CHAPTER 3 The Thread is the Clue

T'lan was glad to return home to High Reaches and the homely atmosphere of the double weyr she shared with R'gar. She had badgered Master Oldive about the shortening days and finally he pronounced her babies large enough to travel – so long as they were kept well wrapped. As it happened, neither even woke, tucked between R'gar and Talana on Laranth. Lanelly was ready to welcome her family home, and there was quite a Gather atmosphere. T'bor and Pilgra welcomed T'lan back, Keerana had cooked for her and Sagarra a batch of bubbly pies and Sh'rilla and Lirilly – or L'rilly as she had decided to accept the contraction – were there to welcome their fellow queenrider. All Talana's friends were waiting to greet her – K'len, T'sellan, T'ral and Sh'len, S'gell and M'kel who was trying still to chat up Y'lara who was also inexplicably there. She was studiously ignoring him still, but appeared to be on excellent terms with Sh'rilla and T'kil, Talana noticed. High Reaches used some Greenriders to protect the flanks of the Queens' wing as it was not numerically strong, and Talana had a shrewd suspicion that Pilgra had the intention of turning out a women's wing. It would quiet objections from holder folk about risking their daughters if they did fly in the protected queen wing; and would be good for boosting the efficiency of the low-level sweep. Though the Queens could out-fly the Greens in stamina, the sweep was not fast and two teams of Greens could rotate and rest.

L'rilly said,

"Threadfall over High Reaches Hold tomorrow. Will you be joining the sweep?" Her tone held an enthusiasm that had never been there before and T'lan knew she was revelling in being able to use the flamethrower properly.

"Shards, yes" she replied. "We can fly the pattern we walked at Fort and back up Segrith even better. If Vanira doesn't fuss."

"Vanira's gone. She felt that Fort needed another queen if I was leaving, and also suggested that breeding Queens needed to be moved around to extend the breeding pool. Ralenth is Segrith's sister, and Tamalenth isn't actually Segrith's daughter. She's a Benden-bred Queen." She grinned suddenly. "That's the official story. Actually what she said was that she refused to stay in this madhouse any longer and did he hear. Hear? Half of the High Reaches heard."

"Of course you've never been shrill yourself…" teased T'lan. L'rilly made a face at her.

"I was very young then. I had no idea of the proper dignity consonant to the position of a weyrwoman." She said in haughty tones.

"Like sticking your tongue out at a fellow weyrwoman?" Asked K'len cheekily.

Talana laughed.

"It's so good to be HOME!" She cried.

oOoOo

Threadfall flown, the queens' wing flew low over High Reaches Hold, and observed a figure waving imperatively.

"Pilgra says can you go and see what it is about, T'lan." Said Segrith. "She says you can stop slacking and do some work for a change. You have not been slacking though." She added.

"Tell Pilgra I'm more than happy and ask her if her breeches are getting tighter." Commented T'lan cheerfully; the two women saluted each other with a wave and a grin, then Mirrith peeled off with a wingover and circled down to land neatly, her wings already furling as she touched down.

"Show off." Talana said, lovingly.

"I am very good. And it is right to show people so." Replied Mirrith complacently.

oOoOo

Lord Holder Bargen himself was waiting the approach of the young Weyrwoman, accompanied by a youth who resembled him quite closely. The Lord Holder's face was sombre.

"Good day weyrwoman" he said, holding out his hand palm up in formal greeting. "I do not, I'm afraid, know your name." Talana came to a decision before answering.

"I am T'lana" she said. The need to be T'lan was passed but she still felt the contraction appropriate.

"I am happy to make your acquaintance." He tried to sound happy. "I had heard a rumour that High Reaches extended its naming policy to its weyrwomen now." He was, she felt, making polite conversation

"Yes, we are proud to be a part of High Reaches." She told him. "What can I do for you?"

"Ah, yes. I was a little concerned that Thread had not only got through but had fallen in sufficient quantity to kill a member of the groundcrew – off the designated edge of Fall."

"It is regrettable. We do our best to prevent any getting through – but I saw no fall outside where we expected it. Can you show me the place?"

