Chap. 178 Final Act of Revenge

Chap. 178 Final Act of Revenge

Raventh landed gently in the bowl of their weyr and shuffled to one side to allow Rastabenth, C'val's blue dragon room.

Once down, both riders unharnessed their dragons.

I'll be in the dragon pool, taking a bath Raventh said, I'm all dusty

Want me to come and scrub between your wings?

Not necessary. Most of the dust is on my face and front, anyway. Siskin does that better than you. He knows where a dragon itches. Besides, there's a lot of fire lizards there right now, he'll have help if he needs it. Besides, I know you want to bathe, too.

I do, then get something to eat. The sweep just seem timed so that we missed meal times every spot we went.

Raventh checked all around him, then leaped into the sky to fly to the dragon pool.

Rastabenth was right behind him.

K'ndar sighed. "I never get tired of seeing dragons fly off on their own," he said.

C'val pulled off his goggles and helmet. "It's impressive, isn't it? It's a wonder there's anyone on the planet who doesn't want to be a dragonrider," he said.

"I remember the first dragonriders I ever met..you and D'mitran! I was so awed…"

C'val laughed. "That was a memorable stop for us. Your father…"

"Was a bastard and now he's dead, and Pern and my family are all the better for it," K'ndar said.

He scratched his head. How did I get sand in my hair when I was wearing a helmet?

"I hadn't planned on getting this dirty," C'val said, "where in the world did that dust storm came from? It feels like I have the entire beach in my hair. I better go now, before Sinala gets home. She'll have a fit if I should walk into the weyr bringing half the desert with me."

"I thought she was out on Search?"

"She was, at least, she was scheduled for it, then Ops pulled her off for something else. We're so shorthanded, lately, I'm hoping that they're right and that Mirth does lay a clutch soon. It'll be a year before the resulting Weyrlings are up and fully trained for duty, but anything will help," he said.
He brushed sand off his riding jacket. "Thanks for the help, K'ndar. You make a good sweep partner," he said.

"Thank you. If you want, I'll report in to Ops for both of us. No need for two of us to do it," K'ndar said, "I have to do it anyway, this was F'mart's week for sweeps, but he's still at Landing, so I pulled his shift for him. I'm wondering if he's ever coming back!"

"Truth be told, judging from what Sinala's told me in the past about F'mart, I think I'd rather…well, that's gossip, nevermind." C'val said.

"No need, I know what you mean. He was a real pain in the arse, a bully and a mouthy one. But he's done a lot of changing, someone's been 'talking' to him. He's…well, he's three years younger than me, so I can sort of understand what he's going through."

C'val looked doubtful. "I believe you, but still…you're a good rider and a good man to have as my wingman, K'ndar. I'll take you up on your offer to do the reporting, thank you very much!
This way, I can get my shower in and have dinner started when Sinala comes in. This way, even if I leave some sand, she might not notice," he said, laughing. He rolled his harness up and over his shoulder, and headed for his weyr.

K'ndar reflected on how happy C'val looked, now that he was partnered with Sinala, who'd been his classmate. He was going to ask him what to do, if anything? about the discord between his friends Lindea and Risal. No, wait. It's all emanating from that one encounter and all from Lindea. What in the world? Maybe I should talk to a woman. Siena, his Weyrwoman? No. She's busy as a one legged man in an asskicking contest. Maybe Hariko? Well, maybe, but Hariko would insist he was skin and bones and eat, lad, eat! No. Mum? Oh, NO, not Mum. Love her I do, but …no, I don't want to discuss this with Mum. She'd be saying something like, "how many grandchildren can I expect?" I ..don't want kids, I know. I don't know who to talk to, really, or if I should even try. Most men, when asked how to deal with 'women', just roll their eyes and say the same thing: "beats me".

The watch dragon called out to an airborne dragon, angling in for a landing.

K'ndar made his way to the walls of the bowl, to clear the way. The incoming dragon was a big one, even for a bronze. It had to be Kenth, with F'mart.

"Incoming!" he heard F'mart shout.

