Other Fan Fiction ❯ Dragon Dance ❯ Chapter 2 ( Chapter 2 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Hope you enjoyed the last chapter.  Here's the next one.
Disclaimer:  I own nothing but my characters.

Pierre awoke to the glow basket near his head propped open.  He looked over at James' cot to see him stuffing clothes and other items into a carisack at the front of his cot.  He looked around and saw two other drudges doing the same thing.  Everyone else was waking up and preparing for the day's chores.
"Is it that time already?" Pierre asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and sitting up.
"Almost," James replied, not looking at him.  Pierre reached under his cot and pulled his coveralls out.  Shaking them vigorously to rid them of hay and dirt, he pulled them on, then stuffed his feet into his boots.  He zipped up the torso just as James finished loading his carisack and stood up.
"You okay?" Pierre asked.  He noticed James had a slightly nervous look.
"...sort of," James said, standing up.  "Look, it's been a little over four Turns since I arrived here.  When Lord Trisel took me in, I thought that I wouldn't have to travel along anymore dirt roads again.  You guys have been so good to me, that you're pretty much family.  And now I have to leave again..."
"Uh, James?  What are you talking about?  You're only going to Igen for a few days to help out.  You'll be coming back here when it's over."
James sighed.  "I hope that's the case," he said.  "Something's been bothering me since last night; I'm not sure what.  I guess I'm just a little nervous that someone might recognize me, you know?  Someone from some hold or hall that I've never met who knows about my past.  Might see a family member there, or something.  Not that I know anything about my family, anyway.  But who knows?  I just don't want to lose you guys."
"Lose us?  How can you lose us?  We're not going anywhere.  We'll still be here when you get back.  Now let's go get some breakfast, ya big softy."
James smiled and hefted the carisack onto his shoulder.  He hooked his other arm around Pierre's neck, and the two walked out of the barn towards the hold.
"By the way, call me 'softy' again, and I'll snap you in half," James said, emphasizing the threat by squeezing his arm around Pierre's neck.
"Right...gotcha!"  Pierre choked out.
*****************
Igen Weyr was a bustle of activity.  Everyone was preparing for the hatching that was soon to come.  Headwoman Janissa was in the kitchens shouting orders to the kitchen drudges on what she needed to happen, and what to prepare for when the time arrives.  She finally managed to keep Weyrwoman Elizabeth out of the kitchens long enough to do her job by lacing her sweet cakes at dinner time with fellis juice to keep her in bed longer in the morning.  The candidates, under a watchful orange-eyed Pireth sitting in a tight circle around her eggs, were led onto the hatching grounds to view the eggs.  She snorted with annoyance as two groups of girls made their way towards the two queen eggs, which she kept her front claws around.  She brought the eggs closer to her body and eyed the girls warily.  The girls nervously stepped back as Pireth made low, threatening growls.
Do calm down, love, you're scaring them, Alania pleaded with her as she stood on the low wall in front of the first row of the viewing stands.  They're just here to view the eggs.
I do not like any of them, Pireth protested, still eying the girls.  They smell funny.  They might try to steal my eggs!
Don't be ridiculous!  Look at them; half of them are too scrawny to even pick up a large stone, let alone an egg that's twice their size!
You humans ARE capable of hidden strengths...
Alania's weyrmate, D'ron, stood off to the side while watching the exchange between Alania and Pireth, complete with hand gestures and facial expressions.  He, too, kept an eye on the egg viewing to make sure everything went smooth.  Unlike Alania, who could hear his dragon talk, he couldn't hear what was going on between her animations and Pireth's whirring orange eyes.
Hey Korath, what are they talking about?  He asked his bronze dragon, who was sitting on a ledge outside of the hatching grounds.
How should I know?  Korath shot back.  I cannot hear her when she is like this.  Not that I would want to, at any rate, unless I want to get tail slapped.
D'ron grinned.  Happened before, I take it?
Korath snorted.  Oh, hush!  It is not like you do not get nervous around Alania when she is moody.
D'ron stifled a chuckle in case Alania might hear him through her talk with Pireth.  He was about to say something else when something happened on the sands that made him start.  One of the male candidates was edging to the left, near Pireth's tail.  He had noticed the bulk of an odd colored shape hidden away in the shadows, just behind Pireth's left thigh, and went to investigate.  D'ron made a move to intercept the boy, but before he could reach the sands, Pireth noticed the boy and swiped at him with her tail, hissing at him furiously with her eyes turning dangerously red.  The boy backpedaled and landed hard on his rear with a yelp.  He scrambled away from the now angrily roaring dragon, along with the other candidates who were scurrying off of the sands to get away.
