Authors: Anne McCaffrey
Golanth’s body was cushioned from the rock of the terrace by many pads: an awning had been rigged above him—a sail, Tai thought, by the look of it. He seemed smaller somehow, diminished by the absence of his characteristic vitality: like rider, like dragon. She pushed that thought away.
There were marks all over the near side of him, where claws had torn and teeth had snagged. The patch over his left eye was most prominent and the casing around the end of his tail, which was positioned by his body. He lay with his head between his front legs but she could see his nostrils flaring slightly with every breath he took.
He is much better, Tai
, Zaranth said with the heartiness of someone who has watched recovery.
Much better. Touch him. You will feel the strength in him
.
Zaranth had not moved from her position behind Golanth but now she cocked her head at her rider.
“I’ll take you round,” T’lion offered. “There’s a place for you to sit and be private with Zaranth. Let me tell you, despite her own injuries, she has been conscientious in helping us tend Golanth.”
T’lion deftly maneuvered her behind him and Tai nearly burst
into tears again to see the slashes, hidden behind Golanth’s body, that marred Zaranth’s green hide. T’lion put her on the bench and stepped back, giving Tai’s shoulder a firm reassuring grip before he left them. Zaranth took the small step that separated rider and dragon and put her nose down to Tai’s knees.
I do not hurt, Tai. They tend me as well as Golanth but only I can hear to help him. He grieves for F’lessan’s hurts. And that pain is the worst
. Zaranth emphasized that with a little push of her nose.
It would be. And you’ve needed me!
In deep apology for her absence, Tai put her arms carefully around her dragon’s nose, rested her face against Zaranth’s cheek, aware of the dragon’s warmth and the particular smell of her sun-warmed hide mixed with the astringency of numbweed. Then, tenderly, lightly, she placed her right hand on the scored chest and felt the beat of the powerful heart, letting herself relax against her beloved. Reassured by the essential strong rhythm, she felt tension draining out of her body, softening her muscles, and giving her back the sense of rightness that was the bond between dragon and rider. They remained in this silent communion until Tai was restored to serenity. And had renewed the strength in them both.
Caringly, she stroked Zaranth’s nose, her cheekbones, was able to touch the deep gashes with gently inquiring fingers. She could see that they were shallow, worse than scratches but not as deep as the troughs that scored Golanth. Zaranth looked as if she were wearing stripes.
How did you do it, my heart?
the rider asked the dragon.
How did you save us?
I called. Ramoth and the others came quickly. I told Ramoth
. The dragon’s tone was squeaky with self-satisfaction.
She did what I told her to do. She saw how to do it and told the others. They did more than me. There were more of them
. Zaranth sighed gustily into her rider’s lap.
And the felines threatened our lives: all four of us. But we were too much for them. I was very glad to see the other dragons arrive: especially Ramoth
.
I’m sure you were. So was I!
Tai admitted, letting tears well up in her eyes, tears of exquisite relief now that she was physically close to her brave and clever Zaranth.
F’lessan has been anxious
, Zaranth said with great concern.
He will not rest. Golanth sleeps a lot. I tell F’lessan not to worry but I don’t think he believes me
.
He will believe me!
Tai caressed Zaranth’s sensitive eye ridges soothingly, just the way her green dragon preferred. Zaranth leaned her head more and more on Tai’s knees until she became aware that this pressure was causing her rider pain. Zaranth opened her eyes and lifted her head.
I have called him
.
Called who?
The bronze rider. The one who carried you. I thought about bringing you here myself
, and Zaranth’s eyelids lowered apologetically,
but it’s one thing to do it because it’s the only thing to DO but I couldn’t risk dropping you and I’m not quite that good at it as I should be—to try lifting you carefully. So, first he will let you touch Golanth; this side isn’t as bad. Golanth knows that you are here. You will touch Golanth and tell him that you have seen F’lessan. He will believe you!
When T’lion duly returned, he supported Tai while she placed her hands on the bronze’s side, carefully avoiding the grooves in Golanth’s right shoulder that might, had they been a little higher, a little deeper, have ended the bronze dragon’s life. And F’lessan’s, too.
