Dragonsinger (12 page)

When Sebell escorted her to her place, the girls treated her with a stony silence, emphasized by pursed lips, averted eyes and then sniggers to each other. Buoyed by Sebell’s reassurances, Menolly ignored them. She concentrated on eating the roast wherry and the crusty brown tubers, bigger than she’d ever seen and so fluffy inside their crust that she ate more of them than bread.

Since the girls were so pointedly snubbing her, Menolly looked about the room. She couldn’t spot Piemur, and she wanted him to come help her feed the fire lizards in the evening. She’d better strengthen what friendships she could within the Harper Hall.

The gong again called their attention to announcements; and to her surprise, Menolly heard her own name called to report to Master Oldive. Immediately the girls fell to whispering among themselves, as if such a summons was untoward, though she couldn’t imagine why, unless they were doing it to frighten her. She continued to ignore them. And then the gong released the diners.

The girls remained where they were, pointedly not looking in her direction, and she was forced to struggle from the bench.

‘And where in the name of the first shell were you this morning?’ asked Master Domick, his face set with anger, his eyes slitted, his voice low but projected so that the girls all cowered away from him.

‘I was told to go to—’

‘So Talmor informed me,’ and he brushed aside her explanation, ‘but
I
had left word with Dunca for you to report to me.’

‘Dunca told me nothing, Master Domick,’ Menolly flicked a glance beyond him to the girls and saw in their smug expression the knowledge that they, too, had known there’d been a message for her, which Dunca had deliberately neglected to pass on.

‘She said she did,’ said Master Domick.

Menolly stared back at him, bereft of any response and heartily wishing for Sebell to produce his assistance.

‘I realize,’ Domick went on sarcastically, ‘that you’ve been living holdless and without authority for
some
time but while you are an apprentice here, you will obey the masters.’

In the face of his wrath, Menolly bowed her head. The next moment, Beauty came diving into the room, with two bronze and two brown shapes right behind her.

‘Beauty! Rocky! Diver! Stop it!’

Menolly jumped in front of Domick, arms outstretched, protecting him from the onslaught of winged retaliation.

‘What do you mean, disobeying me? Attacking Master Domick? He’s a Harper! Behave yourselves.’

Menolly had to shout because the girls, seeing the fire lizards swooping down, screamed and tried variously to get under the table or off the benches, overturning them; anywhere away from the fire lizards.

Domick had sense enough to stand still, incredulous as he was at the attack. Despite the girls’ shrieks, Menolly had the lungs to be heard when she wished to.

Twittering, Beauty circled once and then came to Menolly’s shoulder, glaring balefully at Domick from behind her mistress. The others lined up on the mantel, wings still spread, hissing, their jewelled eyes whirling, looking ready and quite willing to pounce again. As Menolly stroked Beauty to calmness, she struggled with an apology to Domick.

‘Back to work, you! The rest of you, along to your sections,’ Domick said, raising his own voice to energize the stragglers in the dining hall who had observed the strange attack, and the boys who were clearing the tables. ‘I’d forgot about your loyal defenders,’ he told Menolly in a tight but controlled voice.

‘Master Domick, will you ever forgive …’

‘Master Domick,’ said another voice near the floor,
and
Audiva crawled from under the table. Domick extended a hand to help the girl to her feet. She glanced towards the entrance, then gave Menolly a brief nod. ‘Master Domick, Dunca told Menolly nothing about your message, but
we
all knew about it. Fair’s fair.’ With one more glance at Menolly, she hurried across the dining hall to catch up with the other girls in the courtyard.

‘How did you contrive to alienate Dunca?’ asked Domick, his expression sullen but less fierce.

Menolly gulped and glanced at the fire lizards.

‘Oh, them! Yes! I can quite see her point.’ There was no flexibility in Master Domick’s attitude. ‘They do not, however, intimidate me.’

‘Master Domick—’

‘That’s enough, girl. Since you haven’t the native intelligence to be tactful, I shall have to—’

‘Master Domick—’ Sebell came hurrying up.

