The Black Dragon of Pern
M.C. Gordon
Disclaimer is noted at the beginning of this series. This story was written for the real M'chell.
Chapter 10
Raganth was gone for two days, staying in touch with his rider through their telepathic connection. He assured M'chell that all was well and he was on a quest with the fire lizards, although he never mentioned what the quest was. M'chell experienced momentary confusion for Raganth had never hidden thoughts from him before. The magnificent golden queen assured the dragon rider that there was a good reason for being elusive and M'chell reluctantly accepted and stopped asking questions.
He had plenty to keep him occupied. The neat dressings the flyer had done on his injured hands had shown him that the being had intelligence. The flyer had never spoken, his only audible sounds being various hisses, but M'chell decided to see if there was a way to open a channel of communication between them.
M'chell indicated each object in the cave and spoke the word for it in their first full day together following the fall into the ravine. He carried on a one-sided conversation, explaining about himself and his dragon, naming them for the flyer. He told of Andren and Julani, his foster-brothers. His eyes filled with tears as he explained about D'vis, who had come to help them, and the death of the twin Tomin. He repeated words and names and searched for understanding in the rainbow-hued eyes. He thought he could see the beginning of recognition when he mentioned that it was time to eat and the flyer held out his hands for another cup of stew and piece of bubbly pie.
. . .
His wing caused him pain, but he hid it from the strange man who spoke to him with words he didn't understand. He knew the man, for that was what the fire lizards called the creature, was trying to communicate with him. He listened carefully and began to understand what things were called, that there were words for the thoughts in his mind. He catalogued them away, knowing that if the man mentioned a spoon or cup he would know what it meant. He understood that the man was telling him things about where he came from and who he knew, other men and large dragons ... for that was what the fire lizards called the giant queen. And he wondered if there would be a place for him in the man's life for he was tired of being alone and searching for his own kind ... fearful that there were no more like him in the world. He knew that the man spoke with the dragon in the same way he spoke with the fire lizards and wondered if he could speak with the man in the same manner. He tried, but the man didn't `hear' him.
He accepted the gentle touch on his injured wing as the man tended to him and acted in return, doing what he could for the injured hands. He knew of a plant that would speed the healing of the burns but it was on the plateau and he could not fly there until his wing mended. His fire lizard friends were off with the dragon and wouldn't tell him why or he would have asked them to bring him pieces of the plant. So he watched and listened. The man's voice was pleasant, sometimes sounding happy ... sometimes sad. And the feel of the man's body against his own when they slept was beginning to fill an emptiness in his heart.
Raganth and the fire lizards returned on the third day and M'chell heard his dragon say, "We have been searching for a clutch of flyer eggs. We did not find any. The fire lizards think the wherries ate all of them. I do not think there are any left."
M'chell glanced at the flyer, knowing that the fire lizards were telling their friend the same thing.
He watched the emotion play across the flyer's face ... disappointment and resignation, deep loneliness and longing. Slender fingers brushed away tears that lingered at the tips of the long black eyelashes. M'chell looked away, for no man should see the tears of another shed in sorrow. Such a thing is personal and to be shared only if asked.
"I wish a bath. And you need to swim in the ocean," Raganth told his rider to break the tension in the cavern. "I can take you and the flyer down to the edge of the water where the fire lizards will tell you stories and scrub me clean. The salt water will help his wing to heal."
The flyer was reluctant to mount the golden dragon but the man's voice was persuasive and the fire lizards assured him that the dragon meant no harm. He sat behind the dragon rider and wrapped his arms around the rider's firm waist. He was tall, and even seated had a clear view of the dragon's massive neck over M'chell's head.
Raganth glided down to the beach and landed softly, aware that the flyer's wings must be treated with utmost care. When his passengers had dismounted the queen lifted himself skyward with strong legs and flew a short distance away before plunging into the sun-warmed water.
M'chell relaxed on the sandy beach and watched the flyer walk into the water and ease himself onto his back. The black wings, supported by the saltwater, spread wide and the flyer floated easily. M'chell took a piece of the hide D'vis had given him and began to write a preliminary account of his observations to date.
The saltwater eased some of the ache in the flyer's injured wing as it stung the edges of the healing tear. He summoned some of the fire lizards and pictured the healing plant for them, asking that they pull off pieces and leave them in his cave. He would gather more later, if the dragon would agree to carry him to the plateau, until he had enough to use on the man's wounded hands.
M'chell paused frequently during his writing and not alone because of his hands. The flyer had removed his loincloth before entering the water and the dragon rider hoped for a glimpse of what accompanied the slender yet firm buttocks he'd observed as his companion walked into the ocean.
Raganth, thoroughly scrubbed clean by the fire lizards, lay on the beach sleeping in the mid-afternoon sun. M'chell leaned against him, his writing put aside, and slipped into a peaceful nap. The flyer, refreshed by his time in the water, allowed the warm breeze to dry his skin before replacing his loincloth and joined man and dragon in their sleep.
Chapter Eleven
With M'chell's gentle urging, the flyer became comfortable with the constant presence of Raganth and finally accepted the assistance of the gentle golden queen to go places he could no longer go with his injured wing. Days were spent in learning and understanding as Raganth flew his rider and the flyer to the sandy beach or the grassy plateau.
