“She scratched you, child…”
“Oh, that’s nothing, Master Robinton, but I don’t think we’ll get anything more out of her.” Beauty was clinging to the fireplace, chittering irritably, her eyes wheeling angrily orange.
“If something has happened at Benden Weyr, Master Robinton,” remarked Silvina in a dry tone of voice, “they won’t be overlong in sending for you.” Silvina had to raise her voice to counteract the excited cries of the other fire lizards, who were reacting to Beauty’s scolding. “We’d best not upset the creatures any further now. And I’m getting you a dose, young lady, or you’ll never sleep tonight from the look of your eyes.”
“I didn’t mean to disturb everyone…”
Silvina gave her an exasperated snort, dismissing the need for an apology, although Menolly couldn’t help but see, as Silvina opened the door, that harpers were lingering in the corridor. Menolly heard Silvina berating them and telling them to get off to their beds, what did they think they knew about fire lizards?
“The strangest aspect to this incident, Menolly,” said the Masterharper, his forehead creased with thought lines, “is that the dragon reacted, too. I’ve never seen a dragon—short of a mating flight—go off without his rider. I shouldn’t wonder,” and Robinton smiled wryly, “if we don’t have T’ledon over here demanding an explanation from you for the disappearance of his dragon.”
The notion of a dragonrider compelled to ask her for advice was so absurd that Menolly managed a weak smile.
“How’s that hand? You’ve been playing a lot, I hear,” and the Harper turned her left hand over in his. “That scar’s too red. You have been doing too much. Make haste a little more slowly. Is it painful?”
“Not much. Master Oldive gave me some salve.”
“And your feet?”
“So long as I don’t have to stand too much or walk too far…”
“Too bad your fire lizards can’t combine to give you one little dragonpower.”
“Sir?”
“Yes?”
“I think I ought to tell you…my fire lizards can lift things. They brought me my pipes the other day…to spare me the walk…she added hastily. “They took it from my room at the cot, all in a cluster, and then dropped it into my hands!”
“Now that is very interesting. I didn’t realize they had so much initiative. You know, Brekke, Mirrim, and F’nor have got theirs to carry messages on a collar about their necks…” The Masterharper smiled with amusement, “…though they aren’t always good about arriving promptly.”
“I think you have to make certain they know how urgent the matter is.”
“Like having your pipes for Master Jerint?”
“I didn’t wish to be late, and I can’t walk fast.”
“We’ll let that stand as the reason then, Menolly,” said Robinton gently, and when Menolly glanced up at him startled, she saw the kind understanding in his eyes and flushed. He stroked her hand again. “What I don’t know, I sometimes guess, knowing the way people interact, Menolly. Don’t keep so much bottled inside, girl. And do tell me anything unusual that your fire lizards do. That’s far more important than why they did it. We don’t know much about these tiny cousins of the dragons, and I have a suspicion they’ll be very important creatures to us.”
“Is the little white dragon all right?”
“Reading my mind, too, Menolly? Little Ruth is all right,” but the Harper’s heavy, slightly hesitant tone gave the lie to his reassurance. “Don’t fret yourself about Jaxom and Ruth. Just about everyone else on Pern does.” He placed her hand back on the furs with a final pat.
Silvina returned, offering Menolly the mug she’d brought, and stood over her while she downed the dose, gagging a little at the bitterness.
“Yes, I know. I made it strong on purpose. You need to sleep. And Master Robinton, there’s a messenger from the Hold for you below. Urgent, he said, and he’s out of breath!”
“Sleep yourself out, Menolly,” the Harper said as he rapidly left the room.
“Trouble?” Menolly asked Silvina, hoping to be told something.
“Not for you, or because of you, m’girl.” Silvina chuckled, pushing the sleeping fur under Menolly’s chin. “I understand that Groghe, Lord of Fort Hold, experienced the same unnerving nightmare, as he calls it, that you did and has sent for Master Robinton to explain it to him. Now rest and don’t fuss yourself.”
“How could I? You must have doubled that dose of fellis juice,” said Menolly, relaxed and tactless in the grip of the drug. She couldn’t keep her eyes open and effortlessly drifted to sleep to the sound of another chuckle from Silvina. One last thought let her slip easily into unconsciousness: Lord Groghe’s fire lizard had reacted, so she wasn’t hysterical.
She awoke slightly at one point, not quite conscious of her surroundings but aware of a rumbling voice, a treble response, and hungry creelings. When she woke completely later, there was an empty bowl on the floor, and her friends were curled up about her in slumbering balls, wing-limp. The gnawing in her stomach suggested that she had slept well into the day, and the hunger was all her own. If the fire lizards had been that starved, they’d’ve been awake. Doubtless Camo and Piemur had done her the favor of feeding her friends. She grinned; Piemur and Camo must have been delighted at the chance.
The shutters were open and, with no sounds of music or voices, she guessed it must be afternoon and the Hall’s population dispersed to their various chores. The watch dragon was back on the fire heights.
She sat upright in bed as the memory of the previous night’s tenor shattered her pleasant somnolence. At the same moment there was a tap on her door, and before she could answer, Silvina entered, carrying a small tray.
“My timing’s very good,” she said, pleased and smiling. “Do you feel rested?”
Menolly nodded in reply and thanked Silvina for the hot klah she was handed. “But, if I can be bold, you don’t look as if you slept at all.” Silvina’s eyes were dark-circled and red-shot.
“Well, you’re right and you’re not bold, but I’m on my way to my bed, I can assure you, as soon as I’ve straightened up for Robinton. Now…” and Silvina nudged Menolly’s hip so the girl made room for her to sit on the bed, “you ought to hear what disturbed your friends last night. No one else will think to tell you with the Harper away. Also, I’ve just checked the eggs, and I think you should take a look at them… Not, however, until you’ve finished your klah,” and Silvina put a restraining hand on Menolly’s shoulder. “I want your wits in place and not fellis-fuddled.”
“What happened?”
“The bare bones of the matter are that F’nor, brown Canth’s rider, took it into his head to go to the Red Star last night…”
Menolly’s gasp woke the fire lizards.
“Mind your thoughts, girl. I don’t want them turning hysterical again, thank you.” Silvina waited until the creatures had settled back into their naps.
“That’s what seems to have set the fire lizards off, at any rate. And not just yours. Robinton said that anyone who has a fire lizard had the same trouble you did, only with your having nine, it was intensified. What happened was that Canth and F’nor went between to the Red Star…Yes, small wonder you were terrified. What you told us about grayness and all that hideous heat and churning, that’s what’s on the Red Star. No one could land there!” She paused, gave a smug grunt. “That’ll shut up the Lord Holders for wanting to go there!”
“Canth and F’nor?” Menolly felt fear stab coldly up her throat, and she remembered the scream.
“They’re alive, but only just. And when you said, ‘Don’t leave me alone’? What you heard…and it had to be through your fire lizards…was Brekke calling out to F’nor and Canth.” Silvina broke her narrative for effect. “Somehow they got back. Well, partway back from the Red Star. It must have been the most incredible sight…” Silvina’s tired eyes narrowed, reconstructing that vision. “The reason the hold dragon took off was to help land Canth. It was like a path, Robinton tells us, of dragons in the air, catching Canth and F’nor, and braking their fall. They were both senseless, of course. Robinton says there isn’t a scrap of hide left on Canth; as if some mighty hand had sanded his skin away. F’nor is not much better, for all he wore wherhide.”