To the Weyr - 15. The Tithe Road

It was dusk by the time they found the cave, although Belior was rising and Timor already high above the horizon, providing sufficient light to see by. Jevikel knew he shouldn’t fear pursuit here, yet he still felt uneasy. Something kept pushing him, nagging at him to reach the Weyr as quickly as they could. Fortunately, Kadin was sensible enough to force him to rest. He found a cold mountain spring and soaked a cloth in it to wrap around Jevikel’s knee while they drank klah and ate the hard boiled eggs with some bread and fresh cheese.

They lay watching the sky darken and stars appearing one by one as the light faded. Jevikel felt the warmth of Kadin’s body next to his and after all those months of deliberate separation, it was wonderful. ‘Just think, we’ll never have to pretend again. We can be ourselves.’

‘I know.’ Kadin snuggled closer, pulling the blanket around them as the air turned chilly. ‘No more sneaking away into caves or waiting until we get sent out with the herds.’

‘We can do what we want, when we want.’ Despite the discomfort of his knee, being next to Kadin made his body respond as it always did.

Kadin looked directly into Jevikel’s eyes. ‘Here? Now?’

‘Why not. It’s the best way to celebrate our freedom.’

Some time later, as his breathing returned to normal, Jevikel looked up at the moons again, Kadin nestled at his side and thought about how lucky he was.

Kadin shook him from his reverie. ‘Wonder what’s happening at the Hold?’

It brought him back to reality. They were on the run and while it was unlikely anyone would follow tonight, they still had to travel a long way. He hoped Merida wouldn’t get into any bother over their escape and that Gatri was feeling full of remorse. Perhaps she’d assume her threats had led to their running away. ‘Nothing probably. Vikkel won’t send anyone out after dark. They may have gone up to the caves to look, but that’s about it.’

‘You were convinced they’d be after us earlier.’

‘I thought it was that, at the time. But I’ve still got the same feeling here. It’s a threat, but nothing I can put my finger on. I just know we have to reach the Weyr as soon as we can.’

Kadin glanced up at the sky, as so many did these days. ‘Thread? But it’s not due for another five days.’

‘Like I said, I can’t pin it down. The feeling’s vague, but there. It’s sort of similar to the way I felt when we were on the way back from Valley Narrows. That time I put it down to worry we wouldn’t get back in time and concern about you.’

‘I had a weird feeling that time, too. The night before Thread fell, I kept waking up and going to check on the herd. A bit like the time before the shake. That’s what I thought might be about to happen, until the dragonriders turned up and told us to get under cover.’

Kadin hadn’t really talked about that day and Jevikel hadn’t pressed him on it. Now he lay back, stroking Kadin’s chest and waited for him to say more, if he felt like it.

‘It was chaos. We didn’t really have enough time to round all the beasts up. You know how some of them always wander further afield. I knew we’d be hard pressed to keep them in the cave, but we managed for a while. Maybe I should have gone out to help Berrand…’

‘I’m glad you didn’t.’

‘It was horrible.’ He paused before continuing. ‘The Thread didn’t fall right on top of them. That would have been merciful. It got the herdbeast first. I yelled at Berrand to let go; to try and get back to the cave, but he was just watching it, like he was frozen. Then when it reached his arms, he started screaming.’

Jevikel could imagine that part all too well.

‘He fell on the floor, thrashing around. He was calling out for help. I don’t know how many heartbeats it was before it killed him, but it felt like far too long. After it ate him and the beast, it stopped growing so fast. They were on scree, so I suppose there was nothing else for it to devour. Later on, a dragon came down and burned it, but it was barely moving by then. I reckon it was already dying.’

Jevikel shuddered at the images conjured by Kadin’s words. ‘Vile stuff,’ he said. ‘I just want to burn as much of it as I can, whether that’s with a flamethrower or on a dragon.’

‘Me too,’ Kadin agreed. ‘Do you think they’ll let us stand?’

‘Blue Relth thought we had a good chance.’

