The Felines of Pern Chapter 7
The entire band gave up their afternoon naps to talk about what had happened. First, Oclo allowed me to tell them what I had seen and heard. Then he stepped into the center of the circle.
"What Rit says is true," he began. "I could also hear the dragons' voices inside my head, and Hunters San and Kur heard them as well." Those two hunters nodded.
"So they're very clever," Woo said, "and they are socially organized. I think we already knew that."
"It's more than just cleverness and organization," I objected. "They are intelligent beings. Inwardly, they are very much the same as us."
"They want you to think that!" Dess retorted. "It's a clever way of talking us out of killing and eating them. If they were like us, then why don't they have a Ted?"
I answered, "They have a Ted, although they did not use that word. The dragons have a leader, a large golden dragon. She gives orders and the others obey."
"She?" Woo exclaimed. "The dragons allow their females to give them orders? How can you call them cultured or civilized with an arrangement like that?"
"They are civilized," I protested, "but their civilization is very different from ours. Do not condemn what you don't understand."
"There is one thing I understand perfectly," Woo shot back. "No matter how clever those dragons and humans seem to be, they are still encroaching on our lands and killing our prey. I'm sure this conversation with strange creatures was very interesting to you, but it did nothing to solve that one huge problem."
"I agree with Woo," Dess added. "No matter how well you learn to understand these creatures, do you think they'll leave our lands just because we politely ask them to go?"
I was about to answer when Oclo coughed. We all went quiet to hear him. "Part of what Woo and Dess say is completely true. The strangers will probably not leave our lands without a confrontation of some kind. In the past, when two hunting bands both wanted the same land, they fought for it, and the losers retreated off the land. The strong survive and the weak are pushed aside. That is how it has always been."
"Then why don't we push them off our lands right now?" Woo challenged him.
"To be blunt," Oclo replied, "I'm not convinced that our band is stronger than the dragons. If we force a fight now, we might very well lose."
"You said there were five dragons and six riders," Woo began, but San cut her off.
"There are dozens of dragons and hundreds of humans! Our claws and our teeth are no answer to a disadvantage like that. And I can testify what it feels like to be on the wrong end of their claws and teeth."
"We can't win by brute force," Oclo added, "because the other side has more brute force than we do. We need a clever plan, not another blind rush into defeat."
"And how do you propose to outthink them," Woo asked scornfully, "when we don't even know how they think?"
"I'm working on that," I burst out.
"And how long will it take before you succeed?" Woo went on. "Will we starve before that happens? Will our cubs starve? What if you never succeed at all? What if these creatures are so different from us that we can never understand them? What then?"
I stepped into the middle of the circle, ignoring the pain in my flank. "Here is some of what we know about the dragons. They hunt their food, like we do. They are not nomads, but they have chosen places to live, like we do. They enjoy the companionship of others of their kind, like we do. They take care of each other in a fight, like we do. They have a social order, like we do. Are they so very different from us? I don't think so.
"As for how long it will take for us to understand them, I don't think it will take long at all. So far, I've spoken to them twice, and already I've learned a great deal about their habits, their social arrangements, and their relationship with the humans. I've learned a lot about those humans as well. We're assuming that the dragons dominate the humans because of their size, but I get the distinct impression that they relate to each other as equals."
"Then why don't the humans talk to us?" Kur wondered.
"Maybe their minds can't send out thoughts like the dragons can," I suggested. "They make and use tools to overcome their physical weakness, and the dragons have great regard for them."
"What are you trying to say?" Oclo asked.
"I'm saying that our hunting grounds are being invaded by two intelligent species, not one, and that the odds against us are much higher than we realize."
"Can we whittle their numbers down, one or two at a time?" Woo suggested.
"We tried that with our first attack," I said. "My flank still bears the marks from that failure. Do you want an injury just like this one? No, we need a clever way to deal with this invasion, because raw force will fail us."
"I have a suggestion," Dess said. "The dragons say they do everything with their human friends. We know that the humans are weaker than the dragons. What if we focused our attacks on the humans? What if we stayed near their living spaces, and made attacks of opportunity against the humans on the outskirts of their living area, when dragons aren't nearby? If we could hurt or kill enough of the humans, then perhaps the dragons would leave."
"Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps!" Woo mocked. "You're guessing!"
"At least it's a reasonable plan," Kur objected.
"It is a reasonable plan," Oclo agreed, "and I'm going to think about it. If anyone else comes up with a reasonable plan, then I'll think those plans over, too. In the meantime, Rit needs to continue learning more about our enemies."
"That's all she's good for," Woo whispered to Dess, but we all overheard her. Oclo stormed up to her.
