The Second Weyr

Alaranth tucked her left wing as well as she could under the wounded blue’s limp pinion, Elliath caught Siwith by his uninjured joints, and as Alaranth eased out from under Siwith, the other queen gently eased his body to the ground. Hoses had already sprayed numbweed on the underside of the mangled wing membrane; now the medics could reach the upper surface. The blue’s rider unbuckled his fighting straps and started slathering his dragon’s upper back. Siwith’s whistles of pain were reduced to murmurs of relief.

“D’you need new tanks, Uloa?” Torene asked.

“No, I’m fine for another hour.”

“Me, too.”

Torene looked skyward, giving Alaranth the signal to be ready. Both queens sprang from the ground at the same instant and, sufficient altitude gained, winked between and back to the Fall.

The evening meal was served at a late hour. While ground crews said that little had gotten through the wings, there had been sufficient injuries that all the riders knew Sean would have words with the Weyr in general before they were dismissed.

“He’s sure to claim today’s flying injuries are due to careless riding, bad concentration, and stupidity,” N’klas muttered as he followed Torene into the lower cavern.

“And he’d be right,” Torene said, grinning back over her shoulder at the morose N’klas. “But clumps are the hardest to fly, and he’s sure to admit that before he starts lambasting us.”

“Nice catch on Siwith, by the way. P’ter says he’ll be out months growing back wing membrane.”

“Thought so, from what I could see when we brought him in.”

“At least he got the best ambulance team.”

When she and Uloa had returned to the queens’ wing, Faranth and Greteth had been in the process of catching another wing injury.

Sorka says your timing is excellent. You have command of the wing, Faranth had said directly to Torene. We have him, Greteth. Easy now, Shelmith. We have you. Relax, will you?

I still fall, Torene heard Shelmith say, frightened.

Of course you do, but I fall right under you. You are caught. Feel my back under your belly.

I do! I do!

“What about Shelmith?” she asked N’klas now. She hadn’t had time to check on the injured yet. The queens’ wing always made contact with ground-crew leaders before returning to the Weyr.

“He’s only got holes in one wing, but body scores and some bad tracks down the right hindquarter,” N’klas said, wrinkling his nose at the extent of the injuries. “We need rearview mirrors.”

Torene laughed. “Where on earth would we attach them?”

“Oh, shoulder, peripheral vision reflex mirror, maybe.”

Torene stopped at the sight of the crowded dining tables. “Lord, we’ll have to take front seats tonight,” she said, noting the only vacant spots at the tables perpendicular to the slightly raised Weyrleader and Wingleaders’ table.

“You did great,” N’klas said. “You’ve got no cause to feel guilty. Too bad you aren’t bigger,” he added with a grin, for he was heavy through the shoulders and chest. “I could hide behind you.”

“You’ve nothing to worry about. You brought Petrath in with no scores, didn’t you?”

N’klas paused before he answered, his remorseful expression verging on the comical. “Not exactly. Though,” he hastened to add, “he won’t be out of action more than a week, I’d say.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know.” She glanced up at him with a rueful smile.

N’klas shrugged his wide shoulders. “Nothing a bucket of numbweed didn’t soothe. Dragon hide grows back quickly, thanks be!”

The kitchen crew were quick to serve the riders as soon as they seated themselves. The top table was not occupied as yet: Torene knew that Sean would be having a few words with Wingleaders over poor performance. But Sean knew that clump Falls were always the trickiest, and while a lot of dragons had not finished this Fall due to minor wounds, there had been very few put out of commission by major ones. Every wing had missing members, and some wings were off on R & R, so the Weyr was flying a bit short. Only queens never got official vacation: queens got time off only for clutching. As Alaranth had yet to experience her first mating flight, Torene had been on duty for over two years without a break.

We fly well as a team. We do excellent rescues, Alaranth said.

Oh, beloved heart, Torene said, immediately chagrined that she’d been thinking so negatively, we do, we do. But I am tired. Like most of the riders. Everyone needs some time off, not just a visit home or to the east coast. Well, she added to herself, maybe Sean would announce that some of those recuperating at Big Island would be reporting back for duty, and that would take the burden off the short-manned wings.