Gone Away, Gone Ahead - 41. The Full Story

‘So, here we are.’ F’nor swung open the heavy double doors to the weyrling barracks.

‘It’s huge,’ H’rek’s voice was filled with awe. It echoed in the vast, empty space.

D’gar looked around. The barracks were laid out in a very similar way to those at Fort Weyr. A wide central aisle separated the two rows of dragon couches and narrow beds for the boys. High windows all along the right hand side let in plenty of light and air. ‘How many can it hold?’ he asked.

F’nor shrugged. ‘You’ll have to count. I’ve never seen the place more than a quarter full.’

‘That’s your first job, then,’ he said to H’rek, handing him a wax tablet and scribing tool. ‘And check out those mattresses piled up at the far end to see if they’re usable.’

F’nor went over to one of the beds. ‘This was mine, when I Impressed Canth. F’lar was next to me, this side.’

‘How many were in your clutch?’

‘Just twenty-four.’ He grimaced. ‘That was the largest clutch Nemorth ever laid. And the the last time Simanith flew her…’

He looked sad, D’gar thought. ‘I heard you were only ten Turns old.’

F’nor nodded. ‘That’s right. My father thought we should both stand to give us the best chance of Impressing. Nemorth didn’t rise very often.’

‘That’s how it is, during an Interval.’ He’d read accounts in the archives. Still, with a Pass on the horizon, you’d have thought her cycle would have become more frequent. D’gar still found it hard to comprehend how there’d only been one queen dragon at Benden. If anything had happened to her, or her rider…

‘Nemorth rose less often than most,’ F’nor said. ‘She barely flew at all. And after F’lon was killed, Jora never really recovered.’ He fell silent. ‘Still, at least he got to see us both Impress.’

‘Your father died?’

‘Yes. Murdered by that bastard Fax’s men. Everything went bad after that.’

‘I’m sorry.’ He’d not realised F’nor’s past held such tragedy. ‘You’ll have to tell me about it someday, if you want.’

‘It’s a long time ago,’ he said. ‘We got through it.’

‘One hundred and twenty-five,’ H’rek called from the far end, disturbing the reverie. ‘And most of these mattresses are only fit to burn.’

‘Thanks,’ he called back.

‘Right, then.’ F’nor stood. ‘I’ll show you the rest of it. The necessaries are just down here and the bathing chambers.’

They explored the barracks, finding out where everything was kept, H’rek adding to the ever-expanding list of what was needed to make the place fit for habitation and training again.

‘You say Ramoth laid forty-one eggs the first time? Let’s get fifty spaces ready, just to cover all eventualities for this clutch. D’gar trailed his finger along the lecture table, leaving a line in the dust. ‘The rest we can make ready before she rises again.’ He looked around the empty space, visualising it noisy with young dragons and lads, remembering his own days as a weyrling at Fort.

‘Will we ever see it full?’ F’nor asked.

‘I expect so. Once you’ve a few more queens, there’ll be two or three clutches every Turn. As one lot graduate to the Wings, more will be coming in to replace them.’

‘Sounds like you’ll have your work cut out,’ F’nor said. ‘When we were in here, the clutch before us had long since moved out to their own weyrs.’

D’gar smiled. ‘It’s going to be busy.’

They left the main cavern. ‘The Weyrlingmaster’s quarters are just through here,’ F’nor said. ‘C’gan was the last one to use them. Even when there were no weyrlings, it was easier for him to stay down here. He was getting on in Turns and his joints were stiff.’

D’gar nodded.

F’nor continued. ‘I was thinking you’d probably like to keep your own weyr for when there’s no one in the barracks, but if it’s going to be a continuous process as you say, then I suppose you’ll be moving in here permanently.’

‘I’ll need to, to keep an eye on them all.’ He fingered the knocker mounted on the wall just outside the heavy curtain that led to the main room. It was furnished simply, with large desk, table and several shelves. Doorways off led to the bedchamber and the necessary.

