Gone Away, Gone Ahead - 36. Rescue

D’gar sat in his usual place around the table in the council room. Thread would be falling over Bitra and the Weyr itself later in the afternoon.

F’lar had unrolled a map showing the area that would be affected. ‘I’m going to leave two Wings to protect the Weyr. That’ll be you, S’lel and K’net. We all know how distressed the grounded dragons get when they know Thread’s falling and they can’t fly against it, so seeing their wingmates up there might help to reassure them. D’gar, can your Wing take care of the pre-Fall weather reports and sweep the area?’

‘Of course.’ He’d ridden sweep plenty of times himself. It was infinitely preferable to being on clean-up duty.

‘So far it’s looking as if we’ll stay dry today,’ the Weyrleader continued.

Everyone laughed at that. ‘Maybe summer’s reached Benden at last,’ W’lir whispered.

‘Fall will start over the mountains here, then advance over Bitra Hold and the surrounding farmland. I’m estimating around four hours flying time today before trailing edge passes over.’

They’d need to swap out the blues and greens, then. That wouldn’t be too difficult; he’d already worked out a rough plan for the longer Falls.

‘My Wing and R’gul’s will fly the upper levels, D’gar and W’lir, you’ll take the mids and we’ll have S’lan and D’nol just above the Queens’ Wing. Any questions?’

There weren’t, so the meeting broke up, leaving everyone to file out and pass on the information to their Wingseconds.

‘Glad we’re together today,’ W’lir said. ‘I can always rely on your riders to fly a tidy pattern.’

‘You too.’ Benden’s Threadfighting skills had improved vastly, but they still flew in looser formations than the other five Weyrs were used to. It was so much easier to fly a level with folk who understood what you were doing.

‘Heard much from R’feem?’

‘He’s having a nice break. Hebiri won’t let him come back until she’s sure his wrist’s better.’

‘Bet she’ll want to keep him there as long as she can.’

D’gar grinned. ‘I expect so.’

They’d reached the Bowl by then. Herebeth. Can you fetch me please and ask Ondiath and Bitath’s riders to meet in my weyr shortly.

Will do.

W’lir watched as Herebeth glided down. ‘He’s a well put-together dragon, isn’t he? One of Loranth’s?’

‘No, his dam was Kadoth.’

‘Ah yes, Valli’s queen. She was a character.’

‘You knew her?’

‘She came over to Telgar for a Turn when we were short of breeding queens. Had a clutch there.’

‘Oh. I didn’t know.’

‘You’d have been a baby then. I was still a weyrling. But she talked to us all. Not stuck up like some weyrwomen can be.’

He smiled. Thinking of Valli brought back a host of bittersweet memories. He and S’brin had been her favourites to help with Kadoth as she became less able to do those tasks herself through illness. They’d been there on the morning she chose to go between while she was still able to ride her dragon. ‘We were her last clutch.’ Herebeth landed neatly, sending up a brief puff of dust.

‘Ah,’ W’lir said. ‘Sad when someone has to go before their time.’

‘Yes, it is.’ He started to climb up. ‘Fly well.’

‘Have a good Fall.’

Herebeth picked up the image from his mind. Why do you think of Kadoth?

We were talking. It reminded me of her. Had reminded him, too, of S’brin. Valli had always said that Zemianth looked like a miniature Kadoth. They’d shared that light colouring; Kadoth a silvery-gold, like the sun through cloud and Zemianth a green similar to shallow sea water over pale sand.

Rioth was still on the couch when Herebeth landed; H’rek checking the fighting straps before putting them on her. ‘We’re doing deliveries today,’ he said. ‘It’ll make a change from filling up the bags.’

‘Who have they roped in for that?’

‘Some of the men whose dragons aren’t fit to fly and a few Lower Caverns workers.’

‘Might see you up there, then. We’re on mid-level today. I’ve got B’lin and V’vil coming over shortly.’

‘I’ll get out of the way if you want.’

‘No need, if you aren’t ready yet. There’s nothing secret about our meetings.’

‘Well, I might stay for a bit. I can fetch your klah. Sure you won’t try to eat anything?’

‘Better not.’ He’d had the usual porridge at breakfast and a roll for lunch. He didn’t trust his stomach to dare any more. ‘I’ll make up for it later on.’

