Dragonsong - Энн Маккефри

DragonsongAnne McCaffrey

The Cast:

At Half-Circle Sea Hold, in Benden Hold:

Yanus, Sea Holder,

Mavi, Sea Holders Lady

Menolly, their youngest child and daughter

Sella, the next oldest daughter

Alemi, the third son of six

Petiron, the old Harper

Elgion, the new Harper

Soreel, wife of First Holder

Old Uncle, Menollys great-grandfather

At Benden Weyr:

Flar, Weyrleaderbronze Mnementh

Lessa, Weyrwomanqueen Ramoth

Nton, a wingleaderbronze Lioth

Tgellan, wingleader for Half-Circle Sea Holdbronze Monarth

Tgran, dragonriderbrown Branth

Tsel, dragonridergreen Trenth, bronze fire lizard Rill

Fnor, wing-secondbrown Canth, gold fire lizard Grall

Brekke, queenriderqueen Wirenth, killed, bronze fire lizard Berd

Manora, Headwoman of the Weyrs Lower Caverns

Felena, her second in charge

Oharan, Weyr Harper

Mirrim, fosterling of Brekke, (3 fire lizards)green: Reppa, Lok; brown: Tolly

Sanra, in charge of children in living cavern

Masterharper Robinton

Masterminer Nicat

Menollys fire lizards:

gold: Beauty

bronze: Rocky, Diver

brown: Lazybones, Mimic, Brownie

blue: Uncle

green: Auntie One, Auntie Two

Foreword

Rukbat, in the Sagittarian Sector, was a golden G-type star. It had five planets, two asteroid belts, and a stray planet it had attracted and held in recent millennia. When men first settled on Rukbats third world and called it Pern, they had taken little notice of the stranger planet, swinging about its adopted primary in a wildly erratic elliptical orbit. For two generations, the colonists gave the bright red star little thought, until the path of the wanderer brought it close to its stepsister at perihelion.

Then, the spore life, which proliferated at an incredible rate on the Red Stars wild surface, spun off into space and bridged the gap to Pern. The spores fell as thin threads on the temperate, hospitable planet, and devoured anything organic in their way, seeking to establish burrows in Perns warm earth from which to set out more voracious Threads.

The colonists suffered staggering losses in terms of people scored to death, and in crops and vegetation wiped out completely. Only fire killed Thread on land: only stone and metal stopped its progress. Fortunately it drowned in water, but the colonists could scarcely live on the seas.

The resourceful men cannibalized their transport ships and, abandoning the open southern continent where they had touched down, set about making the natural caves in the northern continent habitable. They evolved a two-phase plan to combat Thread. The first phase involved breeding a highly specialized variety of a life-form indigenous to their new world. The dragons (named for the mythical Terran beast they resembled) had two extremely useful characteristics: they could get from one place to another instantly by teleportation, and when they had chewed a phosphine bearing rock, they could emit a flaming gas. Thus the flying dragons could char Thread to ash midair and escape its ravages themselves.

Men and women with high empathy ratings or some innate telepathic ability were trained to use and preserve these unusual animals, partnering them in a life long and intimate relationship.

The original cave-Fort, constructed in the eastern face of the great West Mountain range, soon became too small to hold either the colonists or the great dragons. Another settlement was started slightly to the north, by a great lake, conveniently nestled near a cave-filled cliff. Ruatha Hold, too, became overcrowded in a few generations.

Since the Red Star rose in the East, it was decided to start a holding in the eastern mountains, provided suitable accommodations could be found. The ancient cave-pocked cones of extinct volcanoes in the Benden mountains proved so suitable to the dragonmen and women that they searched and found several more throughout Pern, and left Fort Hold and Ruatha Hold for the pastoral colonists, the holders.

However, such projects took the last of the fuel for the great stonecutters, originally thought to be used for the most diffident mining since Pern was light on metals, and any subsequent holds and weyrs were hand-hewn.

The dragons and their riders in their weyrs, and the people in the cave holdings, went about their separate tasks and each developed habits that became custom, which solidified into tradition as incontrovertible as law.

