Chapter 8- And So the Fear Lives On
Disclaimer: The concept of the Dragonriders of Pern belongs to Anne McCaffery.
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Knowing that she would be most likely caught if she dared to go too far away from the weyrling barracks, Animeth dashed through the first open door that she came across, which lead to the guard's quarters. She found that they looked almost exactly like the weyrling barracks, expect that there were many more beds crammed into a smaller amount of space, and there were no stone couches, as the guards lacked the need for them, having no dragons to call their own. The dragonet pitied them. To be without a lifemate! She almost shuddered at the thought.
Animeth crept into the large room, her nostrils flaring slightly as they detected the stench of spilled k'lah, old sweat, and, disgustingly enough, stale urine. Animeth shook her head in revulsion and breathed through her mouth.
Searching for something to occupy herself with, Animeth investigated a wooden chest that someone had left unopened. She nudged the objects that she found inside with her snout, sorting through its absent owner's belongings.
Animeth accidentally tore a tunic and punctured a wineskin with her teeth. The liquid it contained sprayed out of the hole she had made, into the dragonet's mouth. She quickly withdrew her head from the timber box and spat the substance out, repulsed by the taste. The wine leaked onto the bottom of the chest, dampening the other items that it contained. Animeth wandered away, indifferent.
Animeth shuffled around the room for a little while longer, sniffing something here and prodding something there, but she didn't find anything of great interest. With a defeated sigh, the green dragon crept from the room and back out into the corridor… only to realise that she could not remember how to get back to her own quarters. A few faint specks of red glittered in her eyes.
She was stealthily filing through Syetta's memories of the weyr's layout, hoping that she could count on her rider's recollections, when she suddenly heard the sound of tiny wings beating erratically from inside of the room she had just exited. Blinking, Animeth realised that a fire-lizard had just appeared in the room that she had just left.
Animeth had never seen a fire-lizard before. She was not going to miss out on the chance to meet one. She poked her little, forest green head into the room, her blue eyes alight with child-like curiosity.
The fire-lizard was tiny, with a scarred brown hide and bulging, anxious-looking eyes that were whirling much faster than Animeth would have thought possible. Stress and shame were rolling of him in wares. He clutched a small bottle in his claws- Animeth was too far away to see what it contained.
Cautious, Animeth approached the tense little creature. He reeled around to face her, his expression terrified.
Don't tell mine, he begged. Don't tell him Wherry got lost. Delivered bottle late. So sorry. So sorry. Animeth just stared at him for a moment, trying to guess who Wherry was, before she realised that the fire-lizard was referring to himself.
Fire-lizards do not get lost! She replied, baffled. Syetta had once told her that her miniature cousins had an excellent sense of direction.
Did, the little brown lamented, still speaking in third person. Still not used to coming here. Betweened to old home. Spent days trying to remember what weyr looked like, and the scary man told me to take bottle to mine immediately. Mine will be angry. Animeth continued to watch him worry and fret, her bewilderment intensifying. She had never heard of a fire-lizard being so concerned about their human- most of them were very devoted, but it was rare to see a sight such as this.
Had Animeth been more observant, she may have labelled the lizard's strangeness as the result of an accident which had obviously befallen him at some time- the scars on his brown hide made it clear that something had happened to him at one point, and it was all too possible that the little animal had sustained injuries or trauma which had altered the way his mind worked. But Animeth was not the type of creature who took notice of such things, so she simply concluded that there was something wrong with the lizard's head and left it at that.
The mystery of the inner workings of the lizard's mind aside, Animeth decided to help the creature out, if only to soothe her boredom.
Perhaps if you left the bottle here he would not notice you were late. She suggested lightly. The fire lizard hovered in mid air, considering it.
Okay, he answered nervously, hope you are right. He dashed over to the cot in the corner, which was slightly messier than the others, dropped the bottle onto the straw mattress and chirped triumphantly, confident that he had evaded trouble.
He sent Animeth a wave of gracious emotion and flitted between without another word. The green dragon stared at the empty space where he had been hovering for a moment, then broke out of her trance and, to stave off tedium, went to investigate the little bottle the fire-lizard had left behind. It was lying on the scratchy mattress, inconspicuous and unexciting.
Silly little brother, Animeth chortled. Why worry about something so trivial? Her eyes shone silver with curiosity as she lifted a foreleg and prodded the glass container with a claw. The black, sludgy liquid swilled around inside it.
Animeth tilted her head to one side and sniffed the bottle tentatively, but then pulled away abruptly as the scent of smoke and rot hit her sensitive nose like a stone wall- but not just because of the smell.
A powerful, appalling sense of dread was building up inside of her. She hissed softly and backed away in fear, though she wasn't sure why.
Bad… wrong…
Animeth knew that the goo was a horrible, terrible thing. She wasn't certain about how she was so sure- the instinct that told her so was akin to the one that told her that the other dragons were her family and that thread was the enemy. Ancient knowledge that was hardwired into her mind.
She needed to get out. To escape the… the stuff and put as much distance between her and it as possible. Animeth slunk towards the door, spitting and snarling slightly in the bottle's direction. Hatred almost as potent as the loathing she had for thread rose from inside of her, and she suddenly felt the urge to destroy the container's contents, but she didn't want to touch it.
Such strong emotions did not go unheeded by Syetta. As Animeth dropped her guard, the dragon's terror and anger slammed into the girl, and she almost cried out in surprise.
Animeth! What's going on! The green dragon, who was awkwardly making her way back to the weyrling barracks as fast as she could manage, told her everything. It felt so good to be able to tell hers of her fears, because she was sure that her Syetta could make them go away.
Expect she couldn't. Syetta simply gave her directions to the barracks, and once her dragon was safe in their room, she tried to her to forget the incident, fearing the trouble they would get into if it was discovered that Animeth had been in the guard's barracks.
It was nothing. Probably just some weird type of wine, Animeth. Don't fret. The dragon would not let her worries go, however.
It was wrong, mine! It needs to be destroyed!
Syetta paused, for Animeth's fear was making her uneasy, but she was confident that her lifemate was just being silly, and scared that if they admitted that Animeth had gone wandering and she had not stopped her, they would both be punished.
It was just wine, Animeth, just really stinky wine. Maybe the guards were just playing pranks on each other or something…Nothing to worry about. Just go back to sleep. Class ends in a few minuets, and then I'll come and see you. Don't worry, Animeth. You'll forget about it soon.
But she wouldn't forget, because Syetta knew about it now, and for all her claims that the matter of the strange liquid was nothing to worry about, Animeth's terror had shaken her, and if she herself couldn't let the memory fade from her mind, it would also stay in Animeth's.
And so they fear lived on…
