“What would happen, though, if the cure didn’t work?” Ketan asked.
“She’d be no better off than she is,” Kindan said.
“Possibly worse,” Lorana corrected. She met Ketan’s eyes. “If we’re wrong, she could easily die like Arith.”
“She is the last queen of Benden, I won’t permit it!” Tullea exclaimed when they found her in the Weyrleaders’ quarters later. She and B’nik were eating a late night snack. “Isn’t it enough to kill your own dragon?”
“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.