Anne McCaffrey: Dragondrums

“Half-empty?” Sebell caught Menolly’s eye.

“Yes, the sack arrived with the top loosened and she’s certain some of the shipment, some materials she’s been plaguing the Masterweaver for, dropped out between . Why?” Toric caught the significant glances between the harpers. “Oh, that missing lad you queried me about several sevendays back? You think he came south in it?”

“It’s a possibility.”

“Never occurred to me to connect the two before now.” Toric stroked his cheek thoughtfully. “A small lad? Yes, he’d doubtless have fit in that sack. Anything else about him I should know perhaps?”

Sebell thought how like Toric to want answers before he gave his own.

“A queen fire lizard egg was involved…”

“Oh ho,” and Toric’s eyes crinkled with satisfaction. “Then it’s not a possibility anymore, but a probability that your lad got here.” He stressed the word “got,” strangely, but went on before Sebell could question his emphasis. “Four, no three Threadfalls ago, weyrmen went after a wherry circle. Most of the time that means fire lizard hatchings so they do stir themselves to investigate.” Toric gave a sour laugh. “Not that that energy will profit them now if this Deckter fellow won’t follow Meron’s ways. The strange thing was that when they reached the area, the wherries flitted away through the forest, and they found only a queen’s shell on the beach. They spent a good deal of time going up and down that strand, but there wasn’t any trace of a full clutch.”

“Piemur does have his friend after all,” cried Menolly, grabbing Sebell and dancing about with him in her relief.

“Piemur? That’s your missing boy? Hey, stop that, you’ll set every fire lizard in the place a-wing.”

Kimi and Diver swooped into the cavern at that point, and with Beauty and Rocky bugling their delight, some of the southern fire lizards were also reacting. Sebell and Menolly called their Pour to order, and Toric sent his away.

“Yes, it’s Piemur who’s been missing, our apprentice,” said Menolly, so jubilant that for a moment Sebell thought she’d swing Toric into their joyful antics.

“He and I were at Meron’s Gather,” said Sebell. “Somehow he got into the Hold itself and purloined the queen fire lizard egg. Meron was livid…”

“I can well imagine,” said Toric with a snort.

“Only none of his men could find Piemur or the egg. Kimi said she couldn’t reach him,” Sebell went on.

“That was when he’d hidden in the sack,” Menolly said. “Oh, that wretched, that clever rascal.”

“More clever than he knew, or could guess,” Sebell continued, for Toric’s expression told him that he didn’t think so highly of Piemur’s escapade. The harper explained to Toric all that had occurred after Piemur’s daring theft: the fear of the main contenders for the Holding that Benden Weyr would discover Meron’s dealings with the Southern Oldtimers. The heirs apparent now wanted no part of the succession, nor did they want the Hold in contention, so they pressured Meron to name a successor, who would then try to placate the Benden Weyrleaders. But Meron had collapsed, and both the Master Healer and the Masterharper were summoned, for the Harper could act as mediator. He convoked other Lord Holders and the High Reaches Weyrleader to force Lord Meron to name his successor. About the methods, Sebell remained discreet. Nor did Toric inquire, since Sebell’s recitation was limited to facts rather than storytelling embellishments.

“So we think,” Sebell finished, “that since Kimi specifically said it was too dark, as in a sack, and she couldn’t ‘find’ Piemur, or room enough to get to him, he did secrete himself in a sack, which the Oldtimers collected that night—I saw the dragons—and brought here. That would also explain why none of our fire lizards could find a trace of him anywhere in Nabol.”

Toric had listened with keen attention to Sebell’s summary, but now he cocked his head to one side and made rueful noise with his tongue against his teeth.

“It’s true a boy could have fit in that sack, and it’s true that a queen fire lizard egg was found. But…” and he held up his hand warningly, “…Thread fell that day…”

“Piemur knew you could live holdless through Threadfall!” said Menolly with the firmness of one trying to convince herself.

“Wherries were circling that shell. They could have got the little queen at hatching—”

“Not if Piemur was alive! And I know he was,” said Menolly more stoutly now and utterly convinced. “Is that place far from here? Could your queen take our fire lizards? If Piemur’s anywhere about, they’ll find him.”

Toric was dubious, but he called up his queen. To the surprise of both harpers, the queen didn’t, as Kimi or Beauty would have done, land on Toric’s shoulder, but hovered awaiting his pleasure. Toric issued the sort of order one would give a stupid drudge. She chirped at Kimi and Beauty, disdaining the two bronzes, and flitted out of the cavern, the other four fire lizards right behind her.

“Lord Meron’s death won’t bother them ,” and Toric jerked his head in the direction of the Southern Weyr, “for a while. They just brought in all they’ll need for some time. I would prefer that we somehow keep them supplied.

I …” and he jerked his thumb at his chest in emphasis, “…do not wish to jeopardize my arrangements with Lessa and F’lar. They ” and again he meant the Oldtimers, “don’t care how they get what they think they need. Meron was just convenient.” He took the harpers’ solemn assurance of assistance as his due, but then grinned, not pleasantly. “Has any one of Meron’s people figured out just how many green fire lizard eggs got foisted off on ’em?” Toric plainly thought little of people who would be taken in by such a deception.

“You forget that the small holders don’t know much about fire lizards,” said Sebell. “In fact, the enormous fire lizard population at Nabol is one of the reasons why Piemur and I were there: to make certain Meron was the source of so many green fire lizards.”

Toric half-rose, his usually controlled expression showing anger. “No one suspected me of cheating traders?”

“No,” Sebell said, though that had been one of his problems. “Don’t forget that I collected the clutches you’ve sent north in barter, but it was necessary for the Harper to find the real culprit. Green clutches could have been brought in by sailors who have been so conveniently losing themselves in southern waters.”

“Oh, all right then.” Toric subsided, his honor unchallenged.

“The Oldtimers have not questioned those lost sailors?”

“No,” said Toric, shrugging negligently. “So long as the sails are red. They never have bothered to count the number of ships we really own.” Toric then noticed that they had drained their juices so he replenished the cool drinks.

“Have you some ships out now?” asked Sebell, because he had thought it odd to see so few at anchor when the sun was high.

Toric smiled again, his good humor completely restored by Sebell’s observation. “You are well come, Harper, since the ships have sailed on your account. Or, I should say, Master Oldive’s. It’s harvest time for the numbweed, and for certain other herbs, grasses and such like that Sharra says the good man requires. If you stay until they return, then you can sail home full laden.”

“Good news, Toric, but we’d best sail home laden with Piemur as well.”

The southerner clicked his tongue pessimistically. “As I said, there’ve been three, maybe four Threadfalls since that queen egg shell was found.”