"My son can show you more readily. He found the body; and we've left it there after destroying the infestation with agenothree so you can see what happened."

Talana turned to the lad, who was about her own age, and smiled, holding out her hand. He clasped it.

"Tesso." He said. "My milk brother Darel and I found him." He indicated another lad standing discretely apart. This one was as lanky as the first was stocky, and T'lan sensed a deep friendship between them.

"Well if you three gentlemen would care to hop up on Mirrith we can go the quick way." She suggested, cocking her head enquiringly at the Lord Holder. He nodded; and the boys were clearly thrilled.

"Shells, she's big!" exclaimed Tesso. "I've only ever been on a brown before!"

"And I've never been dragonback at all" grinned Darel, awed. Lord Bargen displayed that he was used to Bronzes by getting up with a minimum of aid, but the lads required Mirrith's full co-operation and a bit of pulling.

"I'm not built to be a hoist, you'll have to help each other I'm afraid." Said Talana, though she surprised them with the strength in her wiry arms. The youngsters gasped as Mirrith took off, and then called instructions on Talana's request.

oOoOo

There were a number of people standing near the body, several of whom made a strategic withdrawal at the arrival of a large golden dragon. The boys got down rather precipitately, Lord Bargen more sedately. Talana jumped, exuberantly and strode over to the body.

The upper torso was covered by the blackened shrivelled Thread killed by agenothree, which had turned his tunic into a stiffened crumbling mess.

"Strange" said Talana "That the Thread should have fallen on the chest – but not the shoulders. Surely it could only have fallen like that if he'd already been lying down." She added, "I'd have sworn Thread never reached this far."

She brushed the acid charred fragments from the body, revealing where the wriggling stuff had begun its consumption of the man. As she cleared it from the chest cavity, ignoring the startled exclamation of protest from the Lord Holder, she saw the red blood pooled below the blackened fragments. She beckoned Lord Bargen over.

"Thread eats as it goes." She said. "There is no blood from a Thread score except where you flick Betweenand it's opened but not consumed a major blood vessel, and that's very rare. This man was dead before Thread touched him."

"By the first egg!" Bargen was taken aback. "How did he die, then?"

Talana pointed to a wound in the man's near intact heart.

"He was stabbed. Just a minute or two more and this would have been consumed. Your son is to be congratulated, my lord on his discovery and prompt action."

"Are you suggesting that someone deliberately put Thread on the body to eat away the wound and cover up his crime?" he asked, shuddering. "That's horrible."

"Horrible indeed, Lord Bargen. And irresponsible in so risking the land – in an area that would not normally be swept."

"If I had not sent the boys to walk a safe area to blood them…." He shook his head. "This must be investigated."

"If you will permit, Lord Holder, I should like to assist. I have had some success in clearing up one or two tricky businesses already."

He looked at her thoughtfully.

"Very well, weyrwoman T'lana." He said.

Talana felt the corpse's jaw and attempted to flex his feet. She frowned.

"This man has been dead since before Threadfall." She declared.

"How can you tell?" asked the Lord Holder.

"Well, I've assisted to lay out bodies for the farewell ceremony – it's one of the duties of junior weyrwomen as a point of returned loyalty – and I've noticed that the body becomes gradually stiffened starting from the jaw and then becomes limp again, starting again from the jaw. This man is stiff all over and whilst it varies, that does mean that he's been dead since at least the beginning of Fall. At a guess, he was killed before Fall and brought out here, then someone caught Thread from the leading edge to put on him and high-tailed it home while everyone else was following Threadfall. It must have taken some nerve to wait around until it was safe."

"You mean" said Tesso, awed, "We might have seen him at it if we'd been a bit earlier."

"Quite so. In fact you might have seen him and thought him to be part of the ground crews."

The boy shook his head.

"We only saw people in groups, and I'd not care to say who, not dressed in hide as protection."

oOoOo

Talana looked around at the holder folk.

"It would help if we know who the dead man was." She said. "Can someone tell me?"

There was a general air of reluctance to speak. Talana tapped her foot with impatience.

