show anything. The Overseer was very good at keeping his ideas to himself when he chose. Vetch would never want to play the stone game against him, for there would be no reading anything in Haraket's face.
It took Vetch some time to actually track Haraket down; he wasn't with the butchers, inspecting occupied pens, discussing the work of the boys with the harness maker, or any other place where Vetch expected to find him. Finally, after asking everyone he met, Vetch discovered the Overseer in a little room just off the kitchen. He was sequestered with the Steward of the Household, who was in charge of supplying all of the food and clothing needs for the Jousters and the considerable staff it took to support them. Te-Velethat, apparently, was not in charge of this most vital of duties. Te-Velethat, from a remark that Vetch overheard before he made his presence known, considered the procurement of supplies to be entirely beneath him as an Overseer, and left it all up to Haraket. Haraket, who was already handling the procurement of everything associated with the dragons, got saddled with this job as well.
And as a consequence, it seemed, Te-Velethat had a great deal less power and influence within the compound than he thought he had… which was a bit of information that Vetch filed away, just in case he needed it at some time in the future.
'An egg! Finally!' the Overseer grunted, once Vetch had apprised him of the situation. 'I was beginning to worry that she might be egg-bound.'
'What would you like me to do, sir?' Vetch asked diffidently.
'Don't do anything; I'll handle this,' Haraket said firmly. 'Now, go back to her, and don't act any differently. Don't pay any attention to that egg, because we don't want her to have a go at you. She might, she might not, there's no telling at the moment. You'll have to leave her be, and if she acts possessive, leave her alone with it, just lengthen her chain and take a barrow of meat in to her and don't bother any further with her. As a first-time breeder, chances are she won't know what to do with it, but don't take any chances if she shows the least little sign of getting protective.'
Vetch ducked his head. 'Yes, sir,' he said obediently. 'I'll do that, but she didn't even act as if she cared about it at all. The way she acted, it could just as well have been one of her droppings.'
'That could be a ruse, the way a plover plays broken-wing to lure you away,' Haraket warned, 'But as long as she doesn't think you know about it, she won't do anything to draw attention to it. You're too valuable for us to risk you getting injured by a broody she-dragon. I don't want you hurt.'
'Yes, sir,' Vetch repeated, knowing already that Coresan wasn't going to do anything about the second egg, since she hadn't been at all possessive about the first. He was safe enough with her, and given her indifference, perhaps it was just as well that they weren't going to give her the chance to be a mother.
Perhaps, though, he was doing her a disservice. Chickens didn't pay any attention to their eggs until after the full clutch had been laid. There was no telling but what, once her instincts awoke, she wouldn't have been a good mother after all.
And for a moment, he felt horribly guilty; here they were, taking her eggs from her, never giving her a chance to raise them. It didn't seem at all fair.
If the gods had meant her to breed, he told himself, she'd have gotten away from Ari and Kashet and gone off into the hills. And she'd have found herself a handsome male and set herself right up, no doubt. What healthy dragon could have resisted such a scarlet beauty? And he went back to his split duties, leaving Haraket and the Steward poring over tallies of wheat and barley.
He fed Coresan, then made sure that Coresan's pen was as spotless and tidy as Kashet's. If Haraket was going to arrive with a picked crew to purloin the egg, he wanted the pen to show just how diligent a worker he was. By the time he finished Coresan's pen, it was time for Kashet and Ari to come back from their second patrol, so it was on to the next round, feeding Kashet, buffing and oiling him, then giving Coresan the same treatment, and that fourth little meal that would hold her overnight until late morning. In all that time, there was no sign of Haraket, and the egg was still in the corner of Coresan's pen.
Then, just before going to bed himself, he slipped into the empty pen to turn his egg, as he had been doing for the past two mornings and nights.
When he went to feed Coresan the next morning, the egg was gone, so he guessed that Haraket had duplicated what he himself had done—taken the egg in the night, when Coresan was least likely to see and react to the theft of her potential progeny.
Ari lingered while Vetch unharnessed Kashet after the morning patrol, as if he was uncertain about something. Finally, though he made up his mind. 'I thought you might like to know, Seftu's rider, Horeb, is back on his patrols.'
'Ah?' Vetch said noncommittally. 'So what came of his side of the mess, then?'
'First, a good long dressing-down from Haraket that practically pinned his ears back,' Ari said, with a grim little smile. 'I suspect that didn't impress him too much past the moment, but then he had an intense session with the Captain of Jousters, which of a certainty did. The Captain ordered an official inquiry and when that was over, he had an interview—' (Ari's tone and expression put a certain decided emphasis on the word) '—with the Commander of Dragons. I saw him leave, actually; he looked like a whipped cur.'
'Is the Commander so fearsome?' Vetch asked wonderingly. This was the first time that he had heard of the Commander actually doing anything with the Jousters other than issuing orders.
