The Felines of Pern Chapter 6

"Welcome to Southern, Lord Jaxom," F'lessan called happily. "Or maybe I should say, 'Welcome back to Southern.' This certainly isn't the first time you've been here."

"It's the first time I've been to Honshu, though," Jaxom called back. He slid down Ruth's shoulder and ran to greet his old friend. He looked F'lessan up and down. "I'm glad to see you on your feet. Those felines really did a job on you!"

F'lessan shook his head. "I guess I'm not a 'cat person.' The Healers all say I'm healing better than they expected, and I won't need the crutches in a few more weeks." He gestured toward Honshu. "Welcome to my home! I'd offer to show you around, but walking is still a pain. Maybe I can get Tai to give you the tour. Where's Lady Sharra?"

"We're putting the crops in the ground back in Ruatha," Jaxom explained, "and we can't both be away at the same time. Somebody has to make decisions about who gets how much seed, and how to apportion the farm laborers, and all that other boring stuff that has to be done correctly in the spring if we want to eat in the winter."

"It's great that you can trust her to make those decisions for you," F'lessan observed.

Jaxom smiled. "To be honest, she'd be as good a Lord Holder as she is a Lady Holder. Of course, the other Lord Holders would die of shock at that idea, so I'm not about to bring it up in Conclave. Still, it's a comfort to know that Sharra and I think alike when it comes to Hold management. It frees me up for adventures like this one."

The sun feels good here, Ruth cut in. I am going to find a place on the heights. Without waiting for a reply, he took wing and perched on a tall spire on the top of the Honshu cliffs.

"Well, take off your jacket and rest, adventurer," F'lessan went on. Technically, they were equal in rank – he was a Weyrleader and Jaxom was a Lord Holder – but their boyhood friendship would have led them to treat each other casually even if their ranks had worked out differently. "It's going to be a while before we launch another feline expedition, and you must be tired. The sun comes up here before it rises in Ruatha, so you had to get up early today, right?"

Jaxom snorted. "As if a Lord Holder ever gets to sleep late during the planting season! Never mind dealing with a wife, two boys, and a dragon! I know you Southerners think life is all slow-motion fun and games, but –"

"Hold on, Holder!" F'lessan burst out. "Have you forgotten where I was born and raised?"

"I can see that you've got a tan," Jaxom replied, "and that's something you never got from Benden."

"I didn't get this from Benden, either," F'lessan grimaced as he pointed to his injured leg. "Fun and games? Don't say that when Tai is around, or she'll tell you exactly what she thinks of our 'fun and games.'"

Jaxom nodded. "I don't envy you there. How do you feel?"

F'lessan shrugged. "It hurts. The Healers say they're pleased at my progress, but it's way too slow for me. They're trying some kind of powder that's supposed to protect the injuries and help them heal. All I care about is that it doesn't sting like some of their other treatments. They're using it on Golanth, too, and he says he doesn't mind it. His injuries worry me more than my injuries do."

"Of course!" Jaxom replied. "You're a dragonrider! That's how we think. That time when Ruth and I got Threadscored, I worried a lot more about him than I did about me. Let's go inside so you can get off your feet." They made their way inside. F'lessan called for some drinks, and a servant brought them two mugs of cool fruit juice. They spent a few minutes chatting about their lives, their homes, and their partners.

Finally, Jaxom brought the discussion around to what he considered the important part. "So when are we going to try to find some felines?"

"I'm ready anytime," F'lessan replied, "but Benden wants me to wait for T'gellan and Mirrim. Those two are busy with the drugged-herdbeast project and they can't commit a whole day to searching for cats who may not want us to find them. It might be a while before we can get organized and start searching."

"Is it necessary to wait for Benden?" Jaxom asked with a sly expression. "I mean, this expedition doesn't have anything to do with Benden, does it?"

"My life will be a lot simpler if I don't set my mother on the warpath," F'lessan sighed. "She knows I'm a grown man, but she still worries about me."

