Gone Away, Gone Ahead - 35. Back at Benden

You are still awake. Herebeth’s mental voice intruded on D’gar’s thoughts, which had been going around in circles since he’d got to bed. Every time he shut his eyes and tried to drift off, F’drun’s threat repeated itself over and over again.

He sat up, staring at the now familiar walls of his weyr. Very observant of you, he replied. I reckoned you’d be asleep after all the work you did today. Sorry, yesterday. It must be well past midnight, judging by how quiet it was outside.

Your thoughts are very strong. They woke me up.

That made him feel guilty. I’m sorry. I can’t get to sleep for thinking.

Then maybe you should talk.

I can’t. Everyone is asleep.

I am not.

D’gar gave up trying to drop off. He got out of bed, dragging the sleeping furs with him and settled himself next to his dragon. Herebeth’s couch was heated and his hide radiated a soothing warmth. He wrapped the furs loosely around him and leaned back, trying to work out how to phrase his problems in a way that a dragon could understand.

Remember the man who tried to drown me?

Yes. He is a bad man. Herebeth’s eyes whirled with the reddish tones of anger as he visualised F’drun and Ryth. His dragon is no better.

Well, he’s being unpleasant to people in the south. And he’s influencing other people so they behave as badly as he does.

Why does that affect you? Or me?

That sounded a bit like M’rell’s attitude, but Herebeth was only a dragon. He couldn’t be expected to see the wider picture. D’gar tried explaining it it further. It affects one of the riders in our Wing, as his weyrmate is bearing the brunt. It affects a lot of other riders in Southern, including H’rek. And potentially Rioth, too. After he’d finished, D’gar could sense the confusion in Herebeth’s mind.

Why should it affect Rioth? he asked.

Because F’drun has threatened to send Ryth after Rioth when she next rises.

Chasing doesn’t necessarily mean catching. Herebeth pointed out. Rioth is fond of me. She does not like Ryth.

He radiated an easy confidence D’gar wished he could share. But he had to try and make his dragon understand the devious ways of people. You’re right there. But F’drun wants to hurt me. He can’t do it directly, so he’ll try to hurt H’rek instead. Mating flights weren’t always won easily. Even when riders were weyrmates and their dragons liked each other, up in the air things could go wrong. F’drun might conspire with some of his cronies to send their dragons up, not with the aim of catching Rioth, but to block Herebeth from getting to her. They might even hurt you, he thought, feeling that he needed to warn Herebeth. A bronze - particularly a large, modern bronze - could do him some damage. In the heat of a mating flight, injuries were an accepted risk and no-one would be considered to blame.

They can try. But I am clever. And fast.

You are only one dragon. Suppose two or even three of them try to stop you?

Herebeth considered this. That might be difficult, he admitted. But how can you be so sure this will happen?

I can’t. I’m just trying to think of every eventuality.

Which is why you cannot sleep.

Exactly.

Herebeth said nothing for a while and D’gar sensed he was thinking over what he’d been told. Eventually, he broke the silence. Maybe I should warn Rioth, if you have felt the need to warn me.

No. Don’t. If you do that, then she’ll tell H’rek and it will make him worry. That was the heart of the problem. If H’rek knew what F’drun had threatened, then he’d be even more stressed at the thought of Rioth rising again. Last time had been lucky; there was no guarantee Herebeth would catch Rioth twice in a row, even without any intervention. Mating flights didn’t work like that. Herebeth hadn’t always caught Zemianth every time she’d risen to mate. A couple of times that had been due to circumstances such as when his wing had been damaged or when they’d been seconded to Telgar, but even when he’d chased her, he’d not always been lucky enough to catch her.

Herebeth picked up on his thoughts again. I did not always catch Zemianth because she did not always want me to mate with her. Rioth is different.

I still don’t want her to know about this. I’ll talk to H’rek when the time is right.

Very well.

He quieted his mind, not wanting to disturb Herebeth any further and gradually began to doze off, lulled by the warmth and the soft breathing of his dragon. When he woke again it was to dawn’s cold light and the start of another day.

He led the Wing through their morning exercises. Over the past few sevendays, it had been gratifying to note that most of the youngsters he’d been training had joined in too. He’d got to know them all fairly well. Prideth’s clutch had been bronze heavy - fourteen out of a total of thirty-two eggs - but most of the bronze riders in this half of the clutch were far less arrogant and more willing to learn than their counterparts who had been sent to Southern in the first shift.