By the Third Pass of the Red Star, a complicated social, political and economic structure had developed to deal with the recurrent evil of Thread. There were now six Weyrs, pledged to protect all Pern, each Weyr having a geographical section of the northern continent literally under its wings. The rest of the population, the Holds, agreed to tithe to support the Weyrs, since these fighters, these dragonmen, did not have any arable land in their volcanic homes, nor did they have time for farming while protecting the planet from Passes of the Thread.

Holds developed wherever natural caves could be found: some, of course, were extensive or strategically placed near good water and grazing, others were smaller and less well placed. It took a strong man to keep frantic, terrified people in control in the Holds during Thread attacks: it took wise administration to conserve food supplies for times when nothing could be safely grown. Extraordinary measures controlled population, keeping its number healthy and useful until such time as the Thread should pass. And often children from one Hold were raised in another Hold, to spread the genetic pool and keep the Holds from dangerous inbreeding. Such a practice was called fostering and was used in both Hold and Crafthalls, where special skills such as metalworking, animal breeding, farming, fishing and mining (such as there was) were preserved. So that one Lord Holder could not deny the products of a Crafthall situated in his Hold to others, the Crafts were decreed independent of a Hold affiliation, each Craftsmaster at a hall owing allegiance only to the Master of that particular craft who, as the need arose, took likely students in as fosterlings.

Except for the return of the Red Star approximately every two hundred years, life was pleasant on Pern.

There came a time when the Red Star, due to the conjunction of Rukbats five natural satellites, did not pass close enough to Pern to drop the dreadful spores. And the Pernese forgot about the danger. The people prospered, spreading out across the rich land, carving more Holds out of solid rock and becoming so busy with their pursuits, that they did not realize that there were only a few dragons in the skies, and only one Weyr of dragonriders left on Pern. In a few generations, the descendants of the Holders began to wonder if the Red Star would ever return. The dragonriders fell into disfavor: why should all Pern support these people and their hungry beasts? The legends of past braveries, and the very reason for such courage, became dishonored.

But in the natural course of events, the Red Star again spun close to Pern, winking with a baleful red eye on its intended victim. One man, Flar, rider of the bronze dragon, Mnementh, believed that the ancient tales had truth in them. His half brother, Fnor, rider of brown Canth, listened to his arguments and came to believe. When the last golden egg of a dying queen dragon lay hardening on the Benden Weyr Hatching Ground, Flar and Fnor seized the opportunity to gain control of the Weyr. Searching Ruatha Hold, they found a strong woman, Lessa, the only surviving member of the proud bloodline of Ruatha Hold. She impressed young Ramoth, the new queen, and became Weyrwoman of Benden Weyr. And Flars bronze Mnementh became the new queens mate.

The three young riders, Flar, Fnor and Lessa forced the Lord Holders and the Craftsmen to recognize their imminent danger and prepare the almost defenseless planet against Thread. But it was distressingly obvious that the scant two hundred dragons of Benden Weyr could not defend the wide-spread and sprawling settlements. Six full Weyrs had been needed in the olden days when the settled land had been much less extensive. In learning to direct her queen between one place and another, Lessa discovered that dragons could teleport between times as well. Risking her life as well as Perns only queen, Lessa and Ramoth went back in time, four hundred Turns, to the days before the mysterious disappearance of the other five Weyrs, just after the last Pass of the Red Star had been completed.

The five Weyrs, seeing only the decline of their prestige and bored with inactivity after a lifetime of exciting combat, agreed to help Lessa, and Pern, and came forward to her time.

Dragonsong begins seven Turns after the Five Weyrs came forward.

Chapter 1

Almost as if the elements, too, mourned the death of the gentle old Harper, a southeaster blew for three days, locking even the burial barge in the safety of the Dock Cavern.

The storm gave Sea Holder Yanus too much time to brood over his dilemma. It gave him time to speak to every man who could keep rhythm and pitch, and they all give him the same answer. They couldnt properly honor the Old Harper with his deathsong, but Menolly could.

