Anne McCaffrey - Pern 08 - Nerilka's Story

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Prologue

JL f the reader is unfamiliar with the

series The Dragonriders of Pern, certain confusions

may occur. Nerilka's Story is an ancillary tale to

Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern, told from the point of

view of one of the minor characters in that novel.

To summarize the background:

Rukbat, in the Sagittarian Sector, was a golden

G-type star. It had five planets, two asteroid belts,

and a stray planet that it had attracted and held

in recent millennia. When men first settled on

Rukbat's third world and called it Pern, they had

Nerilka's Story

taken little notice of the strange planet swinging

around its adopted primary in a wildly erratic

orbit. For two generations, the colonists gave the

bright Red Star little thought--until the path of

the wanderer brought it close to its stepsister at

perihelion. When such aspects were harmonious

and not distorted by conjunctions with other

planets in the system, parasitic organisms indig-

enous to the wandering planet sought to bridge

the space gap between their home and the more

temperate and hospitable planet. At these times,

silver Threads dropped through Pern's skies, de-

stroying anything they touched. The initial losses

the colonists suffered were staggering. As a re-

sult, during the subsequent struggle to survive

and combat the menace. Pern's tenuous contact

with the mother planet was broken.

To control the incursions of the dreadful

Threads--for the Pemese had cannibalized their

transport ships early on and abandoned such

technological sophistication as was irrelevant to

the pastoral planet--the more resourceful men

embarked on a long-term plan. The first phase

involved breeding a highly specialized variety of

fire-lizard, a life form indigenous to their new

world. Men and women with high empathy rat-

ings and some innate telepathic ability were

trained to use and preserve the unusual animals.

The dragons--named for the mythical Terran

Anne McCaffrey

beast they resembled--had two valuable char-

acteristics: They could instantaneously travel

from one place to another, and after chewing a

phosphine-bearing rock, they could emit a flam-

ing gas. Because the dragons could fly, they

could intercept and char the Thread in midair

before it reached the surface.

It took generations to develop to the fullest the

potential of the dragons. The second phase of the

proposed defense against the deadly incursions

would take even longer. For Thread, a space-trav-

eling mycorrhizoid spore, devoured with mind-

less voracity all organic matter and, once

grounded, burrowed and proliferated with terri-

fying speed. So a symbiote of the same strain was

developed to counter this parasite, and the re-

sulting grub was introduced into the soil of the

Southern Continent. It was planned that the

dragons would be visible protection, charring

Thread while it was still skybome and protecting

the dwellings and the livestock of the colonists.

The grub-symbiote would protect vegetation by

devouring what Thread managed to evade the

dragons' fire.

The originators of the two-stage defense did

not allow for change or for hard geological fact.

The Southern Continent, though seemingly

more attractive than the harsher northern land,

proved unstable, and the entire colony was even-

Nerilka's Story

tually forced to seek refuge from the Threads on

the continental shield rock of the north.

On the northern continent the original Fort,

Fort Hold, constructed on the eastern face of the

Great West Mountain Range, was soon outgrown

by the colonists, and its capacious beasthold

could not contain the growing numbers of drag-

ons. Another settlement was started slightly to

the north, where a great lake had formed near a

cave-filled cliff. But Ruatha Hold, too, became

overcrowded within a few generations.

Since the Red Star rose in the east, the people

of Pern decided to establish a holding in the east-

ern mountains, provided a suitable cavesite could

be found. Only solid rock and metal, which was

in distressingly short supply on Pern, were im-

pervious to the burning score of Thread.

The winged, tailed, fire-breathing dragons had

by then been bred to a size that required more

spacious accommodations than the cliffside holds

could provide. The cavepocked cones of extinct

volcanoes, one high above the first Fort, the other

in the Benden Mountains, proved to be adequate

and required only a few improvements to be made

habitable.

