Dragon’s Time: Dragonriders of Pern

by Anne; Todd J. Mccaffrey Mccaffrey

No! Fiona cried, her will flowing like fire into her queen. She is our friend!

  Talenth raged back, tearing down another buck, sucking it dry and rising again only—

  —there was another queen in the air, too, challenging her. It was Kurinth.

  Lorana reached Terin just as she heard the bellow from her queen.

  “Terin!” she cried. “You must control her, you must take her away from here, don’t let her gorge, get her away.”

  “No,” Terin said miserably, shaking her head, eyes streaming but unseeing. “He’s not here, it’s not right, it’s not right, it’s not right.” Her expression altered and she took on a fierce expression. “Hate her, she’s stopping me. She can’t stop me, hate her.” She shook her head again and wailed, “F’jian! F’jian, help me!”

  Above, a throng of dragons bellowed in the morning air. Lorana reeled as she felt the power, reeled as she felt her legs turn to rubber. She sank to the ground even as she saw Terin’s eyes go wide.

  As the last of her strength drained from her and she felt darkness overtake her, Lorana cried out, I can’t control her!

  I can’t control her! Fiona heard lashing through her mind. And then she heard nothing. Lorana? She called, her concentration on her queen totally broken.

  Freed, Talenth tore her way toward the usurper, ready to rend and tear.

  Dragons creeled in anger, and Talenth found her way blocked—there were other queens between her and her prey.

  Fiona, hold her! a voice cried.

  Lorana?

  Hold her, the voice called again. Help is coming.

  Fiona reached for her queen and hauled her back under her control, surprised and confused by Lorana’s sudden return, stronger and more determined and—riding Talenth?

  Go here! Lorana called, picturing an image that Fiona and Talenth both caught. In the image there were several alluring bronzes, far below, looking forlornly up, trying to match her speed and—

  Suddenly they were there. The Red Butte was beneath, the bronzes struggling vainly to match her glory and—

  Talenth soared. Fiona rose with her, freeing her dragon to reach for the highest heights.

  Up! Up! Fiona called. Leave them behind!

  “Terin, Terin, you must control her!” a voice was shouting in Terin’s ear. It was a scared voice, a tired voice, the voice she wanted to hear most—

  “F’jian?” Terin said, opening her eyes and looking up. “F’jian?”

  “I’m here,” F’jian said. “I’m here, love, just like I promised.”

  “Kurinth?”

  “Go with her,” another voice urged quietly. “Flow with her, follow her in your mind, see where she is.”

  “Ladirth!” Terin cried as she saw the world through her queen’s eyes. “What’s he doing here?”

  Does he think he can catch me? Kurinth asked, looking back with both longing and disdain as the sturdy bronze pursued her. She saw others, good strong bronzes, trying vainly to outfly her and failing.

  She taunted them with a roar and climbed, climbed, climbed—suddenly at ease with the world, full of her power, certain of her future.

  Beneath her, a bronze broke off, winded. And another. She bellowed at them, the poor, small piteous things! And she looked down at Ladirth. There was a great bronze. She dove toward him, feeling compelled, feeling anxious, feeling—

  And suddenly he turned on his side and caught her as she came toward him and together they fell, fell, fell, and—

  Together. They were together and it was everything. They were the only two on Pern, gold and bronze.

  Queen and bronze fly entwined

  Heart, spirit, soul, and mind

  To the Weyr’s strength assure

  That the eggs will endure.

  Fiona found herself in the arms of T’mar and she nuzzled tightly against him even as she felt her sated queen gliding toward the landing of the Red Butte. The other bronzes had departed. Only Zirenth remained. When they landed, gold and bronze, they settled near each other, necks entwined.

  She reached across land and ocean toward their camp, trying to find the feel of Lorana and failing.

  “We must go back. Lorana’s fainted and I don’t know what’s happened with Terin,” Fiona said, pulling herself away from T’mar with ill-concealed regret. She reached out and—a sudden welling of passion overtook her and she clutched at T’mar for balance.

  They lost it.

  Later, when they recovered, Fiona found herself lying on T’mar’s shoulder. Cautiously she reached out once more, feeling for Lorana.

