Chap. 358 The Artistic Assistant

Chap. 358 The Artistic Assistant

“I am not sure just how to feel,” Lizard said.

K’ndar had helped him down from Raventh’s back. Their fire lizards immediately began to swoop over the tall grass, hunting.

The trader stood, hands on hips, surveying something he’d never dreamed of owning not three days ago.

This is mine? he thought. What does that even mean?

“What do you mean?” K’ndar asked.

The trader flourished a rolled piece of embossed paper. “This. This and a witnessed verbal agreement. Funny how something as flimsy as this paper can suddenly endow me with a piece of Pern.”

He looked at the outer meadow, beginning to show signs that animals, at least, had been on it several times. Somehow it disturbed him. I don’t want anyone finding this place.

“I think I know. My mother, for instance, just loves our cothold. She tends to it like a mother hen tends her chicks. She’s planted flowers and shrubs and even talks to the big tree in the center of the courtyard by name. When Thread fell, she spent the entire fall fighting it with a flamer, keeping it from killing the tree.

When we rebuilt the pasture walls with rock, there’s a long story there, she had me find sunset flower vines and wove them into the rocks. The flutters nectar off the flowers in the spring time.

Lizard grinned. “What did she name the tree?”

K’ndar giggled. “Big tree.”

Crunch emerged from the inner meadow and moaned, happy that his master was back from so long a separation. He flopped and rolled over, begging for a belly rub. Lizard bent down to oblige. “You’re daft, dog, but I love you.”

Once again, K’ndar was impressed with the size of the dog. Especially the jaws. I am so glad he’s my friend.

“Hungry?” Lizard asked, straightening up.

“I am,” K’ndar said, wondering if he should eat what few stores Lizard might have. K’ndar felt an odd sense of dichotomy. Will he be able to cook with only one arm? Does he have enough food at ALL? But do I embarrass him by voicing my worries? He has been alone all his life. And I DO have to leave, this afternoon.

“I don’t know how to bring this up, Lizard, but I’m going to have to leave you sometime today. I have to work tomorrow.”

“I know, K’ndar. I’m grateful you’ve spent as much time as you have, helping me.”

“”I, uh, well, I’m not sure…”

“Spit it out, man,”

“Okay. Do you have enough food while you’re healing?”

“Hmmm. It’s a fact I can’t hunt. And we’re a ways from any Hold, although if I were to leave now, I’d probably get into Southern Hold’s center by tomorrow night if I pushed the team. But Batu can, and has, brought me kills at times. And the day I can’t bake a oven full of biscuits is the day I end it all.”

“I don’t want you to, um, go hungry.”

“I’ll be fine, K’ndar. It’s not the first time I’ve been one winged,” he lied. “Besides, there’s some bubbly pie leftover. Will that fill that empty hole in your middle?”

No, K’ndar thought, but I do have to leave him his pride. For once in my life I wish I was a woman, then I could fuss over him like Francie did.

“Yes, if you let me put the kettle on for klah.”

“Deal.”

They sat down in the shade of one of the trees. He looked up into the canopy, seeing birds searching for insect prey high over their heads.

“I think, someday, I’d like to do something like this, Lizard. Settle down in a lovely spot like this. Raise horses and fire lizards.”

And dragons? I wouldn’t mind mating with a gold. Raventh laughed.

“Kids?”

“Oh, shards, no. Not ever. I’d like a partner, but so many women want kids. Maybe I’ll be single all my life, like you.”

Lizard shrugged. “I’ve enjoyed it. This, though, is a new adventure, I suppose.”

“How long is the contract?”

“It’s mine for as long as I want it. Now I wonder what to do with it.”

“Was it, um, expensive?”

“No money changed hands. How do you put a price on a land? Besides, I said earlier, I’m without a mark at the moment.”

Something pinged in K’ndar’s mind.

“You know, when you asked me to put your transport on your tab, I did something stupid.”

“You?”

