Empty, Open, Dusty, Dead - 6. Dragons in the Sky

Zalna looked out over Benden Weyr. The latest batch of weyrlings were practising ground drills. It was strange, but she still felt a clutch of only twelve was somehow not enough. Back when she’d grown up, twenty-five was the average and some queens had even laid more than thirty eggs at a time.

‘Back in the dim and distant past,’ she said to herself, looking down at her hands. They weren’t the hands of a lady, but those of someone who had done plenty of hard work throughout her life. Lots of scrubbing Gemalth, stitching together scored wings and hefting around flamethrowers. On her next birthday, she’d be turning fifty. Nowadays, her hair was mostly grey rather than reddish-brown, although quite a pleasant, soft grey. T’san said she was still beautiful, but then he would.

In a few days it would be twenty-five Turns since the Disappearance. Hard to believe, really. Benden riders still patrolled the deserted Weyrs and both Ista and High Reaches were in use again. Gemalth’s only daughter, Jalnith, had gone to Ista eight Turns ago. She’d not laid a golden egg yet, although she’d had two clutches, helping to repopulate the place. High Reaches still had no queen, although thirty five riders were stationed there permanently, plus some support staff.

It wasn’t enough, she knew. Even if the existing queens began rising and laying more often, they would still not have anywhere near the number required by the time the next Pass began. Yet what more could they do?

The older she became, the more these questions worried her. Gemalth was younger than she and must have another few clutches to lay before her breeding life came to an end, but there wasn’t anyone she could visualise taking over her position as Weyrwoman with the same duty and dedication. Cassaru was older in Turns and her dragon would probably stop breeding at around the same time as Gemalth. Talanza might be a worthwhile successor, one day, but she was still only seventeen and so far, no golden egg had presented itself for her to even try to Impress. Given the Turns between clutches it might well happen that she became over age before she ever stood on the Sands.

They could bring Romello and Jalnith back, she supposed, but the pair just didn’t seem right to take over the most important Weyr on Pern. Living in a warm climate had made them lazy. Not for the first time, Zalna wondered if surviving a Pass tempered people, like iron heated in a forge, whereas the easy times of an Interval made them far less… something. Less determined, less hard, less inclined to lead.

Problems. Always problems.

We will be around for a good few Turns yet, Gemalth assured her.

Morna still lived at Ista, well into her seventies. They called her the Weyr’s grandmother and truth be told, more weyrfolk took their problems to her rather than to Romello. It was good for her to feel needed. She’d never really got over N’rax’s death. ‘Why did he have to go like that?’ she’d asked, again and again in the first months after he’d gone.

‘He must have feared deteriorating, I suppose.’ Zalna had never told anyone what N’rax had said to her, not even T’san. Although she didn’t know the specifics, she felt something of the same weight he must have done, having to guard such an important secret. ‘Pern’s survival depends on it,’ he’d said. She’d often wondered if Masterharper Creline was in on the secret, too and had finally concluded he must be. He was still alive, although he’d retired from his position four Turns ago and gone back to live in the Sea Hold where he had grown up. Another sort of seclusion, she mused; somewhere no one would ask awkward questions.

She’d last visited Fort Weyr when she’d joined one of the patrols several months ago. It had been a sad sight, with broken fences where the herdbeast pens had once been, the lake overgrown with reeds around its margins and grass sprouting over the Bowl. The patrol had been assigned to clear greenery and the dragons had all enjoyed flaming. It had given Zalna a chance to use her trusty flamethrower again, burning away weeds from the heights. Nowadays, the old Weyrs were often used to teach young dragons and their riders flame control. It seemed wrong, somehow, to let greenery sprout unchecked. They couldn’t eliminate it completely; the plants of Pern were hardy and fast growing, but they could at least keep the growth to a manageable level.

‘Day dreaming again?’ T’san’s meeting with his Wingleaders must just have finished.

‘Thinking.’

‘You’ll get a wrinkled brow.’ He smoothed her forehead.

‘You mean I haven’t already?’

