Dragondrums - Chapter Seven
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i_read_whatSo last time, Piemur and Sebell infiltrated the Gather in Nabol. Piemur stole/liberated a gold fire lizard egg from Lord Meron and found himself accidently smuggled to the Southern Weyr! Oops.
This chapter gets a content warning for torture, not of a main character.
So Sebell is our viewpoint character this chapter! That's pretty cool, I don't recall the guy ever getting a point of view perspective before. It's probably a good time for it, considering that his student has just been accidently smuggled to another continent.
And yep, Sebell's pretty worried. Not initially, of course, but once Piemur fails to show up for the meal and the dancing, Sebell starts thinking something has gone wrong. The fact that Sebell is actually bothering to be concerned about a student pretty much proves he's the only competent instructor that Harper Hall has.
Anyway, apparently there is a way for Piemur to call for help if there was a problem. He could "set up a howl" whatever that means. But obviously, Piemur's not here to do that. Sebell sends his lizard, Kimi, to find him. But no luck.
Sebell seems pretty thorough in searching the valley. He can't imagine what could have happened. Ideally, if Piemur had gotten in trouble, Sebell would have been sent for as his master. When he gets back to the gather, he hears about the theft of the queen egg.
This is interesting and annoying:
Feelings were mixed as that news spread; anger from those who had received lesser eggs, and amusement that someone had outsmarted Lord Meron.
It really does annoy me that there are lesser vs. greater fire lizards. I get why there are ranks of dragons, but fire lizards are vanity pets who do very little useful. Why does the color matter?
Anyway, apparently the Miner, Kaljan, is under suspicion and his baggage is thoroughly searched. Eventually when suspicion falls on the "unknown drudge", Sebell realizes that must be Piemur. He doesn't know how Piemur got access to the Hold, but he trusts Piemur to have found a way. And he figures it is absolutely like Piemur to steal an egg given the opportunity. He never did anything by halves. Hee.
Kimi goes searching again, but can't get close. Apparently, the location is too dark and too full. She's too distressed to relate more. Piemur apparently outsmarted himself there. When the searching gets more intense, Sebell sends Kimi to warn N'ton away from the rendezvous point.
Sebell is more delighted with Piemur's elusiveness than worried at this point, and finds a good vantage point to wait and watch. And indeed, he ends up in the perfect spot to witness the approach of four unknown dragons. He realizes quickly what he's seeing: Meron smuggling goods illicitly to the Oldtimers. The queen's egg had been a prepayment.
That is an interesting point. Fire lizards are a valuable commodity and far more prevalent in the South than the North. The Oldtimers hadn't seemed very interested in the fire lizards in Dragonquest, but when exiled there were basically given the gift of something they can use for currency. F'lar miscalculated.
Sebell, trapped in his hiding place, ends up sleeping for a while, then woken up by very urgent message drums that are summoning Robinton and Oldive.
Sebell gets worried that they're summoning Robinton because Piemur had gotten caught. (Though he has faith that Robinton could handle any accusation.) Then he realizes that Oldive is summoned too, and it's a critical emergency. Sebell sends Kimi off to Menolly, with a very clear mental image of clean Harper clothes. N'ton's Tris had been helping out since Sebell had warned N'ton away, and he thinks very hard at her that N'ton should NOT come to the valley. (He'd have no legitimate business there.)
It's worth noting that Tris is brown. Proof that N'ton isn't one of McCaffrey's favorites, I guess.
And indeed it works, when Robinton and Menolly arrive, they're bringing fresh clothes in Harper blue, so Sebell can quickly slip into the entourage. He updates the others, explaining that Meron walked the Gather (which by Oldive's reaction was unwise) and that the fire lizard egg was stolen.
Robinton is amused at first, but less so when he wonders if he's been summoned to witness the punishment of a thieving apprentice. Yeah, because it's not like he's spying for you or anything. Or that it's your fucking job to be accountable for your students.
More likely though, they're here because of Meron's health. Oldive notes that if Meron was foolhardy enough to walk around and then got agitated over the egg, he could be very sick indeed. And per Sebell, the Nabolese all seem to know and have accepted that Meron is dying.
