Chap. 382 The Transfer

Chap. 382 The Transfer

K’ndar and the other dragon riders had just finished unharnessing their dragons when his and Francie’s fire lizards began to warble a welcome.

Within seconds, all of their dragons trumpeted welcome.

Several dragons appeared over head. “On the ground there! Hello, Landing! May we land?” one of the riders called.

T’balt and D’nis immediately took in that there was not enough room for Landing’s five dragons and the visitors four: the visitor’s bronze and three browns were large. The bronze was carrying a crate in his talons.

“On high! Stand by, we’ll clear the meadow for you,” D’nis called, then called in his Weyrleader’s voice, “Landing’s dragons, head to the dragon lake, please!”

D’nis felt a sense of satisfaction-and veritas. I may be retired from being Weyrleader, but there are times I can still command dragons.

Not always Corvuth said.
D’nis laughed in his mind. His bronze had always had a weird sense of humor, but then, most bronzes weren’t known to have ANY.

I heard. I will go. I want a bath anyway Raventh said.

As he was clear of everyone, he launched and flew directly to the lake. He was followed by Motanith and Falconth. Corvuth and Mondevuth, being much larger, had to wait til the center of the meadow was clear before they, too, trundled to a clear area to launch.

Their fire lizards stayed with K’ndar and Francie. How in the world does she manage with three fire lizards all contesting two shoulders? he wondered. I sometimes have trouble with just one, and Francie’s trio all land on her.

As if hearing him, Francie shook her lizards off. “I swear,” she said, half to herself and half to K’ndar, “If I were any shorter, they’d weigh me down.”

Her trio flew to the trees at the far edge of the meadow. Siskin was content to stay on K’ndar’s shoulder.

T’balt moved to the walkway in front of K’ndar and Francie’s quarters. When the rest joined him, he called “Clear to land!”

The three brown dragons landed. They immediately moved towards the tree line to allow the bronze maneuvering room.

The bronze waited until he had the meadow clear, then lowered the crate gently until it settled on the ground. He then opened his talons, flew to just beyond the crate, and landed.

“What is that crate?” K’ndar asked. “It looks familiar, but somehow different.”

Lord T’balt said, “It’s your typical casualty transport litter, K’ndar. I’m certain you had that training in Weyrlingschool, where you put an injured person in it for dragon transport. But in this case, it looks as if they’ve made a few changes to it.”

T’balt and D’nis exchanged knowing glances. K’ndar saw it.

The dragonriders were all wearing Benden Weyr’s badge. K’ndar was thrilled-Benden was the oldest and most storied Weyr on Pern as well as the de facto leader of them all, with F’lar and Lessa still their weyrleaders.

The riders and one passenger dismounted. K’ndar noticed that while the man was not very tall, he was built like a bull-muscular with a no nonsense expression. His brassard displayed Lemos Hold’s badge. The two parties of dragonriders met in the middle of the meadow. Francie, P’jar and K’ndar hung behind T’balt and D’nis.

The five newcomers halted at the same moment, and saluted the Councilmen.

“My Lords T’balt, D’nis, I am N’than, rider of bronze Heranth of Benden Weyr. We are here to provide transport to Lemos Hold of two of Lord Asgoth’s people, Merrick and Verone.”

Ah, K’ndar thought. They’re finally going home.

“My compliments on your organization of the transports, N’than. You’re earlier than we’d planned,” T’balt said.

N’than smiled. “My lord, I was taught that fifteen minutes early is five minutes late.”

T’balt laughed. “Do I hear a Weyrlingmaster?”

“Well, it depends. My father said it first, so it wasn’t anything new when I got to Weyrlingschool,” N’than said.

D’nis pulled his datalink.

Housekeeping, Data, and Administration: dragon transport for Merrick and Verone has arrived much sooner than expected. Would you please bring them to the dragon meadow.

Lord D’nis, turn around. Benden Weyr notified us half an hour ago, our guests are on their way was the response. He turned to see a large crowd of people approaching, surrounding a horse drawn carriage. Three people were in the carriage, Lord Cecilia being one of them. She waved.

“Well, it seems they’ll be missed,” one of the Benden’s said.

Francie nodded. “They’re very nice people.”

Lord D’nis nodded. “Yes, and Data and R&D are probably going to be unhappy. Merrick possesses a deep knowledge of fine metal work. He taught them all how to use a machine called a lathe. Among other trade secrets, I believe.”

The engineer in his soul had appreciated the man’s craftsmanship. “I hope to be able to learn to use it,” he said, “when I finally have the time.”

