Threads in the Skein of Fate (Thayilli)

[Imladir]

“I'm...” Thayilli paused: she didn't think the strangers were bandits, but on the other hand, at least it was something the traders understood. In the end, she decided to not complicate things more than they aleady were and let him assume they were indeed bandits. So instead, she shrugged, “I'm not sure who they've robbed,” probably no one...yet? “But they've slaughtered a party of Sulidors recently, which was perfectly unnecessary, with weapons that... Well, I've studied in a Healer's Hall, and I can tell you no weapon we know of inflicted those wounds. In fact, some of them didn't even have wounds.”

For a few seconds, the young rider looked in the direction the trader had pointed, then nodded, “We'll go check it out. Be careful. We think they might be trying to follow the river downstream, so try to avoid that if you can, and be very careful if you have to go there.”

She seemed to hesitate for a moment, then sighed, “I can't tell you what to do if you meet them but... Be careful alright?”

“Alright, I'm done here, you can come pick me up.” She glanced at the trader with a mischievous squint, then indicated a place not too far for Sam' to pick her up: far enough that she wouldn't cause undue unrest among the beast, but close enough that they'd see Sam's colour.

[Grognardsw]

"Thank you for the warning," replied Harnack. "We will be careful."

After Thayilli left, the trader yelled out. "If you happen to see my cousin T'ros Amhold at Weavers Hall, tell him Harnack said hello!"

The caravans drew closer. Thayilli reached the rise where Sameroth flapped down with a thud. She mounted and took flight, Sam's powerful wings stirring up dust.



As dragonrider and steed left the caravans behind, Thayilli could see them all pointing up at her. It was probably the closest many of the rambling traders would be to a dragon, and a gold at that. A memory none of them would soon forget.

High in the air K'ressa, on her green Grangerth, rejoined Thayilli and they resumed following the river.

"Did they see anything?" K'ressa communicated through Granger to Sam for Thayilli to answer.

The pair patrolled for several hours but saw no sign of the strangers. The sun was beginning to set.

Additions for the Dramatis Personae at Nuclino:

Riders' dragon:
K'ressa green dragon is Grangerth

People:
Harnack Amhold: Trader leader of caravan Thayilli encountered during search for strangers. He has a cousin in the Weavers Hall at Arolos.

[Imladir]

Hmm, officially dragon names should finish with th ^^
But if you want Granger, Granger it is then!

Thayilli nodded, but didn't add anything: there wasn't much more she could do or say now anyway.

Once back in the air, she answered K'ressa's question “Not much, but there were some of those falling stars northwest from here two days ago. That and weird[/i] noises, whatever that was.”

As the sun started to set, Thayilli announced, “Alright, let's head back to Arolos, we're not going to find anything in the dark. We'll have to share what we found too anyway. And who knows, maybe some of the others did find something.”

[Grognardsw]

I edited the name to Grangerth

As the sun set, the searching dragons of Arolos Hold returned.



Sameroth, like the other dragons, was glad to settle back in her cave after the long day of flight. She feasted on heard animals while the riders gathered in the dining halls. The evening's menu had meatrolls, spiced wheery and roasted herdbeasts.

In recognition of the long day put in by all the dragonriders, in the background a harper played "The Duty Song."

Oh, we must give honor to those dragons heed
In thought and in favor, in word and in deed
For our world will be lost or our world will be saved
From those dangers that are by the dragons braved.

Weaver and farmer and miner and smith
Tanner and herdsman, all lord holders with
Our harpers attuned to the lessons we learn-
Remember our duty to those who save Pern.

We'll nurture our dragons, the queens rule their bands;
Their clutches will shell on the Hatching Ground sands.
We'll Search out the riders who will love and endure
With their dragonmates keeping our planet secure.

We rise from the Weyr on our dragonmates bold,
Aloft in the sky, Bronze, Brown Blue, Green and Gold.
Wheeling and turning, the hungry Threads burning
A dragon must fly when there are Threads in the sky.

