You must concentrate! Use your abilities to bring the snake to you, instead of waiting for it!
That annoying voice in his head again. It seemed to pervade his thoughts when he would stalk his prey. And he wondered whose voice it was.
But he listened to it anyway. Leronis' weak but present coersive abilities brought the smallish young tunnel snake out of its hiding place and literally right into Leronis' hands. He broke the contact mentally before he broke the beast's neck. That had been a lesson learned early on when his abilities surfaced. How painful a death was...
How exotic.
Leronis brought the meal-sized snake back into the lower caverns and dropped it onto the slab where the cooks would see it easily.
"Hmph," said one of them as he disappeared into the weyr, "another one with nary a mark on it. How does that boy do it?"
***
Thread had fallen earlier that day, and while Leronis wanted to help out by filling firestone sacks, he wound up doing duty helping the dragonriders douse their dragons down to get the residual ash and such off them. The smell of that stuff was amazing! He hoped...
That when he stood upon the sands and became a dragonrider, as he knew he would, that when he wanted to hunt he didn't smell like Firestone! That would surely chase most animals away!
And people too! That would be too much of a shame.
He bathed slowly, and finally took clean clothing from his press. Walking outside when it was once again safe, he noticed a pair of blue dragons, one pretty large, resting near the courtyard's exit.
"Heyo," Leronis called out. The riders turned their heads, and it looked for all the world like one of them was about to take off when the blue dragon balked, stopped in mid-flap, and turned his nose on Leronis. The blue sniffed him up and down. "It's firestone, you should be used to it by now." He muttered to the dragon as his nose snorted at him.
It is not the firestone I am smelling for, it is you. Bespoke the dragon. So clear...
Leronis almost swooned with the bright contact. But he recovered quickly. It wasn't often that someone's dragon -- particularly a non-Blackstone dragon -- bespoke anyone but their rider.
"He says it's you, something was gnawing at his mind and he sensed it was you. It's a good thing you stopped by out here!" The rider said, "I'm H'ron from Lasair weyr. You've been searched. Get this old blue and his rider to take you there, I've got to fly now!"
The blue dragon took to the air, finally, and A'rd approached. "Old. He's five turns older than that silly blue and he calls him old..."
I am going to be a great hunter like you, Ler's! I already know so much!
"So you like hunting, then, Dorreth?" Ler's laughed, as they walked off the sands. How sleek the brown looked, but -- how hungry too! They found some food -- that Ler's had not hunted, in fact -- and Ler's helped the dragonet gulp down his first meal.
That was delicious. I will enjoy finding my own food, won't I?
I'll be sure to find you some nice tunnel snakes or young wherry in the mean time...
She can do it! Oh, she is lovely. Now it's our turn!
Yes, Ler's thought, it is...
You do not want to fly?
I am ready, you are ready, let's fly. The doubt in Ler's mental voice did not daunt Dorreth in the slightest. Fortunately. Because the brown moved his wings just so, lept into the air, and...
Tumbled to the ground to run for a few paces, then back up into the air! They dusted down, a much better landing than their take off would indicate, and with his heart pounding Ler's had to admit, it was fun...
Muck it up!? I would never do something wrong!
"That's right, Dorreth, you wouldn't. Now... Let's see those charts."
The area was being plagued by a thief or three. And Ler's had a feeling he knew who it was. All he really had to do was scare them. Not really hurt anyone, even though the Wing's expectations led him to believe that if necessary, he might even have to kill someone.
To save the nearby holders, yes. That was something Ler's could get his mind around. Dorreth swung his brown face nearby.
We do not have to hurt anyone if we do not want to, my friend. But I have been hearing from the others that this thief may be a killer too. Not a good man. I do not think I have a problem with you dealing away with him.
"Just like that, eh? I thought dragons weren't supposed to think like that."
I never said I would do it, Ler's... Just that I would not stop you from doing what is necessary. That is something the others here understand too.
Ler's looked at his companions, and they all seemed to agree. The thief would either have to be scared out of his wits, or...
"Let's go."