‘Come inside and have a klah. Then I can tell you all about the latest additions to the Games.’

Zalna sighed. Come this time of the Turn, practice for the Spring Games began in earnest. For the next few months, it was all the riders would be talking about. Still, it gave them a purpose, especially during these drab, winter days. ‘So, what’s new this Turn,’ she asked, following him through to their weyr.

The morning of the anniversary dawned bright and clear; almost like a Fort winter day. She rode out with T’san’s Wing on one of their patrols across the Benden vineyards. As they passed over the Hold, a few folk waved. It always cheered them to see a Wing of dragons, especially when one of them was gold. Zalna waved back. Mardra would have disapproved of such informality but Zalna had done her best to be the antithesis of Mardra in all her dealings. Both she and T’san realised the best way to keep dragons in good favour, even when there was no fear of Thread, was to be seen and to be helpful. Of course, they didn’t interfere in Hold matters, but should one of the Lord Holders request help from the Weyr in any other way, they usually obliged. Just the previous winter, dragonriders from Benden had helped save the crew and cargo of a foundering boat off Greystones.

When they arrived back at the Weyr towards lunch time, Zalna noticed bronze Murrath up on the heights. J’ton, his rider, was the Wingleader in charge at High Reaches. She and T’san had visited recently, just before Turn’s End. Something untoward must have happened for him to be here outside the normal schedule, especially as it must be very early in the morning on the western side of Pern.

‘Wonder what this is about?’ T’san said quietly to her as they dismounted and made their way inside the weyr.

Cassaru was sitting with J’ton, drinking klah. Zalna noticed she seemed at ease with him in a way she wasn’t with very many people. Murrath had flown Terirth a few times, although she hadn’t realised Cassaru had feelings for J’ton. But then, Cassaru didn’t often display much emotion except when she was getting enthusiastic about something new she’d discovered in the archives.

‘Is everything all right over at High Reaches?’ T’san asked, going to greet J’ton.

‘Well, yes…’ he hesitated.

‘He wouldn’t tell me a thing about it,’ Cassaru put in.

‘I’m sorry,’ J’ton said to her. ‘But until I know the Weyrwoman and Weyrleader’s thoughts on the matter, I think it’s best kept private.’

‘I understand.’ She smiled at the Wingleader. ‘Anyway, it’s been a pleasure to see you again, but I really must get back to my archives. We’re in the middle of restoring some very fragile old records right now…’

He touched her arm briefly. ‘Be sure to let us know next time Terirth looks like she’s in the mating mood.’

‘Of course I will.’ She stood, placing her mug on the table. ‘Look after yourself.’

‘You too.’

As she left, T’san poured out klah for himself and Zalna. ‘So, what brings you here?’ he asked J’ton.

‘I know we’re not scheduled to meet again until next month, but I thought I’d better tell you about something odd that happened last night at the Weyr.’

‘Oh, yes?’

‘Our watch dragon sent Murrath a rather garbled message just after midnight. “Dragons everywhere,” he said. They’d come down and settled on the heights at the far end of the Bowl. By the time O’drel and Juldurth got over there, they were taking off again. Juldurth tried speaking to several dragons, but they ignored him. Then the whole lot of them disappeared between.’

‘How many, roughly?’ Zalna asked.

‘It was dark, but he estimated it was in the hundreds. Enough to fill a Weyr, he said.’

‘Juldurth?’ T’san frowned. ‘Brown dragon, isn’t he?’

‘Yes and very reliable. If they’d been a pair of flighty youngsters, I might not have taken it so seriously. Anyway, when I went up there myself, I saw all the tracks in the snow, so it definitely wasn’t a figment of their imagination. O’drel was a bit shaken up by it all. He was worried I might think he’d been drinking, or sleeping on duty, but his dragon backed him up on everything.’

‘And dragons don’t lie,’ T’san finished.

‘Exactly. I don’t know what to make of it. I told him not to mention it to anyone else for now, but you know how news spreads in a Weyr. Even though it was late, someone else might have seen.’

‘So, what do you think?’ T’san asked him.

