Dragon's Time

ELEVEN

“Talenth!” Lorana cried as the queen burst forth, bugling anxiously, her cry disturbing the entire camp. “What are you doing here?”

The queen wheeled in for a landing in front of Lorana and turned, as if inviting her to climb aboard. Lorana heard the twins crying loudly in fear and panic. K’dan raced over to her even before Lorana had climbed up to calm the twins.

“Mommy’s all alone!” Tiona told Lorana through her tears. “She jumped off and left us!”

“I’m sure she had a good reason,” Lorana said even as she calmed them and lowered them to the waiting hands that reached upward.

“I’m here, little one,” K’dan said to his daughter as she met his arms.

“I’m scared, Daddy, I’m scared,” Tiona said, burying her small face into his shoulder. “Mommy was so scared and she jumped off Talenth.”

Kimar was sent down into Xhinna’s waiting arms and she held him tightly, shushing and soothing him even as he shook in her arms from the weight of his tears.

Talenth? Lorana asked.

She said to go to you, Talenth told her, clearly sounding torn between her rider’s orders and her own sense of duty.

You did right, Lorana assured her, even as she tried to imagine Fiona’s logic.

We could not get through, Talenth told her. Lorana turned back to K’dan. “They could not get through.”

“I’m not a baby,” Kimar murmured into Xhinna’s ear as his sobs lessened. “I’m not a baby.”

“No one said so,” Xhinna assured him. “You’re very brave.”

“Mommy said so,” Kimar replied. “I heard her, I heard her in my head.”

“In your head?” Lorana repeated, glancing toward K’dan. “Love, what did she say?”

“She said, ‘Can’t lose the babies!’ over and over,” Kimar said.

“She said that because she loves you more than life itself,” Lorana said with a sob. She turned to K’dan. “I must go,” she told him firmly. “On your word, take care of our children.”

“My word,” K’dan said, reaching forward to embrace her. “I love you, I always will.”

“I know,” Lorana whispered back softly, kissing his cheek once more. She climbed up Talenth and looked back down once more to her family, the one Fiona had built for her, had fought for, would always fight for.

The one Fiona had bet her life on.

Come on Talenth, let’s go.

The Weyrs! They must be warned!

Can’t lose the babies! Can’t lose the babies!

Lorana heard both cries, heard the pain in them, felt the fight, the wills exerted.

Fiona? No response. She tried pulling against the voice of D’gan, lost so many months before but now here, in this same time, in this same sliver of between, trapped with Fiona, who was herself locked in her own moment, her own fear, her own leap of faith. Can’t lose the babies! Can’t lose the babies!

Fiona! It’s me, I’ve come to get you! Lorana shouted, trying to find her friend, her sister/daughter/mother/fellow-wife in all the torment, anguish, confusion, fear, and anger. She couldn’t. She needed to free them all, to break the logjam. She pulled, she reached to D’gan locked in the moment of his worst fear, his worst nightmare, and found that she could no more break through now than she could when she’d found the power of all the Weyrs—the Weyrs!

With a final push of will, Lorana pulled herself and Talenth through between, past the time when D’gan and old Telgar Weyr had collided with Fiona and the new riders.

She found her lungs heaving for air, never feeling so warm as when she broke out in the skies above Telgar. Beneath her, Talenth bugled an alert that was taken up instantly by all the dragons, who came out of their weyrs bellowing.

Lyrinth! Minith! Melirth! Bidenth! To Telgar! she ordered even as she urged Talenth down to the Weyr Bowl. The air was clean and warm, and Lorana drank it in, recovering her power as she urged Talenth to a quick descent and gentle landing.

Jeila rushed out of her weyr, with H’nez behind. C’tov came racing down the steps from an upper level and Birentir ran out of the Kitchen Cavern, aid bag in hand.

“What is it?”

“They’re trapped!” Lorana cried. “We must help them.” The air was alive suddenly with queens and bronzes as the Weyrleaders and Weyrwomen of the other Weyrs arrived.

“Lorana!” Tullea cried. “We thought you were dead.”

“Not yet,” Lorana said drolly. “But if we don’t move fast, six hundred dragons and riders will be lost forever.”