To which answer Yanus would grunt and stamp off. It rankled in his mind that he couldnt give voice to his dissatisfaction with that answer, and his frustration. Menolly was only a girl: too tall and lanky to be a proper girl at that. It galled him to have to admit that, unfortunately, she was the only person in the entire Half-Circle Sea Hold who could play any instrument as well as the old Harper. Her voice was true, her fingers clever on string, stick or pipe, and she knew the Deathsong. For all Yanus could be certain, the aggravating child had been practicing that song ever since old Petiron started burning with his fatal fever.

She will have to do the honor, Yanus, his wife, Mavi, told him the evening the storm began to slacken. The important thing is that Petiron is properly sung to rest. One does not have to record who did the singing.

The old man knew he was dying. Why didnt he instruct one of the men?

Because, replied Mavi with a touch of sharpness in her voice, you would never spare him a man when there was fishing.

There was young Tranilty

Whom you sent fostering to Ista Sea Hold.

Couldnt that young lad of Forolts

His voice is changing. Come, Yanus, itll have to be Menolly.

Yanus grumbled bitterly against the inevitable as he climbed into the sleeping furs.

Thats what everyone else has told you, havent they? So why make so much of a necessity?

Yanus settled himself, resigned.

The fishing will be good tomorrow, his wife said, yawning. She preferred him fishing to stomping around the Hold, sullen and critical with enforced inactivity. She knew he was the finest Sea Holder Half-Circle had ever had: the Hold was prospering, with plenty for bartering set by in the storage caves; they hadnt lost a ship or a man in several Turns either, which said much for his weather-wisdom. But Yanus, at home on a heaving deck in foul weather, was very much adrift when taxed with the unexpected on land.

Mavi was keenly aware that Yanus was displeased with his youngest child. Mavi found the girl exasperating, too. Menolly worked hard and was very clever with her fingers: too clever by half when it came to playing any instrument in the Harper Craft. Perhaps, Mavi thought, she had not been wise to permit the girl to linger in the old Harpers constant company once she had learned all the proper Teaching Songs. But it had been one less worry to let Menolly nurse the old Harper, and Petiron had wished it. No one begrudged a Harpers requests. Ah well, thought Mavi, dismissing the past, thered be a new Harper soon, and Menolly could be put to tasks proper to a young girl.

The next morning, the storm had cleared off: the skies were cloudless, the sea, calm. The burial barge had been outfitted in the Dock Cavern, Petirons body wrapped in harper-blue on the tilter board. The entire Fleet and most of the Seahold followed in the wake of the oar-driven barge, out into the faster moving current above Nerat Deep.

Menolly, on the barge prow, sang the elegy: her clear strong voice carrying back to the Half-Circle Fleet; the men chanting the descant as they rowed the barge.

On the final chord, Petiron went to his rest. Menolly bowed her head, and let drum and stick slide from her fingers into the sea. How could she ever use them again when they had beaten Petirons last song? Shed held back her tears since the Harper had died because she knew she had to be able to sing his elegy and you couldnt sing witha throat closed from crying. Now the tears ran down her cheeks, mingled with sea spray: her sobs punctuated by the soft chant of the steersman, setting about.

Petiron had been her friend, her ally and mentor. She had sung from the heart as hed taught her: from the heart and the gut. Had he heard her song where he had gone?

She raised her eyes to the palisades of the coast: to the white-sanded harbor between the two arms of Half-Circle Hold. The sky had wept itself out in the past three days: a fitting tribute. And the air was cold. She shivered in her thick wherhide jacket. She would have some protection from the wind if she stepped down into the cockpit with the oarsmen. But she couldnt move. Honor was always accompanied by responsibility, and it was fitting for her to remain where she was until the burial barge touched the stones of Dock Cavern.

Half-Circle Hold would be lonelier than ever for her now. Petiron had tried so hard to live long enough for his replacement to arrive. Hed told Menolly he wouldnt last the winter. Hed dispatched a message to Masterharper Robinton to send a new Harper as soon as possible. Hed also told Menolly that hed sent two of her songs to the Masterharper.

Women cant be harpers, shed said to Petiron, astonished and awed.

