By Anne Mccaffrey and Todd J
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Dragon Harper is a work of fiction. Names, places, and incidents either are products of the authors’ imagination or are used fictitiously. Copyright © 2007 by Anne McCaffrey and Todd J. McCaffrey Published in the United States by Del Rey Books, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York. DEL REY is a registered trademark and the Del Rey colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA McCaffrey, Anne. Dragon Harper / Anne McCaffrey & Todd McCaffrey. p. cm. eISBN: 978-0-345-50252-0 1. Pern (Imaginary place)—Fiction. 2. Life on other planets—Fiction. 3. Space colonies—Fiction. 4. Dragons—Fiction. I. McCaffrey, Todd, 1956– II. Title. PS3563.A255D73 2007 813'.54—dc22 2007027611 www.delreybooks.com v1.0 BY ANNE MCCAFFREY Published by Ballantine Books Decision at Doona Dinosaur Planet Dinosaur Planet Survivors The Mystery of Ireta Get Off the Unicorn The Lady Pegasus in Flight Restoree The Ship Who Sang To Ride Pegasus Nimisha’s Ship Pegasus in Space Black Horses for the King THE CRYSTAL SINGER BOOKS Crystal Singer Killashandra Crystal Line THE DRAGONRIDERS OF PERN Dragonflight Dragonquest The White Dragon Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern Nerilka’s Story Dragonsdawn The Renegades of Pern All the Weyrs of Pern The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall The Dolphins of Pern Dragonseye The Masterharper of Pern The Skies of Pern A Gift of Dragons On Dragonwings BY TODD MCCAFFREY Dragonsblood BY ANNE MCCAFFREY AND TODD MCCAFFREY Dragon’s Kin Dragon’s Fire Dragon Harper ABOUT THE AUTHORS ANNE MCCAFFREY, the Hugo Award–winning author of the bestselling Dragonriders of Pern® novels, is one of science fiction’s most popular authors. With Elizabeth Ann Scarborough, she co-authored Changelings and Maelstrom, Book One and Book Two of The Twins of Petaybee. McCaffrey lives in a house of her own design, Dragonhold-Underhill, in County Wicklow, Ireland. Visit the author’s website at www.annemccaffrey.net. TODD MCCAFFREY is the bestselling author of the Pern novel Dragonsblood, as well as Dragon’s Kin and Dragon’s Fire, which he co-wrote with his mother, Anne McCaffrey. A computer engineer, he currently lives in Los Angeles. Having grown up in Ireland with the epic of the Dragonriders of Pern, he is bursting with ideas for new stories of that world, its people, and its dragons. Visit the author’s website at www.toddmccaffrey.org. To Alec A. Johnson Son, Brother, Father, Patriot CONTENTS TITLE PAGE DEDICATION DRAMATIS PERSONAE PROLOGUE ISTA WEYR, AFTER LANDING (AL) 495.4 CHAPTER 1 HIGH REACHES WEYR, AL 495.8 CHAPTER 2 HIGH REACHES WEYR CHAPTER 3 ALEESA’S WHERHOLD CHAPTER 4 HARPER HALL CHAPTER 5 HARPER HALL, AL 496.11 CHAPTER 6 HARPER HALL CHAPTER 7 HARPER HALL CHAPTER 8 BENDEN WEYR CHAPTER 9 HARPER HALL CHAPTER 10 HARPER HALL CHAPTER 11 FORT HOLD CHAPTER 12 FORT HOLD CHAPTER 13 HARPER HALL CHAPTER 14 FORT HOLD CHAPTER 15 RED BUTTE CHAPTER 16 IGEN WEYR STAR STONES EPILOGUE BENDEN WEYR, AL 497.1 AUTHORS’ NOTES ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ABOUT THE AUTHORS ALSO BY ANNE MCCAFFREY COPYRIGHT ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We would like to thank Shelly Shapiro, our longtime editor at Del Rey, for all her hard work in making this book great. She was aided by Judith Welsh, our editor at Transworld, and we’d like to thank her, too. Once again, the redoubtable Martha Trachtenburg did a sterling job of copyediting the book, catching many things that we’d missed and making suggestions for the improvement of our verse. Thanks, Martha. We’re sorry about all the handkerchiefs. Georgeanne “Gigi” Kennedy, daughter and sister, respectively, provided her moral support, encouragement, and occasional keen insight as with all other Pern books. Finally, we’d like to thank our agents, Diana Tyler of MBA Literary Agency, and Donald Maass of the Donald Maass Literary Agency for their support, cheer, and great feedback on the rough draft. Any mistakes, errors, or omissions are, as always, strictly our own. DRAMATIS PERSONAE AT THE HARPER HALL Murenny, Masterharper of Pern Biddle, Voicemaster Caldazon, Instrument Master Lenner, Masterhealer of Pern Selora, head cook Journeymen: Issak, Tenelin, Gerrin Apprentices: Kindan, Nonala, Kelsa, Verilan, Vaxoram AT FORT HOLD Bemin, Lord Holder Sannora, Lady Holder Semin, Bannor, their sons Koriana, Fiona, their daughters AT THE WHERHOLD Aleesa, Whermaster, queen Aleesk Mikal, ex-dragonrider Arella, Aleesa’s daughter Jaythen, wherman AT BENDEN WEYR M’tal, Weyrleader of Benden Weyr, bronze dragon Gaminth