him one question: “Did you dream last night?”
Alder said he had had no dream he could recall.
“I did,” Onyx said. “I dreamed of the Summoner who was my teacher in the School on Roke. They say of him that he died twice: because he came back from that country across the wall.”
“I dreamed of the spirits that are not reborn,” Tenar said, very low.
Prince Sege said, “All night I thought I heard voices down in the city streets, voices I knew from my childhood, calling as they used to do. But when I listened, it was only watchmen or drunken sailors shouting.”
“I never dream,” said Tosla.
“I didn’t dream of that country,” the king said. “I remembered it. And couldn’t cease remembering it.”
He looked at the silent woman, Tehanu, but she only looked down into the pond and did not speak.
No one else spoke; and Alder could not stand it. “If I am a plague bringer, you must send me away!” he said.
The wizard Onyx spoke, not imperiously but with finality. “If Roke sent you to Gont, and Gont sent you to Havnor, Havnor is where you should be.”
“Many heads make light thinking,” said Tosla, sardonic.
Lebannen said, “Let’s put dreams aside for a while. Our guest needs to know what we were concerned about before he came—why I begged Tenar and Tehanu to come, earlier this summer, and summoned Tosla from his voyaging to take counsel with us. Will you tell Alder of this matter, Tosla?”
The dark-faced man nodded. The ruby in his ear gleamed like a drop of blood.
“The matter is dragons,” he said. “In the West Reach for some years now they’ve come to farms and villages on Ully and Usidero, flying low, seizing the roofs of houses with their talons, shaking them, terrifying the people. In the Toringates they’ve come twice now at harvest time and set the fields burning with their breath, and burnt haystacks and set the thatch of houses afire. They haven’t struck at people, but people have died in the fires. They haven’t attacked the houses of the lords of those islands, seeking after treasure, the way they did in the Dark Years, but only the villages and the fields. The same word came from a merchantman who’d been southwest as far as Simly trading for grain: dragons had come and burnt the crop just as they were harvesting.
“Then, last winter in Semel, two dragons settled on the summit of the volcano, Mount Andanden.”
“Ah,” said Onyx, and at the king’s inquiring glance: “The wizard Seppel of Paln tells me that mountain was a most sacred place to the dragons, where they came to drink fire from the earth in ancient days.”
“Well, they’re back,” said Tosla. “And they come down harrying the herds and flocks that are the wealth of the people there, not hurting the beasts but frightening them so they break loose and run wild. The people say they’re young dragons, black and thin, without much fire yet.
“And in Paln, there are dragons living now in the mountains of the north part of the island, wild country without farms. Hunters used to go there to hunt mountain sheep and catch falcons to tame, but they’ve been driven out by the dragons, and no one goes near the mountains now. Maybe your Pelnish wizard knows about them?”
Onyx nodded. “He says flights of them have been seen above the mountains like the flights of wild geese.”
“Between Paln and Semel, and the Island of Havnor, is only the width of the Pelnish Sea,” said Prince Sege.
Alder was thinking that it was less than a hundred miles from Semel to his own island, Taon.
“Tosla set out to the Dragons’ Run in his ship the
Tern,
” the king said.
“But got barely in sight of the easternmost of those isles before a swarm of the beasts came at me,” Tosla said, with a hard grin. “They harried me as they do the cattle and sheep, swooping down to singe my sails, till I ran back where I came from. But that’s nothing new.”
Onyx nodded again. “Nobody but a dragonlord has ever
Alder said he had had no dream he could recall.
“I did,” Onyx said. “I dreamed of the Summoner who was my teacher in the School on Roke. They say of him that he died twice: because he came back from that country across the wall.”
“I dreamed of the spirits that are not reborn,” Tenar said, very low.
Prince Sege said, “All night I thought I heard voices down in the city streets, voices I knew from my childhood, calling as they used to do. But when I listened, it was only watchmen or drunken sailors shouting.”
“I never dream,” said Tosla.
“I didn’t dream of that country,” the king said. “I remembered it. And couldn’t cease remembering it.”
He looked at the silent woman, Tehanu, but she only looked down into the pond and did not speak.
No one else spoke; and Alder could not stand it. “If I am a plague bringer, you must send me away!” he said.
The wizard Onyx spoke, not imperiously but with finality. “If Roke sent you to Gont, and Gont sent you to Havnor, Havnor is where you should be.”
“Many heads make light thinking,” said Tosla, sardonic.
Lebannen said, “Let’s put dreams aside for a while. Our guest needs to know what we were concerned about before he came—why I begged Tenar and Tehanu to come, earlier this summer, and summoned Tosla from his voyaging to take counsel with us. Will you tell Alder of this matter, Tosla?”
The dark-faced man nodded. The ruby in his ear gleamed like a drop of blood.
“The matter is dragons,” he said. “In the West Reach for some years now they’ve come to farms and villages on Ully and Usidero, flying low, seizing the roofs of houses with their talons, shaking them, terrifying the people. In the Toringates they’ve come twice now at harvest time and set the fields burning with their breath, and burnt haystacks and set the thatch of houses afire. They haven’t struck at people, but people have died in the fires. They haven’t attacked the houses of the lords of those islands, seeking after treasure, the way they did in the Dark Years, but only the villages and the fields. The same word came from a merchantman who’d been southwest as far as Simly trading for grain: dragons had come and burnt the crop just as they were harvesting.
“Then, last winter in Semel, two dragons settled on the summit of the volcano, Mount Andanden.”
“Ah,” said Onyx, and at the king’s inquiring glance: “The wizard Seppel of Paln tells me that mountain was a most sacred place to the dragons, where they came to drink fire from the earth in ancient days.”
“Well, they’re back,” said Tosla. “And they come down harrying the herds and flocks that are the wealth of the people there, not hurting the beasts but frightening them so they break loose and run wild. The people say they’re young dragons, black and thin, without much fire yet.
“And in Paln, there are dragons living now in the mountains of the north part of the island, wild country without farms. Hunters used to go there to hunt mountain sheep and catch falcons to tame, but they’ve been driven out by the dragons, and no one goes near the mountains now. Maybe your Pelnish wizard knows about them?”
Onyx nodded. “He says flights of them have been seen above the mountains like the flights of wild geese.”
“Between Paln and Semel, and the Island of Havnor, is only the width of the Pelnish Sea,” said Prince Sege.
Alder was thinking that it was less than a hundred miles from Semel to his own island, Taon.
“Tosla set out to the Dragons’ Run in his ship the
Tern,
” the king said.
“But got barely in sight of the easternmost of those isles before a swarm of the beasts came at me,” Tosla said, with a hard grin. “They harried me as they do the cattle and sheep, swooping down to singe my sails, till I ran back where I came from. But that’s nothing new.”
Onyx nodded again. “Nobody but a dragonlord has ever
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