"PIRETH, STOP!" Alania cried out in both mind and voice as she dropped to the sands and ran over to her dragon as she began to rise.
He is trying to steal my eggs!  Pireth cried, still roaring.  Korath came in through the opening at the top of the hatching grounds, eyes whirring yellow with anxiety.
What happened?!  He asked, nervously.
I'm about to find out, D'ron said, reaching the boy that was the subject of Pireth's ire.  See what you can do to help calm her down.
Korath gave a nervous grunt, but glided over to the ledge that was just above Pireth.  Alania was already there, trying to calm her down.  Pireth was still bellowing about her eggs, when a mighty roar silenced everyone.  Drennath, with Elizabeth on her back, came in through the top opening, leveling a quelling glare at Pireth, who immediately dropped her head in reproach.  Drennath touched down onto the sands and Elizabeth, not waiting for anyone to help her down, vaulted off of Drennath with a skill of a many-Turn rider.  This action caused everyone to gasp, hoping beyond hope that she doesn't break a bone.
"What's all the racket in here?" she demanded when she landed safely, much to everyone's relief.  "Drennath told me something about someone stealing eggs."
"Pireth thought this young man was trying to steal her eggs," D'ron said, hefting the accused individual to his feet.
"I-I-I wasn't trying to steal anything!" the candidate cried nervously, trying to hide behind the bronze rider.  "I saw something in the corner of the grounds, so I went to see what it was!  A-a-a-and that's when she swiped at me!"
"Now, you should know better than to get too close to a queen dragon who has clutched," Elizabeth said, sternly. She looked up to see a small crowd of workers and Headwoman Janissa at the entrance to the hatching grounds, an annoyed look on her face.  They heard all of the yelling and roaring, and came to see what the commotion was about.
"WHAT ARE YOU ALL DOING?!" Elizabeth shouted to them.  "GET BACK TO WORK!  SHOW'S OVER!"
Everyone scrambled back into the kitchens to continue what they were doing.  When Elizabeth wanted to be heard, she could project her voice so that everyone can hear.  For being old and frail, she had the stamina of a young dragon rider, and the toughness to match.  People highly respected her for her wise decisions involving the weyr over the Turns, and her resolve to prosper it was just as evident as ever.  No wonder her and Weyrleader D'marcus were a good match!  His boldness matched her tenacity greatly.  Her legacy was so great that when she talked, no matter how soft or loud she was, everyone listened, including dragons.
Drennath was still chastising Pireth for her outburst.  The poor young queen was still distraught with worry, but her eyes had calmed from bright orange, to yellow with tinges of orange in them.  The three of them- Drennath, Korath, and Alania- were able to get that far.  Queen dragons were very protective of their eggs when they clutched, watching over them with the protectiveness of a wherry-hen.
Don't come down on her too hard, dear, Elizabeth said to Drennath.  It's her first clutch, her anxiety is somewhat understandable.
Drennath turned her head towards her.  Was I this bad when I first clutched?  She asked.
No, Elizabeth said with a rueful grin.  You were worse.
Janissa, who stayed behind when everyone else scrambled back into the kitchens, walked over to where everyone was in the first row of the viewing stands after everything settled down.  She was so sure that she put enough fellis juice in those cakes last night to keep the Weyrwoman in bed this morning.  Maybe she should make the dose stronger.  But it's probably a good thing that she showed up; things may have gotten worse.
"Excuse me, Weyrwoman?"  She approached as humbly as she could.  Despite Weyrwoman Elizabeth being close to her age, she still had Turns of experience over Janissa.
"Yes?"
Janissa didn't know how to ask the question.  "Aren't you...um...a little tired still?"
"What are you babbling about?  I'm fine.  D'marcus might need a little more attention paid to him, though.  He's been fussy lately, so I've been giving him those fellis cakes you keep giving me at dinner time.  Keeps him sleep long enough to get a good night's rest, though I don't know how him and Gameth slept through all of this commotion."
Janissa balked.  How did she know?!  She's slipped doses of fellis juice, or any other type of medicinal product into food before, for people who've had trouble taking them right out, and nobody had been the wiser.  She started stammering a response, until Elizabeth gave her a knowing grin.
"Don't be so surprised, Janissa," she said.  "I haven't lived my entire life in the weyr to know when my own big sister is trying to keep me out of her hair.  All you had to do was ask."
Janissa sighed.  "No wonder you're Weyrwoman," she said, grinning.  Tender moments like these, where the Headwoman and Weyrwoman could forget formalities and just be siblings, came few and far in between, but they enjoyed each moment that came by.
