'Or just right,' Robinton added, as he imagined the chaos and backtracking the return of Thread would cause among those indolent and incredulous Holders and Masters.
Towards the end of the next spring, Nip brought new reports on Fax's activities.
'Man's taken over another hold,' Nip said, slipping into Robinton's room late one night, wearing his runner's shorts. He was barefooted, carrying spiked running shoes in one hand. 'It's late, I know, but your glows guided my steps to your door again,' he added with a grin as he stopped by the chest where Robinton stored wine-skins and glasses. The running shoes clattered to the floor.
'Which two holds?' Robinton said, gesturing to indicate that he'd need a drink too, to help swallow the news.
'Not big ones,' Nip said, 'not greedy is our self-styled Lord of Three Holds. Just prosperous ones. And he plays no favourites...' Robinton said nothing, letting Nip vent his fury. 'Just ventures a little ways into Telgar to nobble Radharc.'
'It's not like Melongel to allow him away with that.'
'Ah,' and Nip held up a forefinger, 'you hadn't heard that Melongel's ill?'
'No, I hadn't.' Robinton sat up.
'Had a fall off a runner-beast...'
'Melongel's a good rider...'
Nip's smile was grim. 'So he is but not when the animal is fed something that sends it into convulsions and pins the rider under him in its death throes.'
'How could Fax...'
'Who knows, but Melongel is lucky to be still alive.'
'Clostan's a very good healer...'
Nip nodded. 'He is but he's worried. Almost every bone in Melongel's body was broken. He may never walk again.'
Robinton's fist hit the table. 'How could...'
Nip was rubbing his finger and thumb together, a very cynical expression on his face. 'Fax buys loyalty and service... with the added incentive of fear. Who knows how he managed it? But I'd say he did. Which means there'll be no opposition from that quarter Oterel's a good lad but who would expect him to have to deal with this sort of crisis so early in his Holding?'
'How is Juvana?' Robinton owed her for her support when Kasia died.
'Working as hard as Clostan to save her spouse. They may bring it off yet.'
'Is it just your suspicion that Fax was behind the... accident?'
Nip laughed. 'Who else? It is so timely. Fax mardes the recently...' and Nip gave another false smile, 'orphaned eldest daughter of the deceased holder on Tillek lands – no mention, of course, of any male siblings or relatives. On the Keroon side, he has a document that makes him the incumbent's choice of successor. I don't think the present holder can count on seeing the Turn out.'
Robinton thumped the table again in frustration. 'Can't something be done?'
'Off-hand, since no one will give us a hand, no,' Nip said pragmatically. 'That man's determined to own the entire west coast. Slowly, by inches, he moves into an area, eliminating,' and here Nip drew a finger across his throat, 'any opposition. He's got three spouses now, more than a sane man would wish. Doesn't the Charter restrict how many a man can have?'
'No,' Robinton replied thoughtfully, pinching at his upper lip.
'Actually it doesn't deal with personal relationships at all – at least not the usual variety – though it is specific in the violation...' and Robinton paused, 'such as rape or other unwanted acts.'
'Damned Charter was written by idealists.'
'Quite likely, but the Charter does work for the majority.'
Nip grimaced. 'It's the minority, the damaged and oppressed minority in Fax's general area we're talking about.'
Robinton shook his head. 'I've done all I can with the Lord Holders.'
Nip leaned across the table, the expression in his eyes anxious and intent. 'You're the one good with words, Harper. Find some stronger ones before it's too late.'
Robinton nodded, though both he and Nip understood the reluctance of any of the Lord Holders to act – singly or together.
What would it take to force them out of their comfortable – and, they hoped, impregnable – Holds to act? He shuddered. Fax had already committed many offences against the peace of Pern. He shook his head, unable to contemplate the kind of impetus needed. F'lon? No, Fax would enjoy taking him on but Pern needed the Weyrleader's strength and belief as much as Gennell had needed Robinton's in the position of MasterHarper.
'I'll keep my eyes peeled and my ears open,' Nip told Robinton, draining the last of his wine and setting the glass down. 'i'll borrow your spare room... since you're all alone tonight?'
Robinton chose to ignore the cocky grin and knowing eyes of his roving harper but he wasn't at all surprised that Nip knew that he and Silvina often spent nights together.
'Are you officially running, Nip?' he called out, sitting himself down. He would write Juvana a letter. The MasterHarper was at her disposal if his presence would help.
'Aye, I'll see the letter into Juvana's hands,' said Nip, one hand on the door jamb, leaning back into the room. 'She'll like to hear from you.'
Not much escaped Nip at all.
Not much seemed to be escaping Fax's greed either, Robinton thought. And though he heard that Tarathel had sent protests to Fax over the minor holdings – Ogren and Lewis – that had come so for-tuitously under Fax's control, that was the end of the matter.
Except that it wasn't. Before Turn's End, Melongel succumbed to one of the fevers so prevalent in the winters at Tillek Hold.
Robinton immediately sent for F'lon and the two went to Tillek Hold to comfort Juvana. It was hard for Robinton since Kasia's spirit was still vivid in his mind in this place but he tried not to remember, concentrating his mind, and heart, on Juvana, and her grieving children.
'Did you hear that Melongel's... fall... might not have been accidental?' Groghe murmured to Robinton as they followed those carrying Melongel's body to the Northern Maid.
'I did. Do you concur?'
'It's all a bit too convenient, isn't it? A previously sound, sure-footed animal going into convulsions and rolling on its rider?' Groghe snorted. 'Runner-beasts don't eat lur-weed and holders clean it out of their fields whenever it sprouts. So someone would have had to put it in the animal's manger on purpose.'
Robinton nodded agreement and then had to take his place with Minnarden on the prow of the ship to harp Melongel to his last resting place. When the last harp note was whipped by the breeze, as Melongel's body slid into the sea, he must have only thought he heard another harp's last dissonant strum.
He bowed his head and others respected his solitude.
During the next Turn, Robinton kept wondering what would happen next. Fax made no further obvious moves to extend his holdings. Not that Nip, or Robinton, trusted him. Oterel, confirmed at the Conclave following his father's funeral, enlarged the guard posts along his borders. That had been Nip's advice, filtered through Robinton. The MasterHarper also recommended that Oterel make as many tours of his border with the High Reaches as he could to reinforce the determination of his folk. Since most of the border holders, like Chochol, had succoured refugees from Fax's initial expansion, they were only too eager to comply.
In the spring of that Turn Silvina informed him that she was pregnant with his child.
'I will espouse you,' he began.
'Oh no, you won't, because I do not care to be the spouse of the MasterHarper of Pern.'
'What?' Robinton tried to pull her into his arms, but she stepped back, her expression severe.
'I am ... very fond of you, Rob. We suit each other ... in an informal arrangement. But I will not espouse you.' She shook her head for emphasis. Then, taking pity on him, she approached, putting a gentle hand on his arm. 'Kasia ... is the name you call at night ... and she is still your spouse. I will not compete with a ... dead woman.' Then she shook herself and smiled kindly at him.
'You will be a good father, Rob, and the child will lack for nothing between us.'
