As long as the people of Pern could remember, the Holds had
protected them from Thread, the deadly silver strands that fell from the
sky and ravaged the land. In exchange for sanctuary in the huge stone
fortresses, the people tithed to their Lord Holders, who in turn
supported the Weyrs, whose dragons were Pern's greatest weapon
against Thread.
But not everyone on Pern was part of that system of mutual care and
protection, particularly those who had been rendered holdless as
punishment for wrongdoing. And there were some, like Jayge's trader
clan, who simply preferred the freedom of the roads to the security of
a hold. Others, like Aramina's family, had lost their holds through
injustice and cruelty. For all the holdless, life was a constant struggle
for survival.
Then, from the ranks of the criminals and the disaffected, rose a band
of renegades, led by the Lady Thella. No one was safe from Thella's
depredations, and now her quarry was Aramina, reputed to have a
telepathic link with dragons. But when Thella mistakenly vented her
rage on Jayge's family, she made a dangerous mistake. For Jayge was
bent on revenge . . . and he would never let her have the girl who
heard dragons!
