Disclaimer: Pern and its dragonriders belong to Anne McCaffrey. Original characters are mine, please do not use them without my permission.
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If it hadn't been for Mistress Snippy's sudden and frantic visual, Goran would have most likely succeeded in braining Vendra with his cudgel. As it was, it was a close thing. The carved wooden weapon whistled past Vendra's ear as he shifted sideways, just in time.
His heart beat double-time and Vendra spun around to meet his assailant, reacting on instinct when he scooped up a handful of sand that he threw in the larger man's eyes. Vendra didn't waste time wondering why one of his brother's men intended to kill him. While Goran stumbled back, rubbing furiously at his face, Vendra used the momentum of his motion to leap forward, landing a solid blow in Goran's belly.
Vendra hadn't meant for Mistress Snippy or Pest to attack the man, either, but the two fire lizards, obviously distressed by Goran's attempt at murder, flew at the man, chittering and hissing in anger. The fact that a deep gully opened up behind him had been no doing of Vendra's at all. Goran plunged backward, still lashing out wildly while he fell almost a dragon length. He landed with a sickening thump on a bed of stones next to the small river that they had been following.
The unexpectedness of the attack had Vendra's pulse thrumming in his ears and his skin felt too tight. That was too close. I'm getting sloppy.
All around him the verdant growth seethed with life of many kinds, all sound heaving together in a clamour. Sunlight flashed off Misstress Snippy's golden hide as she winged back to Vendra, her claws catching painfully on his shoulder when she landed. Pest tried to follow suit and he suddenly found himself in the midst of a raging, flapping battle for ownership.
"Gerroff me! Argh!"
The gold answered his outburst by tightening her tail around his neck and the green latched onto his left arm, hissing, while digging in her claws so that they broke skin.
"Stop that! Both of you!" Both lizards flashed images of the broken body lying in the stones with its arms splayed, their alarm at the entire sorry business still fresh.
They're feeding off my fright.
Breathing deeply, he tried to clear his mind. "It's all right girls, calm down, shhhhhhhh."
Pest chirruped a query, her eyes still whirling orange but both settled. Vendra's knees felt as if they'd cave in.
Now why would Dravven want to off him? What if sending Vendra on his own with Goran had been a ploy just to …
Vendra stopped in his tracks, undecided. Part of him wanted to rush back down the mountainside at breakneck speed to confront Dravven.
That would be stupid. If you go back alive, without Goran, then he'll know. You need some time to think, first.
As if to confirm his suspicions, Mistress Snippy hissed. What about the plunder, then? If Goran had succeeded, then only Dravven would have known where they'd stored their take from the last raid. Unless …
Very real panic settled on Vendra and he ran, up the rest of the slope. He didn't want to stop but had to, his lungs burning and chest heaving from his exertions. When the black spots receded from his vision, he pushed on again, the two fire lizards voicing their opinions loudly at his obvious distress.
From the greenery he reached an empty scar in the landscape, where a recent eruption from the volcanic cone rising above, had created a thick crust of black lava to cut away a swathe of vegetation. Small pieces crumbled beneath his boots while he pelted across, his eyes fixed on the small white cloth still attached to a dead tree.
When he reached the other side, to plunge back in among the trees, he quickly found the path that he sought.
Dravven had been away for three sevendays. He said he'd sailed to Packtail Rocks but he was lying, wasn't he? There were two men missing from the crew. How can I be so stupid?
He found the clearing easily enough, although it was more overgrown with bushes since the last time he'd been here. The small cottage's roof had caved in even more and a wall had collapsed in a scattering of roughly shaped volcanic rock. Inside, in the hearth, where the chest should have been, was an empty space.
Vendra let loose a howl, which Pest and Mistress Snippy echoed with their own versions. Then, he swore, and set about kicking at broken furniture that scattered the floor. He only stopped when Mistress Snippy sent him the visual of a loose beam up in the ceiling that moved alarmingly when he kicked the wall.
With a last growl, he stomped outside, the two lizards flying up to the rotted shingles of the roof. Another thought struck him while he sat here. He whistled for Mistress Snippy, who chirruped, then launched herself to his up-stretched arm. Her eyes whirled green tinged with yellow while she regarded him.
Closing his eyes, Vendra visualised the slim image of Morry's Friend, remembering how she bobbed in the calm waters of the unnamed bay in which she was moored.
"Go, take a look. Then come back. Show me what you see." He reinforced the command by restating the image, until little lizard gave affirmation.
The little queen chittered, tensing before she leapt to the air, disappearing between in a flash. Pest lurched to the air, intending to follow, so he called her down. She scolded him but obeyed, taking the prime perch of Vendra's shoulder now that her larger clutchmate was gone.
Vendra held his breath, counting. "One golden dragon, two golden dragons, three golden dragons … eight golden dragons …"
When he reached sixteen golden dragons, Mistress Snippy exploded into the clearing, her eyes whirling orange.
She flew around the house twice before attaching herself to his other shoulder, her eyes whirling orange and red. Vendra sent what he hoped was calming thoughts her way.
"Come now my pretty. What did you see? You can show me."
The images he saw were of an empty bay.
"The sharding fool!" Vendra roared, leaping to his feet and dislodging both fire lizards. "May the bloodfish take you and the shipfish shun you!"
Of all the fates Vendra had imagined, he'd never thought that his own kin would maroon him on a deserted isle, far off the usual shipping routes.
"No, no," you couldn't just murder me on the ship, could you? You had to make it look like an accident. How much did you pay the crew to carry your version of the story, eh? And, when Goran didn't come back at the appointed time, you knew, didn't you? And you got scared. That's why you ran, you fool. Of all the …"
Vendra swore for almost an entire candle mark while his two fire lizards watched him from the relative safety of the ruined cot's roof.
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A/N: Thank you to those of you who have read and reviewed so far. I'm writing this story to practice balancing out conflicting character goals and to create better sub-plots, as a writing exercise to help improve my original fiction. It is of utmost importance to me to know when you like or dislike something.