  Come home, she heard.

  “Are you sure you’re all right with this?” Lorana asked Fiona a sevenday later as she prepared to climb onto Talenth’s back.

  “She’ll be too egg-heavy soon enough,” Fiona said. “And, once she’s clutched, she’ll not want to leave her eggs.”

  “This has never been done,” Lorana cautioned.

  “I trust you,” Fiona assured her. “You’re the only one to do it.” She smiled at the taller woman as she added, “After all, you can’t break time.”

  Lorana smiled at her, gave her a quick hug and mounted Fiona’s queen.

  They rose into the sky, circled once, and winked between.

  “I need to borrow your mate,” Lorana said when she located Javissa. The journey had been less effort than she’d imagined, even though she knew that this was only the first of several journeys she needed to complete before she returned with Talenth to Eastern Weyr. It was a time after they’d first met. Javissa was large with child. The traders were at the same oasis where she’d first met them, traveling with only a domicile dray.

  “Borrow?”

  “I’d like him to meet some people,” Lorana said. She saw Javissa start to ask and shook her head. “I can’t tell you who.”

  “How long will you be gone?” Javissa asked. “His cough is getting worse.”

  “I know,” Lorana said. “Soon he will go to the place he dreamed and meet me there, but I won’t know him.”

  “But not now?”

  “No,” Lorana said. “When he goes, he’ll need food for two for three nights.”

  “What sort of food?”

  “I can’t tell you,” Lorana replied. “I’ll have him back in no time at all, but he’ll be very tired and need to sleep.”

  “And you?” Javissa asked. “You won’t be tired?”

  “I’ll manage,” Lorana said.

  “Javissa, what is it?” Tenniz’s voice came from behind the dray. “It’s Lorana,” the trader woman said. “She wants to borrow you.”

  “Borrow?” Tenniz called back, as his voice came toward them and he stepped into view. He looked at Lorana, then back to Javissa. She met his eyes and some secret communication passed between them.

  “We were wondering,” Javissa said slowly and not without some misgiving, “if you would do us an honor.”

  “Whatever you wish, that I can do,” Lorana promised without hesitation.

  “Would you allow us to use your name in our daughter’s?” Tenniz asked. He glanced shyly at Javissa and took her hand. “We were thinking of Jirana, if it wouldn’t offend you.”

  “I’d be honored,” Lorana said, dipping her head.

  “Thank you,” Javissa said. She looked in Lorana’s eyes for a long time. “Tenniz says that I will be seeing you again.”

  “You may be sure of it,” Lorana promised, turning toward the seer.

  “And you will not keep him long?”

  “When do you want him back?” Lorana asked.

  “Give me time to make camp, so that he can go straight to sleep,” Javissa said.

  “Twenty minutes?”

  “That would be enough,” Javissa agreed.

  Lorana nodded and extended a hand toward Tenniz. “I thought you would like a chance to go a-dragonback.”

  “Thank you,” Tenniz said, taking her hand and following her toward the queen.

  He eyed Talenth intently and said, “This is not
the same queen you were on last.”

  “True,” Lorana nodded. She guided him up and strapped him in. “Where are we going?” Tenniz asked as Lorana silently guided Talenth skyward.

  “When,” Lorana corrected. The trader craned his neck around to look at her. “Would you like to see your daughter?”

  “My daughter?” Tenniz said with a sob. “But, lady, we cannot break time.”

  “True, but sometimes we can cheat it,” Lorana said, silently ordering Talenth between.

  They arrived much less than a Turn into the future. Lorana spent a few moments orienting herself and then Talenth whirled down to the ground near a trader’s caravan. It was night, but the caravan had not circled up as was the usual trader precaution.

  From the domicile dray there came a woman’s cry. Tenniz’s eyes widened and he scampered off Talenth, rushing to the dray. Lorana waited outside while Tenniz was with his wife for the birth of their daughter. She was surprised when Azeez came outside to greet her.

  “You have brought my daughter a great gift,” the man said with tears in his eyes.

  “It was the least I could do,” Lorana assured him.

  “You are clearly the Beacon.”

