"My Lord Tolocamp, I have always been under the impression that your sons were superbly trained to take over any Hold duties and perform them flawlessly."

"So they are." Tolocamp stood even more stiffly erect. "So they are. I put Campen in charge when I left for your Gather, To give him experience in assuming leadership-"

"Good. This quarantine should afford him an unparalleled opportunity. "

"My dear Alessan, this emergency is outside his experience, too."

Alessan gritted his teeth, wondering if he had underestimated Tolocamp's perception.

"Lord Tolocamp, you are more familiar than I with a doubleurgent code sent by a Mastercraftsman. Would you permit anyone to disobey it?"

"No, no, of course not. But this is an unusual circumstance-"

"Quite. Your son has no Gather guests to deal with." Both men could see a group being shepherded back by two of Alessan's brothers and six men with drawn swords. "Campen has the Healer Hall as well as the Masterharper to instruct him in the emergency." Alessan moderated his harsh tone. He must not alienate Tolocamp. He'd need Tolocamp's support with some of the older men in his Hold who were not yet accustomed to taking orders from someone as young and untried in Holding. "As the drum message said, two to four days' incubation. You've been here a day already," he added persuasively, glancing up at the noon-high sun. "In another day, if you show no signs of discomfort yourself, you could discreetly return to Fort Hold. Meanwhile, you should set an example."

"Yes, well. Hold one, hold all." Tolocamp's expression mellowed.

"It is true that it would be very poor discipline for me to break a quarantine." He became noticeably more amenable. "This outbreak is probably confined to the racing flats. I never have followed the sport." A disdainful wave of his hand dismissed one of the major pastimes of Pern.

Alessan did not take umbrage because a party of men now bore purposefully down on the two Lords Holder, their expressions determined and anxious.

"Lord Alessan . . ."

"Yes, Turvine," Alessan replied to the man, a crop holder in the southeastern comer of Ruatha. His companions were herdsmen.

"We've no drums near us and we're expected back. I'm not one to go against Healer's advice but there are other considerations. We can't bide here . . ."

Makfar had noticed the deputation and, although Alessan gave Turvine his complete attention, he was aware that his brother had signaled several armed holders to converge.

"You'll bide here! That's my order!" Alessan spoke forcefully and the men backed off, looking uncertainly for support from Tolocamp. The Fort Holder stiffened, ignoring their tacit plea. Alessan raised his voice, projecting it beyond the group to those watching and listening from the roadway and the forecourt. "The drums have decreed the quarantine! I am your Lord Holder. As surely as if Thread were Falling, you are under my orders. No one, no animal leaves here until that drum"-Alessan jabbed his arm at the tower-"tells us that the quarantine is lifted!"

In the silence that ensued, Alessan strode rapidly toward the hall door, Tolocamp in step beside him.

"You will have to get messages out to prevent people coming in," Tolocamp said in a low voice when they were inside the Hall.

"I know that. I just have to figure out how. Without exposing animals or people." Alessan swung to the left, into the Hold's office where the bloody Records he did not have time to peruse were stacked in accusing ranks. Although the office had been put to use as sleeping space during the Gather, it was vacant but sleeping furs were scattered about, their owners apparently having left them in haste. Alessan kicked several aside to reach his maps. He finally located the small-scale chart of the Holding on which the roads were marked in different colors for trail, track, or path, and the holds similarly differentiated.

Tolocamp exclaimed in surprise at the fine quality of the map. "I'd no idea you were so well equipped," he said with a want of tact.

"As the harpers are fond of telling us," Alessan said, with a slight smile to sweeten his words, "Fort Hold happened, but Ruatha was planned." He traced a forefinger up the northern trail, to the dividing tracks that went northwest, west, and northeast, reaching tr'enty holds, large and small, and three mineholds. The main western trail through the mountains wandered with occasional hazards into the plateau.

"Lord Alessan . . ."

He turned and saw Tuero at the door, the other harpers behind him in the corridor.

"I thought we might volunteer as messengers." Tuero grinned, which made his long, crooked nose slant even more dramatically to the left. "That's the subject of rather heated discussions outside. The harpers of Pern are at your disposal."

"I thank you, but you've been as exposed as anyone else here. It's the disease I wish to contain, not the people."

"Lord Alessan"-Tuero was smilingly insistent-"a message can be relayed." Tuero mimed putting something down quickly with one hand and taking it up in the other with a sharp pull. He walked quickly to the map. "Someone in this hold"-he stabbed at the first one of the northern track-"could take a message to the next one, and so on, relaying instructions as well as the drum call."

Alessan stared at the map, mentally reviewing the inhabitants of the holds and cots. Even the farthest settlement, the iron minehold, was no more than three days' hard riding. Dag would have taken the fastest runners. Squealer's ilk, with him, but there would be beasts to make the first leg of the relay, and no risk to other stock if the runner returned to Ruatha. If the runner returned . . .

"And as none of us has any reason to stay away from your bountiful hospitality, you can depend on us to return. Besides, this sort of thing is our duty."

"A very good point," Tolocamp murmured.

"I concur. So, may I leave it to you, Tuero, to organize the contents of the messages and instructions to be forwarded by this relay system of yours? Drum messages went here, here, here, and here." Alessan tapped the cardinal holds. "I doubt if they would have thought of communicating the bad news to the smaller places. Seven holds are capable of supplying runners for the relay, each covering outlying cotholds."

"How fortunate that we are seven!"

Alessan grinned. "Indeed, Tuero. Let the harpers spread the news that heralds are available. Our drummer is still in the drum tower, I take it-well, then, his supplies are in those cupboards: ink and hide and pen. Let me know when you're available. I've travel maps. I'll arrange mounts. You'll want to be quick about this business or risk sleeping out."

"That's no novelty for harpers, I assure you."

"And you might discover, if you can, who else brought in animals from Keroon over the past few weeks."

"Oh?" Both Tuero's eyebrows lifted expressing surprise.

"Vander picked up new runners from a ship out of Keroon-"

"The drum mentioned Keroon, didn't it? We'll find out. This winter's lack of ice is not the blessing it seemed, eh?"

"Not at all!"

"Ah, well, it's not ended yet!" With a quick courteous bow of his head, Tuero led his craftfellows off to the main hall.

"Alessan, there is so much to be done, too, at Fort-" Tolocamp pleaded.

"Tolocamp, Farelly is in the drum tower and at your disposal." Alessan waved him courteously toward the tower steps and then left the office. Lord Leef had once confided that the way to avoid arguments was to keep them from starting. Tactful withdrawal, he had called it.

Alessan paused briefly in the shadow of the Hall doors, observing the activity in the forecourt, along the roadway, and beyond. Tents had been raised, small fires had tripods, kettles hung above the flames, a new fire had been started in the roasting pit and the spit reset. From the east a party of mounted riders and a string of runners were slowly walking up the road, the leader flanked by Alessan's next oldest brother, Dangel, and two Ruathan cotholders, all three men with drawn swords. He'd asked Dangel where to put Baid, the reluctant cropholder. Above the dip where he'd told Norman to burn the dead beasts, a thin gout of black smoke hovered. Yes, anyone apprehended leaving the hold proper could serve on the burial detail-