Apparently there is a preferred candidate among Meron's many possible heirs: a carter named Deckter. He's Meron's grand-nephew, with four sons that he keeps firmly in line. He's unfriendly but gets grudging respect. And ugh:
“I have also discerned that there are more fire lizards in and about Nabol than there ought to be. Most of them...” and he paused to give his words more weight, “are green.”
“Green?” Menolly swung on him in surprise.
“Yes, green.”
“You mean,” Menolly went on, “he's been distributing eggs from green fire lizard clutches? Why, the bloody beast!”
...seriously? Look, I get that queen clutches are preferred for some reason. But a fire lizard is a fire lizard! There's been nothing to indicate that the product of a green clutch is inferior in any way, except that they're more commonly the "lesser" lizard types. No one seems to care that much about the creatures' intelligence except for their abilities to send messages, and Sebell seemed just as successful with brown Tris as with golden Kimi. They're not saving the world here!
Now, a better complaint is that sometimes the eggs don't hatch at all. Okay, yes, that's far more of a problem for Meron. (Apparently Sebell has to hold up a hand to forestall Menolly's angry words and I wonder why the fuck she cares this much. I realize Menolly's whole characterization revolves around fire lizards, but what difference does it make whether Meron is able to appropriately bribe people?
Sebell also delivers the biggest news: the arrival of the dragons and their departure, heavily laden with goods.
Anyway, they get to the Hold where they are met with some very unhappy people. Meron is dying and doesn't have long at all. The resident healer, a fellow named Berdine, is frantic and babbling in distress. He lets slip about the stolen egg.
So we get a fairly repetitive update, given the pro-Meron spin:
“Yes, if you must know,” began Hittet, still glaring at the indiscreet healer. “Lord Meron was recently given a clutch of fire lizard eggs, one of which was thought to be a queen egg. He naturally took the best care of such prizes, kept them on his own hearth. He has had a lot of experience with fire lizards, you see. He was to distribute the eggs to deserving people as the high point of the Gather Feast. When his rooms were being freshened, one of the kitchen drudges had the audacity to steal the queen egg. How, we can't yet understand. But it's gone, and that wicked lad is somewhere in the Hold.” Hittet's tone augured ill for Piemur when he was found.
It's convenient that they don't explain where Meron got the clutch. But it's old news really. There's a cute moment where Sebell gives Menolly's hand a reassuring squeeze. Anyway, Meron was upset and collapsed not long after that. (Which causes Oldive to glare at Berdine, which doesn't seem fair. Meron clearly wasn't about to listen to any healer's advice.)
The local harper, Candler, is upset as well. Meron refuses to name his heir. He's too busy planning fiendish punishments for Piemur, and being generally disagreeable. Candler thinks that Meron actually wants the Hold in contention, because he hates Benden. I'm not sure why that's relevant, to be honest. But anyway, this morning, all of a sudden, every single prospective heir has decided they don't want the job. This is after they spent a shit ton of effort to get the job.
Sebell brings up Deckter, who Candler had forgotten about entirely. He figures that's Deckter's doing. He apparently had said he makes more money carting than he could holding. He asks how Sebell found out about him, and Sebell claims to have looked up the bloodline.
That seems to contradict what he said earlier, but then Sebell probably wouldn't want to admit to spying.
As this is going on, the fire lizards return to update Menolly and Sebell: Piemur is no longer in the Hold.
They get to the apartments. Apparently it smells bad. Candler has some perspective on it:
“Smell? Oh, you get used to it. Disgusting, I know, but it has something to do with Lord Meron's illness. We try to mask it,” and Candler gestured to the sweet candles alight in containers about the room. “I often think that it's only justice,” he added in a careful whisper, “for the suffering he's given others, but it's a terrible way to die.”
...okay, look, Meron's been a perfectly adequate thorn in F'lar's side, sure. But what suffering has he given others, exactly?
We've heard that he makes life difficult for his subjects sometimes, but nothing approaching Fax-level atrocity.
Anyway, when they get in, Robinton sends Sebell to the drumheights to summon the local lords and the Weyrleader T'bor. Sebell also intends to sneak in a message to Piemur, who'll come if he hears it. Of course we know that he won't. But it's still a decent idea.
