Chap. 291 Finding them
They attempted to land a ways from the camp. Despite the cold, the settlers had no fire going.
Which is probably a good idea, K’ndar thought, considering how dry the grass is.
The girl came running to them, smiling. They could see the rest of her family next to their wagon, tucked under the tallest of a small set of shrubs growing along the watercourse.
B’rost felt trepidation, but had to do what he was about to do.
“Hello dragons! Hello!” A young girl came running towards them.
She is right underneath me Raventh said. He flapped powerfully, trying to abort the landing.
“No closer, please? Just stay where you are,” B’rost called.
The girl stopped. “Is something wrong? I know I’ve not bathed in a while. There’s just this little stream here! Do I smell bad?”
K’ndar noticed the girl had a small pouch around her neck. A tiny animal had its head out. Siskin saw it too, and chittered in a tone that said he’d be more than happy to taste it.
B’rost laughed from his perch on Rath’s hovering back. “Oh, no, it’s just, dragons need room to land. We’d like to talk to your mum and dad, please?”
“I’ll go get them!” The girl turned and ran back to the wagon. “Daddy! Mum! The dragonriders want to talk to you!”
K’ndar immediately noticed an important item was missing from the camp-the oxen. Where was the team? Are these even the right people?
The man came up, oozing animosity.
“What do you want? We’re settlers. We’re not hurting anything.”
K’ndar saw the mix of hardness and consternation on the man’s face.
“You’re settlers? You’re not Holdless, or Wanderers?”
“No. We’re going to homestead here.”
“Technically, sir, you’re on dragonrider lands,” he said.
He scowled at K’ndar. “Who says? There’s nothing here. Nothing says I can’t start a homestead here.”
B’rost raised a hand to still the oncoming argument.
“I’m B’rost, rider of blue Rath and journeyman healer from Healer Hall.”
“And I’m K’ndar, rider of brown Raventh, staff biologist from Landing.”
“So what. Leave us alone.”
His wife came up behind him, a toddler in her arms. The little girl stayed beside her.
K’ndar felt the animosity radiating from the man. No return introduction. Yet another lout with no manners.
“Sir,” B’rost said, “There’s a virus going around. The entire planet has been locked down and everyone must stay in place, must quarantine, until we find out how to fight the virus.”
“What do you mean, locked down?”
“It means you cannot move from this spot. We’re taking blood samples from everyone, to test for the virus. We don’t want another plague, like the one that killed thousands of people back in Moreta’s time.”
The woman paled and clutched her toddler tightly.
“I haven’t seen any virus. We’ve not been close to anyone, not in weeks.”
“Daddy, we have too,” the girl said.
He whirled to silence the girl. “Shut up. No, we haven’t.”
B’rost said, “We still need to take blood from you. It doesn’t hurt, not much, I use fresh needle thorns and it won’t take but a few minutes of your time.”
“No. You’re not taking anything but your leave of us. I told you I don’t know anything about the virus. Now, you, little man, leave us alone.” He glared at B’rost, trying to dominate him.
What IS it about bullies, that they go for the small man, the woman, the person most unlikely to retaliate? You’re an idiot. B’rost rides a blue dragon. He might be a small man but he’s got the courage of a lion.
B’rost ignored the taunt.
“Sir, I insist. This is isn’t my wild wherry chase. This lockdown and the order to draw blood comes from Healer Hall AND the Council. Every person on the planet, on all of Pern, sir, is quarantined until we find a cure for the virus.”
The woman began to tremble.“What does it do?” she asked.
“Shut up, woman! You two, get out of here,” the man shouted at B’rost. He met K’ndar’s eye. “Don’t make me force you,” he snarled.
K’ndar caught his eye-and held it. Then he smirked.
Push me, jerk. Come on, take your best shot. I’ve learned enough about fighting from F’mart that I might just kick your ass, he thought.
The man dropped his stare.
“The virus kills babies, ma’am. It kills only little children, like that adorable boy in your arms,” B’rost explained.
Her eyes flew open in fright. The baby squirmed at her suddenly too tight hold.
Her mind raced.
“There’s no virus here. Leave. Now.”
What is it with this man, K’ndar thought, he’s so antagonistic, from what Mard and everyone else said, at the cothold they were mild as milk. Now he’s ready to fight. I’m sure he knows.
“Maybe that’s what killed Darcy!” the little girl said.
