"Mercedes Lackey - Dragon Jousters 2 - Alta" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lackey Mercedes)

"Do not hunt unless there are no large estates, for this will be a waste of your effort, and you should be
making for Alta City, not wandering about," the Mouth concluded. "Though I think you will find estates
in plenty. And remember to act as an Altan of rank! The dragon conveys the rankтАФyou have the dragon,
therefore, you have the rank, by the very laws of the land."

I have the rank. The dragon confers the rank. And I must do this far her. "Have you any other advice?"
he asked quietly.

The Mouth's eyes closed for a moment, as if considering. "Ah. In one thing the ruling of Alta differs
from Tia. The Great Kings and Great Queens rule jointly, and there are always four of them, two sets of

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Sacred Twins. So refer to the Great Ones, not the Great King. In all other ways, rulership is similar. And
until you come to Alta City and reveal yourself for what you are, the tongues of Alta and Tia are similar
enough that you should have no difficulty in passing yourself as some Jouster in training from a distant
province. And now, it is time for sleep. Since I must come with you on the morrow, the journey to where
I must leave you will be long in time if not in distance. To save time you might need to spend in hunting,
I will have a child bring a beast for your dragon's meal."

As abruptly as the conversation started, the Mouth rose and left.

And there seemed no reason to do anything other than follow the Mouth's advice, and sleep.

The last leg of this part of his journey began before dawn. Avatre woke and nudged him; he, after all,
was supposed to get her breakfast! He sat up and blinked sleepily at a bit of movement, lighter shadow
against dark, at the edge of the oasis.

The predawn light slowly turned the world from shades of darkness to a world painted in tones of blue-
gray. And the Mouth had told him the truth last night; there was already a small boy with a goat waiting
for him to awaken.

The Mouth had not told him to pay for the goat, and yetтАФyet it seemed churlish in the extreme not to do
so. These people fought the desert, and fought it with all their strength and cunning, to wrest a living
from it. It was not fair to take and give nothing in return. He rummaged through the coins that Ari had
left with him and which he had not yet used, and offered what he considered to be a fair price for the
beast. It must have been, for without a word, the child pushed the halter rope at him, took the coins, and
ran off. He hadn't been required to pay for Avatre's food the times when their hunting had been without
successтАФthat was one of the rights that Ari had bargained forтАФbut somehow it just seemed polite to do
so now, especially when he was passing out of their guidance. Being fed on the way because he had
failed at hunting was somehow different from this, though he could not put his finger on how.

Avatre was not used to having her breakfast delivered alive if she was not hunting it, but she was
obviously not averse to the notion. The goat, however, was petrified; feeling rather sorry for it, Vetch
dragged it by the halter rope with all four hooves making furrows in the ground until Avatre got tired of
waiting, levered herself up out of her pit, stalked over to them both and dispatched the beast with a
single, impatient blow of her foreclaw before it had a chance to bleat in terror.

He left her alone with it, and made his own preparations for leaving; there was bread from last night, and