To Augment the Bond by Buhler Carol

Author:Buhler, Carol
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 24

Marrair

Before we could get started north, fighting broke out again along the eastern coastline. Flocks of the same mini-reeth who'd attacked Lillyon attacked human, don, and reeth indiscriminately. Although Lillith and Joedon battled the little ones, and even allowed Joele and Lillity to help, she kept Joana and me busy running supplies up and down the coast, insulating us from the danger.

Our forces were not prevailing⁠—⁠many were being injured, especially among humans.

At length, Lillith called for a meeting in Whay to discuss the wild reeth problem. The Lords and Presidents from the coastal city-states showed up with their reeth families, and, to everyone’s shock, all three members of the triumvirate of Carn attended. Rumor said the wild ones had been wreaking havoc among Carn livestock, chasing cows, sheep, and goats off the pastures and into the rice paddies, ruining them, as well as killing much of the livestock. The people of Carn wanted them stopped and so, for the first time ever, the triumvirate was in a cooperative mood.

Pildon and Lillair explained their theory about the wild reeth coming in from somewhere in the Blade Ocean. Since every sighting up and down the coast involved them arriving from the east and escaping back over the ocean, the assembled leaders decided to send a plane in that direction to see if they were right. Lord Metz of Pith, who’d come even though his city-state was land locked, volunteered one of his personal planes and pilots; Joedon volunteered to accompany the pilot to send instant information back to Lillith.

⁠<Let me check with Lillyon, please,>⁠ Lillith said, squelching Joedon's enthusiasm. ⁠<We did promise not to separate and I can't go on that plane.>⁠ He glanced at the small aircraft, then nodded.

⁠<Go ahead,>⁠ Lillyon replied, to her obvious surprise. ⁠<It shouldn't be any more dangerous for Joedon to fly around in an airplane than to fly around on you. Those vicious little creatures won't be attacking a plane, I'm thinking.>⁠

I thought his response fit right in with his changed outlook but it seemed to be taking the rest of the family longer to accept his new attitude than it had me.

Many of us gathered on the wharf to hear the news Lillith broadcast. The first island Joedon spotted was, at best, two and a half days away by reeth wings. ⁠<Fairly large and very rugged,>⁠ he reported. ⁠<It appears to be absolutely inaccessible by boat⁠—⁠no beaches, no small coves. Rock cliffs to the shoreline.>⁠

He paused as Lillith shared the pictures she was seeing through his eyes, then she added a comment in her own voice. ⁠<If the wild reeth live there, they’re well hidden among the crags.>⁠

⁠<They must be able to fly a lot farther than we can,>⁠ someone said.

Another voice followed. ⁠<Probably due to how much smaller they are.>⁠

⁠<What do they eat?>⁠ I wondered. Lillith did not share our random reeth comments with the humans.

Joedon’s voice came back; Lillith must have passed my question on to him. ⁠<The interior of the island has small open areas where I can see grass.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.