Menolly and Sebell share a moment:
“Don't fret over Piemur, Menolly,” Sebell said, trying to sound more lighthearted than he felt. “He has a knack of landing on his feet.” He smiled down at her, allowing himself the luxury of putting his arm lightly about her shoulders.
“Except when the steps are greased!” Menolly's voice had an angry edge, and he gripped her shoulder reassuringly.
“Look at it this way. Just see how that misadventure has worked to his advantage. He's got out of the drumheights and acquired himself a queen fire lizard egg. For all we know, he may meet us at the Hold gates with it, smiling in that ingenuous fashion of his, when you and I know he's as devious as Meron.”
“I wish I could believe you, Sebell,” Menolly said sighing heavily, but she leaned trustingly against him for his comfort. “If he was anywhere in the vicinity. Beauty and Rocky ought to have found him.”
“He's somewhere,” replied Sebell firmly, and daring more than ever, he gave her a quick hug, turning abruptly from her as he caught her startled look. “The wretch!” he added, more of a growl than a comment. At that moment, they both heard the message drum roll across the mountains, and Sebell hastily strode back to the drums.
Aw. Sebell, you opportunist.
Anyway, the others arrive and everyone goes to Meron's bedside. Meron looks appalling: sunken eyes, pain-lined face, and yellow skin. His fingers are claws "with hanging bags of flesh between the knuckles".
Well, that sounds bad.
Anyway, Meron wants nothing to do with any of them. But they want a successor. And whoa. This is so not good!
“If you think I'll name a successor just to make things easy for you and those dregs at Benden, think again!” The force of that remark left the man gasping against his props, one hand feebly beckoning to Master Oldive, whose attention was on the Harper.
“Or unfriendly persuasion,” continued Master Robinton as if Lord Meron hadn't spoken.
“Ha! You can do nothing to a dying man. Master Robin ton! You, Healer, my medicine!”
Master Robinton lifted his arm, effectively barring Berdine from approaching the sick man.
“That's precisely it, my Lord Meron,” said the Harper in an implacable voice, “we can do... nothing... to a dying man.”
...are you fucking serious?!
I mean, okay, Meron is a dick. But what the fuck, Robinton?!
The man is DYING. You want him to die in agony because he's inconveniencing you?! You've JUST been told how no one wants the job. Just name someone after he dies and PRETEND he did it. You don't need to torture the guy!
And I mean, what exactly DID Meron do to warrant dying in agony?!
Meron may have been a crap Lord, but there's no indication of mass illness or death. The people seem fine with his death, but they don't seem to hate him. No one's revolted against him or tried to assassinate him.
Sebell tries to justify this for us:
Sebell heard Menolly's catch of breath as she understood what Master Robinton had in mind to force this issue with Lord Meron. Berdine started to protest, but was silenced by a growl from Lord Oterel. The healer turned appealingly to Master Oldive, whose eyes had never left the face of the Harper. Although Sebell had known how desperately Master Robinton wished for a peaceful succession in this Hold, he had not appreciated the steel in his pacific Master's will. Nabol Hold must not come into contention, not with every Holder's younger sons eager and willing to fight to the death to secure even as ill-managed a Hold as this. Such fighting could go on and on, until no more challengers presented themselves. What little prosperity Nabol enjoyed would have been wasted in the meantime with no one holding the lands properly.
Okay. Then LIE. How is lying worse than torturing a dying man?!
The problem with having your protagonists engage in this kind of behavior is that you have to convince the audience that it's necessary! And here, that doesn't seem to be the case! SUPPOSEDLY a peaceful transfer relies on Meron giving a name. But we were just told that his heirs didn't want it! The younger sons of other Lords have not been established as enough of a threat.
Hell, when Fax died, he had what? SEVEN holds? He had one legitimate heir (Jaxom) who only inherited Ruatha, and that was supposedly subject to the approval of the other Lords (even though that went absolutely nowhere in White Dragon.) Presumably they found replacements for the other Holds without much of an issue. One of those Holds was actually Nabol! Piemur was ten or eleven in Dragonsinger, which ran parallel to Dragonquest. He's fourteen now. Dragonquest was four years after Threadfall, which was maybe two or three years after Lessa became Weyrwoman! So Meron himself has only ruled, at most, for about fifteen to twenty years himself!
