Chap. 319 Off His Feet

Chap. 319 Off His Feet

“Well, K’ndar, I must admit that when it comes to making blisters, you’re a champion,” Marl, Landing’s healer said. “You should never walk in soaking wet boots. You can quickly develop some nasty conditions, blisters being the mildest.”

“It couldn’t be helped, sir. Duty called.”

“I know very well how dragonriders are, but it used to be threadscore that you tried to convince us healers was just a flesh wound. I didn’t have too many footsore riders.”

K’ndar grinned, ruefully. The healer had cleaned the sores on his feet and swathed them with a salve that at first stung, then killed the pain.

“I want you to keep off your feet for the next few days. I won’t ground you, you can fly. But keep the walking down to a minimum. Here’s a vial of this pain killing powder. You add a little-just a LITTLE! bit of water, then apply it to the blisters with this wooden spoon. Try not to get it on your fingers. If it gets sticky, use vinegar to clean it off. Remember, just because you don’t feel pain in the blisters doesn’t mean they’re healed. They need Tee Oh Tee, K’ndar, Tincture of Time. Give them time to heal. two days ought to do it. By the way, would you mind telling me how well the salve works? It’s a new concoction, it has antibiotic qualities as well as acting to deaden pain. It’s not numbweed, as I’m sure you can tell by the lack of stink.”

“New concoction? What’s it called?” he asked. Something told him he already knew.

“Well, it doesn’t have a real name yet, but it’s made from the saliva from a hideously ugly little creature called a smanda. It’s deathly toxic to small saurians and avians, but”

“But in mammals it’s harmless and serves to deaden pain. Smanda saliva is also hydrophobic, in a different form, it’s being used in ships to plug leaks and make a ship seaworthy.” K’ndar finished for him.

The elderly man was astonished. “How in the world do you know that?”

K’ndar grinned. “It’s a fairly long story, but briefly, I discovered the animals. My fire lizard was snared by one and almost died from the toxins. The antidote is plain ol’ vinegar.”

“Yes! You’re the one who brought in the beasts? There must be a dozen in tanks here at Landing. The folks in Arr and Dee have been having a great time playing with their spit. This is just the newest derivative, a healing, pain killing salve for mammals.”

“So I hear,” he said, encouraging Siskin to move from his shoulder to his forearm. “I’m the one, rather, my fire lizard, here, see his hind quarters? From the wings back, the scars look like netting. He’d been trapped in one of the smanda’s nets, and almost died.”

The healer gently reached out to Siskin. The fire lizard recoiled, his eyes rolling an uncertain orange. He hissed, ever so slightly. Marl snatched his hand back.

“Will he bite me?”

“No, sir. Unlike most tamed fire lizards, he’s not friendly. But he’s never attacked or bitten without my ordering it. He’s isn’t afraid of you, just wary.”

I told him the healer is a friend. I told him he makes your feet feel better Raventh said.

“My dragon just told him to trust you,” he said.

“Thank you. He’s a lovely little beast, K’ndar.” Marl put out his hand again, encouraging Siskin to examine it. Siskin reached forward, inhaling.

“May I touch your leg, little blue?” Marl said. Siskin met K’ndar’s eyes.

“It’s okay, Siskin. He just wants to feel the scars on your leg,” He felt Siskin’s resistance evaporate.

“He understands your words?”

“He does, although I doubt I could discuss physics with him. While fire lizards don’t talk in one’s head, in all other respects they ARE dragons.They’re highly intelligent and learn very quickly. For instance, I’m sure you know Grafton, our headman, is blind and his fire lizard serves as his eyes.”

“I DO know that. It’s amazing.” Marl smiled. “For as many years as I healed dragonriders, I never got to talk to their dragons. I wish, in a way, I’d been Searched, but, apparently, I don’t have that little switch in my brain that enables you riders to converse with your dragons.” He sighed. “Maybe I just wasn’t good enough.”

“No, sir, it doesn’t work that way. It’s just luck, having that mental quirk that enables you to hear a dragon. And, sir, Pern has always needed good healers. You were our life savers when we fought Thread. My home weyr healer, Billek, told me you were his Master.”

“Billek, yes, I do remember him. A very good healer, one of my best students.”

Siskin whickered, telling K’ndar he was comfortable with Marl.

“Go ahead, sir, you can touch him now. Raventh vouched for you, too.”

Marl reached out to touch Siskin’s leg. His fingers gently massaged it, feeling the raised welts of the netlike scars. Siskin turned his head, watching the healer’s fingers.

