cass + niichaad + candidates + hatching + weyrlings + adults
beach shards weyr + quinalt weyr
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Cass found himself laying in a field next to Niichaad. "Well that was interesting," he said after catching his breath." "It was dark," Niichaad agreed. Cass sat up slowly, careful of his protesting muscles. "It's certainly a healthy looking world," he announced, gazing at the great green expanse of the field they were laying in the middle of. There was nothing but green field and blue, though eerily tinted gray, sky. Niichaad climbed to his feet and stretched cautiously. "What'd the witches say it was called again?" "Pern," Cass supplied, weighing the name of his new home on his tounge, still gazing up at the sky. "I don't see any of those dragons she was talking about. What does a dragon look like anyway?" "Don't you remember them from bedtime stories?" Niichaad chuckled, laying down next to Cass. "They were big, like huge lizards that flew and breathed fire and brave princes went to rescue princesses from them." Cass made a face. "Princes must not have had anything worthwhile to do in the old days," he concluded. "And the princesses must have been stupid if they kept getting caught by dragons." Niichaad chuckled. "Well, they were just stories." A dark shape suddenly appeared in the air far above them. Then another, and another. Cass squinted and, as they wheeled lower and lower in lazy spirals, could make out wings, longs necks, and tails. "Niichaad?" he elbowed the young man. "Do you suppose they looked anything like that?" Niichaad squinted at the forms in the sky. His eyes widened as he looked, memories of someone reading him a tattered yet beautifully illustrated book long ago floating up. "I bet those are the dragons," he breathed. They didn't have time to marvel long, because suddenly the dragons dissapeared and the eerie silvery haze on the horizon began to be more than a haze. Niichaad unconciously gripped Cass' arm in fear as it became a great writhing wall of think silver ribbons. "The witches didn't say anything about this," Niichaad worried. Cass didn't reply, just jerked Niichaad to his feet and started running. He didn't know why, he just knew that he did not want to be there when that silver wall reached them. "Where are we going?" Niichaad protested as they ran. The silver ribbons were so close now they could hear a sickening hissing sound. "Away from those," Cass replied, dropping back slightly to give Niichaad a shove forward. "Keep running!" One of the ribbons hissed past Cass and burrowed into the ground. Cass jumped aside, pushing Niichaad further away from it. A shadow blotted out the light and then Cass found himself face to face with a dragon. "What the hell?" Cass demanded, more out of suprise than fear. The dragon looked suprised as well, and then turned its head and breathed a long tounge of flame into the burrow the silver ribbon had made. "Damn they really do breathe fire!" Niichaad exclaimed in delight. "Of course she does, what dragon doesn't?" a woman's voice demanded from behind them. Cass stopped running, bending over to catch his breath. Niichaad, in much better shape than the prince and still refreshed from the effects of the witch's healing, stood and looked around for whoever had spoken. Suddenly the dragon was in front of them, her white wings half extended as she landed. A woman clad in leather was perched at the base of her neck. "Not very smart trying to outrun Thread," she chided. "You're lucky Procionth didn't give you two scars to match mine. Jump up!" "Should we-" Niichaad began to protest, but Cass pushing him and the hiss of more Threads encouraged him to jump up behind the woman without a second thought. Cass leapt up behind him and, as soon as he was seated, the dragon sprung into the air. She winged her way a few meters up and then they were envoloped in the same kind of blackness as before. The blackess lasted only a few breaths and then they were spiraling down into an odd looking place. They landed in the center of it all, a large open bowl. People were bustling around everywhere, busily doing tasks and taking no notice that a dragon had landed in the middle of them. "More candidates, Krohska?" a middle-aged woman asked, walking up calmly to greet the dragon and her rider. Evidently it was as the witches had said, dragons and humans were quite used to eachother. "Perhaps," Krohska answered, taking off her helmet and holding it under one crooked arm, "I found them trying to outrun Thread." The middle-aged woman looked them over. "Well they're certainly not odd looking. What's your name and what Hold are you from, boy?" she asked Cass. Cass raised an eyebrow. "I don't know what a Hold is, Niichaad and I are not from your world. I am Cass. On my world, I was a prince." The woman looked at him as if he'd had a bit too much to drink. "Merry meet then, Cass and Niichaad. I am Daseas, headwoman here at Beach Shards Weyr. Come, I will take you to see Weyrwoman Mayhe. She'll know what to do with you two." Cass jumped down and helped Niichaad to the ground. Daseas must have noticed this gesture, for she raised a curious brow but didn't ask any questions as she led them up a staircase and down a hall. "Mayhe?" she called. "Do you have a minute?" "No, not really, but come in anyway, Daseas," a tired-sounding woman replied from within. "What now?" Daseas opened the door and showed them in. "Mayhe, Krohska found these two trying to outrun Thread this morning. They claim to be from another world." Mayhe looked up from her desk. "Well?" she asked, glancing from Cass to Niichaad. "Sit, explain." Perhaps it was her commanding attitude, but something about this woman made Cass and Niichaad trust her enough to tell her the entire story, trading off when one couldn't take the emotions telling it brought back, from their first encounter to Narelah's accusations to going to the witches for help. When they finished, Mayhe smiled and leaned back slightly. "Well?" Cass asked impatiently after a moment. "Well?" Mayhe returned. "May we stay?" Cass demanded. "Of course, you think we'd send you back, as if we knew exactly where it was that you came from, to a place where you might be killed?" Mayhe asked with a chuckle. "No, you may stay." "The question is," Krohska added from the doorway. "Do you accept the Search?" "The Search?" Niichaad repeated. "Search for what?" "When dragons like Procionth Hatch," Mayhe began, "young men and women like you two are presented for them to choose as their rider, like Krohska. Certain dragons know what young men and women are most likely to be acceptable as bonds. Procionth is one of them, and she evidently thinks you would make good riders. That is, if you want to be." Cass and Niichaad exchanged a look that said well, since we've come this far, we might as well. "We accept," Cass answered. |