I'm not convinced this is a necessity. I'm also not convinced that Robinton couldn't just LIE about it. And I'm annoyed that this is Saint Robinton, so there's no way he will ever face any consequences for this decision.
Meron demands Oldive attend him, but Oldive notes that there are many at the Hold gates that need his services. He calls Berdine to attend him. Wow.
God, this is gross:
You wouldn't? Can't you understand? I'm in pain. Agony! Something inside is burning through my vitals. It won't stop until it's eaten me to a shell. I must have medicine. I must have it!”
“We must have the name of your successor.” Lord Oterel's voice was pitiless.
Master Robinton began to name the male relatives, his voice expressionless as he intoned the list. When he had completed it, he recited it again.
Sebell respectfully reminds Robinton of Deckter, and Robinton adds him as an afterthought.
Oh, and this is fucking bullshit.
“You must name your successor,” said T'bor, High Reaches Weyrleader, and Meron's eyes rested on the man whose private grievance with him ran deepest. For it was Lord Meron's association with T'bor's Weyrwoman, Kylara, that had caused the death of both Kylara's queen dragon, Pridenth, and Brekke's Wirenth.
Hey, wait a fucking second, McCaffrey!
NO, you don't get to pull this shit. Maybe you forgot to include enough detail about Meron's assholishness to make this a satisfying rather than horrifying scene, but you don't get to "fix" that by blaming him for something that absolutely was not his fault!
Meron is a Lord, NOT a dragonrider. There is no indication that he has any knowledge about what a mating flight entails. Furthermore, there is no indication that he knew that one was taking place during his rendezvous with Kylara.
Even Kylara really isn't to blame, if we take the other High Reaches Weyrwoman at her word, everyone had assumed Nabol was far enough away to be safe. But Meron's only role in this is being the dick that Kylara preferred fucking instead of T'bor. If anything T'bor had more responsibility, since he knew Kylara's behavior was a problem and didn't or couldn't do anything about it.
Why the hell does T'bor get to stay in charge anyway, given that he lost TWO Weyrwomen in one go?
Sebell is an interesting perspective here, because he's kind of a reluctant accomplice. He does at least realize how awful this is:
Sebell knew he would always remember this bizarre and macabre scene with horror as well as with a certain awful respect. He had long known that Master Robinton would use unexpected methods to maintain order throughout Pern and to uphold the leadership of Benden Weyr, but he had never expected such ruthlessness in the otherwise gentle and compassionate Robinton. He schooled his mind away from the stink and closeness of the room, from Meron's pain, by trying to appreciate the tactics that were being used as Lord Meron was deftly maneuvered into choosing the one man the others preferred among his heirs by their seeming to forget Deckter half the time. For a long while afterward, the flickering of glows would remind Sebell and Menolly of those eerie hours while Lord Meron tried to resist the will of his inflexible peers
So anyway, Meron eventually gives in and names Deckter, thinking that he's pissing off his tormentors one last time. As soon as he does, Oldive returns for relief. He'd only been in the next room while they tortured a dying man.
Fuck all of you.
Meron is drugged into a stupor, while the other heirs storm in to demand to know why they were excluded from Meron's presence. So they could torture him. Keep up. Anyway, they're relieved, consternated and disappointed to hear the answer. Honestly, this seems like a reasonable reaction and I'm not sure if we're supposed to dislike these people or not. I suppose it doesn't matter.
Sebell extracts Menolly from the chattering relatives, and they escape to fresh air. The gathering crowd notices them, giving Sebell the opportunity to shout Deckter's name. The Nabolese people seem relieved and happy at least. There's no sign of Piemur and no possible way he could have gotten out.
Except one. Sebell catches sight of a single courtyard window and puts things together. A bit of questioning reveals/confirms that that's the room where the supplies for the Southern Weyr were stored. They realize that Piemur could have hidden there, and resolve to send a message to Toric.
And so a messy, unpleasant chapter ends with a bit of happy relief:
“Let's send them all. Mine know Piemur best. Oh, just wait till I get my hands on that young man!”