"Is he totally unknown to everyone here?" She asked incredulously. She looked around the assembly; most were unwilling to meet her eye. Then one man spoke up.

"Lady, he weren't popular. Maybe there's some as feel he's better off dead where he can't make folks miserable."

"I could do with more specifics there. I'm sure the Lord Holder, who has the reputation of being a very fair man would be lenient if this man was causing harm to others." Bargen nodded, and the man who had spoken told them,

"His name was Kelder. His brother makes glass, my lord, for the hold, but this Kelder is – was – lazy and greedy. See, he come by plenty of marks, how I don't know, and he lends out."

"So why is he disliked?" asked Talana, puzzled. "People who are willing to lend things are generally pretty popular."

"Ah, lady, you don't understand. He'd lend out but he'd expect one eighth in every mark extra for every sevenday you'd borrowed off of him."

Talana calculated quickly.

"So if you borrowed a mark for a turn you'd expect to repay that plus an extra six and seven sixteenths. That's terrible!"

The spokesman shook his head.

"Oh no, lady, it'd be more than that, for he'd figure that every sevenday as you weren't paying, you was borrowing that too, and add that on for figuring the next week."

Talana counted on her fingers for a moment, then gulped.

"That's iniquitous!" She cried. "That's over THREE HUNDRED MARKS!"

"O' course he'd sometimes arrange longer term loans at a better rate for large sums same as he did for Geneder…." He trailed off .

"Geneder?" she asked.

"O'course, there's a lot of people've owed him big sums" he temporised.

"Tell me about Geneder."

"Well, he wanted to extend his holding, see? And there was land held by Storrer, and Storrer said he'd give him the bit by the river for ten good herdbeasts or the value. Well, Geneder had six herdbeasts he could give him and he borrowed the other twenty eight marks off Kelder, on the understanding that he'd have a sevenmonth grace to the harvest then pay back thirty one and a half marks because it was such a large sum, and that Kelder, he reckoned he'd never loan so much without an agreement like that." He added, "What I can't condone is the risk of spreading Thread around. That is recklessly risking the Hold as a whole."

Talana nodded.

"I take it Geneder is having trouble paying."

"Yes, lady. The harvest was poor and the rest of his herdbeasts got sick. He's in flat despair; and Kelder like suggested he could pay off the debt if he gave him his daughter. And her not Twelve turns!" he added indignantly.

Talana nodded.

" It does sound like this Kelder character was asking for it, if this is typical of his dealings." She said. Lord Bargen, is there any reason you could see to take a hard line on someone who's been treated like this Geneder?"

"One could argue, weyrwoman, that anyone who borrows at such rates is a fool; but I would not have been able to calculate the iniquitous rates as quickly as you do; and I suspect few could. It would be very easy to find oneself out of depth in repayments. Leniency would I feel sure be called for in such a case."

"Well then, I expect the man kept accounts. I shall look at them and talk to those he'd been milking." She said. "My lord, if someone can direct me to his dwelling, I shall get on with it."

oOoOo

T'lan took the Lord Holder and the lads back to the Hold where Bargen introduced her to his steward, Nordar, who was also Darnel's father.

"Kelder lived with his brother, Beccon." He told her. "He's been out to one of the smaller holds with glassware, I don't know if he's back yet."

Beccon had indeed returned when they reached his quarters. Talana stared around in delight at the variety of glassware, some coloured like jewels, a vase with leaves, a large long handled pan with a lid, twisted stemmed wine glasses, ruby red flat dishes and other wonders stood on the shelves of the outer workroom area. Beccon himself looked tired, and his hand was bandaged.

"What can I do for you, Nordar?" he asked politely. "I'm afraid I fell from my runner beast and sprained my wrist, so it'll be a few days before I can work." He held up his bandaged hand.

"I'm afraid I've got bad news for you, Beccon, about your brother." Said Nordar.

"Bad news? Has he been hurt?"

"I'm afraid he's dead." The kindly steward put a hand on the man's shoulder.

"Dead? He – he's had an accident?"

"I'm afraid he's been murdered, Beccon. That's why the weyrwoman's here."