“Yes. You’re not skint.” He’d dropped his backpack earlier on. He opened it and took out the bolo stones. “Here. I found them, you said I could keep them, but no, I don’t need them. And, by the way, the raider’s pouch, the one we found with the minting stamps? It had a few marks in it. It’s yours, you earned it.”

He pulled out what marks he had in his pocket, hoping Lizard wouldn’t see he was lying.

Lizard looked at him with amazement, and relief. It was the first time in years he’d nothing to trade, even longer than when he’d come into money without working for it, and the portage boy needed a horse. The marks would help.

But, he thought, I’ve been in this position before, and somehow, things always work their way out.

“Um, I did say you could have the bolo stones.”

“That was before you said you were skint. Take them. Please.”

The trader nodded. Yes, they would help line his pouch. Now I really DO have to go through Southern. I think they have a market at the end of the week, I’ll be able to barter these away quickly. “Thank you.” He felt their matched smoothness. “By the stars, these are good ones.”

“Aye.”

They both felt a bit embarassed at the raw emotions. “So tell me, how did the deal with Weyrleader A’garn go?” K’ndar asked, trying to displace the feeling.

“A’garn was almost too eagerly agreeable, which surprised me until I learned he wants to expand the business at the port. He has plans for all sorts of businesses and crafthalls, especially crafters. He wants me to run a ”trading post”.

“What’s that?”

“Literally, it’s a building, which he’s going to construct, right there at the port. It’s where I can trade or barter or even sell things that people bring in from Northern. Trade goods. The weyr gets a cut of the profits. When they get here, they want all sorts of thing, mostly homesteading things like tools, oxen, etc. and they have things to sell or barter. Up til now, they’ve wanted them from the Weyr and they weyr just doesn’t have it to spare. When they depart from the port, they want to dispense with things so they don’t have to pay excess cargo fees.

At the moment, I am still free to wander, and I will. I’m not ready to set down roots just yet, despite still feeling my age and my aches, but now I have an idea of what a trading post entails. He didn’t say in so many words, but Weyrleader A’garn implied that he’d provide money for the first batch of ‘stuff’ that I need to purchase, and from then on, it’s a commission thing. I’ll be accumulating things for the post. I’m honestly amazed that Pern’s never had one. “

“But the cothold?”

“Is mine. For as long as I want it. A’garn was amazed that it even existed, despite flying over it on a routine basis. I think once he saw what it looks like-he has a data link-he got this look in his eye that said, maybe I should keep it. But it’s outside the confines of his Weyr. He’s an honest bloke, I asked first so I get it. When I’m gone, his dragonriders will keep an eye on it, to prevent other people from homesteading it. In exchange, I agreed to allow the Weyr to graze no more than thirty head of cattle on the land for their dragons. He has a young bull that is proving to be obnoxious as the alpha bull won’t share his cows. Can you imagine?” he laughed. “They won’t be allowed to hunt the wildlife. I insisted on that. He said he’ll have a well and a latrine dug for me. Did you know they’re raising whers?”

“As watch whers? Like in Holds? Nobody keeps them anymore, they don’t breed in captivity and if they’re not gelded, the males are hard to handle when they’re mature. It’s not easy, gelding a wher, I imagine, they’re like dragons, the testicles are internal. I always felt bad when I saw one chained up and kept in dark caves. Besides, fire lizards are far better sentinels and much easier to keep.”

“Not for watching. For digging.”

“Digging? Like digging dens? I have seen them digging on the prairie.”

“Aye. They’re incredible diggers. Anyway, they have a dragonrider who took an interest in whers as, well, whers, and found a large nest of them. She collected the eggs, raised them and is training them to dig. Apparently if you treat them kindly, allow them to be whers, feed them well like you’d feed any dragon, and allow them to be outside instead of chained up in a cave, they respond and they’re more intelligent than people gave them credit for.”

He stood up, his joints protesting.

“More klah?”

“Thank you.”

“I’m still sore,” he grumbled, “I could use a thermal soak or better yet, a sauna. I think?”

“I’m not certain, but I’d bet my boots the digging whers will find a thermal spring. You’ll have hot water, just like every other place on Pern that’s volcanic.”

“You know this how?”

