“He’s all right?” Varian asked Lunzie.
“Took no harm at all. I don’t think they so much as bruised him. And this sap is definitely styptic.”
Reassured, Varian turned to the giffs. The two species regarded each other over the injured man.
It wasn’t as if she could flap her hand at them, like a flock of ordinary birds, and shoo them away, nor did Varian wish to treat them so peremptorily for they had saved Kai twice already. In working with alien species, Varian had discovered that the sincerity of her intentions could be communicated by voice, even if the words were unintelligible to the hearer. She spread her arms wide, palms up, and imitated the wing gesture of Middle Giff.
“I don’t know how to express our thanks and appreciation for your assistance, golden fliers,” she said, deepening her voice and imbuing it with the very genuine gratitude she felt. We could not have borne him so safely nor so quickly to shelter. Thank you, too, for the leaves.” Varian pointed to Lunzie and Triv as they smeared Kai’s wounds. “Thank you for all your assistance. We hope to remain on such good terms with you. Thank you.”
“From all of us to all of you,” murmured Lunzie. Then she smiled up at the giffs nearest her, holding up the leaf she was crushing and smiling more broadly. Varian could almost forgive her her dark humor.
A hum rose from the giffs and their orange eyes blinked rapidly.
“While you’re in rapport with ’em, ask for more leaves. Unless you know where we can find
’em.”
A slightly surprised chirp and the agitation of the vine screen brought their attention to the cave entrance. A group of smaller giffs entered, their wing talons clutching bundles of the leaves.
“Ask and you shall receive, oh skeptic,” Triv muttered as the smaller giffs hovered, venturing inside the cave only far enough to drop their burdens safely to the floor. Then Middle Giff made a peremptory sound, a call more than a chirp, and all the giffs lurched to the mouth of the cave. To Varian, they appeared to fall off the edge. Then she saw them, beating strongly upwards and out of sight.
“Lunzie …” she began, turning to deliver a few choice words to the medic but Kai moaned, his voice rising to a feverish mumble. He thrashed about until Triv grabbed him by the arms and held him down.
“Get that thermal blanket Varian. Whatever Discipline he was exerting has lapsed. Yes,” and Lunzie laid her hand on his forehead and then his cheeks, “fever’s rising. At least fever indicates the body is fighting the toxemia.” She rummaged in her pouch for a moment. “Muhlah! I don’t have so much as an antibiotic. He’s going to have to do it the hard way. Take off the other boot, 29
Anne McCaffrey – Dinosaur Planet II – The Survivors Triv, will you? And Varian, you pull off what’s left of his clothes while I hold him up. Hmmm …”
Lunzie paused to inspect Kai’s chest. “The sap is closing the punctures. If only I had something …
That Thek didn’t say anything about ARCT-10, did it?”
“Only that the beacon hadn’t been stripped yet”
“I shouldn’t have asked. Is there any more of that succulent fruit, Varian? I’m still dehydrated and, if we could dilute some juice—with freshwater, Kai might take it. He’s going to need all the liquid we can get down him to combat the toxin.”
Triv collected rain water by holding a pail outside the vines to catch the torrential downpour.
Varian squeezed juice until she had exhausted the supply. They all ate the pulp. At regular intervals, the diluted juice was dripped down Kai’s throat. It seemed to ease his restlessness. Often he would lick his lips and frown during the fever dreams, as if searching for soothing moisture.
“Not on uncommon fever pastime,” Lunzie assured them. “It’s when they won’t swallow, you’ve got problems.”
By sunset Kai’s fever had reached a new high and their supply of leaves was almost gone.
Though most of the punctures had closed, the sap seemed to ease his feverishness but Lunzie hoped they could get more to last through the night. So Varian climbed to the cliff top, hoping there would be a giff she could signal to. She sighed with relief when she found a large pile of leaves neatly anchored to the vines by a stout twist of grass. Fruit was windlocked in an intersection of thick vine tendrils.