The dragons and their riders in their high

places and the people in their cave holds went

about their separate tasks, and each developed

habits that became custom, which solidified into

xii

Anm McCaffrey

tradition as Incontrovertible as law. And when a

Fall of Thread was imminent--when the Red

Star was visible at dawn through the Star Stones

erected on the rim of each Weyr--the dragons

and their riders mobilized to protect the people

of Pern.

Then came an interval of two hundred Turns

of the planet Pem around its primary--when the

Red Star was at the far end of its erratic orbit, a

frozen, lonely captive. No Thread fell on Pem.

The inhabitants erased the signs of Thread dep-

redation and grew crops, planted orchards, and

thought of reforestation for the slopes denuded

by Thread. They even managed to forget that

they had once been in great danger of extinction.

Then, when the wandering planet returned, the

Threads fell again, bringing another fifty years of

attack from the skies. Once again the Pemese

thanked their ancestors, now many generations

removed, for providing the dragons whose fiery

breath seared the falling Thread midair.

Dragonkind, too, had prospered during that In-

terval and had settled in four other locations, fol-

lowing the master plan of interim defense.

Recollections of Earth receded further from

Pemese memories with each generation until

knowledge of Mankind's origins degenerated into

a myth. The significance of the Southern Hem-

isphere--and the Instructions formulated by the

Nerilka's Story

colonial defenders of dragon and grub--became

garbled and lost in the more immediate struggle

to survive.

By the Sixth Pass of the Red Star, a compli-

cated sociopolitical-economic structure had been

developed to deal with the recurrent evil. The six

Weyrs, as the old volcanic habitations of the drag-

onfolk were called, pledged themselves to pro-

tect Pem, each Weyr having a geographical sec-

tion of the Northern Continent literally under its

wing. The rest of the population agreed to tithe

support to the Weyrs since the dragonmen did

not have arable land in their volcanic homes,

could not afford to take time away from nurturing

their dragons to learn other trades during peace-

time, and could not take time away from pro-

tecting the planet during Passes.

Settlements, called holds, developed wherever

natural caves were found--some, of course, more

extensive or strategically placed than others. It

took a strong man to exercise control over terri-

fied people during Thread attacks; it took wise

administration to conserve victuals when nothing

could be safely grown; and it took extraordinary

measures to control population and keep it pro-

ductive and healthy until such time as the men-

ace passed.

Men with special skills in metalworking, weav-

ing, animal husbandry, farming, fishing, and

xiv

Anne McCaffrey

mining formed Crafthalls in each large Hold and

looked to one Mastercrafthall where the precepts

of the Craft were taught and Craft skills were

preserved and guarded from one generation to

another. One Lord Holder could not deny the

products of the Crafthall situated in his Hold to

others, since the Crafts were deemed indepen-

dent of a Hold affiliation. Each Craftmaster of a

Hall owed allegiance to the Master of his partic-

ular Craft--an elected office based on proficiency

in the Craft and on administrative ability. The

Mastercraftsman was responsible for the output

of his Halls and the distribution, fair and unprej-

udiced, of all Craft products on a planetary rather

than parochial basis.

Certain rights and privileges accrued to dif-

ferent Leaders of Holds and Masters of Crafts

and, naturally, to the dragonriders whom all Pern

looked to for protection during the Threadfalls.

It was within the Weyrs that the greatest social

revolution took place, for the needs of the dragons

took priority over all other considerations. Of the

dragons, the gold and green were female, the

bronze, brown, and blue male. Of the female

dragons, only the golden were fertile; the greens

were rendered sterile by the chewing offirestone,

which was as well since the sexual proclivities of

the small greens would soon have resulted in over-

population. They were the most agile, however,

and invaluable as fighters of Thread, fearless and

Nerilka's Story

aggressive. But the price of fertility was incon-

venience, and riders of queen dragons carried

flamethrowers to char Thread. The blue males

were sturdier than their smaller sisters, while the

browns and bronzes had the staying power for

long, arduous battles against Thread. In theory,

the great golden fertile queens were mated with

whichever dragon could catch them in their

strenuous mating flights. Generally speaking, the

bronzes did the honor. Consequently, the rider of

the bronze dragon who flew the senior queen of

a Weyr became its Leader and had charge of the

fighting Wings during a Pass. The rider of the

senior queen dragon, however, held the most re-

sponsibility for the Weyr during and after a Pass,

when it was the Weyrwoman's job to nurture and

preserve the dragons, to sustain and improve the

Weyr and all its folk. A strong Weyrwoman was

as essential to the survival of the Weyr as dragons

were to the survival of Pern.

