Thanks for all your reviews - I looked in all the forums for mention of wher-hide and I concluded it was a generic term for leather hides. I found some speculation about wild whers and wondered if in the degenerative era of an Interval, with only one Weyr disseminating knowledge of dragons, whether such animals would exist. I visualise the flying gear of the riders to be akin to that of aviators in World War I, leather and fur and perhaps quilted gambesons beneath the jacket.
17.12.195
H'ric dismounted on the open land before Fort Hold. He could see Tweneth and Tirith on the watch heights, and B'rnel was waiting for him with the steward of Fort Hold.
"Greetings, Weyrleader," the steward said. "The Lord Holder Riasalt bids you welcome to his Hold."
"You may thank the Lord Holder for me," H'ric said briskly, stripping off gloves and helmet and jacket. He looked around, and then pointedly back at the steward who looked taken aback.
"Ah - allow me."
B'rnel smothered a smile as the steward took the flying gear. Galanath took off for the watch heights and the steward could not help himself cowering from the shower of dust swirling across the ground.
H'ric did not comment, but followed the steward, B'rnel falling into step with him.
"The Lord Holder is furious at you," he murmured under his breath. "G'las was here yesterday, and Denethor selected two girls and four boys on Search, all of them able workers and a loss to the Hold, so the Lord Holder claimed."
"How did the candidates take it?"
"G'las reckons they were delighted to be gone from their homes."
"Hmm."
They entered the Hold, the oldest on Pern, the first to be built after the escape from the south. H'ric stood looking around in appreciation, trying not to show he was overwhelmed; this was the first time he had been here, and he had only heard descriptions of it; the way the huge hall had been cut out of bare rock; the twists and turns of the living quarters dug deep into the huge rock face; the great doors that could be barred against Thread.
"This way, Weyrleader," the steward said, conducting him towards a smaller room, glaring at B'rnel who merely smiled back and continued to follow the two men.
The Lord Holder of Fort swung round from contemplating a pile of parchments on a side desk. There was another man there, H'ric saw, making notes, explaining perhaps, where the Lord Holder was missing people through Search.
"Good day to you, Lord Riasalt," H'ric said with a smile, advancing to greet the Lord Holder who looked totally taken aback but responded with only a slight delay.
"Good day to you, Weyrleader. Mion - refreshments for our guests."
He too glared at B'rnel who had fetched out a waxed tablet from his pocket and sat down near the clerk, stylus poised to make notes.
"My Wingsecond B'rnel, rider of brown Tweneth."
The Lord Holder nodded to him, and invited H'ric to seat himself.
"First, my lord, I need to report to you that I helped a trader convoy in the hills above Ruatha, attacked by outlaws."
"Ruatha? Ruatha deals with its own problems."
"Indeed, and I'm sure that's true, and the trader was going to report it. I am reporting it to you in case other outlaws operate in your hills. I drew two of the dead men and wrote descriptions of them."
He handed over the tablet and the Lord Holder gestured to his clerk to come and take it. He did so, glancing curiously at H'ric.
"You wrote to me, saying you would be coming in person to visit," Lord Riasalt said as he watched Mion the steward bringing in a tray of small bites of food and goblets of wine. "I see no reason for this visit, Weyrleader."
"In due time, we may well be working together far more closely, my lord, all of us throughout Pern."
"Oh - you are talking about Thread - yes, I suppose you dragonriders are obsessed with it, it's the reason for your existence after all."
"Thread has recurred many times in our history, my lord, and we in the Weyr see no reason why it should not come again."
Lord Riasalt shrugged, pushing the plate of fancies towards H'ric.
"Well, you must say that, of course, but in Council, the Lord Holders and Craft Masters have determined the menace has gone for all time. Why else would the other Weyrs be empty?"
H'ric took a sip of his wine, found it a full strength Benden red and took a bite of a savoury pastry puff to put food in his stomach.
"It seems premature to make that conclusion when we are Turns off the putative date for Thread's return," he said at last.
"And you will be able to repopulate all the Weyrs in just these few Turns? I can count as well, Weyrleader, and I count five Turns before we are overwhelmed."
"Hence the need for Search," H'ric said at once. "I understand my searchers have been most successful here at Fort?"
The Lord Holder scowled at him.
"Your riders took six youths of both genders from this Hold! Six! At an age when they can be most productive on the land and in their crafts."
"We have a queen egg hardening on the sands, and twenty five others of indeterminate colour," H'ric replied, hoping he sounded calmer than he felt. "Six candidates is something to be proud of, surely, if you know your history, and the teaching ballads?"
The Lord Holder's eyes shifted, and H'ric leaned forward.
"Your youngsters are taught all their ballads, my lord? I trust they are all taught from an early age the history of our world, and the debt owed to dragons, and the reasons for these Searches and the tithes?"
"And that's another matter! You stated you expect an increase in the tithe! Benden, Bitra and Lemos are the Holds that tithe to you!"
"They tithe the most, yes, but as the Turns progress, and more dragons are hatched, I will expect an increase from all Holds and Crafts, my lord."
Lord Riasalt stood up abruptly, towering over H'ric as he sat at the table.
"That will be entirely at my discretion, Weyrleader, and I will need a lot of convincing before I increase my tithe! You can Search, and take who you will, I suppose, and I have agreed to send cattle into the old Weyr for fattening in the new season, but that is all I am prepared to allow."
H'ric stood up, and glanced across at B'rnel.
"Is that noted, Wingsecond?"
"It is noted, Weyrleader," B'rnel said, and the clerk made a nervous movement to cover his own writing as B'rnel leaned across to inspect the parchment.
"I see you have not recorded that declaration," B'rnel pointed out. "Write it in, if you please."
Lord Riasalt marched across and tore the tablet from B'rnel's hands, and seemed about to destroy it, when they were interrupted by all three dragons bugling from the heights, a tremendous sound H'ric thought none of these land based folk had ever heard before.
"A rider is linked in the mind to his dragon, my lord," H'ric said. "I remind you of that, and that all three dragons, bronze, brown, and green, have witnessed this conversation, and can transmit it to all the dragons of Pern. Think well of that, before you deny your own word."