‘How long do they reckon it’ll be today?’

‘Around four hours. So you’ll be kept busy.’ The bags they took up with them contained enough firestone for approximately two hours flaming, dependent on weather conditions and the amount of Thread that fell.

They both turned as a scrape of talons on stone announced Bitath’s arrival. V’vil slid down and with a brief pat sent his dragon off again. Herebeth settled down next to Rioth, folding his legs like a contented cat.

Don’t get yourself too comfortable. We’ll be flying again soon, D’gar told him.

‘Would you like some klah?’ H’rek asked V’vil.

‘Please.’ He went through to the inner room as Ondiath arrived, dropping off B’lin. While H’rek called down the service shaft, he outlined the plan.

‘I’ll send a couple of my lads up to do a weather report,’ B’lin offered. ‘B’dant and Jokairth aren’t quite recovered from their last mating flight, so they can take it easy today.’

‘Fine. I think we’ll have some of the other greens and blues on sweep. If we put them in on the second shift, they’ll have plenty of time to rest up before they have to take to the air again.’ D’gar checked his list. ’T’rai can check the area close to Benden while T’burrad, V’chal and N’bren cover Bitra Hold.’

‘Just T’rai for the Weyr?’ V’vil queried.

‘He should be fine on his own. After all, there’s nothing else for miles around and everyone should be safely inside. It’s not as if we don’t know what’s coming.’

H’rek brought the klah over. ‘There you are.’

‘Thanks, lad,’ B’lin said. ‘Right, I’ll let my lot know what they’re doing.’ He started relaying the instructions to Ondiath.

D’gar continued. ‘Although we’ve got a four hour Fall today, quite a bit of it’s over mountain and scree. Benden are leaving two Wings to protect the Weyr. Once trailing edge has passed over, they’ll be in reserve in case we need any extra dragons.’

‘Seems fairly straightforward,’ V’vil said. ‘I must admit, I’m getting used to these relatively short Falls. Over High Reaches territory, we often got five or six hour stretches in the air.’

‘In a couple of Turns we’ll be looking back on this as being easy.’ D’gar knew from talking to older riders that during the height of a Pass, when the Red Star was at its closest, the Falls would become both longer and more frequent. Still, by then there should be a lot more dragons available to fight.

‘Wonder if we’ll get rained on today?’ B’lin swilled his klah around the cup before taking a sip.

‘It didn’t look like it earlier. But weather over Bitra can be changeable.’

‘Ground crews aren’t up to much, either,’ V’vil grumbled. ‘Last time we were on clean-up over that area, we had a real job to get them to do any work.’

‘That’s Bitra for you,’ H’rek put in. ‘Everyone here’s always moaning about them. Load of gamblers and ne’er-do-wells, from what I’ve heard.’

‘There’s folk like that in every Hold,’ B’lin said. ‘Still, I’ve heard that particular place has more than their fair share.’

‘Well, nothing much we can do about that.’ D’gar sighed. ‘Suppose I’d better start getting ready. If you two can form up the Wing and get the dragons started on chewing firestone, I’ll be down shortly.’

‘Right-ho,’ B’lin said, finishing his klah. ‘Have a good Fall,’ he said to H’rek. ‘Don’t drop any sacks on those Bitrans.’

H’rek smiled. ‘I’ll try not to.’

‘Might get them working a bit faster.’ V’vil added, as he got to his feet. The two of them went off, chatting companionably.

D’gar took the empty cups and put them back in the service hatch ready to go back down to the kitchens. ‘Don’t forget to put on something warm. You aren’t flying in the south now.’

‘Yes, mum.’

‘Oy. I’m only trying to make sure you don’t get frostbite anywhere important. It can be pretty cold over those mountains, even if it is almost summer.’ He rummaged around for his thick socks. ‘My feet will definitely be the worse for wear after four hours up there.’

‘I’ll be fine,’ H’rek said. ‘Throwing sacks around keeps you warm. And we’ll be back here in between deliveries anyway.’

‘Watch out for Thread, even when you’re at the dump. People sometimes get complacent, forgetting that it’s going to fall over the Weyr too.’ He realised he was in lecturing mode. ‘Sorry. Just pre-Fall nerves. I know you can both take care of yourselves.’ They’d managed through several Falls in the south when he’d not been around, after all. He kicked off his boots and started to put on the socks.