"What do you mean by that?" he demanded.
"We all know she can't hunt anymore," Woo said, trying to sound reasonable. "That wound on her flank is getting worse, not better. Every one of us knows it except you. One of us will have to give her the hunting band's mercy soon."
"And you're counting on that," Oclo snarled, "so there won't be so much opposition to your frontal-attack scheme?"
"I never said that," Woo protested.
"And I hope you never do say it," Oclo said as he turned his back on her. "This band is small in numbers. The last thing we need is to lose another hunter." He brushed against my flank as he returned to the middle of the circle.
"I am not ready," he began, "to say that we're fighting a battle we can't win. But at this point, we are badly outnumbered. I'm willing to consider any options that keep this hunting band together, even if they seem defeatist on the surface."
"Like what?" Kur wanted to know.
"This is a longshot," Oclo answered, "but when I left the band of males to become your Ted, there were only three males left. They may have added one or two to their numbers, but we still outnumber them. If it becomes impossible to defeat the dragons and the humans here, then we might consider taking over the males' hunting grounds, and letting the males have this land and the unwinnable battles that go with it."
"Their hunting grounds are totally inferior to ours!" Woo argued. "Even a good day hunting there would leave half of us hungry."
"Poor hunting grounds are better than no grounds at all," he said evenly.
"There has to be another way!" Woo retorted.
"I very much hope so," the Ted nodded. "I want to find that other way. I don't want to admit defeat any more than you do. I'm growing fond of these hunting grounds and I don't want to surrender them to a pack of invaders. But those invaders are bigger and stronger than we are, and the old-fashioned way of driving them out is not going to work.
"Rit, please continue trying to learn more about the dragons and humans when you aren't hunting. Woo and Dess, I want you to hunt in the direction of the dragons' living space for the next few days. Try to get a look at them while you're there; try to learn more about them that way. I'm going to consider what might be the best way to do this. The rest of you, go on living and hunting as you always do."
Dess coughed politely for attention. "Are you hoping that the two of us will attack the humans and get killed, so you won't face any opposition to your sweetheart's plan?"
Oclo growled. "What are you accusing me of?"
Woo stepped up. "We all know that you favor Rit over all the rest of us. We can't prove it, but on the day we can, your days as the Ted will be over. Getting rid of Dess and me won't change that."
I was shocked. How could they accuse our Ted of such a thing? One of the requirements of the job was that he could play no favorites among the females of his band. Were they accusing Ted of… monogamy? I wouldn't let them accuse him of that.
"I will have you all know," I snapped, "that our Ted has said or done nothing to me that suggests anything other than a Ted's rightful concern for his hunters. If he favors my company, it's because he knows I will soon come into season. Will you condemn a male for that?" A few of the others chuffed nervously.
Oclo looked indignant. "Hunter Dess, Hunter Woo, I just finished saying that I don't want to lose any more hunters out of this band. Why would I conspire to be rid of you? You're fine hunters and I think you'll be good fighters when the time comes. Do you think I'm that irrational? Do you think the madness is taking me?"
He glared at them. They glared back and did not answer.
"You all have your instructions," he snapped, and stalked away. The rest of us wandered away by two's and three's to talk about what had just happened. No one wandered away with me, but after a few seconds, Kur left her yearling cubs and approached me. She seemed nervous.
"Is it true that Oclo brought you a piece of someone else's kill this morning?" she asked.
"No, that's totally untrue!" I exclaimed. "I almost wish he had – I caught nothing today and I could use a bite to eat. But no, he brought me nothing. Whoever told you that, told you a lie." She seemed satisfied by that and returned to her cubs.
I took another try at hunting that afternoon. I nearly caught a large flyer that was feeding on the carcass of a horned beast, but it somehow heard me approaching, and it took to the air before I could catch it. I considered eating the leftover carcass, but something about it was wrong. It smelled like… something unfamiliar, a slight scent of something bitter and unpleasant. I wasn't hungry enough to ignore a warning like that, not yet.
The next morning, I failed again at hunting. Oclo had been following me, expecting his customary bite of my kill, and he saw me miss my strike.
"Your flank is really bothering you, isn't it?" he asked sympathetically.
"I don't know what I'm going to do," I said softly.
"I could bring you a piece of someone else's –"
"No! Don't you dare!" I cut him off. "There's already talk in the band that you're taking care of me. If you actually did it, it would mean mercy for me and expulsion for you. Please don't do it."
He took a deep breath. "I saw you miss that pounce. The others know that you're not doing well. You may be getting mercy soon, no matter what I do."