To her fell the task of supplying the Weyr, fos-

tering its children, and Searching for likely can-

didates from Hall and Hold to pair with the newly

hatched dragons. As life in the Weyrs was not

only prestigious but easier for women and men

alike, Hold and Hall were proud to have their chil-

dren taken on Search, and boasted of the illus-

trious members of the bloodline who had become

dragonriders.

xvi

Anne McCaffrey

Now, in the year or Turn of their reckoning

1541, when the Sixth Pass of the Red Star is

nearly over, the inhabitants. Lord Holders, Craft-

masters, and the Weyrs face a new peril, which

threatens them as surely as does Thread.

XVII

Chapter I

3.1L1553 Interval

am not a harper, so do not expect

the polished tale. This is a personal history, though,

and as accurate as memory can make it: my mem-

ory, so the perceptions will be one-sided. No one

can challenge the fact that I have lived through a

momentous time in Pern's history, a tragic time. I

survived the Great Plague, though my heart still

grieves for those lost to its virulence, and ever will.

I have, I think, finally adjusted my thinking to

a positive attitude toward death. Not even the

most abject self-recriminations will breathe life

Nerilka's Story

back into the dead long enough to give absolution

to the living. Like many another, what I grieve

for is what I did not do or say to my sisters, now

beyond speech or sight or the receipt of my char-

itable farewell on that day which was the last I

saw them.

On that balmy morning, when my father. Lord

Tolocamp, my mother. Lady Pendra, and four of

my younger sisters set off on their journey to

Ruatha Hold and its Gather four days hence, I

did not bid them farewell and safe journey. Until

common sense reasserted itself, I did, I admit,

worry that my lack of charity on that occasion

caused their misadventure. But there were plenty

of well-wishers that morning, and surely my

brother Campen's exhortations would have been

a more powerful farewell than any grudgingly

given sentiment of mine. For he, at long last, had

been left in charge of Fort Hold during my fa-

ther's absence and he meant to make the most

of opportunity. Campen is a fine fellow, despite

a lack of any vestige of humor and little sensitiv-

ity. There is not a devious bone in his body. As

his entire plan was to amaze my father with his

Industry and efficiency in managing the Hold, it

also required my parent's safe return. I could

have told poor Campen that all the approval he

was likely to receive was a grunt from Father,

who would have expected industry and efficiency

from his son and heir. With the entire guard com-

Nerilka's Story

plement of Fort Hold, all the cottagers, and the

Harper Hall apprentices adding their exuberant

presences to the send-off, there were sufficient

good wishes to have pleased any wayfarer. No one

would have noticed my defection. Except, per-

haps, my sharp-eyed sister Amffla, who missed

nothing that she might use to her advantage at

a later date.

In truth, while I certainly wished them no

harm, since Threadfall had been endured the day

before with no infestations to ravage the winter

fields, I couldn't have wished them merry on their

way. For I had been left behind on purpose, and

it had been hard indeed to listen to my sisters'

prattling about their vain hopes for conquests at

the Ruatha Gather and know that the festivities

would not include me.

To be excluded in such a peremptory fashion,

a flick of my sire's hand to strike me from the

travel list, was another insensitive act of judg-

ment. Typical of him when human feelings are

concerned--at least typical of his attitudes and

judgments until he came back from Ruatha and

immured himself in his apartments all those long

weeks.

There was no real reason to have excluded me.

