But ancient cave-pocked cones of extinct volcanoes, one high above the first Fort, the other in the Benden mountains, proved to be adequate and required only a few improvements to be made habitable. The winged, tailed, fire-breathing dragons had by then been bred to a size that required more spacious accommodations than the cliffside holds could provide. Only solid rock and metal, both of which were inĭistressingly short supply on Pem, were impervious to the burning score of Thread. Since the Red Star rose in the east, the people of Pem decided to establish a holding in the eastern mountains, provided a suitable cavesite could be found. But Ruatha Hold, as the settlement was called, became overcrowded within a few generations. Another settlement was started slightly to the north, alongside a great lake conveniently formed near a cave-filled cliff. The original Fort, constructed in the eastern face of the Great West Mountain Range, soon grew too small to hold the colonists. The southern continent, overtly more attractive than the harsher northern land, proved unstable and the entire colony was eventually forced to move north to seek refuge from the Threads in the natural caves on the continental shield rock of the north. The originators of the two-stage defense did not allow for change or for hard geological fact. The grub-symbiote would protect vegetation by devouring any Thread that managed to evade the dragons' fire. The original plan was that the dragons would be a visible protection, charring Thread while it was still skyborne and protecting the dwellings and the livestock of the colonists.
So a symbiote of the same strain was developed to counter this parasite, and the resulting grub was introduced into the soil of the southern continent. For Thread, a space-traveling mycorrhizoid spore, with mindless voracity devoured aU organic matter and, once grounded, burrowed and proliferated with terrifying speed.
The second phase of the proposed defense against the deadly incursions would take even longer. It took generations to develop to the fullest the potential of these dragons. Because the dragons could fly, they were able to char Thread in midair, and then escape from its ravages. These dragons-named for the mythical Terran beast they resembled-had two valuable characteristics: they could get from one place to another instantaneously and, after chewing a phosphine-bearing rock, they would emit a flaming gas. The White Dragon Serve these unusual animals.
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