“B’rost told me. He’s like us about horses, except with him, it’s rocks.”

“That,” Lizard said, stretching, “will make this place perfect. I could use it right now. I feel as if I’ll always be hurting. Maybe I’m old, now.”

“You’re not old, not really,” K’ndar exclaimed, worried at the unusually morose tone of the trader’s words.

“Well, I suppose if you compare me to an Oldtimer, no, I’m not. But years ago I could have taken that fight to the raider and not feel a thing.”

“Come on, Lizard, give yourself some credit. You DID dispatch him in a hurry.”

Lizard sighed. I’m so confused right now, is it due to having been conked in the head? But the longer I stay in one place, this place, the more I feel reluctant to leave.

“I did. The man had no idea how to fight with a knife. No strategy, no finesse, just jumped behind me on a horse and grabbed and stabbed. That’s a good way to get hurt.”

K’ndar giggled. “And he did. You did Pern a favor.”

“Fighting like that, then being here, it’s almost as if I’d fought a battle for this caldera. Now it’s mine. I am not sure what to feel. If I think too hard, I’ll wonder, how can I do it all by myself? Like your father did, like most cotholders do. They have families to help. I’m too old to start a family, now.”

Maybe I made a mistake, he thought.

Their fire lizards, in the front meadow with a snoozing Raventh, began sending images of an approaching horseman.

“Horseman coming,” K’ndar said.

“Aye.”

“Shall we go out to the outer meadow before the rider gets here? You don’t want him finding the passageway, do you?”

“No, but not all strangers are dangerous,” the trader said. He whistled for Crunch, who galloped up, tail awag.

K’ndar pulled his binocular out of his backpack and followed Lizard into the outer meadow.

The fire lizards had flown to the top of the truncated outcrops. The rider was still a ways away.

He focused the nocs on the rider. “See, this is one thing I like best about Landing..the toys.”

It was obviously a young man, maybe a kid. “No weapons that I can see, I don’t believe he’s a raider. Here, take a look at the rider.”

It took Lizard a few minutes of training to understand the binocular.

But that’s all he needed.

He gasped. “By the stars, it’s Kim.”

“Kim?”

“The young lad at the port. His trade name is “Hey Porter” because that’s what he’s been doing at the port, toting cargo onto the ships for people. For FREE, until I taught him that he needs to charge folks. And he loves horses, and I gave him mine, as part of the whole thing with the raiders after Vixen.”

“Just GAVE him a horse?”

Lizard looked almost annoyed. “Yes. It’s a long story, and I know a horse hungry kid when I see one.”

The boy saw them in the meadow. “Lizard! It’s me, Kim!”

Raventh awoke, transforming from an odd looking boulder into a DRAGON.

The horse shied, despite being a good long way from Raventh. The boy grabbed the horses neck and clung desperately as the horse backed further from Raventh.

“Shards, I thought I taught him to be unafraid of dragons,” Lizard said. He whistled and the horse stopped, ears pricked forward.

I will back off Raventh said. He got up and waddled til he was several dragon lengths from the horse. The horse, recognizing Lizard, walked towards them.

Lizard felt oddly welcoming. “Hello there, Kim! How do you like your horse?”

The boy pulled on the reins to get him to stop. K’ndar winced. The horse had been badly saddled, with the girth too tight and the blanket pinched up underneath the saddle. Only because he was a truly good horse had he accepted it rather than buck the boy off.

“I like him a lot. But I can tell he doesn’t like me so much.”

The boy jumped down off the horse. The bay promptly walked off.

You never jump off a horse, K’ndar thought, but kept it to himself. It was immediately obvious to him that the boy was a novice.

Lizard kissed…and the bay stopped. He motioned for the horse to come to him. Will it work, he wondered? I didn’t have him that long. But the horse obeyed. He came over to Lizard and rubbed his head against Lizard’s left arm.

