Chap. 228 The Burglar

Chap. 228 The Burglar

"It looks pretty stable, K'ndar. You might want to drop that crate downwind of the composting station," G'aryk said.

He, his wife Leana and K'ndar had launched with their loads. Raventh hovered, getting the feel of the heavy crate beneath his belly.

"Good idea!" K'ndar called.

Below them, Harve waved at them.

"See you, K'ndar!!"

"I'll return the ropes tomorrow!" he called.

To Landing, please? Downwind of the stables and the composting station.

It stinks!

_____________________________________________________________________

His arms full of harness, he tried to get the dragon bay door to open by waving his elbow at the wave plate.

It didn't work. Sighing, he placed his harness on the ground when a sound from the inside made him stop.

The walls were thick enough to make the sound just barely audible, but it was unmistakable. It sounded like something wooden hitting the floor.

"Siskin? Do you hear that?" he asked, knowing the lizard's hearing was far better than his.

The blue fire lizard turned his head, focusing his hearing. He chipped softly in agreement.

Someone was in his quarters. The repairmen weren't scheduled to be there. Even if they had been, he would have been contacted the day before.

He quickly went around the building to check the human door. It was closed.

Did you see someone go into our weyr? he pinged Raventh, who was drinking deeply from the water trough in the dragon meadow.

No.

Someone is in our weyr.

I'm coming.

On this side of the building, the sound was much louder. Someone was in Raventh's bay.

Anger flared in his mind. The concept of someone entering his home without his knowledge or permission was so alien to him that he was unsure what to do. No one at Kahrain-or any Weyr, for that matter, would ever enter someone's private quarters without permission. It just wasn't done. You couldn't lock a curtain, so the concept of entering without permission was a ingrained cultural taboo. Sometimes little children wandered in, but it was always for some harmless reason, and they quickly were trained to not enter without asking.

Things at Landing were a little different, in that workmen/repairmen would come in during one's absence...but you were notified early, and could be there when they arrived.

He listened, Siskin listened.

Ah. Definitely.

He pushed a vision of Siskin teleporting into the bay into the lizards mind.

Don't let the person see you. Show me who is in there and what he is doing he said.

Siskin chirped, always up for spying. He launched and vanished.

Within moments, he sent his view back.

Oh, yes. There was the person in the dragon bay. He'd opened the crates K'ndar had used to move with. K'ndar saw the person stuff something into his shirt.

Marsh.

Siskin. ATTACK.

Siskin's motions were a sudden blur.

K'ndar ran around the corner to the dragon bay door.

He heard screaming. For several moments, he heard the teen blundering about in the bay, then the dragon's bay door whooshed open and Marsh ran out, Siskin riding the teen as if he were atop a bucking horse, clawing the teen's face.

His arms flailing trying to dislodge Siskin, Marsh ran blindly, straight towards Raventh.

Siskin. To me, lad! he sent. The blue fire lizard obeyed and flew back to K'ndar, chortling in glee.

Want me to stop him? Raventh asked, sounding amused.

He's all yours.

Marsh saw him at the last second and tried to stop, but skidded on the wet grass and fell.

Hold him, Raventh. I'm coming. Oh, and call Motanith's Francie, I need witnesses.

Already done. Motanith says Francie is coming right now. She's on her horse. How hard should I push on him?

Only a little. Don't kill him. Scare him, that's okay.

Raventh...who, like all dragons, was incapable of killing a human even if ordered, laughed. He rushed towards Marsh, stopping just as the teen regained his feet.

The teen froze. The dragon was in his face.

Roaring, Raventh spread his wings, tripling his size. With a mighty forward thrust of his wings, he blew Marsh backwards. He carefully placed one forefoot on Marsh's chest. It covered the teen from neck to navel.

His bones are so light. I could easily kill him with just a little pressure. He's nothing like a wherry. They're hard to kill. There is something hard on his belly. It feels like a rock.

K'ndar ambled towards Raventh, enjoying the spectacle. Marsh was whimpering. Siskin launched and flew to Raventh's head, still chortling.

Raventh mantled his wings over the teen. He lowered his head to just out of arm's reach, his eyes whirling an alarming red.