‘I know, I know,’ and the Master cut off the journeyman’s explanation. ‘You do seem to acquire some champions at any rate. Let’s hope the end result is worth the effort. I’ll see you tomorrow morning, promptly after breakfast, in my study, which is on the second level to the right, fourth door on the outside. You will take your pipes this afternoon to Master Jerint for the first hour. I’m told you made the pipes yourself in that cave of yours? Good! Then the second hour you’re to see Master Shonagar. Now, get yourself off to Master Oldive. His office is at the top of the steps on the inside, to your right. No, Sebell, you do not need to hover about her so protectingly. I’m not so lost to common sense as to punish her for being the victim of envy.’ He gestured imperatively at the journeyman to accompany him and then strode out of the hall. Sebell gave her a quick nod and followed.

‘Pssst!’ Attracted by the sound, Menolly looked
down
and saw Piemur crouched under the table.

‘Is it safe to come out?’

‘Aren’t you supposed to be in a chore section?’

‘Yeah, but never mind. I’ve got a few seconds leeway. Hey, those fribbles have it in for you, don’t they? Or maybe Dunca
made
them not tell you?’

‘How much did you overhear?’

‘All of it.’ Piemur grinned, getting to his feet. ‘I don’t miss much around here.’

‘Piemur!’

‘Menolly, can I help you feed the fire lizards tonight?’ he asked, eyeing Beauty warily.

‘I was going to ask you.’

‘Great!’ He beamed with pleasure. ‘And don’t worry about
them
,’ he added, jerking his head towards the door, meaning the girls. ‘You’re much nicer’n them.’

‘You just want to make friends with my fire lizards …’

‘Too right!’ His grin was impudence itself, but Menolly felt that he’d have been her friend without Beauty and the others. ‘Gotta scamper, or I’ll be put on. See you!’

She made her way to Master Oldive’s office. He had the hard-gum ball for her and showed her how to exercise her hand around it.

‘Not,’ he said, giving her the grimace of his smile, ‘that your hand will lack exercise of other sorts around here. How much does it ache?’

She mumbled something, so he gave her a stern look and laid a small pot in her hand.

‘There is only one excuse on this planet for the existence of that odorous plant known as numbweed, which is to ease pain. Use it when needed. The salve is mild enough to give you relief without loss of sensitivity.’

Beauty, who’d observed everything from her perch on Menolly’s shoulder, gave an admonitory chirp, as if
agreeing
with Master Oldive. The man chuckled, eyeing the little queen.

‘Things are lively with you lot about, aren’t they?’ he said, addressing the fire lizard directly. She chittered in response, turning her head this way and that as if looking him over. ‘How much larger will she grow?’ he asked Menolly. ‘I understand yours are not long out of the shell.’

Menolly coaxed Beauty from her shoulder to her forearm so that Master Oldive could examine her closely.

‘What’s this? What’s this?’ he asked, glancing from Beauty to Menolly. ‘Patchy skin?’

Menolly was horrified. She’d been so engrossed in her own problems that she hadn’t been taking proper care of her fire lizards. And here was Beauty, her back skin flaking. Probably the others were in trouble, too.

‘Oil. They need to be oiled …’

‘Don’t panic, child. The matter is easily taken care of,’ and with one long arm, he reached to the shelving above his head, and without seeming to look, brought down a large pot. ‘I make this for the ladies of the Hold, so if your creatures don’t mind smelling like females fair …’

Shaking her head, Menolly grinned with relief, remembering the stinking fish oil she’d used first for the fire lizards at the Dragon Stones cave. Master Oldive scooped up a fingertip of the ointment and gestured towards Beauty’s back. At Menolly’s encouraging nod, he gently smoothed the stuff on the patchy skin. Beauty arched her back appreciatively, crooning with relief, and then she stroked her head against his hand in gratitude.

‘Most responsive little creature, isn’t she?’ Master Oldive said, pleased.

‘Very,’ but Menolly was thinking of Beauty’s deplorable attack on Master Domick.

‘Now, I’ll have a look at your feet. Hmmm. You’ve been on them too much; there’s quite a bit of swelling,’ he said sternly. ‘I want you off your feet as much as possible. Did I not make that clear?’

Beauty squeaked angrily.

‘Is she agreeing with me or defending you?’ asked the Master.

‘Possibly both, sir, because I had to stand a lot yesterday …’

‘I suppose you did,’ he said, more kindly, ‘but do try to keep off your feet as much as possible. Most of the Masters will be understanding.’ He dismissed her then, giving her the extra jars and reminding her to return the next day after dinner.

