Chap. 390 Finding Raylan

Chap. 390 Finding Raylan

As soon as I get things rolling here at Landing, I’m going to eat lunch, he thought.

Something in his mind said, good luck with that, mate.

Raylan, where are you?

First, I’ll check your quarters. You’re probably not there, but I have to check.

He was not surprised when there was no answer.

He pulled his datalink out and hesitated. One doesn’t call Landing’s equivalent of a Weyrleader just on account of because.

But Evvelin is Admin Chief, and ultimately, all of us work for her.

“This is Evvelin, who calls?”

“Ma’am, I apologize for interrupting your rest day. This is K’ndar. Francie is at Cove Hold Healer Hall.”

“What? Don’t worry about my day. What happened, why?”

“She was snorkeling and was stung, that’s the word they used, by a shellfish. She’s unconscious, Gail, the master healer says she….”

“Wait, please, for a moment, K’ndar, I’m getting pinged by Marl. And now, oh, goodness, I’ve got a ping from Healer Hall. These things aren’t designed for four at once! K’ndar, get Raylan immediately.”

“Ma’am, he’s missing, not lost, just not here.”

“Arrghhhhhh,” she growled. “Call Jansen. Both of you, meet me in my Admin Office. Now.”

It being a rest day, most of Landing’s staff was out doing something other than working. As he hurried towards Admin, he saw a handful of boys playing a decidedly free of bothersome rules game of soccer. Far off, a drumming circle’s thundering was echoing off the mountain side. A pair of raptors were diving at a kite being flown in their airspace. As he passed one commons, he heard a victory cheer as an arrow sprouted from the center of an archery target. He felt a wistful pang of nostalgia. I used to think Landing was dull and boring when we weren’t working, but it’s beginning to sound and act a lot like a weyr, with families doing family things.

He suddenly realized that he hadn’t done any sort of recreation in a very long time. Yes, he thought, reading is recreation, but so much of what I read is science, filling my brain with knowledge. I can’t remember the last time I made a horsehair choker. Or just went riding.

But right now, I have more important things to do.

Like eat? Maybe you should have eaten first Raventh chided.

I know. This shouldn’t take long.

I always feel a bit nervous when I’m in her office, he thought. Despite its relative size, with Evvelin, Jansen, Marl, Landing’s Healer, and now himself, it was a bit crowded.

Because he lived furthest from Admin, he was the last one to arrive.

“Thank you for contacting me, K’ndar,” Evvelin said. “Gail at Healer Hall contacted Marl, then me about Francie.” Somehow that rankled that she’d not been called first, but she pushed that thought aside. I do admin. I’m not a healer. I’m glad Marl is here to interpret.

“She related what you’d told her, but I’d like it if you’d tell it from your side.”

He did. I think I’ll be telling this story often, he thought.
“Motanith saved her, ma’am. I did a little basic aid, but I knew I needed to take her to the experts.

Evvelin looked at K’ndar. “P’jar is at his home weyr on the west coast. I know it’s a rest day, but K’ndar, I’m going to ask you to transport me to Healer Hall.”

“Of course, ma’am,” K’ndar said, but Marl interrupted. “Forgive me, ma’am, but please don’t.”

There was a sudden and awkward silence.

“Don’t what? Francie works for me, and personally I like her very much.”

“As do we all, ma’am, in all aspects, but right now, she is, as I said, in the best possible hands. K’ndar, you were wise to do what you did and no more. Sometimes well meant aid can be counter productive. Gail and her team are very good. I haven’t examined her but I’m confident Francie will make a full recovery.” I hope, he thought. No use making the situation any gloomier.

“Why shouldn’t I be there, then?” Evvelin asked.

Marl gulped. “Ma’am, with all due respect, please understand. You’d just be in the way. Right now she’s surrounded by half a dozen people who know what they’re doing, and one of them would have to stop doing it in order to um, um…”

Evvelin grimaced. “Babysit me.”

“Uh, I’m sorry ma’am, but um, I wouldn’t have said it quite so bluntly.”

Evvelin laughed. It helped break the atmosphere.

“It’s the right word. You’re right. Thank you.”

Marl sighed. My bollocks can unshrivel now.

“Right then. Where’s Raylan?” Evvelin said.

K’ndar felt the focus on him.

“Francie told me he was going hiking, with a friend. He left before dawn this morning.”

“So why didn’t you ping him?” Evvelin, snapped, in a tone that was almost-but not quite-accusatory.

It was K’ndar’s turn to feel the barely blunted accusation. His heart rate soared.

Raylan is my boss, he thought, and I’m about to betray him. But he turned his datalink off, against everything he’s taught me. I can’t not tell the truth.

“Um, ma’am, Francie said he would ‘possibly forget to turn his datalink on’.”

His words landed like stones.

Jansen sighed. Oh, RAYLAN, she thought. She met K’ndar’s eye. I know what you’re feeling, they said. He nodded.

“Ma’am,” she said, “If I may? Allow me to use your computer? If he’s got his datalink on, I’ll find him.”

Evvelin moved aside to allow Jansen to sit at her computer.

