Pern: Visitors - Part 1

Part 1

Lord Trasden of Weoth Hold sat on the battlements of the newly formed Hold. With the menace of the Thread growing less with the return of the Dragonriders of old, he had been granted permission by the Conclave to start a new Hold. As the third son, this was his only chance to become a Lord Holder.

He sighed and looked up at the starry skies. He had never wanted to be a Lord Holder, far too much responsibility and far too little freedom. But his father had wanted this and with the burgeoning population at Woldin Hold this was best for his people as well. Shaking his head softly, Trasden strummed the strings of his gitar. He played a soft dance, wondering how things would have been different if he had become a Harper. It was for the best, he thought, changing to a funeral march. I can do more good here than as a Harper. He stopped playing suddenly as his eyes picked out a bright light in the sky where none had been before.

It shone low in the western sky and rapidly grew in brilliance. "A shooting star," he mused. "What to wish for?" His train of thought stopped when he saw that the star was headed towards Weoth Hold. He watched in amazement as it grew in size and brilliance, becoming a ball of fire larger than a queen. Trasden was nearly shaken from his seat when the star slammed into the far side of a hill across the valley. Shaking with excitement, he ran for the stables, calling for his secondman and a troop of guards.

---

The star had dug out a long smoking trench in the ground before boring into the hillside. Trasden's secondman, Yorith, was cautiously shining a lamp into the hole.

"It's amazing," he said, gingerly stepping onto the hot surface of the trench, "I've heard of other stars landing, but I never imagined that I'd ever see one." Lamp held high, Yorith stepped into the hole.

Trasden began to follow but was held back by the firm hand of his Guard Chief. "Sorry, my lord," he said, "but it's too dangerous. "Let Yorith and the guards check it out first and see if it's safe."

Trasden reluctantly nodded his head. Such was the price of being a Lord Holder, he thought. He looked up when he heard Yorith's excited whoop. The secondman raced out of the hole, face bursting with excitement. "It's metal! And not like any I've seen before! Come on, it's perfectly safe, the heat melted the rock into a tunnel," he yelled before running back into the hole.

Accompanied by the contingent of guards, Trasden hurried into the hole, guided by the bobbing lamp of Yorith. He swore in amazement at the sight of the star. It was made of shining metal, like the best steel that the smiths forged. He had always imagined stars to be round, but this star was jaggedly rectangular in shape, as if it had been broken off a larger object. From nearer the star, Yorith whooped again in excitement.

"I think I've found a door!" he yelled, almost jumping up and down in glee.

"A door?" Trasden asked, hurrying closer, worried that the heat of the hole had affected his secondman. "Yorith, why would a star have a door?" He stopped as he approached the star. It did have what appeared to be a door. It was a circular opening into the darkness of the star. Yorith was standing by it, holding his lamp up to peer inside.

"Amazing, isn't it Trasden? To think, stars have doors," he murmured. "I wonder why? Maybe-" he was stopped when something shot out of the door and smashed his lantern. The burning fragments scattered around his feet as he hurriedly backed away. Trasden could feel the guards trying to pull him away as he saw something wrap around Yorith's body and pull him into the star.

He heard someone yelling at him as he broke free of the guards and ran towards the star, his short sword in his hand. "Yorith!" he yelled into the doorway. He slashed instinctively as something shot out of the doorway. He looked down in horror at the twitching strand of Thread that fell to the ground. He managed to cut two more of the Threads before something wrapped itself around his neck and arm. Trasden clawed for his dagger as he was dragged towards the doorway, the screaming and yelling of his guards filling his ears. The noise faded as darkness closed in on him and another, deeper darkness engulfed him.

---

Ardeck, Harper by trade, played a quick marching tune on his flute as he rode toward Weoth Hold. His apprentice, Elena, rode just behind him, her hands fully occupied with managing her unruly riding beast. Ardeck turned, the grey hair at his temples catching the morning sun's rays.

"Elena, remember, use your knees to control the beast," he said, "that way you can work on your piping."

Elena scowled down at the riding beast and dug her knees sharply into its sides. It whuffed and responded by following a straight path down the road, the first time this morning.

"Was there anything you wanted me to work on in particular?" she asked, pulling her pipes from their case.

"You know better than I what you need to work on," Ardeck said, turning back to the road ahead of him.

Elena brought the pipes to her mouth and began the familiar chords of Moreta's Ride. She had never been able to master the last, sorrowful notes. It rankled her that she, an apprentice Harper, could not play a suitable form of a common ballad, even if she had mastered many other, more difficult ones. Brushing a stray lock of her brown hair out of her eyes, she played the last notes. Still, she could not coax the sadness and sorrow from the pipes she played. Instead of sounding like the mournful dirge of dragons, it sounded more like the crying of a hungry fire lizard. She sighed and was about to start again when Ardeck spoke.