Behind them, K’ndar said, “Francie, look at the horse. Isn’t that Sky in the harness?”

“It is! And he’s not crying!”

“I truly didn’t believe he’d get over being herd bound,” K’ndar said.

“I didn’t either, but I hoped so,” she said, “he’s a nice horse when he’s not being a crybaby. Maybe all he needed was a job to do.”

Merrick and Verone were helped down out of the carriage by the cart driver. K’ndar noticed Merrick’s cane had a new head on it, one far more elaborately detailed than the original. The Benden riders and the burly man approached them, the bronze rider introducing himself and his riders.

“Good day, Lord Cecilia,” N’than said, then, turned to the Lemos folks. “Merrick, Verone, we will have you back to Lemos Hold in a few moments. I’m hoping you have all your belongings?”

Merrick nodded, then bowed his head to lords T’balt and D’nis.

“My Lords, thank you from our hearts. Because of you and your staff, my wife and I have had our lives restored and our happiness enlarged. Please extend our deepest regards to Lord Lytol and the rest of the Council.”

“We will miss you, Merrick, Verone,” Lord Cecilia said. Many of the people in the crowd nodded.

Verone shyly said, “Everybody, you all were so kind to me. To us. I don’t know how to thank you all, except to say ‘thank you’ and should you ever come to Lemos Hold, I would be more than happy to lodge you in our cavern.”

“I don’t know how, seeing as it’s quite small, but I’ll find you all a warm spot! If I have to bed down with the sheep!” Merrick said, smiling.

“Don’t baaaaaather, Merrick, I’ll be happy with just a bunk in a dry cavern,” someone called, evoking laughter and clapping. Voices called out “We’ll miss you!” Several people shook their hands and some gave Verone a hug.

Then the brown dragonriders led them to their dragons. Merrick’s gait appeared much better, but he still used his cane. Soon they were buckled in. The crowd watched as the dragons crouched, launched and quickly flew to a height-and vanished.

“What an amazing series of events it was,” K’ndar said to Francie.

She nodded.”I’m glad it’s all over, for them, I mean. We still have the murderous Yvanna to deal with.”

K’ndar expected the crowd to disperse, but they stayed. Why did the bronze and one of the brown dragons-and the burly man-remain?

He looked at Lord D’nis with a ? on his face.

D’nis hand signaled “Wait”.

Yet again, K’ndar was appreciative of all the things he’d learned-and used-when they were fighting Thread. So many times, during a Fall, the noise of the thread, the flaming of the dragons, the shouting, the wind-made it impossible to hear someone-but a hand signal was easily seen across a wide area.

Lord D’nis pulled his datalink again. I probably don’t need this message, he thought, but it gives me a great deal of pleasure to do so.

Security: dragon transport is here, please bring the prisoner to the dragon meadow. Our guests have already departed for Lemos Hold.

Within a few moments, his datalink pinged.

Lord D’nis: That was quick, my lord. I didn’t expect them for half an hour. But we’ve had the pony cart on standby and the prisoner is tightly shackled, fore and aft. At first I thought, she’s a woman, I don’t need to put her in chains. What a mistake that was! She tried to escape the day we caught her, and my lord, she’s slicker than a tunnel snake. You’ll hear us before you see the cart, the woman is shrieking at the top of her lungs and I will be very happy to have her out of Landing, never mind Southern!

The crowd talked amongst themselves, apparently fully aware of what was about to occur.

The remaining dragon riders and the burly man approached the two Council members. Their body language was that of Officialism.

“My Lords D’nis and T’balt, we are here to collect a prisoner named Yvanna, to take her to Lemos Hold for her trial.”

“Thank you, Dragonrider N’than. She will be here any moment. I am sure Lord Asgoth has a suitable reception planned for her?”

The burly man chuckled. “I assure you, my lord, Lord Asgoth is champing at the bit to have her back in his Hold.”

“While we’re waiting on the pony cart, is there something we can do for you?” D’nis asked. “Are you hungry?”

“No, my lord, ” N’than said, “thank you, but we’d just like to pack her up and take her to Lemos. We’re expecting high winds coming in this afternoon with rain. Much as I’d love to visit, my lord, I’ve never been to Landing, we want to drop her off and head home to Benden.”

The burly man said, “My lords, I am Lord Asgoth’s Chief Bailiff. Please forgive me for not giving you my name, but the prisoner has been known to pay raiders to do her dirty work, and I don’t want my family endangered.”