"Clear!" K'ndar called, rushing to stand against the bowl's wall. If only the ancients, the ones who'd carved the bowl out of rock, had realized how big dragons would eventually be. This one was barely large enough to hold a pair of dragons. A gold and a bronze together would be too risky, given how large they are. The Weyrling training bowl was much, much larger, but farther from Ops, and on the other side of the cliff.

Kenth landed with a mighty swoosh of backwinging. In the relatively confined bowl, he looked enormous. Sand blew up from the backwash of his wings. Someone had neglected to sweep the bowl's floor.

F'mart climbed down, then turned to unbuckle his passenger.

Wonder who that is, he thought. The passenger gingerly climbed down and then turned and patting Kenth's forearm, said "Thank you, Kenth."

F'mart reached under the bronze's belly to unbuckle the harness. Once it was loose, he pulled it over the dragon's back. Kenth shook himself to help it off. F'mart pulled it away. It seemed like a kilometer's worth of leather straps. Yet another reason I'm happy to have a brown 'on the small side', he reflected.

"Back off, Kenth's going to launch," he said to the passenger.

"Raventh's already at the pool,"K'ndar called, knowing a dragon wanting a bath when he saw one. Kenth leaped, his wings already grabbing air to lift him over the weyr to the dragon pool beyond. A large cloud of dust blew over K'ndar.

"Someone needs to sweep this bowl!" he said, irritated.

"I'll do it," said the passenger.

F'mart grinned. "No doubt! We're always willing to have a volunteer," he said.

Suddenly K'ndar recognized the passenger.

"By the egg, it's Harve! Look at you!" he cried in astonishment.

The boy straightened up. "Hello, K'ndar," he said.

"You aren't the same boy from three weeks ago, look at you!" he said, amazed at the change.

The boy stood taller than he'd remembered. He looked far happier and in better shape than a few weeks ago.

F'mart chuckled. "He's put on kilos, got a good bath, a proper haircut and clothes."

"And physical therapy, K'ndar, Marl …look what Marl did for me." The boy walked in a straight line away from them, did a turn and came back. He still walked stiffly, as if his back hurt, but he was taking full strides and his legs were tracking straight and true.

F'mart couldn't keep from grinning.

"It was you who did it, Harve, don't dismiss yourself. You've worked your arse off. Marl had to make you stop and let your body recover, remember?"

Harve nodded. "But I don't WANT to stop. Not until I can run."

K'ndar said, "Did it hurt you to ride Kenth astride, this time?"

Harve shrugged. "Yes, but not so bad. Not as bad as the first time, I forced my legs wide to ride Kenth. That hurt! Now I know EVERYONE has to..he's BIG," the boy said, enamored with F'mart's dragon. "How did you know it hurt?"

"Raventh told me," K'ndar said. "Dragons don't keep secrets. They gossip," he said, laughing. Then he sobered. "But even so, Harve, it's wonderful to see you. You look fit and healthy!"

Harve smiled shyly. "That first bath!I scrubbed and scrubbed. The water had to be changed three times. I had no skin left when I finally felt clean enough. I think I'll bathe every day for the rest of my life."

"Been into Ops, yet, K'ndar?" F'mart asked. His eyes said he wanted to discuss something out of Harve's hearing.

"Not yet. I pulled your sweep duty, you were scheduled for it this week," K'ndar said.

"Thanks," F'mart said, "I am sorry I wasn't back earlier to pull it, but,"

"He was helping me, K'ndar. Especially with the physical therapy! I'm better now!" Harve said.

K'ndar raised a hand. "That's fine with me, Harve. You chose well, with F'mart," he turned to F'mart and added, "not to worry, you'll pay me back someday. For now, though, let's go report into Ops."

"Harve, do you mind waiting for us here? Flight Ops is a small office, and I bet there's not much room in it for all of us," he said.

"I don't mind. I just want to look around. And get something to eat," he said.

