The Black Dragon of Pern
M.C. Gordon
Disclaimer is noted in the beginning of this series. This story is written for the real M'chell.
Chapter Four
The flyer was awakened in the early morning hours by a fair of fire lizards darting back and forth around the cavern in uncontrolled emotion. They projected excited images at him in such rapidity that his mind couldn't make sense of what they were trying to tell him. They pulled at his wings, urging him to join them. He was only half awake and hissed them away but they remained insistent.
He finally consented to sit quietly and listen, hoping they had seen another like himself. He told them to go away when they showed him images he couldn't believe. No fire lizard could be so large, or have two heads, one so much larger than the other.
It was raining the deadly rain today and any exposed clutches would die. He had fought the tiny golden fire lizards in the past, tried to explain that their young would be consumed by the bad rain as he moved their eggs into the safety of the caves that dotted the beaches. He had small scars on his arms to prove he had tried. And still the clutches had died. He finally stopped trying and stayed in his cavern. He had no intention of going out in this rain on the whim of over-excited fire lizards to see something dreamed up by minds that had probably eaten a bit of over-ripe meat.
He watched, safely in his cavern, as the silvery rain fell into the water and writhed until it died. The fire lizards suddenly grew more agitated than usual and launched themselves into the sky, breathing tiny puffs of flame as they ascended ever higher. He watched them in morbid fascination, knowing that he would retreat to the back of his cavern when the first of his friends screamed in pain and went away, into the unspeakable cold, never to return.
He had tried to help them before, but he couldn't breathe flame. He couldn't chew the tiny rocks they did to produce flame and had gotten violently sick when he tried to swallow the rocks whole.
He was about to send all the fire lizards away when one tiny golden queen perched herself on his shoulder and refused to be dislodged. She urged him to look upward and he saw some of his friends about to be devoured by the bad rain when a huge breath of fire singed the silvery streaks to blackened ash. And he saw what the fire lizards had tried to tell him for there, on the horizon, was the biggest golden fire lizard he had ever seen.
It lacked the two heads the fire lizards had imagined to him, but the size alone was beyond his ability to comprehend. His friends were motes in the distance but this one, oh this one was so large he could see the veins in the wings. And the golden giant moved as if she knew the best way to attack the bad rain, how to avoid the silvery streaks. None of the fire lizards he knew could do that. They flew at random, flaming with no rhyme or reason, and usually died. But oh, this glorious golden queen was different and the flyer wondered if she would agree to speak to him when the danger was past. Perhaps she knew if there was a clutch somewhere with more of his kind.
The fair returned to his cavern, chirping out of control about the new queen. He had to quiet them before they began to make sense, dipping into his small reserve of food.
He had found a giant fish one day, washed up on the beach. It had scraped its belly on a shallow reef and was dying. It spoke to him, he thought, or maybe not. But he thought he heard it tell him to take the body, when it died, and pack it with sand to dry it. He had done as the fish had told him, phin it called itself, and when he could not hunt for his own food he nibbled. It was what was left of the phin that he gave the fire lizards.
When the fair was sated, he asked if they would see if they could find the giant gold with him, and ask if the queen would meet him.
Chapter Five
M'chell sat fidgeting nervously in the small cave he had found for shelter from Threadfall. He'd been in the thick of things since Raganth was old enough to fly him against their enemy. But his hands hadn't completely healed and he knew he wouldn't be able to hold himself on his queen's back or survive the quick trips between until he had recovered completely. He knew, without Andren's warnings since the fire, that his hands would be permanently damaged in the unspeakable cold.
The long, straight flight to the southern continent was interrupted only long enough to stop at Nalebad Weyr and see L'del. M'chell realized, seeing his former lover after so many years, that he had long since accepted that their partnership over. L'del had asked him to stay the night and the two sat until the early morning hours, reminiscing over the years at Edmon Weyr.
"I hear Davis Impressed a bronze," L'del finally said.
"Andren wasn't very happy about it," M'chell told him. "He still thinks healers shouldn't Impress. But D'vis reminded him and Julani that he had promised to be a bronze rider for Tomin. And he handles both responsibilities well. The last I heard he's going to Base Hold as soon as finishes his journeymanship."
"How are Andren and Julani?" L'del asked.