And soon, he thought, that will be one less worry of mine. “I am delegated by Lord Asgoth to take custody of Yvanna.”

“We will be more than happy to release her, sir, and thank you, Benden, and Lemos, for sending you. I don’t trust the prisoner to not try something funny, and you, sir, don’t look to be the type to allow that.”

The bailiff grinned. He pulled a packet from a pocket inside his jacket and extended to Lord T’balt.

“My lord, there are two documents in this packet. One is from Lord Asgoth, the other from Lord Toric of Southern Hold.”

T’balt took it and tucked it into his jacket. “Thank you, Bailiff.”

“What does it say?” someone asked, expecting Lord T’balt to read it aloud.

“Ssh. It’s none of our doings,” someone else hissed. “It will be recorded, never fear, for anyone to read.”

Bailiff heard it and turned to explain.

“In accordance with the Charter, we use what’s called a chain of custody. Landing is relinquishing custody of a prisoner named Yvanna to me. I will be responsible for her until we reach Lemos Hold, where my staff will be very happy to escort her to her new cell.”

“Pardon me, but why don’t one of you dragonriders take her out to the ocean and just drop her in?”

“Her crimes were committed in Lord Lemos’s Hold, well, the ones we are sure of. Lord Lemos is more than anxious to um, ‘set things right’,” the bailiff said.

“And,” said N’than, “We’ve learned that dropping someone in the sea doesn’t dispose of a criminal.”

“Why? Take her far enough out, she’ll drown. She can’t swim for days. It’s a big BIG ocean.”

“And she’s in chains. Add an anchor and you’ll put paid to her.”

“She won’t drown, even in chains. The dolphins will save her,” K’ndar said.

The crowd groaned. “Oh, right. Wonderful beasts, dolphins, but I guess you can’t tell them NOT to rescue,” one said.

“Excuse me, sir, but dolphins are NOT beasts. They’re people. They’re not human, but they are definitely people,” K’ndar said.

“What’s with the crate?”a woman asked.

Bailiff laughed. “The crate is to transport Yvanna so that she doesn’t hurt the dragonrider or escape by jumping off. She’s slippery as a tunnel snake, and that’s insulting a tunnel snake. Lord Asgoth learned that after she fled Lemos Hold, she took passage on the Imp from Northern for the specific purpose of killing Crafter Merrick and his wife.”

“Bloody brigands. Someone needs to sink that ship,” someone said.

The crowd nodded. “Merrick DID say she would hunt him down. He was right.”

“Somehow she learned they were here. There’s a spy, someone who is still out there, doing her bidding. You don’t have a network like she had without a lot of unscrupulous people to do the scut work,” Bailiff said. I hope the spy isn’t here at Landing, he thought. If so, he knows my face, but not my name. Thank the stars for that.

Francie nodded. “She came here as unerringly as a dog on a scent trail.”

“And you caught her how?”

Francie and K’ndar both laughed. “We didn’t catch her, she stole a horse from the Wanderers, and they chased her right into our arms,” she said, deciding to keep it as simple as possible.

Bailiff sucked his teeth. “Bad idea to piss those folks off. Ours near Lemos want her head.”

“And it sounds as if she’s here,” someone said.

The pony cart hove into view. Yvanna was shackled fore and aft to the sides. She was shouting epithets.

The sight of her shocked them.

She was not only chained, but muzzled.A small cage covered her nose and mouth, allowing her to breathe and speak-but not much else. She was unable to remove it, as her forearms were shackled by a length of chain to one around her waist. Her ankles were shackled, too, allowing her to stand on her own and shuffle, but no more. She could grip the sides of the cart for support but was unable to fully extend her arms.

“A muzzle?” Bailiff said.

The cart pulled up.

“GET ME OUT OF THESE CHAINS” she shouted. “You! With the Lemos brassard! You know who I am! They’ve muzzled me like a common cur! Release me immediately!”

“Hasn’t shut you up, though,” a voice from the crowd noted. They laughed.

“Everyone at Lemos Hold knows you, Yvanna,” the bailiff said.

The driver of the cart dismounted. He bowed to the council members and the party from Benden.

“I’m so glad you are here,” he said, “I’ll be glad to be shed of this, um, person.” He turned to face the bailiff, knowing instinctively what his role was.

“Aye, sir, and you are?”

“I’m Bailiff, from Lemos Hold. I note she’s filthy,” he said, “Has she been mistreated? Not that I give a damn, but we ‘go by the charter now’.”

“YES, I was!” Yvanna shouted.

