Canth says that they are coming tomorrow anyway, Ruth replied. The Harper ate well.
Ruth gave them such snippets of information about Master Robinton periodically. It was as good as being in the same Hall with the invalid, without having to hear him complain, Piemur observed.
They returned to the shelter cove through the forest. The fruit trees near the clearing had been picked clean and if F’nor were coming, he’d surely appreciate some fresh fruit to take back to Benden Weyr.
“Should you be around when F’nor comes?” Jaxom asked the young harper.
“Why not? He knows what I’ve been doing. You know, Jaxom, when you see how beautiful this continent is, you wonder why our ancestors went north …”
“Maybe the South was too big an area to keep Threadfree until the grubs had been seeded,” Sharra suggested.
“Good point!” Then Piemur snorted with derision.
“Those old Records are worse than useless; they leave out the most important things. Like telling farmers to watch for the grubs in the North and not mentioning why! Like leaving the Southern Continent alone, and not why! Though if there were half as many earthshakes then as there are now, I can’t fault them for common sense. When I was on the way to Big Bay, I bloody near got killed in a shake. Nearly lost Stupid from fright. If it hadn’t been for Farli keeping her eye on him, I never would have caught up with the stupid idiot!”
“Earthshakes happen in the North,” Jaxom said, “in Crom and High Reaches and sometimes Igen and the Telgar Plain.”
“Not the kind I’ve been through,” Piemur said, shaking his head at the memory. “Not where the earth drops beneath your feet and two paces beyond you lifts above your head half a dragonlength.”
“When did that happen? Three, four months ago?”
“That’s when!”
“Earth only trembled at Southern, but that’s scary enough!”
“Ever seen a volcano pop up out of the ocean and spew fiery rock and ash about?” asked Piemur.
“No, and I’m not sure you have, either, Piemur,” Sharra said, eyeing him suspiciously.
“I have, and N’ton was with me, so I’ve a witness.”
“Don’t think I won’t ask him.”
“Where was it, Piemur?” Jaxom asked, fascinated.
“I’ll show you on the map. N’ton’s been keeping his eye on the place. Last time we met, he said the volcano had stopped smoking and it had built a regular island about itself as neat as … as neat as that mountain of yours!”
“I’d prefer to see it with my own eyes,” Sharra said, still skeptical.
“I’ll arrange it,” the harper replied with good humor. “That’s a likely tree!” he added and, leaping in the air, grabbed the lowest branch and swung himself neatly up. He began to sever the stems that held the redfruit, dropping them carefully into the waiting hands of Jaxom and Sharra.
It had taken them only two hours to walk to the firelizards’ clutch along the beach. But it took them almost three times as long to hack a narrow path back to the shelter through the thick undergrowth. Jaxom began to appreciate the arduousness of Piemur’s journey as he slashed valiantly away at the sticky-sapped bushes. His shoulders ached and he’d branch-spiked shins and skinned toes by the time they emerged near the shelter. Jaxom had lost all sense of direction. But Piemur had an uncanny sense and with Ruth and three firelizards, had kept them on a direct line to their goal.
Once there, only Jaxom’s pride kept him from collapsing on his bed and sleeping off his exertions. Piemur was all for a swim to wash off the sweat and Sharra thought that broiled fish would make a good supper, so Jaxom struggled to keep going.
That might have been why, he thought later, he had such vivid dreams when he finally did crawl into bed to sleep. The mountain, smoking and spewing out fire-ash and glowing rock, dominated the dream, which was full of streams of running people. To Jaxom that was very sensible but he was also part of those people rushing away and it seemed that he couldn’t run fast enough. The red-orange glowing river that poured over the lip of the mountain threatened to engulf him and he couldn’t make his legs move fast enough.