‘That was months ago. What if it’s different now Thread’s falling? Maybe they’ll only want folk born at the Weyr to Impress dragons?’

‘We won’t know until we get there. Anyway, even if they don’t, it’s got to be better than Pinnacle.’

They took everything into the cave to sleep. It was less comfortable than being outside, near the fire, but neither of them wanted to take that risk, especially after being reminded of the deadly efficiency of Thread.

Dawn brought the usual herald; the Red Star illuminating the jagged peaks as if dipped in blood. Kadin brewed more klah and they ate some bread and the last of the cheese before setting out again. It was strange to think he was following in Kemi’s footsteps, although there was no trace of her passage. He felt insignificant, dwarfed by the impassive mountains.

‘Desolate place,’ Kadin said, echoing his thoughts. ‘Glad we’re not going it alone like Kemi did.’

It was slow going. Although they tried not to climb too much, there were times when the easiest route forced them first to ascend, then descend. Jevikel’s knee had still been sore from the previous day’s exertions and each step made the dull ache worse. He wished he had some numbweed. Why hadn’t they thought to bring any? But then, maybe that wasn’t such a good idea. If it was numbed, he might push on even faster and do more damage to it. At least when they reached the Weyr he’d be able to rest properly and let it heal.

Tracking their course on the map, they seemed to have gone only a third of the distance towards the Weyr. He pointed out the cave where Kemi must have stopped on her first night in the mountains, but even when they searched, they could find no trace of the fire she’d have made. Winter’s snow and ice would have scoured the rocks clean.

‘Looks like we’ll be stopping out here again tonight.’ Jevikel didn’t want to. That uneasy feeling urged him to push on towards the Weyr, yet he knew his body wasn’t capable of the pace it would take to get there before nightfall.

‘Fresh start in the morning’ll be best.’ Kadin sounded out of breath.

They both were, even though it was no steeper than the track up from the Hold to the caves. It felt as if he couldn’t get enough air into his lungs, no matter how deeply he inhaled. As they descended to follow the course of an icy cold stream, he found breathing became easier again.

‘Air gets thinner the higher you climb,’ Kadin informed him when he commented on the phenomenon. ‘Wonder how dragons and their riders cope? They must fly higher than we are now.’

‘Get used to it, maybe.’ As on the previous day, there wasn’t much talking. Jevikel concentrated on each step, aware the weakness in his knee was putting more strain on other joints. It wouldn’t do to turn an ankle out here, far from any assistance.

The mountains seemed to go on and on. Jevikel’s stomach grumbled and he took a small bite of bread from his pack. They had to conserve food. There wasn’t anything edible to gather so it was a case of relying on what they carried for sustenance. His mind began to taunt him with the sight and smell of roast wherry at Turn’s End, the moist spiciness of the traditional cake. Even a bowl of the thin stew served over last winter would be welcome right now.

He checked the map again. It looked as if they must be close to another cave Kemi had marked; probably where she’d spent her second night. Although the sky would remain light for a while yet, he felt exhausted. Even the drive to carry on couldn’t overcome the demands of his body to rest. When he spotted the cave, uphill from their path, he changed course and headed for the shelter.

There was no fire, or klah that night. The mountains were bare of anything that could be used for fuel. Had that been the case before Thread, Jevikel wondered, or had even the tough plants able to put roots down into the scree succumbed to it?

They drank the cold mountain water for refreshment. Kadin discovered some grain cakes bound together with sweet syrup and they shared them, together with the last few morsels of dried fruit. ‘Let’s save the bread for morning,’ Jevikel said. ‘I reckon we can make it to the Weyr by midday.’

‘Good.’ Kadin made the cake last. ‘I’ve got blisters on both heels.’

‘You too?’ Although they were both used to walking long distances, it was usually over less uneven terrain. ‘It’ll be lovely to soak my feet in warm water.’

‘It’ll be even better to get a proper meal.’

They lay together as they had the previous night, conserving warmth as night fell. ‘This time tomorrow, we’ll be there,’ Kadin said.

