Treaty at Doona

by Anne McCaffrey

  “Now, Teddy, watch me! This’s how you mount,” Alec cried, and sprang into the saddle, wiggling from side to side to show how secure his saddle was. “There! See how easy that is?”

  “Alec, you nit,” his sister admonished him. “Teddy couldn’t vault that. He’ll need to mount from something.”

  “Yeah, I guess he would,” Alec said, dismounting and looking around for a suitable surface. “Sorry, Teddy, we were just about born in the saddle.”

  The mental picture this evoked for Teddy made him gasp. He could not picture his dam awkwardly poised over the back of an animal. Surely it could not be true! Alec caught his expression of open-mouthed horror and started to laugh. Teddy realized his statement had been a joke, and added sheepish staccato grunting to the merriment.

  Alison looked him over with a measuring eye.

  “And Teddy’s a different shape from us, not much leg. There’s no way he could rise at the trot,” she said, turning to her twin. “But old Teabag’s a pacer, isn’t he?”

  “Say, wouldn’t a pack saddle give Teddy a lot of support?” Alec suggested. “I mean, remember when we used them for jousting-saddles when we played knights and ladies?”

  “Ze very zing,” Hrrana said. “We can pad it wiz extra blankets and a sheepskin.”

  “Worth a try,” the redheaded boy said. He jumped off his horse, ran up to the end of the barn, and came back laden with a strange contraption and an assortment of blankets and numnahs.

  Together, the twins prepared his mount, the golden-brown hrrrss named Teabag. The children explained that Teabag was a “single-foot,” which confused Teddy, who could see that the animal had four legs, just like all the other hrrrsses. He was a bigger animal than the children’s ponies. And his back, where Teddy was to sit, was higher off the ground.

  “Daddy always gives Teabag to people who’ve never been on a horse before,” Alison explained with gay reassurance. “He knows more about riding than we do,” and she giggled.

  Her preparations complete, she signalled Teddy to approach. Teabag turned his head to eye this unusual form, and he breathed noisily between his lips. Each time the small Gringg attempted to get close to the horse, the animal edged his backside away. Then Alec pulled sharply on the reins.

  “Get up there,” he ordered, and the horse sidled close to the bales of hay that had been piled in the form of a mounting block for Teddy’s benefit. “Jump up on these, Teddy, and we’ll get you in the pad. We’ve even got a neck strap for you to hang onto. No one’s ever fallen off Teabag.”

  “Safe as houses,” Hrrunival said, snickering a little as Teddy dutifully climbed up on the bales.

  “Throw your right leg over,” Alec said, pushing against Teabag’s right side so the old horse couldn’t dodge his would-be rider.

  Teddy managed that, though he could feel himself stretching the skin between his legs. Maybe Gringg were not meant to ride horses, even if Hrrubans could. Still, it was not uncomfortable and there was support for his lower back and a slot for his tail to fit through, too.

  “Yeah, the pack saddle even has a tail hole,” Alec told the others. He grinned up at Teddy. “Now, these are called reins. Reins. They guide the horse. Pull left and he’ll go left, pull right and he’ll go right. Pull both reins back hard and he’ll stop.”

  “Ol’ Teabag’ll stop more zan he starts,” Hrrunival said with another snigger.

  Teddy nodded, trying to assimilate the knowledge while the horse moved from side to side under him. Inadvertently he clutched both reins, leaned back, and convulsively tightened his legs against the sides of the animal.

  “Whoa there, Teabag,” Alec said, grabbing at the bridle by the bit. “Hey, you did just right then, Teddy, leaning back and tightening your legs. You’ll be a rider in next to no time. Just sit deep in the, ahemm . . . pack saddle. Grab on to the crosspiece, here—” Alec showed him the leather-covered bar. “All you have to do on ol’ Teabag is sit and let your body move with the horse!”

  “I will try,” Teddy promised.

  “Oh, Alec, I’m not sure if he’ll be able to stay on,” Alison said, frowning at the shortness of the Gringg’s leg despite stirrups shortened to the very last hole in the leather.

  “He’ll do fine,” Alec said, nodding his head with assurance. To justify such confidence in his abilities, Teddy determined that he would.

