Free The Renegades of Pern by Anne McCaffrey Page B

and wondered that she had mastered such a big man. But he was breathing shallowly, obviously unfit for such exertions. She gave his arm a painful twist, hearing him grunt where a lesser man might have cried out—she knew how to use such a hold to her advantage. “Was I marked out?”
    “Aye, you were.”
    “Any others? It’s early on a Gather evening.” When he had been silent long enough, she twisted again, and he grunted.
    “Any others?”
    “Aye, he’d marked others. Finish you off and go back for another.”
    “A fair Gather for you. What’d he promise?” Thella thought the big man simple to trust the herder and go back to the Gather. The herder could as easily turn his helper in to the guard.
    “Half what we took. He said it’d be enough to buy into a hold.”
    “
Buy
into a hold?” In her surprise, Thella forgot to deepen her voice.
    “Yes, there’re holds where you can buy a place for a season. If you satisfy, you get taken on regular. I’m good with a flamer. I just don’t like it with Thread falling and me with no place to shelter.” The phrases came out in grunts, but he made no attempt to struggle against her hold. She was beginning to wonder how long she could continue to exert the pressure necessary to cow the man. He was big. He could easily be the one she had noticed in the morning, but she had not seen the herder in anyone’s company during the afternoon so the scheme must have been arranged earlier. Well, at least he was not whining about wrongful treatment and holder abuse.
    “And how much loyalty could a holder expect of you—and your knife?” She felt his body twitch beneath her knee.
    “Lady, give me a hold during this Pass, or shove your blade in.” His muscles seemed to relax, as if he was tired of striving against the odds of life. He was at her mercy, and she was tempted to see if she had the strength to kill him, as she had had the wit to subdue him.
    “But it’s so easy to kill to live,” she said, her voice coaxingly smooth.
    “Aye, easy enough to kill, but not easy to live holdless. Not easy at all.” He sounded very weary indeed.
    “Your name?” she asked. “And previous Hold?” It was customary to circulate the names of brutal murderers, shunned from Holds, to all Lord Holders to protect them from taking on such offenders.
    She could feel his muscles tense and wondered if he would lie to her. If she felt he was not telling the truth, she just might push home that knife. But she needed a strong holder more than she needed the gratification of a kill.
    “I can, of course, tie you up and go back and get Laudey’s guards,” she said when he did not answer immediately. She wanted to make him sweat a little longer. Such power gave her a sense of ineffable superiority.
    “Dushik, I was called. I was beholden to Tillek.”
    She recognized the name from a list sent around several Turns back and smiled, somewhat disappointed. Well, she must keep even the bargains she made herself. And he would be more useful to her alive.
    “Ah, so you’re the one,” she said as if she remembered more than the name. “Mind that I can still turn you in, Dushik,” she said, releasing him. “And during a Pass, you can be chained out in Fall as execution, for it is my word against yours.”
    “Aye, lady, I understand. But I acknowledge you with heart and mind as Lady Holder and will give loyal service.”
    He actually sounded as if he meant it, so she released her hold on his arm and jumped backward, replacing her belt knife with her dagger in a fluid motion but ready to throw both at him if he made a suspicious move.
    He waited a long moment, slowly working his arm down and around. He got first to his knees and then to his feet, his movements indicating deep weariness.
    “Throw me his pouch, Dushik,” she said, holding out her left hand. He gave her along measuring look before he complied and then stood waiting for her next order.
    As she thrust the bulging sack into her shirt