One more traveler would have made no differ-

ence to any of my father's arrangements or dis-

commoded the expedition. Even when I ap-

proached my mother and pleaded with her,

Anne McCaffrey

reminding her that I had undertaken all the dis-

agreeable tasks allotted us girls in the hope of

attending Alessan's first Gather, she had been

unresponsive. In the throes of that cruel disap-

pointment, I know I lost my case when I blurted

out that I had, after all, been fostered with Sur-

iana, Alessan's wife, dead of an unfortunate fall

from her wild runnerbeast.

"Then Lord Alessan will scarcely wish to see

your face and be reminded of his loss on such an

occasion."

"He has never seen my face," I had protested.

"But Suriana was my friend. You know that she

wrote me many letters from Ruatha. Had she

lived to become Lady Holder, I would have been

her guest. I know it."

"She is a full Turn in her grave, Nerilka," my

mother had reminded me in her coolest voice.

"Lord Alessan must choose a new bride."

"You cannot possibly think that my sisters

have the slightest chance of attracting Alessan's

attention .. ."I began.

"Have some pride, Nerilka. If not for yourself,

for your Bloodline," my mother had replied an-

grily. "Fort is the first Hold, and there isn't a fam-

ily on Pern that--"

"Wants any of the ugly Fort daughters of this

generation. Too bad you married Silma off so

quickly. She was the only pretty one of the lot of

us."

Nerilka's Story

"Nerilka! I'm shocked! If you were younger,

I'd . . ."

Even holding herself erect in anger. Mother

still had to look up at me, an attitude which did

not endear me further in her eyes.

"Since I'm not, I suppose I shall have to su-

pervise the drudges' bathing once again."

I took a savage satisfaction from the expression

on her face, for that had obviously been the very

thought in her head for discipline.

"At this time of the cold season, they always

benefit from warm water and soapsand. And

when you've done that, you will clear the snake

traps on the lowest level!" She had waggled her

finger under my nose. "I find that lately your at-

titude leaves much to be desired in a daughter,

Nerilka. You are to study a more congenial man-

ner for my return, or I warn you, you will find

your privileges curtailed and your duties in-

creased. If you will not abide my authority, I will

have no option but to apply to your father for dis-

ciplinary action." She dismissed me then, her

face still ruddy with controlled anger at my im-

pertinence.

I left her apartments with my head high, but

the threat of applying to my father's judgment

was not one I wished to challenge. His hand

weighed as heavy on the oldest and biggest of us

as it did on the youngest

When I had had a chance to review that in-

Anne McCaffrey

terview with my mother, as I ruthlessly sent the

drudges into the warm pools and sanded the

backs of those whose ablutions were not ener-

getic enough to suit my frame of mind, I regretted

my hasty words on several counts. I had probably

prejudiced my chance of getting to another

Gather for the entire Turn, and I had unneces-

sarily wounded my mother.

It could not be considered her fault that her

daughters were plain. She was a handsome

enough woman even now in her fiftieth Turn and

despite almost continuous pregnancies which

had resulted in nineteen living offspring. Lord

Tolocamp was considered a fine-looking man,

too, tall and vigorous, certainly virile, for the Fort

Hold Horde, as the harper apprentices had nick-

named us, were not his only issue. What galled

me excessively was that most of my half-blood

half sisters were far prettier than any of the full

blood, with the exception of Silma, my next-old-

est sister.

Half or full blood, we were all tall and sturdy,

an adjective more complimentary to boys than

girls, but there it was. I might be a trifle hasty,

for my youngest sister, Lilla, at ten Turns had

daintier features than we other girls and might

well improve. It was positively wasteful that Cam-

pen, Mostar, Doral, Thesldn, Gallen, and Jess

should have black, thick eyelashes where ours

were sparse; huge dark eyes while ours were

Nerilka's Story

lighter-colored, almost washy; straight fine noses

while no one could call mine anything but a beak.

They had masses of curly hair. We girls had thick

hair; mine reached below my waist when un-

braided and was remorselessly black, but it made

my skin look sallow. My nearest sisters were

cursed with midbrown hair that no herb could

brighten. The injustice of our heritage was cat-

astrophic, for plain males would still marry well

now that the Pass was ending and Fort's Holder

was extending his settlements. But there would

be no husbands for plain females.