‘Bavi was nervous when she heard Thread was falling here today.’

‘I’m not surprised.’ Her experience in the south would be enough to scare anyone. ‘Still, there’s plenty of shelter and I doubt anything will get through. They’ll be setting fires on the heights soon and there are plenty of spare flamethrowers available.’

‘I can’t imagine what it must be like to be outdoors in Fall. Without a dragon, I mean.’

‘Me neither. That’s why I’ve always had a healthy respect for ground crews. Mind you, with dragons in the air, not much gets through.’

‘Except when there aren’t enough dragons.’ H’rek was obviously thinking of Southern again.

‘Don’t worry yourself about it. The Weyr - and everyone in it - will be safe enough.’ D’gar stomped his boot back on. ‘That’s better. Should be at least two hours before I don’t feel my feet any more.’

‘I heard this story about some kids getting caught out in Fall. They were in an area the Weyrs didn’t overfly; nothing to protect and nothing for Thread to eat…’

D’gar nodded. He’d heard similar tales himself. They never ended well.

‘It was only when they were reported missing anyone thought to look. All they found was a metal belt buckle and the comb the girl was wearing in her hair.’

‘Thread eats everything.’

H’rek shuddered.

‘And on that cautionary note, have a safe Fall.’ On the way past, he pulled H’rek into a hug. He’d intended to just give him a brief kiss, but it turned into something more lingering. Reluctantly, D’gar moved away. ‘Much as I’d like to carry on with this, I’d best get going.’

‘Just wait until I get you in the bathing pool later.’

D’gar shook his head. ‘You shouldn’t say that. It’s tempting fate.’

‘Well, safe Fall, then.’

Herebeth was chewing his fourth chunk of firestone when the weather reports came in. A few clouds, higher than the dragons would be flying, no sign of rain and light wind from the south west. D’gar ordered the sweep riders out. They’d check the area before the Wings arrived, to make sure everyone was safely under cover apart from the necessary ground crews.

Fires were already blazing along the rim of the Bowl. It gave an additional sense of security to those in the Weyr and ensured that no Thread could find its way down the many ventilation shafts into the rooms beneath. A heat haze shimmered above the smoke. R’gul’s Wing flew extra high above it on their way to the meeting point.

D’gar climbed on board, giving the signal for his riders to follow suit as Herebeth sent the instruction to their dragons.

We are ready, he said.

Very well. We’ll fly after K’net’s Wing gets airborne.

I inform Piyanth now.

D’gar caught K’net’s wave of acknowledgement. His Wing took off in a tight formation and flew high over the far end of the Bowl, well clear of all the smoke. Looking in that direction, it was odd to see the beast pens empty; all of them had been corralled away under cover, just in case.

Prepare the Wing for take-off. He glanced around to check everyone was ready before giving the signal to ascend. Herebeth sprang into the air as the downdraught from all of those dragon wings stirred up yet more dust and they were airborne. He followed K’net’s example and headed away from the smoke; he didn’t want to start off coughing from breathing in all that muck. Once clear of the Bowl, they went between to the meeting point at the edge of the mountains.

R’gul and F’lar’s Wings were already circling. The sky was a perfect blue, with just a few fluffy white clouds way above the waiting dragons. Only a faint greyness out on the horizon marred the day; Thread was descending, although still far out of range and currently over a terrain where it could do no damage. He knew that it would reach the Weyr before it got to them; they had a good few minutes waiting time. As they circled, he threw another few chunks of firestone to Herebeth.

Hinarth informs me she has seen something below.

That was T’rai’s dragon, riding sweep close by the Weyr. Did she say what?

They are going to investigate.

D’gar checked the sky again. The grey band of Thread covered more of the sky now, getting closer. Tell Hinarth to watch out for Thread. It must be close to Benden by now.

She is aware… he paused. There are people down there!

People? There were no other dwellings close to the Weyr. Shells! Thread must be close by now.

She descends to land.

D’gar thought quickly. T’rai wouldn’t knowingly put himself or his dragon in danger, but the instinct to protect vulnerable folk could sometimes override self-preservation. Inform Piyanth. Ask if K’net can send a couple of his wingriders to provide cover.

I tell him. Another pause. He says leading edge is in sight of the Weyr now.

