A long time ago there was a dragon, a bronze one, and a man who walked up and down the beach. They did not bother him. He didn’t stay long, Ruth added, almost as an afterthought.
Now what did that mean? Jaxom wondered, apprehensive. Either we came and got him. Or he and Tiroth suicided.
“Ask them what else they remember about men,” Jaxom said to Ruth. Maybe they saw F’lar with D’ram.
The new firelizards became so excited that Ruth’s head came up out of the sand and his eyes flashed open and began to whirl with alarm. At his movement, Beauty lost her grip on his ridge and slid out of sight, reappearing with wings working furiously as she repositioned herself, squawking over her disarrangement.
They remember men. Why don’t I remember such things?
“And dragons?” Jaxom suppressed a spurt of alarm, wondering how on earth the Oldtimers could know he and Menolly were here. Then his common sense asserted itself. They couldn’t know.
He nearly jumped to his feet at the touch on his arm.
“Find out when, Jaxom,” Menolly said in a soft whisper, “when was D’ram here?”
No dragons. But many many men, Ruth was saying and added that the firelizards were too excited now to remember anything about one man and a dragon. He didn’t understand what they were remembering; each one seemed to have different memories. He was confused.
“Do they know we’re here?”
They haven’t seen you. They’ve only looked at me. But you aren’t their men. Ruth’s tone indicated he was as perplexed by this message as Jaxom.
“Can’t you get them back to the subject of D’ram?”
No, Ruth said sadly and with some disappointment. All they want to remember is men. Not my men, but their men.
“Maybe if I stand up they will recognize me as a man.” Slowly Jaxom got to his feet, gesturing cautiously to Menolly to rise as well. What the firelizards needed was the proper perspective.
You aren’t the men they remember, Ruth said as the firelizards, startled by the two figures rising from the sands, took wing. They circled once, at a safe distance, and then disappeared.
“Call them back, Ruth. We’ve got to find out when D’ram is.”
Ruth was silent for a moment, his eyes decreasing the speed of their whirl. Then he shook his head as he told his rider that they had gone away to remember their men.
“They couldn’t mean Southerners,” Menolly said, having received some images from her friends. “That mountain is in the background of their images.” And she turned in that direction though she couldn’t see the mountain for the trees. “And they wouldn’t have meant Robinton and myself when we got storm-tossed here. Did they remember a boat, Ruth?” Menolly asked the white dragon, then looked at Jaxom for the answer.
No one told me to ask about a boat, Ruth said plaintively. But they did say they saw a man and a dragon.
“Would they react if … if Tiroth had gone between, Ruth?”
By himself? To the end? Yes, they didn’t remember sadness. I remember sadness. I remember Mirath’s going very well. The white dragon’s tone was sad.
Jaxom hurried to comfort him.
“Did he?” Menolly asked anxiously, not hearing Ruth.
“Ruth doesn’t think so. And besides, a dragon wouldn’t let his rider harm himself. D’ram can’t suicide with Tiroth alive. And Tiroth won’t if D’ram is still alive.”
“When?” Menolly sounded upset. “We still don’t know when.”
“No, we don’t. But if D’ram was here, long enough for the firelizards to remember him, if he planned to stay here as he must have, he would have had to build some sort of shelter for himself. There are rains in this part of the world. And Thread …” Jaxom had started toward the verge of the forest to test his theory. He called, “Hey, Menolly, Thread’s only been falling for the past fifteen Turns. That wouldn’t be too long a jump for Tiroth, They came forward in time at twenty-five Turn intervals. I’ll bet anything that’s his when, before Thread. D’ram’s had enough of Thread for several lifetimes.” Jaxom scrambled across the sand back to his clothes and continued talking as he got dressed. That sense of rightness colored his speculation. “I’d say D’ram’s gone back about twenty or twenty-five Turns. I’ll try then first. If we see any sign of D’ram or Tiroth, we’ll come right back, I promise.” He vaulted to Ruth’s back, fastening his helmet as he urged the white dragon to wing.