Chap. 4 The Thief in the Night
“That’s the second time this week that we’ve been short a loaf ofbread.” Hariko, the headwoman said.
The dining hall, just outside the bakery, was noisy with the sound of riders and Weyr residents eating breakfast.
Oscoral, the night baker was emphatic. “I KNOW how many we baked.” Hariko nodded. They’d been a team for more years than she could remember. If the man said he’d baked 15 loaves, it was 15, no more, no less. Thus, someone was stealing them.
“Think it’s the new girl? Lindea?”
He shook his head. “I don’t think so. She doesn’t strike me as a thief. Besides, I’ve kept an eye on her, as she’s new at the job. She takes on anything I’ve tasked her with nary a complaint. She learns fast.”
“Well, then, we have a night time nicker, I think. Wouldn’t be the first time.” She surveyed the entire hall with a practiced eye. “You, my dear, are relieved. Go get some sleep. Tonight, though, let’s talk to the night shift drudges, and see what they say. Don’t scare ’em, though. If they think they’re in trouble they’ll shut up tighter’n a clam.”
He grinned. His upper body was as muscled as a dragons’ from years of grinding grain and kneading dough. “Me? Scary? Pfft, I’m just a dough boy.”
Smiling affectionately, she poked him gently in his ample belly. “Ah, go on with your puns, you daft wherry. The drudges do say you look like a dragon when you’re in front of an oven.”
Laughing, he made claws of his hands and growled at her.
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C’val, blue Rastabenth’s rider, had been relieved of watch rider duty and was de-briefing the Weyrleader.
“Sir, everything outside the Weyr was quiet, but at about midnight, I heard the watch wher fussing.”
“Hmmm. Did Rastabenth talk to it?”
“He did. He wanted to report to Corvuth, too, but I said no, not to disturb him or you. I didn’t think it worth interrupting your rest. Yesterday was a hard day for Thread.”
The Weyrleader ran his hand through his hair. “Aye, that it was, C’val, and it was made harder due to your being on guard duty. Your wingleader tells me you both are very, very good at fighting Thread.”
C’val dropped his eyes. “Thank you, sir, but I’ve had good teachers. And a good dragon.”
“I’ll have Corvuth talk to the watch wher, but do you have any idea what it was about?”
“Rastabenth just got the wher’s impression of a person walking around after dark, ‘skulking’ was the feeling I got from him. There’s no crime in walking around at night-we’ve all had sleepless nights. But still, it was an unusual reaction from the watch wher.”
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B’rant, the Weyrling master, had the Candidates in the classroom.
“As soon as Elenth leaves the Sands to feed, we’re going to the Hatching Sands to accustom you all on what to expect at Hatching. I’m certain you’ve already heard a lot of things from dragonriders and just from being here at the weyr.”
He looked at their young, eager faces. There were twenty of them, three of whom were girls. In the back of his mind, he was playing the betting game he’d done for years. He could almost pick out who was going to Impress what color of dragon. This time there would be no gold rider as Elenath hadn’t laid a gold egg. That concerned the Weyrleaders, but,you couldn’t very well demand eggs to order, now could you? He could just see them, standing in front of the queen and saying, we’d like two bronzes, three browns and a dozen each blues and greens, please?
He’d started keeping score a few years ago and after doing the math, realized he was usually right. No, more likely, he mused, it was the dragonets who were always right. They were dab hands at judging character, right out of the egg.
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“Can you make bubbly pies, young lady?” Oscoral asked.
Lindea brushed away that darned lock of hair in her eyes with the back of a floured hand.I’m going to cut you off, I am, she thought, irritably.
“Sir, I grew up on a ship. After the captain, the most important member of the crew is the cook. If you don’t feed ’em right, a crew will toss you overboard. Of course I can make bubbly pies, the best,”she said, proudly.
“Why don’t you make a few? Let’s see what you can do,” he said.
“Yes sir!” she said, happily. It was much more fun to make pies than bread. That, and she knew she was as good a baker as she was a cook. “I haven’t been thrown overboard yet!”
He smiled. This would not only prove her worth, but keep her in sight at all times. We’ll see if any bread is missing at breakfast.
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I’m taking candidates to the Hatching Sands. Let me know when Elenath has finished feeding and is on her way back, B’rant asked his dragon.
I will. She’s on her second buck already. She was ravenous. I don’t think she’ll be long. You know how she is with her eggs.
“Now, despite the fact that the queen is out of the chamber right now, we need to be very quiet. I don’t want to hear any shouting. You may go and touch the eggs, but don’t attempt anything that might disturb the growing dragonets.”
The crowd of candidates tiptoed onto the sands. A ray of bright sunlight pouring through a break in the roof of the cavern illuminated the eggs, bathing them into an almost opalescent glow. It was dry and warm in the cavern, so unlike the chilly day outside.
Kandar looked at the eggs with awe. He’d thought they’d be much larger. Some of them had swirls of color, some had zigzagged stripes. How could such enormous creatures come from these little eggs?
He stroked one, feeling the pebbly feel of it. It wasn’t hard and it wasn’t soft. It was…eggshell.
“Which one is the bronze?” Borost asked, in his normal voice. One glance at the eggs convinced him he already knew which one it was.
“I have no idea, Borost,” B’rant said, “and I told you to keep your voice down. I’ve heard some say they can tell by the color, but I can’t.”