"Well, I'd better go make sure nothing is getting broken in the kitchens.  There's no telling what could happen if I'm gone for even a minute!"  She turned on her heel and went back into the caverns.  The candidates were seated in the stands, still shaken about the scare they just had.  The boy that caused all the trouble was explaining to D'ron and Elizabeth what happened, and why he approached Pireth.
"Well, it won't do any good to go over there now, unless we want a recap," D'ron said when the lad finished.  "Might be worse next time.  Let's get the lot of you back to the barracks."
This isn't good, D'ron thought, as the candidates were lead out of the hatching grounds.  They need to have strong minds come the time for the hatching.
Maybe some food and a good rest will calm them down, Korath suggested.
They just ate half an hour ago!
Scaring sometimes helps food to digest faster.
D'ron quirked an eyebrow.  How would you know?
...I do not know, but it is a good suggestion.  He punctuated this statement with a mighty yawn.
Lazy, D'ron said, grinning at his dragon's lack of restraint.  Has P'rad and Kilith left to get the help from Lemos Hold?  They should be just getting up and have already breakfasted.
They left just a few moments ago.  They heard everything that was going on and were about to come over here, but I told them to go ahead, we had everything under control...sort of.
Well, with the extra help from Lemos, we should be good for the hatching.  Let me know when they get back.
Okay.
***************
After breakfast, business went on as usual.  James and the other two drudges that were going with him to Igen Weyr had staged their gear near the hold's front door, and went about the daily tasks.  James was unusually silent for the most part, only acknowledging when he was being spoken to, or nodding an affirmative when asked to do a task.  Lord Trisel noticed his nervousness, and decided to intervene.  James had always been a little on the quiet side, but this was more than usual.
“You okay?” he asked as he approached James, who was cleaning the fireplace hearth.  James nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of the Lord Holder's voice behind him.
“Shells...” James breathed, placing his hand over his fast beating heart.
“Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you.”
“It...it's okay, sir.  I was just caught up in my own thoughts, is all”
“So I noticed.  You've been strangely quiet all morning.  Is everything okay?”
“Yes sir.  Why do you ask?”
“I'm just a little concerned.  In the four Turns I've known you, you weren't anywhere near this quiet.  I mean, I know you're a quiet guy, but it's just a little more than usual today.”
James smiled apologetically.  “I'm just a little nervous, that's all,” he said.
“Nervous of what?”
“...not really sure myself.  Guess I'm just nervous about the hatching.  Someone there might recognize me or something.  I've never been to a hatching before.  Maybe I'm just excited, and I don't know how to react to it.”
“It takes time to get used to.  You go to enough of them, and you'll begin to make bets on who will Impress what dragon.”
“...I suppose,” James said, smiling ruefully and scratching the back of his head.  “Please excuse me, I have some more cleaning to do.”
Later that morning, James was in the cellar out back feeding Trisk, a task handed to him by Lord Trisel when he saw how Trisk reacted towards James, and the fact that Trisel himself didn't really have too much time to care for her.  During his days of not taking care of hold business, Trisel gave his time towards the gold watch-wher, but there were still some things about her that he didn't know.  As he fed Trisk, James told her about the trip he was getting ready to take to help at Igen.  The watch-wher crooned piteously upon hearing this news.
“I'm sorry,” he said.  “but it's something I've been picked for.  I'll be back when it's over.”  But even as he said that, he began to have doubts if he would come back to Lemos or not.  The watch-wher turned her photosensitive eyes towards him.  She began hissing, twisting her mouth to get it to work the way she wanted.  A look of pure concentration came across her face as she pressed her lips together as if to say a word...which is exactly what she did.
“Sssss...ssssss!” she started off.  “Ssssssttyyyy...hhhhhrrrrrrr....mmmnnnhhh!!!!”

I t took James a few seconds to realize that Trisk just spoke to him.  I took him even longer to figure out what she said.  His mouth hung open as he absorbed this unique ability about the watch-wher.  He'd often wondered why watch-whers were never talked about much.  They have so many abilities that people have yet to discover!  He began wondering how long it would be before these cousins of the great dragons would begin forming complete sentences like humans do.  Trisk's plaintive chirrup brought him back to the present.
“I wish I didn't have to go,” he said, smiling.  “You know I would love to stay here with you, but a drudge has to do what the Lord Holder says.”  He reached up from his sitting position and wrapped his arms around Trisk's neck, embracing her in a hug.  Trisk closed her eyes and rubbed her head against his.  Suddenly, she turned her head up towards the cellar doors and emitted a strange wailing sound.  James looked at her quizzically, but she butted his chest with her nose and gave him a “You have to go now” look.  James gave her a final scratch behind her eye ridges and trotted up the stairs.  Pierre met him at the top of the stairs as he emerged out into the sunlight.