M'chell's hands began to heal at an alarming rate once they were covered with the slimy ooze from the plant the flyer knew had healing properties. The dragon rider had objected when the flyer had taken the pieces the fire lizards had left in his cave and split them with fine claws for the ooze was repugnant. But the flyer had insisted and the first touch of the slime on his burns had numbed the pain and the red skin had instantly turned a gentle pink. Within a seven-day new skin had completely formed and M'chell's hands were almost healed. He made a note in the journal he was keeping for D'vis, knowing that Andren would want to have such knowledge for the MasterHealer when D'vis judged the time right to give his master what he learned without faulting the dragon rider who asked his confidence.
After two seven-days D'vis returned. He was full of the usual gossip of Hold, Hall, and Weyr. He knew which bronze had flown which queen and what the disposition was of the various weyrleaders. The flyer, who had barely noticed the boy during his first visit, backed away from the bronze-haired lad. His mind was full of thoughts of loss. The dragon and his own friends had told him that there were no others like himself, and his new man-friend showed a deep affection for the boy that he didn't understand. The boy, standing on the threshold of manhood, easily hugged and kissed the man and lapsed into a relationship that the flyer could not comprehend.
As D'vis showed M'chell the provisions he had brought, including several bubbly pies which could be easily heated, and memories of blowing on them to cool them down at gatherings, the flyer backed himself against a wall of his cave. Surely there was no place for him in this man's world, with such memories, and he had no thoughts of the same for himself. When his wing healed he would leave, and then the man would go away with the boy. And both of the dragons would be gone and he would be left to himself with his fire lizard friends and the endless search for others like himself.
. . .
No one expected the sudden explosion on their minds as Raganth began to blood his kill. The rainbow eyes whirled and turned in a myriad of colors as one after another wild wherry perished. Even the fire lizards felt the outpouring of Raganth's emotions and the golden and green females blooded their own kill in the eternal foreplay that existed on Pern.
M'chell froze. His mate was no longer his. Still, Raganth would not allow any other to fly him but Ammorth. M'chell would not mate with D'vis, for the boy was as his son, and he couldn't begin to grasp the effect on the flyer, so lost was he in Raganth's mating urge.
"Telanth and I are leaving," D'vis said, more than once for M'chell wasn't listening. "Your flyer looks on him as a rival."
"What?" M'chell asked, barely clinging to his own sense of himself. "Telanth isn't going to try to fly Raganth, is he?"
"Telanth has better sense," D'vis replied. "I'm not worried about him, but look at your flyer."
M'chell was almost startled at the sudden change in the gentle being he had come to consider a friend. The rainbow-hued eyes were flashing dangerously. The flyer's body language reflected temporary confusion and then sudden `knowledge'. He understood Raganth's need and was responding. He emitted several threatening hisses toward D'vis and began to test the flexibility of his wings within the confines of the cave.
"We can't let him try to fly Raganth!" D'vis cried out. "His wing isn't strong enough yet, and if he could fly then Raganth or Ammorth would rip him to shreds!"
Between the two of them, M'chell and D'vis managed to grasp the flyer's wings and pin them to his body in spite of the fact that the flyer fought against them. Suddenly, the flyer relaxed as if he finally understood that to try to mate with the golden queen would cause his death. Feeling the muscles begin to ease, D'vis loosened his hold.
And found himself thrown across the cave. The none too gentle stop against one of the stone walls caused his ears to ring and he turned in shock to look at the flyer, afraid the same thing would happen to M'chell. He was surprised to see that the flyer had taken the rider into a fierce embrace and held firmly with his wings.
"It's not Raganth he wants at all," D'vis said. "He wants you, M'chell, and he sees me as a rival. If Trelanth and I don't leave he might try to kill me. Will you be safe if I leave or do you want me to summon some of the dragons from the Weyr?"
M'chell could tell that he was not being held with any sense of hostility or danger. The arms that held him were strong but the embrace was one of desire. M'chell was aware of the advanced stage of Raganth's flight with Ammorth and the flyer's emotions, as well as his own, were swiftly approaching the point of no return. "Go," he said.
Sincerely hoping that his foster-father knew what he was doing, D'vis mounted bronze Trelanth and told his dragon to take them home. He would return in a few hours and if M'chell had come to any harm, nothing would stop the weyr from seeking out and destroying this creature.
The flyer had no intention of harming M'chell. He finally understood the deep longing he'd felt for companionship. He knew why the presence of another in his life had dominated his thoughts for such a long time. He'd been frightened when the first waves of desire swept over him and he felt the golden dragon's mating urge. He still wasn't sure of what he was supposed to do, or why, but he knew that he wasn't going to let the boy come between himself and the man.
He needed to claim the man as his own and had let the boy know he was to go away.
With D'vis gone, M'chell reached up and gently stroked the bronzed face of the flyer, easing the head down towards his own and the first of what he hoped would be many lingering kisses. As the flight between Raganth and Ammorth reached its conclusion, so did the mating of man and flyer.
The flyer lay quietly, his body satiated and his mind at peace for he had found his mate. His new lover, his only lover, was lying beside him almost asleep. The flyer began to hum, deep and low, his chest reverberating. He enjoyed the feel as the dragon rider ran his fingers slowly across his chest. The humming increased and he opened his mouth to test a word, to please this man even more. "HmmmmM'chhhheeeellll," he whispered and knew he had done well when he was rewarded with another kiss.
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