Beccon started at the word 'murdered' .He stared at Nordar.

"Murdered? H – how? And how do you know?"

Talana spoke.

"Your brother was stabbed to the heart. Such wounds do not occur accidentally."

He blinked several times, then staggered over to a cupboard and poured himself wine with shaking hands.

"Of course he had enemies." He said, after taking a deep draft. "He loaned money. But – where was he then? Was he out? He wasn't here when I returned, and it was not long since Threadfall. Was he out during Fall?"

"Not as such – and not voluntarily." Said Talana. "Though his killer wanted us to think he was. The body is not pretty. The killer tried to cover up the crime by covering the wound with Thread."

Beccon shuddered violently and turned green.

"Horrible – horrible stuff." He gasped, draining his glass at a gulp.

"Please don't disturb yourself Beccon, but I need to see the records of the money he loaned." Said Talana. He pointed to a doorway.

"All his things are in there." He poured himself another glass.

"Were you fond of your brother?" asked Talana.

"Anyone will tell you we quarrelled all the time. But he was my kin, even if he didn't always behave like it." He added bitterly. "I suppose everything is mine, now?" he asked.

"Presumably – in the absence of other heirs." The steward agreed.

oOoOo

Talana soon found what she was looking for. The dead man had been methodical and tidy. His transactions were marked neatly on the wall of the cavern, covered by a tapestry. There were in those neat figures a tale of countless small miseries, and Talana shook her head at the callousness of the entry that read,

"Clom has killed himself. Widow must pay."

The original loan had been for a porcine that had died; the unfortunate cotholder had been unable to meet even the interest, let alone pay off the capital, and the debt had mounted up. By questioning Nordar she discovered that the man had come to the Hold and hurled himself from the fireheights after seeing someone. Nordar had not previously known why; and as suicide was of course the right of any man, no investigation had been made. Talana discovered that whilst there were many small debts, most seemed to be paying back regularly. Only the widow, Atira, the holder Geneder and one of the Hold's Harpers, one Samwil, appeared to be in deep trouble. She determined to question everyone, however, knowing from her own childhood how fine the line between poverty and plenty could be. Sarel had been a successful cotholder, especially with the runnerbeasts he bred on the side, but a poor harvest would have caused them some hardship.

oOoOo

Talana stretched stiffly. She had not had the chance to bathe after Threadfall, and was regretting it. She had spoken to all the people who owed Kelder money, except the three she had singled out. There had been stories of misery but no one struck her as having the initiative required to kill. Moreover, most of the men could produce friends who had seen them helping with groundsweep or had been at home with their families. Whilst she was well aware that both friends and family would lie for a man if he was popular and his victim was not, the stories had a ring of truth; and she could always re-question any one of them if something occurred to throw suspicion on one of them. She was strongly reminded of Sarel, speaking to the honest, frightened holders; and Sarel could never kill anyone. He would make a total mess of it even if threatened into it by another.

Talana flexed her right arm. It still hurt after long periods holding a flamethrower after having been stretched from its socket holding Lirilly up. She called in the widow Atira.

Atira was a vapidly pretty young woman, barely more than a girl. A babe was at her hip and another child clung to her skirts. Talana motioned her to a seat, and nervously she sat on the extreme edge.

"Kelder is dead." Said Talana. "Somebody killed him."

The pale woman's eyes flamed, and for a moment she took on life. Startled, Talana sensed the sort of power she associated with dragonriders as the woman spoke.

"Good. I'm glad!" She hissed. "He made my man kill himself then wanted me to pay! He was born under the Red Star if anyone was!" She spat. "I never paid him a mark, lady and so help me I told the misbegotten son of the red menace that he could go whistle for it! I'd not hesitate to tell the Lord Holder about him trying to terrorise a widow woman aye, and his rates too! My husband was a fool to get ensnared and I told him so; but he was that keen on getting the Porcine, I'd not the heart…" she ran out of energy for vituperation and buried her head in her hands, sobbing. This set the baby bawling and the little boy started to grizzle. Talana came across the room and knelt beside her, holding her.