This was getting worse. D’gar felt totally helpless as the drama played out far from where he was right now. He couldn’t leave the Wing and he couldn’t afford to be distracted as all too soon they would need to concentrate on fighting their own battles.

Hinarth is on the ground. She says there are two children. Piyanth sends help.

If it was two weyrbrats - and that was the most likely scenario - then they’d be in big trouble with their foster mothers. Big trouble from him as well, when it was all over, for stupidly endangering one of his riders. With no more information forthcoming from Herebeth he forced himself to concentrate on his usual pre-Fall checks. No news was good news; they would know all too soon if anything happened to either T’rai or Hinarth.

Hinarth has them on board. Thread falls over the Weyr. She goes between.

Is she all right? Are they both all right? Of course, he wouldn’t know until they emerged. D’gar hoped fervently that the closeness of Thread and the urgency of the situation hadn’t meant they failed to visualise their destination correctly. It felt like a long, long time before Herebeth finally answered.

They are at the Weyr. They are safe.

He realised he’d been holding his breath. That had been far too close for comfort. But now he could put it aside and deal with the repercussions later. Tell Hinarth she can have a break. We will only call her if we have to.

In the far distance, he saw flashes of fire as the two Wings protected their Weyr. Leading edge rolled on towards them as he gave orders for the Wing to take up fighting formation and prepare to meet Thread.

It was a straightforward Fall, as they went. The light winds meant that none of the smaller colours were overstrained. Thread fell in small tangles, fairly evenly, meaning the dragons could stay in a wedge formation to clear a swathe through. Still four hours was a long haul and by the time they returned to the Weyr, D’gar’s shoulders ached and the taste of charred Thread needed more than the last swig of water in his flask to wash away. Over the Weyr, the last remnants of the fires lingered, smoke rising into the blue sky. Still, everything on the ground seemed to be in order.

Hinarth asks for you.

D’gar slid down carefully, trying to spare his feet. Landing hurt, as always. Where are they? He hoped the two children were all right, apart from having had a scare. He’d had one as well; if anything had happened to T’rai or Hinarth, he’d have been blaming himself. What had he been thinking of, only sending one dragon to sweep the area?

They are at the infirmary.

That didn’t sound too good. I should have sent more than one dragon up to check.

You were not to know, Herebeth responded. It is not your fault. Besides, no harm was done.

We don’t know that for sure yet. He hobbled over to the infirmary. If that pair hadn’t already had a good telling off, he was certainly going to give them a piece of his mind.

The usual line of riders with minor scores were waiting for treatment and several dragons were also being dealt with. He recognised one of the bronzes from Prideth’s clutch, with a nasty score down one side of his neck. His rider, standing worriedly beside the dragon, glared at D’gar as if he had been somehow to blame. Well, if F’drun hadn’t taught them to watch for stray Thread when they were delivering replacement sacks, that wasn’t his problem. Although it probably would be. F’lar had mentioned that he’d like the training sessions to carry on as he’d heard good things about them. Thinking about F’drun took his anger up another notch.

Just inside the infirmary he spotted Manora talking quietly with one of the healers.Two youngsters sat on the edge of a bed, one with a splinted leg. They looked old enough to know better; he’d been imagining small children, seven or eight Turns. This pair looked to be in their teens.

T’rai was there with them, too, standing to one side with folded arms.

‘You’re all right?’ D’gar asked him. ‘And Hinarth?

T’rai nodded. ‘It was a bit close for comfort, I have to say. Thought I was going to have to change my pants.’

It was good that he could joke about the incident, but that didn’t change the fact it could have ended as badly as all of those cautionary tales. ’Are these the two you found?’

T’rai nodded. ‘They…’

D’gar didn’t wait for whatever he was about to say, but rounded on them. ‘You sharding idiots! What did you think you were doing? If my rider hadn’t seen you when he did, you’d have been eaten by Thread.’

The boys flinched away from his raised voice.

T’rai gave him a warning glance. ‘It’s not that simple,’ he said. ‘They aren’t from this Weyr.’

‘They aren’t from any Weyr.’ Manora said, stepping in front of them in a protective fashion. ‘So, please calm down before you flame them.’

T’rai stepped in, too. ‘Manora’s right. They’ve not had an easy time of it.’