F'mart laughed. "This won't take long, I promise. Then we'll go get some dinner, and I'll have Hariko..she's our headwoman, find a bunk for you. Now remember, when you hear the watchdragon, see the green up there? When her rider calls out "incoming" or something like that, make room, like K'ndar there, stand against the wall or duck into that alcove, because a dragon is coming into land. You can call "clear!" when you are, if you want. It's exciting to see dragons coming in, I know I never get tired of it," F'mart said.

"Okay,"Harve said, "I'll be right here." He pressed his back against the wall and scanned the sky for dragons.

F'mart collected K'ndar with his eyes and they headed for Flight Ops.

As soon as they were out of sight of the boy, F'mart said, "Surprised you, didn't he?"

"I'll say! I didn't recognize him!"

"He's worked and worked, K'ndar, I've never seen a boy so determined to walk, to learn, to be normal. The first few days, he could only eat little meals. His stomach was shrunken, and Marl said he could only handle simple, 'easily digested foods, a bland diet," for a month. The lad wouldn't hear it, though. Second or third day, he started feeding like a starved dragon. You could almost watch him inflate, like a dried sponge sucking up water. He's lucky, Marl said, despite the wounds on his legs, he's young enough that his bones are still pliable enough that he'll eventually be as close to normal as he can be, as long as he keeps doing the exercises."

F'mart pulled him aside.

"The first two nights, he didn't want to be alone. He had nightmares every night for a couple weeks. He was afraid, K'ndar, afraid it was all a dream and he'd wake up and still be on that shitspeck of an island. He didn't trust anyone, except me. And Kenth. He adores Kenth.

They have a 'counselor' there, at Landing, not Marl. She's an older woman, she just wanted to 'talk' with Harve. He resisted, but I told him he needed to talk things out. He wanted Kenth to be with them. Not ME! So they did the counseling in the dragon meadow. Imagine that! Kenth told me what he said, of course, but…he got a lot of comfort from Kenth.

They had a session every single day, sometimes he'd come back all tear streaked, but what she told me was that she was walking him through the process of overcoming the emotional trauma. He's a strong willed lad, K'ndar, she said that he is going to be alright. She said once the dreams stopped, he be on the road to recovery. She was right, she's very good. The dreams stopped about ten days ago, he said.

He's gone through some rough times, K'ndar. Shipfish and his mates, before he killed them, managed to kill off his family, the ones that survived the shipwreck. His dad, the captain. His Mum's sister, the woman in the cave, was the ship's cook. His older sister, who was first mate, and two members of the crew. And Harve. That's all that survived the wreck. K'ndar, this kid, he's-Kenth says he's 'unusual, that there is a greatness about him."

"Meaning, how?"

"I don't know, K'ndar, but I can see it. You know, of course, that the island's been put off limits for all of Pern, yes?"

"Yes. Not only that, I told the dolphins about Shipfish killing them, and gave them the necklace, to take to Tillek."

F'mart's eyebrows rose. "How did they take that?"

"It was intense. They were shocked. I didn't tell them about the clearing with the skulls, I didn't think they'd need that burden. They thanked me. They thanked us-the team."

F'mart looked left and right, to make sure no one was listening.

"K'ndar..this is for us only to know this, okay?"

Surprised-for F'mart had never been surreptitious, K'ndar nodded mutely.

"The island is off limits. But Harve begged me to take him back there, one last time. I had to, K'ndar, the look in his eyes, the urgency in his voice…there was something, one last thing he had to do, before letting it all go," F'mart said. "So, don't say you know anything about what I'm about to relate. If anyone finds out, I'll take the heat. But I have to share this with you, it's…it's incredible. And fun!"

K'ndar listened, entranced.

"Harve, K'ndar, he's smart. He's keen as a razor. We're walking to the dragon meadow to come here. Harve mentioned, all casual like, if dragons could flame just anytime, whenever they want? I said no, we have to feed them firestone. He went flat, and I remembered how he was shouting for joy when we fired the wreck.
You know what thrill it is! I thought, he wants to see the dragon flame. I had a few stones left, fed them to Kenth. I figured we get out to somewhere and just let him flame. But no, Harve.

