Tullea asked.

  “To High Reaches,” B’nik said. “Three Turns back in time. You must warn them and convince D’vin to close the Weyr.”

  “Back in time?” Tullea repeated, looking from B’nik to M’tal. “To High Reaches?”

  “The sickness will not reach there, because you’ll get them to close the Weyr,” M’tal explained.

  “I can’t go alone!” Tullea cried, looking around.

  Ketan stepped forward. “I’ll go with you,” he told her.

  Tullea had hardly left, and the astonished remainder had barely gotten into the Kitchen Cavern for an early breakfast before they felt the arrival of a dragon from between.

  Lorana rushed out into the Bowl.

  “Minith!” she cried. “What are you doing back so—”

  Tullea jumped down beside her dragon. The queen rider was smiling and more relaxed than Lorana had ever seen her.

  And she was older, Lorana realized.

  Tullea gave Lorana a measured look, then smiled. “Lorana,” she began, “I know it’s only been a moment for you, but—” She stopped, her voice catching in her throat.

  “You have saved the dragons, all the dragons of Pern,” she said finally. “You saved my Minith.” She gestured fondly back at her dragon.

  “I’m sorry for all the terrible things I said and did to you—you didn’t deserve any of it,” she told Lorana contritely.

  “She was in two times at once, for over three Turns,” Ketan explained.

  “I felt like I was always torn apart, stretched!” Tullea told the group. “But it was worth it. Ketan has serum for all the dragons here at Benden,” she went on happily. “And riders have been dispatched to Fort and Ista, as well.

  “The serum is dragon’s blood,” she explained. “Ketan says it’s not like human blood—that’s why we call it ‘ichor.’ The blood alone will provide the cure for the other dragons.”

  She smiled at Lorana. “You did it! You saved them all!”

  Tullea paused and reached into her wher-hide jacket. “This is yours. I took it from the first Learning Room.”

  She pressed a small object into Lorana’s outstretched hand.

  A burst of cold air announced the arrival of another dragon from between. It was a bronze dragon, full-grown, larger than any Lorana had seen.

  I am Kmuth, the dragon told her. Above him, his young rider bowed deeply. I greet you.

  Lorana looked at the object in her hand. It was some sort of case. The top was covered with a very old version of the Masterhealer’s mark. She turned it over and gasped as she saw that the bottom had her own Animal Healer mark carefully drawn on it.

  There was another burst of cold air and a brown dragon appeared. I am Aloth, Lorana.

  Oh, you’re beautiful, Lorana told the brown, who flapped his wings in pleasure.

  An enormous burst of cold from between announced the arrival of the largest dragon ever seen at Benden Weyr.

  I am Tolarth, the newest queen dragon of Pern told Lorana proudly.

  “Open it,” Tullea said, her voice wavering with emotion.

  Lorana looked up and was surprised to see tears rolling down Tullea’s cheeks.

  �
��Please, you’ll see,” Tullea pressed.

  Lorana opened it. She gasped and cried out loud. Kindan heard the noise and rushed to her side.

  “Look!” she said, showing the case to Kindan. “See?”

  Inside the case was a three-linked locket. Lorana lifted it out and opened it up. The middle link was made of Arith’s saddle star.

  “Where? How?” Kindan asked in amazement.

  Lorana didn’t hear him. The other two links in the locket had pictures in them. She looked at the first one—it was a small painting of a very ancient woman with a very compassionate face.

  “Is that—is that Wind Blossom?” Kindan asked in awe. “And who’s this scarfaced man?”

  Lorana turned to look at the second locket and cried out loud.

  “What is it?” Kindan asked, wrapping an arm around her comfortingly.

  “It’s Grenn!” Lorana cried, pointing to the small fire-lizard perched on the man’s shoulder, tears of joy streaming down her face. “That’s my fire-lizard! He lived! He made it back in time, and he lived!”

  EPILOGUE

  And the children shall lead you.

  Benden Weyr, First Interval, AL 59

  I’ve always felt that there was something missing,” Tieran mused to his companion.

  “You are a romantic,” she said.

  “Where to put it?” Tieran muttered to himself, searching the room. “Someplace not too obvious . . . ah! Here.” He put down the locket.