‘No pool,’ H’rek said, disappointed.

‘You’ve been spoiled. Still there’s room enough for Herebeth and Rioth. And at least it’s ground level, so we don’t have to wait for the dragons to ferry us to and fro. You always said you liked that about Southern.’

‘True.’ H’rek walked around, sniffing the air. ‘It smells damp.’

‘We can pull the curtain back and air it out. I expect the ventilation’s been cut off while no-one was using it. Maybe you could get maintenance to take a look?’

H’rek made a note of that as well. ‘Who should I ask about that?’ he said to F’nor.

D’gar reminded himself again that H’rek hadn’t really been at Benden much longer than he had.

‘Manora’s the best person,’ F’nor offered. ‘She’ll be able to point you to any other heads of department you’ll need to talk to as well.’

‘You’re going to be finding out a lot about the way a Weyr works in the next few sevendays,’ It would be a good learning experience for H’rek, he realised, then smiled to himself. He was thinking like a Weyrlngmaster already.

‘Sounds like it,’ H’rek replied. ‘You know, I’ve never really thought about all the different departments you need to run a place like this.’

‘There are usually more support staff than dragonriders at the Weyr,’ F’nor told him. ‘I grew up with most of them. We were all supposed to study another specialty, although that didn’t generally start until you were twelve Turns and I had Canth by then.’

‘I’m definitely going to include that on my training programme. Lads coming in from Holds and Crafts probably don’t even consider all the other jobs necessary to keep the Weyr running. They can still stay on and do useful work even if they don’t Impress.’ D’gar was thinking about the two lads T’rai had rescued. They didn’t have anywhere else to go, after all. ‘Well, thanks for your time, F’nor. Do you know where all the training records are kept? I’d like to have a look at those today.’

‘They’ll be in the main archives, I expect.’

‘I’ll find them. H’rek, if you can work your way through as much of that list as you can this afternoon, I’ll start on the records.’ Although there seemed to be plenty of time, he knew how quickly it would fly. With Fall every two to three days, he had to prioritise his duties as Wingleader, at least until R’feem returned. They’d have to begin Searching soon, too. Although he couldn’t predict exactly how many eggs Ramoth was going to lay, it was as well to overestimate the numbers. Prideth would be clutching at almost the same time and sufficient candidates would have to be sent down to Southern, too. They’d need their own Weyrlingmaster in place, now that it was set to be a permanent Weyr, but for the time being, everything was linked with Benden.

The Benden archives were well organised so it didn’t take too long to find the right section. He brought down an armful of tightly rolled hides and took them over to the table, musing as he did so. Weyrbrats would have absorbed much of what they needed to know just from growing up surrounded by dragons, but as the majority of candidates at Benden wouldn’t have set foot in a Weyr before, there was so much else that should be taught. Yes, the traditional Teaching Ballads covered all aspects of what a dragonrider should learn, but most of them, from his experience, assumed a basic level of knowledge about Weyr life that these lads just wouldn’t have. It was a good job, he reflected, that he’d got to know H’rek. Many of the questions he asked, or the things he hadn’t been told, because it had been assumed he just knew, were going to become a part of the new curriculum. He could even utilise the experience of the Weyrbred candidates to help the others find out more about their new home.

As he unrolled the first hides, his mind began brimming with ideas. He wrote everything down as he worked, using a well scraped piece of hide for his rough notes. The first few months would be the ideal time to cover theory, when the new riders weren’t feeding, bathing or oiling their fast-growing dragons. He remembered the ground training N’teren had made them do, well before the dragons flew for the first time, learning all the hand signals and Wing formations. There’d been plenty of games to improve hand to eye co-ordination, which had helped to get the lads fit as well as getting them to work as part of a team. He and S’brin had done a lot more physical exercise than the training program had required and it had made their job of filling and hefting firestone sacks much easier. He’d be sure to include that too.

