Disclaimer: I don't own Pern. I do, however own most of the characters in this story.
Chapter Four: Time Travelers
Jilpath let loose a short bellow, then gave each dragon and rider the coordinates to go between to a beach S'kooen knew of down the coast a little ways. The riders held the image firmly in their minds and braced themselves for the cold of between.
As they burst out the hot sun greeted them and seemed to commend their mastery of this new skill.
000
For the rest of the afternoon they jumped back and forth to different beaches and different places around the weyr. It was often impressed on them that they could not –absolutely could not– jump without the guidance of a more experienced dragon and rider yet. But, the Weyrlingmaster encouraged them, they were going very fast and it would not be long before they could begin practicing Thread-fighting with the Wings.
At last, as the sun dipped towards the horizon, S'kooen passed along the message through Jilpath that they were to hunt the dragons, have their own dinner and be rested for tomorrow. The elderly man and dragon said that each Weyrling, because there were so few of them, was to get a turn giving coordinates to the small wing.
There was much talk over dinner as to where they were to go. Many young riders thought returning home astride a dragon would be best for them, but Jess didn't join in the conversation about their homes. She knew she would forever remain an outcast from them, both as a person, for her home must remain secret, and as Rider of the only silver dragon.
Tristan reviewed places he knew around Pern. He had wandered across some of the South, but not nearly as much as the others had. Most knew places in the North as well. At last he decided on a clearing in the forest not far from the Weyr. Most people were choosing destinations further abroad, so it was safe to assume the clearing was a non-repetitive visit.
000
The next morning, when all the Weyrlings were assembled and had put on the flying harness without error, S'kooen brought them aloft with the traditional signal. The Weyrlingmaster passed on, by way of his brown and then Preearth, a request that Bluerider F'nask be the first to pass on their coordinates.
F'nask gave first Jilpath the coordinates; when he and his rider approved them as accurate, they passed on the image to the fourteen waiting dragons and their riders. At S'kooen's signal they disappeared between.
They emerged over the destination, a point above Southern Hold. Jilpath and S'kooen went through the same process with brown Spayoth and D'gor, who brought them to a small hold which apparently bred runnerbeasts in the shadow of a great mountain.
When the next Weyrling selected, J'lepo, rider of green Hintuth, tried to give his coordinates, Jilpath and S'kooen found them not clear enough to risk transferring dragons and riders with. Instead he called on Greenrider Cazadamil and her Pleikath. Their coordinates were pronounced satisfactory and they leapt between.
Now they found themselves on a beach. Cazadamil, who preferred to be called Caza, explained that she had found the last two eggs not eaten by snakes in a clutch here. Indeed, a brown lizard was sitting on her shoulder while a blue was hovering by.
Mayzol interrupted. Clearly disgruntled by not going first because she rode gold, the girl had her Ashvuth tell all the dragons to go to her coordinates. Several of the riders, enjoying the scenery or not paying attention completely, were caught off-guard as their startled dragonsobeyed, pulling them between.
They were in the blackness of teleportation.
As they hung there, far longer than usual, Jess knew something was wrong. She knew they were lost. With direction and aid from her unusual silver dragon she and Tristan, the two humans Vailath knew best, frantically gathered the minds of all the dragons there. Somehow knowing instinctively that Tristan was doing the same callmed Jess and she was able to carefully grasp each thread of life Vailath showed her to grab. Just to get them out of the horrible blackness she clearly visualized the first thing to come into her head.
Dragging the rest of the dragons and their riders with them, Jess, Tristan and Vailath forced themselves there, not caring where it was as long as it was out of the horribly darkness of between.
000
They emerged above a clearing surrounded by a forest of strange trees but, too tired to care, the exhausted dragons landed all together in the open space.
After a moment, Jess recovered enough to realize they had to get out of here. How could I have been so stupid, Vailath? she wailed telepathically to her dragon. We could be found anytime! It occurred to her she did not know who had been suddenly dragged on their unexpected trip. She took stock of her companions, unsurprised to see both Tristan close by. The boy gave a weak smile.
"You prob'ly shouldn't have given us these coordinates, you know."
"Oh, jeez, do I know," she groaned in reply. "The last thing we need is- how many of us are there again?" Jess took a swift tally.
Green Joozith and her rider Pralosa, Shirath and N'soy of the same color. Bronze Gamrith's rider, C'nam, seemed particularly shaken, but Bluerider S'pilron was looking around with interest beside his Dizith and brown Siporath was ridged with shock, his rider P'jaz's as well as his own.
Two greens, two bronzes, one blue, one brown, one gold and the silver dragon. Eight total young dragons in Central Park and six riders alien to this world. "This is so much worse than last time," she whispered to herself.
"Mayzol!" Suddenly Bronzerider C'nam was on his feet, dashing to golden Ashvuth's side. The queenrider slide off unresponsively, apparently in a faint, and thudded onto the ground.
000
"All right! May I have everyone's attention please!" The talkative riders quieted slowly as Jess stood on Vailath's shoulder some minutes later to deliver her announcement. "Now here is the situation. Goldrider Mayzol has knocked herself unconscious and we are unable to revive her. Ashvuth is worried; so are we all. We cannot risk transferring her between back to the Weyr just yet; this mean we are basically stranded here until we can get uh… supplies… which they use here for injuries such as these."
Tristan looped an arm about Kurith's bronze jaw and continued. "Jess and I know this place; we will bring supplies but for now it is imperative that no one flies or makes noise which may draw attention."
'Attention is certainly the last thing we need right now,' Jess thought. 'If the dragons aren't hauled off to be put in a zoo, they'll be stuck in a laboratory for study. That could kill their riders, if we aren't arrested.'
000
After saying swift good-byes to their dragons, Jess and Tristan set out in a direction they thought most likely to bring them to a trail. If they had difficulty finding their way back they knew they could follow the voices of the dragons.
It was not long before they found one. Both teenagers gave a chuckle as they saw where they were. Though someone had cleared the toppled trees and brush, the clearing they had landed in had been originally made by Thyrath's undignified crash landing.
It was not late in the morning, she would have guessed about nine, when Tristan led the way out an exit that was only a few blocks away from his house. At the busy street he stopped, unused to the noise of the city after so many months away.
Something flashed through his mind. So long away… yes he had been away months by his calculations, but how long had he been gone here? At least long enough for the clearing to have been fixed up. It could be anywhere from a couple of weeks to twenty years.
"Jess?" Tristan turned to his friend. "How long have we been gone- in this time?" Her eyes widened and he could see she understood. "If I go charging into my house now, who's to say it's still my house? How much have people aged in this 'now'?" he asked rhetorically, not wanting an answer.
After a moment of blinking, Jess drew a deep, shaking breath. "That's a problem."
"Big problem," Tristan confirmed grimly.