Jane Yolen Pit Dragon 02 Heart's Blood

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bluster and blowing; it costs thee nothing. Nothing.
Heart s Blood heard, and she waited, hovering above the Pit, a tempting red
target. The black took several heavy hops forward, his front legs still raking
the air. Stretching his great neck to its fullest, he blew out flames toward
her and roared again.
The crowd went wild then, calling out to both dragons.
Go to her, go, shouted someone in the upper tiers.
Get him. Now! came a loud voice from the masters boxes.
Jakkin could hear the undercurrent of new betting that the double blooding and
the roaring and the flames called forth. At his right he could see Sarkkhan
conferring quickly with a tall man whose back was to the ring. Their voices
came to him, Sarkkhan setting odds and the other man offering even greater
ones against Heart s Blood. It was a familiar voice. He wondered why. He
wanted to look full face but didn t dare. Heart s Blood needed his attention.
The black Row was incapable of waiting for Heart s Blood to descend. Urged on
by the crowd, he began to pump his wings. The ribs strained; the fleshy
feathers fanned out. Then he rose, banking slightly, to carry the fight into
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the air. In the opposite stands his trainer screamed at him to go back down,
but the giant black didn t listen.
Jakkin smiled for the first time. It was, he thought, the wrong move for the
heavier dragon to make. In the open his weight might be more of an advantage,
but in the enclosed arena, under the dome, Heart s
Blood s maneuverability gave her a greater edge. In the Pit the air game was
hers.
She waited until the black was almost even with her, his wings slowly pumping.
Then she cleaved her wings together, dropped under him, flipped onto her
back-not an easy trick-and, as she fell, struck out with her left claw. It
wasn t the lanceae that caught under his tail but the smaller, sharper razored
back claw, the tricept, which opened a thin line on his vulnerable underside.
The black screamed-a high, uneven keening. Heart s Blood righted herself,
scraping the ground with her tail as she shot away again.
In that moment Jakkin knew whose voice it was that had bet with Sarkkhan.
Five! he said, and turned to Sarkkhan. But the nursery owner was alone.
The roar of the crowd recalled him to the fight. He watched as the black,
dripping tail blood that hissed onto the sand floor, sank slowly to the
ground. The red dragon crowded him down, batting at his drooping head with
sheathed claws, but the black was no longer in a fighting mood. He lifted his
head as if he were sleepwalking, and she gave him the ritual slashes as gently
as if she were admonishing a naughty child. Then she turned and stood in a
hind-foot rise and waggled her great wings in a comic semaphore.
Heart s Blood! Heart s Blood! Heart s Blood! the crowd chanted in rhythm, on
their feet.
She opened her mouth to roar and sent a series of skyrockets through Jakkin s
head, then turning, found the dragonlock and flowed below.
Jakkin looked around the Pit once more, hoping to find Five. He saw no one he
recognized except
Sarkkhan. Half the crowd had left already to cash in its bets; the others
jockeyed for better seats for the next fight.
I ll get you your gold, said Sarkkhan. You see to your worm s wound. It
bled little, but a tooth slash over the claw can be nasty. It can get
infected, or worse, it can permanently loosen the nail.
Jakkin nodded and went downstairs. As he walked, he kept looking around,
straining to see if Five or any other watchers were nearby. He recognized no
one.
chapter 44
AKKI WAS WAITING, case in hand. Jakkin gave her a quick hug.
No one came for it, she said.
They said they would collect it after we left, Jakkin pointed out.
Remember, we don t trust them.
They said they would be watching-and they were, Jakkin told her. Five was
there.
You saw him?
How could I miss him? He was talking to Sarkkhan. He made sure I saw him.
Akki thought for a minute. Then she nodded. They wanted us to know we were
being watched.
We have no time to fool with the case now. Just put it in Heart s Blood s
stall and help. She s hurt her claw. If anyone comes for the case, he ll have
to wait.
Akki went with him into the stall and put the case under the bale of wort. I
didn t even check her over,
she said regretfully. I was too worried about the case-and you. She bent
down and looked at the wound. That could get bad. There s little protection
above the claw. We have to be careful of infection.
Or a loosened claw, Jakkin said, echoing Sarkkhan. Do you think that might
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happen?
Akki did not answer but sat down on the ground and lifted the massive foot
onto her lap. Then she bent over and put her tongue on the wound.
Jakkin knew what she was doing. There was something in human saliva that
started the healing process in dragons. He had learned that a year ago from
Likkarn, at Heart s Blood s first fight.
There, Akki said, rubbing the back of her hand across her mouth. Her eyes
were slotted. Jakkin knew that the dragon s blood had burned her tongue. She
looked up at him. Do you have a kit?
No trainer ever traveled without a medkit. He took it from the stall shelf and
gave it to her. She rummaged through it quickly, coming up with a surgical
needle and the heavy thread used with dragons.
After putting the kit on the ground beside her, she turned her attention to
threading the large-eye needle.
All the while Heart s Blood munched loudly and contentedly on the bale, paying
little attention to either of them, spurred on by the incredible hunger of
dragons after a fight.
Akki began closing the edges of the wound on Heart s Blood s foot with sure,
tiny stitches. Above the claws, around the eyes, along the vulnerable neck,
and a patch on the belly were the only places that a needle could penetrate.
Even a filed knife had trouble anywhere else, and a dragon wounded in
unsewable spots healed raggedly. Infections were common.
As Akki sewed, she murmured to the great worm, Hush, my lady. Sweet red, do
not tremble so. For though the dragon did not stop eating, small earthquakes [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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