"Look sharp, Elena, there's Weoth Hold," he said, pointing to the small rocky crag on the right side of the small valley.

Elena slid her pipes back into her belt case as she looked over the valley. The road ran parallel to the valley with a side road winding up the rocky cliff face to the main body of the Hold. A good number of new cotholds were assembled alongside the road in front of the cliff, their stone walls painted a bright white to shine in the morning sun. Elena's eyes could pick out the shapes of herdbeasts grazing along the valley's sides and the stalls of a morning market, most likely set up by nearby farmers who had brought their produce to sell. "Everything seems in order from here," she said, reigning her riding beast in next to Ardeck's. They had stopped on a small rise before the road descended into the valley.

"Ah, but remember, many problems lie below the surface of things," Ardeck said, his eyes scanning the valley.

"I'm surprised they have so much greenery near the Hold."

"Hmmm, yes, it seems to be a calculated risk. He's likely counting on his firecrews and the dragonriders to keep Thread from settling. With so much pasture close by, his herd beasts will be better than the norm. We'll have to tell Master Robinton of this, he'll want to remind the Lord Holders of their duty to keep the hold clear of greenery." He slid his flute back into its case where it hung on his belt. "Let's get going, I can smell good food cooking and we can't let it go to waste, can we?" He kicked his riding beast into a canter towards the hold.

The atmosphere of the Hold was surprisingly gloomy considering it was a market day. Usually there was a festive air whenever farmers brought their goods in to sell, with dancing and whatever music was available. Today, there was no such mood in the air. The farmers looked furtive and nervous, as if they expected a Threadfall any moment.

"What do you think is wrong?" Elena whispered to Ardeck as they led their riding beasts towards the main square.

Ardeck frowned for a second. "I don't know, I'll travel ahead to the Hold and meet with Lord Trasden. Why don't you see the sights and get us something to eat? Preferably with a skin of wine," he said.

Elena nodded as Ardeck led his beast up the switchback road to the Hold's entrance. She looked around the square for an inn or hostel. The owners of such places were doing much worse now that Thread was falling again. She spotted one across the square and led her beast towards it. As she walked, she kept her eyes and ears open for stray bits of conversation which might reveal more about the situation. There was a strained tone to the conversations floating around the square and they seemed to deliberately avoid talking of anything consequential.

She led her riding beast into the inn's stables and handed its reigns to the young stableboy there. He looked at her suspiciously as he led her beast to a stall and ran off when she tried to talk to him.

Entering the inn, she noticed that the bar room was nearly full with the customers speaking in low, hushed voices. Surprising considering how nice of a day it was outside. Every eye in the room followed her as she walked to the counter and greeted the innkeeper.

"Hello sir, I am Elena, apprentice to Ardeck the Harper. Do you by chance have any rooms available? We are passing through on our way to Benden Weyr and need to stay for the for the night," she said, her voice light and cheerful.

The innkeeper was a man of medium height and stocky build. He scratched his bald head with calloused fingers before responding. "Why don't you keep going? You should be able to get there tonight," he said in a low voice.

Elena was momentarily taken aback. It seemed against nature that an innkeeper would let marks slip through his fingers. "We have marks to pay, Smithcraft marks."

"Better to keep moving."

"But why? We've been riding since before dawn and don't fancy another twelve hours in the saddle. Don't you have any rooms?"

"Aye, we do, but-" He stopped and looked at something behind her as a silence fell over the already quiet room. Elena turned and saw that a Hold guard had entered the inn. He was wearing his full suit of wherhide armor despite the warm weather and market day. Unusually, he had a close cap of wherhide that draped down the back of his neck, something that was usually only worn during the winter. Without saying a word, the guard surveyed the room, his gaze resting on Elena and raking over her with insulting forwardness.

Elena was about to challenge his rude behavior when the innkeeper put his hand on her shoulder. She half turned and saw him quickly shake his head before she turned back to the guard. She nearly gasped when she saw that he had moved right next to her without making a sound. She was frozen by surprise when he reached up and grabbed her chin, turning her head from side to side roughly.

Shocked, Elena pulled away from the guard, backing toward the stable door. She was surprised to see the guard calmly study her for a few moments longer and then turn on his heels to exit the inn. "What is going on here?" she asked.

