It was just first light, Nabol time, when Kylaras arrival sent the watch-wher screaming into its lair. The watchguard knew the Southern Weyrwoman too well to protest her entry and some poor wit was dispatched to wake his Lord. Kylara blithely disregarded Merons angry frown when he appeared on the stairs of the Inner Hold.
Ive fire-lizard eggs for you, Lord Meron of Nabol, she cried, gesturing to the lumpy bundle shed had a man bring in. I want tubs of warm sand or well lose them.
Tubs of warm sand? Meron repeated with overt irritation.
So, hed someone else in his bed, had he? Kylara thought, of half a mind to take her treasure and disappear.
Yes, you fool. Ive a clutch of fire-lizard eggs about to hatch. The chance of your lifetime. You there, and Kylara pointed imperiously at Merons holdkeeper whod come shuffling in, half-dressed. Pour boiling water over all the cleansing sand youve got and bring it here instantly.
Kylara, born to a high degree in one Hold, knew exactly the tone to take with lesser beings, and was, in fact, so much the female counterpart of her own irascible Lord that the woman scurried to her bidding without waiting for Merons consent.
Fire-lizard eggs? What on earth are you babbling about, woman?
Theyre Impressionable. Catch their minds at their hatching, just like dragons, feed em into stupidity and theyre yours, for life. Kylara was carefully laying the eggs down on the warm stones of the great fireplace. And Ive got them here just in time, she said in triumph. Assemble your men, quickly. Well want to Impress as many as possible.
Im trying, Meron said through gritted teeth as he watched her performance with some skepticism and much malice, to apprehend exactly how this will benefit anyone.
Use your wits, man, Kylara replied, oblivious to the Lord Holders sour reaction to her imperiousness. Fire lizards are the ancestors of dragons and they have all their abilities.
It took only a moment longer for Meron to grasp the significance. Even as he shouted orders for his men to be roused, he was beside Kylara, helping her to lay the eggs out before the fire.
They go between? They communicate with their owners?
Yes. Yes.
Thats a gold egg, Meron cried, reaching for it, his small eyes glittering with cupidity.
She slapped his hand away, her eyes flashing. Gold is for me. Bronze for you. Im fairly sure that that second one no, that one is a bronze.
The hot sands were brought and shoveled onto the hearth stones. Merons men came clattering down the steps from the Inner Hold, dressed for Threadfall. Peremptorily Kylara ordered them to put aside their paraphernalia and began to lecture them on how to Impress a fire lizard.
No one can catch a fire lizard, someone muttered, well back in the ranks.
I have but I doubt you will, whoever you are, Kylara snapped.
There was something, she decided, in what the Oldtimers said: Holders were getting far too arrogant and aggressive. No one would have dared speak up in her fathers Hold when he was giving instructions. No one in the Weyrs interrupted a Weyrwoman.
Youll have to be quick, she said. They hatch ravenous and eat anything in reach. They turn cannibal if you dont stop them.
I want to hold mine till it hatches, Meron told Kylara in an undertone. Hed been stroking the three eggs whose mottled shells he fancied contained bronzes.
Hands arent warm enough Kylara replied in a loud, flat voice. Well need red meat, plenty of it. Fresh-slaughtered is the best.
The platter which was subsequently brought in was contemptuously dismissed as inadequate. Two additional loads were prepared, still steamy from the body heat of the slaughtered animals. The smell of the bloody raw meat was another odor to mingle with the sweat of men, the overheated crowded hall and the general tension.
Im thirsty, Meron. I require bread and fruit and some chilled wine, Kylara said.
She ate daintily when the food was brought, eyeing Lord Merons sloppy table habits with veiled amusement. Someone passed bread and sour wine to the men, who had to eat standing about the room. Time passed slowly.