‘I’ve had a few hours to mull it over with O’drel. We came to the conclusion - and I know this sounds far-fetched - they might have been the dragons who disappeared from High Reaches, all those Turns ago. Where else could such a multitude have come from? Unless it was the whole of Benden Weyr taking a midnight jaunt?’

‘Definitely not,’ T’san confirmed. ‘If we had, I’m afraid we wouldn’t have chosen High Reaches in the middle of winter.’

J’ton smiled wryly. ‘No one would choose High Reaches in the middle of winter. Although, it has a kind of stark beauty when the wind whips a blizzard around the seven spires.’

‘Beginning to settle there?’ T’san asked.

‘I never thought I’d say this, but it’s not as bad as I’d feared. Cold, yes, but dry cold. Not like the damp here that gets into your bones. Some of my riders wouldn’t agree, but the dragons don’t mind. You should see them play in the drifts…’

Zalna brought him back to the point. ‘So, let’s suppose it was the whole of High Reaches Weyr who turned up. If they intended to return to reclaim their Weyr, why appear and disappear again?’

J’ton shook his head. ‘That’s what we couldn’t figure out.’

T’san rolled the mug between his hands, as he often did while thinking. ‘Unless they were making a quick stop to break up a much longer journey?’

Zalna glanced at him, wondering if he too remembered the rumour that the five Weyrs would reappear just before the next Pass began.

J’ton obviously did. ‘Some folk believe they’ll all come back to help us fight Thread again, one hundred and seventy-five Turns hence. I’ve always thought it fanciful myself, but…’ he shrugged.

‘What other explanation would fit,’ T’san finished. ‘I’ve always ascribed to the theory that the simplest explanation is usually right. If there really were “hundreds” of dragons in the sky and they definitely weren’t from Benden, then where else could they have come from?’

‘Yes, but that would mean they’d come forward in time.’

As a bronze rider, J’ton would have been taught the theory of jumping between times, although he may never have actually tried it. Zalna thought she should ask. ‘Have you and Murrath ever timed it?’

‘No. Too dangerous, I was always told.’

‘Very wise,’ T’san replied. ‘Although it has its uses, in an emergency. But you need to give very specific coordinates. Now, going back, that’s not too difficult. But going forward…’

Zalna know what he was getting at. ‘How do you give a dragon coordinates for a time that hasn’t yet existed? How can you be sure what it looks like there? Or then, I mean.’

J’ton shook his head slowly. ‘It sounds very complicated.’

‘Exactly. So how would they have done it?’ Zalna concluded.

‘Well…’ J’ton sounded doubtful. ‘That I can’t answer, but I do know O’drel and his dragon saw something last night.’

‘Stars,’ T’san said suddenly. ‘They could use the stars. They return to the same positions once a Turn.’

Zalna saw the flaw in his reasoning almost at once. ‘Yes, that’s true. So how would you know if you’d travelled ten Turns or a hundred?’

‘Maybe that’s it! Maybe they miscalculated and returned too soon? Or seeing the Weyr occupied gave them that idea. They’d not have realised there were only a handful of dragons living there, at night.’ T’san sounded excited as he spoke his ideas out loud. He and Zalna often worked out plans like this.

Zalna glanced at J’ton. The man looked as if all this was beyond him. He was a practical sort and had been a good Wingleader in Threadfall, but he wasn’t at all imaginative. All the more reason he probably hadn’t exaggerated the story at all. ‘Well, thank you for informing us,’ she said to him. ‘It’ll be lunch soon. Would you like to stay for a bite to eat?’

He shook his head. ‘I’ll have breakfast waiting at High Reaches. I should get back, really.’

‘That’s fine,’ T’san said. ‘If there are any questions, you might want to answer them truthfully, as you’ve told us. Better a little truth than lots of speculation.’

While T’san showed him out, Zalna sipped her klah. They were missing something. She just knew it. Maybe they could talk it through over lunch?