  Lorana waved the compliment aside. “Please tell Tenniz that we cannot tarry long.”

  Azeez nodded and returned to the dray. Minutes later, Tenniz returned, his eyes gleaming.

  “Thank you, weyrwoman, for this gift beyond price,” Tenniz said.

  “It is not much I can give you,” Lorana replied. She gestured toward Talenth. “Climb on.”

  “We’re going back?”

  “We’re going,” Lorana told him with a twinkle in her eyes lit by the night’s stars.

  Again they went between and this time they returned to another caravan, this one circled up in the customary fashion.

  “We are two Turns in the future,” Lorana said.

  “How do you know when we are?” Tenniz asked. Lorana smiled and pointed up to the night sky. “Oh!”

  “The traders taught Fiona,” Lorana said. “She taught me.”

  “ ‘Our gifts are always returned many fold,’ ” Tenniz said, quoting trader lore. His brows puckered as he asked, “But how do you know where to go?”

  “Talenth and I scouted before we came to you,” Lorana told him.

  “So you know what we’ll find?”

  Lorana shook her head. “I only thought to offer you opportunities.”

  “Thank you,” Tenniz said with feeling, deeper than mere words. “And what opportunity do you offer now?”

  “I thought you might want to talk with your children,” Lorana said, gesturing to the caravan.

  When Tenniz returned this time he shook his head in awe and hugged Lorana fiercely. “She spoke to me,” he said, “Jirana spoke to me.”

  Lorana nodded and gestured for him to mount Talenth once more.

  “Now we go back?” Tenniz asked.

  Lorana shook her head. “A friend of mine tells me that the third time is the best.”

  Again they went through time and returned in the night, above a caravan. Talenth bugled a warning as she descended and the caravan halted, heading south from Southern Telgar Hold on its way back to the desert.

  “Jeriz has nearly ten Turns now, Jirana just seven,” Lorana said as the trader gave her an expectant look. His eyes narrowed at her tone, but she said no more, gesturing for him to head on.

  Close to an hour later he returned.

  “I had a sight: Jeriz will go to Telgar,” Tenniz said. Lorana nodded. “You knew?”

  “I knew that he would go, not that you would see it,” Lorana said.

  “And do you also know about Jirana?”

  Lorana smiled. “Are you ready to return?”

  “Yes,” Tenniz said. “I can return now.” He mounted up. “It will be easier to face my fate knowing that my children will be safe.”

  How are you feeling? Lorana asked Talenth as they climbed once more into the night sky, having brought Tenniz back in time before the allotted twenty minutes had passed.

  I am fine, Talenth assured her.

  Very well, let’s go, Lorana told the queen lovingly. And remember, say nothing to Fiona.

  They winked between. Again, Lorana was surprised to feel something tugging at her, hear voices crying in pain. Can’t lose the babies! Can’t lose the babies! And: The Weyrs! They must be warned!

  She collected herself and fought through once more, propelling herself and Talenth as if through muddy water toward their destination.

  Five coughs later they appeared above Telgar Weyr. Talenth silenced the watch dragon and glided to a landing beside the queen’s ledge.

  Ladirth, be ready to come with us, Lorana said, sending the sleepy bronze the impression of hot flying, tense moments. The bronze perked up immediately, even as Lorana stepped over into Kurinth’s weyr. The young queen was sleepy, sated from a meal. Softly, Lorana moved into Terin’s quarters and tapped F’jian on the shoulder.

  The bronze rider woke, startled, but Lorana put her finger to lips and gestured for him to follow her. With a backward glance at the sleeping Terin, F’jian followed her out into the sleeping queen’s weyr.

  “I need you and Ladirth to come with me,” Lorana said.

  “Is this important, my lady?”

  “Yes,” Lorana told him. “But I will not lie to you, it will be tiring.”

  “I should stay with Terin,” F’jian said, turning his head to peer back at the sleeping weyrwoman.

  “You’ll see Terin,” Lorana said. “Bronzes are blooding their kills.”

  “Their kills?” F’jian repeated, glancing around, senses stretched. “Where?”

  “Come with me,” Lorana said. “Terin needs you.”