Jaxom nodded. He, too, was a grown man who had proven himself to be mature and capable, but Deelan still made a fuss over him every chance she got. "I guess mothers are like that," he said. Then he grinned wickedly. "But your mother can't fuss over something if she doesn't know about it, right? If we just take off into the forest, who's going to tell her?"

"Who's 'we?'" F'lessan asked guardedly.

"You and me, just like old times," Jaxom smiled. "And our dragons, of course. It'll be like that time you took me into the Old Caves in Benden Weyr so we could sneak a look at Ramoth's clutch."

"I admit I'm tempted. But that trip didn't end very well, if you recall," F'lessan replied.

"Yes, it did! We found that room full of stuff that F'lar and Fandarel couldn't get enough of. And I got to handle Ruth's egg, and you can't tell me that had nothing to do with me Impressing him later. I'd say it turned out very well indeed." He paused. "You're not scared, are you?"

His friend stared at him for a second. "When a feline takes a chunk out of your leg, and injures your dragon so he'll never fly again, then you can talk to me about being scared. I'd like nothing better than to find some felines, sit down and talk to them, find out why they attacked me, and come up with a good reason for them to never do it again. But I'm not going to take a suicide leap into the forest! I tried that a couple of days ago, and just when I thought I was making some headway with the feline I was talking to, she sprang at me! If Golanth hadn't been alert, you and I wouldn't be having this conversation.

"This has nothing to do with Lessa, or with F'lar, or with Tai. It's… I don't know, maybe it's just plain old common sense, the kind that my mother wishes I had when I was younger. I want to do this, but I want to find a smart way to do it, so Golanth and I don't get carved up like last time. Just you, me, a small dragon, and a dragon who can't fly… that might not be enough if the cats gang up on us again."

"What if Tai came with us?" Jaxom pressed him.

"She plays by the rules, most of the time anyway. She knows that T'gellan and Mirrim are supposed to be part of our next expedition, and if we try to go without them, then she'll blow the whistle on us. She might make a fuss anyway, because she was counting on your wife to be here too. I think it makes her feel better, knowing that a Southern-trained Healer is around if something goes wrong."

Jaxom shrugged. "If your partner isn't happy, then nobody's happy. Okay, I'll just have to be patient. I was hoping we could get started right away. I can't stay down here for months on end; I've got a Hold to run, and two energetic boys who need their father."

"You won't have to wait long, I promise," F'lessan nodded. "No one wants to see results from this project more than I do. And by 'results,' I mean peace between us and the cats, not cats with full bellies."

It took two more days before T'gellan and Mirrim were temporarily freed from drugged-herdbeast duty. Jaxom grew increasingly restless. At the end of the second day, he and Ruth flew home to spend the night in their own home, and to make sure everything was under control in Ruatha. The next day, he brought Sharra with him when he returned to Honshu.

"Lady Sharra!" F'lessan exclaimed with an exaggerated bow. "I am honored to welcome you to my humble home."

"You didn't bow like that for me," Jaxom muttered.

"Aw, you're just an ordinary guy who got lucky," F'lessan teased him. "She's a lady!"

"If the truth be told," Sharra said to him, "I think I'm the one who got lucky. My brother wanted to marry me off to some Southern dirt farmer. Instead, I got one of the most honored Holds in Pern, the title of 'Lady Holder,' free rides on a white dragon, and this wonderful man!" Jaxom smiled and put his arm around her shoulders.

"Anyway," she continued, "I'm glad to be here. Some of those Holders have no brains in their heads, and I'm weary of doing their thinking for them! Brand can handle them for a day, even if all he does is tell them, 'Wait for the Lord and Lady to return.' Then Jaxom can deal with them!" She eyed F'lessan's leg appraisingly. "How are you healing?"

F'lessan gave her a quick rundown of his condition. He did his best not to arouse her professional curiosity, either by saying too much or too little.