She blinked back more tears. This time death had not robbed her again of those she loved. She wasn’t certain just how Golanth had escaped: the feline had been leaping in exactly the right arc/trajectory to land on Golanth’s spine, teeth bared, talons extended. But somehow it had missed and she was profoundly grateful.
She spread her fingers on uninjured parts of Golanth’s sun-warmed hide. She found a place where she could lean her forehead on his rib cage. She felt a rumble from Golanth and then a thought.
You have come
.
F’lessan is weaker than you are, Golanth, so they will not bring him to you. But I have held his hand, I have spoken with him. Now I will tell him that I have touched you. And you will both start feeling better and healing as fast as possible. Do you hear me?
I hear you
. The body beneath her hands heaved slightly and she felt him sigh.
I hear F’lessan. He wants to know if you are coming back
.
Now that I have seen you and Zaranth, I’ll be right back
.
“This may have been too much for you, Tai,” T’lion said, picking her up. “I swear you feel lighter.”
“That’s as well for you then,” she said.
“I’m stronger than I look, you know,” he replied firmly as he carried her back into the weyrhold and down the hall.
“I must go back to F’lessan.”
“Oh, I’m taking you there as fast as I can. And you must drink what Sagassy has concocted for you. Maybe even get F’lessan to sip some.”
Which Tai did, after she had assured him of Golanth’s condition. Most of the time he slept, his fingers twined in hers in a grip which alternately made her weep or feel intense pride that, of all the humans he knew, it was she whom he wanted by him.
Despite F’lar’s assurance to the Council, despite Ramoth’s assurances to Lessa, not all the dragons were able to imitate Zaranth and the dragons who came to her assistance in Honshu that terrible morning. Although Ramoth had told Lessa that she had understood how Zaranth had managed telekinesis, anger, fear, and outrage had had a lot to do with the process. Cool thought, or gradually, more ardent wishes, were not as successful. And nowhere near as safe.
First, the path between the original position and the destination of an object being moved by a dragon’s mind had to be clear of any impediment. The distance did not seem to be an obstacle, for inanimate objects. Even for smaller living creatures, like wherries or herdbeasts. But there could be nothing in the way. While stones didn’t suffer from being moved telekinetically, they might be broken if they collided with anything; so might what they collided with. The speed was another problem. The transfer was instantaneous—which could, and did, affect what was kinetically moved.
“A case of all or nothing,” F’lar said after the first few hours of imperfect results with Mnementh.
“Control,” Lessa suggested cryptically, having had no better performance from her queen.
With the felines, there hadn’t been a problem of safe transit or landing. Pieces had done very well. Ramoth disapproved of challenging more felines for practice or in groups large enough to provide the stimulus that Zaranth had had: sheer terror at seeing her weyrmate and the two riders attacked.
The dragons could send things straight up in the open air— and out of sight. To move an object telekinetically in a horizontal direction had taken a lot of control and required Mnementh and Ramoth working together, one slowing the other down. Ramoth and Mnementh practiced daily,
slowly
lifting small rocks vertically from the ground and putting them back down without crushing them into dust or pebbles. They could probably have thrown one all the way to the
Yokohama
, also not the desired destination, but one that was causing considerable speculation by Lessa and F’lar.
That
had been a significant forward step.
When queried by Ramoth, Zaranth recommended that dragons experience trundlebugs. If there were many riders who found that a bizarre way to awaken telekinetic ability, it proved to be the one that worked—on trundlebugs. Ramoth and Mnementh earnestly suggested that the experiment be carried out in pairs, female and male dragons, and preferably a good distance from any holdings and close to a stream, lake, or ocean.
Then, when Ramoth and Mnementh worked together, one controlling the other, kinesis became more practical, less hazardous to what was being moved without physical contact.
What purpose, other than repelling—and destroying—felines or disciplining trundlebugs was not immediately apparent to many, though the ability provoked deep thought and theorizing in many quarters. Meanwhile, the dragons and their riders continued to practice this counter-balancing of kinetic energy.