“Can they hear us?” one of the girls whispered.
“Yes. The queen usually croons to her eggs.”
“We have to be barefoot out there?” a boy asked.
“Yes. That’s tradition. Your feet will get very hot. If you shift your feet one after the other, it makes it a bit easier.”
“Does the queen know we’re here?”
“I’m certain of it. This is HER chamber, those are HER eggs, and I’d be astonished if she hadn’t told the Weyrwoman she was going hunting.”
One of the eggs wobbled and the crowd gasped. “Is it hatching?” a girl cried out.
B’rant said ‘ssssssssssshhhhhh!” and shook his head. “No, it’s a bit too early, yet. The dragons will tell us, trust me. When the eggs are about to hatch, all the dragons in the weyr will hum. They tell us they hum to tell the dragonets it’s safe to hatch, and to welcome them.”
Elenath has finished and is on her way.
Thank you, my heart.
“Now let’s go back to the classroom. There’s a lot you still need to know.”
The crowd turned to follow him, all save Borost. He waited until the group was out of sight, then darted out to the egg he was convinced held a bronze. Knife in hand, he quickly scratched a B on the egg. The sunlight was suddenly blacked out by a giant body and he heard the sweep of massive wings. The queen! He ran across the sands all the way to the tunnel turn, then forced himself to a fast walk until he caught up to the rest of the class.
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As Lindea walked past the cooling counter to get more flour, she noticed that one of the three pies she’d made was missing. Astonished, she wondered for a moment, did I miscount? How can you miscount three pies?
This is crazy, she thought, I KNOW I made three. I know it’s the middle of the night, but I can still count.
And where, she wondered, was Drul, one of the drudges, who’d been by her side not five minutes ago? Hmmmmmmmmm, she thought, putting two and two together.
She snagged another of the drudges. “Where is Drul?”
“Last time I saw her, it was by that tunnel over there,” he pointed.
“When was that?”
“Just a few minutes ago. She said she was headed for the latrine.”
Lindea ripped off her apron and ran down the tunnel. Ahead of her, she could just barely see the light of a glow moving away from her.
“Drul! Drul!” she called.
The girl stopped. “Yes’m?” she whimpered in a terrified voice.
“Where are you going?”
“Um….down the tunnel.”
Lindea caught up with her. The girl was holding something behind her back. She began to cry.
“Don’t cry. What are you hiding?”
Drul dropped her head and produced the bubbly pie.
“Don’t beat me, please, don’t.”
“I won’t, but only if you tell me why you took the bubbly pie. Is it because you’re hungry?”
“No,” she said. “It’s a secret.”
“Let’s go put it back, okay? We don’t want you to get in trouble with Oscoral, do we?”
“Oh no, please, no, please, don’t tell.”
“We need to put the pie back, okay? Then you can tell me why you took it.” They returned to the kitchen, and the girl carefully replaced the pie. Then she really began to cry, but, to Lindea`s eye, they were tears of relief.
“Now you tell me why it’s a secret.”
Drul couldn’t meet her eye.
“It’s a boy. He said he’s a dragon rider. He makes me bring him bread and tonight could smell the pie baking so he wanted one.”
“What’s his name?” she thought, wondering if she was treading on thin ice. One didn’t take the word of a drudge over that of a dragon rider lightly.
“He wouldn’t tell me. He said that if I don’t bring him bread he would throw me into the watch wher’s pen and I’d get eaten up.”
“Now you listen to me.” Lindea said, “when something like this happens, you must ALWAYS tell someone. Like now, you and I are going to tell Oscoral.”
“Noooooooooo!” she wailed, and would have bolted had it not been for Lindea’s quick grab. She turned the girl to face her. “Drul, LISTEN to me. Oscoral won’t hurt you. No one will hurt you if you tell the truth. Okay?”
“He made me swear to not tell, it’s a secret! I don’t want to be eaten by the watch wher!”
“Drul. When someone makes you do something you KNOW is wrong, making you swear is his way of protecting himself…and not YOU. You know the puppet shows? He’s making you a puppet. He’s using you to do something wrong, like stealing, so that HE doesn’t get in trouble. It would be YOU in trouble, and he would get the bread. Don’t you think that’s unfair? Do you understand?”
She stared at Lindea, then nodded. Lindea doubted if she really did. She was probably too frightened to trust her.
Despite his bulk, Oscoral had silently entered the kitchen and heard the entire confession. Part of him was overjoyed that Lindea was not the thief. He also appreciated that she was able to get a confession out of the drudge. The girl almost certainly wouldn’t have told him. He moved into the bakery. Drul almost fainted in fear. He looked down at her.
“Drul, what Lindea said is correct. Don’t ever be afraid to talk to me. You must help us identify who this boy is. To make you feel a little better, I can promise you that he’s NOT a dragon rider. No dragon rider, actually, no one here would make you steal. You have been here for a long time, so you know how we do things. If someone is hungry, what do we do? We give them something to eat. Right? There’s always something to eat on the night hearth. So this boy is not just a liar, he must be someone new. Do you think you would be able to point him out to me if you see him again? Or Lindea?”
She nodded, snuffling.
He smiled. “And I promise you that he won’t ever do anything like this to you again. We won’t let you be thrown to the wher. Will you believe me?”
“Uh huh.” She sighed with relief. She was safe. She thought she was the only one who knew who the boy was. But she was wrong.
Elenath knew.
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