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Lytol clutched his arm. "D'ram and Tiroth will take me. I know Ruatha as well as you do, lad."
"So do I," Lessa said roughly.
"I'll go northeast to the Nabol Pass," F'lar said.
"We'll need some Fort Riders," Lessa said.
"And some to follow the river to the sea," Lytol added.
"We'll stay here for the fire-lizards," Piemur said, nodding to Sharra. There were tears ru
Dawn was breaking by the time the dragonriders, augmented by Fort Weyr riders, admitted defeat and returned to Ruatha. A few folk were awake, preparing to return home, but most of the Gather area was populated by those sleeping off the night's excesses.
"Not a single wagon is leaving here without being searched," Sharra told Jaxom when he got back. "That was Piemur's notion."
"And a good one," Jaxom said, gratefully taking the cup of klah she handed him. "For there was nothing moving on the tracks, and I went as far as the Ice Lake, and Ruth was particularly vigilant over the wooded areas."
He saw then that someone had thrown a blanket across the dead man's shoulders. Piemur and Jancis sat nearby as if guarding their master's sleep.
"We thought it wiser to pretend it's Master Robinton," Sharra murmured. "Sebell and Menolly know, of course, and her ten fire-lizards have been out searching all night. Sebell's gone back to the Harper Hall to alert everyone. You heard the drums?"
"You can't miss them." She grimaced. "Asgenar and Larad know harper codes, and they were talking of mounting an attack on Bitra."
"They'd never have been fool enough to imprison the Harper there. Sigomal's not stupid. He'd know it would be the first place we'd look."
"That's what Lytol told them, but they feel badly because they heard of the abduction first. Larad says that he ought to have confronted Sigomal immediately and demanded that he forget such a heinous scheme."
"That would have done no good," Jaxom said wearily.
"And it was such a lovely Gather..." Sharra said, turning into his shoulder and weeping softly.
Jaxom put his arms about her, smoothing her rumpled hair back from her forehead and wanting very much to give way to the tears that burned his eyes.
"Zair?" he asked, suddenly remembering the little creature.
"Oh! Yes." Sharra pulled herself from his arms, mopping her eyes and sniffing. "He'll recover, Campila says. She purged him and," she added managing a little smile, "he looked so embarrassed. I've never seen that particular shade in fire-lizard eyes before."
"When will he be able to help us find Master Robinton?"
Sharra bit her lower lip. "He's terribly weak and awfully confused. I didn't ask her that, because if they've drugged Master Robinton and he's comatose, not even Zair could find him."
Suddenly the air was full of agitated fire-lizards, shrieking and bugling.
They've found him! Ruth cried. In three mighty hops, he landed at Jaxom's side.
Jaxom was astride the white dragon before he realized his own intention and then Ruth was aloft with such speed that his rider was nearly unseated. Other dragons were airborne as quickly. Like an arrow composed of many bodies-all flying so closely together that many must have been winglocked-the fire-lizards pointed the southeastern direction.
Can you understand who or where from them? Jaxom asked Ruth.
It is not far, and they picture a wagon. You can see the tracks plainly.
And then Jaxom saw the marks, visible over the headlands of fields recently plowed under. The abductors had been clever, taking to the fields instead of the roads, and the cart had to be a small one, or they could not have maneuvered over muddy fields and the rocky terrain beyond the cultivated lands. The dragons had not been airborne long when they saw the first of the foundered ru
Tell the others, Ruth, that they must be heading to the sea. Have some riders go on ahead.
They go, Ruth replied, and Jaxom saw spaces opening up all around him as dragons went between.
But dragon wings were quicker than the fleetest of ru
Then Ruth and the Benden contingent swooped down to halt the cart.
There was a brief attempt at i
The fire-lizards, however, were far more interested in the unusual dropped load bed, swarming over it, crooning encouragement, bugling triumph. The "sick" man was unceremoniously dumped out of the cart, the mattress rolled out of the way, and the boards of the false bottom pulled free. And there they discovered the Masterharper, looking ashen and almost wizened.
Carefully they lifted him out, rearranging the mattress for his comfort.
"He may just need air," F'lar said, "stuffed in that pit and jostled like a package..."
He glared at the three who were struggling in the rough grip of angry riders. Overhead, fire-lizards made as if to bombard them, claws and beaks held in attack readiness.
"We need Sharra," Lessa told Jaxom urgently. "Unless Oldive is still at the Gather..."
Jaxom vaulted to Ruth's back.
"Don't meet yourself coming, Jaxom!" Lessa shrieked at him.
Despite his anxiety and fury, Jaxom recognized the sense of that warning; still, he didn't waste any time returning with Sharra and her medical case.
"I think they gave him too much," she said, her face paler than the Harper's. "We must get him back to Ruatha where I can treat him properly."
The limp figure was handed up to Jaxom astride Ruth, with Sharra to help hold the Harper between them. When they arrived back at Ruatha, N'ton was already in the courtyard with Oldive, so Jaxom knew that the Fort Weyrleader had risked timing his errand.
"Hold on, Sharra," Jaxom told her. "Ruth's going to take us straight to our room."
"Will he fit-" Sharra broke off as they reappeared in the large living room; Ruth quickly folded his wings and scrunched down, and managed to knock over only a few pieces of furniture.
By the time N'ton and Oldive arrived, Jaxom and Sharra had the Harper in their bed, his clothing removed. Sharra held the Harper's head, and Master Oldive quickly emptied a vial down his throat. Then he examined Robinton's eyes and listened to his heart.
"We must get him warm," the Masterhealer said, but Sharra was already tucking furs about the lax body. "His body has had a dreadful shock. Who did this?"
"We'll find out who's behind all this. The abductors were nearly to the beach," Jaxom said. "A ship was waiting to take him who knows where."
"We'll have the answer to that, too," N'ton said in a grating tone. "Master Robinton will recover, won't he, Oldive?"
"He must," Sharra said fervently, kneeling beside the bed. "He must!"