  “Terin?” F’jian repeated blankly. He glanced toward the sleeping queen. “But Kurinth is too young.”

  “Now,” Lorana agreed. “Come with me, it’s your only chance.”

  Before she went between, she called Tolarth, Minith, Melirth, and Lyrinth to her, giving them the coordinates. The queens obeyed her summons, sensing her urgency.

  Taking a deep breath, Lorana urged the queens and F’jian between forward into the future.

  A fury erupted around them and they heard the screams of angry queens preparing to fight for their rights to the bronzes.

  “F’jian!” Lorana called. “Go to Terin, she needs your help!”

  The bronze dragon dashed to the ground long enough to drop his rider and then rose into the air, taking one herdbeast from the pen and sucking its blood in a frenzy before taking to the sky. Lorana dispatched the queens and Talenth to separate the passion-flamed Kurinth and Talenth, then had Fiona, T’mar, and the others send their dragons to the Red Butte to separate them from Kurinth and her flight.

  Knowing that she—her earlier self back in time—had fainted from her fruitless efforts, Lorana stayed clear of Terin’s quarters. She felt Kurinth and Ladirth make their brilliant union and, moments later, felt Talenth and Zirenth join triumphantly over the Red Butte.

  As Kurinth and Ladirth returned to the ground, necks twined, Lorana felt the tensions ease out of the dragons. Much later, Lorana said to Ladirth, We cannot tarry too long.

  F’jian came out of Terin’s quarters not long after, his fingers twined in hers.

  Tell F’jian that whenever she needs him most, he’ll be there, Lorana said to the bronze dragon.

  F’jian’s head snapped to face Lorana as his dragon’s words registered. The bronze rider gave her a questioning look, one filled with an infinite sadness. Lorana nodded in response: She meant the promise.

  We must return, Lorana said. Sadly, F’jian let go of Terin and mounted his tired dragon.

  They followed her once more back to Telgar Weyr. As Ladirth flew up to his quarters for a needed rest, F’jian and Lorana walked back to Terin’s quarters.

  “How long do I have?” F’jian asked softly.

  “I cannot tell you,” Lorana said, shaking h
er head sadly. “And you cannot tell Terin.”

  “Why?” the bronze rider asked.

  “Because, no matter how much we want, we cannot break time,” Lorana said.

  “So I am to die?”

  Lorana said nothing. The young man turned toward the sleeping girl.

  “Will I see you again?”

  Lorana nodded. “And remember, I don’t know this yet.”

  “Why are you doing this?”

  “We cannot break time,” Lorana told him quietly. “But we can cheat it.” She waved him toward the sleeping girl and turned back once more to the Weyr Bowl.

  Talenth, let’s go, Lorana said.

  “This isn’t anything like a proper Hatching Ground,” T’mar said as he surveyed the result of two sevendays’ worth of effort. The dragons had worked tirelessly, scooping up fine sand from the shore and bringing it back to pile atop and beside the old nursery into the newly stone-lined makeshift Hatching Ground.

  “It’s the best we can do,” Fiona said. She shook her head. “Who ever thought we’d have all five queens and four greens ready to clutch at the same time?”

  T’mar shook his head. “How will we feed so many weyrlings and hatchlings?”

  “We’ll send the older ones back,” Fiona said. “Keep a few for work and wait until the rest are old enough to return to the Weyrs.”

  “Hmmph,” T’mar said, not satisfied with her solution but unable to counter with anything better. “What about Candidates?”

  “That is a problem,” Fiona agreed. She turned to Kindan and gave him a questioning look. “Will Lorana stand, do you think?”

  “Will you stand?” T’mar added, glancing at the harper.

  “He has no choice,” Fiona declared. Kindan glanced her way and gave her a resigned look. Fiona chuckled and reached out to pat him on the shoulder. “He’s a wise man.”

  “I don’t think it matters, really,” Kindan said with a shrug. “No Records I’ve ever read mention someone my age Impressing.”

  “But if you can Impress, then maybe we can get some of the others who have lost their dragon to stand on the Hatching Grounds again,” T’mar said. “Think how that would be.”