Chapter 21
Half the Weyr turned out to watch D're lead his Wing in the new patterns.
"They've simplified it no end," said Prisca, critically.
"SIMPLIFIED? Oh shards and shells!" said Mendra. "If I Impress a Blue, I'll have to learn that, won't I?"
"Yes, but I'll help you," said Prisca. "It's not really hard, not once you figure out the patterns in it, learning the patterns was one of the easier things I found."
"But then you take to learning the patterns of acrobatics easily too," said Gwesara. "Oh how I hope this will make a difference!"
"It will," said Mendra, confidently. "And look, my father is flying through the moves too, copying – how proud I am of him!"
"And that's well worth being proud of," said Gwesara. "I wonder what R'mart is going to say?"
"Not a lot, I should think, as the other two blooded Bronze Riders here in the Bowl seem to be interested," said Prisca, dryly. "Oh, how ridiculous to have a Weyr with only six Bronze Riders to its name, I wager it's because the safety record is so poor and the brightest and best got pushed and made mistakes!"
"No takers; you'd be right," said Mendra.
oOoOo
R'mart was waiting for D're.
"What do you think you are doing, taking out your Wing when we fly Thread in the small hours? You'll exhaust them unnecessarily!" he raged.
"I think a lack of practise and precision is more dangerous than exhaustion, meself; unprepared men make mistakes," said D're, calmly, "so what I KNOW I'm doing, Weyrleader, is trying to save their sorry backsides by giving them more tools to deal with fighting Thread than they've ever had from yon sorry excuse for a wher-faced dimglow of a Weyrlingmaster that has been so inadequate, and doubtless took over from one as useless. MY wing will show ye a thing or two, Weyrleader; because we'll FIGHT Thread, not absorb it and take it Between as seems to be the common tactic, brave, but not very efficient. Ye'll not be criticising, I'm thinking, until the proof is shown on the morrow."
"Are you defying me?" said R'mart.
"If your wish is to stop me obeying my oath as a Dragonrider to do my utmost to fight Thread, then yes, I am," said D're. "I am using the most up to date and proven techniques, toned down to be taught in time, and if ye've a mind to stop me, I'll be reporting that to Benden, so I will, for ye'll be showing yerself unfit as a Weyrleader if ye will not do yer best fer the preservation of the few Riders ye have."
"How can you hope to perform at all when you have permitted the strongest Rider of your Wing to ask for transfer?" demanded R'mart.
"Y'pardon, Weyrleader, but as I see it, if ye mean St'mon as the strongest Rider, that's a matter of opinion," said D're. "He was defeatist in the extreme over the new patterns I was showing, and defeatism is a weakness. And as a Wing is only as strong as its weakest member, I don't want a sulky faced little prissy holdergirl who won't even try in my Wing. I doubt K'stol or M'kor would accept him either; they don't want their people put at risk by a fool either. I can't think how he Impressed, unless his dragon's egg was dropped before it hatched and the poor creature's brains were addled."
R'mart was almost apoplectic.
"D're has some excellent ideas," said M'kor coming over. "K'stol and I plan to run this through with our Wings too – I doubt though that we'll have time to fly it as well, though, so we may not be able to implement it this Fall."
"If yer leading edge Riders can learn the weaving manoeuvre, that should help the rest," said D're, "And if you've a man who can learn quickly, put him on the leading edge even if he does not usually take it. There seems t'be a lack of Brown Riders as well as Bronze."
"Your Wing feels the lack more because St'mon refused to have any equals in his Wing when he was leading it," said K'stol, dryly.
"Well, Streth's a big strong Blue, as large as a smaller Brown, and St'adar is no idiot, we'll manage quite well," said D're. "So long as it's not gusty, which would be unusual this time of turn, it'll be fine, so it well. And aren't the majority of the dragons in H'llon's protective wing Blues at that, and they make up in attitude what they lack in size, and me bhoys will be just the same," he added, loudly enough for his Riders to hear.
