The Renegades of Pern (11 page)

“Shards!” Thella stopped, listening hard to the sequences. But the ridges distorted the sounds, so she could not make out the content of the message. She could guess, though. She wiped the sweat from her face, furious at having the theft discovered so soon. She would have to alter her plans, move more cautiously to deposit the grain where it was needed.

Giron grunted. “No dragons’ll come looking today. Too tired,” he said. Adjusting the sacks on his shoulder, he continued his descent.

The next day, she had her raiders split up into groups of three and four, each group headed for a different destination. They had orders to try to hide the grain if they saw any signs of pursuit and then return to the main Hold by a circuitous route.

“My minor holds are constantly being raided,” Asgenar told T’gellan, bronze Monarth’s rider, who had conveyed the Lord Holder back to Lemos after the Fall. “Kadross is not the first to have suffered but probably the quickest to let me know.” He grimaced, crumbling the drummed message in one fist as he strode to the map on the wall of his office. “Grain today, harness there, blankets stolen where they dried at a streamside, tools from a miner’s hold, seasoned timbers carefully stored in a cavern that the holder was certain no one knew about. Little things, but it’s no longer minor pilfering by the holdless. It’s well planned and executed, and it’s beggaring my small holders.”

T’gellan scratched his head—though he kept his hair cropped short, his scalp still itched with sweat after a long Fall. He had been hoping to get himself and Monarth back to their weyr, and a bath, but Lord Asgenar was scrupulous in his duty to the Weyr, so T’gellan could not skimp the courtesies. He took another sip of the excellent mulled wine that had been served as soon as they walked into the Hold. The Fall—a fourth in the new pattern—had been right over Asgenar’s cherished forestry, and F’lar had borrowed extra riders from Igen and Telgar to be certain that the invaluable trees were adequately protected. There had been additional ground crews, conveyed in from “safe” areas, to be sure that whatever Thread might possibly escape the dragonriders in the air would never burrow in the forest. It had been a very properly managed Fall, on the ground and in the air.

“Kadross Hold?” the dragonrider said. “And while they were all out on ground crew? Just grain?” He joined Asgenar at the wall chart, noting the meticulous detail of the terrain, the contour and height of every ridge and hill, and the type and size of every forest plantation. He wished once again that Lords Sifer and Raid were half as well informed as Lemos’s young Holder.

Asgenar laid his finger on the spot, then moved it so that T’gellan could see the tiny numbers jotted in the square of the hold complex. “No, not
just
grain. Half their winter’s supply. Ferfar received the grain only yesterday morning. I’d sent two escort riders—at the carter’s request. He’s had trouble with holdless raiders recently and was fearful of a long, unprotected trek.”

“Someone spoke out of turn, d’you think? Or was the thief just lucky?”

“Thieves. They emptied four barrels, so there had to be a good few in on this,” Asgenar replied, gesturing for T’gellan to hold out his winecup to be refilled. “There have been too many—ah, how shall I put it?—timely thefts—to be good luck. These thieves know what they want and where to get it.”

“And no doubt in your mind that Ferfar is honest?”

“Not the day after receipt, with extra marks spent to insure safe delivery.” Asgenar gave a snort of disbelief. “The escort saw no one on the track, coming or going. And with Threadfall, who’d be on a trail?” He grimaced, having answered himself. “Clever thieves! With all the able-bodied members of the hold out on ground crew. We wouldn’t have known of it today, but Ferfar’s uncle needed something in the store and saw a spillage. He was on the drums immediately.”

T’gellan frowned, and at first Asgenar thought that the bronze rider would prefer to ignore the report. Then T’gellan looked him straight in the eye. “I’ve asked Monarth to tell everyone still airborne to do a low-level return. If they see any movement or anyone traveling, they’ll get a closer look and report it to me. Tell me, have you any idea where the thieves’d be headed? Men heavily laden with sacks of grain won’t be able to move quickly or far.”

“That’s another problem. All this part of Lemos, and well into Telgar—” Asgenar pointed at the various-sized brown stars that dotted the map “—is pocked with large and small caves. We mark any new ones we discover. There’re probably plenty we haven’t found. But my foresters report recent fires and occasionally buried trail supplies in off-trail caves. Far too frequently to be coincidence.” Asgenar rubbed at his face and then massaged the back of his neck. “I’m not of a suspicious nature, but there is a pattern, not in the raids themselves, but in what is stolen. Certainly more food and practical items than valuables. There are renegades somewhere in those mountains who are living very well without doing a stroke of work. I resent that. And so do my holders.”