He huffed a lungful of breath into Marsh's face. Dragons do not brush their teeth. Ever.

Marsh gagged.

K'ndar stopped just at the edge of Raventh's wings. The dragon raised them and furled them alongside. K'ndar's boot was just inches from the top of Marsh's head. The teen could not move. Nor could he see who was behind him.

"Well, well, Raventh, what have you caught here? It's a skulking tunnel snake! Who in the world would have the audacity to go into someone's home without permission? By the egg, it's Marsh!! Did you find what you were looking for in my quarters, you little shit?"

The teen's eye's rolled upwards but not enough to be able to see K'ndar.

"I...was there to check..to check on the repairs...''

"My arse you were. Orlon fixed the wave plates last week."

"I..can't talk..."

"Oh, why? You certainly had no problems talking the other day. Sneering at me, among other things. Oh, and let's not forget that shifty little hack you engineered on my datalink. You've been eavesdropping, what? Knew I'd be out of the area? But you lost track of time, didn't you. Can't talk, eh? Is it because you have a dragon on your chest? My, why would a dragon do something like that to someone...unless that lout was a THIEF? Dragons do not like thieves," he snarled.

"I...didn't..."

"Didn't WHAT? Did you get lost? Suddenly forget that my quarters were MINE? And rummaging about in my belongings? Searching for what?

"No, it's not that way, it's not...he's so heavy.."

"Nah, he's not heavy. You haven't even begun to feel heavy. He's being gentle as a kitten with you."

"Get him off me."

"Hmm. That sounds like an order. I don't take orders from thieves. Nor does my dragon."

"Please," Marsh gasped.

"Ah, you do have a scrap of manners! Too late, arsehole. You have to understand, thief, that I'm not on your chest. My DRAGON is, and he's not happy with you. Not at all."

"Please, please," Marsh begged, "he's crushing my ribs."

"Might do you some good, I'm thinking. Maybe you'll remember this, next time you get the urge to steal? Oh, but probably not. You don't strike me as someone who has a gram of ethics," K'ndar said, his steam building.

He looked at Raventh. The dragons eyes were whirling orange.

"I can hardly breathe," Marsh whined.

"What? That didn't sound very polite," K'ndar said.

"I said please, now get him off me!"

"Can't do that, Marsh. I don't take orders from you. Nor does my dragon. He's pissed at you, you rooting through our home. He wonders, what were you doing there? Stealing? He's not really inclined to let up a bit of pressure," K'ndar said. "He's a big dragon, I can't make him let you up. You have to give him a good reason."

Marsh started to cry.

"Oh, now that's not going to work, laddyboy. Tears don't work on a dragon."

"I'm not crying, he's going to squash me," Marsh said.

"Hmm. Oh. You're lucky, Marsh. Do you know what a dragon does when he's caught a bird? If he's not angry, he kills the bird and then burns its feathers off. But when he's pissed, I mean REALLY angry, like Raventh is right now, sometimes a dragon gets the two steps mixed up. I wonder how it would feel if he roasts your clothes off, what's left of them, anyway."

"Nooooooooooo!"

He heard hoofbeats.

Francie galloped up on Donal, the most beautiful horse in the world.

She reined up a ways from Raventh. Donal was not afraid of dragons, but it was still wise to maintain a little distance. Motanith, her green dragon, flew in and landed on the other side of Raventh. Her three fire lizards circled overhead. Siskin joined them and excitedly related his story.

"Well, what a surprise," she said. Motanith had told her what had transpired. "Raventh has caught himself a skulker!"

"A thief, Francie. A thief," K'ndar growled.

"I was just looking..." Marsh gasped.

"Looking for what? Money? You've got bad reputation, Marsh, just this is the first time you've actually been caught," Francie said. She turned to K'ndar, a wicked glint in her eye.

"Well, K'ndar? Raventh's hungry, I bet. Wonder what he's going to do...squish this crawler or just eat him right off?"

K'ndar grinned at Francie, immediately getting the game. "I told Marsh how a dragon eats a bird," he said.

"Oooh, that's not pretty. Mind if I don't watch? It turns my stomach, especially the screaming," Francie said, her eyes dancing.