The hide gradually filled up. He took a couple of breaks for a quick cup of klah and to stretch his legs. It had been a few Turns since he’d last helped Ballaran, the Fort Weyr Harper, in the archives. There didn’t seem to be a Harper stationed at Benden, although he remembered someone saying that C’gan had fulfilled that role, as well as Weyrlingmaster. They were probably still waiting for a replacement to be sent from the Harper Hall, but it was another question that needed to be asked.

His stomach was telling him it must almost be dinner time when he heard footsteps. He expected to see H’rek and was surprised when Lessa came in, wearing her riding leathers. She slapped her wherhide gloves down on the table rather forcefully. Unease prickled the hairs on the back of his neck as she strode the length of the table. Clearly, something had annoyed her.

He stood, acknowledging her arrival. ‘Weyrwoman.’

‘You don’t need to bother with formalities when we’re alone.’ There was an edge to her voice as she continued. ’We’ve just returned from High Reaches.’

‘Oh?’ He hadn’t thought they’d actually bother to go. Maybe he’d under estimated Lessa.

‘Pilgra was very helpful.’ She stopped next to his shoulder. ‘She said she'd already given you a lot of information regarding F’drun.’

‘Er, yes?’ Pilgra must have told Lessa the same as she’d told him.

‘So why didn’t you say anything the other day?’ Lessa snapped.

Lots of reasons, he thought. ‘Well, it was just talk…’ he began.

‘From a reliable source,’ she said, cutting him off. Although her voice remained level, it was clear she wasn’t pleased by his omission. ‘Several reliable sources, as we’ve discovered today.’

That was true. He’d told R’feem the same when he’d reported his findings. But he’d rather not bring R’feem into this. And he still needed to keep his promise to S’fyn. ‘I’ve no excuse,’ he said quietly. ‘But if you were going there anyway I reckoned you’d find out for yourself.’ How much of the story had she found out, he wondered? ‘I didn’t want to spread unfounded gossip.’

‘Gossip or truth?’ she asked. ‘Because what Pilgra told F’lar and myself was undoubtedly true. And you already knew all of this. You could have told us, when I gave you the opportunity.’

He tried not to squirm under her gaze. She was right, of course. But he couldn’t tell her why.

Her voice lashed at him like a whip. ‘I have to admit, I thought of F’drun as merely irresponsible before. It’s more serious than that now. And what I can’t work out is why you’d try to hide what he’d done.’

D’gar tried to explain, without giving too much away. ‘I didn’t want to say any more about F’drun back then, because…’ he paused to try and work out how best to say it. ‘I was worried about putting anyone at risk.’

Lessa threw that right back at him. ’From what I’ve been told there are at least two deaths laid at his feet already! Did you know about those?’

‘Some of them.’

She shook her head sadly. ‘Then I don’t understand why you thought it necessary to protect him.’

‘I’m not protecting him. I’m protecting…’ he stopped himself, realising he couldn’t go any further without giving away too much. ‘I just can’t,’ he said.

Lessa paced the length of the table. ‘Is it because you both came forward from the past? I know you people have your own way of doing things. But does that extend to protecting someone who doesn’t deserve it? I thought you were serious when you said you wanted to join us at Benden Weyr, but maybe I was wrong.’

D’gar didn’t dare to say anything. He knew how she’d interpret his silence, but he had no choice.

‘The man’s a liability. I said as much to T’kul.’ She turned at the end of the table. ‘Fat lot he was interested. “He’s your problem now,” he told us. I had to remind him that all of you are only seconded, not transferred and that we’ll be the ones to decide when to send you back.’

D’gar’s heart sank. Did that apply to him as well? ‘Does that mean… do you not want me here now?’ He wouldn’t blame them, given what he’d deliberately concealed.

‘Tell me something.’ She leaned over and fixed him with that steely gaze of hers. ‘Do you trust us - myself and the Weyrleader - to act in the best interests of everyone in this Weyr?’