One in ten hundred have perfect pitch, Petiron had said in one of his evasive replies. One in ten thousand can build an acceptable melody with meaningful words. Were you only a lad, thered be no problem at all.

Well, were stuck with me being a girl.

Youd make a fine big strong lad, you would, Petiron had replied exasperatingly.

And whats wrong with being a fine big strong girl? Menolly had been half-teasing, half-annoyed.

Nothing, surely. Nothing. And Petiron had patted her hands, smiling up at her.

Shed been helping him eat his dinner, his hands so crippled even the lightest wooden spoon left terrible ridges in the swollen fingers.

And Masterharper Robintons a fair man. No one on Pern can say he isnt. And hell listen to me. He knows his duty, and I am, after all, a senior member of the Crafthall, being taught up in the Craft before him himself. And Ill require him to listen to you.

Have you really sent him those songs you made me wax down on slates?

I have. Sure I have done that much for you, dear child.

Hed been so emphatic that Menolly had to believe that hed done what hed said. Poor old Petiron. In the last months, hed not remembered the time of Turn much less what hed done the day before.

He was timeless now, Menolly told herself, her wet cheeks stinging with cold, and shed never forget him.

The shadow of the two arms of Half-Circles cliffs fell across her face. The barge was entering the home harbor. She lifted her head. High above, she saw the diminutive outline of a dragon in the sky. How lovely! And how had Benden Weyr known? No, the dragonrider was only doing a routine sweep. With Thread falling at unexpected times, dragons were often flying above Half-Circle, isolated as it was by the bogs at the top of Nerat Bay. No matter, the dragon was awing above Half-Circle Hold at this appropriate moment and that was, to Menolly, the final tribute to Petiron the Harper.

The men lifted the heavy oars out of the water, and the barge glided slowly to its mooring at the far end of the Dock. Fort and Tillek might boast of being the oldest Sea-Holds, but only Half-Circle had a cavern big enough to dock the entire fishing fleet and keep it safe from Threadfall and weather.

Dock Cavern had moorings for thirty boats; storage space for all the nets, traps and lines; airing racks for sail; and a shallow ledge where hulls could be scraped free of seagrowths and repaired. At the very end of the immense Cavern was a shelf of rock where the Holds builders worked when there was sufficient timber for a new hull. Beyond was the small inner cave where priceless wood was stored, dried on high racks or warped into frames.

The burial barge lightly touched its pier.

Menolly? The first oarsman held out a hand to her.

Startled by the unexpected courtesy to a girl her age, she was about to jump down when she saw in his eyes the respect due her at this moment. And his hand, closing on hers, gave silent approval for her singing of the Harpers elegy. The other men stood, too, waiting for her to disembark first. She straightened her shoulders, although her throat felt tight enough for more tears, and she stepped proudly down to the solid stone.

As she turned to walk back to the landside of the Cavern, she saw that the other boats were discharging their passengers quickly and quietly. Her fathers boat, the biggest of the Half-Circle fleet, had already tacked back into the harbor. Yanuss voice carried across the water, above the incidental sounds of creaking boats and muted voices.

Quickly now, men. Weve a good breeze rising and the fishll be biting after three days of storm.

The oarsmen, hurried past her, to board their assigned fishing boats. It seemed unfair to Menolly that Petiron, after a long lifes dedication to Half-Circle Hold, was dismissed so quickly from everyones mind. And yetlife did go on. There were fish to be caught against winters hungry months. Fair days during the cold months of the Turn were not to be squandered.

She quickened her pace. Shed far to go around the rim of the Dock Cavern and she was cold. Menolly also wanted to get into the Hold before her mother noticed that she didnt have the drum. Waste wasnt tolerated by Mavi any more than idleness by Yanus.

While this was an occasion, it had been a sad one and the women and children and also the men too old to sea-fish observed a decorous pace out of the Cavern, making smaller groups as they headed towards their own Holds in the southern arc of Half-Circles sheltering palisade.

