The Capture (1/2)

Writers: Devin, Estelle
Date Posted: 12th February 2024
Series: The Hunt for Gil

Characters: N'vanik, Iskara, Gilbek, Rhysel, Amigene
Description: N'vanik tracks Gil down to a cothold
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr, Emerald Falls Hold
Date: month 9, day 10 of Turn 11

N'vanik

The sun had almost dropped below the horizon, casting long shadows
across the small cothold, where inside a faint glow and a curl of
smoke showed that someone had lit a fire for the evening. From his
hiding place, leaning against a tree at the edge of the surrounding
woods, the watcher sighed and cautiously stretched first one leg, then
the other. It was getting chilly and his limbs felt stiff from the
hours spent watching nothing much happen apart from the holders
occasionally emerging to fetch water or feed the animals, but he
didn't dare doze off. Above him, perched on a branch, his brown
firelizard rested with wings folded and eyes half-lidded.

Then, just as he was starting to wonder if the man had somehow got
wind of the dragons in the area and fled, there was a movement at the
edge of the forest. A figure emerged, a thin, fair-haired man, his
weary steps taking him towards the cothold. As well as a pack, he
carried what looked like a large wherry, the results of his day's
hunting. The watcher couldn't be sure from this distance, but it
definitely could be the man whose picture had been circulated through
the Weyr. Quickly, he summoned his firelizard to his shoulder and
scribbled a quick note on a scrap of hide.

"Go to Loseth, the Weyrleader's bronze," he whispered, his gaze
meeting the brown's faceted eyes. "Go!" The firelizard sprang into the
air and vanished/between/.

N'vanik had been trying to distract himself with work and wondering if
he might have to send for klah to stay up all night waiting. Then
there was a surge of emotion from his bronze. }:There's a little
cousin here with a message from the watcher. I'm sending him to you.:{

A moment later a little brown popped from/between/ with a note
attached to his leg. N'vanik took a deep breath, not wanting to scare
the creature with his agitated state, and coaxed it over to him. The
firelizard was well trained and the Weyrleader had no trouble
retrieving the short message. **Alert Hylith's nine and Zith. We go
now.**

Iskara and her fellow wingriders were in the dining cavern, sharing a
pot of klah while they waited and studied the plan of the cothold that
she'd drawn up. The brownrider who led the nine had been looking a
little disgruntled that she'd been the one to find the wanted man and
report to the Weyrleader, but they were all eager for the mission and
as soon as they heard the message from Loseth, they rose immediately.
Shrugging into their riding gear, they hurried out to where the
dragons were assembling.

N'vanik was buzzing with anticipation and barely waited for the others
to confirm they were ready before giving the signal to go/between/.
They came out in early twilight above the little cothold and the
dragons immediately fanned out to surround the area. N'vanik's stomach
clenched as Loseth dropped much faster than usual toward the ground,
aiming for the cleared area around the cothold itself. Both he and his
bronze scanned for the man as they approached. By now he might be
inside the cothold itself, which would work in their favor since he
wouldn't have seen the dragons appear.

There was no sign of any movement outdoors, but gleams of light were
visible behind the shuttered windows and there was a faint aroma of
roasting meat in the air. The holders must be inside, perhaps
preparing the wherry the hunter had brought back for their evening
meal. As the dragons settled to the ground, though, a low, wordless
groan rose from a stall built next to the main cot, accompanied by
muffled squeals and grunts that carried clearly in the still night. A
bovine and perhaps a couple of porcines, alarmed by the dragon scent.

After a long moment, the door of the main building opened a crack,
then a little wider, enough to allow someone to emerge. He peered into
the darkening yard, then froze, apparently stunned at the sight of
dragons crouched, their eyes glowing, encircling the cothold.

Iskara slipped down from Hylith's back, her heart beginning to race.
The man's face was shadowed and thinner, almost gaunt, but he clearly
resembled the drawing that had been carried by sweepriders throughout
the Weyr's territory. His hands were empty, but her gaze was drawn at
once to the gleam of a long hunting knife at his belt.

Loseth's eyes whirled with a hint of red as N'vanik dropped to the
ground. "Hello, Gil. There's a lot of people looking for you, and more
than a few who want you dead. But you spared a woman and child, so I'm
feeling a bit merciful myself." He watched to see if Gil went for his
knife, but N'vanik wasn't worried at all with his huge bronze standing
right there.

Something in those last words caused the man's expression to shift,
from shock to what might have been hope. After a moment, he managed to
find his voice. "Alyena is alive? She and her children got out?"