“What?” Cisca cried, looking around. “What happened?”

Quickly Lorana explained about the voices, about Fiona’s desperate maneuver, about Talenth’s warning, about her belief that the two Weyrs’ worth of strength were caught in some fragment of between, unable to move forward or backward, stuck repeating their moment of time over and over.

“What do you need?” B’nik asked, clearly convinced and prepared to offer all aid.

“I need all of us to go there and free them,” Lorana said.

“You couldn’t free D’gan before, why do you think you can now?” Sonia asked.

“Because now he’s locked with Fiona and the others,” Lorana replied. “I think I couldn’t move him until the time between when he was locked with her.” She paused as she glanced at the others. “We’ll be the key, the guide that breaks the hold of that moment and frees them.”

“They’ve been there for almost half a Turn,” K’lior said, “can anyone survive that long?”

“D’gan’s voice was still alive when I got here,” Lorana said.

“If you got here from your time, why couldn’t T’mar and the others?” D’vin asked.

“I broke free,” Lorana said. “I was the only one, I—” She stopped and shook her head wearily. “I don’t know. But I need your help.”

“Benden rides with you and always shall,” B’nik declared, sending the word to his Weyr.

“I will not leave them to die in the cold of between,” Sonia said, glancing at D’vin. The High Reaches Weyrleader nodded in agreement.

“Nor I,” Cisca told K’lior. He smiled at her. “Ours are on the way.”

“And Ista,” Dalia said quietly.

“And when they come, what then?” H’nez asked.

“Then we find them, break the binding, and bring them back home,” Lorana declared.

Wing by wing, pitifully small numbers of riders and dragons formed the ranks of the five remaining Weyrs of Pern.

At your command, Talenth relayed from the other queens.

Very well, let’s go, Lorana said.

And all the dragons of Pern winked out at once, between.

Lorana guided them through, back to the time when she’d found—

There! Lorana called, reaching out, feeling dragons and riders numb and cold with the shock of their entrapment between.

She spread her power out, felt the dragons that had come with her array and group themselves, gathering the trapped dragons and riders, physically touching them.

It wasn’t enough. They were still trapped, locked in a cycle of fear and panic. And it was spreading.

Can’t lose the babies!

The Weyrs! They must be warned!

They are warned! D’gan, you saved them! Come back. Come back, D’gan! Lorana eased Talenth over to D’gan’s bronze Kaloth and reached out in the darkness. She engulfed the dragon in a sense of calm and felt it spread to the rider.

They’re safe? Kaloth asked for his rider.

Safe, Lorana thought firmly. And now we must get back.

Can’t lose the babies!

The babies are safe! Lorana thought on the special link she had to Fiona. Instantly she felt the other calm, felt a surge of gratitude, joy, relief.

Lorana turned her energies toward the others who were slowly coming out of their fear, their worry. The dragons and riders of the other Weyrs followed her example, radiating calm, soothing thoughts, adding their mental voices to hers.

And the cycle broke.

They were ready to go back, free of the fears that had trapped them between. Lorana felt her heart ease as she realized that they had done it, they’d saved the lost dragons.

Fiona, we’re safe, Lorana called out. They’re all safe. Guide me to you and we’ll go home.

Silence.

Fiona? Lorana called again. Beneath her she felt Talenth rumble with unease.

We need to go, Cisca’s Melirth told her.

We’ve got everyone, Sonia’s Lyrinth added. We cannot tarry, they are cold from between.

No! Lorana roared back. No, we have to find Fiona!

She isn’t here, Melirth responded gently. None of us can hear her.

We can’t leave her! Lorana called back, her voice full of pain and tears. We can’t leave her here in this cold. We can’t!

She felt the other queens surround Talenth, their love enveloping them even as the queens touched them and pulled them out from between.

“NO!” Lorana shouted as they burst forth over the cold Telgar heights. “No, let me go back! I can find her! You have to let me go!”

But the queens held fast and pulled dragon and rider down into the Weyr bowl.

T’mar and the Weyrleaders raced over to her as Talenth touched the ground.

“Let me go back!” Lorana cried, writhing on her mount above Talenth who creeled just as piteously. “Let us go back, we have to find her!”