The innkeeper shook his head. "Lord Trasden and his guards have been acting this way for a sevenday now. We don't know why, maybe his being a Lord went to his head, it's happened before. Remember Fax?"

There was a round of silent nodding.

"That's why you should keep going to Benden Weyr," he continued, "we aren't allowed to go anywhere beyond the valley without armed escort. But you and your master should be able to keep going as long as Trasden doesn't take special notice of you."

Elena was amazed. Though there were Lords who were cruel, she had never heard of one who had imposed such limitations on his people, especially during a Pass. She shook her head. "My master already went up to the Hold. We were planning to perform for Lord Trasden tonight."

"Well, get your master and go, you're the only ones with riding beasts besides the guards. Maybe you can get away and tell F'lar and Lessa what's going on here. A visit from some dragonriders would scare some sense back into Trasden." There were sounds of agreement from around the room.

Elena nodded. "I'll fetch my master, could you have your stableboy water my riding beast and have it ready? We may have to outrun the guards if they won't let us by."

The innkeeper nodded. "Good luck, we need help here."

Elena nodded again and walked out of the inn, acutely aware of the eyes following her. She let out a shaky breath when she stood in the square. That would explain the fear, she thought. Ardeck and Master Robinton would definitely want to know of this. She turned and began to walk up the slope towards the Hold. She couldn't imagine that Lord Trasden would try to keep a pair of Harpers from leaving, he'd get worse than just sanctions, the Conclave of Lords would probably remove him of his rank. She allowed herself a slight smile, this is why we're here, she thought, to root out troubles like this and keep them from becoming larger. She was so caught up in the pleasure of fulfilling one of the duties of a Harper that she failed to notice the filthy drudge lurking in an narrow alley to her right.

Her reflexive scream was muffled by his hand as he yanked her from the main street and dragged her down the alleyway. The breath went out of her lungs as he slammed her against a wall and looked nervously around. She stared at him in fright, his eyes were wild and he smelled as if he hadn't bathed in a week. There was old blood crusted around his right temple and a deep cut could be barely seen underneath it. She winced at the feel of a kitchen knife against her throat.

"Don't say anything," he hissed. "You've got to get out of here, it's worse than what everyone thinks. Lord Trasden, he's got Thread!" the last word came out as a near scream. "He's got rooms full of it, he's mad!" The wild eyed man looked around quickly again. "Don't trust anybody! They're in their heads!" He looked towards the main street and jerked back from her. "In their heads!" he yelled as he ran away down the alley.

Elena felt her legs threaten to give out from under her. She rubbed her throat and wiped her mouth, still feeling the grime from the man's hands on her. In their heads? The man was mad. And dangerous, she thought, still feeling the knife at her throat.

"Where did he go?" a stiff voice said from beside her. Elena jerked in surprise, looking over to see a group of four guards standing in the alley beside her. "Where did the man go?" the guard repeated, his words precisely pronounced, as if he was unused to using them.

"I-" Elena stopped. One of the guards caps was slightly askew and beneath it she thought she saw something moving, something moving beneath the skin of his skull. "I don't know," she finally said, trying to smile casually. "Would you like a tune?" she asked, holding her pipes up.

The guards stared at her. It became difficult to hold her smile as they surrounded her and one leaned closer to study her face. "Is something wrong?" she managed to say. As suddenly as they had appeared, the guards left, almost gliding as they jogged down the alleyway away from her. Elena sagged in relief and quickly ran out of the alley. She shuddered at the remembrance of something moving under that guard's skin. She had heard of some parasites that lived in humans from Master Oldive, but never something that large and just under the skin.

Elena wiped at the dirt left from the drudge's fingers as she continued towards the Hold, wondering what exactly was going on. Just as she reached the base of the final stretch of road to the Hold, she heard a loud crash and swearing from above her. She looked up and gaped when she saw Ardeck charging out of the Hold on his riding beast, a guard dragging alongside him. She watched in amazement as the normally gentle and mild mannered Harper smashed his fist into the side of the guards head and sent him tumbling to the road.

"Elena!" Ardeck yelled, still several turns from her, "Get to your beast and go!"

Elena nodded reflexively and turned and sprinted down the hill, dodging between farmer's stalls and customers. She skidded and nearly lost her footing at the base of the hill in front of the inn. As she staggered to a halt, the group of guards who had confronted her in the alley emerged from the inn, weapons in hand.

"You will stop," the leader said deliberately, his short sword in hand.

Elena hesitated, seeing her riding beast just beyond the guards. Seeing her motion, another guard raised his bow and pointed it at her. The young apprentice looked wildly around her for help, most of the people had fled the square at the appearance of the guards and the few who were left looked too afraid to help her.