“I told you to shut up!” he snarled, then turned to K’ndar.
“You’re wrong. We’re not the people you’re looking for. We’ve been here for months. Now leave us alone.”
“Daddy,” the little girl said, agonized, “No, we haven’t”.
K’ndar couldn’t help himself.
“I despise liars, Landren. So let’s try this again. Two weeks or so ago, you stayed several nights at a cothold fifty kilometers from her. Before that, you were landed at Southern Hold despite paying the captain of the Imp to take you to Cove Hold. That makes me think that you didn’t want anyone to know you were here on Southern. But the smugglers double crossed you, Landren, they charged you to disembark at Southern in order that the port knew who you were. Before that, you and your family wandered around on Northern, going through Igen. Originally you’re from Lemos Hold,” he said, hoping he sounded as cold as the mountain snows.
“He’s right, Daddy!” the girl crowed, impressed at their knowledge.
Landren was first shocked, then deflated. “How..how did you know my name?” How do you know all this?”
B’rost noticed that there was no team of oxen to pull the wagon. If these people try to run and hide again, they’ll be on foot, in this vast open steppe, he thought. And I’m utterly convinced that we have our quarry at last. So I have this big card to play at will.
“Since you left Lemos Hold, there have been five children, all under the age of five, who’ve contracted the disease after meeting in some way with you. They’ve DIED, Landren. A sixth one, a little girl at the cothold you just left, survived but is still very ill. It is suspected that you or someone in your family is passing on the virus,” B’rost said.
“No! We’re innocent! It’s not our fault!!” the woman cried.
“Dor, no one is saying it is. But your husband’s attitude tells me that he, at least, suspects something is wrong and is afraid to admit it. Right, Landren?” B’rost said.
K’ndar had never seen him so self confident, so self assured. B’rost, you are truly rising to the occasion.
“And instead of facing up to it, you’re on the run,” K’ndar said.
“It looks like that, yes. But our son isn’t sick.”
“He was, Daddy, remember? He was so hot and he cried and cried. And Darcy died, Daddy, don’t you remember? Daddy?” the little girl said. She was unable to comprehend why her father was lying. “You’re supposed to tell the truth, Daddy. Everyone knows that,” she said.
Landren submitted to the inevitable.
B’rost knelt down to put himself eye to eye with the girl.
“Who is Toddy? And Darcy?” he said.
Dor said, “Toddy is my little boy, here. Darcy was his twin sister.”
Ah, said B’rost’s mind, with an almost audible click. The seventh child. Twins. No one gave a thought to twins. He stood up and smiled at the girl.
“She was awful sick, sir, she wouldn’t eat, she was so hot! Then she died. Then we left Lemos,” the girl said.
Landren shrugged. “Okay, you’ve cornered us. What now? You’re going to behead us?” he sneered.
K’ndar lost his temper. “Oh, for eggs sakes, grow up, you pathetic ween. You’re not being punished. You have to stop moving around and passing on the virus,’ he snapped.
Landren glared. Behind him, Dor shook her head, terrified-yet suddenly understanding her husband’s sudden and inexplicable decision that they were going to be settlers. We were running. He knew. We’re Hold folk. He makes furniture! I’m no settler. I hate this place. I hated leaving home. Maybe now we can stop running. Maybe now we can go home.
“Now, sir, before I take your blood samples, I have to get some information from you,” B’rost said, unlimbering his datalink.
“Sir,” K’ndar said, forcing the courtesy, and feeling a certain amount of-it could only be satisfaction, at calling the man out. “How did you manage to make it out here without oxen?”
“Those shaffing beasts. I unyoked them, much against common sense. The man I bought them from said I have to unyoke them at night. So I did and the next morning the bloody things were gone. Now I’m stuck here.”
K’ndar laughed behind his eyes. Smart beasts. Bought, my arse, but I’ll let you think I believe you. I bet they’re halfway home by now. They’re too smart to be caught by a wher.
He shook his head in mock empathy. “Herdbeasts!”
“Aye. Now I’m not sure what to do.”
Dragons incoming Raventh said, coming from Healer Hall
Four dragons appeared from between. Rath called a greeting.
“Look, mum! More dragons! Oh, there’s four of them, aren’t they pretty!”
“What the shaff!” the man cried.
Relief flooded him. He had no idea how to handle four people who may just be contagious.