Master Esselin—who now complained bitterly about all the tasks set him—was supposed to see what records were available on early dragon training: going
between
and using firestone. Nothing legible remained from the old Record Aivas had transcribed and those who owned fire-lizards insisted that the dragons had learned from these smaller cousins.
No one had ever observed fire-lizards telekinetically moving something, unless the speed with which fire-lizards could gobble food from a plate could be considered a form of telekinesis.
Many other matters were being set in place, the most important of which was siting the Western Continent observatory. This so-called continent was two landmasses, a wide inlet almost completely separating them except for a straggle of boulders making a bridge at the northern end. Erragon had the plans Aivas had printed out for Cove Hold and, apart from a different telescope mount (he recommended the fork type), these would suffice: especially when those who had worked on Cove Hold volunteered their services to erect the new one. Lord Ranrel was as good as his promise and three ships were loaded with material and volunteers to sail, with Master Idarolan in nominal charge of the expedition, to the southernmost cape of the larger landmass. A pod of dolphins assigned by the dolphins’ venerable leader, the Tillek herself, were to accompany the small fleet to a harbor she could recommend. Green and blue dragons were to precede the ships, setting up a base camp.
The same general plans, with variations to the terrain, were to be implemented at Ice Lake and in Telgar. The most pressing need was training apprentices to serve the new facilities or to add to the Crafthalls that produced spyglasses that used to be called “far-seers,” binoculars, and small telescopes.
Master Tagetarl’s Print Hall was busy, first with printing the requirements of craftsmen and -women, lists of materials to be supplied—especially lists of people willing to be transported to such a distant location to help in building an observatory on the Western Continent.
That was a simpler task than the demand for printed instructions on how to build smaller non-metal telescopes: thick wher-hide would suffice so long as the interior was painted black and sealed against dust. Manuals must be written by the Star Hall, charts and diagrams of what objects were known to be in un-threatening orbits, instructions on how to sight, recognize, and make proper notations on possible discoveries. The GlassCraft-Halls could supply mirrors for reflective scopes from 100mm to 400mm. Larger ones, of course, required time to shape and build.
When Thread, inevitably, fell near Honshu, the healers made sure the two injured dragons were so deeply sedated that they were unaware—except at some very primal level—that the ancient enemy was being met. Zaranth was recovering well but Golanth’s injuries still concerned every Weyrhealer and Beastmaster.
“There’s considerably more available about every other animal on this planet,” Wyzall said after a long afternoon’s study with Beastmaster Ballora; his best animal healer, Persellan; and Tai, “than about the ones we’re most dependent on.” He pushed back from the table, rubbing his face to ease fatigue.
“That’s because we have had bodies of every other animal to dissect for study,” Ballora remarked. She was a big, athletic woman. She had started healer training with Master Oldive but found a real empathy and skill with animals so she had changed to the BeastCraftHall. Her manner was in general as reassuring to humans as it was to the animals she tended and bred. Now she sighed with deep regret. “But then the only anatomical studies ever available were those done on dead fire-lizard hatchlings that Ancient zoologists happened to find. And those most incomplete notes that Wind Blossom left that concerned unhatched watchwhers which, as we all know, were not
our
dragons.”
“Records state that there were unhatched dragon eggs …” Tai began tentatively.
Wyzall dismissed that. “There was a prejudice against such study,” he continued. “Not that I disagree, since any eggs that didn’t hatch failed because of some defect.” He gave a sigh. “Live dragons can at least tell their riders where they hurt, if it isn’t visible. Unlike us humans who do not seem to be sufficiently in tune with our bodies because we—” He broke off, clearing his throat and riffling the pages he had been reading.
“Because we die when we wear out,” Ballora said with detachment. “Did you ever discover which is the oldest living fire-lizard, Wyzall?” she asked with a grin.
Wyzall tut-tutted and shook his head. “It’s an impossibility. They may tell dragons what they ‘remember’ seeing but I think it’s analogous to the Tillek’s knowledge of delphinic history. The fire-lizards weren’t there to see it happen but they have passed the tale of it down so that it”—and he waved to the fairs that were either sleeping or lazily flying on the light breeze—“becomes a personal memory.”