Artro Valadez awoke that morning and he knew something was wrong. There was something missing from his domicile. A feeling of emptiness was in the air. He lifted his head and gazed around his home, but he already knew he would not find what he was looking for.
He had slept late and it was nearing midday. He did not look forward to spending the day searching for what was lost, but he knew that if he didn't start right away, it could be too late. He ate a hasty breakfast then left his home to begin the search.
Just outside, his young neighbor, Miles Baldern, was lying in the shade of a large tree. Sensing Valadez' disturbance, he inquired what was wrong.
"What is the problem Art, have you misplaced your food again."
Valadez looked at the youth with distaste, he didn't like his neighbor's disrespectful
words. He decided, though, not to let Baldern bother him. Instead, he simply answered
his question.
"My pet is missing. I wish to find it before any harm befalls it."
"I don't know why old ones like yourself keep those filthy beasts any way. It probably wandered off and is too stupid to find the way home."
Valadez responded in an even tone. "The 'beasts,' as you call them, are much more intelligent than you give credit. You could learn a thing or two from them."
"Don't be ridiculous old one, those pets of yours are just a nuisance. They should be exterminated."
Valadez decided not to waste any more time arguing with the youth. He turned away to begin his search for his lost pet.
As he left, he was surprised to find that he was not angry with the youth, Miles. Instead he was saddened by the way he felt toward the pets. It was a sentiment expressed by many of the younger generation these days. Perhaps it was because the temperature had grown warmer in recent years, much warmer than when Valadez himself was a youth, and there was no patience running through the young ones cold blood.
Anyway, it was time to concentrate on the search. He decided to begin at the food store caverns to the north. If his pet was lost and hungry, it probably would search out some food.
As he traveled speedily to the caverns, his mind wandered to thoughts of the pets
and their history.
For many life cycles, the People, as Valadez and his race called themselves, kept the small mammals as their pets. The people had first found them running wild in the hot lands to the north. The discoverers had brought them back with them to study. After they had observed the creatures for many seasons, the People had decided that they would make good pets.
They traveled back to the north to find more of them, but there was no sign of any more of the creatures. They did, however, find artifacts from an ancient civilization. From the material found, it seemed to be from a race different from the People. Actually, the ancient race was more similar to the pets then to anything else the People knew. Though it was impossible for the People to imagine the mammals of having any sort of civilized society. They figured that the ancient race had kept them as pets and that the mammals' decedents were the only living thing remaining from that time. They decided that it was not important, so they paid little attention do the artifacts and continued looking for more of the mammals.
They kept searching the hot lands until they reached a point so far north that it was too hot for them to continue. They decided that there were no more and that they would just use the ones they already had.
At first they were too wild and unintelligent to be used as pets throughout the community, so some People took care of them in a location where they could be trained and domesticated, while also breeding into greater numbers. Eventually they were ready to be used as pets and were given to those who wanted to take them. Soon everyone owned one, and it had been that way ever since.
Until recently.
The younger of the people had not embraced the tradition of owning the pets. Valadez also recalled another disturbing thought. Lately many pets had been running away and trying to escape from their owners. Most were found soon after, but of some pets there had been no trace since they ran away.
It was thought that they were fleeing to the hot lands, perhaps in some sort of instinctive thought of returning to the area that they originally came from. Some of the People were sent to search for the missing pets in that area. They had not traveled to the hot lands since the pets were first found, and when they had gone there now, they had found the land much hotter than it was in the time of their ancestors, making the search impossible.
Valadez's thoughts were disrupted at that point, for he saw the lone mountain where the food store caverns were located looming in front of him.
It had been running for so long that it had to stop and rest. It had been running and hiding from the People ever since it ran away from it's owner that morning just before dawn. It didn't know where to go but it knew it had to go far away. The creature was not hungry when it left this morning but it knew it would need some food for the long journey it had to take. It remembered a time when it was in a large cavern with it's owner, where there had been food. The rising sun was slightly in front of it to it's right, so it knew that the cavern was strait ahead.
It had taken most of the morning to get there but it now rested just outside the cavern entrance. None of the People were around because they did not come to get food until later in the day, and they left no guards to protect the food.
It entered the cavern, nervous, though it knew the cavern to be empty of life. When it was inside, it stood in awe. It had forgotten how large the cavern was. The roof was higher than the tallest tree it had ever seen, and the back of the cavern was beyond it's sight.
An empty aisle ran down the center, while on either side were rows and rows of boulders, cut in half and hollowed, to make containers for the food. Farther back in the cavern it knew there were other containers with different food, but there was no time for exploration.
It ran to the nearest boulder. The top of it was beyond it's reach. It knew that it probably could jump and make it to the top, but it saw a flat piece of rock covering the top, that would be too heavy for the small creature to move.
It went to the next boulder, but it was covered also. It began to run quickly along the rows, looking for one that was not covered. It went halfway down that row and began coming back the next, heading back toward the center aisle.
Just as it neared the end of the row, it spotted a boulder on the other side of the aisle. The stone covering it had been knocked slightly off the boulder. It wasn't much, but it was enough for the pet to get to the food.
It ran across the aisle to the boulder, and immediately jumped up and caught hold of the uncovered rim. It then pulled itself up to the top of the boulder. Once it was on top, the animal reached in and grabbed some grain like food that was stored inside, and shoved it into it's mouth, hungrily digesting the nourishing grain.
After it had satiated it's hunger, it realized that it lacked a way to carry the food with it on it's trip. It pondered this for a few moments. It then thought of the cloth that the owner had given it to protect it from the cold.
