Chap. 246 Risky Recovery

Chap. 246 Risky Recovery

K'ndar, squatting on his haunches on the very brink of the cliff, wondered what to do.

1000 meters below him was the few shattered bones of a dragon and its rider. But the rider's backpack was above the waterline.

G. The rider was named G something. If anything survived the crash and the water, it will be in the backpack.

Common sense says it's too risky to attempt a recovery of any sort, he thought. No ship will dare come down the Strait, with its raging current. Dolphins feel even more antipathy. Dangling a rope over the side? 1000 meters of rope is heavy, let's not forget that you have to attach it to the backpack somehow. We've been trained in various forms of rescue and recovery, but never in a situation like this. Not with winds as strong as in the strait. I bet that's how the dragon team got killed in the first place.

But not today Raventh said.

I know. Today they're so calm we went flying down the strait. But I am afraid. I was afraid when you got so close to the surface of the water. What if a downdraft had hit us?

We would have gone into the water. Maybe.

And then ended up like her? Down there on the rocks?

He felt Raventh shy from the suggestion. Hey, dragon, it churns my stomach, too.

Why do you say her?

I know who is down there. And so do you, now.

Earth. Her rider Greta.

Yes.

Is it necessary to recover bones?

No. It's not necessary to do anything but report our suspicions. I knew she was too brave for her own good. We thought she'd tried to board the Yokohama. Maybe she tried. And died and fell here?

I don't know. Poor Earth.

Yes. Which is why I'm unwilling to go down there again, to recover anything.

But-I can do it. It was easy today, the winds are moderate. The cushion off the water is strong. See the birds and the wherries, they don't even need to flap their wings, they coast along that cushion and only when they're higher up do they need to fly.

Raventh, I can't ask you to do that. I can't even imagine how we'd recover anything. Have you land? There's not enough room for a dragon, even if you landed on those tree trunks. It's so close to the cliff side, we'd be stranded. Once you'd land, you'd never be able to launch without breaking your wings.

Yes. But look at how close Siskin got to the remains.

He's too small to lift that backpack! If it's Greta's, I promise you it's full of rocks.

Raventh was quiet for several moments. Then he said,

Remember in Weyrlingschool, when we did recovery? You dropped a rope from me. It hooked on a...it was like a human but it wasn't alive.

A 'dummy'. Yes. I remember, we dropped a hook onto the harnessed dummy and pulled it up. But that was supposing that the rescued person was able to don a harness, or we could land and hook him up. This isn't so easy a rescue.

Yes. And the human and the dragon are dead and nothing but a few bones. But I hear you, you want the backpack, only to make sure of who they were.

I do. But it's not worth endangering you or me.

But Siskin can go down there. He can put a hook on the backpack.

It's so far down there, Raventh! That's a lot of rope to pull up this cliff and I don't have it! And would Siskin understand?

Of course he would. You send him images of him putting the hook on the backpack.

Raventh. He can do it, he's smart. But I still don't have that much rope.

You don't need it. Siskin puts the hook on the backpack. There's a dragonlength of rope on the hook. On the pulling end, there's a stick. Or something that I can hold onto. Siskin carries the stick up to me, I'm hovering. Or he can bring it to you. Either one of us can lift the backpack, no matter how many rocks are in it.

K'ndar's jaw dropped. His mind, already racing from the effects of the time zone cure, went into warp drive. Rope and a hook. He hadn't brought his recovery gear, but there has to be some back at Observatory 2.

By the egg, you are the smartest dragon I've ever had the privilege of knowing.

I know. I am Raventh!

But even if we could, should we?

Attempt this? Why not?

Well....

I'm wiling to try.

I don't know if I am. But I want to.

Now you are confusing me. Let me try?

K'ndar felt a surge of pride in this wonderful companion of his. How had he ever lived without him? How would he live without him?

Promise me, dragon. PROMISE on your eggshell, if ANYTHING goes wrong, we abandon the plan and forget about it. Promise.

Raventh laughed.

I didn't hear a promise, K'ndar said, petulantly.

What's 'promise'?

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"You want WHAT? Who are you, anyway?"

The first mate of the Sea Dragon looked at him askance.

I don't have time to argue or cajole, he thought, I don't have all day.

"Sir. Is Captain Sheila aboard? I've met her. She'll vouch for me."

