Dragonheart

her before covering both with blankets, which he carefully tucked in around them.

He stood then, examining his work and nodding in satisfaction. As he looked at the two girls who had done so much in such a short time, his eyes softened, then lingered for a moment on Fiona. Truly a Weyrwoman, he thought.

He stepped back quietly and turned off the glows that Terin had left lit for their return.

SEVENTEEN

Thread burn,

Thread score,

Rider heal,

Dragon soar.

Igen Weyr, Late Evening, AL 498.9.8

“That’s the last of it,” K’rall reported as he and his wing of convalescents dispersed in the last of the evening light.

That wing, in the last three sevendays, had grown to thirty-one as more than two dozen riders and dragons had recovered from their injuries. There were only sixteen of the original forty-seven lightly injured dragonpairs remaining, and Fiona hoped to see at least half of them returning to duty in the next sevenday. That would still leave the thirty severely injured, who would need at least another four months to heal.

“Good,” she said, gesturing toward the Kitchen Cavern and the Weyrleader’s table. Terin and T’mar were already seated. They had finished eating before K’rall’s return and were engaged in what had become a routine meeting to handle the planning of the next day’s events. As she sat down and Terin pushed a pitcher of iced klah  toward her, she added, “We’ve enough ice to trade when Azeez arrives in the morning, and enough to provide the wherhold.”

“We’ve two rooms full of ice, we should have enough,” Terin added, shaking her head. “Any more and the whole place will freeze.”

“Don’t say that,” K’rall said holding up a cautioning hand, “or you’ll have every rider in the Weyr demanding his own cooler.”

“Not if they want to eat, they won’t,” Terin said with a frown, turning toward the large cookpot simmering on the hearth.

“Has Zenor had much luck mining?” K’rall asked T’mar. K’rall had led the group that had flown the Smithcrafters and their gear to the newly established wherhold.

“They’ve been too busy settling in,” T’mar replied. “I doubt they’ll be able to start serious exploration for another month or more.”

“In the meantime, we’ve more mouths to feed than we’ve food,” Terin said grimly.

“I thought that holder Kedarill had pledged a herd to the wherhold,” K’rall said.

T’mar shook his head. “Kedarill was willing to let them herd as many head of cattle as they could find,” he explained. “Finding is the problem.”

At Fiona’s urging, Zenor had taken the lead in negotiating the establishment of the new wherhold with the holder of Plains Hold. Kedarill had greeted the proposal enthusiastically, and his enthusiasm had redoubled with Zenor’s revelation of gold and the Mastersmith’s support. Kedarill was certain, and T’mar agreed, that Ospenar, Keroon’s Lord Holder, would fully concur with his minor holder’s decision, especially after M’tal, the Weyrleader of Benden Weyr, had made an enthusiastic tour of the new wherhold.

The new wherhold was on land that looked to Benden Weyr under the new boundaries established after Igen was abandoned, and so M’tal’s approval made Ospenar’s acceptance all but foreordained.

In involving Benden’s Weyrleader, Fiona, Nuella, and T’mar had been careful not to mention the Igen dragons, while at the same time providing a plausible explanation for the future appearance of any dragon at the wherhold — that they were from Benden Weyr.

“We’ve loaned them some from our herd in the meantime,” Fiona said, sighing deeply at the memory of the twenty head of cattle that had been hauled off by dragon to the fresh pens at the wherhold.

“I thought your plan would keep us from this,” K’rall said, glaring at T’mar.

“We’ve enough for the next sevenday,” Fiona said in T’mar’s defense. “By then the wherhold should have found their own cattle, and maybe some gold with which to repay us.”

“We could cut back,” Terin suggested.

“It’s not the riders, it’s the dragons,” T’mar reminded her with a reluctant shake of his head. “If it weren’t for the dragons, we would have enough cattle to supply us easily.”

“A Weyr’s not much use without dragons,” Fiona muttered, wondering if perhaps her earlier castigating thoughts of the old Igen Weyrfolk were perhaps premature. She savored a mouthful of klah,  hoping it would keep her awake.

“It’d be different if we had a proper tithe,” K’rall assured her.

“But then we’d be a proper Weyr with four times as many dragons,” Fiona replied. She made a face and concluded, “So I’m not sure if we’d be any better off.”

“Do you think that the holds could support the Weyr in a fair tithe?” T’mar asked K’rall speculatively.

The older dragonrider pursed his lips tightly. “No, I think that as they are they wouldn’t support a full Weyr.” He nodded toward Fiona as he added, “But if the Weyr were to trade,  perhaps then.”

“So what if we were to scour the area for any more wild herdbeasts?” Fiona asked, sipping some more klah.

“I don’t know if that would work,” T’mar said.

“Maybe not if we looked just here, but what about across Pern?” K’rall suggested.

“I’d not want to rob anyone of their proper herd,” Fiona objected.

“Nor would we,” K’rall said. “We would look in the wild places, the sort of places we’ve found unclaimed cattle before.”

“We’re going to need more livestock as the injured recover and the weyrlings get old enough to fly,” T’mar said. “Even if we survive now, we’ll have too many mouths to feed later.”

“It seems a waste to leave good riders growing old when they’ll be needed in their prime when we return,” K’rall remarked dolefully.

T’mar motioned for him to continue and the old rider added, “Three Turns doing nothing more than practicing is at least two Turns, maybe even two and a half Turns, too many.”

“So why not send them back?” Fiona asked, her face brightening. “They won’t age, and they can eat in the future.”

“If we send them all back now, we’ll be too short-handed to look after the injured,” T’mar told her. “Besides, we’ll need some older, steadier riders to train the youngsters — drill them on recognition points, teach them to flame, and show them the tricks they’ve learned flying in formation.”

“But that doesn’t require a full wing for three Turns,” K’rall said. “I think Fiona may have part of our solution — send some of the able-bodied forward in time to meet us when the weyrlings are old enough to learn to fly in formation.” His eyes gleamed with excitement as he went on hurriedly, “That’d save on not just cattle but everything, and the riders would be better off, too. And you’d save on all the clothing and gear that you’d need in the meantime — you could use that extra for more trade.”

“How would you know when to arrive?” T’mar asked.

“We use the stars, like the traders trained us,” K’rall replied. “We’d come back a month before the end of the third Turn. If you weren’t ready then, we could train with you.”

“So you’re offering to lead the wing?” Fiona asked.

K’rall nodded curtly. “If we use this next sevenday to set things in order, we could leave at the end of