  “Here we go!” said Alec as he once again vaulted to Tornado’s back. As soon as he saw the others were mounted, he dug his heels into the horse’s flanks and Tornado moved forward. Teddy, right behind him, followed his example. To Teddy’s absolute delight, Teabag immediately obeyed, forcing his rider forward. Startled, Teddy grabbed at the crosspiece and that gave him a feeling of more security. Then they were all out of the barn and walking briskly away from the yard. To his surprise, Teddy enjoyed the movement. It was exciting. The hrrss smelled good, too, always a propitious sign. He felt that it might not be a bad thing after all to be born in the saddle.

  “Where do we go?” he asked.

  Alec swivelled around to face him. “How about just down to the river and back?” he suggested. “We’ll go near the marsh. Maybe see some drrr-frogs?”

  * * *

  “Toward the marsh,” Gallup said, scrambling out of the hollow on hands and knees. “Ready to deploy the jammer.”

  Walters was right behind him. Keeping their distance, they trailed the string of horses. The five young riders kept their horses to a slow steady pace, moving farther and farther from the security of the ranch houses. When they were far enough ahead, the two Spacedep men dropped away to one side, pacing silently through the standing crops until they paralleled the little group.

  “Be ready to grab him,” Walters said.

  * * *

  The path was a worn ribbon of earth drawn through flowerstrewn meadows, skirting golden crop-fields and going over green hills. Where the path was level with the surrounding terrain, the horses walked abreast. Alec and Alison sat so naturally in the leather cradles that they appeared to be part of the animals. Hrrunival would occasionally hurry his hrrrss forward ahead of the others, then turn back to rejoin the formation. Nobody minded the pudgy Hrruban’s plunges and darts, least of all Teabag. It was a peaceful day. Avians winging in the sky sang sweet chirrups, and the breeze smelled delicious and intriguingly different. Teddy felt happier than he could ever remember. He wanted to stay on Rraladoon forever and ride hrrrsses every day until he rode as easily as Hrrunival did. The children chatted and laughed, asking Teddy about life on his world and matching his experiences with some of theirs.

  “I am sad,” said Teddy. “I am sad to know that in the future I will be too big to ride these beautiful creatures. This is more fun than anything I have ever done!”

  The four other children regarded him with sympathy.

  “Would plow horses be big enough?” Alison asked her brother, eyeing the young bruin.

  “Uh . . .” Alec said, measuring Teddy with an eye. “Not for a really fully grown-up Gringg. Not Captain Grizz’s size, for sure. But Teddy is a male and will never be that big.”

  “What was it like to come all this way in a starship?” Alison asked then.

  Teddy’s Hrruban vocabulary did not include many superlatives, so it was difficult to find the words to explain.

  “I was not yet born when the voyage started,” he said, no longer aware of the hesitation in the voder turning his Gringg into their Hrruban, “but I have been travelling all my life. Always stars around us, some very bright and big. Some dim. We came to one place where there was nothing but big rocks in orbit. My sire said that the sun had burst open in one great whoosh. We have orbited several planets, but I was told they were not right for Gringg. Then I had to learn what was right for Gringg, which is right for Hayuman and Hrrubans, too. Much more fun to see than to learn.” And he made a broad gesture, dropping his jaw to show them how
happy he was. “Were you born here on this planet?”

  “Yup, all of us,” Alec said. “Mom was, too, but Dad was born on Earth. And hated it.”

  “Earzz?” asked Teddy.

  “Yeah, Hayumans originate on Earth and—”

  “Hrrubans come from Hrruba,” finished Hrrunival.

  “But you are Rraladoons?”

  “We all are,” Alison said from where she rode slightly behind Teddy. “Let’s see if Teddy can manage to trot a bit, okay?”

  When they pushed their horses to faster movement, Teddy made a tentative grab for the crosspiece, but Teabag seemed to flow forward and soon Teddy released his hold, leaning back so his tail would keep him steady.

  “Hey, Teddy, you’re doing just great,” Alison called, but somehow Teddy did not trust his balance enough to turn around and thank her.

