The cloth fell from her body to the floor as she responded to his kiss as ardently as if dragon-roused.
RANGED ABOVE the Peak of Benden Weyr, a scant three hours after dawn, two hundred and sixteen dragons held their formations as F’lar on bronze Mnementh inspected their ranks. Below in the Bowl were gathered all the Weyrfolk and some of those injured in the first battle. All the Weyrfolk, that is, except Lessa and Ramoth. They had gone on to Fort Weyr where the queens’ wing was assembling. F’lar could not quite suppress a twinge of concern that she and Ramoth would be fighting, too. A holdover, he knew, from the days when Pern had only one queen. If Lessa could jump four hundred Turns between and lead five Weyrs back, she could take care of herself and her dragon against Threads.
He checked to be sure that every man was well loaded with firestone sacks, that each dragon was in good color, especially those in from the southern Weyr. Of course, the dragons were fit, but the faces of the men still showed evidences of the temporal strains they had endured. He was procrastinating, and the Threads would be dropping in the skies of Telgar. He gave the order to go between. They reappeared above, and to the south of Telgar Hold itself, and were not the first arrivals. To the west, to the north, and yes, to the east now, wings arrived until the horizon was patterned with the great V’s of several thousand dragon wings. Faintly he heard the claxon bell on Telgar Hold Tower as the unexpected dragon strength was acclaimed from the ground.
“Where is she?” F’lar demanded of Mnementh. “We’ll need her presently to relay orders …”
She’s coming, Mnementh interrupted him.
Right above Telgar Hold another wing appeared. Even at .this distance, F’lar could see the difference: the golden dragons .shone in the bright morning sunlight. A hum of approval drifted down the dragon ranks, and despite his fleeting worry, F’lar grinned with proud indulgence at the glittering sight.
Just then the eastern wings soared straight upward in the sky as the dragons became instinctively aware of the presence of their ancient foe.
Mnementh raised his head, echoing back the brass thunder of the war cry. He turned his head, even as hundreds of other beasts turned to receive firestone from their riders.
Hundreds of great jaws masticated the stone, swallowed it, their digestive acids transforming dry stone into flame-producing gases, igniting on contact with oxygen.
Threads! F’lar could see them clearly now against the spring sky. His pulses began to quicken, not with apprehension, but with a savage joy. His heart pounded unevenly. Mnementh demanded more stone and began to speed up the strokes of his wings in the air, gathering himself to leap upward when commanded.
The leading Weyr already belched gouts of orange-red flame into the pale blue sky. Dragons winked in and out, flamed and dove. The great golden queens sped at cliff-skimming height to cover what might have been missed. Then F’lar gave the command to gain altitude to meet the Threads halfway in their abortive descent. As Mnementh surged upward, F’lar shook his fist defiantly at the winking Red Eye of the Star.
“One day,” he shouted, “we will not sit tamely here, awaiting your fall. We will fall on you, where you spin, and sear you on your own ground.”
By the Egg, he told himself, if we can travel four hundred Turns backward and across seas and lands in the blink of an eye, what is travel from one world to another but a different kind of step? F’lar grinned to himself. He’d better not mention that audacious notion in Lessa’s presence.
Clumps ahead, Mnementh warned him. As the bronze dragon charged, flaming, F’lar tightened his knees on the massive neck. Mother of us all, he was glad that now, of all times, he, F’lar, rider of bronze Mnementh, was a dragonman of Pern!travel from one world to another but a different kind of step?
F’lar grinned to himself. He’d better not mention that audacious notion in Lessa’s presence.
Clumps ahead, Mnementh warned him.
As the bronze dragon charged, flaming, F’lar tightened his knees on the massive neck. Mother of us all, he was glad that now, of all times conceivable, he, F’lar, rider of bronze Mnementh, was a dragonman of Pern.