Date: Sun, 29 Feb 2004 19:09:02 -0800 (PST)
From: Corrinne S <quasito_cat@yahoo.com>
Subject: The Red Orb of Pern - Part Four

The Red Orb of Pern

M.C. Gordon

Disclaimer is attached to the beginning of this
series.  This is fan fiction written for a friend who
enjoys Anne McCaffrey's Pern as much as I do.
Comments welcome to quasito_cat@hotmail.com or
quasito_cat@yahoo.com

Chapter Seven:

   The boys stood looking at each other for a minute
after Lurah left.

   "So, where should we go?" Julani finally asked.

   "There," Mitchell replied, pointing to a cavern
entrance a hundred yards to their left.  "It's close
enough and the path there isn't too steep."  He closed
his eyes momentarily and when he opened them he said,
"And we're allowed to go there."

   "How do you know?" Julani asked.

   "I had Sonath ask."

   "Just why is it that you can hear dragons and
nobody else can who hasn't Impressed?" Julani asked a
bit miffed.

   "Dunno," Mitchell responded.  "I just can.  And I
only hear Sonath anyway, not the rest of them.""

   "No one else listens as hard as you do," Mitchell
heard Sonath say.

   "Well," he said, "I'm going exploring `cause I'm
not going to lose any more time just standing here.
You guys coming or not?"

   "I am," Lydel said and hurried to his friend's
side.  The other two joined them and they set off to
find their way down the path to the chosen cavern.

   The short walk took nearly half an hour as they
made their way around boulders and across small
fissures in the volcanic wall.  At the entrance to the
cavern they lit their glowbaskets and entered.
Staying close to the wall of the cave, they tip-toed
their way in.  Passages led from the main entrance
several yards in.

   "What do we do now?" asked Andren, youngest of the
four.

   "We'll have to pick one," Lydel responded.

   "Yeah, but which one?" Julani asked.  They all
turned questioningly to Mitchell.

   He thought for a moment.  "This one," he said,
pointing at the one to their left.  "We'll just stay
to the left.  That way we can stay to the right on our
way out and won't get lost or something."

   The decision having been made, the four boys
imagined themselves explorers on a journey of
discovery and cautiously began their way down the
passage.


Chapter 8

   The boys soon lost the light from outside and
opened one of the glow baskets.  Carefully,
cautiously, they made their way down the passageway.

   "Wow!" Julani suddenly exclaimed.  "Look!  The
passage separates again!"

   Indeed it did, branching off into three different
directions.

   "Stay to the left," Mitchell said.  He was
determined that nothing would happen to bring out the
Weyr in full force to look for them.  He would soon be
old enough to stand as a candidate for a dragon and
didn't want anything to happen that might spoil his
chance for his very own dragon.

   "You will Impress," he heard Sonath say.  "And your
friend will Impress.  The two of you will always be
together."  Mitchell found Sonath's remark a bit
unusual since dragons only knew `now', but dismissed
it because his own mind was overwhelmed with curiosity
about the abandoned cave.

 The boys followed the passage deeper and deeper into
the abandoned area of the old volcano.  Soon, in the
soft glow of the light, they saw where the passageway
ended.

   "I knew we shoulda gone a different way," Andren
said.  "We've run out of tunnel!"

   "Wait," Lydel added as he walked to the end of the
passage.  "Look, this wall isn't like the others.
It's all smooth."  He ran nimble fingers across the
smoothness of the wall.  "Hey, it's a door!" he
exclaimed.

   "Let's open it," Mitchell said, "and see what's on
the other side."

   "Like what?" Andren asked.

   "I don't know," Mitchell admitted.  "Maybe the lost
ballad Julani mentioned."

   "Yeah," Lydel added, "the one he'll have to learn
for Master Tokan."

   Julani looked at his younger friends and said,
"Very funny."

   Lydel had found the door latch and pulled it.  He
leaned against the door with all his weight but it
didn't move.  "Hey!  Give a hand here," he said and
the other three added their weight to his against the
door.

   Their combined weight finally nudged the door open
an inch, and then another and another.  When the door
had opened enough to admit them, the four intrepid
adventurers entered the room.

   "Great mother of all dragons!" Mitchell exclaimed
as their glowbasket revealed the contents of the room,
so long hidden and forgotten.

  . . .

If you like this little sci-fantasy tale you might be
interested in my other series: `Dark Wishes' in the
sci-fi/fantasy section of Nifty.