Sebell laughed at Menolly's fierce expression. “I told you he'd land on his feet.”
This chapter gets a content warning for torture, not of a main character.
So Sebell is our viewpoint character this chapter! That's pretty cool, I don't recall the guy ever getting a point of view perspective before. It's probably a good time for it, considering that his student has just been accidently smuggled to another continent.
And yep, Sebell's pretty worried. Not initially, of course, but once Piemur fails to show up for the meal and the dancing, Sebell starts thinking something has gone wrong. The fact that Sebell is actually bothering to be concerned about a student pretty much proves he's the only competent instructor that Harper Hall has.
Anyway, apparently there is a way for Piemur to call for help if there was a problem. He could "set up a howl" whatever that means. But obviously, Piemur's not here to do that. Sebell sends his lizard, Kimi, to find him. But no luck.
Sebell seems pretty thorough in searching the valley. He can't imagine what could have happened. Ideally, if Piemur had gotten in trouble, Sebell would have been sent for as his master. When he gets back to the gather, he hears about the theft of the queen egg.
This is interesting and annoying:
Feelings were mixed as that news spread; anger from those who had received lesser eggs, and amusement that someone had outsmarted Lord Meron.
It really does annoy me that there are lesser vs. greater fire lizards. I get why there are ranks of dragons, but fire lizards are vanity pets who do very little useful. Why does the color matter?
Anyway, apparently the Miner, Kaljan, is under suspicion and his baggage is thoroughly searched. Eventually when suspicion falls on the "unknown drudge", Sebell realizes that must be Piemur. He doesn't know how Piemur got access to the Hold, but he trusts Piemur to have found a way. And he figures it is absolutely like Piemur to steal an egg given the opportunity. He never did anything by halves. Hee.
Kimi goes searching again, but can't get close. Apparently, the location is too dark and too full. She's too distressed to relate more. Piemur apparently outsmarted himself there. When the searching gets more intense, Sebell sends Kimi to warn N'ton away from the rendezvous point.
Sebell is more delighted with Piemur's elusiveness than worried at this point, and finds a good vantage point to wait and watch. And indeed, he ends up in the perfect spot to witness the approach of four unknown dragons. He realizes quickly what he's seeing: Meron smuggling goods illicitly to the Oldtimers. The queen's egg had been a prepayment.
That is an interesting point. Fire lizards are a valuable commodity and far more prevalent in the South than the North. The Oldtimers hadn't seemed very interested in the fire lizards in Dragonquest, but when exiled there were basically given the gift of something they can use for currency. F'lar miscalculated.
Sebell, trapped in his hiding place, ends up sleeping for a while, then woken up by very urgent message drums that are summoning Robinton and Oldive.
Sebell gets worried that they're summoning Robinton because Piemur had gotten caught. (Though he has faith that Robinton could handle any accusation.) Then he realizes that Oldive is summoned too, and it's a critical emergency. Sebell sends Kimi off to Menolly, with a very clear mental image of clean Harper clothes. N'ton's Tris had been helping out since Sebell had warned N'ton away, and he thinks very hard at her that N'ton should NOT come to the valley. (He'd have no legitimate business there.)
It's worth noting that Tris is brown. Proof that N'ton isn't one of McCaffrey's favorites, I guess.
And indeed it works, when Robinton and Menolly arrive, they're bringing fresh clothes in Harper blue, so Sebell can quickly slip into the entourage. He updates the others, explaining that Meron walked the Gather (which by Oldive's reaction was unwise) and that the fire lizard egg was stolen.
Robinton is amused at first, but less so when he wonders if he's been summoned to witness the punishment of a thieving apprentice. Yeah, because it's not like he's spying for you or anything. Or that it's your fucking job to be accountable for your students.
More likely though, they're here because of Meron's health. Oldive notes that if Meron was foolhardy enough to walk around and then got agitated over the egg, he could be very sick indeed. And per Sebell, the Nabolese all seem to know and have accepted that Meron is dying.
