The Felines of Pern Chapter 4
"Are you ready, Golanth?"
I cannot think of anything else I can do to prepare for this expedition, so I suppose I am ready.
"Then I guess we're both ready." F'lessan tried to hide his nervousness. They were actually going into the forest in search of killer felines, in the hopes that he could talk to them. He knew he couldn't fool Golanth for a moment, but maybe he could fool Tai for a few minutes.
To his surprise, Tai joined them wearing her flying leathers. "Today isn't a Threadfall day. Where are you off to?" he asked her.
"I'm going to be flying top cover for you, of course," she answered.
He frowned. "We never discussed that part of the plan."
"It's not open for discussion," she retorted. "There is absolutely no way I'm letting you two go into that forest, looking for trouble, without some kind of backup. Wherever you go, I go. Don't bother arguing with me, because you'll lose."
"What if the felines see you and you scare them away?" he asked.
"If that happens," she replied, "then I've succeeded in my mission to keep you safe. That's my priority."
"But that will undermine my priority, which is to make contact with those felines!" he exclaimed.
She rested both hands on his shoulders. "F'lessan, my wonderful but not-so-bright man, you've got a choice. You can work with me on this and let me fly high cover, and run the risk that I'll scare some felines away. Or you can fight me on this, in which case I'll fly low cover and tell Zaranth to roar every five minutes, and we'll scare all of those felines away. You can't stop Zaranth and me from flying. You can't make us stay away from you. All you can do is make things harder for yourself."
F'lessan stiffened. "Have you ever seen what happens when a bronze dragon tells a green dragon what to do?"
"Yes," Tai said, her eyes flashing. "The green rider slaps the bronze rider silly and tells him to knock it off."
"Tai, I've never seen you like this before!"
"That's because you've never done something so appallingly stupid before," she answered. "My plan is to stay with you for all of my days, and your plan has a very good chance of ruining my plan. So we're not going to use your plan; we're going to work out our plan instead." She embraced him. "F'lessan, I know why you're doing this, and I know why it's important to you, even though I don't like it. When you took me as your weyrmate, you promised that you'd share your life with me. Please don't cut me out of your life when you might need me the most."
F'lessan had no rebuttal to that final plea. He returned her embrace. "We'll try it your way," he agreed. "If it doesn't work, then we'll negotiate some more."
"Deal," she whispered.
A few minutes later, the two dragons were on their way. Golanth was on foot, going slowly because he had to find his own path around every tree, rock, and swampy spot in the forest. F'lessan rode him, fully strapped in but otherwise dressed for the Southern forest heat, offering suggestions on which way to go, and ducking his head to dodge low-hanging branches. High overhead, Tai and Zaranth flew in lazy circles so they didn't outstrip the slower-moving dragon on the ground. They watched carefully for any signs of the felines, but saw nothing.
Around noontime, Golanth passed the word to Zaranth. F'lessan says we are going to stop for lunch. Will you join us?
"Tell him no," Tai replied. "The last time two dragons were on the ground together, that's when the felines attacked. I'll stay on guard duty and munch something up here." She had brought a meatroll and some hot klah in one of the new "thermos bottles" that the Glasscraft was making. Eating on a dragon while in the air took practice; she had to keep one hand free in case Zaranth hit a thermal and she needed to steady herself. She trusted her dragon to maintain the lookout for felines while she ate.
On the ground below, F'lessan enjoyed a similar meal as he leaned back against his dragon. Golanth had eaten the day before, so he felt no hunger.
It still puzzles me why humans need to eat so much more often than dragons do, when your stomachs are so much smaller than ours.
"That's one of those mysteries that we'll probably never solve," F'lessan said lightly. He took another bite of his meatroll… and was jolted to full alertness. Zaranth says she sees something moving!
Bad leg or no bad leg, F'lessan moved with admirable speed. He had talked about this with Golanth earlier, and had argued that Golanth could fight better if his human rider wasn't encumbering him.
But I can protect you better if you are riding me, the bronze had answered, and that argument had carried the day. F'lessan scrambled up his dragon's flank and strapped himself in, while Golanth whipped his head back and forth, looking for danger.
Never mind, came Zaranth's voice. It is just a young wherry, learning to fly. Everyone relaxed again.
"I'm already strapped in," F'lessan decided, "so we might as well be on our way. I'll finish my lunch while we're walking."
They went onward for another two hours, seeing nothing that looked like a feline, friendly, hostile or otherwise. Tai reminded them that it was time they turned back, or else they would finish their return trip in the dark.
