Chap. 202 Smoke screen

Chap. 202 Smoke screen

“Is Raventh up to going out towards the burn? I’d like to see where it started. I’d like to know HOW it started, we had no lightning whatsoever,” Mardriss said.

How do you feel? Want to take me and my brother out to the burn?

I’m fine, Raventh said, the bath did me good.

K’ndar turned to Mardriss. “He’s good. It’s not like when we’d fly for several hours, fighting thread. I don’t think there were any burns where you’ll be sitting,” he said.

Mardriss stopped. “Um..I’ve never been aboard a dragon before. Is it different than riding a horse?”

K’ndar grinned. “A little. I use the same cues with my legs on Raventh as I do on a horse, but a passenger? Just buckle in and hang on. He won’t do anything crazy.”

I might Raventh said.

K’ndar laughed.

“You’re sure? And you, with little burns on your face, you’re okay?”

He nodded.

The track of the fire was as easily followed as tracking a muddy dog across a clean floor. The burned swathe was a blackened scar against the tan of the dried grass. It was still smoking, with wisps and tendrils looking like fog. Smouldering manure piles sent up tiny columns.

“Funny, I never thought dung would burn,” K’ndar said as they flew out from the cothold.

“It will,” Mardriss said from behind him, “especially after a long dry spell. Horse dung is very good for that. If I were too concerned, I’d have a ground crew out there breaking the piles up and watering them. But I don’t think I need to worry, out here on the steppe, it’s fairly well dispersed. As for grass, you can see, there’s nothing left, it was a hot, hot burn. I’m betting we have rain tonight. A few days of rain and this burn will green up like that,” he said, snapping his fingers.

The burn was attracting scavengers. The many species of wherries and birds were converging on the banquet of roasted insects and the little creatures that hadn’t been able to escape the flames.

“Look at that!” K’ndar cried, pointing out towards the horizon. Far out, he could just barely see a pair of whers.

“See the whers?” he asked. Raventh obliged by turning and hovering so that Mardriss could see them. Over the wher’s heads, a large flock of birds was swirling over the steppe, diving and rising.

“They’ll be in after dark, I imagine, to feed on anything dead out there,” Mardriss said.

Closer in, birds and wherries were scrambling over a smoking mound. When Raventh arrived, they rose up high, squawking in protest. Many of the wherries landed a safe distance away, to wait out the humans.

Raventh circled over the mound, now clear of scavengers. He chose a spot to land in the unburned grasses just past the mound.

They were dumbstruck.

_________________________________________________________________________

Two oxen lay side by side, still yoked. They had been hobbled, as had the dead draft horse next to them.

Just behind the dead oxen was the smoking remains of a wagon. In the bed were the remains of two humans.

Behind the wagon was a horse, badly burnt, but still alive.

Flat out on the ground, it groaned, weakly.

K’ndar’s stomach turned. The stench of burnt flesh was dreadful. He could see her pain in the horse’s eyes.

Without a word, Mardriss knelt by the horse.

Then he cursed.

“What?” K’ndar said.

“This is one of our horses,” he said.

The implications of that began to sink in.

“Do you think she can be saved?” K’ndar wondered.

His voice tight with grief, Mardriss shook his head.

“No, I’m not enough of a healer to even try. Oh, the poor thing. Her neck-oh…”

He stroked the horse’s face, gently.

Recognizing him, she made a sound, half whinny, half nicker.

“You poor thing, poor little lass. I’m so sorry,” he said, tears stinging his eyes.

The horse tried to raise her head.

“Please, little lass, just be still. I’ll stop the pain, my sweet, please don’t make this any harder on my heart,” he said, his voice rough with emotion.

Her eye met his. In it was trust.

He forced his mind to not see how badly burnt she was. She was calm. She was waiting.

His dagger sighed as he pulled it from its sheath.

With a swift stroke, he stilled her heart.

Tears rolled down K’ndar’s cheeks.

After several emotional moments, both men wiped their eyes and recovered their composure.

K’ndar looked at the dead filly and noticed something odd.

“Mard. Look at her left flank. That’s a fresh wound, it’s a burn, but..”

Mardriss stood up, and, looking closely, swore again.

“That’s a fresh brand. They branded her. She was my horse, but not my brand.”

They heard hoofbeats. Lizard, Fland, Sandriss and several of the hands approached on horseback.

They were aghast at the sight.

Some of them began to curse.

“Nooooo,” one of them said, “not her. Oh, shards.”

“Sir,” one of the hands said, after they’d all dismounted, “these aren’t your oxen. I don’t recognize the horns, what’s left of ’em, anyway.”

Another said, “But the horse? The one over there? He was ours. He was that big roan gelding, the bald faced one. These are our horses.”