"As your Flightleader, we need to co-ordinate tactics," said M'kor, "R'mart, you'll excuse us? If I'm to incorporate this as a general thing, I need to be certain I'm using the tactics properly, K'stol, you'll come too…" and he led D're away before R'mart could protest further.
oOoOo
The girls would have risen at dawn to see the dragons return from fighting Thread in any case, even if they were not intending to continue their exercises.
The Queens' Wing came in to land first, and included Kaloth, St'mon's dragon, which was where R'mart had temporarily assigned the Brown Rider.
L'rilly slid of Tamalenth in what was plainly fury; and as soon as St'mon had dismounted she let fly with a powerful straight to his jaw, which felled the Brown Rider.
"How DARE you, St'mon?" she yelled at him. "You were too busy sulking, you weren't paying attention, that would have got that Green Rider and his dragon badly injured if I hadn't loosened my straps enough to reach to flame that gout of Thread! You are a disgrace to your dragon! You are OUT of the Queen's wing, I'd rather have any smokeless weyrling than someone who gets so far out of position he nearly knocks another dragon into Thread because you're too busy glaring at me!"
"The Weyrleader will hear of this, St'mon," said B'ella, icily. "I saw the incident. It was unforgiveable, and another example of the bad habits you have been teaching those boys. Perhaps it is time you considered transferring to Southern if you cannot do the tasks allotted to you."
St'mon was tenderly rubbing his jaw; L'rilly had a powerful punch, as more than one person who had angered her in the past had found out. The High Reaches habit of having all candidates bag and throw firestone had contributed to that! L'rilly would not ask anyone to do what she could not do herself, and though she had been a candidate at Benden, she undertook her duties as Queenrider very seriously.
The rest of the dragons came in to land, and Prisca noted with some unholy glee that D're's flight managed to land in formation though the rest did not.
It was a little discipline that T'bor insisted on in all but the injured; because if concentrating on the details of formation flying right up to landing, even when tired, concentration was less likely to slip and cause accidents like collisions on landing. To give them their due, M'kor's and K'stol's Wings did their best to copy that; D're had been spreading the word.
R'gar's and T'bor's dictum, Safety First, was coming to Telgar.
D're had one Rider with light score. Their Wing, the smallest, sported the least casualties. Prisca and the girls ran with numbweed to help scored Riders and dragons, and Prisca actually found herself slathering numbweed onto the Weyrleader, who was looking at D're with a mixture of respect and dislike.
"I hate the High Reaches Riders, you know, girl," said R'mart, conversationally. "They think they know it all. I'd hate them less if they would just occasionally make idiots of themselves."
"Times change, Weyrleader," said Prisca, diplomatically.
"We fought Thread by the old methods well enough in the Old Time," said R'mart, resentfully.
"With a full Weyr, Weyrleader, a full complement, not depleted by the infertility caused by all that time Between," said Prisca, "and in this time, F'lar and T'bor – who was always one of his closest friends – had to devise tactics to deal with being low on numbers. When numbers are large, the tactics mean that a reserve can be held."
"You have all the answers, don't you?" said R'mart, looking at Prisca with almost equal dislike.
"I've been studying hard; I hope I should know some of the answers!" Prisca forced herself to laugh.
R'mart grunted and flung off to his quarters.
oOoOo
"WHAT DO YOU LAZY BOYS MEAN BY SLACKING?" D're's stentorian bellow echoed through the weyrling barracks. "WHY AREN'T YOU IN THE TEACHING CAVERN?"
"P-please, sir, it's the day of Fall," ventured one of the less loud weyrbred lads. "The Weyrlingmaster isn't expected to teach on a day Fall occurs."
"I see," said D're. "Well if that has been the custom, I cannot hold you boys at fault, t'be sure; but Jays! What sort of feeble critter am I supposed to be? ye'll be rounding up yer fellows for me, and we'll be in the teaching cavern within half an hour."
"Yessir!" said the boy. St'mon would have blamed the boys whether it was their fault or not for a misunderstanding.
St'adar nodded to the girls, who were lazing in the bowl.