Oh, Lord of the Hold, you must keep your charge sure
Behind metal doors, with your people secure.
See well to the herdbeast, keep cellars well stored
Lest Fall leave you hungry and Holdless and scored.

Oh, we must give honor to those dragons heed
In thought and in favor, in word and in deed,
For our world will be lost or our world will be saved
From those dangers that are by the dragons braved.

The riders shared their stories of how the day went. Most had seen nothing, but Masix and Jorone had found tracks.

"We noticed an oddly positioned felled tree across a white-water river," said Masix. "We landed Karnth and Torloth to investigate. The tree had been cut so cleanly in a way I've never seen. It was positioned as a bridge across the river. We saw tracks with unusual boot prints on both sides of the river. We followed them as far as we could before they stopped from ground condition. This will help narrow our search to that region tomorrow."

[Imladir]

Thayilli listened quietly to the song, one that no doubt would please the current audience, more than the previous one. And, she had to admit, that it wasn't wrong. She would just like for the dragonriders to not forget that without the Halls or the Holds, they wouldn't be able to do anything either.

Well, for now, there were other problems to address. “We did find something too. A group of dead Sulidors, killed in ways i have never seen before. Strange holes in the body, burns or straight out missing pieces of flesh, some of them didn't even have any wounds that I could see.” She shook her head, then breathed carefully, lest Sam's anger overwhelm her. “A nearby caravan of traders said they saw some weird shooting stars two days prior and heard 'unusual sounds' in the night.”

“We couldn't find much more than that, but they're definitely in the area. Plus,” she added after a minute, “they're likely on foot. Makes them harder to track but they can't have gone very far. Between the approximate spot their ship fell - assuming that's what the falling star was anyway - the spot where I found the Sulidors and your tree,” she glanced at Masix, Thayilli listened quietly to the song, one that no doubt would please the current audience, more than the previous one. And, she had to admit, that it wasn't wrong. She would just like for the dragonriders to not forget that without the Halls or the Holds, they wouldn't be able to do anything either.

Well, for now, there were other problems to address. “We did find something too. A group of dead Sulidors, killed in ways i have never seen before. Strange holes in the body, burns or straight out missing pieces of flesh, some of them didn't even have any wounds that I could see.” She shook her head, then breathed carefully, lest Sam's anger overwhelm her. “A nearby caravan of traders said they saw some weird shooting stars two days prior and heard 'unusual sounds' in the night.”

“We couldn't find much more than that, but they're definitely in the area. Plus,” she added after a minute, “they're likely on foot. Makes them harder to track but they can't have gone very far. Between the approximate position of the falling star - assuming that was their ship anyway - the location of the sulidors and your tree,” she glanced at Masix, “we should have a pretty good idea of what they're aiming for and how fast they're moving.”

[Grognardsw]

The dragon riders nodded in agreement at Thayilli's words.

"Sulidors are fierce fighters," commented F'rar. "These strangers must have powerful weapons to kill them."

Dinner concluded. The dragon riders did not tarry and drink, knowing another full day was ahead. Like their dragons, the riders were tired from the long day.

Jorone approached Thayilli as the riders broke up. "I have never seen a Sulidor in person. What were they like?" He walked with her and K'ressa along the corridors to the riders caves. "I was excited to find the tracks with Masix, but to come upon the Sulidor must have been sobering."

At a split in the corridor, K'ressa said good night and sneaked a quick wink at Thayilli. "Have a good night sleep."

[Imladir]

“Dead,” was Thayilli's answer about what the Sulidors looked like. “And Sam' really didn't like that. Not that she has any particular interest for the Sulidor, but she really didn't like the appearant pointlessness of it.” She shook her head, “I doubt it was as simple as that, but I'll have to be careful when we find them.” Not that she had a good impression of the strangers, but she'd have to be really careful that Sam's emotions didn't override her own or worse, formed a negative loop.