‘Well, yes…’

‘That you, or anyone else can rely on our protection?’

He nodded.

‘Then why didn’t you tell us we were harbouring a tunnel snake under our noses?’

‘I didn’t think you’d take it seriously,’ he said, honestly. That had been his previous experience, after all. ‘And if F’drun got to know in the meantime, I’d be responsible for someone getting injured, maybe even killed. We were going to tell you everything, as soon as he got back.’

She pounced on that. ‘He?’

‘One of the Southern riders,’ he admitted. ‘He’s found out some information about F’drun that’s… well, quite serious. If it had been a matter of urgency, I’d have said something right away, but we had good reason to believe nothing’s going to happen for a while.’

Lessa stared at him for a couple of seconds before speaking. ’I think we need to sit and discuss this, right now. You, me and the Weyrleader, together.’

‘I understand.’ She thought the worst of him. Still, at least S’fyn would stay safe.

‘Come on, then. Put those hides away.’ She glanced down at his scribbled notes. ‘It looks as if you’ve been putting in quite a lot of work here.’

‘Yes.’ He paused. Had all of it been for nothing, he wondered? ‘I’m sorry I didn’t tell you right away.’

Her expression mellowed slightly. ‘You were fortunate Ramoth took her time landing. When we left High Reaches I was furious.’

He rolled up the hide he’d been reading and carefully returned everything to its proper place, conscious she was watching his every move. He wanted to crawl away and hide, but knew that wasn’t an option.

She led the way into her weyr. Ramoth gazed solemnly at him as he passed, as if she too was judging his actions. Lessa gestured for him to sit, just as F’lar came through from another room. Thankfully, he didn’t seem quite as angry as Lessa had been, but D’gar still felt uncomfortable. He’d let them down, betrayed their trust. They had every right to find him wanting.

‘Well,’ F’lar said. ‘The mood Lessa was in when we landed, I’m surprised to see you’re still in one piece.’ He sat in another of of the chairs.

‘I apologise, Weyrleader. I had my reasons.’

‘Which, hopefully, we’ll find out. So, tell us what you know. From the beginning. Then we can see if our information matches up.’

D’gar took a deep breath. ‘You already know what’s happened here at Benden, so there’s no need to go over that again. But it was because of what F’drun did to me and a couple of instances the other riders had mentioned that I wanted to find out more.’

‘What did they tell you?’ Lessa asked.

‘About his former Wingleader’s death. The flamethrower incident?’

F’lar nodded. ‘Yes, we heard about that too. It’s in their records.’

‘Entered as an accident,’ D’gar said. ‘Although several folk implied that wasn’t the case. They said F’drun sabotaged it.’

‘Pilgra confirmed that. It’s common knowledge at High Reaches and one of the reasons T’kul sent F’drun here.’ Lessa shook her head. ‘He’s not the friendliest of characters either, is he?’

‘I’ve not met him.’ Folk like me don’t get to talk to Weyrleaders very often, he thought. Not unless we’re in a lot of trouble. Like now, for example.

‘So, F’drun was promoted to be Wingleader via a convenient accident,’ Lessa went on. ‘I asked T’kul why he’d done that, too. He said that once we’d been fighting Thread for a few Turns we’d understand.’

‘Sometimes it’s more to do with who’s available than whether they’re a perfect fit for the job,’ D’gar explained. ‘F’drun was experienced and he’d been Wingsecond. Most Weyrleaders would consider that to be sufficient qualification.’

‘True,’ F’lar said. ‘I could see his thinking there. Although I don’t think I’d care to promote someone suspected of having plotted their Wingleader’s death.’

‘It wasn’t proved,’ D’gar said. ‘And in any case, the other Wingsecond was V’vil and his dragon had come too close to catching Merika’s Elyth. T’kul’s not fond of him.’

Lessa raised her eyebrows. ‘Well, that’s as may be. So, what did you discover about F’drun’s time as Wingleader?’