"I've heard about that medicated powder," she nodded. "We've used it on a couple of our runnerbeasts that needed it, and it's worked well. It also worked well on Shawan when he fell and skinned his knee last week. I've taken to carrying a small tube of it in my shoulder bag, just in case."

"Once a Healer, always a Healer," F'lessan shrugged. "Well, you don't need to worry about healing me. I've got half a dozen Healers fussing over me from Fort, Benden, Honshu, Landing, and there might be one from the Red Star, but I'm not sure." Jaxom snorted at that, and F'lessan went on, "Anyway, I think today is the day. T'gellan and Mirrim are free to go with us, Tai is ready, and I'm feeling good."

"All we need," Mirrim added as she joined them, "are some felines."

"How are you feeling about this expedition?" Jaxom asked her.

"To be honest, I'm looking forward to it," she answered. "I've always loved talking to people. Then I Impressed Path, and I realized that I love talking to her, too. Then the dolphins warned me that I was going to have a baby, and now I'm willing to talk to the dolphins as well. F'lessan's entire goal is to talk to these felines, and I'm wondering if, maybe, I can talk them too."

"Women and talking," Jaxom nodded with a barely-concealed grin. "They go together like dragons and riders." Sharra swatted him on the arm – not hard, just enough to register a protest.

"Hit him again for me," Mirrim scowled.

"Once is enough," Sharra said decisively. Tai joined them at that moment, closely followed by T'gellan, and the conversation changed to their plans for the day.

"Can I assume that Golanth will walk, and the rest of us will fly?" T'gellan asked.

"I'd feel better if at least one of us was on the ground with him," Tai answered. "If the felines get nasty, I want somebody right next to him who can help repel them. It might take a minute for a big dragon to find a way to land through those trees, and a minute could be too long."

"I'll stay on the ground," Jaxom volunteered. "Ruth has an easy gait; it won't bother me to ride him that way."

"How good is Ruth's telekinesis?" Tai asked.

"He's not powerful, but he's extremely accurate," the Lord Holder answered. "He doesn't just bounce away the rocks I lob at him; he can drop them into a bucket from any direction."

"That might be useful if they add rock-bucketing to the events in the Spring Games," T'gellan replied, "but can he deflect a feline in mid-pounce?"

"Or two felines, or three?" Tai added.

"I honestly don't know," Jaxom admitted. "I hope we don't have to find out."

"Not good enough," Tai decided. "I want at least one more dragon on the ground with F'lessan."

"It can't be Monarth," T'gellan decided. "One big bronze finding a path through the forest is noisy enough. Two of them –"

"A bronze finding a Path!" F'lessan giggled. "I see what you did there!" Sharra, Tai, and Mirrim all swatted him on the arm, one after the other.

"Anyway," T'gellan scowled, "two bronzes will scare away every beast on Southern. It has to be one of the greens. And since you're the one who's so adamant about it, Tai, then it makes sense for you to accompany your partner on the ground."

"Not only that," Jaxom added, "but I think Zaranth has had a lot more practice with her telekinesis than Path has. She'll be a better protector if things turn bad."

"Path is perfectly good at telekinesis!" Mirrim protested.

"I'm sure she is," Sharra replied smoothly, "but if we get into a feline brawl, 'good' won't be good enough. F'lessan and Golanth need the best protection Pern can offer them, and I think your weyrmate is right – Zaranth is the best choice for this particular job."

Mirrim apparently had a lot more to say, but T'gellan cleared his throat and shook his head. She sullenly bit off whatever was on her mind, and checked Path's riding straps for the fourth time instead.

"Okay, then we've got five dragons, two up and three down," F'lessan said cheerfully. "Let's get some lunch rations and some water skins, and we'll be on our way!" About fifteen minutes later, the miniature wing of two bronzes, two greens and one white dragon set off through (or above) the thick forests of the Southern continent, looking for the cats who had tried to kill F'lessan twice.

o

I heard them coming from a long distance away; it sounded like there was more than one this time. I stopped where I was and made the agreed-upon call. In minutes, Oclo, San, and Kur were beside me.

