Once again our thanks to AM for Pern. Will Benden find enough youngsters on Search? Probably not, unfortunately.
17.12.195
Galanath popped out of between and H'ric looked down at the landscape below him.
"Why did you come out here?" he asked angrily.
- this is a place you like
H'ric agreed with that; this central part of the spine of land leading from Nabol to Fort was beholden to Ruatha, and the lord of Ruatha kept his land in fine fettle. H'ric could see herds of cattle feeding, fields lying fallow for the spring crop, and the road winding down from Ruatha towards Fort.
H'ric had spent time sketching in these mountains, and Galanath had sported in the freezing river waters, turning over stones to see what lay beneath them.
"We're supposed to be going to Ford Hold," H'ric reminded his dragon.
- we will do so but you need to be calm
H'ric drew several breaths of the cold thin air, filtered through the woollen scarf wrapped around his face.
"After that encounter with that benighted creature at Nabol? Yes, I will be calm."
Galanath seemed satisfied and flew on, not going between as yet. Long strokes of his massive wings drove them onwards in the clear winter air. There was high white cloud but the sun was shining and obscuring the Red Star, shining by day as well as by night now as it approached.
Galanath changed course suddenly and H'ric looked where he was going. A big flock of wherries was circling over what H'ric supposed was one of the valleys in the mountains, perhaps where a road passed through.
"What's going on? They usually gather for carrion."
- there is something in the valley which is not right
Galanath flew higher, but H'ric knew his excellent long vision was spying out the land below them. The dragon fed back to him the tiny shapes on the land, and H'ric interpreted them.
"A wagon train of some sort, and it's in trouble! Attacked by others - perhaps holdless outlaws."
- we go in
Galanath wheeled around to approach from the sunward side, and glided down by tipping air from under one wing, banking steeply to come into the valley where H'ric could see conflict.
At a rapid assessment he saw four heavily laden trader wagons defended by at least a dozen men and boys. Two runner beasts lay dead, which was what had attracted the wherries, and the outlaws were on horseback and attacking from the sides of the roadway, coming in at the defenders and wielding swords against staves.
Galanath came down on them out of nowhere, it seemed, and the mounted horses reacted by shrieking and panicking in terror, unhorsing at least two outlaws and dragging them down the road. The wagon horses bucked and squealed in terror, but they were anchored by the wagons, and men and boys ran to them to calm them.
Galanath landed on an open stretch of road, H'ric dismounted, and the dragon rose to chase away the wherries. H'ric ran down on the scene of chaos and used his long belt knife to disable at least one outlaw before the remainder of the gang gained control of their horses and raced away.
In the suspended moment between action and reaction, H'ric noted two outlaws dead, one trader down dead by the wheel of his wagon, and several wounded. Someone had put hoods over the horses' heads and they were gradually stilling and stopping.
The trader came at a run, wiping his sword, panting and blowing, and H'ric realised most of the traders were armed with swords or long knives.
"Our thanks, bronze rider! Another few moments and I believe they would have overwhelmed us!"
"Who were they? Holdless? Outlaw?"
"All of that," the trader agreed. "I hadn't realised they'd grown so bold in these back hills."
He made a half bow. "Chandra, trader and merchant."
"H'ric, Weyrleader of Benden, rider of bronze Galanath."
"The Weyrleader himself! You are a long way from Benden, sir."
"I'm on my way to Fort, and to visit Harper and Healer Hall, but Galanath saw the wherries."
They glanced upwards, and Galanath was alone in the sky, spiralling down to land on a ledge amongst the peaks, the sunlight glinting from his bronze hide.
"And our thanks to your dragon!"
"Your horses were affected as much."
"But we know how to calm them down. Thank you again. We're on our way down to Ruatha to trade."
"What d'you carry?"
"Anything and everything that needs carrying from one place to another. Those men may have attacked thinking we were carrying jewels, because some of our people have been up to the mines."
The whole situation was under control, H'ric was pleased to see. The dead trader was being gathered up and wrapped and laid in one of the wagons, the dead outlaws searched.
