Chapter 27
The screaming, insane bully was carried bodily away from the body of the hatchling he was clinging too, the little creature too unformed to go between in death. The man was sedated with fellis.
He would live out his miserable days confined in a padded cave; and it was likely that those days would not be long. Many dragonriders bereft of their partners had enough will to live on, even if it was in an unkempt condition; for their personalities had to be strong to be chosen by a dragon in the first place. This one too would be denied the comfort of dragon voices in his mind that T'bor had first instituted, and G'narish was planning on following too, glad it had not been necessary for the Rider in C'ril's wing so badly scored the first time J'enia had sensed Thread for the flight. Both Rider and dragon were on the road to recovery.
G'naris resolved to spread the terrible tale of this attack; it spoke of the consequences of such unthinkable actions, for he would imply that Baylith and the Bronzes themselves sensed that the eggs were under attack, to protect Kyleka. He wanted too to go himself to collect the boy Restin; and to see the horror in the bully's eyes that he had been found out.
G'narish and S'sher, whom he took with him, were not disappointed.
Restin actually screamed a high, thin scream of terror.
The cotholder was an honest man, who was unaware that his paying guest was a fugitive; and he was horrified over what the young man had ordered his men to do! He had been informed that the others traded to the Weyr but that their leader feared dragons, a not unreasonable fear in the minds of many people.
"Ar, I won't be displeased to be rid of him," said the cotholder, "Marks be useful to have, but not at expense o' that one whackin' my childer about. I didn't dare say much, account o' how he dress and talk like Quality, but I wuz thinkin' o' askin' him t'move on regardless o' whether his men come back for him or no."
"I am sorry your children have suffered such insult," said G'narish, gravely. "Do you think they would feel a ride on a dragon would make up for it?"
"Reckon they'd take twice as many knocks for a privilege like that, as they'll remember all their lives!" said the man.
The children ranged in age from a waif-like girl of fourteen whose thin wrists were deceptive, for she was wringing laundry with vigour and skill, down to a small boy of some five turns. Only one, the third child, another girl, turned down the trip; she was consumed with terror, her fears of dragons even flying over what had made Restin's story seem reasonable to the cotholder.
"Your oldest girl is in age for a Green dragon, if she's interested in standing," said G'narish, when Gyarmath made the suggestion to him, "and she'll be in age for a good number of turns too if she's a mind to leave home but wants to keep her options open."
The cotholder considered.
"Well, my lord, we have weyrblood in the fambly, 'tis said," said he, "my granfer reckoned he were sired by a young dragonman visiting the empty Weyr. It be her choice, and she'll make it herself," he added firmly, raising himself in G'narish's estimation if he had but known it.
The girl, Talarys, turned to her mother.
"May I? It would save you a dowry, for Talami is old enough to do most of the chores. And I'd be a good drudge if I didn't Impress!"
Her mother nodded reluctantly. The girl would be missed, but such an opportunity was not to be passed up!
At least SOME good had come out of the incident; and G'narish promised that someone would collect the girl when she had had time to pack her possessions and say her goodbyes properly.
The dragons seemed happy enough, after all, with girls as young as fourteen!
Restin and his accomplices were delivered to the Minehold where the Master Miner in charge was embarrassingly grateful that the Weyr had caught those responsible for the deaths of the miners.
G'narish was certain that the miscreants would not enjoy the rest of their lives!
He also made a full report to Lord Corman, who hooted and honked in an incoherency of indignation.
"Flouting authority to send men to help that boy escape… it's the excuse I need, for it's his bad upbringing led the boy to this, to actually give orders to attack dragonkind! I've heard enough from his half brother to learn that the brat has never been thwarted before, never! You could have sent them all to the Eastern Isles, Weyrleader!"
"I thought it more just that the miners should have restitution in work from those who had killed their own," said G'narish. "It'll be no easy life, believe me!"
"HAH! Well, I won't say I don't think it just, for I do. And I'll have a conclave over Reseder before he can even wonder why his nasty offspring never got home!" he honked again and shouted for scriveners. "My commiserations, Weyrleader; unbelievable! Quite unbelievable!"
