The Renegades of Pern: (#7)

US: Del Rey, 1989. First Edition. Hardcover. Very Good/Very Good. A copy that has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged. 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 t he land. In exchange for sanctuary in the huge stone fortresses, the people tithed to their Lord Holders, who in turn supported the Weyrs, whose drago ns were Pern's greatest weapon against Thread. But not everyone on Pern was part of that system of mutual care and protect ion, particularly those who had been rendered holdless as punishment for wr ongdoing. And there were some, like Jayge's trader clan, who simply preferr ed 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!