‘Wonder how big it is? Bigger than Valley Narrows, I should think.’

‘Bigger than Bitra Hold, so I’ve heard. There’s room for five hundred dragons inside.’

Having seen dragons close up, Jevikel marvelled at a cave large enough to hold so many, plus all of their riders too. Not to mention all of the other folk, such as Kemi, who worked there. Children, too. He fell asleep imagining the vastness of the Weyr, not such a distant dream now.

Over breakfast, Jevikel spoke his thoughts, mainly to distract himself from the urge to get up and start walking. ‘We have to be prepared when we get there. Make sure our stories match.’

‘Eh?’

‘I know it’s said everyone’s welcome, but I’m sure they don’t take in just anyone who turns up. We need them to think we were in real danger.’

‘Weren’t we? If Gatri had gone through with her threat…’

‘Yes, but she didn’t. We have to say my father found out about us. I’ll tell them what happened to Rosh and Col. We ran away, afraid the same would happen to us and that we’d be thrown out of the Hold with Thread about to fall.’

Kadin nodded. ‘There’s an element of truth to it, even if that’s not exactly how it happened.’

‘And we mustn’t say where we’re from, in case they want to send us back.’

‘I don’t think they’d do that.’

‘Better to be safe than sorry.’ Being returned to Pinnacle was about the worst fate he could imagine. ‘You know more about the Weyr than I do, but neither of us really know how it works.’

‘True.’

‘Now finish your klah and we’d best get going.’

‘You’ve still got that feeling?’

‘Yes, stronger than before, too.’

It didn’t take long to pack. The first steps were the worst, as Jevikel’s knee had stiffened overnight. He let Kadin lead the way down from the cave. According to the map, they should be coming out of the mountains proper and into the foothills soon. The terrain there would be more like the hills around Pinnacle Hold. Once they reached the tithe road, the going would be much easier.

The sun climbed higher, with just a few fluffy clouds punctuating the blue of a summer sky. It was mostly downhill now; a sign they must be on the right track. By mid morning, the high peaks had given way to a more hospitable terrain, with occasional bushes and even clumps of the rough pasture favoured by horned herdbeasts. Jevikel was surprised to see none grazing here. He’d have thought the local herders would have utilised it to fatten their flocks.

Ahead of them, more dark peaks loomed. The Weyr must be somewhere among them, although he couldn’t see exactly where. At least the road would guide them to the right place, once they found it. Kadin made him stop for a while as they shared out the last morsels of food.

‘I wonder why dragons live so far from the places they need to protect?’ he asked.

‘I’m not sure.’ Kadin chewed thoughtfully. ‘It’s just tradition. Maybe it’s so the dragons don’t scare herdbeasts?’

That made sense. Jevikel gazed across the rough land. He checked the map yet again. The tithe road should be just to their right, an almost straight line leading to the Weyr. ‘I reckon we’ll reach that road soon.’

‘Good. I’ve got blisters on my blisters now.’ Kadin gave a wry smile. ‘Had enough of a rest?’

Jevikel nodded. He hadn’t, but there was no point in sitting around any longer when they were almost there. ‘Come on, then.’

He shouldered his pack - so much lighter now all the food had gone - and set off. In the midday heat, the stones shimmered as if underwater, confusing the eye as to distance. As they neared it, the road became plain: a wide path levelled with crushed stone. It led across open ground into a rocky pass.

‘Yes!’ Jevikel had been worrying he’d made a mistake, but here they were, on the final stretch at last. Walking was much easier on the road, although it had been made for carts. The middle part, between the wheel ruts was the best place to walk. He concentrated on putting one foot before the other, trying to ignore the ache of his knee, the blisters and the heat. He didn’t look up very often, because whenever he did that huge, regular shaped mountain straight ahead seemed no closer. It had to be the Weyr.

‘Looks like someone’s lit a fire,’ Kadin commented. ‘Must be meal time.’