Corman had his occasional differences with Weyrfolk; but he knew his duty to dragons, and was utterly shocked. G'narish knew that he used the word 'unbelievable' not to indicate any disbelief, but more loosely to demonstrate how much he was moved by the situation. Corman was shaken to the core by such disregard for dragonkind; and so far as Reseder was concerned, he had every intention of sending the man to drudge in a minehold too, as it was on Reseder's own orders that the miners had been murdered!
A different minehold to the one where his son was held.
oOoOo
Talarys settled in happily with the other girls; she had not suffered any unwelcome attentions from Restin, probably because she was skinny and dressed in a loose fitting tunic for comfort, and he had not realised she was old enough to assuage his lusts. She was a straightforward girl who did not hide either her humble birth or her joy that a dragonriding ancestor had given her the option to try for Impression.
That she had been Searched by the Weyrleader himself did her no disfavours in the eyes of the other candidates!
Talarys had a few hours to shake down before the next girl arrived; Taessa was the child of a Headwoman and Steward at a small Hold in Southern Telgar, and plainly expected that she would have social precedence over any other girl standing for a Green dragon. She was equally plainly put out to find that six of the other girls actually had Rank; and proceeded to try to push Talarys and the seabred girls around.
She was shouted at by several girls, most of whom outranked her socially, Keirel having settled in with the original eight as though she had always been there!
The last two female candidates arrived together, on a Blue dragon whose Rider sported the orange knots of Ista. There was a fair of firelizards accompanying them.
J'enia greeted them.
"Candidates for us?" she asked.
"Yes, Weyrwoman," said the Blue Rider, respectfully and formally. "Sharina is Weyrbred and preferred to try for a Green with you rather than hope for a Queen with us; and Jaara is from Half-Circle Seahold and asked if we were taking girls. As Sharina had already expressed an interest, we brought her along too. I hope that is in order?"
"Oh, eminently, thank you, Blue Rider!" said J'enia, a little taken aback by his formality. "Will you stay for refreshment? There's applejuice or cider and citrus meringue tarts."
He brightened.
"Thank you, Weyrwoman, I appreciate that!" he said. "I've no immediate duties to make me hurry away."
"Go and see Salima then; she'll sort you out a plate of goodies," grinned J'enia, "and we'll get these two sorted in to the Weyrling Barracks."
"You… er, you do have female quarters?" asked Sharina.
"Oh yes! It's a little, er, cosy, but private enough," J'enia regarded them both thoughtfully. The weyrbred girl had rich auburn hair and obviously enjoyed the impact of her unusual colouring. The other girl's hair was dark and wavy with thoughtful, guarded brown eyes. The majority of the firelizards seemed to look to her. Both girls had Power and to spare; though that meant nothing, for so had Taessa, to whom J'enia had taken an instant dislike, that the young Weyrlingmistress would have to fight to disregard when tutoring the girl. J'enia asked Jaara, "any relation to Master Menolly?"
The seabred girl gave a curt nod.
"My cousin. I'm not musical – not that it would get me anywhere if I was, it's still counted a waste of time. I found the cave Menolly had hived in, and the ledge the queen firelizard nests on, and I thought the Weyr might have me if I could demonstrate the ability to Impress firelizards."
J'enia nodded.
"Quite so; large numbers of firelizards – which I believe is three or more – are considered an indication that Impression is likely. Your cousin's music delights us all; we are honoured to have one of her relatives. Sharina, you have the possibility of Impressing a Queen one day, why come to us?" she asked abruptly of the weyrbred girl who had two firelizards on her shoulders, a green and a blue.
"A Queenrider is awfully trammelled, and I wanted to have more fun," said Sharina, "and there's more chance of Impressing if I try for a Green and I want to ride a dragon more than anything," she grinned suddenly, ruefully, "I'm sorry, Weyrwoman, I disrespected your position."
