«Holth comes. I come,» said Orlith and Holth in different tones on the same breath.
«Oho, and here comes trouble without a shirt.» Levalla looked up at the weyr steps and pulled Moreta to one side, to be shielded by Oribeth's bulk. «Does Sh'gall know, or was it Orlith's fussing that roused him?»
«He doesn't know.» Moreta wasn't sure if she understood what was happening or half of what Levalla had so tersely explained. Then Holth arrived, no more than two wingspans above the Bowl.
«Shells, but she's flying near the mark!» Levalla instinctively drew back. «Sh'gall thinks you were only on Search yesterday, is that right?» When Moreta nodded, she went on. «All right then. I'll delay him. You do Keroon on anything that will fly you. Those runnerholds must get the vaccine. Master Balfor has it all ready, in order, and with handlers to help out at the appropriate holds. Find a dragon to ride. Oribeth and I have done all we have time for in one day!»
Then Levalla shoved the worry-wood back into her belt and strode off to meet Sh'gall, who was bellowing at such rude awakening and strange queens threatening the peace of his Weyr.
Holth had continued her glide to land right at the Hatching Ground entrance, glaring at Oribeth, who was beginning to react to the air of hostility. Moreta rushed to intercept Leri before Sh'gall saw her.
«What has been going on? Orlith called Holth in sheer panic about Sutanith and Oribeth.»
Moreta made wild gestures up at the steps, indicating Sh'gall. Holth crouched down on the ground so that Moreta didn't need to shout up at Leri, and the old queen hissed soothingly in Orlith's direction.
«M'tani had Dalgeth restraining T'grel and the other bronzes. No vaccine has been conveyed in Dalgeth or Keroon. Sutanith got a warning out to some of the queens but M'gent of Benden had already suspected something was wrong because no riders from Telgar had collected any vaccine. Levalla has made arrangements for Telgar Plains and River, D'say has taken charge of the coast to the delta, and Dalova is taking the mountains.»
«Which leaves the Keroon Plains and you! Get your riding things. The day's half done in the east. I'll tell Kamiana to take over the rest of my run. S'peren can do the western coast from the Delta. I had the oddest feeling that something was going to go wrong. I did all the hidey holes in the top range first. The others are easy to find. Go, girl! I'll stay with Orlith. In truth,» Leri had difficulty swinging her leg to dismount, «my bones are very weary today and I'll be quite content to sit sipping my fellis juice and wine by Orlith's side.»
«Peterpar's gone to hunt wild wherries for her. Make her eat.»
«I'll save a few fat ones for Holth when you two get back. She'll need to eat by then.» Leri called cheerfully after Moreta as she ran to grab her riding gear. She started toward Orlith to give her a parting hug, but Leri cautioned her. «You've no time to waste and a lot to make. I'll give her all the affection she needs.»
«You must go to Keroon,» Orlith said, still keeping one eye on the Benden queen in the center of Fort Weyr Bowl. «Holth will take you. I must guard my eggs.»
«Oribeth doesn't want your eggs,» Moreta cried, scrambling up Holth's side.
«I have told her that,» Holth said.
Moreta quickly lengthened the riding straps to accommodate her longer body, secured them, then told Holth she was ready. Holth turned, charged a few lengths toward the lake, not quite in line with Oribeth, and then launched herself in the air. Moreta caught a glimpse of Levalla standing on the steps in earnest conversation with Sh'gall, who didn't even look up as Holth took to the air. With relief, Moreta realized that the bronze rider had not noticed the switch of riders.
«Please take me to Keroon Beasthold, Holth,» Moreta said, visualizing the distinctive pattern of the fields that she knew as well from the ground as from the air. She didn't have time to think of her verse. She had to think of how much time she had to make. The Keroon region blazed in her mind, a map she had seen daily as a child in the big room of her family's hold. She knew it even better than she knew the northern holds, for she had trotted around it on runnerback as a child; she knew the north only from the back of a queen dragon.
The beasthold itself, set in its complex of paddocks, was a sturdy group of stone buildings and quadrangles of low, slate-roofed stables. It was there that the feline had been brought for identification and from those fields that runners had carried the disease. Few enough beasts occupied the fields, but more than she had expected. Perhaps in her family's hold the strays had been rounded up and all her father's careful breeding had not been wiped out. Holth glided in to land near the building where a group of men obviously awaited them, a line of nets arrayed on the ground.
Moreta recognized Balfor, an unsmiling man who generally confined his remarks to monosyllables. Or perhaps he had always diplomatically deferred to the affable and verbose Herdmaster Sufur. Balfor was certainly vocal now as he hurried to Moreta and Holth, beckoning his men to bring the first of the nets.
«We have them all in order for you, Weyrwoman,» he said, «if you know the holds from east to west. We've taken pains to be sure there is enough vaccine for every beast and human registered with the drum census. Go speedily, for the afternoon is half gone.»
Balfor exaggerated, too, for the sun was just past zenith.
«Then I shall make the most of it. Don't go wandering off. I'll be back directly.»
Moreta angled Holth in takeoff so they both had a good look at the angle of the sun. Then she checked the first label, Keroon River Hold, situated where the river rushed through a gorge in its first wild charge from the higher plateaus. Holth jumped for the sky and went between as Moreta kept the gorge hard in her mind. She was met by the healer of Keroon River Hold and her delivery received with thanks. They had begun to worry since the vaccine had been promised for early morning. Moreta did not dally.
Next they went slightly northeast to the High Plateau Hold where the runners were cleverly penned in a canyon, awaiting the vaccine. The holder wanted reassurance about 'this stuff' since they'd only had drum messages and no contact with anyone 'below' since the quarantine was sent, and he wanted a fuller account of all that had been going on below. She answered him tersely but told him that once the vaccination had been administered, he could go below and hear the whole story. Her next stop was westward, along the great plateau fault at Curved Hill Hold where there had been a great ingathering of runners, and that was the last of the first run she did.
She did four more holds, and each time she landed at the Beasthold for more vaccine, the sun had dipped by another hour's arc, though she and Holth had been on the move hours longer than the sun told. And each jump Holth made seemed just that much shallower. Twice Moreta asked the dragon if she wanted to take time to rest. Each time Holth replied firmly that she was able to continue.
The angle of the sun dominated the coordinates Moreta envisioned for Holth in her valiant leaps. It had become a blazing beacon, turning slowly orange as it dipped farther down in the west. Moreta began to think of the sun as her enemy, fighting the time it took for Holth to recognize each new destination, to glide in to the hold or cot, hand over the bottles of vaccine and the packets of needlethorn, to explain, patiently over and over, exactly the dosage for animal and that for human, repeating instructions already sent by drum and messenger. Yet Moreta had to admit that, despite Master Tirone's best efforts, there was still panic in the more isolated holds that had not been touched by the plague and dreaded it more for its unexperienced terrors than its known qualities. Only the fact that she came a-dragonback allayed some suspicions. Dragons had always meant safety, even to the most secluded settlers. She had to use valuable time reassuring Holth and still make it back to the Beasthold for the next load of vaccine and the next run.