Chap. 78 Here there be Lions

Chap. 78  Here there be Lions

K'ndar was relieved that the final part of the trial was over. He hadn't been involved, not directly…but Sandriss had told him how it had gone, as well as Lizard's account.

It was nice, he reflected, to get together with the two of them. Lizard's two fire lizards, his own blue Siskin, and Sandriss's pair, were playing with Raventh. He, Lizard and Sandriss were in the Hold's dining hall, talking. The stories the two told! Even though they'd often spent time at opposite ends of the continent, still, they'd gotten together and had traveled many miles as a team. 

Do I want that? he wondered. 

He wasn't sure.

Nor was he certain how he felt about Lord Dorn's decision on how to punish Menlet and Sibor, the two criminals who'd attacked Lizard and Sandriss, years before.

"I think it was an excellent solution," Sandriss said. "I'd bet my boots those two had been banished at least once, and wasted no time finding another place to prey on people."

"Yes, but…" K'ndar started, "Not that I had any sympathy for them, but…the steppe is such a wild, lovely place. I'd hate to see it begin to be a dumping ground for every miscreant in Pern."

"Why?"

"Ummmmmmmm. It's…..it's pristine, I think that's the word. Pristine. Untouched by humans. No trash, no smokefilled skies, no damming of the rivers, what there are of them. It's like what the world must have been before humans got here," he said.

"Without horses, cattle, pronghorn, chickens, turkeys, dolphins, big cats and little, dogs, foods we eat every day, cotton we wear, and let's not forget…dragons. Which make all this.." he waved a hand around "possible," Lizard began. 

"I know, I know."

He remembered the reaction from Menlet? The reaction the one with the twisted arm had when he suddenly realized what 'released on the steppe" meant. It meant marooning. Not the same thing as banishment, not at all. 

He and D'mitran had been tasked with transport, as they, along with D'nis, were the only ones familiar with the benchmarks so far out on the steppe.

Menlet had been chained fore and aft, so to speak, to prevent any sort of replay of Betzil's attack on C'val.

Raventh had landed. Siskin moved from his perch on K'ndar shoulder to between Raventh's wings.

Watch him closely. If he attacks me, direct Siskin to attack, and prepare to launch as soon as I either get aboard you or grab the harness. 

I will. Siskin is aware, too.

He'd helped Menlet get off Raventh, and then, handed him the keys to the locks on his chains. Menlet immediately began to free himself.

K'ndar took that opportunity to turn around and remount Raventh.

Launch, please.

That was easy

It will take him a moment to realize

It didn't take a moment. It was almost instantaneous. 

"HEY! Where are you going? What is this? What the shards," Menlet shrieked.

Raventh hovered.

"This is the steppe."

"But….there is nothing here!! NOTHING HERE!"

"Oh, but there is. Here there be lions. Bye!"

Menlet began to scream and curse.

Singing Waters Hold, please? I want to meet with my brother and Lizard.

Before we go…I want to fly a bit north. There is something back there you might be interested in. 

What is that?

A dead horse.

What…what? Are you hungry? I didn't think you'd want dead meat.

I don't. But I know you want horse tails.

Oh. OH! You are one smart lizard, you know that?

I know. I am Raventh!

Raventh flew about ten kilometers north.

There was a freshly dead horse. It had already been scavenged, but wherries and other scavengers didn't eat horse hair.

They landed. 

How did you know it was here?

I could smell it. Easy.

Wow. I had no idea.

What a great source, he thought, for horse tails for braiding. He'd been afraid to take too much from the weyr's horses. But making horsehair necklaces was, at the moment, the only way he could make money…and now, he wanted money. To buy books.

He cut the tail from the carcass, which was all bones now. Even the insects had pretty much abandoned it. He realized he had an unlimited source for tail hair, now. It was full of grass, but was otherwise undamaged…if a bit stinky. A good wash in the sea, followed by drying in the sun, should take care of the smell.

Reboarding Raventh, he asked for the Hold again, and this time, Raventh obliged.

Looking at Sandriss and Lizard, he could still hear Menlet's shrieks in his ears.

"What's on your mind, K'ndar?" Sandriss asked.

"I'm…not sure how to say this, but somehow, I feel…dirty."

"Dirty? Like, dirty dirty? Or.."