“Hey, you daft beast, that’s my sore arm,” Lizard said. “K’ndar, would you…”

Without needing explanation, K’ndar unbuckled the girth. The horse sighed in relief. I can’t stand this, he thought., it’s as if I’m being pinched by a bad fitting cloth. He removed the girth completely, then pulled the saddle and pad off the horse’s back. The skin had wrinkled up from the heat of the pinched cloth. The horse shook his whole body, grateful for being unsaddled.

“And why do you say that he doesn’t like you?” K’ndar asked, knowing full well why.

“Because I rode him yesterday and today he didn’t want to be saddled. He ran off from me, like he just did now, but couldn’t go far because I had him hobbled. He puts his ears back.” He looked at Lizard with confusion in his eyes.

“You’re still new to him,” Lizard began, wondering how to gently tell the boy his slipshod saddling had hurt the horse. I made a mistake, I thought he had more experience, he thought. This is my fault. But I WAS busy.

“And, I have to say, Kim, he was poorly tacked up. When you leave a fold in the saddle cloth under the saddle, it hurts them. He’s a really good horse, lad, to allow you to ride with the girth over tight and the saddle pad pinching him.” K’ndar said.

The boy looked forlorn. “I am sorry. I never saddled a horse before. And I don’t know how to do that.”

Gently, K’ndar said, “Have you ever been taught to ride?”

Kim shook his head. “No. I’m…” he looked at Lizard, hoping the trader would let him know it was safe to reveal his story.

Lizard smiled. “K’ndar is an old friend of mine, Kim. He is a dragonrider, a good man, and a horseman.”

“I was riding before I could walk, Kim,” K’ndar said. He could see the reluctance in the boy’s face to admit to not being a rider.

Kim heaved a sigh. “I never had a horse all to myself, until yesterday, when Lizard gave me Fadjur. I’ve wanted a horse forever. But now I’m not so sure if I can ever be a rider. I don’t want to hurt him, but I know I am.”

The boy moved to the bay to pet him. The horse moved away, still resenting the poor saddling and heavy hands on the bit.

It clearly hurt the boy’s feelings.

“So you came here, why?” Lizard asked, something tingling in his mind.

“Two things. Remember you gave me a notebook and colored pencils?”

Lizard smiled. “I do. And K’ndar was the one who gave them to me, telling me he wanted me to give them to someone deserving. Like you.”

Kim looked at K’ndar. “Thank you. Can you draw?”

“I can.”

“Me too. I can only draw horses, though. See?”

He pulled a notebook from his backpack and pulled out a sheet of paper.

“Wow,” K’ndar said, “it’s almost alive!”

“This is the grey mare the girl at the port rode, my word, Kim, you have a ton of talent,” Lizard said, truly amazed.

“Thank you. It’s for you.”

He handed it to Lizard.

“I will pin it to the inside wall of my caravan. Thank you. Now, you said you had two reasons to find me?”

The boy looked at the bay, then at the two men.

“See how Fadjur moved away from me? But he came to you with just a noise.”

“I would like to learn to ride. I would like you to teach me, please. I want Fadjur to be my friend. I know he was not happy with me and I want to make him happy to see me. Only problem is I don’t have any money to pay. Well, I do, I have a mark from a customer at the port.” He looked at Lizard with a mix of humor and dismay.

“I see,” Lizard said, trying to be diplomatic to the lad, “You can’t learn in one or two lessons, lad. It takes, well, sometimes months to learn to ride correctly. Fortunately, the younger one is, the easier it is to learn. You shouldn’t have any problems.”

Kim looked at his boots, his stomach churning with his emotions.

“I was afraid of that. I know you move around a lot.”

“I do move a lot, that’s true. I may leave tomorrow.”

Hmm, K’ndar thought, really? I don’t see your shoulder being workable just yet.

“That’s what I mean. I was so happy to see you’re still here.”

They saw the boy master his feelings. He straightened up and looked at them both.

“If I can’t learn to ride in a day or two, I think…um, thank you very much but I think I should give Fadjur back to you. I don’t want to hurt him and I don’t want him to hate me.”

Thunderstruck, both men gawped at him. This was the absolute last thing either one would have considered.

“That’s…uh, that’s.. uh,” Lizard said, stuck. He might be a kid in age but that took the integrity of a grown man, he thought, his heart tearing.