Apparently there is a preferred candidate among Meron's many possible heirs: a carter named Deckter. He's Meron's grand-nephew, with four sons that he keeps firmly in line. He's unfriendly but gets grudging respect. And ugh:
“I have also discerned that there are more fire lizards in and about Nabol than there ought to be. Most of them...” and he paused to give his words more weight, “are green.”
“Green?” Menolly swung on him in surprise.
“Yes, green.”
“You mean,” Menolly went on, “he's been distributing eggs from green fire lizard clutches? Why, the bloody beast!”
...seriously? Look, I get that queen clutches are preferred for some reason. But a fire lizard is a fire lizard! There's been nothing to indicate that the product of a green clutch is inferior in any way, except that they're more commonly the "lesser" lizard types. No one seems to care that much about the creatures' intelligence except for their abilities to send messages, and Sebell seemed just as successful with brown Tris as with golden Kimi. They're not saving the world here!
Now, a better complaint is that sometimes the eggs don't hatch at all. Okay, yes, that's far more of a problem for Meron. (Apparently Sebell has to hold up a hand to forestall Menolly's angry words and I wonder why the fuck she cares this much. I realize Menolly's whole characterization revolves around fire lizards, but what difference does it make whether Meron is able to appropriately bribe people?
Sebell also delivers the biggest news: the arrival of the dragons and their departure, heavily laden with goods.
Anyway, they get to the Hold where they are met with some very unhappy people. Meron is dying and doesn't have long at all. The resident healer, a fellow named Berdine, is frantic and babbling in distress. He lets slip about the stolen egg.
So we get a fairly repetitive update, given the pro-Meron spin:
“Yes, if you must know,” began Hittet, still glaring at the indiscreet healer. “Lord Meron was recently given a clutch of fire lizard eggs, one of which was thought to be a queen egg. He naturally took the best care of such prizes, kept them on his own hearth. He has had a lot of experience with fire lizards, you see. He was to distribute the eggs to deserving people as the high point of the Gather Feast. When his rooms were being freshened, one of the kitchen drudges had the audacity to steal the queen egg. How, we can't yet understand. But it's gone, and that wicked lad is somewhere in the Hold.” Hittet's tone augured ill for Piemur when he was found.
It's convenient that they don't explain where Meron got the clutch. But it's old news really. There's a cute moment where Sebell gives Menolly's hand a reassuring squeeze. Anyway, Meron was upset and collapsed not long after that. (Which causes Oldive to glare at Berdine, which doesn't seem fair. Meron clearly wasn't about to listen to any healer's advice.)
The local harper, Candler, is upset as well. Meron refuses to name his heir. He's too busy planning fiendish punishments for Piemur, and being generally disagreeable. Candler thinks that Meron actually wants the Hold in contention, because he hates Benden. I'm not sure why that's relevant, to be honest. But anyway, this morning, all of a sudden, every single prospective heir has decided they don't want the job. This is after they spent a shit ton of effort to get the job.
Sebell brings up Deckter, who Candler had forgotten about entirely. He figures that's Deckter's doing. He apparently had said he makes more money carting than he could holding. He asks how Sebell found out about him, and Sebell claims to have looked up the bloodline.
That seems to contradict what he said earlier, but then Sebell probably wouldn't want to admit to spying.
As this is going on, the fire lizards return to update Menolly and Sebell: Piemur is no longer in the Hold.
They get to the apartments. Apparently it smells bad. Candler has some perspective on it:
“Smell? Oh, you get used to it. Disgusting, I know, but it has something to do with Lord Meron's illness. We try to mask it,” and Candler gestured to the sweet candles alight in containers about the room. “I often think that it's only justice,” he added in a careful whisper, “for the suffering he's given others, but it's a terrible way to die.”
...okay, look, Meron's been a perfectly adequate thorn in F'lar's side, sure. But what suffering has he given others, exactly?
We've heard that he makes life difficult for his subjects sometimes, but nothing approaching Fax-level atrocity.
Anyway, when they get in, Robinton sends Sebell to the drumheights to summon the local lords and the Weyrleader T'bor. Sebell also intends to sneak in a message to Piemur, who'll come if he hears it. Of course we know that he won't. But it's still a decent idea.