"Um….ethically dirty. Like I've done something shameful. Taking Menlet out and dumping him on the steppe."

They looked at him, puzzled.

"You were just doing your duty."

"Yes, but….It was easy for Lord Dorn to order Menlet and Sibor to be stranded in the steppe. He wasn't the one to drop a man in the wilderness and then leave him. There's NOTHING out there to support a human. Not that I care, but somehow, I feel…."

"Empathy?" Lizard asked. 

"Yes. I think that's the word. How long can Menlet live? If he isn't attacked by whers, or lions, or wherries, it might be weeks. Then again, without water, it might be just a few days. Either way, it's a painful way to die. A thousand kilometers is a very long way to walk."

"And now you feel, somehow, responsible for that death sentence," Lizard said.

K'ndar felt it.

"Yes."

"It was an order. The responsibility is on Lord Dorn's shoulders, not yours."

"I know, and you're right. They are paying the price for their crimes. But, in the long run, I wish Dorn had just beheaded all three. At least it's quick and if painful, it's quick."

He looked at his hands, as if they were somehow, responsible.

"Because, in a way, I feel as if I should have…protested? But NO…They had the punishment coming. They hadn't learned or cared."

Lizard knew. He said, 

"I know, K'ndar. This is a hard thing to deal with. But understand that, well…look at it this way. I know there have been times that you've had to deal with an animal that has turned dangerous. It's killed someone. Or hurt someone. Or is just unmanageable. You can't reason with an animal, other than a dragon…but you can with a human. We raise our children to be responsible, respectful and empathetic to others.

 There are people, like those three, today, who make the conscious decision to take advantage of that, to hurt others, to kill others, knowing that the decent person will NOT RETALIATE. It's easy to prey on nice people.

 When they do that, they've negated their own right to respectful treatment. Those three, they knew exactly what they were doing. Like that Weyrwoman you had, Jenmay? She poisoned your original Weyrwoman, right? It took her months, right? What kind of person does that?"

"Not a good one, that's for certain," Sandriss said.

"Right," said Lizard, "And the punishment, in my mind, fit the crime. NO, it's not easy to be the man who carries out the sentence. That, I agree, is the hard part. Lord Dorn didn't do the dirty work. That's what is weighing on your mind, K'ndar. You didn't witness the beheading, so you aren't feeling what those of us who watched it felt. But I assure you, we are. We didn't swing the sword, but we saw the results. Does Dorn feel the same way? I don't know. He was there, and he watched, and he went back to work afterwards. But I bet my boots he's questioning his decision, right now. Just as you are. THAT is the sign of a decent human being. One who always questions the right and wrong of things. 

But think of it this way. What Arm and Ear did to me and Sand, here. What Betzil did to that little girl.  What Jenmay? did to Danelle…was so out of bounds of what we ARE as humans that removing them from the population was the only way to cleanse it.

 You'll feel 'dirty' for a while. It tells me you're a decent citizen, a human who feels for others. THAT's what Pern needs now and in the future. People who THINK before they satisfy their own desires."

He stretched and yawned. "It's been a very long day, my friends, and I am betting the headwoman here at the Hold would like for us to clear out. So..I'm going to go to my bed in my wagon. Sandriss?"

"Um…is it too late for you to take me back to the cothold, K'ndar?"

"Ummm, I've never flown at night. I can't see the stars. How 'bout you stay in my weyr tonight, and I'll take you home in the morning? You can send a message back home by fire lizard."

"I'll take you up on it, K'ndar. Let's go. Lizard, it's been great seeing you, given the circumstances. Don't forget, my roof is yours…anytime you're near the steppe, stop. Stay for a while."

They shook hands. Lizard called his fire lizards home. K'ndar made sure Sandriss was securely harnessed in and then, with the three fire lizards clinging to them, made the jump to the Weyr.

Later that night, just before he fell asleep, he thought again of what the steppe must have looked like, BP…Before People. Before the colonists changed it. What did it look like? He itched to see it. He realized it was…possible. If not wise…

Do I dare TIME it? Do I dare go back in time? I can find a rock, I can find the volcanoes, that will serve as a visualization point.  Benden would never approve it, and like it or not, Benden was pretty much the leader of the planet. 

I don't think we should

I know. But I so want to see it.

I don't.

K'ndar sighed.

OK.