“It’s okay,” Kim said, with a glint of tears in his eyes, “It was very good of you to give him to me, but if I can’t do right by him, it’s not fair to the horse.”

K’ndar gulped to keep his voice steady. He might not know how to ride, but he knows how to be good to animals. “That sort of thinking is exactly what makes a good horseman, Kim. Don’t you have family?”

Immediately he realized that wasn’t the best of questions.

Kim shook his head, so used to being an orphan the question no longer meant anything.

“No. My parents are dead. We were Holdless,” he blushed.

Stuck my boot in it, didn’t I, K’ndar thought. “There’s nothing wrong with being holdless, but being an orphan, that must be tough,” K’ndar said.

“I was just six or so. They were killed in a cave in from an earthquake. I was outside the cavern when it hit, so all I did was fall down. The other Holdless people, they let me stay with them, because I was a hard worker and they’d lost family, too. But then they told me when I reached ten I had to leave. So I’ve been on my own since then.”

“You’ve done well for so young a man, Kim. Everyone at the port respects you, and you probably could have found something to do at the Weyr.”

“I didn’t even try. Other times when I’ve found a cothold or a Hold, I get run off. I’ve never been this close to a dragon.”

“Would you like to meet mine?”

The boy thought for a moment. “Yes, I think I would.”

The horse began to graze. K’ndar and Lizard led the way to Raventh.

“The fire lizards! They’re sleeping on him!”

The men chuckled. “They are just small dragons, Kim.”

He was astonished at how big Raventh was.

“He’s enormous,” he said, a bit frightened, “They don’t look this big when they’re in the air.”

K’ndar chuckled. “He’s smaller than most browns, Kim. You should see his clutch mate, Kenth. That bronze is twice his size.”

“What’s his name?”

“Raventh.” He looked at his wonderful dragon. “Raventh, this is Kim. Kim, this is Raventh.”

Raventh lowered his head to eye level with the boy. The dragon’s eyes rolled a bright blue.

“I dunno, he’s still big, to me.”

“He likes chin scratches,” K’ndar said.

“I can touch him? He won’t mind?”

“Of course not. He’s friendly and kind.”

Kim reached tentatively. “Go ahead, you’re not going to hurt him,” K’ndar encouraged.

The boy touched the jaw bone. “Oh, he’s warm! And smooth!”

Scratch. Tell him to scratch.

“He says, “scratch”.

The boy began gently, then gained confidence.

Yes. Harder. He’s tickling me.

“He says scratch a littler harder, you’re tickling him right now.”

“He talks to you?”

This is scary, K’ndar thought, I thought every human on Pern knew about dragons being warm and communicative. What have we lost with Thread gone?

“He does. He’s in my mind, when you impress a dragon, he moves into your mind. It’s like having the best friend on Pern in your heart. You’re never alone.”

It’s been a long time since we’ve Searched, but this boy is telepathic. He could impress a dragon.

“Huh,” K’ndar said, looking at the lad as he scratched.

“What?”

“Raventh said you could be a dragonrider.”

“Me?”

“Yes. They don’t make mistakes. He says you have what I have-the ability to communicate by telepathy. Some people have it, some don’t.”

Lizard kept his opinion to himself. I was said to have that same thing in my mind but I never Impressed. I won’t tell him, though. No need to scare the possibility out of a boy.

“I can be both?”

“Both what?”

“Both a horseman and a dragonrider?”

“I am. I am both, always will be. In fact I’m many things: a biologist at Landing, an artist when I have time, a scientist who loves to read. You can be whatever and however many things you want to be. The only reason I don’t have a horse at the moment is because I’m busy being a full time dragonrider,” K’ndar said.

“I guess that’s true. But I have to be a porter, or whatever I can find,” Kim said. “Most of the time, I have to find something to eat and a place to clean up.”

The same thought blossomed in both men’s mind. K’ndar looked at Lizard and saw he was thinking the same thing.