D’gar took a deep breath, glaring at the two, who had huddled together. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said, mostly to Manora. ‘I was concerned about T’rai here and his dragon.’

‘Naturally,’ she said. ‘That is your duty as Wingleader. My duty, however is to look after the other inhabitants of this Weyr.’

He narrowed his eyes. ‘I thought you said they weren’t from here.’

She fixed him with a steely glare. ‘They were trying to reach the Weyr. And obviously, they were unaware Thread was about to fall over this area.’

Faced with her explanation, his anger began to fade. She was right. How could they possibly have known the danger just over the horizon.

T’rai spoke up. ‘By the time they saw Thread coming, all they could think to do was run as fast as they could toward the Weyr. Trouble was, they were running toward leading edge…’ He left unspoken what would have happened had he not spotted them.

‘You did a good job.’ D’gar patted him on the shoulder. He turned toward the boys again. They were both scrawny, as if they’d not had enough to eat as they grew. Weyrbrats never looked like that.

The smaller of the two faced him unflinchingly. ‘You gonna send us back?’ he asked. ‘Cos if you do, Thread might as well have got us.’

‘That’s not my decision to make,’ he said firmly. ‘It’ll be up to the Weyrleader and Weyrwoman. Where are you from, anyway?’

The larger lad, the one with the bandaged leg, spoke up. ‘It doesn’t matter where. They don’t want us. My da threw me out.’

‘And mine would’ve too.’

Not brothers, then. They didn’t look that much alike anyway apart from being thin and grubby.

‘Your families are going to wonder where you’ve got to,’ he said. ‘Surely someone will be worried? Your mothers maybe?’

T’rai shook his head. ‘We’ve already been through all this. They won’t say.’

‘Give them a chance,’ Manora said. ‘I’ll make sure they get a decent meal. They may be more willing to tell their story once they’re fed and rested.’

‘Of course.’ At least the matter was out of his hands now. Whether they stayed at Benden or not wasn’t his concern. He turned to T’rai. ‘Wing meeting in the dining hall once everyone’s had a chance to clean up, all right?’

‘Sure.’

By the time he got back to the landing area, Herebeth had gone. Where are you? he asked, still feeling slightly irritable. He should have taken off the straps first. A soaking in lake water wouldn’t do the leather any good at all.

Bathing. There was an impression of disturbed water and many different colours of dragon hide.

As he’d thought. Now he was stranded down here, unable to get to his weyr. This day was going rapidly downhill.

‘Need a lift?’ H’rek strolled toward him, straps looped over his shoulder. ‘I took care of Herebeth. Rioth got her bath in earlier, when our deliveries were done.’ As he finished speaking, the green dragon landed neatly alongside.

‘Glad to see you here. And thanks. I was worried about T’rai.’

‘I saw him bring those lads in. We were still here when it happened, of course, waiting for Thread to pass by.’ He climbed up, then offered D’gar a hand. ‘Talk about cutting it fine.’

Rioth flew them back to the weyr. ‘I should have sent more than one rider on sweep duty,’ he said, voicing his thoughts. ‘V’vil said as much beforehand.’

H’rek shrugged as he got off. ‘You weren’t to know anyone was out there.’

D’gar slid down. At least his feet had warmed up and didn’t hurt any more. ‘They could have been hurt… killed even.’ His mistake weighed heavier now that Fall was past and his anger had abated.

‘But they weren’t. It all turned out fine.’

‘That’s not the point. I should have known.’ He sat heavily on the bed and started pulling his boots off.

‘You are allowed to get things wrong occasionally. Everyone does.’

H’rek was just trying to be nice to him. ‘I can imagine what some of the other Wingleaders will say.’

‘Does it matter? They’re not perfect either.’

‘What can you expect from an inexperienced brown rider.’ He imitated R’gul’s pompous tone. ‘I can hear it even now.’ He threw his left boot across the floor.

H’rek sat down next to him and put an arm around his shoulder. ‘Don’t worry about it so much. I’ll bet all the gossip later on will be about the daring rescue rather than what might have gone wrong.’

He had a point there, D’gar realised.

‘Anyway, if you had sent two riders out, they’d have most likely been checking opposite sides, so only one would have spotted those kids anyway.’

That was probably true, as well. ‘I suppose so.’

‘There you are, then. Now come on, let’s get a bath before you need to go to another one of those interminable meetings.’