Menolly saw Mavi organizing the children into work groups. With no Harper to lead them in the Teaching Songs and ballads, the children would be kept occupied in clearing the storm debris from the white-sanded beaches.

There might be sun in the sky, and the dragonrider still circling on his brown, but the wind was frigid and Menolly began to shiver violently. She wanted to feel the warmth of the fire on the great Holds kitchen hearth and a cup of hot klah inside her.

She heard her sister Sellas voice carrying to her on the breeze, Shes got nothing to do now, Mavi, why do I have to.

Menolly ducked behind a group of adults, avoiding her mothers searching glance. Trust Sella to remember that Menolly no longer had the excuse of nursing the ailing Harper. Ahead of her, one of the old aunts tripped, her querulous voice raised in a cry for help. Menolly sprinted to her side, supporting her and receiving loud protestations of gratitude.

Only for Petiron would I have dragged these old bones out on the cold sea this morning. Bless the man, rest the man, the old woman went on, clinging with unexpected strength to Menolly. Youre a good child, Menolly, so you are. It is Menolly, isnt it? The old one peered up at her. Now you just give me a hand up to Old Uncle and Ill tell him the whole of it, since he hasnt legs to leave his bed.

So Sella had to supervise the children and Menolly got to the fire: at least long enough to stop shivering. Then old auntie would have it that the Uncle would be grateful for some klah, too, so when Mavi entered her kitchen, her eyes searching for her youngest daughter, she found Menolly dutifully occupied serving the oldster.

Very well then, Menolly, while youre up there, see that you set the old man comfortably. Then you can start on the glows.

Menolly had her warming cup with the Old Uncle and left him comfortable, mournfully exchanging tales of other burials with the aunt. Checking the glows had been her task ever since she had grown taller than Sella. It had meant climbing up and down the different levels to the inner and outer layers of the huge Sea Hold, but Menolly had established the quickest way to finish the job so that shed have some free time to herself before Mavi started looking for her. She had been accustomed to spending those earned minutes practicing with the Harper. So Menolly was not surprised to find herself, eventually, outside Petirons door.

She was surprised, however, to hear voices in his room. She was about to charge angrily through the half-open door and demand an accounting when she heard her mothers voice clearly.

The room wont need much fixing for the new Harper, so it wont.

Menolly stepped back into the shadow of the corridor. The new Harper?

What I want to know, Mavi, is who is to keep the children up in their learning until he comes? That voice was Soreels, the wife of the First Holder and therefore spokeswoman for the other Hold women to Mavi as Sea Holders lady. She did well enough this morning. You have to give her that, Mavi.

Yanus will send the message ship.

Not today, nor tomorrow he wont. I dont fault Sea Holder, Mavi, but it stands to reason that the boats must fish and the sloops crew cant be spared. That means four, five days before the messenger gets to Igen Hold. From Igen Hold, if a dragonrider obliges by carrying the messagebut we all know what the Old-timers at Igen Weyr are like so lets say, Harper drums to the Masterharper Hall at Fort is another twothree days. A man has to be selected by Masterharper Robinton and sent overland and by ship. And with Thread falling any time it pleases, no one travels fast or far in a day. Itll be spring before we see another Harper. Are the children to be left without teaching for months?

Soreel had punctuated her comments with brushing sounds, and there were other clatters in the room, the swishing of bed rushes being gathered up. Now Menolly could hear the murmur of two other voices supporting Soreels arguments.

Petiron has taught well

He taught her well, too, Soreel interrupted Mavi.

Harpering is a mans occupation

Fair enough if Sea Holderll spare a man for it. Soreels voice was almost belligerent because everyone knew the answer to that. Truth be told, I think the girl knew the Sagas better than the old man this past Turn. You know his mind was ranging back in time, Mavi.

Yanus will do whats proper, The finality in Mavis tone firmly ended that discussion.

Menolly heard footsteps crossing the old Harpers room, and she ducked down the hall, around the nearest bend and down into the kitchen level.

