3 - Day of righteousness

T'rax, the first blue Weyrleader in Pernese history, stood at the large table in the records room. It displayed the map of Pern, from Tillek's Desert Island to Nerat Ankle. Three hundred years ago, the Weyrleaders used these to predict the Fall patterns and protect the Holds. Now, T'rax, donning something that should've been called armor rather than a leather jacket, wanted to use them to do the exact opposite, conquer the holds under his fist of iron and fire.

Aside from him, the room was filled with the five wingleaders, eight brown riders and two blue ones.

"Nerat has refused?" T'rax raised his eyes from the hold on the map to the brown rider, standing in attention.

"Yes, Weyrleader! Lord Holder Zatam himself said that 'No matter the arrogance of the rider, a dragon never hurts a human. Go back to your cave, you insolent fool!'" he answered, imitating the holder's voice. T'rax turned his eyes to a rider right of the first one.

"T'tak, Keroon has refused too, I presume?"

"Not only that, Weyrleader!" the rider threw up his arms. "They insulted me! Threw their food at me, food that should belong to us! The Lord Holder almost had me killed!"

"And you ran away like a coward!" T'rax roared, slamming his hand on the table. T'tak immediately shut up, looking at his Weyrleader, confused.

"If we intend to rule this world," the blue rider looked around the assembled dragonriders. "We mustn't show weakness! If a holder or a crafter insults you, kill him! If they threaten to imprison you or kill you, burn them all with your dragons! We are free! We are dragonriders! We will never be suppressed or insulted ever again!" he threw his fist up. A few cries of agreement sounded from the brown riders and one blue.

"Pern is rightfully ours. All treasures and all inhabitants are supposed to be serving us. If they refuse to do that, we will make them our slaves! Conquer them with iron and fire!" This time, no victorious cries answered, just silent confusion and nervousness. T'rax measured the gathered with his gaze for some time, then turned to the third brown rider.

"Ista?"
"Refused, Weyrleader."

"Good. All the way I wanted. The Weyrs?" he turned to another of the brown riders. "High Reaches have agreed! They will be joining us in our conquest. They've already sent their own ultimatums to their Holds."

"Good, Fort?"

"Refused, Weyrleader. H'lon didn't want to anger the Lord Holders and sent me away immediately."

"Bah, coward!" T'rax exclaimed.

"Telgar also refused, Weyrleader. They've decided to trade with Telgar Hold for supplies. Their dragons are working in the fields as laborers!" half the room gasped at this claim. T'rax's face reddened. This was exactly what he wanted to avoid with his riders. Becoming beggars and petty workers, instead of being the great warriors on Pern. "Igen?" he tried to suppress his anger by moving the conversation forward.

"Igen is dead, Weyrleader."

"Dead?" T'rax raised his eyes, almost breathless.

"Yes. Upon my arrival, no watch dragon greeted me. I explored the main caverns. I found piles of rotting bodies. Men, women, children, all starved to death. There were even a few dragon corpses, lying in their own weyrs, their ribs and spines showing beneath their hide, as if they hadn't eaten anything for months. There wasn't a single body alive in the Weyr. I went on to look through the surrounding lands. I found several dragon skeletons laying around in the fields, killed by what appeared to be sticks and spears. They were probably trying to take sheep and other cattle from the holders, as the Weyr was decimated by starvation. The holders obviously decided not to give anything to the dying folk and even killed the last of them."

The room fell silent. If a whole Weyr could just starve out thanks to the holders' arrogance and inability to help, let alone slaughter the mightiest creatures of Pern when they tried to survive, what would become of the other Weyrs in the next few dozen turns? In a hundred turns? Would there even be dragonriders? No, T'rax would never allow this horrific thing to happen. He will never allow a genocide like that happen ever again, if he has to burn a thousand holders to save one dragon life, he will do it. But why hasn't Igen sent a message to Ista? Z'jin, the late Weyrleader knew J'nuk, last Weyrleader of Ista well. They weren't friends, but did keep diplomatic ties up. Z'jin was diplomatic all around, why hasn't he contacted at least the other Weyrs? Or has he? That thought angered T'rax more than it should've.

"Benden?" the Weyrleader finally broke the silence with his suspicions.

"K'den couldn't believe me when I told him you have become the Weyrleader. He said that Dinuth is a disgrace to the dragon kind-" Tirazith roared in his Weyr in defiance of this, so did Dinuth. "and that a blue rider is not fit to lead. He also-"

"I got the picture. Very well, I will show him what a Weyrleader is supposed to do. Is armor and weapons for the riders and dragons ready?" his gaze shifted to one of the blue riders. It was the Weyr's chief blacksmith.

"No, Weyrleader. We have barely made ten sets of leather armor for the riders and just approved a design for the dragon one. A week is not enough time to equip the whole Weyr for war," the rider was old, but strong, with rough voice that commanded respect and took nothing for granted. T'rax found him the most annoying.