  “What do you hope to gain with that?”

  “I want her to know that we knew her pain. That we understood.”

  “Tieran, whoever it is won’t be born for hundreds of Turns. We have no way of knowing that this will even work.”

  “It’ll work,” Tieran said assuredly. “I know it.”

  “How?” Emorra asked. “My love, sometimes I think you are too much of a dreamer.”

  “Daddy!” A small boy’s voice called.

  “We’ll be right there,” Tieran replied.

  “Really, Tieran,” Emorra shook her head.

  “Did you ever wonder how she touched your mother? Did you wonder why this clever one—” He stroked the fire-lizard affectionately. “—appeared? There was a bond.”

  “Yes, I agree.”

  “A familial bond. Whoever she is, she is one of our children’s children.”

  Emorra pursed her lips and nodded. “I’ve always agreed with you on that, love.”

  “Mommy!” the boy cried impatiently.

  “We’ll be right there,” Emorra replied, cocking her head at Tieran and then in the direction of the boy.

  Tieran smiled triumphantly at her as he caught her hand in his and they turned to go to their son. “And have you ever known one of us not to get our way in the end?”

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  This book is the first book written solely by someone else in Anne McCaffrey’s Pern universe. I would like to thank Ms. McCaffrey—“Thank you, Mum!”—for letting me do so. I was thrilled to get a smiley face from her on my outline, as well as all her encouragement and her bravery in letting someone else play in her very special sandbox.

  The quality of that outline was dramatically improved by the comments of Michael Reaves, Brynne Chandler, and Jenna Scott.

  I would also like to thank my sister, Georgeanne Kennedy, for her insightful comments and questions, and for her unfailing support in my efforts to write this novel.

  This novel would not have happened at all without the encouragement, understanding, and keen insight of my editor, Shelly Shapiro, of Del Rey Books. She not only encouraged me when I needed it but also challenged me to stretch to greater heights—the true hallmark of a great editor.

  While too many cooks may spoil the broth, it is amazing how many sets of eyes can gaze over the same mistakes—and miss them. I am very grateful to Judith Welsh, my editor at Transworld, for catching errors that no one else noticed.

  I would also like to thank Don Maass of the Donald Maass Literary Agency for his steady support, keen insights, and quiet encouragement.

  I would like to thank Harry and Marilyn Alm for their prompt replies to questions regarding Threadfalls and particularly recommend Harry’s Threadfall charts for anyone seriously interested in figuring out what goes where on Pern—at least when it comes to nasty stuff.

  I am also indebted to Dr. Natascha Latenschlauger for her help in dealing with illnesses and genetic material, no matter which planet it comes from.

  I want to thank my early readers, Sonia Orin Lyris, Angel Hanley, Harry and Marilyn Alm, and—of course—Anne McCaffrey (Mum) for all their comments, suggestions, and insights without which this book would not be.

  Finally, I would like to sing the praises of my copy editor from Del Rey, Martha Trachtenberg, who caught or questioned countless errors in the original manuscript and whose songwriting knowledge made “Wind Blossom’s Song” vastly superior.

  Any mistakes, errors, and omissions still found are all mine.

  By Todd McCaffrey

  Published by Ballantine Books

  DRAGONHOLDER

  DRAGONSBLOOD

  By Anne McCaffrey and Todd McCaffrey

  DRAGON’S KIN

  Dragonsblood is a work of fiction. Names, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  A Del Rey® Book

  Published by The Random House Publishing Group

  Copyright © 2005 by Todd McCaffrey and Anne McCaffrey

  Introduction copyright © 2005 by Anne McCaffrey

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Del Rey Books, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.

  Del Rey is a registered trademark and the Del Rey colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc.

  www.delreydigital.com

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  McCaffrey, Todd J.

  Dragonsblood / Todd McCaffrey.

  p. cm.

  “A Del Rey book”—T.p. verso

  eISBN 0-345-48193-3

  1. Pern (Imaginary place)—Fiction. 2. Life on other planets—Fiction. 3. Dragons—Fiction. I. Title.

  PS3613.C343D73 2005

  813′.6—dc22 2004051086

  Map by Joan C. Symons

  v1.0