‘Three more days and we’ll be off.’ W’stel always matched his pace well and usually ended up running alongside. He reminded D’gar a little of S’brin in his enthusiasm for exercise. He also had a similar build, tall and well-muscled, although unlike S’brin, he rode a brown dragon.

‘Are you looking forward to it?’

‘It’ll be good to go back. And we might get a chance to fight Thread. The others did.’

‘It’s more likely you’ll end up shovelling firestone, but you never know.’ They’d finished the third circuit of the lake, so he slowed and waited for the stragglers to catch up. The sun was just visible above the rim of the Bowl, which meant breakfast would soon be served. Once everyone had formed a semi-circle around him, he took them through a few stretches, then dismissed them and walked back with W’stel and his friend S’fyn, one of the young bronze riders.

‘Will we be having flying practice again later?’ S’fyn asked.

‘I don’t see why not. Unless I’m called to a meeting, I should be free.’ He’d enjoyed teaching this batch of youngsters practical Thread fighting skills and seeing them come together as a Wing. If Benden wanted him to carry on when the other half returned, he knew it would be a much harder task, given that some of them didn’t like him much.

‘Can we practice those quick turns again?’ W’stel asked. ‘Balarth can’t seem to get the hang of them.’

Balarth was big for a brown; not far off the size of Canth. ‘He’s probably not reached his full growth yet,’ D’gar said, hearing the despondency in W’stel’s voice. ‘A lot of young browns and bronzes go through a clumsy stage, just the same as we do when we’re still growing.’

He seemed to accept that. ‘Could still use the practice, though.’

‘Of course. The more he flies, the better he’ll get at it.’

‘Why didn’t they teach us moves like those before?’ S’fyn always asked a lot of questions.

D’gar could identify with that, as it was how he’d been when he was a weyrling. ‘They probably only read about them in old records. I was lucky to have Impressed at the end of a Pass. My teachers had been fighting Thread for Turns.’

S’fyn considered that. ‘With all of your knowledge, I’m glad you’re teaching us.’

‘That’s right,’ said W’stel. ‘By the time we get asked to join a Wing, we’ll know everything.’

‘No-one knows everything,’ D’gar cautioned. ‘There’s always something unexpected. Take the Fall we had the other day. Conditions like that don’t happen often. It was a good thing I remembered how we’d dealt with it before.’

‘I know. Everyone’s saying how your quick thinking saved the vineyards.’

D’gar knew it hadn’t been quite as clear-cut as that. He’d only done his job, after all. ‘They’d have figured out the best way to deal with it even if I’d not been there,’ he explained, trying to be modest. ‘R’feem would have done the same.’ He could see from their expressions they didn’t believe it.

‘Maybe you’ll get a lifetime supply of Benden white?’ S’fyn suggested.

‘I wish.’ Although it might mean the tithes were slightly more generous next time. Mind you, that would happen anyway. Once a Pass was underway, everyone realised how vital dragonriders were to the survival of Pern.

‘So, what’s it like, being a Wingleader? In comparison to being a wing rider, or even a Wingsecond?’ That was S’fyn again.

‘More responsibility, for one. But more information as well. I like knowing the complete plan for Fall and being able to make decisions based on that knowledge. When you’re a wingrider, you don’t hear everything that’s passing between the Wingleaders’ dragons.’ Even though he’d only fought one Fall as Wingleader, he knew he’d miss seeing the whole picture when R’feem came back. ‘Mind you, Wingseconds have a fair amount of responsibility as well.’ He added that for W’stel’s benefit as that was probably the most he could hope to aspire to, given the amount of competition there would be for the available positions.

‘Do you think they’ll need more Wings at Southern once it’s fully established?’ S’fyn ventured.

Evidently, he was thinking along the same lines. If there were more Wings, then there’d be more chance to lead one.

‘I would imagine so, if they’re going to try and encourage people to settle there. At the moment, they don’t need many dragons. But that will change once there’s more cultivated land and Holds to protect.’

‘It’s a good way for us to get practice, then.’ S’fyn had apparently worked it all out. ‘M’shol told me that some of them have been flying with F’drun. He said we might be able to do that, too.’

‘Well, yes.’ They were keen and he didn’t want to dampen their enthusiasm, but he felt he should give them some warning regarding F’drun. ‘He used to be a Wingleader at High Reaches and he’s got a lot of experience when it comes to fighting Thread.’ That covered all of F’drun’s good points. ‘If you get the chance, there’s no harm in taking it,’ he added. Maybe that wasn’t such good advice, he thought, almost as soon as he’d spoken.