“Indeed, they should,” T’gellan agreed warmly. Lemos Hold had generously tithed to the Weyrs even before Fall.

“I don’t have enough guards or holders and foresters to keep any sort of a watch on so many caves. And I’m beginning to think that some of the holdless accused of theft were indeed, as they claimed, innocent.”

T’gellan looked thoughtful. “How many such innocents do you have in safekeeping at the moment?”

Asgenar grunted in disgust. “Far too many. You can’t turn whole families with toddlers away. And I need all the able bodies I can get to fill out ground crews.”

“Any you could trust for light duty? Like doing regular rounds of the more likely caves for a while to see who turns up?”

A smile replaced the anxiety on Asgenar’s face. “By the First Egg, T’gellan, I’m disgusted I didn’t think of that myself. What the holdless want most, after all, is a place to live and enough to eat. A minor holding in exchange for work well done. I can provide that,” he added with a pleased smile.

“I am perhaps far more aware of the problem,” Masterharper Robinton said, peering around at the sober expression of the five assembled Lord Holders, “than any of you. My harpers keep me informed of major thefts so valuables can be restored. This list—” Robinton flicked the sheets that Asgenar had compiled for him beforehand. “—is most unsettling.” He paused briefly, to let his sympathy and concern be noticed. “I’m glad that you approached me on this rather than tax your Weyrleaders. It is essentially, I think you will agree, a holder problem and must not interfere with the primary responsibility of the Weyrs.” He made a mental note of Sifer’s frown.

“But the dragonriders would be invaluable in tracking down these renegades,” Corman said, banging the table with his big fist, his rugged features stern.

“In those copious free moments they have between Falls,” Master Robinton replied drolly.

“At T’gellan’s suggestion,” Asgenar said to indicate that Benden Weyr was helpful, “I’ve put trustworthy holdless families in the caves nearest regular trader routes.”

“And what good will that do?” Sifer demanded. “They’d be in league with thieves. I don’t trust holdless men. Won’t have them hanging around in Bitra, you may be sure. Why, I ask you, are they holdless in the first place?”

“I’ll tell you,” Laudey said, pointing a bony finger at the Bitran Lord Holder. “Because the elderlies and the crippled were turned out of their rightful places as soon as the Pass started, to make room for ablebodied men and women. Those caves on my eastern banks are full of that kind of holdless folk.”

Sifer plainly did not approve of Laudey’s altruism.

“You and your lady have been exceedingly generous,” the harper said to Laudey.

“My men have their orders,” Laudey said with a tinge of defensiveness in his voice. “We don’t let just anybody shelter there.”

“I’ll bet some renegades get in no matter how good your guards are,” Sifer muttered. “But I want the men responsible for these raids found and punished. It’d be an example to others with any idea of making Threadfall an excuse for indiscriminate pilfering.”

“It’s my opinion that we should be looking for a well-organized and well-informed band,” Asgenar said. “They know what they want and they take it. We didn’t find so much as a speck of grain leading from the Kadross Hold the next morning. They had to have gone up the mountain and reached shelter somewhere, or they’d’ve been seen by T’gellan’s wing on their way home. Fifteen, twenty men would have been needed to carry that much grain. That raid was accomplished with clever planning, good information, and discipline.”

“Then how do we track ’em if not by dragonriders?” Sifer asked. “Besides, the holdless are too spineless to do any of that.” He pointed at the long list of thefts the Harper had set in the middle of the round table. “In fact, I’d lay odds against it being holdless.” He leaned forward conspiratorially, across the table. “I’ll bet it’s those Oldtimers, striking back at us across the sea, whipping away what they can’t tithe out of Hold and Hall.” He peered around the table to gauge reactions.

“I don’t think I’d take bets on that, Lord Sifer,” Robinton said, his tone courteous. “When you consider that Benden dragonriders would know if any Oldtimers appeared in the north for any reason.”