"Aye, safe at the Weyr," N'vanik said. "You can talk to them when you
get there." He wanted information and he wanted to avoid a fight, so
he figured he'd try a softer touch. But not_too_ soft. "You're coming
with us. Best to do so quietly."

Gil straightened, as if a vast weight had been lifted from his
shoulders, but the moment of relief didn't last. Iskara caught a
subtle change, a slight leaning forward and tensing of his muscles at
the Weyrleader's words. His gaze flicked to one side, then the other.
Counting the dragonriders, judging the distance to the tree line
beyond the hold. His hands remained at his side, but his fingers
flexed. Getting ready to run...or to fight.

Whatever he thought of his chances, when he spoke his voice was
steady. "What if I don't want to go?"

"Too bad," the Weyrleader said. "You don't get a choice. But consider
that with us you get to live, and if your 'friends' had caught up with
you first, you'd be dead already."

"Maybe." He eyed them warily, his face pale in the faint light from
inside the cothold. Playing for time, Iskara thought. Seeking a way
out, a moment's lapse of concentration in one of the dragonriders who
surrounded him. "If I go with you, I might end up wishing I was. I
can't imagine anything good will happen to me at the Weyr."

"I'm not gonna make promises because it depends on how cooperative you
are." Behind and far above N'vanik, Loseth's eyes continued to whirl a
faint red in the dark. "But you can talk to Alyena, and her daughter,
and her son, whose dragon you almost got killed."

"Wait, what? What dragon?" Gil glanced up at the shadowy form of the
bronze that towered over them, as if in disbelief that anyone could
harm such a powerful creature. "Alyena's son isn't a dragonrider.
He's dead!"

"The younger one. He was apprenticed to the Weavers for a while so
maybe you didn't know him." N'vanik wasn't sure how long Gil had been
visiting the cothold.

The man shook his head. "I've never met her children. I didn't know
there was another brother - I thought she just had a couple of little
ones." He frowned, looking more confused than ever. "You mean one of
your dragonriders killed another one's father, and then got his
brother sent to the mines? Sounds like it's him you want to be talking
to."

N'vanik didn't want to get into that. "Alyena's younger boy Impressed
at the last Hatching, and his lifemate was the one who ended up
poisoned. The dragonhealers were able to save him."

"Poisoned?" Gil stared at him, his face turned ashen grey. He backed
up a step, towards the closed door of the cothold, and his fingers
hovered over the hilt of the knife.

Iskara watched him, eyes narrowed. Either this was a performance
worthy of a harper, or he was only now finding out the depths of what
he'd been involved in. She wasn't sure which was more dangerous. The
cotholders must still be inside... **Hylith, is there another way into
the cot?** She closed her eyes, receiving an image of a shuttered
window, and began to edge towards the blue dragon to her left so she
could approach the building from the back.

Gil's reaction _did_ seem genuine. The Weyrleader asked, "You didn't know?"

"I'd heard there was something planned, but not - a young lad like
that, and his dragon..." Perhaps realizing he'd said more than he
should, Gil closed his mouth, but he was clearly shaken by what he'd
heard.

"They intended to kill all the Hatchlings." Loseth rumbled in
agitation and N'vanik tried to keep his voice steady. "Maybe they
didn't tell you for a reason?" Possibly Gil was nothing more than a
messenger, kept in the dark about the details.

"I wouldn't have had anything to do with hurting kids, human or
dragon!" Gil's voice rose, indignant. "I owed them loyalty, but not
that."

"You're not really the one I'm after, Gil," N'vanik said. "I'm after
the ones who planned this, the people who wanted to murder dragons
minutes after they hatched and leave youngsters dragonless. The ones
who used you and then turned on you the second you showed a little too
much conscience."

The man's jaw tightened for a brief moment. "Well, I wish you luck
with that, but... I've been punished already, more than enough. I just
want to be left alone."

N'vanik tamped down on a flash of anger that Gil thought he had any
choice in this. "Like I said, you're coming to the Weyr. What happens
after that depends on how cooperative you are."

Gil glanced at the surrounding dragons again, but this time he
appeared resigned, as though he didn't expect to find a way out. "Is
there any point in telling you that you can't just take holders from
their homes against their will, Bronzerider?"

"Unfortunately for you, you're holdless."

"I'm not. I earn my keep here." There was a note of uncertainty in his
voice, though, as if he doubted the cotholders' hospitality would
stretch to harboring someone wanted by the Weyr.

"Should I turn you over to the Holder you used to work for instead?
Have him come here to sort things out?" The Weyrleader asked. Not that
he had any intention of doing so.

Gil tensed instantly, his hand going to the hilt of the knife. "I'm
not going back there," he said in a low voice.

***

Last updated on the February 14th 2024

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