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Dragon's Fire (Paperback)
Anne McCaffrey, Todd McCaffrey
2
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R314
R292
Discovery Miles 2 920
Save R22 (7%)
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Ships in 12 - 17 working days
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When Masterharper Zist takes over as Harper for Natalon's
coal-mining camp, he takes with him his apprentice, the orphaned,
mute Pellar, and Pellar's fire-lizard Chitter. Pellar has become a
gifted tracker and Zist gives him his own mission - to find out if
the recent thefts of coal are the work of the Shunned, criminals
condemned to a life of wandering and hardship. Halla is one of the
children of the Shunned. Though innocent of their parents' crimes,
these children have inherited their cruel punishment. With no
shelter when the lethal Thread falls again they will have no
protection against it. Life is even tougher for Halla, all her
family are dead and she must fend for herself. Yet Halla is kind
and gentle, devoted to helping those more helpless than she, unlike
Tenim, a fellow child of the Shunned. Tenim is in league with
Tarik, a crooked miner from Camp Natalon, who helps him steal coal
in exchange for a cut of the profit. But Tenim soon realizes there
is a lot more to be made from firestone, the volatile mineral that
enables the dragons of Pern to burn Thread out of the sky. Tenim
doesn't care what he has to do, or whom he has to kill, in order to
corner the market. Cristov is Tarik's son. Dishonored by his
father's greed and treachery, he decides he must make amends
somehow... even if it means risking his life by mining the volatile
firestone, which blows up at contact with the slightest drop of
moisture. When the last remaining firestone mine explodes in
flames, a desperate race begins to find a new deposit of the deadly
but essential mineral, for without it there can be no defence
against Thread. But Tenim has a murderous plan to turn the tragedy
to his own advantage, and only Pellar, Halla and Cristov can stop
him - and ensure that there will be a future for all on the world
of the Dragonriders.
Shortly after Fiona's return to Fort Weyr, three Turns older and
wiser, her queen, Talenth, is infected with the dreaded sickness
that has consumed so many of Pern's precious fire-breathing
dragons. Talenth's recovery and the recovery of all the other
dragons of Pern is delivered by the unflagging efforts of Lorana
and Kindan at Benden Weyr - but their one vital clue is only bought
with the loss of all the dragons of Telgar Weyr. Fiona is sent to
relieve the distressed weyrfolk of the now-dragonless Weyr. When
her queen, Talenth, rises to mate, Fiona finds herself not only
Telgar's senior Weyrwoman but in the center of the dilemma that
confronts all Pern - how can the one thousand fighting dragons do
the job of three thousand? And, if they can't, how long will it be
before all of Pern is consumed by Thread?
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Dragon's Time (Paperback)
Anne McCaffrey, Todd McCaffrey
1
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R394
R374
Discovery Miles 3 740
Save R20 (5%)
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Ships in 12 - 17 working days
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Although Lorana cured the dragons' sickness so many died from the
disease that there are no longer enough dragons to fight the deadly
Thread, and more dragons and their riders die each Threadfall. With
their numbers dwindling, Lorana made the decision to fly forward in
time in a desperate bid to bring dragons from the future to fight
Thread. She knew that jumping so far in time would result in her
losing her baby, but without her jump all life on Pern is doomed.
Back at Telgar Weyr Fiona, Kindan and T'mar realise what Lorana has
done. They are desperately sad, but two things give them hope. The
first is that Fiona is expecting twins, and the second the fact
that all the dragonriders are exhausted, a sign that they are
Timing it - existing elsewhere in space and time - which gives them
hope that Lorana has found a way through time to help them. Sure
enough, led by messages left for them by Lorana, they fly through
space to the Dawn Sisters, the ships hanging in space that brought
their ancestors to Pern. From there they look down at the beautiful
planet and see a previously undiscovered continent - this is where
they are Timing it and where they are reunited with Lorana. Now
they can increase the number and strength of the dragons before
going back to their own time to fight Thread. Although Lorana found
she couldn't break time, she has found a way to cheat it.
Young Fiona, rider of the gold queen Talenth, has returned from the
past, where she and a group of dragons and riders fled so that the
wounded could heal from their previous battles with Thread and the
younger dragons could safely grow to fighting age. Gone only three
days, yet aged more than three years, Fiona is no longer a child
but a woman prepared to fight against the Thread that threatens to
destroy her world.
Fiona's life takes a pivotal turn when a shocking tragedy thrusts
her into a position of authority. Now she finds herself leading
weyrfolk who have a hard time trusting a senior Weyrwoman who is
both young and an outsider.
But even greater challenges lie ahead: Thread is falling and there
are too few dragons to stem the tide. Many have died from the
recent plague, and even with the influx of newly mature dragons
from the past, the depleted fighting force is no match for the
intensifying Threadfall. Fiona knows that something must be done,
and what she proposes is daring and next to impossible. But if her
plan succeeds, it just might save them all.
With a cast of familiar characters from previous Pern
novels--including Lorana, who sacrificed her own queen dragon so
that all the dragons of Pern would have a chance to survive, and
Kindan, the harper Fiona has loved her whole life--Dragongirl is
another triumph for Todd McCaffrey, and a riveting new chapter for
the Dragonriders of Pern.
Kindan is an apprentice harper at the Harper Hall but he is finding
the lessons very difficult and although he has his friends, Nonala,
Kelsa and Verilan, he also has enemies, such as the bully Vaxoram.
Things begin to improve for Kindan when he beats Vaxoram in a duel
and Vaxoram becomes first his servant and then gradually his
trusted friend. Then Kindan impresses a fire-lizard and becomes the
proud owner of the magnicent Valla. At the hatching he meets
Koriana, daughter of Lord Holder Bemin of Fort Hold. She also
impresses and she and Kindan fall in love, but her parents
disapprove and she has to return to Fort Hold. Then a plague begins
to spread across Pern, killing nearly everyone infected. Kindan and
his friends search the harper records to see if they can find a
cure, but all they can find is mention of a similar plague over a
hundred Turns past. As the plague gets worse Kindan and Vaxoram are
sent to Fort Hold to help tend the sick. Kindan will be reunited
with Koriana, but will she be free of the plague, and will he be
able to find a cure before more people die?
After a vicious plague swept through the world of Pern, there are
no longer enough dragons to fight off the current onslaught of
Thread, the deadly spore that falls like rain from the skies and
devours everything organic in its path. Pern's last best chance to
rebuild the decimated dragon population lies with a group of young
dragonriders and their dragons left stranded on an unexplored
island. Leadership of these dragons and riders falls to Xhinna,
female rider of a blue dragon, who, as the most experienced
dragonrider in the new Weyr, must earn the respect of all who
follow her, as not everyone is ready to accept a female wingleader.
She must solve the problem of how to get sufficient numbers of
dragon eggs, although her newfangled ideas, like letting green
dragons mate and lay eggs to hatch new dragons, cause uproar. All
the while she must protect her people and baby dragons from the
predators and, worse, traitors or all hope for Pern will be lost!
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