I think he's having trouble breathing. Beg me to let up and I'll let him go

K'ndar stepped over the teens head to get a better view. He leaned down and looked at the teen's bloodied face...the scratches bled freely but weren't deep enough to scar.

"My, but all your girlfriends are going to be repulsed by your face, Marsh. All those scars, oh my!" Francie said.

"He's lucky, " K'ndar said, "Siskin was going for his eyes."

"Now let me think. You want my dragon to let you up, right?"

"Please...get him off me, please."

"He learned to say please? Amazing," Francie said.

"Marsh, you have to give him some reason to do so. Right now he thinks you'll run, fact is, he wants you to run. He wants to chase you and let my fire lizard rip the skin off your back," he said.

"I..won't run..promise.."

"And you'll confess?"

"Uh huh.."

K'ndar looked at Raventh with a big grin.

"Raventh, would you please let this crawler up? Please?"

Raventh's eyes whirled an impish green.

He didn't move his foot.

"PLEASE, Raventh? I know you're very angry, but please don't eat him. I don't like smelling burnt flesh," K'ndar said.

Raventh heaved a theatrical sigh. He lowered his head to within inches of Marsh's face. He rumbled, deep, deep, the sound coming as if from the bowels of the earth. He removed his paw from the teen's chest. He looked up at K'ndar with what could only be described as a smirk. K'ndar bit his lip to keep from laughing.

Marsh took a deep breath.

"Stand up," K'ndar ordered.

Marsh struggled to his feet. He bent over, breathing deeply.

Siskin eeped and flew to K'ndar's shoulder. Francie's three fire lizards swirled over her head, then landed on Motanith. They were suddenly subdued.

The reason flew over all their heads.

It was Fafhrd, Grafton's bronze fire lizard. He flew with a regal air.

"Ah, there's Fafhrd. Marsh," she said, from her horse, "Looks like Grafton knows, now."

He wants to land on me. I know Siskin and the others are subordinate to this one, but I don't take orders from a fire lizard.

Of course not. It's up to you.

He wants to watch what you do with Marsh and then report to his human.

Grafton is his human, and he's a very important human. Life will go much easier for us both if we treat Grafton like a weyrleader. Tell him we caught Marsh in our weyr.

"What were you doing in my weyr? My quarters? Tell the truth or I'll have Siskin...now he's got three friends...to work you over," K'ndar snapped.

"I wasn't in your quarters," Marsh said, defiant.

"Was I dreaming, then? Didn't I see you run out of my quarters, with my fire lizard on your back? Lies!! Siskin!"

The blue fire lizard went for the teen. Marsh screamed and swatted him away.

Francie's three swirled over his head. For a moment four fire lizards were swirling around the teen's head, hissing.

Something fell from the front of his shirt.

"Let's try this again. What were you doing in my quarters? And may I remind you, Grafton is hearing everything you say. Understand?"

The teen hung his head. "Nuthin'," he mumbled.

Francie reached for the rock and handed it to K'ndar.

"What is this?"

Recognizing it, he said, shocked, "It's my opal rock. It's quite valuable."

Controlling his fury, he said, "What else did you steal?"

"Nothing, I found that rock in the forest," the teen said.

"No, you didn't, you stole it from my quarters."

Marsh shrugged.

"Leave me alone. You got your rock. Now I want to go home, I'm all bloody, you and your fire lizard have scarred me for life," Marsh said.

"No doubt. But not right now," K'ndar said. Now what to do with this punk?

"Get his datalink, K'ndar, that will tell us more than he will," Francie said.

K'ndar reached for the boy's datalink pouch. Marsh pushed him away.

The four fire lizards pounced on him. As one, they shoved Marsh til he fell onto his back, then pinned each limb to the ground.

"Very clever, lizards!!" K'ndar said. He reached down and pulled the datalink out of the pouch.

"You trained them to do that, Francie?"

"No," she said, her eyes glowing with pride, "But from now on, I will!"

"'Ere, now, wots this?" a male voice said behind them.

