It was Sobek, Reaten's dragon boy, who was causing all the fuss. With all the other boys around him, he refused, sweating and trembling, to go anywhere near his charge. He described, at the top of his lungs, to an enraptured and credulous audience in the butcher court, how she had snapped at him and—so he claimed—nearly taken his leg off.
'Like a mad thing!' he cried, his voice cracking. 'Mark me, she'll eat anyone she gets hold of! She nearly ate me! I swear it!'
'That is because she mistook you for a goat, with all of your silly bleating,' Haraket boomed from the door to the courtyard, where he stood, legs braced slightly apart, arms crossed over his chest, a fierce and disapproving frown on his face. Vetch shrank back against the wall, but already his mind was a-whirl with a possible idea. 'What is all of this foolishness, Sobek?' Haraket continued. 'And disobedience—saying you will not tend to your dragon—
'And I won't!' Sobek cried hysterically, both hands clenched into fists, his face a contorted mask of fear and defiance. 'I won't, you hear me! My father is a priest in the Temple of Epis, and he'll have something to say about this!'
'Your father is a cleaner of temple floors, and you may go back to him in disgrace if you say one word further,' Haraket thundered dangerously, his eyes flashing and his brow as black as a rainy-season storm. Vetch sucked in a breath; Haraket annoyed was dangerous enough, but Haraket enraged? Was he about to see Sobek beaten? If so, it would be the first time he'd seen anyone beaten, even the slaves, since he came to the compound.
But Sobek had been pushed too far; his fear was no act, and he had gone over the edge from fear into panic. He snatched the eye amulet off his neck, and threw it to the pavement, where it shattered into a thousand pieces. The noise of it shattering could not possibly have been as loud as it seemed. It sent a shiver over all of the dragon boys and servants crowded into the court, and even Vetch was not immune. 'Send me back, then!' he screeched, as the shattered pieces glittered on the stone. 'Go ahead! Better that, than to be torn apart! I care not, Haraket, I will cut papyrus, I will beg for my bread, rather than go into that killer's pen!'
But if Sobek had been pressed too far on this day, so had Haraket. And Haraket had authority.
'Out!' Haraket roared, 'Out of my compound, out of my life!' Step by step he advanced on Sobek, his face red with anger, so outraged by the dragon boy's rebellion that he was about to lose control of himself. 'You are dismissed, dragon boy, little boy, little coward! Run back to your father, pathetic scum! Go and cut papyrus for a pittance, for that is the only position you will ever hold to put bread in your mouth!'
His arm shot out, pointing toward the door. The hand trembled, with suppressed rage. 'Run away like the frightened child you are, before I lose my mind and beat you black and blue to give you bruises to take back with you! Run! Run!'
Sobek ran; bolted for his life past Haraket, bare feet slapping on the stone, fleeing for the outside world and presumed safety.
Silence fell over the courtyard, a silence broken only by the shuffling feet of the other dragon boys. Hanging in the silence was the certain knowledge that someone would have to take care of Coresan until Haraket found another boy to tend her. And Coresan, at her best, was no Kashet. At her worst, well, she was evidently so unmanageable that Sobek had chosen disgrace over continuing to tend her.
This was the opportunity, all unlooked-for, that Vetch had not dared to hope would be granted to him. He leaped upon it and seized it with both hands. 'Overseer?' he said, into the leaden silence. 'I will tend Coresan along with Kashet, if someone else will mend harness, pound tala, and clean Jouster Ari's room for me. I will need that sort of help. Feeding, tending, and bathing two dragons will not be easy; it is hard enough at the best of times, but it will be much more difficult, when one of them is Coresan, a dragon newly-mated. But I will do it for her sake. There are no bad dragons here,' he added boldly. 'Only mishandled ones.'
A collective sigh arose out of the huddle of dragon boys. They gazed at him in awe, and was it—in sudden respect? Yes, it was! Vetch kept his eyes on Haraket. Now was not the time to take advantage of that.
Haraket's brow cleared a trifle. 'You? Coresan is no Kashet, boy. She has always been a handful for Sobek with that tail of hers, and as you said, she is going to lay eggs, which will make her even more difficult—
'But I have been around females about to whelp all my life,' he countered, raising his chin. 'My father was a farmer. I believe that I can tame her a little. Perhaps more than a little.' He allowed scorn to come into his tone, for the first time ever. But Sobek was now, in Haraket's mind at least, in utter and complete disgrace, just like his Jouster. Dragon boy and Jouster had both failed, and failed as badly as it was possible to fail and not die. Criticism of Sobek would fall on ears ready to hear it.
And it was such a relief to be able to abuse one of those wretched Tian boys without fear of being punished for it! Vetch waxed eloquent in his scorn. 'Sobek never treated her properly; half the time he was afraid of her, and he never thought she was anything better than a dumb beast with a vicious streak. He never saw how clever she was, or treated her with any kindness. I'd have snapped at him myself, if I had been her; she's smart enough to bully anyone who gives way to her, but she's also smart enough to change her ways if she's treated right.'
Haraket rubbed his shaven head with the palm of one hand, now looking worried. 'Sobek was—not entirely in the wrong, boy,' he admitted. 'Perhaps he neglected his dragon, but that will make her all the more dangerous. Coresan could harm you, if you are not careful.'
'Let me feed her, feed her now, Overseer,' Vetch pleaded, urgently. The plan was rapidly forming in his mind, a beautiful plan that would give him everything he could possibly want, but he could only carry it out if he became Coresan's keeper, at least until she laid those eggs. 'She's hungry now, and she'll be easier to win when she's hungry. Please! Watch and see if I can handle her!'