Can I retrace my steps? Golanth asked hopefully. This kind of trailblazing was tiring to him.
"If we go back the way we came, we're guaranteed to see nothing that we haven't already seen," F'lessan replied. "Let's find a different way home. There's a small chance we'll see something different."
They had been traveling for half an hour when Golanth stopped suddenly. I heard something.
"Ask Zaranth if she sees anything!"
She sees nothing. I heard the sound again.
"Can you talk to it in your mind?"
I will try. There was a short pause. It is an intelligent mind, but not human and not dragon. She says, "Go away from here, Modoc, while you still live."
"Modoc? Is that their name for me?"
She says it stands for what you are – Man On Dragon, Oblivious to Cats. She speaks her own language of growls, snarls, and other sounds, but I can understand her thoughts and project my thoughts to her.
"Tell her my name, and ask what her name is."
She says her name is Danger, and your name is still Modoc. She says that we must leave her hunting grounds.
"Tell her we want to talk to her about her hunting grounds. We want to know why they attacked us."
Zaranth says she can see a feline standing on a tree branch, about twenty feet away from us. I am sure that is the source of the mind that is talking to me. Danger says that anything that enters their hunting grounds deserves to be attacked.
"Even if they are intelligent creatures like you or me?"
She says, if you are intelligent, then you will leave and not come back. Zaranth sees no other felines, but she only saw this one when it moved. They are almost impossible to see when they lie still.
"Tell Danger that we want to learn more about their kind, so we can get along without fighting." He looked around, desperately trying to see the creature that was threatening him.
In reply, part of the forest launched itself at him. At least, that was the impression F'lessan got in the sudden rush of motion. The feline was too fast for him to dodge or do anything. But a moment later, its pounce reversed itself. The feline was flung away by an invisible force and landed forty feet away, rolling over twice before it stopped. It scrambled to its feet and glared at them.
I promised that I would protect you.
F'lessan let out the breath he was holding. "You did a good job of it, too, Golanth. Thank you. Tell Zaranth what just happened." He took his first good look at his adversary. The feline was slightly smaller than a newly-hatched dragon, tan with many small black spots, slender and taut in build. It made a growling sound at them; Golanth answered with a full brassy roar that made the feline squint its eyes and fold its ears back. But she didn't back away.
"For a killer, she's a beautiful creature."
She says, "So I've been told, flatterer."
"That comment was for you, Golanth, not her! Ask Zaranth if there are any other felines in the neighborhood."
She still does not see any. She is flying low now, and she is going to call for help.
"Don't call yet! The feline is just looking at us. There's no danger."
Tai says, "It just tried to kill you! Don't tell me there's no danger." The feline says, "Why are you still here? Your life becomes shorter with each moment that you remain in our territory."
"Okay, maybe there's a little danger. Tell Tai that you have it all under control. Then tell the feline that we just want to talk to her."
Tai does not believe me. The feline says that she does not talk to her food.
F'lessan was getting frustrated. "We are not food! We're intelligent beings, just like her. Can't she see that?" The great cat answered with a snarl.
I cannot translate her answer. It may have been a call to others of her kind. Now Zaranth says she thinks there are two more felines making their way toward you. They will be here in about five minutes.
"Okay, we're losing control of this situation. Golanth, tell the feline that we're leaving now, but we'll be back, and we still want talk to her. Then back away; don't turn your back on her."
Danger says, "Do not come back."
"Tell her we'll be back as often as it takes, until they're willing to talk to us." Golanth slowly backed away, having to turn his head frequently to watch where he was going. The feline made no move, but stood there like a statue until they could no longer see her through the forest growth.
Tai says we need to get ourselves home as quickly as possible. If we move too slowly, she will call other dragons to carry us.
"For once, I agree with her! Go as fast as you can, Golanth. We need to get home, talk about this, and let others know about it. We've made contact with another intelligent race!" The huge dragon was soon crashing through the forest.
Their intelligence seems to go no deeper than 'go away.'
"That's because they never talked to us before, so they don't know what to say. If they're curious, like I think they are, then the more we visit them, the more they'll want to know why we're doing it, and they'll eventually talk to us."
You hope! Zaranth chimed in.
"Yes, I do hope," F'lessan answered. "I'm actually surprised that we made contact with them the first time we tried. It would have been nice if we had worked out a peace treaty before the sun went down, but that wasn't realistic. At least we traded a few words with them, and they know we want to talk. I think we've made a good beginning, and that gives me hope that we'll succeed soon."
The felines would define 'success' as eating you for dinner.