“'Night.” They young dragonrider wished K'ressa, before hesitating: she ought to go see how the one stranger they had found was doing, but she supposed she'd have been told if he had woken up. And he wasn't really her patient anymore, so…

Shaking her head, Thayilli went to sleep, her dreams plagued by metal men slaughtering Sulidors.

[Grognardsw]

[Grognardsw]

The next morning the search continued in the narrowed regions identified from yesterday's flights.

On the third hour, as Thayilli and K'ressa flew over a vast plain of mushroom trees, they spotted what must be three strangers.



Even from the air Thayilli could tell their dress was foreign.

[Imladir]

“Look, down there! Fly around for a bit.” Thayilli said to Sam', to make sure that the three she was seeing were likely strangers. Once sure of it - or as sure as she could be considering the distance - she added, “Tell K'ressa to go back to Arolos and get more people.”

The stranger were both dangerous and violent, so the best they could do was a show of force. “And it wouldn't be a bad thing if we had a dragon or two with Firestone. Just in case…” And while they waited, Thayilli turned around the strangers high up in the sky, to try and see if there were only those three without losing sight of them.

[Grognardsw]

Thayilli and K’ressa swooped about on their dragons, viewing the strangers from different angles. The dragons’ sharp sight confirmed their riders’ suspicions.

“Their dress and items they carry,” thought Sameroth to Thayilli, “are none seen on Pern.”

Sam communicated Thayilli’s orders. K’ressa waved in affirmation as dragon Grangerth veered off and jumped into the between to gather reinforcements from Arolos Weyr.

Sam rode the air currents as Thayilli searched for others, but she only saw the three men. They pointed up in the air at her, then ran toward the large stone in front of them (see picture in my previous post.) It was a large, unusually shaped tower of rock sculpted by erosion, or was it a structure or statue of a bygone time? The three men were hidden at the moment among the rock.

[Imladir]

Thayilli wasn't too happy about the strangers hiding, but she supposed it made sense. Still, she had no intention of letting them get away, so she was particularly careful to make sure she wouldn't miss them going to another one of the rocks in the fields.

She had no intention of making them move away though: as far as she was concerned, she was perfectly fine with waiting for reinforcements without doing anything more, particularly not when doing anything would be taking risks she didn't want to take.

“Let's just make sure they're not running away and wait for the others. It shouldn't take long.”

[Grognardsw]

Thayilli and Sameroth glided around the stone tower formation, keeping eyes on the area to make sure the strangers did not flee.

After 15 minutes K'ressa returned with three dragonriders - F’rar on his bronze Smoth, H’rerra on her green Prentoth, and Jorone on his blue Torloth.

They waved at Thayilli and swooped near, communicating by dragon.

“What is the plan?”

[Imladir]

Thayilli blinked, surprised: why was she the one to have to come up with a plan? That should be F'rar's prerogative, not hers… Not that she was going to say much, but he had better not make her life difficult over that later on. “Who's got the Firestone?”

Before she could get an answer though, she continued, “Nevermind, let's get one of the others land some distance away from the strangers and have whoever has the Firestone make a pass nearby to burn some stuff - without starting a big fire please - to make it clear to those strangers that they had better behave.”

None of which could be her of course since Sam' was too important to risk for this. “I'm not sure they'll even understand us, or us them, but whoever lands should make it clear they had better drop their weapons before they get close.”

[Grognardsw]

Thayilli may do more leading sometimes, as you're the only player

Sam conveyed to Thayilli that F’rar’s Smoth had consumed the firestone.

Following Thayilli’s plan, Jorone landed Torloth 200’ away from the stone formation in which the strangers hid.

“Come out!” Jorone yelled. “Put down any weapons!”

Smoth flapped down within 50’ of the stone tower, his great wings beating to stay in place as he bellowed flame at the top quarter of the stone tower. The rock blackened.