T’san was longer than she’d expected and she was just about to go looking when he returned with another surprise guest. Morna came in with him, looking chilled despite being well wrapped up in wherhide, with a knitted scarf around her neck. ‘You forget how cold it is here,’ she said, taking off her gloves and rubbing her fingers. ‘I had to come, though. You need to know what’s happened at Ista.’

‘Let me guess,’ T’san said. ‘A multitude of dragons turned up over the Weyr last night?’

Morna looked surprised. ‘How did you know that?’

‘J’ton just told us the same thing happened at High Reaches.’

Zalna handed her a mug of klah. The old weyrwoman took it gratefully and sat herself down. ‘Well, I never,’ she said. ‘I’d have been along earlier if it wasn’t for that stupid girl, Romello. Said we should keep it to ourselves in case you thought we’d been touched by the sun. Anyway, I told her you had a right to know and I’d bring the news myself if she wouldn’t.’

T’san leaned forward. ‘So, tell us exactly what occurred.’

‘I couldn’t sleep. It happens a lot these nights. One of the curses of old age. Usually, I go out to keep Nonath company. It’s always warm at night, even at this time of the Turn, so she’ll be out on her ledge.’ She took a sip of klah. ‘Anyway, I must have dropped off, sitting next to her, because she nudged me awake. She said I should look up to the rim of the Bowl, because lots of dragons had just settled there. Well, I did and she was right.’

‘How many, roughly?’ T’san asked.

‘Hundreds,’ Morna said. ‘Belior had risen, so I could see them quite clearly. I also saw when young H’las and Kildath flew over to challenge them as was right for a watch pair. And I thought he might need some support, so I climbed on and we went up, too.’

‘That could have been dangerous,’ Zalna said.

Morna chuckled. ‘I’ve done a few dangerous things in my time and I’m still here. Anyway, by the time I got up there, they’d begun to take off again. But as they did, I recognised a few of the dragons and riders. D’ram and Tiroth for one, who was Weyrleader at Ista and Fanna, his Weyrwoman. It was quite a sight to see them all form up. The dragons were carrying goods in nets. Most had several passengers on board as well as their riders. H’las and I watched them gain height, then they all blinked between as one.’

That sounded almost exactly the same as J’ton had told them. As T’san had said, as if they’d stopped for a break in a longer journey.

‘You had nothing like that here?’ Morna asked.

‘Nothing,’ Zalna confirmed. ‘But then, we wouldn’t, because we stayed put.’

‘Eh?’ Morna looked perplexed.

‘We’ve just been talking it over with J’ton,’ T’san explained. ‘He reckoned they were the riders and weyrfolk who vanished from High Reaches, twenty-five Turns ago. What you’ve just told us confirms that your dragons were all from Ista Weyr. I expect the same happened at Igen, Fort and Telgar, only there was no one there to witness it. As Benden didn’t disappear, then we wouldn’t see anyone.’

‘By the first egg,’ Morna said. ‘What does it mean, do you think?’

‘Well, it would seem the the other five Weyrs jumped forward in time. Maybe that old tale about them reappearing at the start of the next Pass is true.’ Zalna still couldn’t figure out how they’d judge the passage of the Turns accurately.

Morna seemed thoughtful. ‘Yes,’ she said at last. ‘And they couldn’t make such a big jump all in one go. It would take too long.’

Now it was Zalna’s turn to be puzzled. ‘I don’t understand.’

‘When you go between places, it’s a fairly quick process. If you jump a short way between times, it’s not much different. But the longer the jump, the more time you’re caught between, with no air to breathe, in that freezing nothingness…’ She didn’t have to finish the sentence.

‘So you think they were going forward in smaller segments?’ Zalna asked.

‘If I hadn’t seen with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have thought such a thing was possible. But I did, therefore I have to conclude it is.’

‘If you’re right, they may reappear in another twenty-five Turns,’ T’san mused.

Morna nodded. ‘Although I doubt I’ll still be here to see it.’

‘Don’t say that.’ Zalna couldn’t imagine Morna not being around.