"Zaranth, we now know that they're intelligent, and that means that they can be reasoned with! They're going to have to adjust the way they think about us, just like some of us are adjusting our way of thinking about them, and that's going to take time. Today was a beginning, not a failure."
Tai wants to know how much time you think these changes will take.
"Ask her if she's in a hurry."
She is in a hurry for us to return to our weyr, so we will be safe.
o
Word of F'lessan's adventure spread quickly, passed from dragon to dragon until it reached Benden Weyr. Lessa's first reaction was to turn to her weyrmate and exclaim, "Has he lost his mind?"
"I won't rule that out," F'lar replied, "but I'm intrigued by his report. It's like rediscovering the doll-fins; he's found an entire intelligent race on Pern that we've never even tried to talk to!"
"It doesn't sound like they have much to say," Lessa countered. "We know they're savage and dangerous. F'lessan is assuming that we can reason with them, but we don't know that."
"So he's trying to find out," F'lar replied. "I don't want to see my son turned into cat food any more than you do, but I can't fault him for wanting to make a difference. What can we do to improve the odds for his safety, without looking like we're trying to rein him in?"
"There's safety in numbers," Lessa decided. "He shouldn't go out there with just one crippled dragon and one green flying top cover. I'd feel a lot better if he had half a wing of dragons with him on the ground, and the other half of the wing in the air above him."
F'lar shook his head. "I can just imagine how much noise half a wing of dragons would make as they walked through the forest. They'd scare off every living thing for miles around! F'lessan would never make contact with the felines again under those conditions. But I think you've got the right idea. A whole wing is too much, but F'lessan could benefit from having a few more dragons on his expedition. He needs someone who's sober-minded, has the time to work with him, and has a big, intimidating dragon."
"Someone like T'gellan?" Lessa asked.
"My thoughts exactly," F'lar smiled. "He's staying at Honshu Weyrhold until Monaco Bay is ready for people and dragons again. If he and Mirrim are willing to join F'lessan's expedition, I think that will give them a solid margin of safety."
"He'd be safer if he stayed in his Weyr and focused on his astronomy," Lessa fussed. "Pern needs that more than it needs a diplomatic mission to a pack of flesh-eating felines."
F'lar snorted. "Is this the woman who insisted that 'queen dragons can fly' when everyone around her told her they couldn't? Is this the woman who went back four hundred Turns in time, based on nothing but an old song and an image in a tapestry? I never thought I'd hear you use the word 'safe' as a good thing! Please tell me you're not getting so old that you've lost your sense of adventure."
"I'm not afraid of adventure," she snapped back, "but I'm very much afraid of what those cats did to our son! They would have done a lot worse if Tai hadn't sent out that call for help, and I'm very much against giving them another chance to eat F'lessan. How do you feel about that?"
"How do I feel about our son getting eaten? I'm against it."
She swatted him on the arm. "That's not what I mean, and you know it!"
F'lar couldn't help smiling. "Okay, how do I feel about our son trying to make contact with a hostile intelligent race? Yes, there are risks involved. But, Lessa, he's a dragonrider! We take a risk every time we rise to fight Thread. We raised him that way, and he accepted that kind of risk as his way of life. Now he's grounded with an injured dragon, but he's still got that risk-taking trait that isn't going to just go away. Looking at stars through a telescope is going to get boring to someone who's spent his entire life taking chances for the sake of others. He has an innate need to do things that get his blood pumping. You'll have no more luck grounding him than I had, trying to ground you!"
Lessa started to answer, stopped, then slowly nodded. "I'll concede that we probably can't stop him. But I'm going to insist that he take reasonable precautions to protect himself. Two more dragons is good, but I don't think it's enough if those felines make another mass attack."
"Okay," F'lar nodded slowly. "Let's think about this. He's trying to make contact with an intelligent race of creatures. That could have implications for all of Pern, or at least all of Southern. We need to do this right; we need to follow the social rules as well as look out for our son's safety. F'lessan represents the Weyrs, and Tai was in the Starcraft before she Impressed Zaranth. We ought to have someone there to represent the Holds, just in case some Lord Holder gets offended because F'lessan excluded the Holders when he made this discovery."
"Who were you thinking of? Someone like Lord Toric, who would like to be Master of all the Southern Continent?" Lessa scoffed.
"No," F'lar answered. "I had in mind someone more reasonable and flexible in his thinking."
o
Brand opened the door and walked into the stable, carrying a paper note. "Lord Jaxom? I just received this message from F'nor's fire lizard, Grall. The Weyrleader and Weyrwoman of Benden want to know if you and Lady Sharra have some spare time for an unusual project."