“Okay, Turing, let’s find him,” she said.

“Turing? You name your computer?” Evvelin asked, amused.

Jansen laughed, hoping it made the tension ease.

“When he’s good, yes. When he’s bad, I call it you stubborn pigheaded piece of shite.” They all laughed.

It didn’t take her long to find nothing.

“He’s definitely got it turned off, ma’am,” she said, also feeling as if she was signing Raylan’s death warrant.

Well, maybe not death, she thought, but he’s really in for it this time.

“I’m checking Ops, to see if and when he signed out,” she said. “Yes. He did. He signed out of Ops at 0440 hours, after checking the weather for south of Landing.”

They groaned. “It’s all wilderness once you clear Landing’s holdings,” Evvelin said. Damn it, Raylan! You’re the last one I would have expected to disregard policy.

“Okay. Let’s find him. K’ndar, I’m going to call in every dragon rider we have. The Lords may not like it, but we need to find him. South of here is a VERY big area, and I know dragonriders are trained in search and rescue.” I can call P’jar in. But do I dare disturb the two dragonriders on the Council of Six plus One?

For a moment, K’ndar remembered learning the basics of searching for a tiny needle in the vast haystack that was Southern Continent. Vectors. Distance traveled. Weather, topography, state of the lost person’s mind. Age and condition of lost person. But Raylan’s not lost. He and his friend have a specific goal in mind.

Wait. I don’t need to do all that! I have Siskin. He laughed.

“K’ndar?” Evvilin said.

“Begging your pardon, ma’am, but all that is unnecessary. Yes, we’re trained in Search and Rescue, Lord D’nis is better at it than any dragon rider I know. For that matter, we could call Kahrain Weyr. Weyrlingmaster B’rant is ALWAYS up for a new training scenario for his weyrlings, he’d never let a rest day interfere with a juicy opportunity like this.”

He remembered B’rant slapping his thigh in glee when he could launch his weyrlings and the fire lizard irregulars on a novel mission. And this is definitely novel.

Marl grinned. “I bet the weyrlings weren’t so happy.”

“That’s an understatement,” he said, laughing.

“So we call the Weyr?”

“No, ma’am,” he said, feeling an air of superiority. “I send my fire lizard, Siskin, to find him. We can put a message in his harness pouch that says ‘contact Admin immediately,’ and send Siskin to Raylan. It takes longer to say this than for him to find Raylan.”

The rest of them all look amazed.

“Your fire lizard can do that?”

“Yes, ma’am. They all can. All they need is a memory of the person you want to contact. Siskin knows Raylan very well.”

“That quickly?”

“Well, other than the three or four inhales it takes to go between. Yes, ma’am. I’ll call my fire lizard to bring his harness, we’ll put the message in the pouch, I’ll send Siskin to Raylan and hopefully, he’ll respond. When he does, Jansen can pinpoint him, and I’ll go out on Raventh and pick him up. If all goes well, it shouldn’t take long. I might even be back in time for lunch.”

I HOPE to be back in time for lunch, he thought.

He damned well better respond if he knows what’s good for him, Evvelin thought. I’ll have a word or three with him when he returns.

“And here I’ve been forbidding all but Fafhrd from coming into Landing’s buildings,” Evvelin said of Headman Grafton’s bronze fire lizard. “I might have to change my policy on fire lizards.”

Jansen arose from Evvelin’s computer.

“Sit down, Jansen,” Evvelin said, “I’d rather you be here than at your own station. Hand me that pencil, will you please? And a bit of notepaper. K’ndar, send for your lizard. I’m writing the note NOW.”

I am so glad I’m just the messenger boy, K’ndar thought.

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Raylan and his friend were perched atop an outcrop, looking at the vast tract of country in front of them. We’ve come a fair way, it’s time to get something to eat, maybe a nap, change socks, and head on. We should be getting to that lovely little lake before sunset.

“This is the life, what?” his friend said as he stretched out on a level spot warmed by the sun.

“Aye. I’ve been wanting to do this for a long while. I love Francie but she’s definitely not a hiker. I remember when I was a kid, I’d pack some things, put a canvas over my backpack, then head out with the sun at my back. I hate hiking with the sun in my eyes! I’d find a spot and stay out there all week. It drove Mum crazy. “You’re going to get Thread scored!” But I knew all about Thread, if I saw dragons appear, I knew to find cover.”

A blue fire lizard appeared out of between.

“Hullo,” said his friend, “A wild fire lizard.”

“Not at all, friend. My wife has three of ’em as well as a green dragon. And he’s wearing a harness. I only know one blue fire lizard, he’s K’ndar’s Siskin. Right? Siskin?”

Siskin chittered a triumphant yes. He landed at Raylan’s feet and thrust his chest forward, indicating his pouch.

Raylan felt a chill run up his spine. “I’m going to check your pouch, bluey.”

He pulled the note out, knowing, somehow, what it said before he read it.

The chill expanded.

He dug out his datalink. His friend said, “What? Bad news?”

“I will know in a moment, and then I’m afraid I’m going to have to cut this hike short.”

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