"It will be much quicker with the grand smithhall in Ista Hold. We need less than ten dragons to take over the Hold. We will blink in three dragonlengths above the Hold's towers, firestone ready. Browns will fly down to the towers and take them over. Kill all resistance. One bronze will take down those at the main gate. Me, Tirazith and three bronzes will fly down to the keep and take the Lord Holder as prisoner. P'rik!" one of the brown riders, the errand from Ista Hold, looked up.

"Yes, Weyrleader?"
"You will be assigned as the new ruler of Ista Hold. You will govern it, but answer to the Weyr and send all goods over to it. Understood?" P'rik hesitated- Stuttering, he let out: "Of course, Weyrleader!"

"Good. The city below the hold and the port will be in too much chaos to offer any resistance. Green and blue riders are free to take any young girls, boys, men and women they find and bring them to the Weyr. Every rider can now have up to three holder wives and husbands. They will be treated as slaves and if the rider stops finding them useful, they will be sent to the fields or the mines. Understood?"

The riders looked at each other, unsure of what to think. Only a few said yes.
"After our conquest of Ista, we take Igen. They say that it is an inhospitable desert. Let's make sure it is that way when we are done with the Holders. They will pay for murdering our fellow dragonriders! All holders in Igen's proper will be enslaved and sent to the mines to make iron for our weapons. Others will be required to hunt wherries and their hide will be used for our armor. Maybe we will even make some wher-hide jackets too." he chuckled, only to receive horrified looks. T'rax knew this was a miss-step and fell silent for a few moments. An idea sprouted in his head. "I will send Dinuth along with an escort of three bronzes, four browns and twenty blues and greens to Igen Weyr to repopulate it. R'wan," he looked at the brown that went to Igen as a messenger.

"You will take an escort of thirty dragons, secure the Weyr, clear it out and give the riders and dragons there a proper burial. Take some weyrfolk along with you. Also, you're free to raid the surrounding villages for laborers."

"Yes, Weyrleader!" R'wan saluted. T'rax saw the stares and knew what they were for. Why give all the important tasks to blues and browns? Simple, the bronze riders were incapable idiots. At least that's the way he saw it. He had no idea how buffoons like them could've ever impressed at all, let alone bronze dragons. Oh, right, three of the five were holder-bred, that explained it. These 'wingleaders' were too weak-minded to stand up for his iron will. Well, except for L'cet. He was the only one fit for his rank and his dragon. T'rax knew that he would have to be careful around him and show that he is a Weyrleader not to be messed with.

There was one danger to the plan of having Dinuth clutch at Igen. If T'rax was somewhere off when she would rise again, L'cet could easily swoop in and become a leader of two Weyrs at once. T'rax knew good enough to leave L'cet out of the Ista assault, as he could mess it up. The other conquests though, when the Lord Holders would already have an army assembled, that would be different.

He did make his policy to kill a thousand holders to save one dragons life, but to sacrifice one dragon's life to save thousands of other riders and their dragons from servitude, death and slavery was something he deemed acceptable.

"Now, let's move onto the Weyrs. Once High Reaches crushes their holders, we must hold a conclave. Igen is a good neutral ground for this, and R'wan should be already done with the clean-up by then," but the brown rider wasn't looking so sure. A few days isn't enough to clean up the whole Weyr. But, with a few hundred enslaved holders, he should be able to do it in time, that much T'rax judged.

"Benden will be of obvious resistance. We have to get them out of the way if we want to rule this world. I've heard their queen is to rise soon. One bronze will blink in right at the start and fly her. We will gain three hundred dragons to our cause and get K'den out of the way. H'jit," the Weyrleader looked at the only weyr-bred bronze rider beside L'cet. "That will be your task. Do not fail." H'jit, visibly shaken, nodded nervously.

"Both Telgar and Fort could offer resistance too. Telgar to strike a deal and Fort not to anger the Lord Holders. Time is in our favor now, Telgar has eggs on the hatching grounds and will start a Search soon. Send our weyrfolk undercover to each of the Telgari holds. A blue will never favor a holder over a proper weyr-bred candidate. These folk will make their task gather enough information about Telgar's wingleaders, their Weyrleader and the overall situation in the Weyr. We will use all of that to our advantage. The wingleaders could undermine Weyrleader S'nar's authority and support the weyrfolk's superiority, if not, our people make them.

Telgar has been a disgrace to our kind for far too long. We will not let anyone suffer slavery under the Holders. None shall insult us anymore!" he held up his hand high, shouting victoriously. "For the Weyr, for Pern!"

"For the Weyr! For Pern!" chants echoed throughout the room, just to be outroared by the dragons outside. Only a few stayed silent. T'rax saw the blacksmith and L'cet among them.