Chap. 238 Hunting the Steppe

Chap. 238 Hunting The Steppe

After two days, K’ndar was ready to leave the cothold.

I’m just not that social a person, he thought. He enjoyed talking with his family, but after hours of it, all he wanted was to be alone, with just Raventh and Siskin.

I’m a loner. I always will be.

He stared out at the sky, trying to decide if he should take his sister back to the Weyr, or tough it out another couple of days.

Are we going to go out on to the steppe? I’m getting hungry.

Guilt hit him. He’d forgotten that Raventh had wanted that.

I’ll let my family know we’re going. I’ll need a few minutes to pack some food and water for myself.

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This was good, he thought. We needed this.

Far off in the distance, he saw horses moving slowly across the steppe. It was late in the season. Most of the grasses had senesced in the summer’s heat, releasing a scent both spicy and dusty when stepped on. He inhaled deeply, trying to force the scent into his bones.

The air was arid and cold, but he was tucked into a small crevice of a fairly large kopje, protected from the ceaseless wind and warmed by the sun on his face. The outcropping was close to a small watercourse that had dried up in the summer heat. Shrubs and small trees lined it, leafless now with the onset of winter.

The grasses rustled with the wind. Leaves caught up in the wind danced past him.

It always felt strange to watch his dragon fly away. Raventh had gone three days without eating, which wasn’t that unusual, but he’d been especially hungry this time. He saw Raventh climb high, high, searching for an unwary wherry.

He remembered being out here in the middle of nowhere when the locusts had rolled in.

“Do you remember the locusts, Siskin?” he asked the blue fire lizard, and formed the picture in his mind.

Siskin chittered excitedly. He dropped to the ground and began digging, searching for locust larvae.

He found himself thinking of the past hectic few weeks. No. I am not going to think of work. Of Landing, of the people I’ve had dealings with…no. No one has a clue where I am other than ‘out on the steppe’. It’s just me and Raventh and Siskin.

He felt as if his mind was rocketing skyward, seeing himself sitting in the rocks as if from a great height. So small I am, in the middle of this vast, open land. Yes. I am truly alone, right now. Well, without humans. I am going to just sit here and enjoy being lost without being lost.

He took deep breaths, trying to get the recent events to dissipate from his mind. How could life have become so suddenly complex, so full of twists and turns, and most of all, little time for himself? It was as if life has suddenly started yelling in a hundred voices inside his head.

Did I make a mistake, taking the position at Landing? What would life have been like had I chosen to be Lord Dorn’s personal dragon transport? Or should I have stayed at the Weyr, where I knew what to expect from day to day, but I would have to deal with M’rvin? Shards, could they have forced me into taking some sort of leadership position? Teaching Weyrlings? I’m no teacher. I’m not a leader. I’m perfectly content taking orders from someone else, as long as they make sense!

Maybe we should strike out on our own? Raventh said.

He could just barely see his dragon, flying from one weak thermal to another as he scanned for prey.

Whoa. That had not occurred to me.

Others have done it.

Really? Who?

B’rost. I haven’t heard from Rath, but remember, they went to the Healer Hall. And Earth’s rider, Greta? She left.

I forgot about B’rost. You’re right, but he was always so flighty. As for Greta and Earth…aren’t they dead?

I don’t know. Earth was wiser than her rider. Greta wanted to go to the starship. Earth didn’t, but she would have gone, if Greta had insisted. I think Greta made a mistake.

I do, too. But as for going full nomad? I…I don’t know. Right now, I think…no. We’re pretty comfortable at Landing. I like the work, it’s just Lefsa, so emotionally fragile, her partner attacking me without reason, it makes me wonder if it will always be so fraught with tension.

Raventh was quiet for several moments, concentrating on one particular wherry.

It makes your mind so busy, sometimes I can’t get to you. Like yesterday, I was hungry yesterday.

K’ndar felt the guilt grab his heart.

I’m sorry. You’re right. But we’re here, now.

I have to concentrate now, I see a wherry I might be able to attack.

With reason, right?

Raventh laughed.

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Raventh’s thoughts at the moment were purely gustatorial. Siskin had joined him to feed on his kill, leaving K’ndar truly alone.

This is the first time in years, he thought, that I’d not had a soul near me.

He listened to the wind whistling through the bare branches above his head. It wasn’t a mournful sound, merely the breathing of the steppe.

He heard them before he saw them, a chorus of plaintive cries, ringing from just behind the kopje. Birds, the large ones, with long necks. He heard the whuhwhuh of their great wings as they flew right over head. So many of them! He tried to count but they flew faster than his eye could group them. He remembered years ago, one of his father’s hands had shot one out of the sky with an arrow, an incredible feat all on its own. The man’s wife had cooked it..and cooked it and cooked it, til finally hunger forced them to try and eat it.

