“Let me go,” Colfet spoke up. “I know something of nets and spears.”
“Actually,” Xhinna said in surprise, “why don’t we go fishing?”
“Because we’re on land, Xhinna,” Bekka reminded her.
Xhinna mimicked two hands holding a pole and Colfet chortled.
“Fishing for herdbeasts or wherries?” the seaman asked.
“Wherries, probably,” Jepara said, catching on. “They usually stick to clearings, but if we were to hang the proper lure, I’m sure we could catch several.”
Jepara, Colfet, and K’dan took charge, setting up four parties of three riders each, leaving the rest to guard the camp. Xhinna was given strict orders by Bekka, Taria, K’dan, and—surprisingly—Jepara to rest herself and her blue.
K’dan sweetened the order by saddling her with two well-stuffed children and orders not to let them miss their nap. As it was impossible for Xhinna to keep sleepy children awake, she soon found herself resting her head against her blue with one sleeping twin on either side.
Xhinna woke to the sound of excited voices and rose to see the twins beside her talking animatedly, eyes shining.
“No, it’s too early!” Taria cried in the distance. Xhinna looked around in alarm. What was too early? A cry, half-rage, half-pain, came from Coranth, and Xhinna spun to see the green fling herself awkwardly into the air, bellowing a challenge to all around. Coranth was rising to mate.
“K’dan!” Xhinna called, beckoning to the harper to come get his children.
Tazith woke, hot and hungry. He was in the air after Coranth before Xhinna could say a word. She hasn’t had firestone, a part of Xhinna thought quietly. The part that was with her blue relished that thought, seeking only to catch the green.
No, Xhinna thought, exerting her will on her dragon. She must eat first.
Herdbeasts here, Tazith called to Coranth, punctuating his thought with a bellow even as he veered toward the open plain.
“Xhinna!” Taria’s voice was full of worry, fear, and excitement. Xhinna grabbed her tightly, whispering hoarsely, “Don’t let her gorge.”
“She’s injured,” Taria said.
“So we make this quick,” Xhinna replied as she felt Tazith guide a buck toward Coranth. “Tazith will help.”
“He’s the only one,” Taria said tremulously. Tazith was the only blue anywhere nearby, and the only male dragon old enough to be interested in a mating flight.
“He’ll do,” Xhinna promised even as a squawk told of Coranth’s first kill. “Don’t let her gorge.”
Taria closed her eyes and leaned into her, her breath coming fast as she grappled with her lust-enraged green. Xhinna closed her eyes and felt—
Soaring, flying, tearing through space. Tazith watched as Coranth downed another herdbeast, giving an awkward cry as the beast’s death-throes brushed her injured leg, but she was full of the heat, the passion, she wanted to tear, rend, chew and—
No, only the blood! Taria called to her. Coranth fought her, but her rider’s will was adamantine, unbreakable. With a shriek of rage, Coranth plunged her fangs into the dying beast and sucked furiously on the blood that poured out. Tazith sent another buck her way and she dispatched it, too, sucking the hot, flowing blood greedily.
Then, with a taunting shout, she was airborne. The pain of her leg was nothing. She was a green, and below her was only a puny blue. Well, it was Tazith and he was strong and quick—Coranth dipped back down temptingly and swooped up again, but before she got far she felt something grab her—Tazith! How did he do that? And then—
There was no thought, only feeling. Bliss, joy, ecstasy.
They were falling like leaves through the sky. Idly, Tazith cupped air and Coranth imitated him.
“Now,” Xhinna said hoarsely, “we bring them home.”
Taria nodded mutely against her.
“We are not losing those eggs,” Xhinna declared later when she and Taria and the rest of the camp had recovered from the euphoria of the mating flight. Taria gave her a grateful look and squeezed her fingers.
“There’s no chance she can clutch here,” K’dan said, glancing around at their airy heights.
“But the ground’s too risky,” Bekka said. “She can barely defend herself, let alone a nest.” She’d tended to Coranth’s injuries as soon as the green had landed. The strenuous flight had opened the wounds again, though it had caused no new damage.
“We could defend it for her,” Xhinna said. “We could set a watch, keep guard.”
“It would be easier with a green’s clutch,” K’dan agreed. “It’ll be smaller. But then what?”
“And where?” Jepara asked. They had caught three small wherries with their new “fishing” technique—hardly enough to feed the twenty-three ravenous weyrlings and two exhausted full-grown dragons. Colfet had offered to organize a real fishing party, if Tazith could provide transport, but even that would not add significantly to their supplies.
“You brought us three Turns back. Why?” K’dan asked Xhinna.
She shrugged. “It seemed the right time to be,” she said. “I suppose I was thinking …”
“What?”
“I was thinking that perhaps we could stay here until the weyrlings were mature,” Xhinna said. She gave Taria a wry look, adding, “I never thought we’d have mating flights.”
“Fiona said we weren’t to feed the greens firestone,” K’dan recalled, his face set in thought.
“And we didn’t,” Xhinna said. “We didn’t even feed the blues, if you recall.”
“Only the browns and bronzes,” K’dan said with a nod. It had not made sense to train the blues in firestone without training the greens, or so Fiona had said. T’mar had agreed with her suggestion, knowing that the new hatchlings could learn the skill quickly enough back at the Weyrs.
“And Coranth just rose …,” K’dan continued.
“Do you think the greens that went back with Fiona might have risen, too?” Xhinna asked, her eyes wide.
“Or they’re about to,” he said.
“There were thirty-six greens in the last clutch,” Taria remarked.
“And if they clutched like the others, then there’d be sixteen eggs, more or less, in each clutch,” Xhinna said.
“And then we’d have five hundred and seventy-six fighting dragons,” Bekka breathed in awe.
“Five hundred and seventy-six dragonets,” K’dan reminded her.
“Give them enough time and they’d be fighting dragons,” Bekka countered, drawing herself up to her full height. K’dan gave her a second glance: Bekka had always been mature for her age, but now that she’d reached her physical maturity, it was hard for him to remember how old she truly was because she hadn’t grown a millimeter taller. He nodded in acknowledgment.
Turning to Xhinna, he said, “So your plan is to bring them here?”
“Um, it wasn’t exactly a plan,” Xhinna said. “And how could we get the greens and the blues to come back from the Weyrs?”
“What about the Mrreows and the tunnel snakes?” Bekka pointed out. “Unless your plan handles them, all we’ll have is more empty eggs.”
The thought of another field of destroyed eggs caused them all to recoil.
“Well, we’ll have to make a test with Coranth’s clutch anyway,” Xhinna said with an apologetic nod toward Taria, who said nothing, but her fingers fluttered against Xhinna’s.
“And we’ve got about three months to figure out how,” Bekka said.
Xhinna and Tazith returned exhausted from another expedition across the southern tip of Western.
Her days for the past month had consisted of ferrying hunting and fishing parties out to their sites, scouting the land, and bringing the parties and their catch back afterward. Sky Weyr was solely dependent upon her and her blue for transportation with injured Coranth the only other full-grown dragon. And, she admitted to herself, it wasn’t enough. Day by day they were losing ground. There was no margin for error. A bad day’s hunt meant that either riders or hatchlings went hungry—so the riders went hungry. Everyone in the camp was gaunt, save the twins, who were extravagantly fed and spoiled by all.