Captain Sheila came up from below.

"What's going on here? Oh, hello, um, I've forgotten your name. I'm sorry, but..you're the dragonrider who..."

"Got seasick on the dock at Tillek Sea Hold. Yes, ma'am, I'm K'ndar, rider of brown Raventh."

The first mate snickered, but K'ndar shot him a glance that silenced his derision.

Firstie bit off the snide remark that came to him. Anyone who admitted that had to be someone who wasn't afraid of fighting for his honor. And Captain Sheila had no patience for 'brawlers', as she put it.

"So what do you want?"

"I saw on the duty board that you were here resupplying. I need a length of rope about two dragonlengths long and a fairly good sized hook, belayed to one end."

Her face screwed up in puzzlement.

"Why?"

"Ma'am. Captain. I've been on clifftop above the Strait. There's a dead dragon and its rider on the rocks at the base. They're just bones, ma'am, and almost submerged, but the riders backpack is above the water, hanging on a shaft of rock. I want to hook the backpack and bring it up and maybe we can learn who the team was."

Both the seamen's jaws dropped.

After several moments, Capt. Sheila said, "You're...you're mad. You've gone off your nut, have you been drinking?"

"No, ma'am, not a drop. Never."

"Are you crazy, then? Those winds are incredible. We won't go down that strait, not for love nor money. It's too dangerous. You''ll be killed just like that other dragon team."

"Captain. You're right. The last time I was up there, the winds were so strong our dragons refused to fly down the strait. But today, ma'am, today! The winds, ma'am, aren't winds, they're gentle breezes. Hardly enough to lift a wind banner. We even went flying down the strait, and my fire lizard was able to get close to the remains. That's how we know they're dragon and human bones."

The First Mate remembered to shut his jaw with a clop.

"Dragonman. It's too dangerous. The current hasn't dropped a bit of speed, that I can promise you," he said.

"First, you're right. But we have no intentions of getting wet. My dragon has already promised me to abort the attempt at even the hint of it going wrong."

"You're trusting a dragon on this?"

K'ndar bridled at the insult, then remembered...most folks didn't know dragons.

"Sir, I trust him with my life. And have, on several occasions."

First shrugged. "I suppose," he said, with a fatalistic sigh.

"How do you propose to bring up the pack?" Captain Sheila asked.

"My fire lizard flies to the pack with the rope and hook. He hooks the backpack, and brings the other end, attached to a stick, hands it off to my dragon, we're hovering far enough away from the cliff side to be safe. Then we pull the backpack up."

Part of the captain's mind was about to refuse, but then she remembered some of the daring things she'd done, both as a crewman and then with her own ship. Another part thought of his report of the light winds. She knew her Sea Dragon and her master's ability to transit dangerous water. Imagine, being the first seaman to actually transit the Strait? What glory that would be! It would shut up all the men who'd dared to question a woman's mastery of the sea!

Now I'M being crazy, she thought, snap out of it. Fools rush in where dragons fear to fly.

Like this just barely grown man before me. But he seemed fairly sensible the last time I met him, and he doesn't strike me as foolhardy. It's his skin and dragon, not mine, although he is a nice man.

And, like me and my queen, my ship, we know each other so well that we don't have to think about what we do. We just...do.

She turned to the First Mate.

"Two dragonlengths of rope. A deep hook, three prong. Make sure it's secure on the hook end. And...not a stick, K'ndar, um...Firstie, put a small flotation ring on the other end. Small enough for his fire lizard to carry, big enough for the dragon to handle."

"Yes, ma'am."

The First Mate vanished below decks.

The captain looked at K'ndar as they waited.

"K'ndar...I'd love to see this. I'd love to go down that strait, but I don't dare, even in light winds. Remember, those winds are fickle, they can turn like that," she said, with a finger snap.

"Yes, ma'am, I am very aware of that," K'ndar said.

First Mate arrived. He trotted down the gangplank and handed the rope, hook and a float ring to him.

"Good luck, K'ndar, you and your mate, there, your dragon. Be SAFE," he said.

As he turned to leave, Captain Sheila said, "K'ndar. Do NOT be someone I find floating on the tide at the far end of the Strait. That's an order."

K'ndar grinned...and saluted.

