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face, left the ring, and slammed the door behind him.
As the sound of the dragon munching wort leaves filled the ring, Sarkkhan
voiced his own fears to
Jakkin.
All he sent was the one note. Worm waste! One fewmety note saying she s been
located and nothing more. And I should bring you to The Rokk. For that spying,
I guess. But Akki s my daughter, and I
mean to know more. He rubbed his massive hands through his redgold hair.
Jakkin was surprised to see that the hair was thinner than he had realized.
I-I got a note, too, Jakkin said.
That s the note I mean.
Jakkin felt his jaw drop. Sarkkhan had read a note meant for him just as if he
were still a bonder. He knew he should make a protest, but nothing came out.
I went to The Rokk, looking for him, Sarkkhan added. But he was gone. Off
again on one of those beslimed Federation rocket ships. I say, if the gods had
wanted me to fly, I would have been born with dragon wings. Anyway, I went
through the baggeries looking for Akki. Didn t find her, though.
Still angry about the note, Jakkin turned away. Sarkkhan, at least, had done
something. He had gone looking for Akki, while Jakkin, like a bonder, like a
boy, had stayed home, playing with worms and worrying over Errikkin s silly
little trick. His fists clenched, and his nails made little marks in his
palms.
The fingers of his left hand still ached from the blooding, and that made him
think of the hatchlings. As if in answer, he felt an immediate soothing
colorburst followed by five miniature echoes.
He turned back. Sarkkhan was still speaking.
some doctor she worked with. Even went to the old baggery where her mother had
been. I hadn t visited there since she died. Since before she died. Her mother
wouldn t see me, you know, not at the end. She didn t want me to know about
the baby, thought I might not believe it was mine-or care. So none of the
girls told me about Akki for years. I found out by accident. It was Kkarina
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let it slip. She d been best
friends with-with Akki s mother.
His voice sounded wistful, and he looked at Jakkin. Jakkin nodded.
Her old room looked the same. Our old room. But I didn t know any of the
girls anymore.
Sarkkhan. Jakkin said his name in the same tone of voice he used to soothe a
hackling dragon.
Sarkkhan shook his head. Akki wasn t there. His eyes had a strange, moist
look to them. He cleared his throat. Looks a lot like her mother, you know.
Same mouth. But she s got my temper. My stubborn nature. My eyes. His voice
had suddenly gone very quiet.
I ll find her, said Jakkin just as quietly. I promise.
Fewmets, boy! The old roar was back. We ll find her. I m not worried.
Seeing the old place, so familiar, yet not, just got me to remembering, that s
all. Memories can make a man weak. Can t let that happen now. We ve got to be
strong. Got to clean out a whole nest of rebels if we have to. They re no
better than drakk, whatever Golden and his laws say. Egg suckers, all of them.
Treat them as such. His hands made the familiar chopping motion worm farmers
used when talking about the killing of drakk.
Jakkin nodded distractedly. The dragon had finished the wort and was listening
to them intently, sending little slivers of yellow light into Jakkin s mind,
testing.
Listen, Jakkin said.
I hear him. Come on, worm waste, off your belly and back to your stall.
Sarkkhan walked over to the dragon and twisted the earflap.
The dragon got up to his feet.
No more practice. We don t want him overtired. Tomorrow we go to The Rokk,
and we all need some rest. I ll get him ready; you tend to your hen. As an
afterthought he added, You ve never seen The
Rokk, have you?
Jakkin shook his head.
It ll put your eye out, Sarkkhan boomed. He wiped a hand across his eyes.
Getting hot, he said, and turned away, pulling the dragon along with him.
chapter 20
THEY STARTED EARLY enough the next morning. There was still a touch of frost
in the air from Dark
After. As Jakkin walked to the barn to say a farewell to his own dragons,
having instructed L Erikk in their care, he could see the smudgy haze over the
weed and wort fields, where the plants smoldered in the morning cold.
Heart s Blood s good-bye was punctuated with color, and Jakkin hated to leave
her. He chucked each of the hatchlings, now almost knee-high, under the chin.
They were a shabby-looking lot, the eggskin stretched over the growing muscle
and bone. Two of them were already beginning to shed the skin.
Patches of it littered the floor.
One hatchling swatted at Jakkin s hand over and over with its claw, the nails
still butter-soft.
Jakkin smiled wryly. Mighty fighter, he whispered, and shadowboxed for a
minute with the little dragon.
Unused to such exertion, the hatchling suddenly toppled over and fell asleep,
its tail tucked around its belly. The others walked over it, but it slept on.
Heart s Blood showered him with a rosy rain shot through with gold, and Jakkin
smiled. Good luck to thee, too, he said, then left the smaller barn to walk
across the compound and fetch S Blood.
The brown dragon greeted him with dark, unfathomable eyes. Jakkin backed him
out of the stall and guided him along the hall, a hand on the dragon s ear.
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The nursery truck was waiting at the barn door, close enough so that the
dragon would have little chance to grow wary and hackle so far from the Pit.
But S Blood was a dragon who loved the Pits, and as the old memory linking the
truck with the fights moved into his slow brain, reinforced by Jakkin s and
Sarkkhan s thoughts, his head went up. He shook off Jakkin s hand and charged
eagerly into the back of the truck, sticking his head into the baled bumwort.
Then he knelt heavily, short front legs first, and began munching.
Done, Jakkin said as he slid into the cab next to Sarkkhan. The one word did
not begin to communicate the excitement flooding through him.
I have all the papers. And the equipment bag, Sarkkhan said, patting a
satchel between them. Let s go.
After slipping the truck into gear, Sarkkhan guided the big rig along the farm
driveways with an ease
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