Dragonheart

shoe. She had to get away! She had to get —

Talenth!  Fiona cried. Send the dog away!

There was a moment of shock as Talenth recognized that something was horribly wrong with her rider, and then Fiona heard a loud wail and the dog let go. There was the thunk of an arrow hitting flesh, but Fiona barely heard it.

You’re hurt!  Talenth cried in despair.

I’m fine now, thanks to you,  Fiona assured her. I’ve got a scratch but I’ll be fine.  Even as she said the words, she wasn’t certain. A wave of nausea overwhelmed her, and she just had time to realize that she didn’t know if she  would survive to return to the future before she stumbled. Instead of rolling, she took her full weight on her hands and felt the shock spread up through her arms and into her shoulders even as her strength gave and she collapsed, burying her face in the cold hard dirt, and then she remembered no more.

FIFTEEN

Rider to your dragon hew

Lest any harm should come to you.

Igen Weyr, Morning, AL 498.8.12

Talenth!  Fiona’s first thoughts were for her dragon.

I am here.  Talenth sounded calm, but her voice carried an undertone of relief. You are all right! She said you would be.

Fiona wondered briefly if her dragon meant Nuella or the voice that they had heard before, the voice of the mysterious Weyrwoman.

The egg?

It will hatch soon,  Talenth told her. It is good you are better.

“Lie still,” a voice — male — ordered her firmly.

Fiona groaned and struggled to get up.

“Lie still or I’ll dose you with more fellis juice,” the voice ordered with a hint of exasperation.

“I don’t like sleeping face down,” Fiona said, her words muffled by the pillow under her.

“Then you should have thought of that before you got mangled,” she was told. She heard someone move in a chair beside her, heard the rasp of a glow stone being turned, and from the corner of her eye she could tell that the room filled with a soft blue glow. “Don’t move your leg,” the man cautioned her, “but tell me how you feel.”

“Fine,” Fiona responded irritably. “I’ve got to get up, I’ve got to — ”

“Rest,” the man interjected. “You’ve got to rest.”

“But the egg!”

The man’s breath stilled chillingly.

“The egg is all right, isn’t it?” Fiona asked, worried by the silence. “Talenth told me — ”

“She did, did she?” the man asked, sounding amused. “You spoke of her a lot in your sleep but no one here has ever heard of a Talenth.”

“What else did I say?” Fiona asked, wondering how much she might have to tell and how much she might have revealed already. “How long — ”

“You’ve been here two days,” the man told her. “Most of it dosed with fellis juice to keep you from jumping up and tearing your leg irreparably.”

“The dog bit me,” Fiona said, her tone calculating. “His teeth dug in but I don’t think he got a tendon. I think he only mangled the calf.” She paused, considering the wound critically. “It should heal in a sevenday, maybe two.”

“It should, if it’s not infected,” the man agreed, sounding impressed with her diagnosis. “Are you a healer, too?”

“I’ve had to tend the sick and injured,” Fiona replied, carefully guarding her words as she realized that the man still hadn’t answered her question.

“Ah, yes,” the man said in a tone that sounded agreeable but was tinged with lingering doubt, “part of your duties as Weyrwoman, no doubt.”

Fiona stifled a groan. “You don’t believe me.”

“I don’t put much credence in words murmured in delirium,” the man corrected her. She got the impression that he hadn’t altered his opinion now that she was awake.

“Do you think I’m still delirious?” Fiona asked, then added, “Was  I delirious?”

“You certainly sounded like it,” the man told her. “But now that you seem to be awake and — ” His hand touched her brow quickly, professionally. “ — not fevered, I may have to alter my opinion.”

“What did I say?” Fiona repeated her original question. “And,” she added tetchily, “who did I say it to?”

“You said it mostly to me, Zenor,” the man replied.

“Mostly?”

“There were others earlier,” Zenor told her calmly.

“Well, Zenor — wait a moment! — you’re Kindan’s friend!”

“Yes,” the man said. “You mentioned him in your sleep, too.” There was something odd in his tone, humorous but somewhat more than that — Fiona couldn’t place it. “And the mystery Weyrwoman. Is that you?”

“I don’t know,” Fiona confessed.

“You were most urgent,” Zenor said. “You said that you were from the future, that you had to see Nuella, that you hoped you weren’t too late and — ”

Fiona groaned loudly, furious with her indiscretion.

“You did  seem worried about the future — you kept saying you had to get back.”

“Shards!”

“And something about gold, which aroused quite a lot of interest, particularly mine,” Zenor told her.

“Did I tell you about the wherhold?” Fiona asked, abandoning any hope of keeping all her secrets.

“You said that Aleesa had gone between  on Aleesk,” Zenor told her. “Like Nuella.”

“Nuella’s gone between ?” Fiona gasped, pushing herself up in a panic.

“No, lie back down!” Zenor ordered, pushing her shoulders back down to the bed. “You’re as bad as she was.”

“Was?” Fiona repeated, her eyes wide with worry.

“You should sleep,” Zenor told her firmly, shifting in his seat. “You’re not the only one I have to tend.”

“Who else?” Fiona asked, surprised and feeling guilty that she was taking him away from those who needed it.

“Nuella,” Zenor replied tersely. “She’s asleep in the next room, dosed with fellis juice like you.”

Fiona’s question flew between them, unspoken.

“There was a cave-in. Nuelsk saved her — ” Zenor bit back a sob. “ — we think. But a tunnel-snake bit Nuelsk as she tried to get out. She managed to save Nuella before she died.”

“Just like Dask saved you Turns back,” Fiona said in amazement.

“Turns back?” Zenor repeated, surprised. “It wasn’t that long ago.”

“No, I guess it wouldn’t have been, for you,” Fiona agreed.

“I suppose Turns aren’t the same for you, then?” Zenor demanded. Fiona hid her surprise: he acted much younger than she’d thought he was and then, realizing her error, she asked, “How many Turns have you?”

“I’ll be turning seventeen soon enough,” Zenor told her proudly.