Dilenth will fly again, Orlith said placidly as Moreta stepped back from the repaired wing. You’ve done as much as you can here.
“Orlith says we’ve done a good job, A’dan,” she told the green-rider with a weary smile. “You were marvelous assistants, M’barak, D’ltan, B’greal!” She nodded gratefully to the three weyrlings. “Now, we’ll just get Dilenth over to the ground weyrsand you can all collapse.”
She jumped down from the table and would have sprawled had A’dan’s hand not steadied her. His wry grin heartened her. She propped herself against the table edge for a moment. Nesso appeared, dispensing wine to Moreta first and then the others.
Dilenth, released from Orlith’s rigid control, began to sag on his legs, tilting dangerously to his right. Orlith reasserted her domina-tion while Moreta looked around for F’duril.
“He’ll be no help to anyone,” Nesso observed sourly as they all watched the blue rider sinking slowly to the ground in a faint.
“It was the strain and his wound,” A’dan said as he rushed to his weyrmate.
132 Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern
Dilenth moaned and lowered his muzzle toward his rider.
“He’s all right, Dilenth,” A’dan said, gently turning F’duril over. “A little sandy”
“And a lot drunk!” M’barak murmured as he signaled the other two lads to aid A’dan with F’duril. ‘
“The worst is over now!” A’dan said with brisk cheer.
“He doesn’t know what worst is,” Nesso muttered gloomily at Moreta’s side as the blue dragon lurched away, supported on one side by A’dan’s Tigrath and K’lon and blue Rogeth on the other.
It took Moreta a few moments to realize that K’lon and Rogeth should not be about. “K’lon? …”
“He volunteered.” Nesso sounded peeved. “He said that he was fine and he couldn’t stand being idle when he was so badly needed. And he the only one!”
“The only one?”
Nesso averted her face from the Weyrwoman. “It was a command the Weyr could not ignore. An emergency, after all. He and F’neldril decided that he must respond to the drum message.”
“What drum message are you talking about, Nesso?” Abruptly Moreta understood Nesso’s averted gaze. She’d been overstepping her authority as Headwoman again.
“Fort Hold required a dragonrider to convey Lord Tolocamp from Ruatha to Fort Hold. Urgently. There is illness at Ruatha and more at Fort Hold, which cannot be deprived of its Lord Holder during such a disaster.” Nesso blurted out the explanation in spurts, peering anxiously up at Moreta to gauge her reaction. “Master Capiam is sickhe must be, for it is Portine who replies to messages, not the Masterhealer.” Nesso grimaced and began to wring her hands, bringing them by degrees to her mouth as if to mask her words. “And there are sick riders at Igen, Ista, and many at Telgar. There’s Fall in two days in the south … I ask you, who will fly against Thread if three Weyrs have no riders to send?”
Moreta forced herself to breathe slowly and deeply, absorbing the sense of Nesso’s babbling. The woman began to weep now, whether from the relief of confession or from remorse Moreta couldn’t ascertain.
“When did this drum message come?”
“There were two. The first one, calling for a conveyance for Lord Tolocamp, just after the wings left for Fall!” Nesso mopped at her
Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern 133
eyes, appealing mutely to Moreta for forgiveness. “Curmir said we had to respond!”
“So you did!” Nesso’s blubbering irritated Moreta. “I see that you could not delay until we had returned from Fall. Surely Curmir responded that the Weyr was at Fall?”
“Well, they knew that. But F’neldril and K’lon were hereno, there”Nesso had to find the exact spot near the Cavern“so we all heard the drum message. K’lon said immediately that he could go. He said, and we had to agree with him, that since he had been ill of the fever, he was unlikely to contract it. He wouldn’t let F’neldril or one of the weyrlings or the disabled take the risk.” Nesso’s eyes pleaded for reassurance. “We tried to ask Berchar about the danger of infection, but S’gor would not let anyone see him and could not answer for him. And we had to respond to Lord Tolocamp’s request! It is only right that a Lord Holder be in his Hold during such a crisis. Curmir reasoned that, in such an unusual instance, we were constrained by duty to assist the Lord Holder even if it meant disobeying the Weyrleader!”