"Jane Yolen - Pit Dragon 02 - Heart's Blood" - читать интересную книгу автора (Yolen Jane)

THE Tmn MOONS cast shadows like blood scores across the sand. Jakkin hunkered down in the
bowl-shaped depression and listened. Inside the wood-and-stone dragonry he could hear the mewling
and scratching of hatchlings as they pipped out of their shells. One more night, maybe two, and the
hatching would be complete.

Near the stud barn was a newer, smaller barn. In that building Heart’s Blood stayed apart from the other
hens. She was still too young to breed, though under Sarkkhan’s tutelage she and Jakkin had won two
more fights. Sarkkhan said that Heart’s Blood would command the best mating prices if she fought at
least ten times in a variety of minor pits. After that, if she could win a championship in a major pit, she
would be known all over the world.

Sleep, my worin, Jakkin thought as he stood and walked past the barn. A cool river of greens
meandered slowly through his mind in response. He knew that Likkam was asleep in the bondhouse and
no other watchers had been set on his track. Sarkkhan trusted him. Jakkin would not betray that trust.
Brooming his footsteps away for the first kilometer would not keep Likkam or Sarkkhan from his private
spot, but it would keep the other bonders from finding it. He still needed a place he could go. And he
hoped that Akki might be waiting for him there.

He remembered the first time he had gone back, several weeks after the fight with Rum. Wanting to claim
the remaining rows of weed and wort plants in order to keep his debt to Sarkkhan down, he stripped the
stalks with care. He had been at work for only a few minutes when he heard a familiar mocking laugh. He
turned and had seen Akki standing near the shelter, her hands on her hips.

“I hear you won,” she said. “Ardru was there. In the Master Box. Did you see him? Was it exciting?
Was it worth the risk?”

He had walked over to her slowly. “Why haven’t you returned to the nursery?” he asked.

“Do you always answer questions with a question?” she countered. They had both laughed.

Later she told him she would never come back. “I only stayed as long as I did to help you. Because you
had a dream, just like me. If dreamers don’t help one another… But once your dream came true, it was
time for me to go. I don’t really belong in a nursery. Not anymore. I am both master and bonder,” she
said. “And I will let no man fill my bag.”

Then she added, almost under her breath, “I left the gold Sarkkhan paid for my bond on his pillow.”

Jakkin did not ask her how she got the gold. “I know Sarkkhan is your father,” he said quietly. “I am not
responsible for that.”

“Then why must you go away?” he asked. “I just told you,” she said. “Weren’t you listening?”
“You answered my question with a question,” Jakkin whispered. “I don’t want you to go.”

She said nothing, just looked at him strangely and left.

chapter 2