Authors: Jane Yolen
"I don't know where you found him," Jakkin said, "but I can prove he's mine."
A crowd started to gather, just a black mass in the darkened corridor. But they were muttering about a fight and clearly hoping for one.
"Simmer down. Simmer down." That was the master of the pit, who'd been alerted by the noise that there was trouble brewing. He carried a light. Unlike the trainer, he was a small man and his nose twitched constantly. Shoving through the crowd, he said brightly, "Now what is this?"
The trainer at the stall door pulled his shoulders back, which made him look even bigger and fiercer. He thrust his thumb at Jakkin. "This outrider's calling me a thief."
"Nah, nah," a trainer cried from the safety of the crowd. "He said you
found
that worm, not stole 'im."
Someone else added, "It's the only way Garrekk can afford a dragon. Of course he stole it."
A laugh ran around the crowd, now bigger again by half as the trainers from the upper tier swelled their ranks.
Nose twitching, the master lifted a hand for silence and the trainers obliged. "Now, Garrekk, you tell me first. Buy it, steal it, or find it?"
"Found it. What do you think I am?"
"A dolt!"
Garrekk looked around the crowd, trying to find the speaker, and when he couldn't he raised his fist in the general direction of the voice.
"Where did you
find
this dragon, Garrekk?" the master asked, voice steady, as if they were having an ordinary conversation.
"Out in the wort fields, of course. Eating up a storm. Easy to take."
"That sounds like Sssargon." Jakkin smiled.
"See," the original trainer shouted. "No feral, then. Garrekk could never take a feral. Not him."
"He's still mine. Been feeding him up ever since," Garrekk said. "Possession being ninety percent of the law." He put his hands on either side of the doorway, blocking anyone from coming in.
The master turned to Jakkin. "Can you prove it's yours? That ten percent will outweigh Garrekk's possession. By the law. Everything by the law. Is the dragon registered? Have you papers? Is it tagged?"
"I didn't bring any proof with me," Jakkin admitted. "I thought he was still back at the nursery."
An outraged cry came from the crowd, and suddenly there was a shift toward Garrekk.
"But I can show you," Jakkin said, "that this worm only listens to me."
A laugh ran through the crowd.
"Go on," someone called.
The master of the pit raised his hand once more, and the crowd grew silent again.
Garrekk sneered. "This sack of waste? Listen to anybody? He doesn't do anything but eat." He laughed. "Oh, and sleep. Not even the prod gets him going. His looks made me think he might be a fighter. But I'm beginning to doubt it."
Jakkin ground his teeth. No one had ever put a prod to
his
dragons. He'd been willing to simply reason with the man. Before.
Now
he wanted blood. He'd take the dragon and take Garrekk's fewmetty prod as well.
"
Time to find Akki, thou great worm. This man will give thee naught but another prod. But Akki will give thee love
." This time the oasis sending included Akki, her hand out, smiling.
"
And wort? Sssargon likesss wort
."
What an impossible beast.
Jakkin was careful not to send that to Sssargon. Instead he laughed. "
And wort
."
The master of the pit nodded. "Stand aside, Garrekk. Let the man try."
"Man?" Garrekk laughed. "That's nothing but a stall boy." But he moved aside. In the pit, the master's word was final.
Jakkin could feel his fists closing and unclosing. But keeping Akki in the forefront of his mind, he stepped into the stall. "
When I raise my hand, Sssargon, thee must do a hind foot rise.
"
"
Sssargon risesss...
"
"No!" Jakkin said aloud. Then he sent, "
Not till I raise my hand!
"
Sssargon quivered. He'd never heard that tone from Jakkin before.
"Not a stall boy, then?" Garrekk sneered. "Works in the kitchen, does it? Out in the garden? Look at his ickle sling. Did mumsie pack you dinner? And the gold bracelet. Such a tootle." He turned to the master. "Why are we wasting time on this piece of fewmet?"
The master thrust out his chin defiantly. It brought him not an inch higher, but when he spoke, all the authority of the pit was in his voice. "Because I said so, Garrekk. There's been a challenge to ownership. I cannot let that go by without testing it legally." Then he turned to Jakkin. "And now, boy, we must have proof or I'm turning you out. You'll have to duff down in another pit for Dark-After, though, or Garrekk here will have your ears."