"Looks like we have some new customs," he said. "I'd better run some lessons too!"
"If you're not too tired, St'adar," said Mendra, politely.
St'adar laughed.
"To be honest, I'm less tired than I've ever been after a long night-time Fall," he said. "Those new patterns ease the concentration no end, once having grasped them. Waves of Riders take turns at bearing the brunt, so everyone has a period of relative rest. It's amazing!"
"Perhaps you could help consolidate it in your own mind in teaching us, as all of us hope for other colours as there is only one Queen," said Mendra.
St'adar nodded.
"Aye, a good idea," he said. "And I'll ask if any others of the Flight want to run through it again, if you girls don't mind."
"Not at all, Weyrlingmaster," said Prisca, most properly. She had been glad not to have to administer numbweed to him, but missed the chance of brief intimacy it would have brought!
There were a number of other Riders who joined the girls in their teaching cavern; and the other two Bronze Riders were among their number.
"Don't mind us, St'adar," said M'kor, "We want to consolidate this too; D're rates your teaching ability, so we'll respect that. You did a good job answering our questions. I'd like to see what the girls make of this, too."
"Please, M'kor, why are girls learning the tactics of the fighting wings?" asked a Brown Rider.
"Well, K'ran, if any of these lasses happen to Impress Green dragons as is happening in other Weyrs, I doubt you'd be complaining if that gave Griffath a chance to fly a Green with a Rider you'd not mind being with," said M'kor.
"Oh! Oh, yes, right!" said K'ran, enlightened. "Are we putting girls to Greens then? I hadn't heard."
"Officially? No," said M'kor, "but unofficially, as it seems to be a modern trend, some of us think it a good idea for girls to stand for other colours. If any should Impress at this hatching, we are determined to take it as a sign that open minded girls who have the bravery should be in future given every encouragement. I've discussed it with my daughter, and if she were to Impress any dragon, I should not have any qualms about entrusting flying in a fighting wing to her, indeed I should be proud to hail her as my colleague, should the Queen not be for her."
"Well everyone expects Mendra to Impress the Queen," said a Blue Rider. "I have several marks on her!"
"It can never be certain," said Mendra, flushing, knowing that she did not want to be a Queenrider. "We have girls in our group any one of whom might be worthy of a Queen; this time we are extraordinarily lucky."
"Oh, Weyrbred usually tells," said the Blue Rider cheerfully. "And the daughter of a Bronze Rider; who else has a chance?"
"There are others whose chances are as good," said St'adar, sharply. "And indeed, new blood is often good for a Weyr, to prevent sickly, inbred lines."
"Like yours?" said the Blue Rider, rudely.
M'kor turned on him.
"Storadel is disabled because of MY fault," he said, in a low, furious voice, "Which St'adar is kind enough to forgive. I inadvertently caused the birth defects to a child born too early, and I say that Storadel is strong to have survived that, and to have done as well as he has. You will apologise, or leave now."
The Blue Rider gaped; but stumbled through an apology. This was evidently, thought Prisca, one of those things that festered because it was never discussed. Well, Blue Riders were said to be a bunch of gossips, perhaps the story would spread, and some of the truth about poor Storadel would leave other Riders seeing him in a better light that they would accept his Impression when it happened with better grace.
"Apology accepted," said St'adar. "My line is only sickly in my half brother, whom I fear to be less capable by far than my son. Now, if we might perhaps come to the purpose for you being here instead of cackling like wherries?"
The other Riders quietened down, and St'adar ran through the patterns. Prisca asked questions to move discussion on to the concept of more complex patterns yet; she might as well help prepare the minds of the Riders.
oOoOo
St'mon was incandescent with fury.
Before the incomers had arrived he had held Position in the Weyr, as Weyrlingmaster and, too, Wingleader, the latter not common for a Brown Rider, but with so few Bronze Riders, a position ceded to him for his seniority. And now that blasted bearded fellow had stolen both his positions, and the bitch of a Queenrider had made sure it had happened, and had humiliated him in front of all the weyrlings and in front of the whole bowl!
