Chap. 121 Confrontation

Chap. 121  The Confrontation

D'nis joined the team as they were unpacking their dragons at the Observatory.

"I'm sorry I didn't make it out to the field today," he said.

"Not to worry. We didn't accomplish much anyway," D'mitran said. His dragon, Careth, shook himself once the harness had been removed. 

"No?"

"The ecology changed from those scrubby willows to thick, thick forest," K'ndar said.

"Aye," D'mitran said, "It was a hard slog. Couldn't find a spot on the 50 kilometer mark where the dragons could land. There was a clearing, if you could call it that, about a kilometer away. Not much more than a fallen tree had brought down some of the canopy. So we landed there. I'm not sure if you want exactly fifty kilometer benchmarks or not, I made the decision that we should. So we had to cut our way-and I do mean cut-through the thickest undergrowth I've ever seen, and I've been in jungle. We didn't an axe, not even a machete, so we've all got blistered hands from using belt knives to carve a path. Took hours to get one kilometer, but we did get to it, and got the readings and data collection done."

D'nis shook his head. "I'm sorry, D'mitran, it would have been alright to take the data from the 49 kilometer spot."

D'mitran shrugged. "Ah, well, lessons learned, what? But, by the stars, if the next stop is as thick, I'm willing to 'forget' to take the data from the ground. Maybe I'll just put in ditto marks."

D'nis laughed. It felt good, after the day he'd had.

K'ndar spoke up. "It gave me time to collect a lot of samples, by the way. I've never seen a forest so thick. The armored willows vanished about fifteen kilometers from yesterday's readings and turned into forest. Those trees, sir, they're huge. I don't know if they're the same species as is found on Northern, but if not, they're close. The canopy cover was 100%, not an opening to be seen except where one of the trees had fallen. I find it hard to believe that that forest was ever Thread scored. It just is too thick. Those trees, they're not lightwood. It took a long time for them to get that big."

"There are spots on the planet that were, for whatever reason, never scored. Might be the grubs, might be the sustained winds, I don't know, but it's interesting. Did you manage to put up a dragonstone?" D'nis asked. 

Greta spoke up. "Sort of, sir. No rocks to speak of, at least none that were big enough to make a memorable or sizable one.  So we blazed a handful of the trees. Not that it will do any good, you can't get a dragon in where the benchmark is. Not even a green," she said.

K'ndar had spent much of the day cataloging the plants, insects and animals. 

"I'm just amazed at how much life there is there. If that spot was ever Thread scored, it was a long time ago, because the undergrowth was just thick, like sheep wool."

"There's a lot of habitat there," he said, looking through his scribbled notes. "Most of the fallen trees have bird and wherry nests in them. There's tunnel snake burrows everywhere. I saw a creature, an animal I've never seen before, I have no idea what it is, but it's not native to Pern. Only four legs and no wings."

D'nis shook his head. "Wish I'd left my atomic camera with you," he said.

"That's okay, sir. It acted as if it'd never seen a human before. It was completely unafraid, just…busy. I think D'mitran might have caught it on his datalink. Hope so, because as bad as my handwriting is, I'll probably have to go by his data rather than my own."

The others laughed.

"Did you talk to Rahman about T'ovar?" Greta asked.

He looked at her. They all saw the weariness of spirit in his eyes.

"Yes, I did."

"He never made an attempt to ping one of our dragons to learn where we were," D'mitran said. "We didn't see hide nor hair of him."

"I would have been surprised if he had, D," D'nis said. "I spent a lot of time talking it over with Rahman. He had no problems with my cutting T'ovar from the team. T'ovar showed up just as I was getting ready to leave Rahman to join you. I told him that, as he'd been late every morning to the briefings, he'd demonstrated a lack of interest in what we were doing, and that we no longer had any need of what little services he had provided."

"He didn't take it well. He began to make accusations and vague threats. Everything was someone else's fault and didn’t Rahman know that we had no idea what we were doing? 

Rahman asked T'ovar why he'd neglected to come to work today.

 He claimed he'd been sick the entire night and hadn't gotten a lick of sleep. Rahman said, if that was so, perhaps it was wise for T'ovar to return to Tillek Sea Hold, seeing as to how we had no healers at Observatory. 

T'ovar began to bully Rahman, but that old man has a lot more substance than he shows.

Then T'ovar threatened Rahman..it was a vague implication, but he took it as a threat. He ordered  T'ovar to leave and not come back. T'ovar refused.  He was ready to go toe to toe with T'ovar, I was afraid it was going to end up a brawl. Just about then I was wishing F'mart was with me," he said, grinning. 