Jakkin nodded. He hoped Sssargon was alert enough, willing enough. "
For Akki,
" he sent to the dragon, "
when I raise my hand
."
There was a sudden strange light in Sssargon's eyes that Jakkin had never seen before, except when a dragon was about to hackle.
"When I raise my hand," he said quickly to the master, to Garrekk, to the other trainers, "the worm will do a hind foot rise, as I have taught him."
"Hah!" said Garrekk. "That one's unteachable. God knows I've tried. Even the prod don't work."
"Then watch," Jakkin said, sending, "
Now, Sssargon, now! Now, thou mighty worm
." And he raised his hand.
For a long moment nothing happened, except Garrekk chuckled. "Garden boy," he whispered.
"
Up! Up!
" Jakkin pleaded in a sending.
Sssargon looked at him, then sent back, "
Sssargon risesss. Sssargon goesss up. Sssargon
..." And Sssargon went up slowly, majestically in a hind foot rise.
There was a smattering of applause from the crowd, which grew into a huge crescendo. Jakkin turned around, grinning at the astonished Garrekk.
Even the master of the pit was moved to applaud.
"Well done, well done. He's yours," said the master, then glanced around a bit nervously. "My word!"
In every stall the dragons were rising onto their hind legs.
"
Down all
," Jakkin sent quickly, in as sharp a tone as he could manage, catching them all before too much damage was done. Even Sssargon settled down.
Jakkin began to laugh. "Look at them all mimicking my worm," he said, hoping that would amuse everyone.
There were smiles, laughter, even a couple of elbows into ribs.
Only Garrekk was not amused. "That was a trick. You saw the dragon beginning to hackle. You guessed it signaled a hind foot rise. You can't possibly do it again."
Without stopping, Jakkin turned back to Sssargon with his hand up. "Rise now, my great dragon," he said, and at the same time sent, "
Again, and after we will be out of here into the air where there is much wort. And Akki.
"
"
Wort for Sssargon. Akki for thee,
" Sssargon sent back, with a great rosy rainbow, then stood up on his back feet for a second time.
"You can stay the night in my pit for free," said the master. "And fight that dragon here any time you wish."
"I won't stay tonight, Pit Master. I can't trust your Garrekk," Jakkin told him, "even if I take his prod."
The master smiled. "I think we'll leave him with something."
Jakkin nodded, then making up a lie on the spot, he said, "Besides, I have friends in the first pit."
"Master Ortran's pit?"
"Yes," he said. He was sure he'd heard that name before. But where?
"All right, but best hurry. Dark-After is about to start." The master gave him a handshake.
"We'll go immediately." He grabbed Sssargon by the ear and led him out of the stall.
A tall, painfully thin trainer showed him to the dragon's door, pointing in the right direction. He could hear the rest of the trainers back in the stalls poking fun at Garrekk, calling him a thief, and a bad one at that. One said, "Did you see how that
garden
boy ear-hooked the dragon? He knows his worms, he does."
Then the door was shut behind them and Jakkin and the dragon were out in the growing cold.
JAKKIN LED Sssargon by the ear until they were well past the pits so no one could see them. He wanted to get the big worm up in the air, first to find the rest of the brood, and then to fly over the area and have him call for Akki. If Akki was anywhere in The Rokkâand awareâone of them would surely hear her.
They walked on the far side of the street, through wort plants that were high enough to hide them should someone be looking out of a window. Though normally everyone slept through Dark-After, Jakkin figured it was safer to be out where he and Sssargon wouldn't be seen from an unshuttered window.
It was slow going and Sssargon kept stopping to graze on the tenderest of the plants. While he ate, his mind became just a low buzz. His tail swung lazily back and forth, and Jakkin had to be careful to stay away from it. One blow of that mighty tail, even by accident, and he could be out for hours. He didn't know if Akki had hours left.
A huge silence surrounded them. That surprised Jakkin, who'd expected more sound from a city, even during Dark-After. But the field was on the backside of the small pits, where there were no windows, or at least none lit, and of course nothing was on the road. He could have been anywhere out in the country.
