Chapters (55)
- Title Page
- Map
- Prologue
- VOLUME I: DRAGONFLIGHT
- Dedicatory Note
- PART I Weyr Search
- PART II Dragonflight
- PART III Dust Fall
- PART IV The Cold Between
- VOLUME II: DRAGONQUEST
- Dedication
- I Morning at Mastercrafthall, Fort Hold / Several Afternoons Later at Benden Weyr / Midmorning (Telgar Time) at Mastersmithcrafthall, Telgar Hold
- II Evening (Fort Weyr Time). Meeting of the Weyrleaders at Fort Weyr
- III Morning over Lemos Hold
- IV Midday at Southern Weyr
- V Midmorning at Ruatha Hold / Early Evening at Benden Weyr
- VI Midmorning at Southern Weyr / Early Morning at Nabol Hold: Next Day
- VII Midmorning at Benden Weyr / Early Morning at the Mastersmithcrafthall, Telgar Hold
- VIII Midmorning at Southern Weyr
- IX Afternoon at Southern Weyr: Same Day
- X Early Morning in Harpercrafthall at Fort Hold / Afternoon at Telgar Hold
- XI Early Morning at Benden Weyr
- XII Morning at Benden Weyr / Predawn at High Reaches Weyr
- XIII Night at Fort Weyr: Six Days Later
- XIV Early Morning at Ruatha Hold / Midday at Benden Weyr
- XV Evening at Benden Weyr: Impression Banquet
- XVI Evening at Benden Weyr / Later Evening at Fort Weyr
- VOLUME III: THE WHITE DRAGON
- Dedication
- I At Ruatha Hold, Present Pass, 12th Turn
- II Benden Weyr, Present Pass, 13th Turn
- III Morning at Ruatha Hold, and Smithcrafthall at Telgar Hold, Present Pass, 15.5.9
- IV Ruatha Hold, Fidello’s Hold, and Various Points Between, 15.5.10-15.5.16
- V Morning in Harpercraft Hall, Fort Hold, Afternoon in Benden Weyr, Late Afternoon in Harpercraft Hall, 15.5.26
- VI Ruatha Hold and Southern Hold, 15.5.27-15.6.2
- VII Morning at Ruatha Hold, 15.6.2
- VIII Ruatha Hold, Fort Weyr, Fidello’s Hold, 15.6.3-15.6.17
- IX Early Summer, Harpercraft Hall and Ruatha Hold, 15.7.3
- X From Harpercraft Hall to the Southern Continent, Evening at Benden Weyr, 15.7.4
- XI Late Morning at Benden Weyr, Early Morning at Harpercraft Hall, Midday at Fidello’s Hold, 15.7.5
- XII Ruatha Hold, Fidello’s Hold, Threadfall, 15.7.6
- XIII A Cove in the Southern Continent, 15.7.7-15.8.7
- XIV Early Morning at Harpercraft Hall, Midmorning at Ista Weyr, Midafternoon at Jaxom’s Cove, 15.8.28
- XV Evening at Jaxom’s Cove and Late Evening at Ista Weyr, 15.8.28
- XVI At the Cove Hold, 15.8.28-15.9.7
- XVII Fort Hold, Benden Weyr, at Cove Hold, and at Sea aboard the Dawn Sister, 15.10.1-15.10.2
- XVIII At the Cove Hold the Day of Master Robinton’s Arrival, 15.10.14
- XIX Morning at the Cove Hold, Star-gazing in Late Evening, Next Morning, Discovery at the Mountain, 15.10.15-15.10.16
- XX At the Mountain and at Ruatha Hold, 15.10.18-15.10.20
- XXI Next Day at the Mountain, Cove Hold, and the Southern Hatching Ground, 15.10.21
- Afterword
- Dragondex
- Other Books by Anne McCaffrey
- To learn more about other great titles from Ballantine Books . . .
- Copyright
Honor those the dragons heed
In thought and favor, word and deed.
Worlds are lost or worlds are saved
From the dangers dragon-braved.
“What’s the matter? Noble F’lar going against tradition?” Lessa demanded of F’nor as the brown rider appeared with a courteous explanation of the wingleader’s absence.
Lessa no longer bothered to leash her tongue in F’nor’s presence. The brown rider knew it was not directed at himself, so he rarely took offense. Some of his half brother’s reserve had rubbed off on him.
His expression today, however, was not tolerant; it was sternly disapproving.
“He’s tracing K’net,” F’nor said bluntly, his dark eyes troubled. He pushed his heavy hair back from his forehead, another habit picked up from F’lar, which added fuel to Lessa’s grievance with the absent weyrman.
“Oh, is he? He’d do well to imitate him instead,” she snapped.
F’nor’s eyes flashed angrily.
Good, thought Lessa. I’m getting to him, too.
“What you do not realize, Weyrwoman, is that K’net takes your instructions too liberally. A judicious pilfering would raise no protest, but K’net is too young to be circumspect.”
“My instructions?” Lessa repeated innocently. Surely F’nor and F’lar hadn’t a shred of evidence to go on. Not that she cared. “He’s just too fed up with the whole cowardly mess!”
F’nor clamped his teeth down tightly against an angry rebuttal. He shifted his stance, clamped his hands around the wide rider’s belt until his knuckles whitened. He returned Lessa’s gaze coldly.
In that pause Lessa regretted antagonizing F’nor. He had tried to be friendly, pleasant, and had often amused her with anecdotes as she became more and more embittered. As the world turned colder, rations had gotten slimmer at the Weyr in spite of the systematic additions of K’net. Despair drifted through the Weyr on the icy winds.
Since D’nol’s abortive rebellion, all spirit had drained out of the dragonmen. Even the beasts reflected it. Diet alone would not account for the dullness of their hide and their deadened attunement. Apathy could—and did. Lessa wondered that R’gul did not rue the result of his spineless decision.
“Ramoth is not awake,” she told F’nor calmly, “so you do not need to dance attendance on me.”
F’nor said nothing, and his continued silence began to discomfit Lessa.. She rose, rubbing her palms on her thighs as if she could erase her last hasty words. She paced back and forth, glancing from her sleeping chamber into Ramoth’s, where the golden queen, now larger than any of the bronze dragons, lay in deep slumber.
If only she would wake, Lessa thought. When she’s awake, everything’s all right. As right as it can be, that is. But she’s like a rock.
“So...” she began, trying to keep her nervousness out of her voice, “F’lar is at last doing something, even if it is cutting off our one source of supply.”
“Lytol sent in a message this morning,” F’nor said curtly. His anger had subsided, but not his disapproval.