"Happy together," M'chell said. "Do you remember that beautiful music the fire lizards sang that day in the cave when we found those ancient artifacts? Julani's still trying to write it down but you know fire lizards, it's hard to get them to concentrate on anything for very long and he gets frustrated. I can always tell when he's been trying because he eventually gives up and stomps through the weyr in disgust. Even Andren avoids him."
They said their goodbye's the next morning and M'chell finally admitted to himself that he was pleased to see L'del happy.
The rest of their journey to Southern was uneventful but M'chell was startled by the beauty of the flora when they finally arrived. Trees, grass, and flowers covered the landscape in abundance and M'chell had the dragon rider's fear of what Thread did to organic matter.
"Maybe Thread no longer falls here," Raganth remarked.
"Thread falls everywhere," M'chell responded and wondered if he would be able to find a place to live when Threadfall shifted south.
They settled on a sandy beach and M'chell retrieved a meat pie from the pack on Raganth's back. He relaxed in the gentle warmth of the sand, enjoying the sound of waves from the great ocean as they rushed toward the beach. Raganth, who loved being in water almost as much as he loved M'chell, dived into the water and was very pleased to find many edible types of fishes.
They had been napping in the peaceful warmth when Raganth suddenly woke and started crunching the small supply of firestone M'chell had packed, just in case. Threadfall was visible over the ocean and moving rapidly toward them. M'chell had located a few small caves near the shoreline, always the dragon rider with his mind on Thread, and quickly retreated to the largest one for safety. He knew Raganth would be safer in the sky, fighting Thread, than he would be on the ground, but it was difficult for him to look out the small opening and see his dragon fight Thread without him.
When Thread had passed M'chell was trying to scrub Raganth from fire stench and ashes, and having a very difficult time of it with his hands, when a fair of fire lizards burst into the air over them and attacked the golden queen's hide with a frenzy. They chirped merrily to themselves as they scrubbed Raganth clean, once they realized there was no threat, and looked curiously at M'chell.
"They say they don't remember me being this big," Raganth told his rider. "How could they remember me at all if they never saw me before? And they want to know if we will help find a clutch of flyer eggs."
"What do they mean by `flyer'?" M'chell asked and suddenly found himself surrounded by fire lizards projecting blurred images at him.
Chapter Six
M'chell woke in the middle of the night, his hands in agony. He'd had a nightmare about the holder's family and thrashed around in his small cavern, banging his hands about. Blood was oozing through the linen wrappings. He removed the linen and reached for the small pot of numbweed.
It was difficult, this business of tending to his own injuries. Raganth hovered outside the small cavern, his golden head bobbing back and forth as he crooned encouragement. The linens came off painfully, pulling away newly formed skin and M'chell clenched his teeth together to avoid screaming before he remembered that no one was around to hear him.
Outside the cavern Raganth hissed and a loud hiss followed in response. M'chell was unaware of the sound because a fair of fire lizards suddenly popped in and seemed to be inspecting him. He was about to immerse his hands in the numbweed when something else appeared from between.
M'chell sat in stunned silence as the man stooped near him in the semi-darkness. He gazed in wonder at the unexpected stranger. The face was long with deep-set eyes that were, at the moment, a peaceful bluish-green framed by thick black lashes. Full, sensuous lips pursed in concentration as the man studied M'chell, examined him with a combination of fascination and doubt.
The dragon rider glanced away as he realized the stranger was clothed in only a skimpy loincloth which showed a great deal of dimpled hip and thigh and didn't begin to provide adequate cover for the wrinkled sac which had slipped from the wherry hide. The handsome man crouched down, appearing to balance his weight on his toes, and rested his forearms on his thighs. M'chell's eyes were drawn to the fine-boned hands dangling between his visitor's thighs and he suddenly noticed that the fingers didn't end in ordinary fingernails. They looked more like fire lizard claws.
M'chell began to scoot away from the mysterious being, pushing himself along the floor of the cavern with his feet. He reached for his dagger when he felt the cavern wall against his back, but it was lying near the small fire he'd started when he woke. His burns were now filled with dirt from the cavern floor and throbbed, sending signals of overpowering pain to his brain ... and he cried out in a combination of pain and fear. He fainted when the stranger rose and stepped closer to the fire, exposing the sight of long black wings which had been hidden in the shadows.