__________________________________________________________________________

Back at the clifftop...he'd made a rude cairn at the spot above the remains...K'ndar looked deep into Siskin's eyes. He imaged, from several different angles, Siskin placing the hook on the backpack. The blue fire lizard had showed him how the backpack was hanging by a strap to the rocks.

K'ndar imaged Siskin hooking the back pack, then flying with the ring to Raventh and handing it to the hovering brown.

Or you, it doesn't matter, as long as he gives it to you or me. He'll be able to gauge it better than us Raventh said.

"Siskin. Carry hook?" he asked.

Siskin loved games, and new tricks. He hefted the hook, and was able to lift it high off the ground.

"All the way? The ring?"

The blue looked at it for a moment, then, using both his fore and back legs, easily lifted the assembly.

"Good lad! Now, just the ring? Take the ring to Raventh,"

Siskin chirped, and dropping the hook, flew with the ring to Raventh. K'ndar managed to catch the hook before it hung up on the armored willows at his feet.

"All together, now, Siskin. Fly down to the bones. Put the hook on the backpack. Fly to Raventh with the ring. Do you understand?"

The fire lizard sent the images back to him.

He understands. He is happy. It is fun for him.

How about you? Are you ready?

Raventh sensed the winds.

Now is as good a time as any. I don't trust the winds to not change, there is a drop in the pressure. I think we have about half an hour at most.

If we don't get it, we don't get it. It's okay if we fail. But thank you for thinking of this, and for trying.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I will never, ever get used to flying this close to the water, he thought.

It's actually easier than it feels. The cushion is very strong here. We are doing fine Raventh reassured him.

Siskin had landed on the tree trunk closest to the backpack. As he was concentrating, he wasn't sending back images, but Raventh was watching and sending to K'ndar.

Siskin hovered briefly above the back pack, the hook in his fore paws. Then he landed, almost entangling his wings in the following rope. He stuck the hook into the bag's top strap. Two of the three prongs engaged.

He's done it!

"Bring the ring to us, Siskin!!" K'ndar shouted.

The blue hopped down to one of the tree trunks. The ring had slipped off the trunk and was bobbing in the water. The rope was rapidly uncoiling.

Siskin, unwilling to make a grab for the ring, grasped the rope instead. He launched.

Raventh, hovering, crept closer to the cliff side.

K'ndar's heart was in his throat.

Siskin flew towards Raventh, and just as he reached the dragon, the downdraft from the brown's wings upset his balance. He dropped the ring.

Nooooooooooooo!

The ring flew downstream on the current until it reached the end of the rope, where it bobbed in the fast water. Siskin darted over it, wheeping in dismay.

Shards, so close, so close to success!

"Siskin! To me, lad!!"

Raventh climbed. Siskin flew to him and landed on Raventh's shoulder. He chittered, his eyes rolling orange.

He is sad that he dropped it.

"It's okay, it's okay, Siskin. Good lad, that was a good try," K'ndar comforted Siskin.

From a safer distance and height, K'ndar looked mournfully at the bobbing ring. That was smart of the captain to think of it, but, oh well. In a way, he felt relieved. They'd tried. It wasn't worth dying for.

"Okay. It was a good try, but, let's go."

Raventh was silent.

They gained more altitude. But not enough.

Let's go. We tried. I owe Captain Sheila a hook and some rope.

No, you don't. Hang on.

With a sudden lurch, Raventh swooped downward, head first.

RAVENTH!! K'ndar shouted, hanging on for dear life.

Raventh flew hard and fast, leveling out just centimeters from the hungry, snatching white caps. He stretched out his forelegs and snatched the floating ring. At full speed, he twisted and arrowed straight up. The backpack was ripped from it's snag and one hook prong came free.

Raventh pushed hard til he reached the cliff top, hovered for a moment and spied a boulder large enough for him far inland.

He gently lowered the backpack into the vegetation and landed on the boulder.

K'ndar whooped in anger, fear, pride and utter glee. Siskin was yodeling in triumph.

He leaped off his dragon, shaking. "You're wanting a beating, you crazy lizard!!" he shouted.

Raventh turned his head, his eyes rolling in mischief.

What? For picking up the backpack! Isn't that what you wanted? And there's no need to shout

"Are you crazy? We could have been killed!"

Nah. I knew I could do it. I am Raventh!!

He stood for a moment, then wrapped his arms tightly around Raventh's neck.

"Oh, you are. You so very much are!!"