"Oh, I take no offence," said J'enia, "and the name is J'enia as I keep telling all the candidates, even though some of them insist on calling me Weyrwoman. I came to stand for a Green myself; Shehereth had other ideas though!" her face suffused with joy as she remembered the moment of Impression.
"J'enia? You contract QUEEN Riders, ma'am?" asked Sharina.
"Yes, it's practical save our Senior Weyrwoman, and Thera who doesn't have much to contract to. L'issa and I are contracted, and I particularly shall need it – I'm to fly in the main fighting wing, not the Queen's Wing, because I sense Thread. Do you have any talents along those lines, and by the way, please don't call me ma'am! I'm not old enough!"
Jaara grinned at that, but shook her head at the query.
Sharina hesitated.
"I – I can feel – hear? – if people lie; their words are…fuggy," she said, "but I'm no telepath. I always hoped to be able to hear dragons, but I don't," she pulled a humorous face. "And there's me feeling sorry for myself over not having an ability a mere handful of people have!" she said.
"Yes, it would be handy," agreed J'enia, "I have to ask the Bronze dragons to hear me and to take note of where I sense Thread; someone who can hear all dragons would be useful. But as you say, it's a rare talent. Come on in; I'll introduce you."
oOoOo
Jaara was between Liska and the two older seabred girls in age, and they greeted a fellow seabred cheerfully enough, for all that she seemed quite taciturn in the face of so many strangers. Sharina, being weyrbred, was visibly a little put out that the head of the dormitory was already chosen and was Holdbred Telara; but Telara was the oldest and more to the point, the steadiest.
Nilis of course could not resist trying to make trouble.
"I suppose you've winnowed your way through all the men in your own weyr and have come here for some fresh ones," she said snidely to Sharina.
Sharina froze briefly in shock; then laughed a lazy laugh, looking down her nose.
"Well if you're the sample of females available round here, reckon they'll be glad of a few extra incomers with feminine charms. Got spurned, did you? I'm not surprised."
Nilis spluttered.
J'enia left them to it; Sharina could take care of herself.
oOoOo
Nilis was present for the viewing of the eggs; though she was holding out for a Queen, she couldn't bear to be left out. Lailla had hesitated, but joined the others.
J'enia addressed them all in the Hatching Cavern.
"There is a small egg in this clutch. It is the consensus of those who know about these things that it is a probably healthy, but undersized dragon. However, there is the chance of deformity or a short life. If the shell is broken, it MUST be Impressed; and as we do not know the colour, we must ask if any girl would take the risk for the sake of a dragon, that she might be bereft if it should die."
"But Weyrwoman J'enia, such eggs never hatch – and quite right too!" said Sharina.
J'enia regarded her thoughtfully.
"Others have cared enough about dragonkind to break the shells of such; and no-one denies that Lord Jaxom and Ruth have done a great job of helping to open the Southern continent. In the High Reaches, undersized Brown Denth saves lives in the mountains because he can land where no ordinary Brown can go. And the undersized Queen hatched at Ista by the intervention of a candidate, and then Impressed to a visitor has also saved a life already, and helped the sanity of a dragonless man who is the mate of the little Queen's, er, Rider. If the egg rocks, we are happy to have it broken; for it is a dragon who wants to live."
Sharina subsided; the story of the embarrassingly tiny Queen at Ista had leaked, if only in whispers, around the Weyr – though she had not, herself believed it before, for her truth sensing did not work on rumour passed on, only on a lie that was deliberate! That Igen Weyr should know more of this matter was embarrassing! Sharina could not know that it was due to a combination of Igen's close partnership with the High Reaches initiative in the Holdless caverns and ideas sharing.
The other girls hesitated. To ride a dragon was one thing; to Impress a runt that might not live…J'enia could almost see the thought running through appalled brains!
"Shards and shells, I'LL stand for it!" burst out Silaya, after glancing round the other, uncomfortable, faces. "I know what it is to be lonely… I'll not let a dragon be lonely, J'enia, if no-one else will risk it, so be it."
