Post by Phly on Mar 15, 2009 14:55:16 GMT -6
"You were at the Hatching?"
"Did you see the fight?"
"Did you see the dragons?"
"The blacks...."
"That reddish one....."
"The brown Impressed to a girl...."
"The blue Impressed to a girl...."
"What's the world coming to?"
"Evil..."
"...Must be dealt with..."
"....Can't be allowed to...."
"SILENCE!" Roared an irate Lord Holder.
Viktus, Lord Holder of Ruatha was furious. The gossip that had spread North from the South after the Hatching was contagious and couldn't be treated as true and correct. He himself had not gone to the Hatching. His wife had taken ill, leaving the man Hold-bound to care for her.
He'd sent his eldest son and a couple of his fosterlings; the reports they brought back were shocking and many of the bits of information concerning the events that had unfolded at Southern Weyr's Hatching had leaked into the Hold proper. Now, he faced a slew of lies, misconceptions, and the prospect of revolting Holders on an almost hourly basis.
"I will hear no more talk of the events that happened in lands not our own!" He shouted in the deadly silence that had overtaken his Holders.
"But, Lord Viktus! You cannot pretend that there isn't something amiss here! How could it have happened? How could there have been so many irregularities at the Hatching?"
"What if those freak dragons Hatch here in the North?!"
"What if the Weyrs did it on purpose?! What if they're trying to take us over properly?!"
Roars of agreement met this last outburst and many of the lunching Holders rose to their feet, clamoring answers.
"Then they will be dealt with swiftly and decisively! No dragonman shall ever threaten the lives of Holders, no dragonman will take our lands from us!" He cried in reply.
the Holders were not satisfied.
"But we don't know that the Harpers haven't conspired to do this! To help deform the dragons so that they'll lust for human flesh! So that they can take us over?"
"WE REMEMBER T'KUL!"
More shouts of agreement.
"T'kul is dead and gone! He cannot threaten our lands no longer!" Viktus replied, the hairs on his neck standing as he faced the terror of his people.
"But D'ram is gone! All is left is Oldtimers! They'll surely want to finish what T'kul has started! Those freak dragons will be the end of us!'
"WE HAVE A NORTHERN WEYRWOMAN IN THE SOUTH!" Viktus roared, his patience wearing thin.
But no matter what argument he presented to his people would quell their fear. They wanted to crush whatever uprising their feared from the South - though he honestly doubted their was one. The civil unrest that had been brewing since Benden and Fort fell had been growing rather than receding. The Holders had seen 'bad luck' when Jaxom Impressed his Ruth. They figured that it was just the start of something much more terrible, much deadlier than Threads.
And what could Viktus tell them to show them otherwise? There was nothing! Nothing! He only prayed that the Weyrs of the North did not experience the same sort of...mishaps at their coming Hatchings for if there were...
Viktus looked out to the faces of his Holders and saw the same, grim lust for destruction that he'd seen on T'kul's face not so long ago. He suppressed a shudder....
"Did you see the fight?"
"Did you see the dragons?"
"The blacks...."
"That reddish one....."
"The brown Impressed to a girl...."
"The blue Impressed to a girl...."
"What's the world coming to?"
"Evil..."
"...Must be dealt with..."
"....Can't be allowed to...."
"SILENCE!" Roared an irate Lord Holder.
Viktus, Lord Holder of Ruatha was furious. The gossip that had spread North from the South after the Hatching was contagious and couldn't be treated as true and correct. He himself had not gone to the Hatching. His wife had taken ill, leaving the man Hold-bound to care for her.
He'd sent his eldest son and a couple of his fosterlings; the reports they brought back were shocking and many of the bits of information concerning the events that had unfolded at Southern Weyr's Hatching had leaked into the Hold proper. Now, he faced a slew of lies, misconceptions, and the prospect of revolting Holders on an almost hourly basis.
"I will hear no more talk of the events that happened in lands not our own!" He shouted in the deadly silence that had overtaken his Holders.
"But, Lord Viktus! You cannot pretend that there isn't something amiss here! How could it have happened? How could there have been so many irregularities at the Hatching?"
"What if those freak dragons Hatch here in the North?!"
"What if the Weyrs did it on purpose?! What if they're trying to take us over properly?!"
Roars of agreement met this last outburst and many of the lunching Holders rose to their feet, clamoring answers.
"Then they will be dealt with swiftly and decisively! No dragonman shall ever threaten the lives of Holders, no dragonman will take our lands from us!" He cried in reply.
the Holders were not satisfied.
"But we don't know that the Harpers haven't conspired to do this! To help deform the dragons so that they'll lust for human flesh! So that they can take us over?"
"WE REMEMBER T'KUL!"
More shouts of agreement.
"T'kul is dead and gone! He cannot threaten our lands no longer!" Viktus replied, the hairs on his neck standing as he faced the terror of his people.
"But D'ram is gone! All is left is Oldtimers! They'll surely want to finish what T'kul has started! Those freak dragons will be the end of us!'
"WE HAVE A NORTHERN WEYRWOMAN IN THE SOUTH!" Viktus roared, his patience wearing thin.
But no matter what argument he presented to his people would quell their fear. They wanted to crush whatever uprising their feared from the South - though he honestly doubted their was one. The civil unrest that had been brewing since Benden and Fort fell had been growing rather than receding. The Holders had seen 'bad luck' when Jaxom Impressed his Ruth. They figured that it was just the start of something much more terrible, much deadlier than Threads.
And what could Viktus tell them to show them otherwise? There was nothing! Nothing! He only prayed that the Weyrs of the North did not experience the same sort of...mishaps at their coming Hatchings for if there were...
Viktus looked out to the faces of his Holders and saw the same, grim lust for destruction that he'd seen on T'kul's face not so long ago. He suppressed a shudder....