‘It comes to us all, eventually. Although I can’t deny living at Ista has given me a new lease of life. Same with most of the other old folk. If they’d been sitting round the night hearth here, they’d have been bored to death. There, we can chat in the sun, take our dragons swimming and forget about our aches and pains.’

‘Well, long may you continue to enjoy it.’ Zalna looked across to T’san, who seemed deep in thought. ‘What is it?’ she asked.

‘It must have been a shock for them, to see their abandoned Weyrs occupied, even if they had no idea of the amount of dragons housed there. If they return in another twenty-five Turns and our communities have obviously grown, they might feel they aren’t needed in the future after all.’

‘So, what are you saying? That we should abandon the plan?’ To Zalna, that seemed an unnecessary risk.

‘No, just that we need to be careful. Next time, we shouldn’t confront them, just let them go on their way. We shouldn’t presume they’re all going to make it to our future, so we still need to try and repopulate Ista and High Reaches as much as we can. Then, whatever the circumstances, we’re prepared.’

‘Sensible advice,’ Morna agreed.

Zalna was still bothered. ‘Remember that sevenday before the Disappearance, when N’rax told us there was sickness and no one could leave the Weyr? That must have been when they were planning and getting ready. And it had to be kept secret. But now, we know for sure where they were going. Our weyrfolk will get to know. What if that means it all goes wrong?’

‘I don’t see how it would. They’re still on their way.’ T’san pointed out.

That was true, of course. ‘Perhaps I’m worrying over nothing.’

‘People forget,’ T’san assured her. Only a handful actually saw the dragons. By the time another twenty-five Turns pass by, most will look on it as a fanciful tale, or wishful thinking. Like the legends of fire lizards, for example. Every few Turns, there’s stories of sightings, or that someone’s managed to catch one, but it all turns out to be nothing.’

‘I hope you’re right.’

Morna touched her gently on the arm. ‘We should be glad, really. Now, at least we can be sure they didn’t just disappear for no good reason. All those folk we knew back then are still alive, still travelling into our future. They’ll be here to protect Pern long after we’ve all gone between.’

Later on, after the day’s business was done and they were alone in their weyr, Zalna confided in T’san. ‘There’s something I have to tell you,’ she began. ‘It’s the reason why I’m worried about last night’s developments.’

‘Oh, yes?’

‘Do you remember when N’rax died? It was deliberate, you know, because of the condition he had.’

‘I’d thought it might be. He feared a long, slow death, so he took the way many dragonriders choose. Can’t say I blame him for that.’

‘No,’ Zalna agreed. ‘But he had another reason. He knew what had happened to the five Weyrs and he was afraid he might not be able to keep the secret much longer. He told me that, just a few sevendays beforehand.’

‘And did he tell you the secret, too?’ T’san sat up, propping himself on one elbow.

‘Of course not. He said he was glad it would die with him. It was a burden he’d carried all those Turns.’

‘So he was the last to know,’ T’san mused.

‘Maybe not. I’ve always reckoned the Masterharper was in on it, too. When he wrote that question song it was for a good reason; to preserve the legend and to leave behind tantalising clues.’

‘It doesn’t get played much. Not surprising, really.’

‘But it’s a Teaching Ballad, so every generation will learn it. And, at some point in the future, someone will hear it and everything will make sense to them.’ That was how she saw it, anyway.

‘I remember us puzzling over it,’ T’san said. ‘At least the first line makes some sense now. “Gone away, gone ahead.” We know they went “ahead” because we’ve seen them in this time. Well, some of us have, anyway.’

‘Exactly. We’ve figured out part of the riddle and I don’t think we were meant to. It’s too soon.’

T’san sighed. ‘Nothing much we can do about that now.’

‘I think we should go and see Creline. See if he feels the same as I do. I’m scared, T’san. What if we’ve messed up the future by trying to be too clever? Maybe we should have left the other Weyrs empty?’

‘Sshh.’ He wrapped his arms around her, consoling her. ‘This isn’t like you. You’re always so practical and sensible.’

‘Not this time. It’s too complex. We need advice from someone with greater wisdom. And who better than the Masterharper? He was there, after all.