‘I heard you don’t get on with him.’ S’fyn said. ‘I thought you got on with everyone.’

‘I try to, but F’drun took a dislike to me from the moment we first met.’ Might as well be honest about it.

‘Someone told me he’s a bully,’ W’stel put in.

At least they had been well informed. ‘You should probably make up your own minds about him,’ he said, trying not to reveal his own feelings on the matter. They were almost back to the Lower Caverns by now. ‘I’ll get Herebeth to let your dragons know in good time when we’re ready to fly, all right?’

The two of them went off toward the bath house, while he called Herebeth to take him up to his weyr so that he could freshen up before breakfast.

Alone again and with nothing to occupy his mind as he had a quick bathe in the pool, he found his thoughts falling into the same patterns as they had during the night. Had F’drun really meant anything by that threat, or had it been purely to get him rattled? Well, if that was the case, he’d certainly succeeded. Still, there was no denying that Ryth had flown T’rai’s green and T’rai had ended up in the infirmary. The fact F’drun had said it in the first place meant that he must have some intention of carrying it out. Therefore, it was best to prepare for the worst-case scenario. That would mean H’rek needed to be told, at some point.

Of course, if Rioth rose early, while she was here at Benden, that would solve the problem. It was unlikely though. Based on the interval between the first and second times she’d risen to mate it would happen again when she was back in the south. And if F’drun was still there, he’d be well-placed to send Ryth up after her.

D’gar floated on his back, tracing the patterns in the rocky ceiling, trying to focus his mind.

Was there any chance of getting F’drun out of the way? Probably not. He’d made himself useful at Southern Weyr and Kylara had sufficient influence to ensure he remained, if that was what he wanted. If he was forced to return to Benden, he’d definitely cause problems in the Wing and D’gar’s priority now was to make sure his Wing performed as well as when R’feem had been leading it. Therefore, it was better to leave him in the south, from the Wing’s point of view. Yet that meant he’d be there when Rioth rose. There was no perfect answer to the conundrum. He was back to where he started again.

By the time Herebeth dropped him off at the dining hall for breakfast, he was no nearer to finding a solution. He picked out some eggs and meat rolls and sat down in his usual place.

S’fyn came over, carrying a cup of klah. ‘Mind if I sit with you?’

‘Not at all.’ Talking might distract him for a while, at least until after breakfast.

‘I’ve been thinking about what we were discussing earlier.’

D’gar wondered which part of it. ‘And?’

‘I’ve had an idea.’

‘Oh, yes?’

‘It would probably be useful if you knew what was happening with F’drun, wouldn’t it?’

D’gar glanced around. Not all of the Wing had made it to breakfast yet, so there were still gaps around the table. He leaned closer and lowered his voice. ’It might be.’

S’fyn picked up on his caution and quietened his own tone. ‘Well, while we’re down south, I could try and find out what he’s up to.’

D’gar considered this for a while as he sipped klah. ‘There could be some advantages to that,’ he ventured cautiously. ‘He likes to impress youngsters, so he’ll probably make friends with some of you.’

S’fyn nodded. ‘M’shol’s told me F’drun gets on better with the bronzes than any other colour, so I’m well placed to fit in.’

That was true. ’Why do you want to do this?’

‘I don’t like some of the things I’ve been hearing about him. And I want to help you out. You’ve been good to us.’

‘I appreciate that,’ D’gar said. ‘Just don’t put yourself in any danger.’

S’fyn seemed surprised. ‘You think it could be dangerous?’

It was as well to make him aware of the risks. ‘F’drun is an unscrupulous character. If he gets any inkling you might be passing information to me, things could turn nasty.’

‘I’ll be careful.’

‘In that case, we’d best start right now. Do you reckon you can trust all of your clutchmates?’

‘I’ve not really thought about it but I suppose so.’

D’gar glanced across to them. They all seemed like good sorts, but you could never tell. ’Some of them might be easily influenced. Don’t say anything about what you’re planning to any of them.’ He had another thought. ‘And it’s probably best they don’t see you talking with me from now on.’

‘I understand.’ He got up, then said loudly, ‘So we’re definitely on for flying later?’

‘Should be fine. I’ll make sure to give you some practise with those manoeuvres you mentioned.’

S’fyn gave him a quick wink, then went back to his own table to join the others.

D’gar carried on eating, hoping that he could trust S’fyn. Then he chided himself for being so suspicious. That was the trouble dealing with people like F’drun. They made you question everyone’s motives and doubt even your own judgements.