The dragons landed, and rumbled calls to Raventh and Rath.
“Hello, hello, the camp!” called one of the riders. Four people, wearing Healer Hall badges and carrying packs, dismounted.
“Hey, there, Journeyman B’rost! Fancy seeing you here!” called one of the healers. She wore the badge of a Master Healer.
This is big, K’ndar thought. You don’t send out the Healer equivalent of a Weyrleader to take a few blood samples. Not for a minute do I believe this is just a happen-to-be-in-the-area thing. B’rost called them on his datalink.
Two journeyman, a male and female, were alongside her. They approached the family.
“You’re Landren, out of Lemos, sir?” she asked.
Landren nodded.
“Thank you. We’re from Healer Hall, and we’d like to talk to you, and take some blood samples.”
“Is it absolutely necessary that you steal our blood?”
“It’s not stealing, sir, it’s contributing to the eradication of a virus that’s killed half a dozen children. You DO want to stop it before it kills any more, don’t you?” the Master Healer said.
“Yes, of course we do!” Dor said, before Landren could object. Shaff it, Landren, you’ve brought us one step shy of the abyss. “Take mine first, please, then my baby?”
“Then me?” the girl asked. The female journeyman smiled. She moved to take Dor’s arm.
The third journeyman approached the girl and and knelt down. “May I do the honors?” he asked, gently.
“What? Oh, yes, please?” she said.
“What’s your name, my little lassie?”
“Abby. Like the cat but without the T. I love cats. I wish I had one.”
He wrote her name on the tube label.
“B’rost. Would you please walk with me? I’ve some data to discuss with you,” the MasterHealer called to B’rost.
“Of course, ma’am,” B’rost said, in a very deferential tone.
“Now, sir, if you don’t mind, I’ve some questions to ask you before I take your blood sample,” the male journeyman said to Landren. “Let’s step over here, shall we?” He led Landren away from the woman working with Dor.
That was well played, K’ndar thought, grateful to be out of his element and no longer needed. That was clever, separating the overbearing man from the woman and girl. I bet B’rost is reporting everything we’ve learned to the Master Healer. They are experts at de-escalating what I thought was going to be a fight, he thought.
The healer finished taking the little girl’s blood sample. He wrapped a small bandage around the girl’s right arm.
“There you go, Abby. You are very brave,” the said. “Sometimes people are afraid of needle thorns.” He wrote quickly on a label on the tube and tucked it into his pouch.
“Not me! I’ve had my firehead shot. It didn’t hurt but a little,” she said. “Is this virus, is it firehead?”
The young man rocked back on his heels. “We don’t know yet! But I’m glad we found you. You don’t want your brother to get sick, do you?”
“He already was. And my baby sister died,” she said.
“Oh, no! I’m so sorry! That’s really sad. This is why it’s so important that we find out who gets sick from the virus. Then we can find a way to make it so that no one gets sick. Did you get sick?”
“No. Can I go see the dragons?”
The healer looked at K’ndar. He shook his head, gently. A lot of parents were afraid of dragons and didn’t trust them around their children.
“Maybe you should ask your mum,” the healer said.
“Oh, she doesn’t care. I’m very responsible, she says. And she’s busy talking to the healer about Toddy.”
Before either of them could find a way through that, she approached K’ndar.
“Is that a fire lizard on your shoulder?”
You’re a brave one, he thought, to go against your father.
“It IS!”
“Can I pet him?”
“I ‘m sorry, but no. They’re not friendly, not like dogs.”
“Oh,” she said. “But can I meet your dragon?”
“If your mum says yes, of course. He’s very friendly, he likes children.”
“Now?”
“Why don’t you wait until your mum is finished with the healer. While we wait, do you want to tell me about your little pet there? I see it poking its head out of your pouch. What is it?”
She extricated a tiny saurian from the pouch.
K’ndar immediately realized he’d never seen such a beast.
“You don’t know? They’re all over where I come from. They live in the forest. It’s called a delver.”
“A delver, eh? He’s interesting! Do you know, I’m a biologist and I’ve never seen this little creature before. What can you tell me about it?”
She held it out in both hands. It snuffled in her hands but made no attempt to escape. It was obviously only half grown.