K'ndar and D'mitran laughed. "I'll tell you later about F'mart," K'ndar said to a puzzled Greta. 

"I thought he was going to punch the old man out. That's when a couple of the workmen came in and told T'ovar if he didn’t leave willingly, they'd see to it that he wished he had." 

D'nis shook his head, thinking of the confrontation. 

"Was he sick, like he claimed?" Greta asked.

"Sick? No. If anything, he was hung over." 

"He'd been drinking?"

"To judge by the smell, aye,"

"First thing in the morning and he's drinking?" Greta asked.

"Wellllllllllllll, it depends on WHERE 'first thing in the morning' means," he said. His team needed to know the entire story. 

Greta made the connection first. 

"He wasn't at Tillek, was he."

He looked at the girl. You should have been a gold rider, he thought, you have steel in that spine and fire in your soul that is the mark of a Weyrwoman…or a fighter. I'd hate to have you mad at me. 

"No."

K'ndar was lost.

"Where was he, then?"

"Southern Hold."

That shut them up for several moments, thinking it through.

D'mitran came to it first. 

"He's Toric's man. Isn't he." It wasn't a question.

"Aye. At least, that's what we both believe. He's a spy. For Toric," D'nis said.

D'mitran nodded, his suspicions confirmed.

"I KNEW there'd be a few unprincipled riders ignoring the boycott on Toric's Hold. I remember listening to some of them after the Gather. I don't remember T'ovar being there, but, it was a big lot of riders in the beer tent, and some of them were High Reaches men."

Greta was confused. "I'd heard there was a boycott against him, but I don't really know the whole story."

"I'll tell you all about it later," K'ndar said, feeling sick to his stomach. 

"But, with T'ovar-I smell money being involved," she said. 

"No doubt about that," D'mitran said. "There's men who'll do anything for money."

K'ndar had been thinking it through.

"This is still about me, isn't it," he asked, feeling a cold finger on his spine. He pushed it aside. He wasn't going to let a greedy man ruin his life.

"I don't think it's so much about you per se, K'ndar. I think it's Toric's betting that you can find more artifacts, and since he couldn't get a Southern Hold man in on the survey, he hired T'ovar, who'd we'd never suspect. I'm thinking T'ovar's being paid to snatch up anything we might find,  before they can be turned in to Landing," D'nis said. He was worried. "It may be that Toric was looking for you at the Gather not to punish you, but to offer you a 'job'."

That shocked K'ndar.

"Pffft. Like I'd work for that sod? Not on your life," K'ndar said. "I trust him about as far as I can throw a dragon."

He remembered how many men had been hunting him at the Gather. His anonymity and a healthy distrust of his fellow man had protected him then, but now that T'ovar knew who he was, Toric no longer needed to hunt. He had K'ndar right where he wanted. 

"Toric knows who I am now," he said, voicing his conviction. "Now, he knows exactly who and where I am, thanks to T'ovar."

He sighed.

"I wonder if I should, well, quit the team? I wouldn't put it past Toric's men to attack me. I don't want anyone to get hurt," he said, regretting it instantly. It was the last thing he wanted to do.

"NO" all three of them shouted back at him.

"NO. K'ndar, you are a member of MY team," D'nis said, "If he tries anything, I will be there to stop it."

"And me," D'mitran said, harshly.

"And me," Greta added. 

I'll be there to roar. It was fun, doing that at the Gather. Siskin is getting upset Raventh said.

Send him to me. I would like to see you roar. It was impressive.

Raventh laughed.

Siskin appeared, chittering, his eyes rolling orange, almost red. He offered his shoulder to his pet, where he stroked the blue's head til he calmed down. 

He felt encouraged by his dragon's support. Dragons had never been known to attack a human-but fire lizards definitely would and had. 

D'nis ran a hand through his thinning hair. They still had to write up their notes, index and log their data, ship it to Landing-but it was getting dark, he was tired, and hadn't had anything to eat since breakfast.  

"Lads, lassie, it's been a long week and an even longer day. Tomorrow is a rest day. Let's write up our notes and go home. Miss Greta, you are more than welcome to return to your weyr at Ista, or you might find the hospitality at Kahrain Steppe Weyr to be on par with that of your own. With the time change, we'll get what amounts to an extra day off. Being team leader has its benefits as well as its responsibilities, and right now, this team leader needs to get something in his stomach. What say you?"

Greta grinned.

"I'm a freelancer, sir. I go where I choose. I've never been to Kahrain, and I'd like to hear more about the boycott. So, lead on, MacDuff!"

K'ndar laughed.