Menolly and Sebell share a moment:
“Don't fret over Piemur, Menolly,” Sebell said, trying to sound more lighthearted than he felt. “He has a knack of landing on his feet.” He smiled down at her, allowing himself the luxury of putting his arm lightly about her shoulders.
“Except when the steps are greased!” Menolly's voice had an angry edge, and he gripped her shoulder reassuringly.
“Look at it this way. Just see how that misadventure has worked to his advantage. He's got out of the drumheights and acquired himself a queen fire lizard egg. For all we know, he may meet us at the Hold gates with it, smiling in that ingenuous fashion of his, when you and I know he's as devious as Meron.”
“I wish I could believe you, Sebell,” Menolly said sighing heavily, but she leaned trustingly against him for his comfort. “If he was anywhere in the vicinity. Beauty and Rocky ought to have found him.”
“He's somewhere,” replied Sebell firmly, and daring more than ever, he gave her a quick hug, turning abruptly from her as he caught her startled look. “The wretch!” he added, more of a growl than a comment. At that moment, they both heard the message drum roll across the mountains, and Sebell hastily strode back to the drums.
Aw. Sebell, you opportunist.
Anyway, the others arrive and everyone goes to Meron's bedside. Meron looks appalling: sunken eyes, pain-lined face, and yellow skin. His fingers are claws "with hanging bags of flesh between the knuckles".
Well, that sounds bad.
Anyway, Meron wants nothing to do with any of them. But they want a successor. And whoa. This is so not good!
“If you think I'll name a successor just to make things easy for you and those dregs at Benden, think again!” The force of that remark left the man gasping against his props, one hand feebly beckoning to Master Oldive, whose attention was on the Harper.
“Or unfriendly persuasion,” continued Master Robinton as if Lord Meron hadn't spoken.
“Ha! You can do nothing to a dying man. Master Robin ton! You, Healer, my medicine!”
Master Robinton lifted his arm, effectively barring Berdine from approaching the sick man.
“That's precisely it, my Lord Meron,” said the Harper in an implacable voice, “we can do... nothing... to a dying man.”
...are you fucking serious?!
I mean, okay, Meron is a dick. But what the fuck, Robinton?!
The man is DYING. You want him to die in agony because he's inconveniencing you?! You've JUST been told how no one wants the job. Just name someone after he dies and PRETEND he did it. You don't need to torture the guy!
And I mean, what exactly DID Meron do to warrant dying in agony?!
Meron may have been a crap Lord, but there's no indication of mass illness or death. The people seem fine with his death, but they don't seem to hate him. No one's revolted against him or tried to assassinate him.
Sebell tries to justify this for us:
Sebell heard Menolly's catch of breath as she understood what Master Robinton had in mind to force this issue with Lord Meron. Berdine started to protest, but was silenced by a growl from Lord Oterel. The healer turned appealingly to Master Oldive, whose eyes had never left the face of the Harper. Although Sebell had known how desperately Master Robinton wished for a peaceful succession in this Hold, he had not appreciated the steel in his pacific Master's will. Nabol Hold must not come into contention, not with every Holder's younger sons eager and willing to fight to the death to secure even as ill-managed a Hold as this. Such fighting could go on and on, until no more challengers presented themselves. What little prosperity Nabol enjoyed would have been wasted in the meantime with no one holding the lands properly.
Okay. Then LIE. How is lying worse than torturing a dying man?!
The problem with having your protagonists engage in this kind of behavior is that you have to convince the audience that it's necessary! And here, that doesn't seem to be the case! SUPPOSEDLY a peaceful transfer relies on Meron giving a name. But we were just told that his heirs didn't want it! The younger sons of other Lords have not been established as enough of a threat.
Hell, when Fax died, he had what? SEVEN holds? He had one legitimate heir (Jaxom) who only inherited Ruatha, and that was supposedly subject to the approval of the other Lords (even though that went absolutely nowhere in White Dragon.) Presumably they found replacements for the other Holds without much of an issue. One of those Holds was actually Nabol! Piemur was ten or eleven in Dragonsinger, which ran parallel to Dragonquest. He's fourteen now. Dragonquest was four years after Threadfall, which was maybe two or three years after Lessa became Weyrwoman! So Meron himself has only ruled, at most, for about fifteen to twenty years himself!