Once we were airborne, he asked- no, DEMANDED we go back to the clearing. It's off limits, I said, to all of us, Harve, why do you want to go BACK? 'There's tools in the cave, he said, there's things in the cave that Shipfish can use to get the chains off.' Shipfish had a cozy little nest in the cave, not for Harve or the rest, no! They slept outside, in the rain. 'There's things in the cave that he stole from my family, my crew', Harve said. 'He has our nets, our hand-made fishing nets. He kept my father's logbooks, he has the We're Here's charts and maps.' Then he started to cry, but it wasn't a boy's tears, it was a man's tears of frustration. 'He even stole my dad's seaboots, tore them off his legs after he murdered my dad. They don't fit him, but he keeps them as a 'trophy', just like all the skulls of the people and dolphins' he murdered,' he said. He was furious at that. Trophies! The tools, the charts, the maps, captains' logs: that's how Shipfish was able to navigate between islands; it was how the managed to build a small boat from the wreckage of the ship."

K'ndar's eyes widened.

"I had to take him, K'ndar, and that's why I'm swearing you to secrecy. He had to go back and finish the job, protocol and Landing be shaffed," F'mart said, "HAD to. Non-negotiable."

K'ndar nodded. "I know NOTHING!" he swore.

"So we popped back to the island," F'mart started, but K'ndar interrupted him.

"So…he…walked to the cave? With Shipfish still there?" he said, shocked.

"Oh, no, K'ndar. Not even," F'mart said, stifling a conspiratory grin, "he didn't get off Kenth's back, there."

"What! You didn't land in the clearing! No way could Kenth land there, it was not enough room for Raventh, and he's far smaller than Kenth!" K'ndar protested.

F'mart's grin popped out.

"You're right. I didn't dare land Kenth in that clearing. But listen, K'ndar. We came out of between right over the same beach, next to the lagoon. We saw Shipfish, still in chains! wading in the lagoon, looking for the keys, I think."

K'ndar laughed. "He'll never find them, Siskin took them far out into the sea, not the lagoon."

"We know that. Let the bugger search. No, K'ndar, once we pinpointed where Shipfish was, the boys says, "land, please?" We landed near the tree line. Shipfish never thought to look behind himself.

Now, get this, K'ndar. Harve! This boy, K'ndar, he's got a plan. He's had four years? to formulate strategy and plan revenge. He told me his aunt said, watch for dragons. Always hope for dragons, they will help us. So he'd incorporated US into his plans. Or one of them…So the kid climbs down from Kenth and picks up eight, maybe ten coconuts. Stuffs them in his shirt. I thought, okay, this is strange, he's got a hankering for coconuts after them being just about the only thing he's eaten for four years? No.

He climbs back aboard-not easy with all those coconuts, and says, let's go to the clearing.

I tell him, Kenth is too big to land there and he says, I know that. What I want is for us to hover over the clearing, as low as it can be safely done, and I'll throw the coconuts into the mouth of the cave and, at the same time, Kenth flames them. That will start everything in the cave on fire, and will burn everything," F'mart said, his expression one of admiration.

"Whoa," K'ndar said, gawping at the ingenuity.

"K'ndar, it worked. Like a charm. Kenth had heard the boy's plan and said he could do it. We hovered low, by the stars, his claws were touching the treetops. It was scary, K'ndar-he's so big he hovers no better than a cow, but, K'ndar, Harve leans over just ahead of the wings, throws the coconuts like he was bowling, flit flit flit! and yells, hit them Kenth! Kenth hits them with a big tongue of flame and they're burning RIGHT NOW. They looked like fireballs! Most of them went straight as an arrow into the cave, burning, not like coals, burning with high flames, and the stuff in the cave catches fire right now. Two of the coconuts didn't make it into the cave, but, K'ndar, did you know bones burn? They landed next to the piles of bones under the pikes and whoosh, they go up, too! Within minutes, the entire clearing is burning with flames dragon high, so hot we had to rise up fast. Good thing hot air rises! The boy is shrieking with joy, and tears, Kenth is laughing, and I'm thinking, by the stars, what a weapon! Coconuts are firebombs!"