The Red Orb of Pern
M.C. Gordon
Disclaimer is attached to the beginning of this series. This is fan fiction written for a friend who enjoys Anne McCaffrey's Pern as much as I do. Comments welcome to quasito_cat@hotmail.com or quasito_cat@yahoo.com
Chapter Seven:
The boys stood looking at each other for a minute after Lurah left.
"So, where should we go?" Julani finally asked.
"There," Mitchell replied, pointing to a cavern entrance a hundred yards to their left. "It's close enough and the path there isn't too steep." He closed his eyes momentarily and when he opened them he said, "And we're allowed to go there."
"How do you know?" Julani asked.
"I had Sonath ask."
"Just why is it that you can hear dragons and nobody else can who hasn't Impressed?" Julani asked a bit miffed.
"Dunno," Mitchell responded. "I just can. And I only hear Sonath anyway, not the rest of them.""
"No one else listens as hard as you do," Mitchell heard Sonath say.
"Well," he said, "I'm going exploring `cause I'm not going to lose any more time just standing here. You guys coming or not?"
"I am," Lydel said and hurried to his friend's side. The other two joined them and they set off to find their way down the path to the chosen cavern.
The short walk took nearly half an hour as they made their way around boulders and across small fissures in the volcanic wall. At the entrance to the cavern they lit their glowbaskets and entered. Staying close to the wall of the cave, they tip-toed their way in. Passages led from the main entrance several yards in.
"What do we do now?" asked Andren, youngest of the four.
"We'll have to pick one," Lydel responded.
"Yeah, but which one?" Julani asked. They all turned questioningly to Mitchell.
He thought for a moment. "This one," he said, pointing at the one to their left. "We'll just stay to the left. That way we can stay to the right on our way out and won't get lost or something."
The decision having been made, the four boys imagined themselves explorers on a journey of discovery and cautiously began their way down the passage.
Chapter 8
The boys soon lost the light from outside and opened one of the glow baskets. Carefully, cautiously, they made their way down the passageway.
"Wow!" Julani suddenly exclaimed. "Look! The passage separates again!"
Indeed it did, branching off into three different directions.
"Stay to the left," Mitchell said. He was determined that nothing would happen to bring out the Weyr in full force to look for them. He would soon be old enough to stand as a candidate for a dragon and didn't want anything to happen that might spoil his chance for his very own dragon.
"You will Impress," he heard Sonath say. "And your friend will Impress. The two of you will always be together." Mitchell found Sonath's remark a bit unusual since dragons only knew `now', but dismissed it because his own mind was overwhelmed with curiosity about the abandoned cave.
The boys followed the passage deeper and deeper into the abandoned area of the old volcano. Soon, in the soft glow of the light, they saw where the passageway ended.
"I knew we shoulda gone a different way," Andren said. "We've run out of tunnel!"
"Wait," Lydel added as he walked to the end of the passage. "Look, this wall isn't like the others. It's all smooth." He ran nimble fingers across the smoothness of the wall. "Hey, it's a door!" he exclaimed.
"Let's open it," Mitchell said, "and see what's on the other side."
"Like what?" Andren asked.
"I don't know," Mitchell admitted. "Maybe the lost ballad Julani mentioned."
"Yeah," Lydel added, "the one he'll have to learn for Master Tokan."
Julani looked at his younger friends and said, "Very funny."
Lydel had found the door latch and pulled it. He leaned against the door with all his weight but it didn't move. "Hey! Give a hand here," he said and the other three added their weight to his against the door.
Their combined weight finally nudged the door open an inch, and then another and another. When the door had opened enough to admit them, the four intrepid adventurers entered the room.
"Great mother of all dragons!" Mitchell exclaimed as their glowbasket revealed the contents of the room, so long hidden and forgotten.
. . .
If you like this little sci-fantasy tale you might be interested in my other series: `Dark Wishes' in the sci-fi/fantasy section of Nifty.