“Yes. I feel the scar tissue. Amazing, that the saliva can cause such an injury to a saurian and yet, provide such healing and relief to a mammal.”

He withdrew his hand. “Thank you, Siskin. You are very brave. I must say your scars are VERY becoming, they make you look like a big, handsome dragon.”

Siskin arched his neck and chittered happily. K’ndar laughed.

He says the healer is very observant Raventh said, laughing.

“He does have an ego, sir, and you’ve just inflated it.”

Marl laughed.

“Now then, K’ndar, I imagine you have work awaiting. Remember, take it easy on your feet. Don’t even think of pulling your boots back on, don’t wear them again until they’re fully dried. No barefooting, either. Do you have felt slippers? No? Not to worry. Igen’s Tannercrafthall has all their footwear apprentices start out by making felt slippers and sends them to Healers all over Pern.” He rummaged in a chest next to his chair. He frowned.

“Oh, no. All I have left are these, um, this is my last adult sized pair.” He handed them to K’ndar. “Wear these while your feet heal. No running, keep the walking to a minimum, and next time try not to fill your boots with river water.”

“But…but..”K’ndar protested, aghast.

“I know. I’m sorry. But healer’s orders. Wear the slippers for two days.”

“Yes, sir.”

_____________________________________________________________

Jansen took one look at his slippers and slapped a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing.

“Um. Well. Uh,” she said, clearing her throat. “Um, I didn’t think pink was your color.” She fought the giggles threatening to erupt. She failed.

“Oh, bag it. It’s the only pair he had,” K’ndar said, embarrassed.

Several other people walked past Jansen’s desk. They saw his footwear-and his expression-then snapped their heads directly to the front, biting their tongues.

“I’m sorry, K’ndar, but, oh please, it’s not you I’m laughing at,”she gasped.

“It is too me you’re laughing at,” he snapped, his face scarlet. He shoved his feet as far under her desk as he could.

She met his eyes. “You’re right, but I’m not trying to be mean. Please, K’ndar, it is funny.”

“Not to me!” He sighed, slumping with resignation. “It’s okay, I guess. It could be worse, I could still be at the Weyr. Oh, shit, I can just hear F’mart were he to see me wearing these shaffing pink slippers. I’d never, ever in my life live it down.”

“I promise, K’ndar, I won’t tell a soul. In fact, I’ll ping Raylan and ask him to come here, rather than you having to run the gantlet to his office. I know he wants to debrief you and I’m certain the only reason you’re wearing pink fuzzies oh heeeheehehhe,” she giggled, helplessly. “I’m sorry. It’s because of Healer’s orders, right? “Stay off your feet?”

“Yes,” K’ndar retorted, trying to sort out his feelings. I look like a fool, he thought.

“You won’t have to say a word. These damned slippers are so bright the starship can see them without her scopes.”

Jansen mastered her laughter. “Well done, by the way, on catching Scar and Vika. And the pack you brought in? K’ndar, it was full of electronics. Shawn had stolen at least six datalinks, a couple cameras, a microscope, there were artifacts in there-it was quite a haul. We’re going through them right now for information. None of them had been registered, so I think he was stealing them as they came out of Production. He even had some of the vacuum tubes, full of gemstones, can you imagine? Well done, K’ndar, and I’m certain you’ll get some sort of commendation.”

“It was worth it just to see an end to their reign of terror. By the way,” he said, wondering if he should admit it, “Vika had this knife. I’ve never seen anything like it.” He pulled it out of his pack. The edge peeked through the gap it had sliced in the smaller sheath. Just from my movements! he thought. “I don’t know if it’s an artifact or not.”

He regretfully handed it to Jansen. “Be careful, it’s razor sharp.”

She pulled it from the sheath with some difficulty. “Oh, my, it IS sharp. I’ve never seen anything like this design, or these markings on the blade-and I’ve seen a lot of artifacts. This doesn’t look like any knife I’ve ever seen. Or the metal. It may be an artifact after all.”

No, please. I want to keep it, he thought. It wants to keep me. It’s just a knife, but it feels so good in my hand.It’s like my best saddle, it fits me perfectly.

“Mind if I scan it? That’s usually what I do when I’m not sure of something like this.”

Yes, I do mind, he thought. “Be my guest.”

She put it on her scanner.

The scanner hummed for a moment and then reported,

Knife. Skybroom handle

“Well, I know that, you hunk of junk,” Jansen said, and she typed “composition of blade?”

