Chap. 312 The Invisible Rand

Chap. 312 The Invisible Rand

Raventh landed atop the fallen tree in the middle of the large clearing.

K’ndar dismounted and carefully climbed down from the tree to the floor of the clearing. Once again he was astonished at the tree’s enormous bulk. Knee high saplings had sprouted all along the top, racing for the sunlight.

It had only been a few months, but the rain forest was already well along in its reclamation of the clearing created by the fallen giant. Within a few years, the nurse tree beneath his feet would be covered with its offspring, and he’d have to find a new place to land. Only because the clearing itself was strewn with rocks was it still open, and even then, verdant undergrowth choked every gap between the boulders. Living trees crowded the edges, creating a green amphitheater.

Will you be okay up there?

Of course. It’s not as if I need to be on the ground. I need a nap, anyway, and the sun feels good.

Raventh stretched out like a great cat and shut his eyes.

He removed his jacket and helmet. Despite it being winter, it was still warm here. The musty scent of damp vegetation and rotting wood filled his nostrils.

There was no sound of birds or wherries. The flowers that had spangled the opening had all senesced.

The height of the live trees amazed him all over again. They seemed to reach the clouds, and yet he knew there were even taller giants deep in the rain forest.

He grounded his backpack in order to dig out his camera and datalink. Siskin swirled over the vegetation, searching for teeko lizards.

Oh, yes, I remember them, he thought. I took a bunch of the curious little beasties home in my backpack. I will make SURE to keep it closed here.

“Siskin. To me, lad. Find Rand. Rand?” He pushed an image of the forester into the fire lizard’s mind. I have no idea where to find him in this wilderness, he thought. I have completely forgotten how to get to the hollowed stump the man called home.

Siskin landed on his shoulder and chittered.

“Rand. Find Rand and then return,” he repeated.

Siskin launched and vanished.

He activated the camera. Jansen had done something to its brain that allowed him to measure the height of the trees.

He began to photograph the edge of the clearing, the fallen tree and, just to provide context, his dragon atop it.

I should have brought a compass, he thought, finding my way back here might not be so easy. The rain forest grows so fast! Then he remembered his datalink. He thumbed it awake to benchmark the spot. Ah, there it was-it remembered the last time he’d been there. A glowing red spot pinpointed his position. Why did I neglect to benchmark Rand’s stump? Oh, yes, he didn’t want me to know.

Siskin is back, with a brown fire lizard Raventh said.

Siskin whirred over his head, chipping in victory.

“Good lad!” he said. The brown fire lizard flew in circles, chittering at Raventh.

Raventh laughing, said He has never seen a dragon before!!

The fire lizard eyed K’ndar warily. Siskin landed on K’ndar’s shoulder and mewed.

“You are the smartest fire lizard ever. Who is your friend?”

Siskin sent an image of Rand.

“Oh! Is the brown Rand’s friend?”

Siskin chipped.

Yes. The brown looks to Rand. Siskin says you are to follow him. The brown will lead you to Rand.

Tell them to go fairly slowly, I can’t fly.

Pity said Raventh.

K’ndar laughed.

You’re going to be okay here, correct?

Of course. I am a dragon. What can harm me?

Evil humans can harm you.

Raventh snorted in scorn. Evil humans can’t fly without dragons.

The brown landed on the tree next to Raventh’s forefoot. The difference in size was astounding. He snapped a picture of it.

“Okay. Little brown, lead me to Rand.”

The brown turned his head, puzzled, then Siskin chittered and the two lizards launched.

“Not too fast, Siskin,” he said. The fire lizards led the way to the edge of the rain forest, along a well defined game trail. They flew ahead to just within eyesight and waited til he reached their location. They continued their leapfrog progress along a trail. He set his datalink to tracking his movements and plunged into the gloom of the rain forest.

The trail was heavily traveled. Roots as thick as one’s thigh snaked across the path. Here and there he saw feathers and the skulls of long dead creatures. Those he picked up and put in collection sacks. The rough footing precluded fast movement. Still, something big used it, something much larger than any human. The undergrowth crowded the sides, the vines reaching out as if to grab him. Yet a few meters overhead, the vegetation petered out to nothing. Through it all, towering trees blocked the sunlight, breaking it into beams. The forest was hushed, with only the occasional sound of a quorl’s warning whistle when he was sighted. It was such a big change from his last foray into the forest, when one could barely hear oneself think for the raucous chorus from many different throats. Here and there he saw where animals had pushed the duff aside as they trod it, but it was so deep that that it was impossible to say just what had done so.