The next few days passed uneventfully. He led another Fall in the northern part of Benden Hold, close to the Weyr itself. It was a normal Fall this time and everything went smoothly. Afterwards, R’feem took him aside. ‘You seem to be getting the feel for this.’

‘I hope so.’ He knew he’d done a good job so far, but didn’t want to fall into the trap of over-confidence.

‘Well, just to let you know I’m planning on going back to Fort for a while. They’ve plenty of dragons and men for support duty here and if I’m going to be out of action, it might as well be back home. It’ll keep Hebiri happy too.’

He could understand that. ‘Of course.’

‘If you’ve any questions, you can always contact me. I’ll head off in the morning. Seems they have an important announcement to make tonight, so I might as well find out for myself rather than learn about it second hand.’

D’gar had a good idea what it might be and was proved right when Lessa addressed the assembled weyrfolk to announce that she was expecting a baby. ‘I’m going to carry on riding Fall as long as I feel able,’ she said. ‘Although Ramoth and I planned it fairly well together. She’s going to be egg-heavy soon, then she’ll be slobbering over her latest clutch for several weeks so I’d not be able to do much anyway.’

D’gar worked out the timings. By the time Ramoth’s eggs hatched, Lessa would probably be getting to the stage where it would be downright uncomfortable and possibly dangerous to ride her dragon through a Fall. He hoped she’d have an easier time of it than Tirelle, one of the junior weyrwomen at Fort. She’d been unable to do much for a few months after the birth of her third child and Weyr rumour had it that she was lucky to have got through it at all.

‘Nice to hear some happy news for once,’ R’feem said. ‘I’ll be able to take that bit of gossip back with me.’ Wine was being brought out and various Wingleaders were going over to congratulate Lessa. ‘You’d best get up there too, if you want to stay in Benden’s good books.’

D’gar had already congratulated Lessa in private, but he knew R’feem was right. You had to be seen to be doing the right thing. He made his way over to the top table and waited politely until there was a space.

‘My Wing would like to offer you our wishes for a safe and healthy birth.’

Lessa gave him a smile. ‘Thank you, D’gar. And thanks also for your tip about porridge the other day. It does help to reduce the queasiness first thing.’

D’nol and R’gul gave him a sideways glance at that but said nothing. He returned to the table and accepted a cup of wine from R’feem.

‘So, tomorrow’s the day your weyrmate gets back.’

‘That’s right. For a month, anyway, until they swap them around again.’

‘Well, enjoy your time together.’

‘You too.’

Many of the Wing were suffering from hangovers the next morning, so he was kind and didn’t make them do anything too energetic. The morning was taken up with routine tasks and seeing R’feem off to Fort. By lunchtime the Benden weather had decided to welcome the returning riders with a fine drizzle.

That didn’t discourage Herebeth from taking up a position on the fire heights where he waited to greet Rioth. D’gar waited in the dining hall, drinking far too much klah and losing several hands of dragon poker to T’garrin.

They are here, Herebeth announced, giving him a good reason not to join in for another game. Outside, the sixteen dragons had just landed. The other half of Prideth’s clutch were assembled and ready to leave, their belongings packed and bundled onto their dragons. As the riders dismounted, more people started emerging from the dining hall to greet them. Herebeth descended, along with a few other Benden dragons, so that very soon the landing area was a teeming mass of weyrfolk and dragons.

D’gar pushed his way through to find H’rek. It had only been a few days since they’d last seen each other, but it was a relief to have him back safe and well.

‘Never thought I’d be so glad to see Benden rain,’ H’rek said as they hugged.

‘Believe it or not, we’ve had some quite warm and sunny days while you were away.’

H’rek raised his eyebrows. ’Really? It still feels chilly here.’

‘As soon as this lot have shifted, we can get up to the weyr and warm up.’

‘Can’t wait,’ he grinned. ‘But we just need to unload some supplies first. They made us bring back sacks full of fresh fruit and vegetables for the kitchens.’

Close up, he could see Rioth was burdened with more than just H’rek’s possessions. ‘Well, let’s help you get these off, then.’

They ended up waiting in line as Manora checked in the various goods before Lower Caverns workers took them away for storage. Eventually they got back to the weyr. H’rek took his bags off Rioth, leaving her to cuddle up and twine necks with Herebeth.

‘Looks like our dragons have got the right idea,’ D’gar said, leading him through the curtain. ‘Let’s make up for lost time.’

H’rek smiled and pulled him close, then tumbled him onto the bed. ‘It’s good to be home.’