"What is your plan?" San wanted to know.

"They speak into my head, so they don't have to see me with their eyes or hear me with their ears," I said. "I will remain concealed in the undergrowth and call out to them. If they stop to talk, I'll ask as many questions as I can think of, and not give them a chance to ask any questions of me. My goal is to learn about them, not to teach them anything about us."

"I approve your plan," Oclo said. It was a formality, but it was good to know that he was on my side.

"I think even Woo would approve," Kur nodded.

"We will stay hidden, right here," the Ted went on. "At the first sign of trouble, we'll attack. Rit, you will use that distraction to get out of danger, and we will follow." I agreed and walked slowly toward the sound of the oncoming dragons.

There were three of them this time. Was this because they feared another attack from our band? After a few more minutes, I could see them. There was the big injured one, there was the smaller green one, and there was a new one – a white one. This one was even smaller than the green, and it carried two humans instead of one.

I coughed and said out loud, "I told you not to return to our hunting grounds!"

The dragons stopped. It was obvious that they could not see me; their heads were swiveling in all directions.

We came back because it is important for us to talk to you.

"Why is it so important?"

We want to find a way for your kind and our kind to live in peace.

"Does the prey make the rules for the hunter?"

I am sure the prey would like to make rules like that. But we are not prey. We are intelligent and cultured. We are your equals.

"I see weak pink humans riding large beasts of burden. What is this 'culture' that you speak of?"

I am not a beast of burden! The dragon sounded very offended. I am a bronze dragon, one of the largest and most powerful creatures on Pern.

"Then why do you allow a human to ride you?"

He is my closest friend. We do everything together. It pleases me to take him where he wants to go.

"Then take him somewhere else! Maybe he wants to be here, but we do not want him here."

How many of you want him elsewhere?

I wasn't about to divulge any information about our hunting band. "That is for me to know, and for you to find out. You don't even know where I am! That means you are no hunter, and if you are not a hunter, then you are prey."

The dragon swung its huge head toward me, then past me, then back toward me. You are in that copse of bushes. I can smell you. Please step out so we can see you.

"I will not," I protested. "There are many of you and not so many of me."

But if we are nothing but prey to you, then why should you fear us?

That remark stung my pride. I nearly stepped out, just to prove the dragon wrong, but I remembered my plan and stayed hidden. The dragon might have made a lucky guess. "Tell me how you became friends with a human."

When I hatched out of my egg, he was there, and I knew he was the one for me. We are bonded together for life.

That made no sense to me, but I would sort it out later. "How many of you live in those stony ruins?"

That is for us to know, and for you to find out. My human says, "We can play word games too. We have shown ourselves to you; why will you not show yourself to us?"

"You are intruders in my hunting grounds. My home, my rules. Does every dragon have a human friend?"

Yes, every dragon pairs off with a human. We are happy that way, and we fight Thread together.

"What is Thread?"

Thread is the silvery menace that falls from the sky and devours whatever it touches.

"Oh, the gray rain. We've learned to avoid it as it falls, and the small insects devour it before it can harm us." I glanced up out of habit… and saw a flash of bronze through the green leaves. So there was at least one more dragon up there, in addition to the three down here! These dragons were clever. I could not hear them in the air; it was luck that caused me to look upwards at the right moment and see it. "Tell me more about your culture."

The humans who ride dragons live with us in Weyrs. Other humans live in Holds or in Halls. They have complicated ways of deciding who is in command. For us, it is simple: if the gold dragons give us orders, then we obey.

"The gold dragons are the dominant males, then?"

No, the golds are the queens, the egg-laying females. There are only a handful of them on Pern. Every male dreams of catching a gold in flight, but most of us have to be content to catch the greens instead.

This made no sense at all! Their social order was the exact opposite of ours. With us, the males ruled over the many females; with them, the females ruled and were pursued by many males. How could that possibly work?