"I'm so sorry about your man." She said. "I'd be so lost without mine." The woman hiccoughed and stared at her.

"But weyrwomen are promiscuous – aren't they?" She blurted out. Talana smiled at her.

"Only a few. We have to accept when the dragons fly, we might end up with someone we'd not intended – but most of us manage to, er, fix the odds one way or another." She added, "I'm sorry to come back to business, but for the sake of tidiness I need to find out who killed Kelder. If you did it, no-one will blame you."

"Did it? I wish I had done it. That – that- CREATURE deserved to die, and slowly too!" She clenched her fists.

Talana hugged her. The woman was telling the truth, she felt sure.

"I'm surely in agreement over that." She said.

"So why pursue the matter?"

"If you had killed him, you'd know. Killing someone is a terrible thing, even someone that deserves it as much as Kelder. Someone who has killed needs support and help to get over it."

"Well it wasn't me. I say, good for whoever it was."

"How are you managing?"

The young woman shrugged.

"Badly."

"I think you should try for Impression. You'd not have to leave the Weyr if you failed to Impress. Think about it, huh?"

"My babies!" she said indignantly "I would NEVER leave my babies!"

"And they would grow up weyrbred." Talana patted her on the shoulder and steered her out.

oOoOo

The harper, Samwil, was next.

"I believe you were deeply in debt to one Kelder." Began T'lan

The harper swore, and Talana listened in appreciation and admiration to his articulate invective. When he ran down after about three minutes, she said,

"So you didn't like him then?"

He looked at her, then caught the amusement in her eyes and laughed, ruefully.

"I believe I might have said that."

"You'll not be sad to hear that he's dead, then?"

"Sad? No, I'd be delighted. I hope the little shit suffered."

"No, it was quite quick. He was murdered."

"Well, he had it coming. He…" his face drained. "You think I did it."

"You are one of the people who had good reason. How on Pern did you come to owe him so much?" T'lan asked bluntly. He raised his palms in a gesture of resignation.

"The gee-gees" he admitted. "I'm fascinated by runnerbeasts, and I love the races. I have a system, you see" Samwil told her animatedly "And one day it's going to work."

Talana groaned. Sarel had warned her about 'systems' long ago. People who used them were generally out of pocket.

"They don't work." She said bluntly. "I should know, my foster father breeds runner beasts. However, that's neither here nor there. I need to know if you could have killed him. Where were you at the commencement of Threadfall?"

He groaned.

"I was alone in my room, copying a damaged hide of teaching songs. I was late for sweep and the sweep leader was quite put out. But I didn't see anyone who could verify it."

"I shall check when you arrived with the sweep leader. What's a harper doing on the groundcrews?"

"I was born holdless. It's where my interest in runnerbeasts started; we used to travel the gathers making and mending. I don't like being confined."

She nodded. It was a reasonable explanation; and she could check out his words.

"Do you own a warming pan?" She asked, remembering the stories that F'lar had told her of how they first caught Thread.

"A WHAT? No, I don't. I could get one from the lower caverns though I suppose if I needed one. Anyone could. But I'm hardier than most." He grinned.

Talana dismissed him, and called in Geneder. He looked a haunted man. Talana felt sorry for him.

"I didn't kill him!" He blurted out. "Lot of good it would have done me if I had!" he added bitterly.

"What do you mean? And how did you know Kelder was dead?" Talana asked sharply.

"His brother told me – I met him when I was on my way up." He said. "He suggested I resell the land to pay him what I owed his brother – though he's not going to charge any more for delay. Generous of him." His tone made a lie of the last comment.

"I see." Talana said. "I think that the Lord Holder is going to sort out the financial matters of Kelder; and I don't imagine he's going to expect people to pay back the dreadful rates the man was charging. Can you tell me where you were at the start of Threadfall?"

"Yes, Lady, I spent Fall with a sick bovine. My herd's been ill, and I need to nurse them through it if I'm to have any chance to feed my family." He sounded almost defeated.

"Do you own a warming pan?"