  Soon they pulled the horses back to a walk, for they had reached a forested area and could no longer ride spread out. Teddy’s fur was beginning to dry in long rats and tangles. He combed at a few of the worst knots with his claws, fearing the thorough brushing at the hands of his sire if he arrived back at the ship so untidy. Eonneh was never unkind, but he was merciless with tangles in his cub’s thick fur, and smoothing them out sometimes hurt Teddy. Eonneh threatened, not seriously, to plait all of Teddy’s fur and leave it that way if he could not keep it neat. Working carefully with one hand, he undid a mass of stringy fur and extracted a strand of lakeweed. It smelled interesting, so he tasted it. Not bad.

  Hrrunival was behind him now. He was careless and inclined to show off. Without a strong hand to control it, his hrrrss had its snout almost up Teabag’s tail, probably continuing some private argument on-going between the two animals. Teabag kicked backwards with one hoof to discourage the untoward familiarity. Hrrunival’s mount reared and whinnied a protest, moving in again. Teabag stopped short, making Teddy rock violently forward in the saddle, and turned to snort, as if to demand the other hrrrss leave him alone. Instead, he caught a sniff of hot, wet bear, and his eyes rolled white. The hrrrss’s neck arched, its nostrils flared, and Teabag swung his head forward.

  “What is he doing?” Teddy shouted, alarmed, clutching for the saddlehorn.

  Alec turned to look, and his eyes went wide. “Hold him! Hrrunival, grab his lead. Teddy, pull back on the reins!”

  “It does no good!” Teddy bellowed.

  The sound of the Gringg roar was the last straw. The spooked gelding shot off along the trail with Teddy bouncing on his back. The little Gringg struggled to hold on, gripping as hard as he could with his knees to keep from tumbling off. He pulled at the reins, but the horse refused to respond to the pressure. It was running away as fast as it could from the funny smell.

  “Come on!” Alec shouted, spurring Tornado after the wailing Teddy. “We have to stop them before they hit the marsh. There could be early snakes rising.”

  The other three wheeled to follow. They were responsible for Teddy. How could they ever go home again if their guest got hurt? The ground in the swamps was notoriously unsafe. The horse could slip on the unsteady path, both mount and Gringg ending up in deep, viscous mud. And what would they say to Grizz if Teddy got eaten by a snake?

  * * *

  “The horse bolted with him,” Gallup radioed to Walters, now a dozen meters behind him. “We’ve got him alone. Deploying jammer.”

  “Following,” Walters said. “Stay out of sight. Radio silence, now!”

  Keeping their eyes open for the other children, the two men pelted down the hill, following the runaway horse and rider into a stand of young trees at the edge of the meadow.

  * * *

  Teabag charged off the path down into a deep gully, twisted down the sloped sides, then bounded across a narrow but fastflowing stream. One of his hooves slipped on a stone in the middle of the brook, throwing Teddy forward. Anchored by only his frantic grasp of the crosspiece, the reins had somehow got wrapped about his arms, effectively tying him in the saddle with just enough slack to let him bounce with every jolt of the runaway horse.

  “Help!” he cried and shifted one paw, his claws instinctively extending so that he dug into Teabag’s neck. The horse, already frightened, now reached the stage of terror where all he wanted to do was rid himself of what was on his back. Teabag charged up a bank and headed directly into a thicket, hoping to brush the predator off. Teddy had to cover his face with both hands to protect it against the thin branches that whipped past. The reins wound tightly around his palm jerked again and again as Teabag tossed his head wildly from side to side. He brushed against tree trunks and shot through bushes, snorting and neighing furiously. The Gringg, afraid of being thrown off, shifted his grasp to the crosspiece again, digging his claws into the wood beneath the leather and shut his eyes tight.

  * * *

  “Hurry!” Alec shouted. Tornado crested the bluff overlooking the summer-creek and came to a halt. The other horses cantered up beside him.

  “Where’s he gone?” Alison demanded.

  Hrrana scanned the woods on the other side of the stream and pointed to where the bracken was disturbed. “Zere!” she cried.

  “We can’t get zrough zere,” Hrrunival said, gawking. “It is solid forrrrst. Ze hrrses won’t obey if we zry to frrce zem in.”