Salina, Weyrwoman, queen dragon Breth AT ISTA WEYR C’rion, Weyrleader J’lantir, Wingleader, bronze Lolanth J’trel, blue rider, Talith PROLOGUE Dragon’s heart, Dragon’s fire, Rider true, Fly higher. ISTA WEYR, AFTER LANDING (AL) 495.4 J ’lantir’s brows were thick, gathered like thunderclouds as he glowered at his wing riders. He had called them to his quarters and met them in Lolanth’s weyr. The presence of his bronze dragon, eyes whirling menacingly red, left his wing riders in no doubt as to his mood. “A sevenday!” he bellowed. “You’ve been missing for a whole sevenday.” He glared at each one in turn, ending with J’trel and his partner, K’nad. J’trel, J’lantir guessed, would say nothing, but K’nad looked both too nervous and too—amused? Every rider had bags under his eyes as though he had been without sleep for the whole sevenday. Young J’lian was leaning against V’sog, who himself looked only barely able to stand. M’jial and B’zim surreptitiously supported the other two. L’cal’s frown was severe and directed toward the rest of the wing, but beneath his bushy eyebrows, the eldest rider maintained a stoic silence. Cavorting and carrying on, no doubt, J’lantir thought sourly. Their dragons looked even worse, pale and exhausted. J’lantir had never heard of dragons becoming exhausted because of their riders’ antics. He narrowed his eyes as he looked more carefully at K’nad. The man had a tan! “Where were you all this time?” J’lantir growled. K’nad dropped his head, shaking it slowly. J’lantir pursed his lips sourly and peered along the rest of the line of men that comprised his missing wing. “Where were all of you?” He scanned the line, looking for someone who might answer. “We were on an important mission,” J’trel said finally. The others looked at him and nodded in relief. “Very important,” K’nad added with a confirming nod. “So important that I didn’t know about it?” J’lantir asked in scathing tones. K’nad gave him a confused look and was about to answer when J’trel nudged him, shaking his head. “He said he wouldn’t believe us, remember?” J’trel whispered to K’nad in a voice not so quiet that J’lantir didn’t hear him. K’nad drew strength from his partner’s words and looked J’lantir in the eye. “You said not to tell until the time was right.” “I said?” J’lantir bellowed back, causing K’nad to wilt once more. “I don’t recall saying anything of the sort,” J’lantir continued when it was obvious that K’nad had gone back into his shell. “I’ll tell you what I think,” he said to his riders. “I think you’ve all gone off someplace and had far too much to drink and can’t tell yesterday from today.” Half his riders gave him startled looks as though he’d been reading their minds. “And so, to sort this out,” he continued, “we’ll be drilling today.” “Could we do recognition points?” K’nad piped up suddenly. The rest of the wing glanced his way and then murmured in agreement. J’lantir couldn’t believe it. He could never get his wing to drill on recognition points. “From all around Pern?” J’trel added. “We’d like that.” “You would, would you?” J’lantir said sourly. That was exactly what he’d planned to do with his wing to teach them a lesson. Well, several lessons. Drilling in recognition points was tiring, dull work that dragonriders usually preferred to avoid. He was surprised that his riders were so eager for the work and a little suspicious. But, as he had no other plans sufficiently punitive in mind, he could only assent. “All around Pern, eh?” he repeated. “Just remember that you asked for it.” “Could we feed the dragons first?” K’nad asked. “They’re very hungry.” “Hmmm,” J’lantir murmured. The dragons had been fed the day before. Dragons typically ate only once a week. He glanced again at his wing riders and noticed how tired they were. He glared at J’trel, but the blue rider merely shrugged. There was no sense in punishing the dragons for their riders’ lapses, J’lantir decided. “Very well, you can feed your dragons and rest for the remainder of today.” His riders gave him astonished and grateful looks. “Tomorrow,” he continued, “before first light, we’ll start drilling on recognition points.” J’lantir turned and stalked off, already anticipating a grilling from Weyrleader C’rion—wingleaders were not supposed to lose their wings for a sevenday. As it was, he didn’t bother to turn back again when one of his riders murmured, “He said he’d be like this.” And another answered, “But it was worth it.” CHAPTER I White robe, high hopes Hatching Grounds, tight throats Sands heat, eggs move Shells crack, hearts prove. HIGH REACHES WEYR, AL 495.8 P ut this on,” D’vin said to Cristov as they rushed to the Hatching Grounds.