While they were on this side of The Rokk, Jakkin decided to recheck the warehouse area. A hunch, really. He couldn't get the hatchling's sending about the white-haired "bad man" out of his mind. Going to the warehouses might be a mistake, but he couldn't go into houses during Dark-After, anyway, so with the four hours of cold, the warehouses seemed the best area to explore.
Henkky had said it would be a half-hour brisk walk from the pits. But if he had to haul Sssargon the whole way, it was going to take twice that. The dragon was still eating wort, a dark mountain moving across a dark field. He wondered if Sssargon was ever going to be full. And if he became really full, would he be able to fly. Most dragons required hours to sleep off a big meal. But Sssargon had to fly.
Sssargon was his only hope of finding the other dragons. Jakkin needed all the eyes and ears he could get.
Now it was fully Dark-After, the bowl of sky lit only by the flickering stars. He'd have but four hours, stumbling about in the dark, to search the warehouses. So he planted himself in front of Sssargon, put his hands on either side of that long, scaly face, and gazed deep into the dragon's eyes.
"
Thee must find thy sisters,
" he sent, making that a command, not a request. He pictured Sssasha and the triplets, individually, and then as a group in rainbow colors. "
Bring them to me still in the dark at the place of great houses.
" He sent a picture of the map, with a red circle around the warehouse district, hoping this would make sense to Sssargon, to all of them.
"
Dark?
" Sssargon was evidently able to chew and send at the same time, just not able to think.
"Before the sun comes up," Jakkin said, sending Sssargon a picture of the sun rising over a pinkish landscape, which included The Rokk.
Then he rubbed his palm down Sssargon's nose. "
There is danger. I need thy help
." The scales were cold under his fingers. "
Fly, mighty worm. Find Sssasha and the triplets. Then we find Akki. Together
." He stepped back and flung his right arm up, pointing to the sky. "
Go, go, go
."
It took Sssargon a moment to chew the last of the wort he'd snagged with his long tongue, another moment to digest what Jakkin had asked of him.
"
Akki is in danger!
" Jakkin sent, wondering how long it would be before Sssargon finally got it. Just when he was beginning to wish he'd taken Garrekk's prod after all, the dragon made a startling noise, something like a takk pot beginning to boil.
"
YYYYYYYYYesssssss!
" Pumping his mighty wings, he leaped rather heavily into the air, his tail a rudder. "
Sssargon goesss. Sssargon fliesss
." The mountain met the sky as he sailed low and sluggishly over the wort fields before turning north.
Jakkin could only hope Sssargon knew where he was going. Hoped Sssargon knew where he could find his sisters. If the dragon found another wort field before then, Jakkin would have no backup at all.
"
Fair wind!
" Jakkin sent, along with the picture of the big dragon sailing across the stars.
There was nothing more he could do now but get to the warehouses himself, and as quickly as possible. He could tell by the intensity of the cold river running across the back of his neck, it was past time for him to move along. He'd already wasted half an hour of Dark-After getting this far with Sssargon.
Now he started to run briskly along the walkway, but he was already exhausted by the long day, the battle with the trogs, his days of captivity. By the end of the second long block, he had to slow down, then stop.
He suddenly remembered he hadn't eaten since the cup of tea at Dr. Henkky's house. He took out the thermos and had several sips of the sweet hot tea and ate one of the hard-boiled lizard eggs in the sling. There was a cake there, as well, and he scarfed it down, followed by some more sweetened tea. Except for wort plants in the field across the street, there was little to see, especially in the dark. This was a wasteland, where somedayâhe supposedâmore houses would be built.
He began running again, with a new burst of energy. At the end of each block, he sent his message to Akki.
Nothing but silence greeted him.
***
AT THE END of a fifth block, he came upon a broken-down farmhouse within acres of unkempt land. Even with the starlight, he could barely make out the ruins of the house. Still, he took the time to walk its perimeter, calling to Akki in long sendings, full of golds shot through with fireworks.
Just in case.
The roof of the house had caved in, as had two of the walls. There was an old barn behind it that he hadn't seen at first. Sections of the barn's roof had also fallen down, though one part bulged out oddly. He legged over a collapsed stone wall, nearly twisting his ankle in the dark.