“Harper’s right, you know,” Corman agreed, giving Sifer a cold and quelling look. “We’ve some advantage in Keroon, being wide open. You can generally see travelers a good distance off. My sons have been riding, at random, from hold to hold, and since they started that, we’ve had fewer incidents.” He looked at Asgenar. “Wouldn’t work as well in your Hold, though, being up and down.”

“Chased ’em out of Keroon up into Bitra is what you’ve done,” Sifer said in outrage, his face flushed.

“Stop griping, Sifer,” Laudey said with impatience. “Igen’s only across the river from Keroon, and the living’s easier—so I don’t think you’re as put upon as you think.”

“There’s a very old saying,” Robinton began, raising his voice to stop the exchange. “Set a thief to catch a thief.” His devious smile was not lost on the others. Asgenar and Larad leaned forward attentively.

“Catch what?” Sifer looked scornful. “Not if the first one’s on to a good thing like this.”

“Not a real thief, Lord Sifer,” Robinton went on, “but a clever journeyman of mine with a knack of mixing in with all sorts of people. As Lord Asgenar said, the targets are all well chosen, and the raids show considerable familiarity with trade routes, unoccupied caves, and the routines and management of Holds and Halls.” Because he was looking in Larad’s direction, the Harper noticed his fleeting look of apprehension and dismay.

“He’d do well to start in those caves of mine,” Laudey said, drumming his fingers irritably on the surface of the table. “All sorts of folk come and go, though, as I said before,” he added defensively, “my guards keep order. The cave system is vast—lots of corridors and tunnels no one’s been bothered with. I did block up as many of the smaller entrances as I could, but I’ve had other priorities, you know.”

“With as many as you’re sheltering, Laudey, there’d be someone to want a few marks in his hand for noticing irregularities or sudden prosperity,” Asgenar said.

“Nonsense, most of the holdless wouldn’t think twice about concealing a thief for a spill of his takings,” Sifer said. “I’ve seen the way they operate myself.”

Robinton raised his eyebrows in affected surprise, and Corman snorted since it was rather a joke that Bitrans drove bargains hard enough to be called cheats.

“Then you’ll permit me to see what my journeyman can find out?” Robinton scanned their faces. They wanted something done without extending their already strained resources. It was as well, he thought, that he had anticipated their agreement. In actual fact his spy was already in place, harper sources having informed him of the situation well in advance of the Lord Holders’ appeal. “I suggest that we keep this matter to ourselves, with no exceptions outside this room.”

“You’ve got clever men in your Hall,” Corman said, adding hastily, “and women.” He was exceedingly fond of Menolly. “But what if he should find something going on in one of our Holds and needs our help?”

“If he needs help, Lord Corman,” the Harper said with a sly smile, “then he’s not been as clever as he should be. Leave the matter with me for this cold season. There’s too much snow around for anyone needing to hide his tracks.”

“I wouldn’t bet on that,” Sifer muttered.

Keita’s orders from Thella included reporting any break in the usual Hold routine. Keita did not know much more than that Lord Sifer had been away overnight, conveyed by a dragonrider to his destination, but she did hear that upon his return he ordered his warders to let him know of any traces of occupation in way-caves or sites, and in particular of any tracks on back trails. The Bitra drum tower had been busy, but she did not know what the messages were about, as they had not used an open code.

Thella read and reread that message, almost pleased that she would have the challenge that the search would offer. Sifer did not worry her; his guards were more fond of gambling and prodding the holdless beyond Bitra’s borders. But he was more likely than Corman, Laudey, or Asgenar to drop useful information if he was irritated.

Come to think of it, lately there did seem to be more sweep-riders doing low-level flights above the forested hills and ridges. She had not quite counted on that. She gave orders to keep travel to a minimum—her storerooms were well stocked, so that meant no hardship—and gave strict instructions that those who did move across open areas must cover their tracks as they went. Dushik, Readis, and Perschar carried those orders to her other bases. For a while she would lie low.

It was Readis who returned six days later to tell her that the Masterharper had been seen at Lemos Hold, along with Corman, Laudey, Larad, and Sifer.

“So, they’ve called the Harper in for advice. So what?”

“He’s no simpleton, Thella,” Readis said, frowning at her casual dismissal of what he considered disturbing news. “He’s the most powerful person on Pern, next to F’lar.”