‘He was a bully. He’d choose people to pick on. I wasn’t the first by a long way. One rider ended up drinking himself to death because of it.’

‘Pilgra showed us the Wing’s disciplinary records. Did you see those as well?’

‘I don’t think so. The records were in rather a mess when I was there.’ He was interested as to what she’d seen. ‘Although I know he liked dunking folk in the Weyr lake.’

‘Yes, he had some fairly extreme ways of punishing people,’ F’lar agreed. ‘Surprised the Weyrleader allowed it, really. I’ve always found a few sevendays on watch duty or revoking privileges is all that’s needed.’

‘It was the same at Fort,’ D’gar said, hoping they wouldn’t take High Reaches as an example of the way all the other Weyrs operated. ‘When I was a weyrling, midden duty was a favourite, too.’

‘Anyway,’ Lessa interrupted. ‘It probably won’t surprise you to know that some riders were badly hurt in the process.’

It didn’t. ‘Did you hear about the ground crew disaster as well?’ he asked. That had been the worst incident by far.

‘We were only told he was demoted through negligence. Although based on all the evidence, it should have happened well before it did. Do we need to know the details?’

‘It’s not essential. Three more deaths, though.’ He sensed the disapproval in their gaze. ‘I suppose I might as well tell you the rest. You won’t have discovered it at High Reaches, because it didn’t happen there. It’s happening right now.’

F’lar looked puzzled.

‘D’gar mentioned it to me, earlier,’ Lessa said. ‘That’s why I brought him in here.’

Once he revealed what he’d discovered, then hopefully they would act fairly quickly. But he still didn’t want to take any chances with S’fyn’s life. ‘I’ll tell you on one condition. There’s a rider in Southern who gave me this information and he’s afraid that if F’drun finds out he’s the one, he might… well, get hurt. Or worse. He needs to be brought back here right away, for his own safety.’

‘Or we remove F’drun from Southern?’ Lessa suggested.

‘If that can be done. Although, you should know he’s been encouraging some of the younger riders to act in a similar way. I don’t think they’re necessarily bad, just misguided.’

‘Which riders?’ F’lar asked.

‘Some of H’rek’s clutchmates. Bronzes.’

F’lar raised his eyebrows. ‘I’d have hoped they’d have more sense than that.’

‘They’re young,’ D’gar said. ‘And easily influenced.’

‘Well, we can deal with them later. And make sure this other rider is all right. How did he get into all this in the first place?’

‘He volunteered.’ D’gar knew he had to tell them the whole story, even if it made him seem still more careless. How could they ever trust him enough to put him in charge of weyrlings now? They’d probably send him back to Fort once they knew how he’d let S’fyn put himself in danger. ‘After we’d been doing some training, he mentioned he’d like to help. He’d realised that F’drun was befriending bronze riders.’

‘He’s a bronze too?’

D’gar nodded. ‘He knew he’d be able to get close to F’drun and win his trust. He’s a decent lad and didn’t like the way some of the others were behaving. I know that I was irresponsible to encourage him, but it seemed like a good way to find out what F’drun was up to. I knew he was up to something, you see, but without proof, it’s hard to get anyone to take it seriously.’

‘I can assure you that I’m taking it very seriously.’ F’lar leaned forward. ‘So, what did he discover?’

D’gar quickly gave him the background; the story F’drun had told them about the High Reaches Weyrleader, the questions he’d asked to find out if they were discontent with the Southern leadership and finally, his plan to get them to interfere with mating flights as practice for the ultimate goal. ‘That’s why I was so worried about H’rek. I was pretty certain that would be one of the first flights he’d go for, because of what he’d said to me.’

Lessa frowned. ‘Do you reckon Kylara knows any of this?’ she asked F’lar.

‘For her sake, let's hope not,’ he said. ‘So, to re-cap, F’drun gets these youngsters to block other dragons during Prideth’s next mating flight in order for him to become Weyrleader?’