Jevikel raised his eyes from the road. He was pleased to see the mountain seemed much closer, yet something seemed amiss. Cooking fires never gave out such black, billowing clouds of smoke. As he searched the sky above, he suddenly saw dragons ascending in a tidy V formation, obviously leaving the Weyr. He pointed them out to Kadin.

As he watched, they abruptly disappeared into thin air. He had to blink and check the sky again. ‘What the…?’ Not that he had a great deal of knowledge about dragons, but he’d never seen them do that before. Just to prove it wasn’t a fluke, another group followed, blinking out of existence exactly as the first ones had. ‘I didn’t know dragons could do that,’ he said to Kadin.

‘Neither did I. Wonder where they went to?’

Both of them carried on looking, to see if they’d reappear, but they didn’t. More dragons began to leave, also disappearing once they’d reached a certain height.

‘You don’t think the Weyr’s on fire, do you? All that smoke.’ He hoped he was wrong; it would be dreadful to reach their destination just as it was being evacuated.

‘I don’t know. There is a lot of it, though.’ Kadin shielded his eyes as he checked the sky. ‘Oh, no,’ he said suddenly. ‘Look over there, to the north east.’

The blue horizon had turned a threatening grey, even though there wasn’t any cloud around for it to be rain. ‘Is that what I think it is?’

‘I hope not.’

The unease turned to dread in Jevikel’s guts. ‘It’s Thread.’ He had no idea how long it would take to reach them and didn’t want to find out. ‘We have to run.’ He assessed the distance between where they stood and the entrance to the Weyr. It was similar to that between the caves and Pinnacle Hold and slightly uphill. They might make it, just about.

Kadin glanced at him, fear in his eyes. ‘We can’t outrun it. It’s coming towards us.’

‘We have to try.’ Jevikel began to jog, his knee protesting with each impact on the ground. Kadin jogged alongside him. ‘You can run faster than that,’ he said between breaths. ‘Best go on ahead.’

‘No. I’m staying with you.’

Jevikel concentrated on placing his feet, not daring to look up at the sky. He pushed on, forcing himself to lengthen his stride. He could do this. The Weyr lay ahead, an impossible goal, but giving up wasn’t an option.

Kadin glanced up. ‘It’s getting closer.’

‘Don’t look. Just run.’ Although they were covering ground, it wasn’t fast enough. He’d had dreams sometimes, where he was trying to escape something monstrous, but no matter how hard he tried, his legs felt as if they were bogged down in mud. This was the same. He stumbled, his bad knee refusing to bear his weight for a moment, then recovered. One foot in front of the other. Simple, really, until his knee gave way again and he fell. Sharp rock abraded his hands. He pushed himself up, aware of a new, intense pain in his ankle.

Kadin stopped, offering a hand.

‘I can’t,’ he gasped. ‘You can make it, though.’

‘No.’ Kadin dropped to the ground next to him. His eyes flicked up toward the sky.

It seemed to be growing steadily darker, as if a storm was coming. Except this storm was deadly. ‘Help me up.’ If he was going to die, he’d die standing. That way, Thread might hit his head first. It would be relatively fast.

Kadin pulled him to his feet. Jevikel held his gaze. ‘Just look at me.’ He could drown in those dark eyes. He wanted Kadin to be the last thing he saw…

‘Hey! You two!’

Jevikel let his eyes focus beyond Kadin’s left shoulder. There was a dragon; a green dragon, settling to land ahead of them on the road.

The rider shouted at them. ‘You sharding fools! Thread’s almost on us. Get over here!’

The urgency in his tone got through. He put one arm across Kadin’s shoulders and half-hopped, half-stumbled toward the dragon.

The rider let down a long strap. ‘Grab on to that.’

Jevikel felt something beneath his good foot. It was the dragon, helping to boost him up with a foreleg. He and Kadin ended up behind the rider, sprawled between two ridges of the creature's neck.

‘Just keep a hold of each other and that strap. We’re taking off.’