It distressed Menolly to think of anyone, even another Harper, in Petirons room. Obviously it distressed others that there was no Harper. Usually such a problem didnt arise. Every Hold could boast one or two musically able men and every Hold took pride in encouraging these talents. Harpers liked to have other instrumentalists to share the chore of entertaining their Holds during the long winter evenings. And it was also the better part of wisdom to have a substitute available for just such an emergency as Half-Circle was experiencing. But fishing was hard on the hands: the heavy work, the cold water, the salt and fish oils thickened joints and calloused fingers in the wrong places. Fishermen were often away many days on longer hauls. After a Turn or two at net, trap and sail line, young men lost their skill at playing anything but simple tunes. Harper Teaching Ballads required deft quick fingers and constant practice.

By putting to sea to fish so quickly after the old Harpers burial, Yanus thought to have time enough to find an alternative solution. There was no doubt that the girl could sing well, play well, and shed not disgraced Hold or Harper that morning. It was going to take time to send for and receive a new Harper, and the youngsters must not lose all progress in the learning of the basic Teaching Ballads.

But Yanus had many strong reservations about putting such a heavy responsibility on the shoulders of a girl not fifteen Turns old. Not the least of these was Menollys distressing tendency toward tune-making. Well enough and amusing now and again in the long winter evenings to hear her sing them, but old Petiron had been alive to keep her to rights. Yanus wasnt sure that he could trust her not to include her trivial little whistles in the lessons. How were the young to know that hers werent proper songs for their learning? The trouble was, her melodies were the sort that stayed in the mind so a man found himself humming or whistling them without meaning to.

By the time the boats had profitably trawled the Deep and tacked for home, Yanus had found no compromise. It was no consolation to know that he wouldnt have any argument from the other holders. Had Menolly sung poorly that morningbut she hadnt. As Sea Holder for Half-Circle, he was obliged to bring up the young of the Hold in the traditions of Pern: knowing their duty and how to do it. He counted himself very lucky to be beholden to Benden Weyr, to have Flar, bronze Mnemenths rider, as Weyrleader and Lessa as Ramoths Weyrwoman. So Yanus felt deeply obliged to keep tradition at Half-Circle: and the young would learn what they needed to know, even if a girl had the teaching.

That evening, after the days catch had been salted down, he instructed Mavi to bring her daughter to the small room off the Great Hall where he conducted Hold business and where the Records were stored. Mavi had put the Harpers instruments on the mantel for safekeeping.

Appropriately Yanus handed Menolly Petirons gitar. She took the instrument in a properly reverential manner, which reassured Yanus that she appreciated the responsibility.

Tomorrow youll be excused from your regular morning duties to take the youngsters for their teaching, he told her. But Ill have no more of those finger-twiddlings of yours.

I sang my songs when Petiron was alive and you never minded them

Yanus frowned down at his tall daughter.

Petiron was alive. Hes dead now, and youll obey me in this

Over her fathers shoulders, Menolly saw her mothers frowning face, saw her warning headshake and held back a quick reply.

You bear in mind what Ive said! And Yanus fingered the wide belt he wore. No tuning!

Yes, Yanus.

Start tomorrow then. Unless, of course, theres Threadfall, and then everyone will bait longlines.

Yanus dismissed the two women and began to compose a message to the Masterharper to go when he could next spare the sloops crew. Theyd sail it to Igen Hold. About time Half-Circle had some news of the rest of Pern anyway. And he could ship some of the smoked fish. The journey neednt be a wasted trip.

Once in the hallway, Mavi gripped her daughters arm hard. Dont disobey him, girl.

Theres no harm in my tunes, mother. You know what Petiron said

Ill remind you that the old mans dead. And that changes everything that went on during his life. Behave yourself while you stand in a mans place. No tuning! To bed now, and mind you turn the glowbaskets. No sense wasting light no eye needs.

Chapter 2

It was easy enough, at first, for Menolly to forget her tuning during the Teachings. She wanted to do Petiron proud so that when the new Harper came, hed find no fault in the childrens recitations. The children were attentive: the Teaching was always better then gutting and preserving fish, or net mending, and longline baiting. Then, too, winter storms, the severest in many Turns, kept the fishing fleet docked and the Teaching eased the boredom.