They had bread and fruit for the rest of the dinner.

They are too noble a bird to eat, he thought, as the flock finally passed. He watched them reach the outskirts of the horse herd and join a hundred more of their kind. They greeted each other with an extravagant show of wings and dance steps. They’re like us, he thought, they have friends and family, they have a culture.

Why is it, he wondered, his thoughts aimlessly skipping from one to another, that Pern has birds, and saurians, fish and reptiles, even amphibians…but no native mammals?

He saw one raptor, circling on high, scanning, as Raventh had done, for prey. It followed the horses, hoping their hooves would scare up something to eat. The horses were moving slowly towards his position, having been shifted by Raventh’s actions.

The sky was so brilliant blue, clouds sailing majestically in clumps, like ships on the sea. They were the ‘good’ kind of cloud, ones that said fair weather was ahead, without rain. He could see them between the horse’s legs, seemingly resting on the horizon. It was so wild, so open, he felt his heart almost burst with just the joy of being alone in the wilderness.

Of course, it helps that I didn’t ride this far out on a horse, or have to worry about where I was going to sleep tonight.

He heard a rustling sound and saw the dried grasses moving at the base of his rocky seat.

It seemed to take forever, but the creature finally moved away from the safety of the rock and emerged from the grasses.

It was a chmunk. Six legged like most of Pern’s native creatures, it moved quickly, searching for seeds and nuts to store for the winter. He watched as it searched, and when it found something edible, it sat up on its hindquarters and stuffed the seeds into its mouth. Then it fled to its home in the rocks.

This one was a different species, he realized, looking less like the ones seen in the forests. It was the color of dead grass, even striped vertically to blend in with the tall grass.

Hoping it would come back out, he quietly pulled a packet of dried berries from his backpack. He’d taken them from his mother’s winter store. She makes the best pies with these, he thought, reminiscing.

The chmunk came back out. It moved a bit further than its first foray.

K’ndar waited until its back was turned to him, and tossed a handful of the berries.

The chmunk heard the berries fall and whirled. K’ndar froze. The little creature sat up, looking, looking, not seeing the source of the noise. Then it dropped back to its feet and began to forage again. It ignored the berries.

Really, little creature? Do you not know these are the best berries?

He tossed a few more, one plinking off the chmunk’s head. It vanished into the grasses.

Well, I guess not.

He pulled out his binocular and focused on Raventh. The dragon was surrounded by what seemed fifty scavengers, both wherry and avian. He could just barely see Siskin from this distance, fully fed and safe between Raventh’s wings.

Should I call him back? But I want to see the chmunk again.

Several minutes later, the chmunk reappeared. It darted out, then stopped. He could see its nose twitching. It ran back and forth, searching for the source of the delicious scent.

It picked up one berry and took a small nibble. Then it ate the entire thing, and began to search for more.

K’ndar moved…and the chmunk paused, poised for flight. After several long moments, it sat up and stared at him. Then it moved towards him. He could see it was puzzled. I am probably the first human you’ve ever seen in your life, he thought.

He began to feel his body begin to complain about holding the same position. He finally couldn’t hold the position any longer and involuntarily moved.

The chmunk ran a ways to the side, then, after staring at him for what seemed an eternity, began to climb up the rocks toward his feet.

It came closer and closer, slowly, watching for the slightest move. It came to his boot and sniffed. It sat up again, and met his eyes.

He blinked, and the chmunk leaped to the ground, then stopped again, staring at him.

Daring, K’ndar slowly moved the hand that still held some berries, and flicked them towards the chmunk.

The chmunk jumped backwards, then sat up and chittered at him. K’ndar stifled a laugh.

The chmunk dropped to the ground again and found the berries. As it ate one, he tossed the ones he had left in a scattered cloud.

The chmunk darted from berry to berry, each time, sitting up to place one in its mouth. How could it hold so many?

He watched, tickled at the idea of this wild creature actually touching him. It had apparently satisfied its curiosity, if not its appetite.

The chmunk moved further and further from the rocks. With the sun on the creature, he could see the subtle variations of color in its skin. Such a lovely little beast!

Out of nowhere, a dark winged form burst into his field of view from behind.

It swooped down, snatched up the chmunk in one smooth, taloned move, and climbed quickly back into the sky.

Oh, shit. The raptor.

I’m full, so is Siskin. What’s wrong? What happened?

Shocked at what he had enabled, he felt a huge shroud of guilt cover him.

Apparently, I’m feeding the birds