"What will you do with the bodies?" H'ric asked, watching weapons, leather goods, all going into the wagons as booty.
"I don't know. I can't carry them, so I suppose we'd better bury them, and I'll alert Ruatha about them. I don't know who they are, or where they came from, but I wonder if someone knew them."
"I'll take a description of them down to Fort," H'ric decided. "Lend me something to write or draw with, if you would?"
He spent a moment sketching the dead men and writing a description of them, and put the tablet into his coat pocket.
"I'm afraid you might have to go to Fort to ask for it back," he said with a smile, and Chandra shook his head.
"Keep it, sir, it has our mark on it, it will do as an advertisement for us! Is that your dragon on the ledge? Young Dawan hasn't taken his eyes off him!"
H'ric looked at the young boy Chandra indicated. The trader boy had his eyes fixed in concentration on Galanath. H'ric sent a quick query to his dragon and received the astonishing information that Galanath was speaking to the boy.
"How old is the boy?" H'ric asked Chandra.
"Eight. Why?"
"We're on Search, with a queen egg hardening on the sands, but he's too young at the moment."
"I've never had a boy or a girl Searched. Why him?"
"My dragon Galanath says he's speaking to him. If the boy can speak to dragons, as I could, then he stands a chance."
"How old would he have to be? He's my youngest son, and I'm training him as a trader."
"I warn you now, there's no guarantee any boy will be chosen to Impress. Twelve is the youngest I allow on the sands at the moment."
"Well, perhaps I'll trend up Benden way with some trade goods - I suppose you and yours at the Weyr can do with trade goods?"
"We receive a tithe, but we do have our own money and resources. Cloth, sewing goods, the women in the kitchens and caverns can always use those."
"Pretties?"
H'ric smiled. "We're all the same, trader Chandra, we all like pretties!"
Chandra nodded. "We'll be there, Weyrleader, and if I lose a son to you, so be it, but I'll relieve you of more than a little coin before I go!"
H'ric laughed, and they clasped hands, and then H'ric lent a hand to order the wagons again, and accepted a gift of food and drink packed into a wher-hide bag to withstand the cold of between.
"These bags can be useful - where did you get the hide?"
"I've a stack of it in my wagons - we ran into a pack of wild whers and had to kill most of them to rescue our horses! We've been curing them as we go along, and I can usually get a good price for them."
"We use them to make our flying gear - the hide keeps out that momentary flash of cold from between better than furs, although we line our helmets - see here - "
Chandra examined the flying helmet.
"I'll be at Benden before I've sold all my hides, I assure you."
"Are there many such packs of wild whers?"
Chandra shook his head.
"I doubt it. Perhaps they inhabit caves in the remote mountains, but they don't venture down into the valleys, and when they do, the holders have to kill them. Like I say, their hide is valuable."
"Yes."
"They aren't dragons, are they?"
"No - although they must have been bred up as intentionally as the dragons. I don't know - records are so fragmented and scarce, I'm constantly frustrated in seeking knowledge."
Chandra nodded.
"I know what you mean. Harpers are supposed to carry all the knowledge, but it can be a hard task to get them to speak it out loud! The Lord Holders don't care for all that, of course, they're only interested in furthering their own Holds and Blood lines."
"I've heard that might be the case," H'ric replied. "But perhaps at Fort and the Harper Hall I might get some proper answers."
"I wish you luck, Weyrleader."
H'ric watched the wagons go down the road, the merchants keeping guard, but there was little fear the outlaws would attack again. There was blood on the road where H'ric stood, and a cairn of stones marked where the two outlaws had been buried.
Galanath landed neatly on the road, flipping his wings closed, mincing around and sniffing at the residue of carnage.
- they were bad men who did not care for others
"True enough."
- the wherries were tasty
H'ric laughed as he climbed up to take up the riding harness and fasten it on, slap Galanath's hide, and the dragon rose up from the road, circling to make sure Chandra's wagon train was safely on its way, before snapping between and emerging over Fort Hold to announce their presence to the watchmen.