‘That’s right. And if he follows the same plan as he told them about, makes sure T’bor and Orth are in no position to take part in the first place. Ryth’s never won a gold flight. He doesn’t have the stamina or speed. F’drun can only get what he wants the dirty way.’ That was it. They knew everything now. He bowed his head, feeling almost as wrung out as if he’d ridden a four hour Fall. ‘Make sure S’fyn’s out of his way,’ he pleaded. If anything happened to the lad, he’d never forgive himself.

He heard Lessa get up and walk across the room. She called for klah down the service shaft.

D’gar felt strangely numb. All there was left to do now was to pack his few belongings and leave the Weyr. He could imagine his reception back at Fort; even though they didn’t much like the Benden way of doing things, he’d be in disgrace for sullying Fort’s good name. He might end up on midden duty for the rest of his life, or be demoted to shovelling firestone. And he’d never be able to see H’rek again.

There was a rumble as the order was delivered. Lessa carried it back and set it down on the table. ‘Klah?’ she asked.

He didn’t reply, assuming she was speaking to F’lar.

‘D’gar?’ she asked sharply. ‘Do you want a cup of this nice, fresh klah?’

‘Oh, er, yes. Thank you.’ It made it worse that she was being kind. ‘Um, when do you want me to leave?’ he asked. ‘I’m sure V’vil will manage to lead the Wing for the next Fall.’

Lessa poured the klah. ‘Why would we ask you to leave?’

‘Because I didn’t tell you the truth. I’ve endangered lives and acted irresponsibly. It’s what I deserve.’ Except he couldn’t see how he could have acted any differently, given the circumstances. How could he have known they’d take the threat as seriously as he had?

‘If anything, we’re partly to blame,’ Lessa said, in a kindly way. ‘We should have investigated more thoroughly as soon as F’drun acted as he did with you.’

‘There was a lot going on,’ D’gar said. ‘It wasn’t important in the grand scheme of things.’

‘Still, if he’d been sent back then, things would never have gone so far.’

D’gar had been told High Reaches wouldn’t take F’drun back. But he’d not heard that from any official sources. There’d been a lot of assumption on his part, he now realised. ‘I thought you weren’t interested,’ he said. Being honest wasn’t going to make things any worse right now. ‘All of us riders from the other Weyrs were sent to Benden, but we never felt like we belonged. We didn’t feel as if we could bring problems to you. Or even that we should. That’s why I figured the only way was to deal with it myself. I knew F’drun was dangerous, even before I found the proof at High Reaches. When he started spending time with Kylara, I was convinced he was up to something. It was just a question of finding out what.’

‘Which you managed very well,’ F’lar said. ‘You may not have acted in a completely orthodox way…’

‘Well, no.’

‘But then if I’d been sent to an unfamiliar Weyr and didn’t know who I could turn to, I might have done the same. We’re not exactly strangers to doing things differently here at Benden.’ F’lar took sip of his klah. ‘You’ve helped a lot of folk since you came here. F’nor mentioned you’d told him how one of our injured riders was being bullied by F’drun.’

D’gar nodded. ‘You mean C’vash? He didn’t deserve that kind of treatment.’

‘And it should have been noticed and dealt with. But as you said, these have been extraordinary times. We’ve all made some mistakes. I’m not going to hold them against you. But you are going to help us put it all right.’

D’gar looked up, a faint hope stirring. ‘What do you want me to do?’

‘We’ll be taking a trip to Southern first thing tomorrow. Myself, Lessa, you and F’nor. I’m going to have him question those youngsters about what’s been going on. Meanwhile your S’fyn can tell us what he’s found out. T’bor needs to know as well. We’ll sort this out once and for all.’

D’gar felt an immense sense of relief. ‘Thank you,’ he said.

‘Now drink your klah before it gets cold.’ Lessa handed him the cup. ‘Meet us here after breakfast in the morning. F’drun’s not going to know what’s hit him.’