The dragon launched from the ground with a powerful lurch. Jevikel saw strands of Thread fall to the left of them, but also flame withering it. Other dragons had come to their aid. Just as he registered this, the world turned black, silent and utterly cold. He couldn’t see, or feel, or hear anything; neither the dragon beneath him nor Kadin beside him. Was this dying?

Before he had a chance to complete the thought, light and warmth returned. They were surrounded by high walls of dark rock. Now he could see that fires had been lit atop the ridges to either side and there were people up there, feeding them fuel.

The dragon turned in a slow descent towards the ground. ‘Hang on,’ the rider said. ‘Almost there.’

They landed gently, although it still jarred. Jevikel saw a green wing furl neatly against the dragon’s shoulder. The rider slid down, then offered a hand firstly to Kadin, then to him.

‘This is as close as I can get to the infirmary,’ he said. ‘Can you walk a bit further?’

There were lots of people standing around. People and dragons. He felt their eyes on him as Kadin and the dragonrider helped him toward the open doorway.

‘What’s this?’ asked a brusque female voice.

‘Two kids I just found outside the Weyr.’

Jevikel’s senses had returned enough to recognise he had an unfamiliar accent.

‘Come on, then.’ The woman led the way over to a pallet. ‘Best get out of the way before casualties start to arrive.’

Jevikel didn’t need any encouragement to take the weight off his leg. It hadn’t hurt much before, but now the dull throb of his knee vied for attention with the new, shooting pains from the ankle he’d turned. Kadin leaned against him and Jevikel didn’t have the heart to push him away. Who cared what the rider thought; what anyone thought. They were still alive.

‘You aren’t from Benden?’ The rider’s question broke into his thoughts.

‘No.’ Think before speaking. Don’t give anything away.

‘We were trying to get here.’ Kadin said.

Jevikel nudged him, to remind him of what they’d agreed earlier. It felt an age ago, the other side of near death. ‘We were thrown out of the Hold where we lived,’ he said quickly.

‘Ah.’ The rider agreed, as if this might be quite a usual reason for people to come to the Weyr. ‘Do you have names?’

Jevikel was reluctant to tell him, even though common sense told him there was no way the rider would be able to tell from that where they had come from.

‘Fair enough,’ the rider said. ‘I’ll go first. T’rai, of green Hinarth.’

‘Kadin.’

‘Jevikel,’ he followed.

T’rai took off his riding cap, revealing short-cropped curly black hair. He also removed his thick hide jacket. ‘Bit warm down here and the boss says I don’t need to go back up unless they get short-handed.’

Jevikel couldn’t recall anyone speaking to him, but he assumed T’rai knew what he was talking about. ‘We didn’t know Thread was about to fall. Thought it would be another couple of days.’

‘Maybe, wherever it is you’re from. But it doesn’t fall in the same time and place everywhere on Pern, you know.’

He hadn’t, although that made sense. Weather passed over in waves, after all. ‘Sorry if we put you and Hinarth in danger.’

‘Yes, sorry,’ Kadin added.

‘It’s our job.’ He grinned, flashing healthy-looking teeth. ‘We were on sweep. And it’ll make a good story.’

Just then, the woman returned, carrying bandages and a covered pot. ‘Right. Let’s have a look at your leg. Drop your trousers.’

Jevikel glanced around. Apart from the woman and T’rai, other people were going to and fro past them. It wasn’t very private.

T’rai must have sensed his discomfort. ‘Don’t worry about it. Weyrs are a bit different to Holds when it comes to what’s appropriate. As you’ll find out.’

‘Will we be allowed to stay?’ Kadin asked.

‘That’s not up to me, or the healer here.’ T’rai indicated the woman, who was waiting slightly impatiently to one side.

‘They’re new arrivals?’ she asked.

‘Seems like.’

‘Maybe you could ask Manora to drop in, then. That’s her province.’

T’rai nodded. ‘Your wish is my command, my lady.’ He gave a little bow, then strode out, jacket slung over one shoulder.

‘Riders,’ she said, tutting. ‘All the same. Now, if you’re ready…’