Chap. 123 The Burrow

Chap. 123  The Burrow

The team had flown over the strait from the point where they'd found the caisson.

Surprisingly, there wasn't a similar one on the western side.

The dragons hovered in mid-air, searching for a level place to land. 

There was none. The rocks and outcroppings made a safe landing inadvisable.  The wind was just as relentless as it had been on the other side.

"D'mitran, take your readings from here, I'll do the same. Then we'll head back to the spot we left and continue the baseline," D'nis called. He was mystified that there was no corresponding caisson on this side. What in the world was the point of only one?

K'ndar looked at the vegetation below him as they waited.

Hovering is hard work, in this wind  Raventh said.

No doubt, but I don't see any place to land

"Okay, team, let's go!" D'nis called, and his Corvuth led the way south.

Much easier, now with the wind behind me. 

Watching his readings, D'nis called the halt when they'd reached the point where they would return to marking the baseline. 

At this spot, there was ample areas to land, but the ground beneath them was covered with hundreds…no, thousands, of roosting birds and sea wherries. They rose up in great, shrieking clouds when the dragons arrived, then returned to their nests.

K'ndar very much wanted to stop and collect data. 

"D'nis, can I stop and collect some samples, specimens?"

D'nis shook his head. "I'm just going to take the data here, and then I want to continue on. We can always come back later," he said.

"Yes, sir," K'ndar said, disappointed.

They flew inland for another fifty kilometers, then landed to collect data.

This area had short grasses and forbs, interspersed with rocks of all sizes. Armored willows were here, but not as thick as on the other side.

The team set about making notes, taking samples and entering data. K'ndar found plenty of rocks to make a cairn. He had run out of designs to make each individual cairn memorable, and was now up to three cairns in various configurations.

He was grateful that they'd left the cliff edge behind. The wind had dropped to tolerable levels. He was glad of that, as no wind meant insects. There was signs of wherries and birds everywhere, in the form of feathers, nests, broken egg shells, and, of course, guano. 

He found enough samples to fill all his collection bags. 

The avians themselves had fled when they landed, and were now swirling overhead, complaining of their interruptions. 

Siskin took off from his shoulder, intent on catching one. But the avians weren't  afraid of him, and several lunged at him. He turned and fled, landing on Raventh's back. 

You're safe with me, little one Raventh laughed. 

K'ndar could see that the birds were not only nesting in the open, but one species dug burrows in amongst the rocks. He knelt down and looked inside one. The wherry inside was the same size as Siskin. She cocked her head and looked at him, as curious about him as he was of her.

He turned and called, "D'nis, would you please take pictures of this burrowing wherry?"

D'nis came over with his molecular camera and, kneeling, took several pictures. He rocked back  on his heels to see how they came out…and said, "There's something in there, with the wherry," 

K'ndar looked over his shoulder to see the picture. Deep in the burrow, a pair of eyes showed, mere pinpoints of reflected light, like those of a cat.  

He looked into the burrow again, wondering if he should try and evict the rightful occupant. 

She didn't look too interested in leaving it, so he left her alone. 

After a few moments, he saw something glint in the gloom behind the avian.

Eyes. The reflection lasting but a moment, as the creature blinked.

What in the world? It wasn't a bird, or a wherry. Their eyes were set differently in their heads. 

D'nis moved as close as he could to the entrance of the burrow.

"Excuse me, ma'am, but could you move just a little, to the right, please?" he said to the wherry,  unconcerned that someone might think him strange for talking to it.

But as if she understood, the wherry stood up, shook herself, and instead of moving aside, passed out of the burrow right between the two men.

"Thank you," D'nis said, as she took wing.

"I'll have to remember that," K'ndar said, laughing. 

"Phew, this burrow stinks," D'nis said, laying on his belly and shoving the camera into the opening, "I don't want to inhale this stuff for too long. Let me set it to flash," he said, adjusting the camera.

The flash lit up the burrow. It went back a LONG way, far longer than it appeared at first.

There was an animal at the back, curled up.

Suddenly, the animal charged, spitting and hissing through long, sharp fangs. K'ndar fell over backwards in reaction as the animal ran right over D'nis's back and vanished into the vegetation.

"What the shards was that?" D'nis said, rolling onto his side. He'd almost dropped the camera. 

Hope I got that shot! he thought.

K'ndar got to his feet and looked in the direction the animal had fled, but it was long gone.

"I think…I think it's the same animal I saw on the other island," he said. He'd just caught a glimpse, but that was of what appeared to be extremely sharp teeth.

"Did you get a picture of it?" he asked, hoping.

D'nis stood up, reflecting that the rocks he'd rolled onto were a lot harder than he'd like.

But he looked at the camera, and saw that, no..all it had caught was the same thing K'ndar had seen…teeth. He said as much. 

"But teeth..they can tell a lot, "K'ndar said. "I can already tell it's a carnivore, with those fangs? But …why it hasn't eaten the seabird, I don't know."

Siskin is following it Raventh said.

GOOD LAD! K'ndar called, despite the fact that the fire lizard was out of hearing range.

He's lost it. He's coming back.

The blue fire lizard chittered and landed on K'ndar's shoulder.

"Good lad, Siskin. What did you see?" he asked the blue.

Siskin projected an image of a silver colored animal. Four legs, no wings, just as K'ndar had seen before it. It was long, like a tunnel snake, and moved like lightning between the roots of the armored willows and grasses. 

Greta and D'mitran, having seen K'ndar fall backward, hurried up. No, they hadn't seen the animal. They looked at the pictures. 

"Think Landing will have some more information about this beast?"  she asked.

"I hope so," K'ndar said.

D'nis stood up, and as he did, his camera pinged. Time to go home.

"Okay, folks, let's tie things up and go back to the Observatory. It's been a day, it has."