 |
|
| |
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
Tamianth.
Moreta suddenly had more help than she could use effectively so she sent the
riders to help the other healer find her requirements and the children to get
a table for her to stand on. The old woman informed her that the Weyr's
healers had died and the two new ones knew absolutely nothing about dragons
but were willing. She used to help but her hands had 'a trembling'.
Moreta sent her off to find the gauze, that was her most urgent need. In the
time it took Moreta to complete her preparations to repair the wing,
Tamianth's crushing pain had been reduced to a throbbing ache, according to
Holth-Orlith. Tamianth's wing was considerably larger than Dilenth's and the
sail fragments fewer. The two riders were of great assistance in sorting the
pieces onto the gauze. "I never would have thought of gauze," Pressen had
murmured, fascinated at the reconstruction. He was able to assist her in the
finer stitching, for his small hands were extremely deft. Nattal, the ancient
High Reaches headwoman, forced Moreta to take time for a cup of soup, claiming
that she knew the Fort Weyrwoman was only just recovered from the plague and
it would give the High Reaches a bad name if Moreta collapsed on them, and
then what would happen to Tamianth? It was soon obvious to Moreta that the
soup contained a stimulating ingredient, for when she resumed her delicate
repair it was with improved concentration and precision.
Nonetheless, Moreta was trembling with fatigue by the time she finished.
"We must return," Holth said in an inarguable tone.
Moreta was more than willing, but oddly disturbed by some nonspecific anxiety.
She looked toward Falga, who was either unconscious or sleeping under the furs
of the stretcher. Troubled, Moreta looked over the rocky Bowl, at the other
injured dragons.
"You look very pale, Moreta," Pressen said, lightly touching her arm with his
red-stained hand. "I'm sure we can handle any other injuries. It was just
that, the whole wing! Your work was an inspiration."
"Thank you. Just keep the bones saturated with numbweed. Once the joints have
started to produce ichor, that will coat the wounds and the healing process
Page 116
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
will begin."
"I had never really considered that dragons get injured by Thread,"
Pressen said, his expression respectful as he flicked his eyes to the dragons
on the ledges and the seven pinnacles.
"Come! Mount!" Holth's tone was more urgent, and there was nothing of
Orlith in her voice.
"I must leave." Moreta swung up onto Holth's back, noting in the back other
mind that Holth was leaner than Orlith and no longer as tall in the shoulder.
Or maybe it was the way Holth had of assuming a half-crouch.
As the old queen gathered herself, Moreta suppressed a concern that the dragon
was too tired for a standing start. Her hindquarters, ... Moreta's head
snapped back as Holth sprang powerfully upward, and she devoutly hoped that
the queen had been unable to track her secret doubts. To cover her
embarrassment, Moreta visualized the Star Stones of Fort Weyr, the largest of
those monuments, and the mountain peak that soared behind the Stones.
"Please take us to Fort, Holth."
Holth complied without clearing the High Reaches Weyr rim. During the searing
moment of cold between, Moreta's hands stung in the gloves. She ought to have
oiled them again. She was always acquiring little nicks and needle scratches
during a repair. The green weyrling greeted them on their return, bugling on
an unexpectedly joyful note.
Holth glided to her ledge, coming in a shade too fast, Moreta thought, bracing
herself for the landing.
"You are needed," Holth said as Moreta loosened the straps and slid down.
"I'll just remove your harness, "
"I need you now!" Orlith's voice was petulant. "I've been waiting for you!"
"Of course you have, love, and very good natured you were to let me go, "
"Leri says you shouldn't waste any time," Holth added, the facets of her eyes
beginning to whirl faster.
"Something's happened to Oriith?" Moreta skipped down the stone steps as fast
as she could, her heart pounding. She raced around the corner into her weyr,
knocking her shoulder as she bounced into the turn.
Orlith had her head angled to catch the first possible glimpse of her rider.
As Moreta barreled into the weyr, Orlith bugled repeatedly.
As she threw her arms around her dragon's head, Moreta noticed Leri standing
to one side, wrapped up in sleeping furs, looking excessively pleased.
"We managed just fine," she explained between Orlith's effusions, "but the
sooner you get her to the Hatching Ground the better. I don't think she could
have held out much longer, but you were needed badly at High Reaches, weren't
you?"
Between apologies and encouragement to her dragon, Moreta agreed.
"No one even knew you were gone," Leri said, "but I doubt I could have
sustained the deception getting Orliith to the Hatching Ground."
"I really need to go," Orlith said plaintively.
CHAPTER XII
Fort Hold, Fort and High Reaches Weyrs, Present Pass, 3.18.43
"I, for one, am heartily glad to hear a piece of good news," Capiam said when
the echoes of the drum message had faded.
They had all heard the sound of the drums but, closeted in the thick stone
walls of Lord Tolocamp's apartment in Fort Hold, they had not been able to
distinguish the cadences until the Harper Hall began to relay the tidings
onward.
"Twenty-five eggs is not a generous clutch," Lord Tolocamp said in
exaggeratedly mournful voice.
Capiam wondered if the Lord Holder's dose of vaccine had held some curious
contaminant. The man's whole personality had altered. The charitable would say
that he grieved for his wife and four daughters, but Capiam knew that Tolocamp
had consoled himself rather quickly by taking a new wife, so his sorrow was
Page 117
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
suspect. Tolocamp had also made his losses the excuse for a variety of
shortcomings, short temper, and dithering.
"Twenty-five with a queen egg is a superb clutch this late in a Pass,"
Capiam replied firmly.
Lord Tolocamp pulled at his lower lip, then he sighed heavily.
"Moreta really must not permit Kadith to fly Orlith again. Sh'gall was so
ill."
"That is not our business," Tirone remarked, entering the discussion for the
first time. "Not that the illness of the rider has any effect on the
performance of the dragon. Anyway, Sh'gall is flying Fall at Nerat so he's
evidently fully recovered."
"I wish they would inform us of the status of each Weyr," Lord Tolocamp said
with another heavy sigh. "I worry so."
"The Weyrs," Tirone spoke with a firm emphasis and a sideways look of
irritation at the Lord Holder, "have been discharging their traditional duties
to their Holds!"
"Did I bring the illness to the Weyrs? Or the Holds? If the dragonriders were
not too quick to fly here and there, "
"And Lords Holder not so eager to fill every nook and cranny of their, "
"This is not the time for recriminations!" Tirone shot a warning glance at
Capiam. "You know as well, if not better than most people, Tolocamp, that
seamen introduced that abomination onto the continent!" The deep rumbling
voice of the Masterharper was acid. "Let us resume the discussion interrupted
by such good news." Tirone's expression told Capiam that he must control his
antipathy for Tolocamp. "I have men seriously ill in that camp of yours,"
Tirone caught the Lord Holder's gaze, stabbing his finger toward the windows.
"There is not enough vaccine to mitigate the disease, but they could at least
have the benefit of decent quarters and practical nursing."
"Healers are among them," Tolocamp countered sullenly. "Or so you tell me!"
"Healers are not immune to the viral influence and they cannot work without
medicines." Capiam leaned urgently across the table to Tolocamp, who drew
back, another habit that irritated the healer. "You have a great storeroom of
medicinal supplies, "
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pldoc.pisz.plpdf.pisz.plcs-sysunia.htw.pl
|
| |
|
|
|
| Podobne |
| |
|
| |
|