The Master Harper of Pern

His was the more important, even though he was not supposed to be here.

"You got here, I see." The voice was a soft whisper at his side.

"Nip, you'll frighten the heart out of me one of these days, appearing like that." Robinton leaned back against the wall, sighing with relief. "Where've you been?"

Nip pointed to the kitchen, and indeed, now that Robinton got a good whiff of the man, he recognized the odours of singed bone and stale food.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm hungry and there's -well, some bread ..." Robinton strode to the table and grabbed a slice in each hand, chewing vigorously.

"Where'd he take her?" Nip asked.

"Lessa."

"Lessa?"

Fortunately, Nip was so astonished that he had gasped out the name in a startled whisper.

"Ssshhh! Only person I know of who could do what she did today ..." And Robinton gri

"What about F'lar? That was a grand fight he fought. Got hurt, too, I think."

"Didn't seem to hinder him." Robinton kept looking up the stairs, waiting for F'lar to reappear. "And I think it's about time one of us started taking charge here, don't you."?"

"Indeed, though I think the dragonriders have it well in hand. Fax bought loyalty. His death has lost the marks they need. They'll scatter at your command."

The MasterHarper was glad enough to shed the helmet, which had worn a sore ridge around his brows.

"You'll be wanting to make your way back to Nabol or Crom or High Reaches," he said, addressing Fax's soldiers. "I don't think the dragonriders will detain you."

"Who the shard are you?" demanded the underleader whom Robinton had encountered in the barracks.

"MasterHarper Robinton, and this is my colleague, Journeyman Harper Kinsale," Robinton said in firm commanding voice.

"The MasterHarper?" the armsman repeated, dumbfounded, looking from one ragged man to the other. "Now, wait just a minute," he began, suddenly with a new lease on his authority.

Just then the drums in the tower started.

So Tuck had been here too, Robinton thought, delighted. This sort of thing could be rather a lot of fun – if it didn't involve quite so much hard physical work.

"By the Egg!" the underleader snarled. "It'll be all over if we can't silence those drums ..."

Two dragonriders immediately took positions at the stairs, hands on their knives.

"I'd advise you all to make a sudden departure," Nip-Kinsale said, nodding at C'gan, who was quick enough to pick up the message.

"Lord Groghe's men will be arriving soon enough from his border posts," Robinton added. "I spoke with them on my way here. Were I you, I'd be well gone by the time they get here."

His advice caused the soldiery to reconsider their positions.

They could scarcely fail to understand that Fax's protection had died with him. Most of them looked worried and glanced anxiously about the Hall.

"B'rant, B'refli," Robinton said, picking out riders whose names he knew, "accompany them to the barracks so they can pack. I suppose the ru

"How long do you think it will take Lord Groghe's men to make it here?"

"Not long," K'net said amiably. "Of course we riders could go and get a few if we needed them." He made to signal F'nor, who was walking towards the door.

"We'll go," the underleader said.

"I'd like you to send someone to collect Bargen from the High Reaches Weyr," Robinton said to F'nor, who was staring at him.

"He's the legitimate heir to that Hold, and we'll have to see if there's any of the Bloodlines left alive in the other ones Fax took over."

"I didn't know he survived," F'nor said, surprised.

"I've a list of where the other survivors got to," Nip said. "Oterel at Tillek Hold has given refuge to several, you know."

"No, I didn't, but it's like him. We've a lot of work to do, then, haven't we?" Robinton smiled happily at the thought. One hold, one holder. That point had been well proven over the past turns.

He hoped it could be a moral lesson for a long time. "And we must do something about--' He stopped, realizing that Fax's dead body had already been removed from the Hall.

"First thing I had my fellow drudges do," Nip said. "They took an uncommon pleasure in dumping him into the midden. In the old days, he could have been left out for Thread to dissolve. Neater that way." Then he added, as the MasterHarper shuddered, "Well, that was a deterrent, you know."

A hungry wail alerted them to another problem which required an immediate solution.

"And a wet-nurse for the new young Lord of Ruatha Hold," Robinton said, trying to remember if there were any nursing women back at Harper Hall. The others regarded him blankly.

"I doubt any female here has succour for him, and I intend to keep the babe alive since he had such trouble getting here," Robinton said.

"We'll find one, somewhere," F'nor said firmly.

"Get Tuck to send another message," Nip suggested.

Before they could start that search, F'lar appeared on the steps, racing down them. "Has that creature come this way?" he demanded, catching F'nor by the arm. F'nor seemed to know that F'lar was referring to the drudge.

"No. Is she the source of power, after all?" F'nor was astonished.

"Yes, she is." F'lar looked angrily about him. "And of Ruathan Blood, at that!"

Robinton gri

"Oh-ho, does she depose the babe then?" F'nor asked, gesturing to the birthing-woman who occupied a seat close to the blazing hearth.

F'lar looked blank, his body half-turned to go about his search for the missing Lessa. "Babe? What babe?"

"The male child Lady Gemma bore," F'nor replied, surprised by

F'lar's uncomprehending look.

"It lives?"

"Yes, a strong babe, the woman says, for all that he was premature and taken forcibly from the dead dame's belly."

F'lar threw back his head with a shout of laughter. Then they all heard Mnementh's roar, followed by the curious warble of the other dragons.

"Mnementh has caught her," the bronze rider cried, gri

Robinton could just see the huge bulk of the bronze dragon, settling awkwardly on to his hind legs, his wings working to keep him balanced. Carefully Mnementh set the girl on her feet and formed a cage around her with his huge talons. Robinton could see that she was facing the wedge-shaped head that swayed above her.

Not afraid of a thing, that one, the MasterHarper thought, and wisely he decided to let F'lar handle the interview with the recaptured Lady of Ruatha.

The two fragments of bread that he'd managed to eat were insufficient to calm his growling stomach, and for once hunger got the better of his harperly curiosity. There had to be something edible on that roast carcass, and he meant to have it before he expired of starvation. Besides, F'lar had better learn to handle the girl now, before she Impressed a queen. Then he gri

He rather thought the young bronze rider would be up to the task.

He did find some edible if tough bits off the roast, quite a few, and he shared them with Nip, and Tuck, who had descended from the Drum Tower.

"Good lad," Robinton mumbled, his mouth full of the hard-to-chew meat.

"Where were you hiding, Master Robinton?" Tuck asked, accepting slices from the harper's knife.

"I was a drudge during the day, before I changed into a soldier," Robinton said with a sigh. "I never understood the word 'drudge' properly before now. I shan't be one again, I assure you."

Nip and Tuck smothered their chuckles at his vehemence.

"All well and good for you two. You're used to it," the MasterHarper went on, finding yet another not-too-scorched bit of meat.