  “You’re right,” Alec agreed. “Teabag must have been scared so much he just went through like a rocket. We’ll have to go around on the path and hope we catch up with them.”

  He guided Tornado down the gully and up the other side so that they skirted the woods. They found the path, which was marked by yellow streamers tied around two small trees flanking its entrance to show it had been widened and cleared of dangerous plants. As hers was the steadiest horse of the four, Alison urged Fairy in first, leaving Alec to bring up the rear.

  Once under the roof of leaves, the group scanned the area to their right, looking for clues of Teddy’s passage. There was nothing moving in the woods except for an urfa that looked up, chewing, with tender leaves sticking out on either side of its narrow jaws. It fled when Hrrunival sat up high in his saddle and yelled.

  “Teddy! Teddy! Can you heeaaaarrrr meeeee?”

  There was a slight echo as the trees caught his cry, but no answer.

  Alison led them as fast as she dared. The path was narrow, and wound to avoid big trees and fallen trunks. Several small brooks cut through the floor on this side of the Bore River. The riders forded the streams, only centimeters deep.

  The four took turns calling out. “Teddy!” “Are you all right?” “Answer us!” “Teddy!” “Teddy!”

  “If we don’t find him soon, we’ll have to call for help,” Alec said, peering ahead as he felt along his belt for his handset.

  “Oh, no,” Hrrunival protested, as his friend pushed the signal button. “Do not. I will get in zrouble. It is all my fault. My hrrss made his nrrvous, and it rrran away. Please let us find him frrst.”

  ”We’d better,” Alison said, looking at Alec, stricken. She punched furiously at her handset. “My communicator’s not working.”

  “Neither is mine,” said Alec with an eloquent groan. “Mom will feed us to the snakes!” He shouted out again, “Teddy! TEDDDDIEEEE!”

  * * *

  “Can’t . . . keep . . . up,” Walters called to Gallup. The horse with the young Gringg was well ahead of them, vanishing in the thick cover of shrubs and trees. “You go on. Going . . . for . . . car!” Walters slowed to a stop, and bent over to catch his breath.

  “Aye!” Without looking back, the other Spacedep man shouldered his light pack and kept running.

  * * *

  The forest thinned eventually, fading away to whippy saplings and high grasses flattened where the deer and urfa slept at night. Alison led them around to the right, toward, as Alec put it, “Teabag’s probable trajectory.” Beyond the woods, the ground was soft and soggy. The riders
skirted the edge of the bright green patches of bog, hoping that by staying close to trees, which their fathers had told them liked “to keep their toes dry,” they would be able to stay out of the clutch of quickmud.

  About a hundred meters from where the path left the woods, Hrrunival’s sharp eyes spotted the first signs of Teddy’s passage. A long streamer of dark fur hung on the point of a broken twig about two meters into the forest on their right. To the left, the mud was churned up. Green-tinged water already filled hoofprints that pointed arrow-straight into the heart of the marsh.

  “There could be snakes! We’ve gotta find him,” Alec moaned, voicing what all of them were already thinking. It was early, but even a Big Momma Snake might be wriggling out there. “If anyone’s afraid, you’d better go home now. Get Mom, or Aunt Nrrna, or go call Uncle Robin or Uncle Dan.”

  “I’m not afraid,” Hrrunival said at once, though his green eyes were saucer-sized and his tail lashed.

  “Nor I,” Hrrana cried. Alison just shook her head.

  “Okay,” Alec said, taking a deep breath. “Here we go.”

  * * *

  The land changed around Teddy. First, branches stopped hitting him in the face and feet. Then, stinking, sticky mud got thrown up at him by the hrrrss’s hooves. Suddenly, the mud changed to wet sand, then very dry sand. Teabag’s feet foundered and slid. Teddy cried out as the hrrrss fell down and rolled on top of him. He wasn’t hurt, because the sand was so soft, but he was scared by all that weight on him. Suddenly it lifted, yanking the reins one more time, and they ripped free of Teddy’s hands.

  Teabag scrambled to his feet and shook himself vigorously, splattering sand everywhere. Realizing that at last he was free of his rider who was floundering in the sand beyond him, the horse made straight for the safety of his home barn.