“Sir?”
“Come here, Jaxom!”
In the hours that followed, Jaxom was grateful that Sharra had thought to feed him breakfast. He didn’t get much time for more food. The moment he entered the main Hall, questions were thrown at him by the Weyrleaders and Craftmasters assembled. Piemur had been very busy during Fall because Master Robinton had already completed a sketch of the southeastern face of the mountain to show the incredulous visitors, and a rough, small-scale map of this section of Southern. From the almost rhythmic way Menolly described their jaunt, Jaxom decided she had already repeated the account many times.
What Jaxom remembered most of that session was feeling sorry that the Master Harper was unable to see the mountain first hand. But, if Jaxom had waited until Master Oldive permitted the Harper to fly between. ..
“I know you’ve just flown Fall, Jaxom, but if you’d just give Mnementh the visualization …” F’lar began.
N’ton burst out laughing, pointing to Jaxom. “The look on your face, lad. F’lar, he’s got to lead us! Give him that!”
So Jaxom got back into slightly damp flying gear and roused Ruth from his sandy baking. Ruth was pleased enough with the honor of leading the bronzes of Pern, but Jaxom could barely contain behind a composed expression the thrill he was experiencing. Jaxom and the white dragon, leading the most important people on Pern.
He could have asked Ruth to jump directly to the southeastern side of the Two-Faced Mountain, his private designation. Somehow he wanted everyone to experience the full impact of those two sides-the benign and beautiful.
From the expressions on the riders’ faces as they settled briefly on the ridge, he could see that he had achieved the desired effect. He allowed them time to sight the Barrier Range, glistening in the sun, ragged white teeth on the horizon. He gestured seaward where neither morning mists nor Thread now obscured the tail of volcanoes snaking northeasterly out into the sea, smoke just curling from the curve of the world in that direction.
At his request, Ruth soared across the inlet as he had done before, climbing high before he gave the coordinates of the next jump between. They came out above the broad expanse of the southeastern side of Two-Face, as dramatic an approach as anyone could have wished.
Mnementh suddenly surged into the fore and, as Ruth relayed to Jaxom, said that they should land. Politely, Ruth and Jaxom circled as the great bronze settled near the intersection of some of the regular lines, as far as possible from the three secondary cones. One by one the great bronze dragons of Pern settled in the grassy sward, their riders and passengers striding through the tall waving grasses to join F’lar, who had hunkered down to dig with his belt knife into the edge of one of those curious lines.
“Covered with Turns of blow dirt and old grasses,” he said, giving up his attempt.
“Volcanoes often blow out quantities of ash,” T’bor of the High Reaches said. He would know since quite a few old volcanoes were in Tillek which was beholden to the High Reaches Weyr. “If all those mountains blew at once, there’d be half a length of ash before you’d reach anything.”
For a split second, Jaxom thought they were being threatened with ash. Sunlight was blotted out and a chittering, fluttering mass swooped down, almost touching Mnementh’s head before the hundred firelizards lifted up again.
Amid shouts of consternation and surprise, Jaxom heard Ruth’s announcement.
They are happy. Men have returned to them!
“Ask them about the three mountains, Ruth? Do they remember the mountains blowing up?”
There was no doubt they did. Suddenly there wasn’t an unbanded firelizard in the sky.
They remember the mountains, Ruth said. They remember fire in the air and fire crawling on the ground. They are afraid of the mountains. Men were afraid of the mountains.
Menolly came running up to Jaxom, her face contorted with concern. “Did Ruth ask those firelizards about the mountains? Beauty and the others just had a fit. About those blasted mountains.”
F’lar came striding up to them. “Menolly? What was all that fuss with the firelizards? I didn’t see any banded ones. Were they all Southern ones?”