He began to absorb the forest, entranced by its immensity. It’s so close, he thought, the trees are right here alongside the trail. A six meter long snake skin shed was entwined in the undergrowth, testament to the size of the seldom seen predators. There are no such big snakes on the steppe, he realized, wondering why. He was grateful for their absence.

He’d walked for perhaps ten minutes when the brown fire lizard perched on a low hanging branch. Siskin chirped and flew to his shoulder.

He looked around. There was nothing to indicate why they’d stopped.

“Siskin? Why are we stopping?” he asked, puzzled.

“Because you’re here?” said a voice at his elbow.

He jumped. His heart pounding, he whirled. Rand suddenly appeared as if from between.

“Shabash! You scared me shitless,” K’ndar spluttered.

The forester laughed. “You didn’t see me?”

“No! By the egg, you’re invisible.”

The man nodded and stood up. “I’ve been sitting here, just a waiting on you, lad. Invisible, eh? That’s what keeps me safe from raiders. Movement catches the eye. Sit still and you blend in with the vegetation. You’re not the first to validate my camouflage.”

He looked the man over. Yes, his clothing seemed to melt into the background. It helped that the forester had draped vines over his head and torso, and chosen a seat behind a particularly thick shrub.

“I would have walked right past you,” he said.

The brown fire lizard giggled-it was the only word for it-and flew to Rand’s shoulder.

K’ndar bumped Rand’s fist. “You have a fire lizard!”

“Aye! I met your friend, Fire Lizard Man, some time ago. He said you’d sent him a message saying I wanted an egg. Thank you for that! He’s an honest trader, just as you said, K’ndar. He were near Southern Hold, I was buying a new pig and a few chickens from a family of Wanderers. He found me, stars know how. We did a little dickering and then he sold me this lovely beast’s egg for a decent price. He even taught me the fundamentals of hatching and raising him. Mushroom, I calls him.”

“Mushroom! You’re right, he’s the color of a mushroom!”

Rand chuckled. “He’s a good friend, K’ndar, and smart as a razor, even as young as he is. He only hatched a few months ago. He’s already proven to be a better guard on me chickens then that poor dog of mine was. He were a brave one. I can’t bring myself to get another, not just yet. You can’t replace a heart, you know. Before I went dog hunting, though, Mushroom came to me and he’s proven to be even better than a dog at protecting my beasts. He’s always aware of what’s going on, and young as he is, he’s not afraid to confront a predator. It is the most amazing feeling, to be able to see what he’s seeing. I can soar through the treetops without leaving the ground! Is it like what you have with a dragon?”

“A lot. Although they don’t talk to you, not like a dragon. You’ve obviously already learned to communicate with your thoughts. All you need to do is imagine what you want him to do, go through the steps in your mind, SEE what you want him to do. They learn so quickly. They can do tricks, retrieve things, even, as Mushroom proved, lead you to people. Like now, had I not sent Siskin to find you, I’d be blundering about in the forest, trying to find your stump. And I don’t see it. Have you moved?”

“No, but the stump itself has been even more overgrown. T’ovar torching my ‘reception area’ was too close for my comfort. After you left, he over flew the area several times, looking for me, I’m supposing. Thought I was a sucker, he did! I doubt he actually considered I live in a stump, and that suits me just fine. Even so, I planted a lot of vines about it and it’s as invisible as I was to you!

But I have to say, too, that you came from the opposite direction as last time. And, mind you, the sun’s in a different quadrant this time o’day.

You walked right past it, K’ndar! Mushroom didn’t let on, did he?”

“No,” K’ndar said, “And I was looking for it. You don’t even have a path leading to it anymore.”

“No, I don’t. Mushroom’s clever like that. Somehow he figured out I don’t want to be found by just anyone. It were a smart thing you did, having your Siskin find me. If you hadn’t, Mushroom would have found you and led you a merry chase, you’d have ended up going in circles until you gave up! Even so, I did tell you I move around, from place to place. It suits me, yes? About the only anchor I have is my horse. She’s with a farmer on the edge of the rain forest. He uses her for light work in exchange for keeping her fed and groomed. This rain forest is no place for a horse, you know. Too damp. Her hooves would rot in no time.”