"What's the matter, sir?" she asked in an ingratiating tone. "You don't need those weapons for someone like me, what could I ever do to you?"

"Run!" The scream came from the inn. Elena saw the drudge who had accosted her burst from the doorway and barrel into the guards. She ran for her beast as the guards struggled with the crazed drudge. Still in stride, she swung into the saddle and kicked her riding beast out the stable doors and into the square, following Ardeck at a gallop. Together, the journeyman and apprentice rode away from the holds. Elena turned at the sound of a scream and saw the drudge lying in a pool of his own blood surrounded by guards with bloodstained weapons.

"He saved me," she yelled to Ardeck over the thundering of their beast's hooves.

The older Harper nodded curtly and turned to yell at her, "Get down, they've got bows!"

A buzz of an arrow emphasized his point and Elena hunched over her beasts shoulders as two more flew by. "Ardeck! Why-" Her question went unfinished when she saw the Harper stiffen and collapse over his saddle, an arrow jutting from his back. Elena felt her heart leap into her throat at the sight of so much blood covering him. Nudging her riding beast, she moved closer and grabbed the reins from his limp hands. With her leading, they pounded up the road and out of the valley towards Benden Weyr.

When she was certain that Weoth's guards no longer followed them, Elena turned their riding beasts off the road and led them into the scraggly foothills that populated the land near Weoth and Benden.

"Leave me," Ardeck gasped as she did her best to lower him from his beast.

"What? No, I won't!" she replied, easing him onto his bedroll on his side. "Let me take care of that arrow and we can ride on to Benden Weyr in the morning."

Ardeck grabbed her arm as she readied a heavy knife to cut through the arrow prior to removing the head. "There's no time!" he hissed. "Lord Trasden has gone mad, I think he's planning to try to use the Thread as some sort of weapon!"

Elena shushed him as she rolled him over onto his stomach, certain that he was hallucinating from the pain. He grunted as she took a hold on the arrow and began to saw at it with the knife. He was lucky, the arrow had glanced off his shoulder blade and landed away from his lungs. With the help of Master Oldive, Elena was sure that he would recover.

She sighed in relief when she finished cutting the arrow. She carefully tucked away the arrow for evidence against Trasden and his guards before turning back to Ardeck. She bit her lip as she examined the arrow wound closely. The head was sunk deeply into his back and would need to be cut out, but without sufficient numbweed the pain would be excruciating.

"We'll let the beasts rest a while longer and then continue on to Benden," she finally said. "I don't want to risk removing the arrow head without help."

"Elena, listen to me," Ardeck said, turning his head to look at her. "I'll just slow you down, leave me some food and water and help me get under shelter."

"But-"

"No buts, Elena. We can't risk us both being captured or killed, what I've seen is too important. You must get word of this to the dragonriders."

Elena started to say something else but stopped herself. She knew the right course of action to take, however much it tore at her to leave her teacher behind. "Alright," she said, helping Ardeck into the shelter of a rock hollow, "I'll go."

She pulled most of the gear from the riding beasts, leaving just enough food and water for one meal on them. She piled the rest around Ardeck and rolled several large rocks to conceal him better. When she was done she was sweating heavily and panting.

"That's a good girl," Ardeck said with a wan smile, "you'll be a journeywoman one day soon."

Elena managed a small smile. "I shouldn't be longer than ten hours or so," she said, scanning the terrain to fix landmarks for a dragon passing between. "I'll bring back a dragonrider and we can get you back to Harper Hall and Master Oldive."

Ardeck nodded and waved her away. "Go on now, I'm not getting any better with you just standing there."

Elena gave him a squeeze on his uninjured shoulder and then ran to the waiting riding beasts. She quickly kicked hers into a gallop with Ardeck's following behind. With a spare riding beast to switch to, she should be at Benden Weyr in less than eight hours.

---

"They did what?" F'lar shouted as he secured a sack of firestone to Mnementh's neck.

"Sir, they shot arrows at us," Elena answered, dodging a flying sack of firestone and stepping further away from the edge of the Weyrleader's ledge.

F'lar, Benden's Weyrleader, snatched the sack of firestone out of the air and began to tie it to Mnementh. "We've got Threadfall coming in off schedule, I can't spare any dragon from fighting Thread to fetch your master."

"But-"

"From fighting Thread, young lady, from fighting Thread." He turned to Mnementh. "Get A'gon and Tranth up here." He paused. "Yes, I know Manora will be upset but she'll be even more upset if she finds out I let a Harper bleed to death."

Continued in Part 2

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