"Yes, of course. You need several in the winter, lady." He looked puzzled at this question. Talana said,

"If you did kill him, the Lord Holder would scarcely blame you in the light of his suggestions about your daughter."

"The Lord Holder's a fair man, lady. But I didn't kill him. If I don't have to pay it all, I'll be able to feed my family this winter. I've already paid three times what I borrowed."

Talana nodded.

"That will all be sorted out." She said. "Steward Nordar is already working on Kelder's calculations to set the fairest solutions. Some people may even get returns from his coffers."

"Thank you my lady." He said simply. "I'd no idea how quick it'd mount up. I could see no way out; even death didn't help Clom's widow."

She patted him on the shoulder. Nordar seemed a good man, and she had every faith in his ability to sort things out. She just had to speak to the groundcrews.

oOoOo

Talana sought out Lord Bargen.

"Well?" he asked. "What have you for me weyrwoman?"

"I think I started from a false premise." She said. "Though not an unreasonable one. People don't kill without reason, and it's usually to bring them some sort of advantage – revenge, to prevent something happening, or gain." She paused. "Thus I needed to know who benefited. It looked as though the greatest benefit would be to those who would free themselves from usury, as harper Samwil says is the word for this type of money-lending. Certainly they would get rid of Kelder, but I am told his brother is now demanding repayment from at least one of the debtors. That displays, I feel, an unbecoming greed. So I am forced to consider him as a suspect too; and with less forgivable motives than the others." She strode backwards and forwards with her hands behind her back as had become her habit when thinking. Bargen asked,

"So – can you work out which one did it?"

"I believe so. I have eliminated the widow Atira from the suspects for several reasons, not least that she could not leave her children for so long – and would not have I think the physical strength to move the body, or even stab it. She is very malnourished. Cotholder Geneder is not strong, but he could get a body on to a runner I think. For both of these, you could argue that the desire to protect kin would add strength, but Geneder owns beasts and Atira does not. He claims to have been with a sick beast during Fall, but he could be lying. He freely admitted having warming pans; which is the sort of thing you'd need to catch Thread. He was not nervous." She turned again and surveyed him thoughtfully. "The harper Samwil was puzzled about the warming pan question." She said. "He suggested that anyone could get one from the lower caverns, which could have been a suggestion to divert suspicion. He did not borrow one though; I checked with the headwoman, who tells me that records are kept for everything. All Warming pans are still there. Samwil was frightened because he thought he could not clear himself because he missed the beginning of fall, but by the testimony of the Sweep Leader he could only have done it if he'd been quick. It's not impossible, but highly unlikely." She leaned on the carved back of a chair.

"So you think his own brother killed him?" Lord Bargen asked incredulously.

"Yes, my Lord. He was supposed to be out with his wares, but he could have got back early, or even arranged to meet Kelder where we found him. He'd probably meet his brother in an out of the way place where he'd not meet someone he knew hated him. In any case, Beccon has a packbeast for his wares. He also has a long handled glass vessel with a lid, perfect for catching Thread. I saw it on his shelves and looked over it. His greed in accosting Geneder suggests that he was covetous of his brother's wealth – and in fact he asked Nordar if he'd inherit. He also displayed an extreme reaction to the thought of Thread consuming the body, the sort of revulsion that suggested he had recently been closer to the stuff than was comfortable. He also had a bandaged hand. He said it was sprained, but I think if you check it you will find it Threadscored and agenothree burned."

Lord Holder Bargen nodded several times, thoughtfully.

"Kelder seems to have been a menace." He said "And I could not find it in my heart to totally blame a debtor who killed him. Even a fool like Samwil – I know where his marks go, but I like to bet myself, so I can understand the attraction – but this is a callous and premeditated crime, planned in detail. Beccon must have made the vessel well in advance and planned it to the finest detail. This is a crime of greed, not desperation, and I will deal with it accordingly. Will you be prepared to return to give testimony if I need it, Weyrwoman?"

"Of course, Lord Bargen. You have only to send for me." She grinned: "Unless I'm flying Thread, in which case my response will be delayed."

He nodded to her; and thankfully she left him to return to the Weyr and her long delayed bath.