“Aye,” K’ndar agreed, “That and there’s no graze here.”

“True.”

He stood up and brushed the vines from his body.

“So, K’ndar, what brings you here?”

“Several things. First off, though, I must tell you, we captured T’ovar, the rogue dragonrider.”

Rand pumped the air with both arms. “DID you now! Oh, that’s great news! How did that happen? How’d you catch him?”

“Dumb luck, Rand. I was doing a survey with two other dragonriders and we came upon him on Lord Dorn’s side of the Black River. He was attempting to extort a handful of boatmen to bring in illegal settlers onto Singing Water’s holdlands. Caught him dead to rights, and his dragon-oh, it’s sad,” he said, sobering.

“Sad?”

“Aye. T’ovar tried to escape but his dragon wouldn’t launch, so he hit it in the head so hard he fractured the skull. I’ve never seen a dragonrider ever hurt his dragon before, not ever. It shocked our dragons. We caught T’ovar because his dragon, Firoth, rebelled. Southern Weyr’s riders decided to take T’ovar to their weyr. Firoth never came out of between.”

Rand sucked his teeth in shock. “Suicide?”

“Aye.”

“Whoa. Do they do that often?”

“Usually only if the rider dies. But every once in a while, a dragon will be so disgusted by his rider that he’ll kill himself. That’s my best guess about Firoth. T’ovar had fractured his skull, and I think he was so angry and in such pain that he committed suicide.”

“Taking T’ovar with him, eh?” Rand said, looking satisfied.

“No. Dragons aren’t vindictive, no matter how provoked. We dragged T’ovar off his dragon. If we’d let him remount, he’d probably have escaped, even after hitting Firoth. The boatmen tied T’ovar up for us and loaded him like a Turnover pig on the Weyrleader’s dragon. Firoth launched empty backed, and never came out of between.”

“Stupid, to treat any beast like that, ‘specially a dragon,” Rand said. “I know of a horse that flat out refused to move once his rider beat him. Anyone else, even a toddler, could handle him, but his rider whipped him one day and from that day forward, that horse met him with teeth and heels.”

Rand sighed. “So, T’ovar is where now?”

“The last I knew, Southern Weyr was going to take him to Lord Dorn’s Hold, because he has the cells for criminals, then onto the Council at Landing for judging. I have no idea what’s become of him since. Nor do I care. He had it coming, whatever happens to him.”

Rand shook his head. “He were a bad ‘un, K’ndar, I know a lot of folks who suffered his depredations. I hope they don’t let him go. Banishment is the best thing, some island so far out in the ocean they have to ship light in.”

“They won’t let him go, but I don’t know if they’re going to banish him to an island. Lately they’ve been marooning criminals in the steppe, something that pisses me off no end because I love the steppe like you love this rain forest. I’d as soon drop him off in the ocean half way to an island. But that’s not the way the Charter demands. I’m just happy he’s a ground pounder now. Dragonriders who lose a dragon are never the same afterwards. Sometimes they go insane, like the Oldtimer who lost her queen, back in Moreta’s time? If a rider survives losing a dragon through an accident, like Lord Lytol or my uncle Fland, they recover but are never, ever the same. It must be like losing half your heart. I don’t know how it is when your dragon abandons you. It must be agonizing.”

“If it’s even half way close to the bond I have with this clever lad Mushroom,” Rand said, stroking his brown’s neck, “I can only imagine how painful it must be to lose a dragon.”

Mushroom wrapped his tail around Rand’s neck and purred.

Rand looked at K’ndar. “You were so right about fire lizards, K’ndar. They become part of your heart.”

K’ndar smirked. “Told you so,” he said, triumphantly.

“That you did, lad, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for connecting me to Fire Lizard Man. Like I said, he did right by me.”

“Was it me, or was it my Siskin?”

Rand laughed. “Aye, it were your blue who convinced me. Anyway. Follow me to my home, K’ndar. I’ve got some fresh klah, if I’d of known you were coming I’d have baked some scones. You’ll have to tell me what brings you to my humble forest.”

“Humble my arse, Rand. The forest has the most beautiful trees on the planet. I need you to introduce me to them.”