The creature’s body looked like one long flattened tube with limbs attached. The middle and hind legs were short, the feet spade like. This animal, obviously would never run very far or fast. The front limbs were stout, attached to a scapula out of all proportion to the rest of its body. The paws were twice the size of the middle and back set, bearing enormous claws that were broad and blunt. The animals’ head was blunt and seemed to be completely neckless. The tail was just a tiny stub.
“And what does a delver do?”
“Silly! They dig holes in the ground, they’re like caves, deep ones, that go way back. They like other animals, too, because sometimes it’s not just the delver, it’s other animals that live in the hole with them. Like tunnel snakes! But the tunnel snakes don’t hurt them. Sometimes they roll these rocks up into the opening of their cave so that no one can get to them while they sleep. I think they sleep all winter. And then in the spring they come out and they dig and dig.”
“Amazing! I never heard of such a thing! What do they eat, do you know?”
The girl laughed. “They eat all kinds of things, they eat bugs and worms and even eggs if they find them on the ground. They live in the forest. But they don’t like it here, mine doesn’t, he can’t dig here, the dirt is too hard. I can’t find any worms, I think he’s really getting hungry. I have to search really hard to find any bugs here. They like trundlebugs best of all. I don’t try to catch a trundlebug because when they get scared they make a big stink! But they are really smart when they eat a trundlebug. What they do is they push the trundlebug without touching it, I don’t know how, and the trundlebug gets flipped over and its legs are waving trying to turn over. Then the delver, it puts it’s paws on the trundlebug and eats it before it can get sprayed. And they don’t stink even after eating the trundlebug!”
That was even more amazing he thought, now in full biologist mode. Push it without touching it? Telekinesis, like Raventh and Siskin can do?
The girl stroked the tiny delver. “They’re very sweet. He’s really soft, and at night he makes a sound like this: bububub and that means he’s hungry.”
“Where did you find it?”
“In Lemos. We are from Lemos but we don’t live in the Hold ‘cuz we have a cavern all to ourselves. Daddy is a carpenter so he has a shop with all kinds of tools. One day this boy came and showed me all these baby delvers. He said, look, I found this nest of delvers. He said the mum got killed by a dog, that’s how the boy found them. He gave me two of ‘em. He said we hasta feed them or they’ll starve.”
“It’s very cute,” K’ndar said, wishing he’d brought a notebook to sketch in. Only much later did he remember that he had brought a camera. And forgotten to use it.
“They are! I had two of them, but Daddy killed one,” her face falling. “Don’t tell him, please, but he made me mad when he killed her.”
“Why did he kill her? Are they mean?”
“No, no, no. They’re sweet. See how soft he is? They don’t have fur but they’re soft like a kitten. But that one, she bit Darcy ‘cuz Darcy squozed her.”
Tell her the word is ‘squeezed’. Raventh said.
He hid his grin at Raventh’s correction. I will
The journeyman’s attention was riveted on her. “Was that before Darcy got sick?”
“Uh huh.”
“Did she ever bite you?”
“Oh, no. She didn’t mean to bite Darcy but babies don’t know how to handle little animals. I was really sad after Daddy killed her.”
“Is that when you left Lemos?”
“No. Daddy killed her after she bit Darcy and then Darcy got sick and died. Then we left Lemos after Darcy died.” She carefully replaced the delver into the pouch. “I don’t know why. Daddy said we’re going to be settlers now, we’re going to find a place way out where no one else is and live there.”
She looked mournful. “I didn’t want to leave. I miss my friends, and I’m missing so much school. And Daddy is so angry all the time. I don’t know why.”
“That must be so hard. This place isn’t like Lemos, is it?”
“No. There’s no trees here and it’s windy all the time. We have to sleep in the wagon and it’s cold and I haven’t had a bath since we left that cothold because there’s no water. And now our cows are gone and we have no way to pull the wagon.”
“I wouldn’t worry too much, Abby, because once we finish taking blood, I think we’ll be taking you all on dragonback! up to Healer Hall. That’s much closer to Lemos! Do you think you’d like that?”
“Oh, yes! I love dragons!! Is it warm up there?”
“Of course! Um, Abby, I have one more question for you. Your delver, the one that bit your sister, did it bite Toddy?” asked the journeyman.
“No. Toddy was afraid of her. He never touched her. But Toddy got sick, too, then he got better.”
The journeyman smiled and stood up. “Thank you. You’ve been very helpful.”
“Now can I pet the dragons?” she asked.
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