“Nah, you weren’t,” someone replied. “You just like being filthy. I know. My poor partner is cleaning up your cell as we speak. She says that pigs are sterile in comparison.”

“Shaff your partner,” Yvanna shrieked. She struggled with the chains, but steel was stronger than any human muscle.

The carter turned to the Bailiff. “I am wise enough to know you’re not insulting me, or my team mates on her condition. She has NOT been mistreated,” the cart driver said, ignoring the outburst.Still, he backed away from the cart.

“She refused to bathe, sir, despite the fact that her cell has heat, light, running water, even a flush toilet, which she didn’t listen when we taught her how to use it. She’s had three, sometimes four meals a day. Most of which she threw at my staff, or painted the walls with. Along with other disgusting materials.”

“You! Lemos man! Didn’t you hear me, you brainless lout? Lord Asgoth will have your ears if you don’t!” Yvanna shouted at Bailiff.

“The muzzle, though?” Bailiff said, completely ignoring her.

“Sir-it’s for our protection. I would advise you to stand out of spitting range. She spits and bites. The other day, she pretended to be ill, so two of us went in with a healer and she tried to escape. We grabbed her and she bit my colleague. Like a dog, she went for his face but he threw up his hand and she bit it instead. Badly. “

“Is he okay?”

“I can’t say, I’m not a healer. But Marl, our healer, cleansed the bite wound and smeared it with smanda gel, just in case. He doesn’t want it to get infected.”

“I’d have knocked her teeth in,” said one of the observers.

Yvanna snapped, “I did bite, they abused me and I was helpless. I’m of noble blood, I tell you! I’m Lord Toric’s sister and if you release me now I will advise him to not behead you all. Release me NOW.”

Bailiff looked at her and said, “Shut up.”

“What?” she said, shocked.

“I said, shut up. Stop shouting, we can all hear you and even without chains, we’re not afraid of you. We are taking you to Lemos Hold for Lord Asgoth to administer justice.”

“NO. Take me to Southern Hold. My brother is Lord Toric. He’s waiting for me.”

Bailiff patted his chest. “I have Lord Toric’s release of jurisdiction right here. He has disowned you. I have been ordered to return you to Lemos Hold, to await Lord Asgoth’s justice. It will be up to him as to whether you are then sent on to Southern Weyr to face your brother.”

“Justice? There has been no justice, I demand you release me.”

“My lords,” N’than said, “If you don’t mind, I’d like to get this over with. I AM worried about the weather up north.”

“Yes. Let’s proceed.”

The cart driver nodded, and three men moved out of the crowd to surround the cart. K’ndar had seen them during the headcount but had no idea who they were or worked for. But he could see they were accustomed to working with heavy things. All of them had muscles like tree trunks. One had a bandaged hand.

She realized what the men were about to do.

“You keep your hands off me, you pigs.”

To a man, they grinned-then pulled on gloves they’d brought to prevent her biting them. One waved his bandaged hand before gloving it. “Oink, oink, oink,” he said, smirking. The crowd laughed.

“How fetching,” someone said, “that muzzle suits you.”

“Help me! Someone help me!” she shouted.

“I told you to shut up. Now do so, and listen,” Bailiff said. He pulled a large sack out of his pocket. She looked at it with widened eyes. “I am only going to warn you once. If you spit at me or anyone here, I will cover your misbegotten head with this sack.”

In response, she spat. But the muzzle prevented it from hitting anyone but herself.

“So be it. Too bad it doesn’t quiet you down,” Bailiff said, and with one smooth move, put the sack over her head. He pulled the fabric over the muzzle to make sure it allowed her to breathe. He gently pulled the strings just enough to keep the sack from being blown off while in flight.

She struggled, uselessly.

“Make it tighter, bailiff, and in a few minutes, Benden and Lemos will be able to go home unencumbered,” someone said.

Bailiff nodded. “Yes, a garrote would be just the thing for her. But no. I have my orders. You know how it is.”

Bailiff and the three Landing men unshackled Yvanna. By the time she realized what was happening, they’d lifted her and quickly deposited her into the crate, chaining her to eyebolts in the frame. Bailiff turned to the dragonriders. “There you go, sirs, your cargo all ready for transport.”

“Aye,” said one of the dragonriders, enjoying the scene.

“Get me out of this box! Remove this bloody sack from my head!” she shouted, but it was muffled.

Bailiff looked down at the form in the crate with what could only be described as deep satisfaction.

“Oh, I shall, ma’am. In due time, I shall,” Bailiff said.

By nightfall, I’ll be able to fit all of you in it, he thought.