'They will?' gasped a butcher.
'Of course they will! It is by far the most effective weapon they have now!' Haraket said, with scorn for the man's obtuse-ness. 'They will hardly abandon it! And I fear we will now have to cease our scouting forays over their land; if a dragon is driven to earth over their territory—
He did not need to elaborate. Even Vetch knew what would become of a Tian Jouster caught by Altan foot soldiers on the ground.
He moved off silently, using the door to the barrow storage room to make his exit. At the moment, he had rather that Haraket did not know what he had overheard.
He couldn't but help feel some elation; among other things, if Haraket was right, Ari stood at far less risk of being hurt or killed now in the course of his duties. Kashet was bigger and stronger than any other dragon in the compound, now, and he had always been a better and more skilled flyer; it would take more than a witch-conjured storm to hurt him. And if the Altans were going to use storms against dragons, they must have pulled their own Jousters back so as to avoid harming them accidentally. Which meant that Ari would not be facing anyone in a Joust until the Dry came, and not even the most powerful of witches could conjure up a storm.
He trotted back to his pens with the rain drumming on his wet hair; he checked on Avatre, but saw she was sleeping as soundly as a dragon could—which was very soundly indeed. So just in case Ari turned up, he curled up on his pallet in the unseasonable gloom.
He would have a lot of chores to catch up on tomorrow. But he didn't think anyone would complain or take him to task for them. He'd been all over that courtyard, and he could always claim he'd sprained something, helping bring the dragons in, and had taken to Kashet's sands to bake the aches out…
Huh. Maybe he'd better lend verisimilitude to that claim by moving his pallet there now.
It didn't take a moment, even in the twilight gloom and the rain, he was so used to doing so after the rainy season. And he was glad that he had, when not long after, he heard Ari's step outside the pen.
'Vetch?' the Jouster called into the dimness of the pen.
'Here!' he called back. Kashet didn't even stir. 'I sprained my shoulder getting chains onto some of those dragons.'
'I thought you might have—one of them marked you, too. Do you need something for the scratches?' Ari made a dash across the open, rain-filled space and got in under the shelter of Kashet's awning.
'It was Coresan, and she pulled her blow when she saw it was me,' he replied, feeling oddly touched that Ari had noticed in the midst of all the chaos. 'I've gotten worse from thorns, or the stuff Khefti made me sleep on.'
Ari sighed, and sat down on the edge of the wallow. 'Just bake out the sprain, then. You won't be the only one tending injury. There are sprains and even a dislocated shoulder or two all over the compound, and that's just among the Jousters; I expect anyone in the landing court is probably nursing some sort of hurt, and the dragons themselves may have gotten sprains when they landed. We won't field but half the dragons tomorrow, nor the day after. It appears that your countrymen have found an effective weapon to ground us.'
His heart leaped at that. So it was definitely true, then! Haraket had been right! But he didn't say anything, and Ari didn't seem to expect a comment.
'Well, I won't complain,' Ari continued. 'There won't be any double patrols to fly, when we daren't take any dragons over Altan lands. Just the simple runs over our own land, until the Great King decides to break the truce and send the armies out again.'
Vetch's heart dropped as fast as it had risen. Ari had said 'when,' not 'if'-
'But since the King has not chosen to favor me with his plans for conquest,' Ari continued, still sounding oddly cheerful, 'I am not going to concern myself over that until the day dawns. Nor should you. Instead, I am for my honest bed; there is no point in doing anything but follow Kashet's example and catch up on rest. Good night, Vetch.'
'Good night, Jouster,' he called off after the retreating form that sprinted out through the door, in the rain.
And he waited just long enough to be certain that Ari was not going to return, before gathering up a blanket and abandoning Kashet to sleep alone.
For tonight—and for every night that he could manage it—he would be sleeping beside his dragon.
She stirred ever so slightly as he laid his blanket down on the sand beside her, and fitted his body around hers. And she nestled her head in next to his outstretched arm with a movement that brought a smile to his lips and a lump to his throat.