“They stole our horses,” Sandriss said.

“The bastards didn’t even unyoke the oxen!”

Lizard examined a ring of stones circling the still smouldering remnants of a fire.

“The fools, a cooking fire in these conditions? No. No. Wait.”

“No. Not a cooking fire. They fired up horse dung to..to ..there’s a branding iron! They heated up a branding iron!”

K’ndar reached for it.

“No, K’ndar, it’s probably still hot,” Lizard said. He was right, K’ndar could feel the heat from the iron. He snatched his hand back.

“Not hot enough, Lizard, it takes real wood to heat an iron hot enough to make a clean brand,” Mardriss said, “this was a rough and ready fire, all they did was hurt the horse with it.”

One of the hands shook his head.

“Bastards probably didn’t even numb up the spot. That’s plain cruelty.”

No one had anything to safely pull it out of the smouldering pile.

“Once things cool, we’ll get the branding iron out,” Mardriss said, now consumed with a cold fury.

“Any bet the wagon’s been stolen, too?” one of the men said.

“I won’t take that one, not on your life.”

“Think they were settlers?” another asked.

Lizard was examining the remains of the wagon. No one wanted to handle the corpses just yet.

“No. Look in the wagon bed. What do settlers bring? Cast iron cook pots. Horseshoes. Rope. Barrels of flour. Shovels, hoes, tools. And they don’t sleep in the wagon, there’s no room. There’s nothing of that in here. Just two bodies and what looks to be crossbows, aye, a lump of clothing, maybe? There’s a sword. These weren’t settlers. They weren’t even holdless. These were thieves, pure and simple,” he said.

“Looks to me like they came in by wagon, snatched the horses, moved out far enough so we’d not see them working, and branded them.Then the idiots fell asleep in the wagon, bold as brass. We know the rest, don’t we?” Sandriss said.

“They must have thought the fire was out. Idiots. Dung burns for days.” Mardriss said, “But it started up again, this time while they were asleep. If anything good comes of this burn, it’s the removal of two thieves. Hoisted on their own petard, what?”

“What do we do now?” K’ndar asked.

“That’s a good question, K’ndar,” Mardriss said. “I think we need to let Lord Dorn know about this. That’s someone’s wagon, it was a good one. I’m still missing a pair of oxen. I’m the only one in these parts other than Lord Dorn who’s raising cattle as draft beasts.”

“Think we can find out who these rustlers were? I am not eager to mess with the bodies,” Sandriss said.

“Let me send Lord Dorn a message by fire lizard. He’s got a dragon rider on call, I think, he’ll want to see this,” Sandriss said.

__________________________________________________________________________

Lord Dorn stood considering the ashes of the wagon.

His dragon rider, K’ndar realized, was a girl from his Weyr, one who’d graduated from the most recent Weyrling class.

She saluted him, knowing him from her Weyr.

“You’re on transport duty?” he asked her, quietly.

“Yes, sir. This week, then I go back home. Is this your home?”

“Yes, I grew up on the cothold back there. My mum got married so I’m here with my sister Glyena,” he said, sotto voce.

“I know her. Nice girl. What …what happened here?” she said, suddenly seeing the carnage before her.

“I’ll tell you later. For now, you do as Lord Dorn requests, okay? By the way, your green looks just dandy, she’s in great condition.”

The girl blushed. “Thank you. She’s a love, she is. She’s small, can just barely carry me and Lord Dorn.”

Lord Dorn shook his head.

“Bastards. They stole the wagon, oh, a month ago? I had people out looking for it but never found it. The oxen…one of my cotholders reported his team had ‘vanished’, now I know where they went.”

He walked around the site, looking down at the ground, muttering. “They have to have had horses, too. You don’t ride oxen. Wonder if these are the same ones who–hello, what’s that?”

He looked closer at the ashes of the wagon. A wheel spoke that had survived the flames came loose easily when he tugged at it. With it, he stirred the ashes. They heard a clunk. He cleared the ashes away from a small metal box.

Pulling on his riding gloves, he carefully picked up the box. It was still warm, he noted. Backing up to keep from stirring up the ashes, he placed it on the burnt ground and managed to open it.

It was full of marks.

Taking several out, he looked them over.

“These are from all over Pern,” he said.

“Career criminals,” Lizard said. “Robbers. Burglars.”

Lord Dorn looked at him. “Aye, that’s what I think. You..you’re Fire Lizard Man, I remember you,” he said.

“Aye, my lord,” Lizard said, bowing his head slightly. Dorn’s gaze shifted to K’ndar.

“And you’re K’ndar, of Kahrain Steppe Weyr, the son of Hanliss, and brother to Mardriss, my cotholder.”