"SILAYA!" Sharina was shocked. "You did not give Weyrwoman J'enia her honorific title!"
Silaya stared.
"What crackdust are you talking, Ginger?" she asked.
"It's not ginger, it's AUBURN! And you should call her Weyrwoman!"
J'enia cleared her throat.
"Sharina, I appreciate your defence of my dignity, but it's not necessary. I think perhaps Ista may practise more, er, formal modes of address than we do here; and besides, Silaya and I are friends. She just did not Impress last time. Don't you think I would have dropped on her myself had she treated me with disrespect? I can, you know."
"Oh yes," said Silaya, with feeling, "she can. Clever tongue, our J'enia."
"And you mostly on the receiving end of it last time," said Nilis, nastily.
"But being civilised people, Silaya and I resolved our differences; a lesson for you to learn, Nilis," said J'enia, as Silaya flushed.
"Titles do not make for respect," put in Telara, "People EARN respect. And we admire and respect J'enia at least as much for her courage in going as a passenger in Threadfall at the sharp end to help the Wingleaders, as we do for her having Impressed a Golden Queen. She's got real balls to fly amongst the Bronzes and without an Impressed dragon of hers under her."
Sharina whistled with real respect.
She knew the dangers Bronze dragons faced!
oOoOo
Layanya and Liska had been talking earnestly and quietly.
"J'enia, we'll stand too, for a choice for the little dragon for if she's a Green," Layanya spoke for both of them, holding hands in solidarity.
Silaya gasped; she understood better than her little sister what it would mean if the dragon infant died; but she stifled the gasp. Layanya had made her choice and that choice was to honour dragonkind. It would be wrong to gainsay her.
J'enia nodded, gravely.
"That's good girls," she said, fairly certain that if there was anyone else, such young girls would be unlikely to be chosen anyway. "No-one else?"
"Not me," said Luaysa, "I'm out for adventure; what adventure can you have with an overgrown firelizard?"
"Lord Jaxom seems to manage to have more than his erstwhile Warder would have liked," said J'enia, dryly, "and T'mon in the Reaches has plenty of exciting and dangerous work to do. But I'll not have anyone who is unwilling. It'd be no good anyhow."
"I will stand for it," said Talarys, shyly. "I feel privileged to be here at all; only I didn't like to put myself forward. I'll gladly give a dragon a chance of life or at least to die loved."
J'enia beamed.
"Well, four is plenty to choose from," she said, "and it might not be a Green; half of all eggs laid are Green, but of course that also means that half are not."
"I see why you want girls, then," said Lerelli, never the most tactful, "because otherwise half of all male dragonriders have to be ladyboys. Actually, they all do, to get lovers for the Greenriders."
"At last, someone who can add up," said J'enia, "and if it were the criterion on which Greens choose, that would be quite right, Lerelli, and a disproportionate number of homosexuals who also have the right dragonriding qualities would be needed. And whilst many lads with such leanings come to the Weyr where such things are not looked down on as they are in many Crafts and Holds, it's still not enough to account for all the Greenriders – as some such must Impress Blue dragons to fly the Greens. As it happens, most Greenriders are heterosexual or bisexual – like men and women equally," she explained quickly for the benefit of those looking puzzled – "and they suffer some small mental trauma over their partner's proclivities and sexuality, and they tend to sequester themselves. Sometimes with one or more lower cavern girls," she added, having learned that fact from heterosexual G'nad! "It's often the source of the reputation Green Riders have of being temperamental – the conflict of sexuality. Only about a third of Green Riders are homosexual at most, and perhaps one in four or five Blue Riders. It seems more natural, therefore, for girls to stand for female dragons."
"I think Weyrleader G'dened might think about it if the experiment goes well," volunteered Sharina, "I think it's why he agreed to send me; to see how it goes."
"Well, it'll be another turn and more before our first female Green Riders fight Thread," said J'enia, "but they've been doing it successfully for turns in the High Reaches. And I don't see why their women should be any better than ours!"
There was a general murmur of agreement from all the female candidates!