“Lord Trisel's looking for you,” he said.  “A dragonrider just landed outside.  Probably here to get you and the other two.”
A look of astonishment crossed James's face.  He turned back to the cellar and looked into the inky darkness, thinking about the wail that Trisk emitted just a few moments ago.  So that's what that was all about!  She was acknowledging the arrival of a dragon!  His respect for the watch-wher increased ten-fold.
“Something wrong?” Pierre asked.  James, not turning around, wiped a tear from his eye.
“Everything will be fine,” he said, turning towards the hold.  Once inside, he was met by Lord Trisel, asking where he was.
“I was feeding Trisk,” he said.  For perhaps the final time...
He kept that thought to himself as he was led over to the front door where his bag was, alongside the two other drudges with their bags in their hands, and the dragonrider, whom the Lord Holder promptly introduced, and who was there to take them to Igen.  P'rad eyed James inscrutably.  He didn't look like any sort of drudge that he'd ever seen.  Sure, there were other drudges that had his size and build, but James carried something about himself that other drudges didn't; he just couldn't put his finger on it.
James picked up his carisack and slipped it over his shoulders.  Unlike the other two, James had modified his carisack to have two straps instead of one, so that he was able to slip both straps on both of his shoulders.  That way, the bulk of the weight would not make him lean to one side, and it's distributed proportionately on his back so as to not cause him to strain under the weight. Not that he had much to carry anyway, being alone most of his life.
“Any of you rode dragonback before?” P'rad asked.  They shook their heads no.
“Don't worry,” he said with a chuckle.  “It's a little scary for the first time, but once you get used to it, it's an enjoyable experience.”
Until you go between, James thought, twisting his mouth up to one side as P'rad led them outside to his awaiting brown dragon.  James looked up at the dragon, whose many faceted eyes reflected the sunlight beautifully.  Man, that is one big brown.
Kilith regarded James with the same curiosity that Trisk showed when he first arrived at the Hold, James noticed.  He leaned his great head down to eye level with James, his great blue eyes whirring lightly.  James leaned back a little, wondering what the dragon was doing.  P'rad looked on curiously, wondering why his dragon had suddenly taken a keen interest in a mere drudge.
What are you doing, Kilith? P'rad asked.  Kilith turned his head slightly towards his rider.
This one interests me, he said, sniffing at James.  He has my hide color.  He does not smell like a drudge, though.
P'rad wondered about that statement as he got extra riding straps out of the bag hanging on Kilith's side.  Then how does he smell?
Kilith picked his head up, still looking at James.  Spicy,  he said simply.
P'rad stopped what he was doing and looked at his dragon.  Spicy?
Kilith gave an apologetic look.  P'rad sighed, and proceeded to show the three drudges how to hook up the leather straps to the harnesses, and how to wear them when riding dragonback.
“...and this is the correct way to mount a dragon,” he said, demonstrating by using Kilith's leg as a step and vaulting up onto his neck, settling between the third and fourth ridge.
“One of you can ride in front of me, and the other two can ride in the back.  Just be sure you're strapped in good and snug when we take off.”
James promptly climbed to Kilith's neck and settled in front of P'rad, securing himself into the harness with what seemed to be natural born skill.  P'rad's eyebrows furrowed in puzzlement.
“I thought you never rode dragonback?” he asked James.
“I haven't,” James said, wondering himself how he was able to strap on the harness professionally.
“Then how did you--”
“Dunno.  I just knew what I had to do.”
How can this person be a drudge? P'rad thought as he helped the other two drudges up onto the dragon.
That is what he fancies himself to be,  Kilith said.
What does that mean?
I don't know, but that's what he wants.
P'rad began toying with the idea that this drudge can hear dragons, but that would be  impossible since that ability is usually found in females.
We can worry about that later, he said, patting the brown dragon affectionately on the neck.  Let's get out of here before D'ron sends someone to look for us.
The dragon gave a mighty heave, beating its wings furiously to gain altitude.  The two drudges behind P'rad clung onto each other with a yelp of surprise.  James, on the other hand, showed no reaction to the mighty upheaval, not even a smile.  As the dragon rose, James thought he heard a soft, keen wailing coming from the back of the hold.
Don't worry, my friend, he thought.  I'll be back.
Once Kilith got above the rooftops of Lemos Hold, he turned in the direction of Igen Weyr and took off.
**************
Took me a couple of days to get this out.  Between school, work, and church, it's hard to constantly update this.  Plus I keep falling asleep while typing, like I am right now.  I'll update as fast as I can, though.