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Darison
This trip was typical for Darison; he was ponying three young runners down the hill and over to Falas Weyr, which was a good two-day’s journey. He was infinitely glad to have the company of Jordo on his trip, because the two fillies and one colt he was delivering were jumping at every bush and dancing around as if the slightest breeze was going to blow up and swallow them whole. But Jordo just plodded along, not minding or caring and Darison wondered yet again why they’d gelded the big horse. He knew his father’s reasons, that Jordo didn’t have the physical characteristics they were looking for, but Darison thought his disposition more than made up for that. Darison sighed, wondering why he bothered thinking about things that he’d mulled to death on previous trips such as this one. He turned his mind instead to the road but it soon wandered on to other things, coming inevitably back to his favorite topic of contemplation, his future and his present. It wasn’t that Darison didn’t like his life, he just knew it wasn’t the right life for him. Runner Hold was very secluded. They hardly ever got any visitors and he felt he was a people-person. He enjoyed being around people and working with them, more often than not at Runner Hold he was left to work with the runners and hardly laid eyes on a soul all day. Then he thought about where he was headed, Falas was said to be a beautiful Weyr and he was looking forward to seeing it. In all the years Runner Hold had been doing business with Falas this was the first time he’d been there. No, he took that back, he’d been there many years ago as a youngster, but he didn’t recall anything about the place besides a feeling of awe when he laid eyes on all the dragons gathered in one place. Suddenly Darison was shaken out of his reverie by one of the runners squealing in fright. The colt began bucking and jumping about, which of course set off the others as well. Even Jordo seemed nervous though he stayed mostly still, just shifting his weight back and forth nervously. Darison frowned, looking around for the cause of their distress. He found it only when he felt a gust of wind land on him from above. He looked up to see a dragon preparing to land right in front of them. The closer the dragon got the more frightened the runners became, bucking and plunging so much that Darison lost hold of their lead-ropes and the three young runners took off, running back up the hill they had just descended. Jordo calmed down a bit as he saw that the dragon was only landing and didn’t look incredibly hungry, but Darison was livid. He turned his gaze to the rider who was just now dismounting his blue and saw to his astonishment that it was P’mir, the very same rider he’d scolded back at Runner Hold several days ago. He scowled at the bluerider and opened his mouth to scold him again but the rider beat him to it with a profuse apology. “I’m so sorry!” he exclaimed, sincerity written on his face. “I truly didn’t mean to scare the runners but Piloth decided he had to land and meet you and by the time I realized he meant to land right in front of you it was too late for us to change our minds and land farther off!” “Great, then you can leave that beast here and help me catch those three runners,” said Darison, sounding very annoyed, but no longer angry. “No problem,” said P’mir with a smile. “Piloth can scout from above and the two of us can round them up.” As he finished saying that the blue took off again, stirring up a cloud of dust and causing Jordo to prance nervously until he was far above them. Once the dragon was at a sufficient height and Darison had calmed Jordo he cautioned P’mir, “Be sure he stays high enough that the runners won’t get scared again.” “But low enough that he can see them, he knows.” With that the two of them set off, Darison still on Jordo’s back and P’mir striding along beside them. They came upon one of the fillies before long and she proved easy to catch as she’d gotten her lead rope stuck in a bush that she’d been munching on. P’mir led the runner and they continued on. Before long the filly let out a high pitched whinny and the colt came galloping up to them, sliding to a stop only a few paces from them. He would have turned and run off again but P’mir lunged forward and snagged his lead rope. The colt snorted but then calmed and followed along meekly as they continued on, still travelling up the hill the way the runners had gone. They finally came upon the other filly, the last runner they had to catch. The colt whinnied when they laid eyes on her and the filly immediately took off, heading up the hill away from them. Darison groaned and told P’mir to stay put, this one would be hard to catch and if the colt was set on warning her of their approach they’d never catch her. He set out on Jordo, knowing the older gelding wouldn’t give them away. He soon found the filly grazing happily on a patch of grass. She looked up at them for a moment then continued her grazing. He and Jordo approached slowly and just when Darison leaned to the side to grab the filly’s lead rope the dragon, Piloth descended enough that the runner could see him clearly. Her eyes grew huge and she kicked out at Jordo and took off running again. “Shards!” exclaimed Darison, scowling up at the dragon who must have seen his expression or sensed his mood because he immediately caught a thermal and soared up higher. Darison set off again, grumbling all the way, to find the filly. They finally caught up to her where she’d stopped to rest, sides heaving as she tried to catch her breath after her mad dash. She was easy to catch though; just sidestepping away from them, but not fast enough that Darison couldn’t grab the lead rope before she got away. He and Jordo then led her back to where P’mir and the other two were waiting. “That dragon of yours nearly ruined everything again,” Darison said immediately when he was close enough for P’mir to hear him. “I know, he told me you’d caught the last one and that he wanted to get a closer look,” replied P’mir. “But then he very sheepishly told me he’d been mistaken and the runner had taken off again. He didn’t mean to scare her, he thought you’d already caught her and it was okay.” Darison just snorted, but nodded his head, accepting the apology. “Well, thanks for the help in catching them. I probably wouldn’t have been able to catch this one if you hadn’t been here to watch the other two.” “No problem,” replied P’mir with a smile, handing over the lead ropes for the other two runners. “You’re heading to Falas with these three, right?” “That’s right, bringing them as you requested.” “Well, come find me when you get there,” said P’mir with a thoughtful look, “and if I’m not around don’t leave until you’ve seen me, alright? Worst comes to worst the Weyr will put you up for the night.” Darison frowned, wondering what the dragonrider would want with him that he couldn’t just tell him now, but nodded his head. P’mir smiled and waved as he trotted off, trying to get a safe distance away before he called Piloth down to land. Darison frowned after him for a while before finally asking Jordo to head on down the road. They’d lost a lot of time to this little incident so he pushed the horses a little harder than he usually did, trying to make up for it. He’d have to stop for the night anyway so it wouldn’t hurt them to move a little faster today. Continue... |