The three strangers emerged from their hiding place, arms raised in the air. Thayilli could see they were two men and one woman. Their garb was was not of Pern; each wore a backpack, and from their belts hung what could be weapons or other unknown implements.

[Imladir]

Perfectly normal, no worries! But it's a bit surprising for Thayilli, even though she's certainly not going to complain... Unless things go awry anyway

“Well, those are definitely strangers.” Thayilli idly commented to Sam' while she watched.

Pretty quickly though, she asked Sam to transmit to Jorone. “Have him ask them to stop and show them his dagger before visibly dropping it to the ground, then inviting them to do the same in case they don't understand us. I don't want them armed near any of us.”

“In fact, tell him to...” Thayilli frowned. She had been about to ask him to remove his tunic, but she was betting that the woman wouldn't be pleased about it and would make things difficult. “Have him lift his tunic and turn around to show that he has nothing on him, then ask them to do the same.”

“And if they're being difficult, have Smoth burn a few more things.” She squinted, hard, “I'd rather have them down, permanently if need be, than any one of us hurt.” And those strangers had shown how little they thought of others - the metal man attacking her, the Sulidors killed, or even how the second small ship had abandoned their mates to flee - so she wasn't feeling to trusting at the moment.

Hopefully, if Smoth's fire wasn't enough, Torloth's visible fangs would keep them honest and she had no doubt that the dragon wouldn't hesitate a moment to strike if need be. In fact, the main difficulty would likely be to prevent the dragon from shredding the strangers if they twitched at the wrong moment but she had to trust Jorlone there.

[Grognardsw]

The three strangers continued to advance slowly, arms in the air. Jorone dismounted and held his dagger up, then placed it on the ground as he said, “Place your weapons on the ground!”

F’rar and Smoth tightly circled above, sweeping winds down and around the strangers.

The strangers apparently understood as they unhitched their belts and lowered them to the ground.

“Lift your shirts and circle around,” Jorone said, acting out the action.

Torloth sniffed and stamped.

The two men did so; the woman just circled. They appeared to have no weapons.

“Wo voaxan ug je whaxalm. Wo axalo rech. Eul xascoplk calypxitl,” said the larger of the two men.

[Imladir]

Thayilli grumbled as the woman refused to lift her tunic, but didn't say much of anything about that. Instead, she instructed Sam' to land nearby. “Not sure what we're going to do with them though…”

After all, they had spent time discussing how to find the strangers, but no one had thought about what they were going to do next. Or she hadn't paid attention to that part, which was…well, possible.

As they landed, she added, “If one of them thinks about attacking…” Thayilli stopped there: no one sane would attack a dragonrider, which was why dragons never attacked humans. But should someone be stupid enough to try, the young rider had no doubt that someone would be crushed - or burned - in short order…no matter what kind of instructions had been given to the dragon. Hopefully the dragon's telepathy, while not particularly good at receiving thoughts coming from someone else than their riders, would be enough to prevent accidents.

“So, are they easier to understand than the metal-man?” She asked Jorone as she got closer. As he shook his head, she grumbled, “Figures… How are we going to communicate? For that matter, what are we going to do with them? Can you sort that out with F'rar?”

After that, she took a step in the direction of the strangers, studying them for a moment, before saying loud enough to be heard from where they were, “Can any of you understand me?”

[Grognardsw]

The woman stepped forward and pointed to her belt on the ground. She put her arms in the air while kneeling to retrieve something from it. It looked like a 3" rectangular box with a clip on it. She looked and nodded questioningly, as if asking if it was okay to get the item.

[Imladir]

Thayilli frowned, clearly hesitating and not particularly pleased. Still, in the end she chose to nod.

She did however give a few instructions to Sam', “Make sure they see well the nice fangs you have.” Maybe that'd keep them honest if nothing else did the trick. They were after all really nice fangs. Pretty big too...