It took the cloth off it's body and studied it. After more than a few moments, it figured out a way to bind it together so that it could put the food in and carry it. The cloth wouldn't hold much, but it would be enough to get it away form the People. After that it would find something else to eat.
It quickly filled the cloth with the grain and jumped off the boulder. It headed for the cavern entrance as fast as it could. It was getting near midday and it wanted to be away from the cavern before the People came for their food.
As it got to the entrance, it heard something. A noise, coming from outside the cavern off to the left. It thought it recognized the sound.
It looked out, but it couldn't see anything. It knew it was not one of the People, so it decided to investigate.
Moving slowly toward the noise, it came upon a small cave in the face of the mountain side, not far from the cavern entrance. The noise was coming from within the cave. It was not frightened, so it moved inside the cave.
Huddled together in the shadows it saw two frightened figures. It recognized them to be two more pets like itself. The noise was coming from the bigger of the two. It was making a musical humming sound, trying to comfort the smaller pet.
When they saw the figured standing in the entrance to the cave, the humming stopped and they were silent. It moved closer to them, while they sat motionlessly watching it. It could tell instinctively that they were mates. Not like when the People put them together to breed, but mates chosen by each other, the way it was supposed to be.
It opened the cloth and held the food out to them. After a moment of hesitation, the two of them took some food and hungrily eat, while the newcomer watched in silence. It knew that they were there for the same reason that it was, they were escaping.
It motioned for them to follow it, and headed back to the mouth of the cave. At first they were hesitant but after looking to each other they decided to follow. At the mouth of the cave, the two looked to the first pet, silently letting it know that they would follow where ever it lead.
It thought about where to go. Right now they were facing back toward the home of it's owner. It then remembered another time when it was with it's owner. They were on the other side of the mountain that contained the food store cavern. The owner was speaking to his pet, as he often did. He was telling his pet of how they were first found and where they come from. The owner knew that his pet could understand small phrases of his language, but he didn't realize that it could comprehend anything more than simple commands.
It knew, then, where they needed to go.
It was unable to communicate with the other two the way the People could talk to each other, but it could make them understand just the same. The three quickly headed off to the other side of the mountain.
Valadez arrived at the entrance to the cavern, as the sun had already passed it's zenith and was heading toward the west. He could tell immediately that his pet had been there. It headed east after exiting the cavern.
Valadez had a strange feeling that he knew where his pet was headed.
He didn't even bother to follow his pet, but instead he traveled up over the mountain in the hope that it could catch his pet as it came around the other side.
The three had finally made their way to the other side of the mountain. The mated pair sat and rested from their flight from the other side, while the other one looked at their surroundings.
It saw some caves on the side of the mountain, and it saw the nest of a bird in a small crevice a short way up the side of the mountain. It knew that they could not rest in the caves, for there were certainly People looking for them by now and they would be found if they did not stay on the run.
It then considered the nest. It's owner had showed his pet how it could get what the owner called and egg from a birds nest and use it for food. It began climbing up the short distance to the nest. When it reached the nest, it didn't find eggs, but instead it found small birds that began chirping at it's arrival.
Just then, something dark flew at it's face. It felt pain as something sharp pierced it's skin. The mother of the young birds had returned to her nest and was protecting her offspring.
She circled and then dove again at the face of the intruder to her nest. It had recovered from her initial attack and was ready for her next one. It threw the sack of food down so it was not hindered by it. Just before she struck, it reached up, grabbed her, and knocked her into the rock cliff, smashing her head.
While doing this, though, it had lost it's grip on the side of the wall and plummeted to the earth below. The other two quickly ran over to see if it was all right. It felt pain, but was still well enough to travel.
It looked at the dead bird for a moment, then motioned to the other two that it was time to move on. It looked out in front of it, with it's back to the mountain, surveying the land. The smaller of the other two retrieved the fallen sack of food and then both of them moved up next to where the first one was standing.
The sun was to the left and still slightly in front of them. It had sunken about halfway to the distant horizon. Before them was a vast forest and beyond that they could see a range of mountains. It indicated to the other two that beyond those was where they needed to go.
At that moment, it heard a distant call. It looked up to the mountain and saw a familiar shape descending toward them. It's owner had not seen them yet, but it was only mere moments before he would.
The other two saw that one of the People was coming for them. Disturbed by this, they looked to the first pet for guidance. It pointed to the forest and motioned for them to run. They took off as fast as they could, while the first one watched them go.
After a few moments the pair noticed that it was not following. The smaller one started to slow down and come back, but the other grabbed it's mate and continued toward the forest.
After the other two had entered the forest, the first pet turned it's gaze back to it's owner. He had spotted his pet now and was descending even faster.
Then the pet suddenly remembered something. It ran over to the dead bird and wiped her blood over it's body, then it threw the blood over the land surrounding it. After it was finished, it dropped the bird and waited for it's owner who was about to reach the ground.
Valadez landed on the hard ground and folded his leathery wings behind him as he sat back on his hind legs. He smiled, his sharp teeth showing clearly on his reptilian face. He reached a taloned claw toward the figure of the small man standing in front of him, and gently scooped him up into it.
"Where were you going my pet, I was worried for you." His deep booming voice ringing in the man's ears.
Valadez smelled the sent of the dead bird and for a moment he thought he smelled something else. He disregarded it quickly though, he was just happy to have his pet back safely with him.
He unfolded his great wings and flew off into the sky. He couldn't wait to get back to his cool home, out of the burning sun.