I looked him in the eyes. "Would you do the deed?"
"If that's what you want," he answered, but he didn't sound sure of himself.
"Well, if you won't do it, then I'm sure Woo or Dess will," I said. "I think they'd enjoy it."
"Isn't there any other way?" he asked. I could see hurt in his eyes.
I stopped and considered my options. If I did nothing different, I would continue to fail at hunting, until the band put me out of my misery. If I left the band to live and hunt alone, I would starve. No other band would take in a badly injured hunter; they lived by the same rules that we did.
"Maybe it would be best," I said sadly, "if someone did give me the mercy before I became miserably hungry."
Oclo was shocked. "Rit, do you want to die?"
"Of course not! But I don't know how to live."
He tried to answer, came up with nothing, and slowly walked away. I hunted for the rest of the day; I missed two easy kills and came home empty.
It's a terrifying thing, facing your own impending death. We tell ourselves that we'll face that moment with courage, and give the story-tellers something to talk about. But when the moment comes and we realize that we will soon be facing that great eternal darkness, we think about the days we wasted, and we wish we could have just one of them back. But no skill with claws or teeth, no food offered in trade, can bring back a single one of those days. I began to understand how the prey feels when it realizes it cannot escape the hunter. Did I have any options at all?
That night, as we were all settling down to sleep, I approached the Ted's resting place. "Oclo, I had an idea."
He was instantly alert. "Is it a good idea?"
"It's a desperate idea," I whispered. "Come into the forest with me." We crept away far enough that none of the others could possibly overhear us.
"This might be an early sign of the madness," I began. "I'm honestly amazed that I even thought of such a thing. But it's not an impossibility, and it might save my life." I paused and gathered myself.
"There is only one way ahead for me," I said in a rush. "The dragons say that the humans are skillful at healing injuries. I will go to the humans, and I'll see if they have a healing for me."
He sucked in his breath between his teeth, then looked intently in my eyes for a few seconds. "You don't have the madness," he decided. "But you might be out of your mind. The humans are our enemies! Why would they help you?"
"It's a very slim chance, but all my other options add up to zero," I reminded him. "If the humans kill me, then I'll be just as dead as if I stay here and wait for the hunting band's mercy. If they don't kill me, but they refuse to heal me, then I'll be no worse off than I am right now. If they heal me, then I'll be alive. Does anything else matter?"
"That's logical," he admitted. "But even if they do heal you, the other hunters may not let you back into the band if you look to our enemies for help." I knew he was right.
"I'll take that risk," I decided. "Anything is better than being dead."
"You could wind up alone," he said softly, and there was something in his voice that said much more than just regret about losing one of his hunters. For a few seconds, I was so shocked that I could not answer.
"Oclo," I finally said, "is it true, what they're accusing you of? You and... me?"
He chuffed, embarrassed. "From the moment you suggested helping me win the hunting contest, you've been more than just another female to me. You're smart, you're very brave, you're skillful… and the dragons are right. You're beautiful. You're very special. I don't want anything bad to happen to you, and I'm not just speaking as your Ted."
"The others will reject you as their Ted if they hear you talking like this," I reminded him.
"I'll take that risk," he replied, copying my own words and tone from a few moments ago. "Anything is better than being without you."
I didn't know how to respond. Every female knows that she has to share her Ted with all the other females in the band. Jealousy could lead to senseless fights, and that would be fatal to any hunting band. Now our Ted had admitted that he was totally focused on me. If I was so smart, then what kind of reply should I give him? Should I tell him to get over it and behave like a real Ted, for the good of the band? That would be the smart thing to say. But it wasn't what I wanted to say at all.
"Then let me do a different kind of hunting," I told him softly. "Let me hunt for a healing in the human encampment. If I don't come back, then you can still be the Ted for the others. And if I do come back… then you'll run no risk of re-injuring me when you sire cubs on me."
He stared at the ground. "I have to admit, that was one reason that your injury worried me, before I realized your life was in danger."
I slapped his flank with my tail. "What a typical male – always thinking about mating!"
He looked hurt. "Am I that typical?"
"No," I whispered. "You're very special." In a normal voice, I went on, "Tell the others where I've gone. Don't try to keep any secrets about me, or you'll make the gossip worse. I have no idea how long this might take." I paused. "I hope I see you again someday."
"I wish you good hunting," he said stiffly.
"I wish you good hunting as well," I replied. For a moment, I hesitated. I hated to go. But if I stayed, there was no hope for me at all.
I got my bearings from the moons and set off into the forest. Once, I looked back. Oclo was standing so still, he might have been lifeless, just watching me. I resolutely kept going.