I had long since discarded the romantic no-

tions of all young girls, or even the hope that my

father's position would acquire for me what ap-

pearance could not, but I did like to travel. I

adored the bustle and uninhibited atmosphere of

a Gather. I would so love to have gone to Alessan's

first Gather as Lord Holder of Ruatha. I wanted

to see, from whatever distance, the man who had

captured the love and adoration of Suriana of

Misty Hold--Suriana, whose parents had fos-

tered me; Suriana, my dearest friend, who had

been effortlessly all that I was not and who had

shared the wealth of her friendship unstintingly

with me. Alessan could not have grieved more

than I for her death, for that event had taken from

my life the one life I had valued above my own.

To say that part of me had died with Suriana was

no exaggeration. We had understood each other

Anne McCaffrey

as effortlessly as if we had been dragon and rider,

would often laugh as one, uttered the observa-

tion the other had been about to make, could in-

stantly fathom each other's mood, and shared the

same cycle to the minute no matter what distance

separated us.

In those happy Turns at Misty Hold, I had even

managed to appear prettier in a contentment re-

flecting Suriana's vivldness. Certainly I was

braver in her company, urging my runnerbeast

after hers on the most dangerous of trails. And I

was able to sail in the fiercest wind in the little

sloop we took upon the river and sea. Suriana had

other attainments, too. She had the sweetest light

soprano to which my alto was always in tune. In

Fort, my voice goes flat. She could sketch a scene

in bold sure strokes; her embroidery was so finely

stitched that her mother never feared to give her

the gossamer fabrics, and with her to advise me

quietly, my stitches improved to the point where

later my mother gave me grudging compliments.

In one talent only did I surpass Suriana, but not

even my healing arts could have mended her bro-

ken back. Nor could I, the daughter of Fort Hold,

enter the Healer Hall for training. Not when my

skills could be employed, free-marked, in the

murky stillrooms of Fort Hold.

Now I am appalled at the heedless, uncharit-

able girl I was that day, unable to swallow dis-

appointment and pride to bid her luckier sisters

Nerilka's Story

farewell. For it proved that their luck had run out

when they were chosen to attend Ruatha's

Gather. But who could have foreseen that, much

less the plague, on the bright cold-season day?

We had heard tell of the strange beast rescued

by seaholders, for my father had insisted that all

his children understand drummer codes. Living

so close to the Harper Hall, there was little we

did not know of major events occurring across

the Northern Continent. Oddly, we were not sup-

posed to talk about the drum messages we heard,

lest the information that we could not avoid un-

derstanding be indiscreetly repeated. So we all

knew about the discovery of the unusual feline

at Keroon. It is not surprising, then, that I failed

to connect the significance of that message with

the later one requiring Master Capiam to diag-

nose a strange disease afflicting those at Igen.

But I anticipate.

And so my parents and my four sisters--

Amilla, Mercia, Merin, and Kista--started on

their journey through the northern portion of our

Hold, where Father meant to check on several

holders, to the fateful Ruatha Gather. I who felt

she deserved to go remained at home.

Fortunately, I could also remain out of Cam-

pen's way, for I was certain he would have special

duties for me to perform that would ensure our

father's approbation of him. Campen adored del-

egating duty and thus managed to avoid its te-

Anne McCaffrey

dium, saving his energies to criticize results and

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摘要：

PrologueJLfthereaderisunfamiliarwiththeseriesTheDragonridersofPern,certainconfusionsmayoccur.Nerilka'sStoryisanancillarytaletoMoreta:DragonladyofPern,toldfromthepointofviewofoneoftheminorcharactersinthatnovel.Tosummarizethebackground:Rukbat,intheSagittarianSector,wasagoldenG-typestar.Ithadfiveplanet...

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Anne McCaffrey - Pern 08 - Nerilka's Story

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