St'mon was not a man to accept responsibility for his actions, even when Kaloth ventured that there had been a near collision and perhaps the Queenrider had been within her rights to be angry. St'mon almost snapped back at his lifemate that it had been the Queenrider who had distracted him in the first place. If only he might take her down a peg or two! She needed to be taught that, whatever dragons might think of their Queens, the Riders were only women, and therefore should be subordinate and subservient. He had his plans for that girl Prisca, as soon as Mendra had Impressed the Queen, as a weyrbred daughter of a Bronze Rider was likely to do, and wished he could do the same to L'rilly. How ridiculous, he snarled, contracting her name as though she was owed respect like a real Rider, instead of being chosen for her ability to charm the Bronze Riders wherever she had Impressed! Presumably High Reaches, where they were all Inadequates anyway.
He ignored Kaloth's mild interjection that the new patterns from High Reaches seemed to have worked very well; it was a fluke, it was not natural, it was not the way it had always been done; and besides, he had right on his side, for was it not plain that R'mart disliked the incomers too? R'mart would back him on grounds of lost tradition if….
St'mon's face twisted into a savage grin.
Kaloth was a big, strong Brown; one reason St'mon had been chosen as Wingleader, had he but stopped to think about it, rather than because he was in any wise well respected.
Yes, he could do it!
oOoOo
As L'rilly had thought, Tamalenth was starting to shine a brighter gold; and L'rilly was being careful of her tongue as her beloved dragon's impending fertility had an effect on her temper. L'rilly knew how vicious her temper could be when it got out of hand, and D're had worked with her to help her curb it.
Therefore when R'mart asked abruptly if it were true that they might expect a mating flight soon, she resisted the urge to tell him Tamalenth's far from flattering thoughts on Branth, and smiled sweetly.
"Why, as Tamalenth is quite refulgent, and as I find myself a trifle out of sorts, Weyrleader, I believe that my surmise that she has every expectation of rising a trifle prematurely appears to be incipiently fulfilled," she said, knowing that if she could not manage to do justice to the wordiness of I'linne, she might at least try. "The prognosis for favourable conditions is excellent, and we may hope for a good flight such as is the paradigm of perfection in terms of extensive progeny," she added.
R'mart's eyes glazed over.
"A simple 'yes' would have done," he said, tersely.
L'rilly smiled, and managed to wink at B'ella in a way the Weyrleader could not see.
B'ella was far from as stupid as everyone had always thought, as L'rilly was discovering; the senior Weyrwoman's inability to read people and R'mart's bad temper had led her to be generally monosyllabic, especially as her failure to grasp those situations which needed the understanding of human behaviour had caused her to make some embarrassing gaffes in the past. She had quite blossomed under L'rilly's kindly understanding of the problems she faced, and gentle explanations. L'rilly had grown out of most of her impatience in the care for her beloved fosterlings, and had no trouble taking her time in explaining things to B'ella.
B'ella smiled at L'rilly.
"Well, my dear, I wish you a good flight," she said. "In dragonlust, even R'mart is palatable in bed."
L'rilly was used to the devastating honesty of H'llon, and one would have thought that R'mart would be used to his Weyrwoman too, by now, but it would have been nice, thought L'rilly wistfully, to have had the talents of Geriana available to make a quick sketch of R'mart's face. Such a colour looked quite unhealthy and unnatural, and really he resembled some of H'llon's smellier experiments with necessary-gas when they were about to explode.
"Are you all right, Weyrleader?" asked L'rilly, in mock anxiety.
R'mart growled something unintelligible and flung out.
"Dear me, if he rode a Green, one might think his dragon was proddy," said L'rilly. "Maybe he has piles."
B'ella laughed!
"Oh my dear! R'mart is such a bad tempered creature, I wonder that you dare! How splendid it is to have someone who can make him flee instead of him making me flee!" she said.
L'rilly embraced the older woman and fervently hoped that if Mendra Impressed a Blue or Brown that the nasty old man would have an apoplexy.