The datalink said Composition of blade: damask steel

“I’ve never heard of damask steel,” she hissed at the data link. She clicked the ‘scan’ icon again.

Second scan. Composition of blade: damask steel certainty 35%

“Does it really hear you?” K’ndar wondered. “Now I don’t feel so foolish as I did earlier today, yelling at the datalink to get it to work for me.”

“Of course not, although theoretically, I could program that feature, but at the moment, it doesn’t respond to voice commands. I work with it all day long and it’s being pigheaded right now. So I yell at it, knowing it hasn’t any feelings to be hurt. Although I’m told Aivas understood emotions.”

She typed “what is damask steel?” The datalink chewed over her request for a moment, then responded:

Page 1 of 15. STEEL: n 1. a hard, tough metal composed of iron with various small percentages of carbon; steel may be alloyed with other metals, as nickel, chromium, etc, to produce specific properties, as hardness, resistance to rusting, etc. 2. a particular kind of steel; hard or (high) steel has a relatively high content

“Enough, you miserable piece of tin, I guess you do hear me deriding you.” Jansen snapped, dismissing the query. “I swear, sometimes this thing drives me crazy.”

Serves you right, K’ndar thought.

“One last question,” she said. She typed in “Artifact?”

Unknown. No data on knife as artifact. Press icon for definition of knife.

“See what I mean? Right now she’s being sarcastic.”

“Now you know how it makes me feel,” he said. “So it’s not an artifact?”

“Despite the database, I think it is. It’s so unusual.”

“There’s all sorts of styles of knife. Everyone on Pern carries a knife, Jansen.” K’ndar said, desperately.

“I don’t. I never have.”

“Fine. It’s a steel knife, like every other damned knife on Pern. Can I keep it anyway?”

“I’m just doing my job, K’ndar. You needn’t be so obnoxious.”

He lost his temper.

“Jansen. I’ve been up since dawn. Most of my morning was spent trying to get the bloody datalink to bring up the matrix you created. If today is any indication, your tree cataloging project will take me two lifetimes. I bushwhacked fifteen kilometers in wet boots over rocky, uphill, vine covered terrain, I witnessed a murder, I made two flights here and back carrying a pack, was instrumental in capturing Vika, I have to write up my report to Raylan, I need to brief Lord Dorn on Scar’s death, I’ve not had a bite to eat since breakfast and I refuse to be seen limping into the dining hall in these shaffing pink slippers, so I won’t be eating for the next day or two. I think I can be excused for being obnoxious.”

Jansen shrunk back. “I’m sorry, K’ndar. I’m…”

“Jansen,” Raylan said behind them.

They both turned to see the Science Division Chief behind him. Raylan pretended he’d seen male dragonriders wearing fuzzy pink slippers every day of his life.

“He’s right. He’s put in three days of work in just one day. K’ndar, if you can walk to your quarters, I’ll have Francie bring some of her wherry and dumplings stew for dinner. Does Raventh need oiling?”

“No, I got that done yesterday. And I can walk. Marl said I have to keep walking to the minimum, though.” In these blasted slippers, he thought.

“Has Raventh eaten? How about Siskin?”

“Raventh fed yesterday, Siskin, I’m not sure. I sent him off to be with Raventh, I don’t know if he hunted or not. He’s probably tired, I kept him busy today.”

“I’ll have Francie bring some scraps for him. I don’t want to see your face anywhere but your quarters for the next two days. Marl reported the condition of your feet and his orders for you, and I concur. Tomorrow I will come to your quarters and take your report, because there’s some things I need to know that just don’t translate into the database. And by the way, you can keep the knife. For now, go home.”

Yesssss, K’ndar thought, getting to his feet. They immediately informed him that they were stiff.

“Thank you, sir. I can make it to my quarters.” Then he turned to Jansen, guilt sweeping his vindication away.

“Jansen, I’m sorry.”

The girl blushed. “No, no, it’s okay, K’ndar. Boss is right, I wasn’t thinking. I sit here all day, I don’t go out like you do. I was so excited about your retrieving the electronics, and getting Vika AND Scar. Sorry.”

He reached down to pick up his pack, his wet boots strapped to the outside.

“Can I carry that for you, K’ndar? As a peace offering?” Jansen said, contrite.

He softened. “Um…”

“I’ll bring it to your quarters, along with some berry pie. I made it earlier today.”

K’ndar grinned. “Is it seven berry? Or ten?”

Jansen laughed.