Impressed a queen. Then he grinned to himself.
He rather thought the young bronze rider would be up to the task.
He did find some edible if tough bits off the roast, quite a few, and he shared them with Nip, and Tuck, who had descended from the Drum Tower.
'Good lad,' Robinton mumbled, his mouth full of the hard-to-chew meat.
'Where were you hiding, Master Robinton?' Tuck asked, accepting slices from the harper's knife.
'I was a drudge during the day, before I changed into a soldier,' Robinton said with a sigh. 'I never understood the word 'drudge' properly before now. I shan't be one again, I assure you.'
Nip and Tuck smothered their chuckles at his vehemence.
'All well and good for you two. You're used to it,' the MasterHarper went on, finding yet another not-too- scorched bit of meat.
A sudden bestial scream startled them and brought them to the Hold door. Then Lessa's cry: 'Don't kill! Don't kill!' They raced to the front door. F'lar was on the stones, where evidently the watch-wher had pushed him. They saw the beast launching a second attack on the fallen dragonrider. But Mnementh's great head swung around to knock the watchwher out of the air. Motivated by Lessa's shriek, the watchwher, trying to avoid F'lar, performed an incredible twist mid-air and fell heavily to the ground. They all heard the dull crack as the force of its landing broke its back. Before F'lar could get to his feet, Lessa was cradling the hideous head in her arms, her face stricken.
'It was truly only defending me,' Lessa said, her voice breaking.
She cleared her throat. 'It was the only one I could trust. My only friend.'
Robinton watched F'lar pat the girl's shoulder awkwardly. The bronze rider would have to do better than that, and yet the awkwardness was appealing.
'In truth a loyal friend,' F'lar said. The light in the watchwher's green-gold eyes dimmed and died.
All the dragons gave voice to the eerie, hair-raising, barely audible high keening note that signified the passing of one of their kind.
'He was only a watchwher,' Lessa murmured, obviously stunned by the tribute.
'The dragons confer honour where they will,' F'lar said drily.
Lessa looked down for one more long moment at the repulsive head. She laid it down on the stones, caressed the clipped wings.
Then, with quick fingers, she undid the heavy buckle that fastened the metal collar around its neck. She threw the collar violently away.
She rose in a fluid movement and walked resolutely to Mnementh without a backward glance at Ruatha Hold.
So, thought Robinton, F'lar did manage to persuade her to abandon Ruatha Hold and become Weyrwoman. He was not surprised, though he did wonder just what F'lar had said – or done – to convince her to leave her beloved Ruatha Hold.
F'nor, C'gan and four others remained on the steps as the other riders strode into the court to wait for their dragons.
'We need to get Lytol from High Reaches,' F'nor said as one by
one the riders mounted their dragons. 'To take charge here.' 'Good idea,' Robinton agreed.
'And who might you be?' F'nor spoke without rancour, but he had clearly not missed the fact that Robinton was wearing Fax's colours.
C'gan chuckled. 'The MasterHarper of Pern, F'nor.' He turned to Robinton. 'I thought I recognized you standing on guard at the wall, but the light was poor and I couldn't imagine how you'd been able to sneak yourself into Ruatha.'
While F'nor regarded Robinton with growing respect and interest, Mnementh launched himself up and out of the courtyard, the other dragons following in quick succession.
'Do you think I would have missed tonight for anything?' Robinton asked. Then he looked past the others, to the dining tables in the Hall, and asked wistfully: 'There wouldn't be any decent wine, would there?'