“Lorana, she’s gone,” T’mar called up to her, tears streaming from his eyes. “She’s gone,” he repeated as his eyes met hers. “You must stay here, with Talenth. We need all our queens to save Pern.”

“No,” Lorana repeated feebly, her energy sapped, her heart shattered, her will gone.

“Come on down,” T’mar urged, reaching a hand up to her. Others climbed up beside him and between them, Weyrleaders all, they carried Lorana back to the ground where Cisca, Sonia, Lin, Dalia, and even Tullea embraced her in a tight, comforting hug.

“Cisca,” Lorana said in a small voice as she caught the taller woman’s brown eyes. “Let me go find her, please?”

“Shh,” Cisca said, pulling Lorana’s head under hers. “She’s gone, love, she’s gone.”

“You can’t break time,” Tullea added, patting her softly on the back, tears streaming down her face. “You know that.”

Lorana looked up as she heard steps rushing toward her. It was Terin.

“Terin?” Lorana called out, her voice breaking mid-syllable.

Terin pushed her way through the other Weyrwoman, grabbed Lorana’s hand, and pulled her free.

“You can’t break time,” Terin told her as she urged Lorana into a sprint back toward Talenth. “But you can cheat it!”

“Cheat it?” Lorana repeated, a faint glow of hope warming her voice. “But she’s gone!”

“And she would be, if you went back and got her!” Terin glared at T’mar and the Weyrleaders still grouped protectively around Talenth and called, “Get out of the way!”

She barreled through them and pushed Lorana back up on Talenth’s neck before they could react. Dropping back down to the ground, Terin called up to her, “Go! Bring her back!”

With a triumphant cry, Talenth went between just after she’d cleared the grasp of the other dragons.

Find Fiona, Talenth, Lorana called even as she reached out with her senses and called, Fiona? Fiona, we’re coming for you!

She felt a faint answer, as if distant in time, and Lorana grabbed at it with her will and pulled—she pulled hard, pulled herself and the great queen through the nothing of between to the time when she heard Fiona’s voice.

We’re here! Lorana called.

I knew you’d come! Fiona replied, her voice weak with exhaustion.

The others?

We’ve got them, Lorana replied, guiding Talenth closer and closer to the small living mote in the vast void of nothing.

No, Fiona said anxiously, pushing back at Lorana urgently. No, no they’re still here! I can feel them! We can’t leave them, no one will find them if I’m not here!

We already found them, Lorana said. We’ve brought them back, now we’ve come for you.

Now?

Now, Lorana assured her. We’re cheating time. She felt Fiona’s acquiescence, felt the blond rider reach out toward her and Talenth, providing a slim flicker of thought to guide them.

A foot struck Lorana gently in the cheek and she reached up and grabbed with all her strength, pulling the younger woman into her arms.

Let’s go, Talenth!

A gold burst back into the sky over Telgar, bugling in triumph, racing down to the ground even as the other queens darted up toward her, their cries full of surprise and glee.

Talenth fell until the last minute then brutally cupped her wings, beat once, and hit the ground hard. A dust cloud settled around her.

“Help her!” Lorana called to the throng racing toward her. “She’s cold.”

Ready hands reached up to guide Fiona down, but they received a limp, unresponsive, cold body.

“She’s not breathing!” Lorana heard the cry rise up from beneath and jumped off Talenth’s neck.

She beat her way into the crowd surrounding Fiona. The blond Weyrwoman’s skin was blue and cold, her eyes closed, her chest still.

“No,” Lorana said fiercely, reaching forward to lift the base of Fiona’s neck and tilting it back.

“I’ll pump,” T’mar said as Lorana opened Fiona’s cold lips and leaned down to blow life-breath into the still form.

Lorana sealed her lips over Fiona’s, exhaling a deep breath and watching to see the younger woman’s chest rise. She repeated it twice and nodded to T’mar who started to pump Fiona’s chest, massaging her heart.

With a cough, Fiona’s eyes flew open and she looked up at Lorana. Feebly she reached up, dragged the older woman back down to her, and whispered fiercely, “I knew you’d come.”

Lorana encircled her with her arms and drew her close. “Of course.”