"I thought you'd mended that harness," she said, anxiously looking into his eyes.
"I had!" He couldn't tell her the truth, not with so many within earshot, and despite the bond between them, she did not apparently realize he was not being entirely candid.
"I've got to go, Jaxom," she said, duty warring with fright. "Would Ruth be totally offended if I went with G'lanar on Lamoth?"
"You'll go on?" Jaxom was both amazed by and proud of his wife's courage and resilience.
"It's the best thing I can do, Jax, to get over this shock." She leaned across him to stroke Ruth's nose. "I know it wasn't your fault, dearest Ruth. Please relax! That shade of gray is not becoming!"
I felt the strap go as I leaped, Ruth told Jaxom. I should have asked her which straps she used. I should have.
"It's all right. You saved Sharra," Jaxom repeated, never more grateful to his dragon than at this moment. "She still has to get to the Healer Hall. On Lamoth with G'lanar."
Ruth eyed his rider, the orange of panic beginning to recede. He's all right for an Oldtimer, Ruth allowed grudgingly. I wish that Dunluth and S'gar were back.
"You know that pair can't fly Thread now. G'lanor's failing and Lamoth can barely chew his food anymore, much less firestone." Jaxom didn't think more of Ruth's comment then but tactfully called to the elderly dragon and rider to convey Sharra to the Healer Hall. He stripped off the dangling harness and rolled it up until he could examine it.
He watched the three until Lamoth went between, Meer and Talla following without fuss. Then he retraced his steps to the Great Hall, while Brand and the understewards gestured for those attending the court to settle themselves.
"You never told her?" Brand murmured in Jaxom's ear as they sat down.
"I will now. That was too close." Jaxom saw that his fingers were trembling as he sorted the papers he had scattered in panic.
"Indeed and it was. Does this... obvious attempt on your life have anything to do with all the recent incidents?"
"I wish I knew."
"You will speak to Benden now, won't you?" Brand's look was severe and implacable.
"I will," Jaxom agreed with a faint smile, "because I know that you intend to."
"So long as that's understood." Then in a louder voice, Brand went on. "The first case concerns the alleged misuse of Hold supplies..."
That evening Jaxom told Sharra every detail of the incident at Tillek Hold and the investigations that Brand had set in motion, investigations that had produced no results at all, for Pell professed himself to be quite content working in his father's craft. No one had asked him about his Ruathan Bloodlines, he assured them. And he was only a second cousin at best.
After Sharra had torn strips out of him for "sparing" her anxiety, they went over the entries in the Hold visitors' book and could find no one in the least bit suspicious. Ruth could not even be encouraging, for he was not always in his weyr when Jaxom was at home. He usually joined whichever dragon was on duty on the heights.
Even old Lamoth, he added. I scratch his itches; he scratches mine.
Both Sharra and Jaxom were due at Landing the next day for a meeting concerning the vandalism.
"If you don't come clean about this incident, Jaxom, I will," Sharra said, her expression fierce.
"That was about succession, Sharrie," he objected. "The destruction is a different matter entirely."
"How do you know that?" she demanded, clenching her fists on the armrest and shooting him an angry and reproachful glare. "Especially when you're the leader for all of Aivas's plans."
"Me? The leader?" Jaxom stared at her in complete surprise.
"Well, you are, even if you don't realize it." Then her severe expression softened. "You wouldn't." She gave him a sweetly condescending smile. "You are, though. Take my word for it, and everyone on the planet knows it."
"But I-I-"
"Oh, don't get fussed, Jax. It's one of your most endearing traits that you don't get puffed up with importance and irritate people with an inflated self-consequence."
"Who does that?" Jaxom rapidly thought of all those working so diligently with him.
"No one, but you'd have the right to." She came to sit on his lap, coiling one arm about his neck and stroking his frown smooth. "That's why you might well be a target for the dissidents. You certainly can't hide from the fact that dissatisfaction about Aivas's far too long-term project is increasing."
Jaxom sighed, for it was but one more thing he had tried to play down. "I'm all too aware. In fact, it's almost a relief to know they've come out in the open."
Sharra stiffened in his arms. "You know who they are?"
He shook his head. "Sebell knows who's likely to be involved, but none of his harpers have been able to produce any evidence. And you can't really accuse a Lord Holder without pretty substantial proof."
She murmured agreement and laid her head down on his shoulder. "You are being careful, aren't you, Jax?" she asked in a low and anxious voice.
He hugged her to him. "More than you are. How many times have I told you to check the riding harness before you use it?" he asked. He met her outraged reaction with a grin.
When the meeting convened the next day in Landing, Aivas took charge, first ordering the building cleared of all but those immediately involved.
"While these incidents are clearly directed at the new technology you are developing," Aivas said, "none, so far, threatens the success of the main drive of your efforts."
"Not yet," Robinton said darkly.
"I disagree," Sharra said, and fixed Jaxom with a steady glance. When he hesitated, she added, "Someone's trying to kill Jaxom."
When the commotion subsided, Jaxom gave a full and concise report.
"That is disturbing," Aivas said, raising his voice over the babel of questions. "Is not the white dragon protection against such attempts? Can he not prevent them?"
"Don't get so upset, " Jaxom said, annoyed at the fuss, though he wanted to set his mind at rest over any further threat to Sharra. "Ruth knew the moment the leather went, and he saved Sharra's life. I left those riding straps right out in the open, and hid the set I use. It was only-"
"He was trying to keep me from worrying," Sharra said in an acid tone. "Brand is trying to find out who could have sliced the leathers. It was done very cleverly by someone who knew exactly what stress would be put on riding straps."
"A dragonrider?" Lessa's voice rose to a near shriek, and outside half the dragons on the heights bugled in alarm. "There isn't a dragonrider on Pern whod endanger Jaxom or Ruth!" And she glared at the young Lord Holder as if he were at fault. He glared right back.
"Nor any way a dragonrider could do so without his dragon's awareness," F'lar said emphatically.
"Nothing would be gained by-" Lessa faltered. "By disposing of Jaxom."
"Could it have been as protest to my involvement with Thread?" Sharra asked.
Jaxom shook his head violently. "How could it? Who would know that you'd want to have Ruth fly you to the Healer Hall?"
"Since it is usually Jaxom who flies Ruth," Aivas's calm voice said, "it is logical to assume that he was the target. No further attempts on his life must be permitted."
"Meer and Talla have their orders," Sharra said resolutely.
"What about Ruth?" Lessa demanded, and was silenced by a cacophony of bugling from the massed dragons at Landing. She blinked in surprise at their belligerence. "And, it would appear, every other dragon on Pern!" Then she leaned across to lay her hand on Sharra's arm. "We're alert to the danger now." She swung her glance to Jaxom and radiated rebuke. "We should have known much earlier, young man!"
"I have not been in danger," Jaxom protested. "I have been very careful."
"You would be wise to increase personal vigilance, Jaxom. Also, proper security measures must be promptly inaugurated to prevent further vandalism in every Crafthall that has undertaken to do specialized work," Aivas said sternly. "The recent destruction certainly delays the completion of useful equipment, but the vandals were, fortunately, not aware of the true significance of other crucial projects: the space helmets, the oxygen tanks, and the additional space suits which are vital to the success of our endeavour."