“You know, Kim, it takes a long time to learn to ride like me and Lizard,” K’ndar said. “But I can tell you, there is probably no one better on Pern to teach you than the horsemaster Lizard.”

Lizard looked at him with one quizzically raised eyebrow, then grinned.

“I didn’t know that,” Kim said, with a new respect for the trader.

“Look, Kim,” Lizard said, wondering if it would work, “After the raiders left the port? They attacked me. I was stabbed and hit with a bolo. So I’m pretty stove up right now and K’ndar works at Landing. He’s been helping me, as my left arm is pretty bad right now. Until I heal up, I’m not going to be able to do things I usually do, like cook or clean up after my animals.”

Kim looked puzzled. “I can cook, I’ve been doing it for years. And I can clean up all sorts of things.”

“He’s right, Kim. I feel pretty bad about leaving him right now. He needs help with his team, and getting water from a stream, that sort of thing.”

“I can do that!” Kim said, brightening, hope kindling in his heart. “I’d be glad to help, Lizard, just tell me what you need to have done.”

Crunch came up to the boy and sniffed his legs. All three looked at the dog for his assessment.

His wagging tail settled it.

“Who is this?” Kim asked, wondering if it was truly a dog or a shaggy pony.

“It’s Crunch, my dog. He likes you.”

“I hope so. He’s big.”

“Dogs are like horses, they can tell a good man from a bad ‘un, right away.”

Kim ran his hands over the dog’s head. Crunch pushed it, wanting scritches.

“He’s nice.”

Lizard looked down at the lad. “You’re a businessman, Kim, like me. So, well, perhaps I should ask you about your position at the port as a Porter.”

“Position? It’s not official, like the Port Authority man. It’s just, well, the folks feed me and Harbormaster lets me sleep in the cable shed. It’s ‘cuz I earn my keep. I’ve been doing that for a couple months now. Before that I worked at a cothold shoveling dung for a man with sheep. When you sleep with sheep, you’re nice and warm but they move around all night.”

The two men laughed.

“So you’re free to move on?”

“Aye, sir.”

Lizard looked skyward. Maybe this will work.

K’ndar felt hopeful. This is exactly what Lizard needs. No, maybe it’s exactly what they BOTH need. Help.

“Tell you what, Kim. Right now, I need help doing hard work here. You need a better place to sleep than in a stinky orlop. You need some weight on your bones. AND you need to learn to ride YOUR horse, because I’m not going to take him back. You’re stuck with him. So, why don’t you, um, come with me? I have to warn you, right now I don’t have any money, so I can’t pay you. But I can provide room and board, like any apprentice. I’ll teach you to ride, and you can be my, um, assistant in my trading business. It’s up to you, there’s not a bit of pressure. Do you want to think it over?”

Kim’s eyes shone. Yes, this is why I came, I didn’t even know it. Something told me to find him and stay with him. I couldn’t even admit it because if I did I’d die if he said no.

“Um…” I can’t believe it, is he actually offering me a home?

“There’s no pressure, lad. Give it a few weeks, if you get tired of it or decide it’s not what you want, by then you’ll at least be able to ride your horse, and I’ll be healed up, and we’ll call it even. What do you say?”

“I..uh,” he squeaked, his throat too tight to answer, but he forced the words out. “I think I thought it over before I even came here. Yes.”

“Then let’s call it done.” Lizard stuck out his fist. No pinky finger extended.

He’s treating me like a grownup, Kim thought, his heart pounding. After a moment, he made a fist and bumped Lizard’s, like grownups did, instead of pinky swearing like a kid.

“Well, then, first lesson, I suppose, is to teach you how to groom a horse,” Lizard said, “Then I’ll show you my cothold.”

(author’s note: The artwork is by TDavis. She has granted me permission to publish it. All rights are reserved.

I have no idea why wordpress insists on making it dark gray. For that matter, Firefox is interfering with it, as well.

If would like to see this sample of her amazing talent, currrently the only way to do so is by accessing the wordpress website, URL dragonnomads.wordpress.com

Please remember, there are two n’s in the name. There is a website with the same title save that on wordpress, there’s only one n.