I'm not convinced this is a necessity. I'm also not convinced that Robinton couldn't just LIE about it. And I'm annoyed that this is Saint Robinton, so there's no way he will ever face any consequences for this decision.
Meron demands Oldive attend him, but Oldive notes that there are many at the Hold gates that need his services. He calls Berdine to attend him. Wow.
God, this is gross:
You wouldn't? Can't you understand? I'm in pain. Agony! Something inside is burning through my vitals. It won't stop until it's eaten me to a shell. I must have medicine. I must have it!”
“We must have the name of your successor.” Lord Oterel's voice was pitiless.
Master Robinton began to name the male relatives, his voice expressionless as he intoned the list. When he had completed it, he recited it again.
Sebell respectfully reminds Robinton of Deckter, and Robinton adds him as an afterthought.
Oh, and this is fucking bullshit.
“You must name your successor,” said T'bor, High Reaches Weyrleader, and Meron's eyes rested on the man whose private grievance with him ran deepest. For it was Lord Meron's association with T'bor's Weyrwoman, Kylara, that had caused the death of both Kylara's queen dragon, Pridenth, and Brekke's Wirenth.
Hey, wait a fucking second, McCaffrey!
NO, you don't get to pull this shit. Maybe you forgot to include enough detail about Meron's assholishness to make this a satisfying rather than horrifying scene, but you don't get to "fix" that by blaming him for something that absolutely was not his fault!
Meron is a Lord, NOT a dragonrider. There is no indication that he has any knowledge about what a mating flight entails. Furthermore, there is no indication that he knew that one was taking place during his rendezvous with Kylara.
Even Kylara really isn't to blame, if we take the other High Reaches Weyrwoman at her word, everyone had assumed Nabol was far enough away to be safe. But Meron's only role in this is being the dick that Kylara preferred fucking instead of T'bor. If anything T'bor had more responsibility, since he knew Kylara's behavior was a problem and didn't or couldn't do anything about it.
Why the hell does T'bor get to stay in charge anyway, given that he lost TWO Weyrwomen in one go?
Sebell is an interesting perspective here, because he's kind of a reluctant accomplice. He does at least realize how awful this is:
Sebell knew he would always remember this bizarre and macabre scene with horror as well as with a certain awful respect. He had long known that Master Robinton would use unexpected methods to maintain order throughout Pern and to uphold the leadership of Benden Weyr, but he had never expected such ruthlessness in the otherwise gentle and compassionate Robinton. He schooled his mind away from the stink and closeness of the room, from Meron's pain, by trying to appreciate the tactics that were being used as Lord Meron was deftly maneuvered into choosing the one man the others preferred among his heirs by their seeming to forget Deckter half the time. For a long while afterward, the flickering of glows would remind Sebell and Menolly of those eerie hours while Lord Meron tried to resist the will of his inflexible peers
So anyway, Meron eventually gives in and names Deckter, thinking that he's pissing off his tormentors one last time. As soon as he does, Oldive returns for relief. He'd only been in the next room while they tortured a dying man.
Fuck all of you.
Meron is drugged into a stupor, while the other heirs storm in to demand to know why they were excluded from Meron's presence. So they could torture him. Keep up. Anyway, they're relieved, consternated and disappointed to hear the answer. Honestly, this seems like a reasonable reaction and I'm not sure if we're supposed to dislike these people or not. I suppose it doesn't matter.
Sebell extracts Menolly from the chattering relatives, and they escape to fresh air. The gathering crowd notices them, giving Sebell the opportunity to shout Deckter's name. The Nabolese people seem relieved and happy at least. There's no sign of Piemur and no possible way he could have gotten out.
Except one. Sebell catches sight of a single courtyard window and puts things together. A bit of questioning reveals/confirms that that's the room where the supplies for the Southern Weyr were stored. They realize that Piemur could have hidden there, and resolve to send a message to Toric.
And so a messy, unpleasant chapter ends with a bit of happy relief:
“Let's send them all. Mine know Piemur best. Oh, just wait till I get my hands on that young man!”
Sebell laughed at Menolly's fierce expression. “I told you he'd land on his feet.”