K’ndar felt nervous. “Aye, my lord, K’ndar, rider of brown Raventh.”

“You…took two criminals, Arm and Ear, if I remember their aliases, and dropped them in the steppe after I tried them.”

K’ndar felt a cold finger on his spine.

“Yes, sir. I took one of them, Menlet, out onto the steppe, per your orders and left him there.”

Lord Dorn regarded him with what could only be called suspicion.

“You DID actually do that, correct? You didn’t just kindasorta drop him off close to the Hold?”

K’ndar gulped. Then he got angry at the implication. He locked that down tight.

“My Lord, I did exactly as you ordered. I flew him to a spot one thousand kilometers out onto the steppe, out THERE,” he pointed. “We landed, I took him off my dragon, remounted, and tossed the man the keys to the locks. Then I left him,” he said, growing even madder. How dare the man!!

Dorn’s eyes bored into his. There was danger in them, explosive, waiting for the match.

K’ndar felt ice cold..not with fear, but with resolve.

“My Lord, I have no reason to lie. Should you doubt me, have your transport rider’s dragon question mine. Dragons are incapable of lying. My Raventh will vouch for me. I swear it on my honor, sir.”

He saw something change in Dorn’s eye. It was…respect.

Dorn sighed and nodded. “I believe you, K’ndar, and I am certain the other dragon rider, D’mitran? fulfilled his duty as well. I was just wondering if the two criminals I tried and convicted could possibly have survived banishment in order to take up their marauding ways again.”

Mardriss interrupted.

“My Lord, I will vouch for my brother’s testimony. K’ndar did as you ordered, to the letter. I also can say that if anyone can survive a thousand kilometer walk in the empty steppe, without food, without water, without a weapon, without even a compass…well, my Lord, he’s not a human,” he said.

I can fight my own battles, Mardriss, K’ndar thought…then felt ashamed. I should feel grateful. Hanliss would have disowned me in a moment to save his own skin.

“Okay,” Lord Dorn said, relenting.

“Mardriss, once this mess cools off, if you would, please collect anything..the axle, the hubs, especially the branding iron, that will help me learn who these louts were. Someone forged that branding iron, and a legitimate metalsmith will have left his mark. In the meantime, you lost these oxen and horses?” he said.

“My Lord, the horses were mine. Not the oxen. But I am missing two oxen. I’m hoping they ran off and will make their way back home.”

“If they do, please let me know. In the meantime, I’m subtracting two horses from your annual tithe…that big one, there, was a draft horse, aye? And that little one, she looked like a grand one. What a shame. I hope no one at the cothold was hurt?”

“Thank you, my Lord, and no, no one was hurt. Scared, unharmed, and the women are upset that they have to do laundry all over again,” Mardriss said.

Lord Dorn laughed. “No doubt. You’re lucky, Mardriss, but..maybe not. I’m sure you practised for just this sort of situation.”

K’ndar, Mardriss, and Sandriss all nodded in unison.

“Since childhood, my lord,” Mardriss said.

“I’ll be getting back to my Hold, then, thank you, gentlemen, for reporting this. I’ll let you know what, if anything, I learn about the thieves.”

With that, Lord Dorn, turned to his transport dragon rider. “I’d like to return to my Hold, dragonrider,” he said to the girl.

Everyone waited, silent, until the Lord Holder had left on the transport dragon.

Then they were pounding on K’ndar’s back.

“K’ndar!! What balls you have!” Sandriss shouted, his eyes alight with pride.

“Um..um..”

“You were great! Standing up to Lord Dorn!” Mardriss said.

“I..I couldn’t let him think I’d cheated!” K’ndar protested.

“K’ndar, that man could scare the wings off a wher when he’s crossed,” Mardriss said.

He shrugged. “He didn’t scare me, and I’m not boasting. I was mad that he even doubted me,” he said.

They were mounting their horses when one of his brother’s fire lizards-they’d been roosting on Raventh-chittered in what sounded like fear.

“What the?” Sandriss said. His and Lizard’s fire lizards swirled in the air, then vanished.

“What in the world is going on?” Sandriss cried.

They heard a familiar sound, one oddly out of place.

“Mardriss, look!! Out there! It’s…it’s a cock!!”

They saw a large rooster walking in the burn, pecking at the many dead insects.

“A cock! What is a cock doing out here?”

“Think the crisps in the wagon had him?”

“Makes sense to me!”

“Mebbe he was supposed to be dinner?”

“Your Mum needs a cock, Mardriss,” Lizard said, “The chicks, it’ll take them six months to grow up.”

Mardriss laughed. “Aye, and now she’s got one. Let’s go and collect sir cock, and we’ll take him home.”