Menolly was glad the Master had an inside office, or he’d have seen her trudging across the courtyard after her pipes; but there was no other way, if she was to report with them to Master Jerint. And she didn’t wish to offend another Master today.

The chore sections were at work in the courtyard, sweeping, cleaning, raking and doing the general heavy drudgery to keep the Harper Hall in order. She was aware of furtive glances in her direction but affected not to notice them.

The door to the cot was half-closed when she reached it, but Menolly clearly heard the voices raised inside.

‘She’s an
apprentice
,’ Pona was shouting in strident and argumentative tones. ‘He
said
she was an
apprentice
. She doesn’t belong with
us
. We’re not apprentices! We’ve rank to uphold. She doesn’t belong in here with us! Let her go where she does belong … with the apprentices!’ There was a vicious, hateful edge to Pona’s voice.

Menolly drew back from the doorway, trembling.
She
lay flat against the wall, wishing she were anywhere but here. Beauty chirped questioningly in her ear and then stroked her head against Menolly’s cheek, the perfumed salve a sweetness in Menolly’s nostrils.

One thing was certain: Menolly did not want to go into the cottage for her pipes. But what would happen if she went to Master Jerint without them? She
couldn’t
go into the cot. Not now. Her fair swirled about, deprived of their customary landing spot by the closed shutters of Menolly’s disputed room, and she wished with all her heart that she could consolidate her nine fire lizards into one dragon and be borne aloft, and
between
, back to her quiet cave by the Dragon Stones. She did belong there because she’d made it
her
place. Hers alone! And really, what place was there for her in the Harper Hall, much less the cot? She might be called an apprentice, but she wasn’t part of their group either. Ranly had made that plain at the dining table.

And Master Morshal didn’t want her to ‘presume’ to be a harper. Master Domick would as soon she disappeared, for all he’d been willing to teach her. She
had
played well for him, scarred hand and all. She was certain of that. And she was clearly a far better musician than the girls. No false modesty prompted that evaluation.

If her only use at the Harper Hall was to instruct people on being bogus seamen or turning fire lizard eggs, someone else could as easily perform those services. She’d managed to alienate more people than she’d made friends, and the few friends she’d acquired were far more interested in her fire lizards than they were in her. Briefly she wondered what welcome she would have received if she hadn’t brought the fire lizards or the two eggs with her. Then there would
have
been no fire lizard song for the Masterharper to rewrite. And he’d apologized to her for that. The Masterharper of Pern had apologized to her, Menolly of Half-Circle Sea Hold, for improving on her song. Her songs were what he needed, he said. Menolly took in a deep breath and expelled it slowly.

She did have music in the Harper Hall, and that was important! There might not be girl harpers, but no-one had ever said there couldn’t be girl song-crafters and that mightn’t be a bad future.

Not to think of that now, Menolly, she chided herself. Think what you’re going to do when you appear before Master Jerint with no pipes. He might seem absentminded, but she doubted very much if he really was. The pipes were in her room, on the little press, and nothing, not even obedience to, and love of, the Masterharper would force her into that cot while those girls were raging on about her.

Beauty took off from her shoulder, calling to the other fire lizards, and when they were all midair above her, they disappeared. Menolly pushed herself away from the cot’s wall and started back to the Harper Hall. She’d think of something to say to Master Jerint about the pipes.

The fire lizards exploded into the air above her, squealing so shrilly that she looked up in alarm. They were grouped in a tight cluster, hovered just a split second while her eye took in their unusual formation, and then they parted. Something dropped. Automatically she held out her hands, and the multiple pipes smacked into her palms.

‘Oh, you darlings. I didn’t know you could do that!’ She clutched the pipes to her, ignoring the sting of her hands. Only the stiffness in her feet prevented her from dancing with the joy of relief and the discovery of this unexpected ability of her friends. How clever,
clever
they were, going to her room and bringing her the pipes. No-one could ever again say in her presence that they were just pets and nuisances, good for nothing but trouble!

‘The worst storm throws up some wood on the beach,’ her mother used to say; mostly to soothe her father caught hold-bound during a storm.