A small insect chose that moment to land on my nose. I tried to snort it away, but it would not move, and it tickled my nose. I fought the tickling, but at last, I sneezed. The three dragons' heads looked straight at my hiding place.

Ahh, now I see you.

I also know where she is, said a different voice in my head. That voice was very confident, but not as dominant as the first voice. Please step out. Your attempt at hiding from us is no longer serving any purpose, and we are growing weary of talking to a bush.

There seemed to be no way out. If I wanted to continue this dialog and learn more about the dragons, then I would have to break cover. If they tried to attack me… but they could attack me in my hiding place if they wanted to. These beings might not be hunters, but they were not acting like prey, either.

I stepped tensely into the open.

What a beautiful creature! said the second voice.

The first voice replied, She might be the loveliest killer I have ever seen.

Then the second one said, You are injured.

"That was the big one's doing," I said reproachfully.

You left your mark on me as well. That was the big one's voice in my head. I am willing to call it a misunderstanding if you will do the same.

"If my injury does not heal, then I will be unable to hunt."

My injuries make it unlikely that I will ever fly again. If you want to play "who got hurt the worst," then you will find me a worthy opponent. But that is not a game that my human and I want to play.

I looked at the big dragon. The evidence of hunters' teeth and claws was there, but he was healing much more rapidly than I was. "How is it that you recover from your injuries so quickly?"

Part of it is that dragons always heal quickly; it is our nature. Another part is that the humans are skillful healers, and they are helping me to recover.

The second voice added, My human's mate is a healer of humans. The Weyrs have humans who specialize in healing dragons, and there are others called Beastcraft Healers who heal creatures of all kinds.

"You allow injured creatures to live?" That surprised me.

Of course, as long as they can make a reasonable recovery. What will happen to you if your injury does not heal?

"If I can no longer hunt, then I will be given the hunting band's mercy. It's kinder than allowing me to starve to death."

What is the hunting band's mercy? the second voice wanted to know.

"A strong bite at the base of the skull. Death is quick and painless. We cannot care for hunters who cannot care for themselves."

There was a long pause.

Then I hope you recover. Do you have a name besides Danger?

I realized that they were gaining information about me and my kind, which was something I had wanted to avoid. But there was something intriguing about sharing thoughts with these alien creatures. Yes, I was giving up information about myself, but they were giving up far more information about themselves. I wanted them to keep talking. This had gone beyond a fact-finding mission. I was curious now, and I wanted to know more, much more.

"My name is Hunter Rit. Do you have names?"

I am Golanth, said the big one, and my human is F'lessan.

I am Ruth, said the second one, and my human is Jaxom. His mate is Sharra.

I am Zaranth, came a third voice, and my human is Tai. She is the mate of F'lessan.

"Your dragon names are organized, but your humans' names follow no pattern," I observed. "With us, females have names of one syllable, and males have names of two syllables. We can easily know who we are talking about. What of the dragons who fly above us?"

They are T'gellan on Monarth, and Mirrim on Path. They are both mated pairs. They stay in the air so they have a better view of what is happening on the ground.

"And what do they see?"

They think that there are no others of your kind nearby. My human does not believe this. It would be unwise to approach an unknown creature all by yourself, and we believe that your kind are wiser than that. We think that you have friends nearby, hiding so we cannot see them.

For a creature whom I'd been thinking of as prey, he had a very good understanding of my band's ways. I grudgingly began to wonder if these dragons were more than just clever; perhaps they were my equals in intelligence. In a way, that was a frightening thought. Should we prey on intelligent beings?

Then I heard Oclo's warning cough. "Rit, get out of there! It's bad enough that they can see you. Now they're looking for the rest of us, and they must not find us!" I felt like, if I could continue the conversation just a little bit longer, I might learn something very important. But he was the Ted and I had to obey him.

I said to the dragons, "My injury bothers me. I must go now." Very reluctantly, I turned and left. They made no attempt to follow me.