K'ndar looked back to see two large men, with Grafton between them, one hand on the arm of one of the men. In the other he held a sturdy cane. Fafhrd flew to his shoulder, chittering. "I see," Grafton said.

Francie said, "Security! And Grafton! Thank you for showing up!"

K'ndar handed the datalink to one of the men. "I took this off this punk," he said. He'd had no idea Landing HAD security personnel. The man activated the data link.

"Hmmm, this datalink tells me you, Marsh, were in K'ndar's quarters, going through is belongings as if you owned 'em. What were looking for?"

The teen, defiant, said, "Nuthin, just looking. My father said it was okay."

Grafton said, gravely, "I doubt that. I know your father. And I know you."

"That's not what the datalink recorded, lout, your every move is here. Fancy a thief doing that! You went through K'ndar's quarters, looking for things. Under his bunk even! Opening books. Picking up a rock and stuffing it in your shirt. Data says it's an opal. Opals are expensive, Marsh. Why did you take K'ndar's belongings? Why did you go into his quarters uninvited?"

Marsh closed his eyes. "I don't remember," he said, insolent.

Grafton said something to Fafhrd. The bronze chipped and the four fire lizards holding Marsh down released their hold on the teen.

The teen sat up.

"Now I'll ask you, Marsh. Why did you go into K'ndar's quarters uninvited?" Grafton said. His tone said he would brook no lies.

"I don't know," Marsh said, petulantly. He wiped the blood that was trickling down into his eyes.

One of the men shook his head, controlling his irritation. "At it again, Marsh? Appears you don't learn very quickly."

"I think you do know, Marsh," said Grafton. "You're a thief, young man, and now that you've turned sixteen, you've crossed that boundary between child and adult. Now you will suffer the consequences of your crimes as an adult. Earlier, gentler measures such as reasoning with you have not improved your behavior. Now you will be treated with harsher measures than when you were a 'child'."

Fafhrd turned his head towards K'ndar in unison with that of Grafton. K'ndar felt a strange chill..it was eerie to see the fire lizard acting as the man's eyes.

"This isn't his first foray into someone's home. He's become an unrepentant thief. It's just the first time he's been caught red handed in the act."

Francie snickered. "Looks like you've been through the grinder, lout. All clawed up!!"

Marsh tried to spit, but came up dry. One of the men clouted him.

"Do that again and I'll shut your mouth for you," he hissed,"permanently."

They pulled him to his feet. One of the men held him while the other searched his pockets.

He pulled out a small roll of hide from one of them and handed it to K'ndar.

K'ndar didn't have to unroll it to know what it was.

His mind exploded in fury. He lunged for Marsh, but Grafton's cane came up to rest gently on his chest.

The part of his mind that wasn't inflamed obeyed the cane. The rest of his mind, though, was volcanic. "I'll kill you, you little thief," he hissed.

Marsh snickered.

"Your girl friend sounds awfully young, K'ndar," he sneered.

"Girlfriend? That roll was from my six year old sister."

The other security guard clouted Marsh.

"Don't know when to stop digging, do you, Marsh?"

Grafton moved the cane's tip from K'ndar's chest to Marsh's.

"Insolence will get you nowhere, Marsh. Last week, and the month before, and the year before, I and others have tried to reach you. We've been easy on you, Marsh, and you've not once turned from this path. We are not fools, Marsh, despite your convictions. I've run out of chances to give you. You have shackled your own feet, Marsh. Sirs, please put him in confinement until Administration decides what to do with him," he said.

"With pleasure, sir." With one move, both men took Marsh's arms and pushed him forward.

"My dad will have it out with you, K'ndar," Marsh shouted, as the men took him away.

"You'll be lucky if your father doesn't banish you himself, lout, the trouble you've caused him," one of the men said.

"D'ya like mining, Marsh? Hope so, as you're going to find out real soon," the other said, laughing.

K'ndar's head throbbed as his anger receded.

Grafton looked at him through Fafhrd's eyes. K'ndar forced himself to speak to the fire lizard's face rather than Grafton's.

"I'm glad you held me back, sir," he said, "I wanted to kill him."

Francie nodded in understanding. So did Grafton.

"Very soon, he'll probably wish you had," the man said.