Suddenly Orlith reared up, her eyes flashing reddish orange with such alarm that Moreta whirled to the Hatching Ground entrance, alert to danger.
He will not let the bronzes go. Sutanith is worried. He is dangerous. Dalgeth, the senior queen, restrains all. Orlith sounded perplexed as well as defensive.
"Sutanith is speaking to you?" Moreta was amazed. Sutanith was Miridan's queen and she was a very junior weyrwoman at Telgar. Moreta didn't know her well at all for Fort did not often combine with Telgar Weyr even when traditional territories were observed.
The Leader has gone between to the Fall, so Sutanith warns you of the trouble-that the bronzes cannot help.
"M'tani found out that T'grel was going to distribute the vaccine?"
Sutanith has gone. Orlith relaxed her posture.
"And Dalgeth restrains? How did M'tani find out? I thought Leri and T'grel had worked out every detail. And Keroon must have the vaccine." Moreta began to pace, scrubbing at her short hair as if she could tease out a plan. "If Keroon doesn't get the vaccine, the whole plan could fail!" She dashed across the sands to the tier and found Capiam's notes. Keroon and Telgar had to be covered and there were many halls and holds. Who else among her riders knew Telgar and Keroon well enough to-
Oribeth comes. This time Orlith jumped in front of her eggs, spreading her wings, arching her neck in instinctive protection other clutch from the proximity of a strange queen.
"Don't be silly, Orlith. Levalla's here to see me!"
Astonished that the Benden pair should appear in Fort Weyr, Moreta rushed out to meet Levalla. They had landed in the center of the Bowl, well away from both Hatching Ground and Cavern. As Moreta rushed out to meet her visitors, Levalla sighted the sun's position in relation to the Star Stones before sliding down her queen's shoulder to await Moreta.
"I timed that very well indeed. I didn't want you to worry unnecessarily."
"You timed it here? Orlith just relayed Sutanith's cryptic message. Do you know about it?" Moreta had to bellow over the noise made by the Weyr's dragons, which were bugling in bewilderment at Orlith's alarm and Oribeth's presence. Moreta sent powerful reassurances to her queen, who stopped bugling.
"Do calm everyone down. I didn't mean to put the Weyr in a panic. My apologies to Orlith and the watchrider and all that, but I had to see you instantly. I did rather well, you know, timing it across the continent on top of everything else." Levalla had stripped off one glove and now fingered the worry-wood. "And yes, we know all about it in the east. About midmorning, our time, M'gent thought something was amiss when Lord Shadder said no one from Telgar Weyr had collected any vaccine from him or Master Balfor-so we were slightly forewarned. Sutanith got her warning through to Oribeth, Wimmia, and Allaneth so I give Miridan full marks for courage. But then, K'dren says she's mating with T'grel, and he's determined against M'tani now. So we took a little time"-Levalla smiled eloquently at Moreta-"and we have assigned two brown riders who know Telgar Plains and the River holds. D'say has agreed to send one of his group on the runs along the Telgar coast to the delta. Dalova says she can expand her responsibility to include the mountains, skipping back pre-Fall because that's where it would chose to Fall today. But we don't have anyone who knows the Keroon Plains well enough." She paused then from her swift recital of emergency measures and gave Moreta a long stare. "You do. Could you fly it on that young blue?"
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.