the priests in every temple on Temple Row and throughout, not only the city, but all of Tia, as magicians and Seers attempted to pierce the veils of magic concealing the seats of Altan power, and discover what their counterparts in Alta were planning. Evidently, however, no matter what the strength of the sea witch power was, the protections still held; there were no revelations coming from the Seers of Tia.
And in the end, it was that most necessary of creatures that brought the real news—
—a spy.
It was Haraket that spread the word of a massive, compoundwide meeting to the dragon boys, at morning feeding, as each of them collected the meat for their dragons. 'Everyone to the landing-court at noon,' he repeated, over and over. 'No exceptions. The Commander wishes to address us.' And of course, that only created more rumors rather than stilling the existing ones.
If some of the others had time enough to buzz and whisper over the rumors, Vetch did not. The only time he might have said anything was to Baken—and Baken was not inclined to talk about anything other than the progress of the blue dragonet.
'So much smarter than a horse—' he was muttering cheerfully as Vetch arrived to help him, only to find him harnessing the youngster. He looked up when Vetch arrived with a satisfied smile on his face. 'Vetch, you have no idea. The best qualities of a falcon, with the intelligence of a fine hound, and you can tame him like a wild horse— look at him! Mere days since he was brought in, and look at him!'
Indeed, the dragonet regarded both of them with aloof tolerance, standing calmly, and registering displeasure with a hiss only when he didn't care for something that one or another of them did. Sometimes, it was when Vetch moved a little too quickly, once, when Baken accidentally pinched a fold of skin while harnessing him. 'I might gentle a wild horse that fast, but I wouldn't lay money on it,' Baken continued, 'And a horse is not a hunter, it is a social animal that craves its herd around it. It is harder to tame a creature that takes prey; by their nature they are competitive and wary. It is also harder to tame one that, in the wild, is not part of a herd.'
'You wouldn't have been able to if he'd ever eaten man,' Vetch reminded him. 'You got a chance at him while he was still impressionable. He thinks we are mightier than he—if he'd ever eaten man flesh, he'd still be thinking of us as dinner.'
Baken nodded, knowing, as Vetch knew, that anything as small as a man was generally killed and carried whole to the nest by the mother dragon, so the young dragonets got a good idea what their prey should look like.
'All the more reason to start taking youngsters earlier than first flight. What's happened here with him, by the accident of the Jousters going out and robbing nests far earlier than they've ever done before, is to repeat what we falconers usually do with eyas falcons,' Baken replied. 'We take them old enough to know that they are falcons, but young enough to tame quickly.'
'Well—yes, it's true that's successful. But it was at the cost of eight Jousters so far,' Vetch reminded him. 'Mother dragons aren't like falcons. When they defend their nests, it's the humans that lose the fight.'
Baken snorted. 'And there are two would-be Jousters eager to replace every one stupid one that tries to haul off a dragonet with the mother too near,' he replied. 'It is easy to replace Jousters.
It's a lot harder to replace a dragon, especially a properly-tamed one. Better that they get themselves killed off now, than that they get themselves killed in a joust or accident and lose a trained dragon.'
It was clear that his opinion of the Jousters hadn't changed. Well, Vetch shared it. As far as he was concerned none of the fools who'd become dragonet dinner was much of a loss.
Besides, every one that goes down a dragon's throat is one less to attack Aha…
'There!' Baken said in triumph, and stood a little away. 'Last strap. Now—today, we'll teach him 'up' and 'down.'%%' He laughed. 'This isn't my training, though. I asked the other trainers how they do it. But I need you, Vetch, because this is a two-man job.'
He passed the end of a jousting lance to Vetch, holding onto the other end himself. 'Now, we fit this right into the crook of the elbow on his front legs. When I say the command, push down and in on his lower legs. They'll collapse, especially since he won't be ready for this, and he'll go down. When he does, get the lance away so it doesn't hurt him or stop him from going all the way down, and shove down on his shoulders.'
That was clear enough, and clever, too. Vetch nodded. Together they pushed the lance in on the dragonet's forelegs. 'Down!' Baken ordered, and they both pushed the blue dragonet's legs with the lance shaft. Now, if they had tried to force him down, starting with a shove on his shoulders instead of with the lance, he would have fought them—and he'd have won. Young as he was, he was still stronger than they were. But this caught him off-guard, like a man tackled from behind at the knees. With a snort of surprise, the dragonet felt his own legs giving way underneath him, and he was too startled to fight. He went down—and to Vetch's pleasure, he also folded his rear legs under him as well. It was accidental, but this would set the mark for what 'down' meant.
'Good boy!' Baken crowed, rewarded the young beast with a tidbit immediately. 'Very good boy!' He caught the slight movement of the dragonet as it prepared to scramble back up to it's feet, and shouted 'Up!' just as it made up its mind to get up. More praise, another tidbit, and the dragonet's eyes were suddenly very bright. Was it too much to say, there was speculation in them? He'd been taught here that there were things he would have to do that he didn't necessarily think of for himself. Did he now realize that here were two of those things that he actually needed to learn?
