Harper in a pinch

Writers: Eimi, Paula
Date Posted: 4th September 2018

Characters: Ueltin, Uetia, Jobent
Description: Ueltin needs a quick getaway.
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 7, day 7 of Turn 9
Notes: Happens in DFW-territory

The Hold located middle of nowhere, approximately halfway between
Garnet Valley Hold and what was left of River Bluff Weyr. Ueltin had
been stationed there for two months now. He was scheduled to move on
after another month, giving him total of three months getting the
Hold's children up to date with their Teaching Ballads. He was
starting to get restless and bored though and the River Bluff's
destruction had thrown their women's rescue operation disarray, so he
didn't even have that to keep him occupied.

The Holder of Thorn Creek, Jobent, had a sixteen Turns olds old
daughter, who had instantly set her sights on him. Ueltin did his best
to dodge her attention. While she was pretty and he enjoyed a light
flirt, he had no intentions towards bedding her. He wasn't that bored.
Or stupid. Having child with a dragonrider was one thing, he kept his
hands off from Holder's daughters. Wives were diffent though, Ueltin
was far from perfect.

He had no misgivings when the Holder asked him to his office, but when
he stepped in and saw the Holder and his two burly sons, he started to
have them. The expression on Jobert's face didn't bode well.

"Journeyman Ueltin," the Holder said without a hint of welcome in his
voice. He pointed a thick finger at the chair across from him.
"Sit."

"Sir," Ueltin nodded respectably and took the seat, giving the sons a
nervous glance. Allegro was picking up his emotions and made an angry
warble. Uelting shushed him and tried to calm the firelizard by
stroking him.

"Tell me, since I hired you to teach our children, have you been
enjoying yourself?" Jobent asked, his lips curled into a smile as
chilling as his stare.

"Well, you have a lovely Hold and interesting people here," Ueltin
replied carefully. Besides lovely daughter, Jobent had a lovely wife.
Decades younger than her husband and looking for an adventure. Ueltin
tried to keep his guilty thoughts off from his face.

The Holder snorted. "Oh you are interested in my people, are you?"
His eyes narrowed as he said, "A bit too interested, perhaps."

Ueltin was groaning internally and tried to keep innocent look on his face.

Jobent leaned folded his fingers together on top of his desk as he
leaned forward. Being as tall as he was, it didn't leave much desk
between the two men. "You seem to have taken a particularly strong
interest in a member of my own family."

"Who said it was me who was interested?" Ueltin countered.

"Oh, so _you_ were the victim then?" the Holder said with one eyebrow
raised. "What kind of fool do you take me for?"

It was one of those, scorched if you do, scorched if you don't
-situations. Even clever harper had troubles finding his way out of
it. "You're no fool," Ueltin replied.

"But _you_ certainly are, journeyman," Jobent scowled, far from
mollified. "You might think you were pretty smart sneaking around
right under my nose, in my own sharding home, no less. But you cannot
hide the evidence of your betrayal of my trust. You have to be well
enough interested in a woman to leave her pregnant with your child."

"What?" That took Ueltin by surprise.

The Holder sneered. "That's right, Harper. You can't hide that."

Since Ueltin was quite sure the Holder's wife was not with child he
replied with offended dignity: "I have not impregnated anyone."

"Well, I know _I_ didn't do it. Are you suggesting she just woke up
one morning and suddenly was with child?" Jobent was having enough of
this Harper and his word acrobatics. "Enough of your games! I will
have satisfaction!"

"Why don't you talk with your wife about that," Ueltin snapped back.
Sometimes his smart mouth just gotten better of him.

"How dare you insult me after what you did!" the Holder roared,
standing to his feet and towering over the Harper. His sons also took
a step forward, though whether to hold the man back or jump in with
him was hard to tell.

"Because I'm innocent," Ueltin replied. **Great move, Ueltin. You're
supposed to be the smooth talking harper, a diplomat.**

Jobent planted both fists on his desk as he leaned forward menacingly.
"That's not what my daughter says."

**Daughter?** Ueltin blinked before replying with indignant voice: "I
swear I did not touch your daughter in any way."

"Again, not what my daughter says." The Holder stood up to his full
height. "Way I see it, you have two choices, Journeyman. Either you
agree to do the right thing by my little girl and marry her, or I will
try you for rape and we will see how your word stands up against
hers.Consider yourself lucky. If it were up to my wife, your
fathering
children days would be well and truly over. So what's it going to
be?"

"Can I think about it?" Ueltin asked meekly, just to play himself more
time. He had no idea why the girl claimed he was the father, well,
except a journeyman harper was rather good catch.

"Of course. You will have all night to think about it in your new
guest quarters. In the morning you can tell us what your next
destination will be, to the Harper, or to my jail." The Holder
gestured that Ueltin should stand. It most certainly was not a
cordial invitation, but a command. "Come. My sons and I will escort
you."

Ueltin considered his chances. He wasn't as brawny as his brothers but
he was still pretty strong and able fighter. But he prefered not to
risk an injury, as long as he had other options. So he followed them
meekly.

Fingering the key, Jobent stood in the doorway. "One of my boys will
bring you your breakfast in the morning. I will make sure it will be
a good one. Just in case it's your last decent meal for a while.
Think hard, Journeyman." He turned and closed the door behind him.
The journeyman could hear him turn the key in the lock, and then
designate of his sons to stand the first watch before heavy footsteps
pounded back down the corridor.

Ueltin didn't bother to check the door, it was sturdy enough. He did
check rest of the room. It was second floor, the Hold had no more
floors than that. There was windown and it was open. He estimated the
drop to the ground and thought it was not too high for him. He was
much taller than average. He still has his firelizard, so this suited
him just fine. He sent Allegro to fetch writing equipment and when the
brown returned, he started sending messages back and forth. Then he
just waited the nightfall.

After the darkness had fallen, he simply climbed out of the window and
dropped to the ground, nimble as a feline. He did regret leaving his
possessions behind, especially the musical instruments. Well, he could
always make new ones. Someone, guard probably, did spot him when he
was sneaking past the garden. He made a run for it.

Sirjath's dark olive green hide was almost invisible in the night and
only the glow of her facets told Ueltin where she was.
"Uetia, we need to get out of here, now!" He could hear the yells of
the guards pursuing him.

"Ueltin! What did you do?" Uetia hadn't dismounted from Sirjath's neck

"Tell you later," his messages to her hadn't been very detailed.

Sirjath crouched and offered a leg as a step and Ueltin soon scrambled
up to the dragon's back. Uetia made sure he was strapped up before
Sirjath lauched into the air.
"Where to?" Uetia asked as Sirjath rose higher.

Ueltin considered his option. Jobent's Hold was beholden to Garnet
Valley Hold, so that was out of the question. He didn't trust Sunstone
Seahold to be too far out of his reach either. Asking her to take him
to Harper Hall in middle of the night was bit too much. "Weyr's good,"
Ueltin replied. "I can contact the Hall from there."
"Okay," Uetia replied. They both could here the angry yells when
Jobent's men realized he was getting away from them. "Boy, you really
pissed off someone," Uetia chuckled and guided Sirjath /between/.

Last updated on the September 28th 2018

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Harper in a pinch