"Jane Yolen - Pit Dragon 03 - A Sending of Dragons" - читать интересную книгу автора (Yolen Jane)

тАЬFewmets!тАЭ Akki complained. тАЬThatтАЩs too loud. Here I am, standing right next to you, and youтАЩve fried
me.тАЭ She set the basket down on an outjut of rock and rubbed her temples vigorously.

Jakkin knew she meant the mind sending had been too loud and had left her with a head full of brilliant
hot lights. HeтАЩd had weeks of similar headaches when Akki first began sending, until theyтАЩd both learned
to adjust. тАЬSorry,тАЭ he whispered, taking a turn at rubbing her head over the ears, where the hot ache
lingered. тАЬSometimes I forget. It takes so much more to make a dragon complain and their brains never
get fried.тАЭ

тАЬBrains? What brains? Everyone knows dragons havenтАЩt any brains. Just muscle and bone andтАжтАЭ

and claws and teeth,тАЬ Jakkin finished for her, then broke into the chorus of the pit song sheтАЩd referred to:

Muscle and bone And claws and teeth, Fire above and Fewmets beneath.

Akki laughed, just as heтАЩd hoped, for laughter usually bled away the pain of a close sending. She came
over and hugged him, and just as her arms went around, the true Austarian darkness closed in.

тАЬYouтАЩve got some power,тАЭ Jakkin said. тАЬOne hug-and the lights go out!тАЭ

тАЬWait until you see what I do at dawn,тАЭ she replied, giving a mock shiver.

To other humans the Austarian night was black and pitiless and the false dawn, Dark-After, mortally
cold. Even an hour outside during that time of bone chill meant certain death. But Jakkin and Akki were
different now, different from all their friends at the dragon nursery, different from the trainers and bond
boys at the pits, different from the men who slaughtered dragons in the stews or the girls who filled their
bond bags with money made in the baggeries. They were different from anyone in the history of Austar
IV because they had been changed. JakkinтАЩs thoughts turned as dark as the oncoming night,
remembering just how theyтАЩd been changed. Chased into the mountains by wardens for the bombing of
Rokk Major, which they had not really committed, theyтАЩd watched helplessly as JakkinтАЩs great red
dragon, HeartтАЩs Blood, had taken shots meant for them, dying as she tried to protect them. And then, left
by the wardens to the oncoming cold, they had sheltered in HeartтАЩs BloodтАЩs body, in the very chamber
where sheтАЩd recently carried eggs, and had emerged, somehow able to stand the cold and share their
thoughts. He shut the memory down. Even months later it was too painful. Pulling himself away from the
past, he realized he was still in the circle of AkkiтАЩs arms. Her face showed deep concern, and he realized
sheтАЩd been listening in on his thoughts. But when she spoke it was on a different subject altogether, and
for that he was profoundly grateful.

тАЬCome see what I found today,тАЭ she said quietly, pulling him over to the basket. тАЬNot just berries, but a
new kind of mushroom. They were near a tiny cave on the south face of the Crag.тАЭ Akki insisted on
naming things because-she said-that made them more real. Mountains, meadows, vegetations, eaves-they
all bore her imprint. тАЬWe can test them out, first uncooked and later in with some boil soup. I nibbled a
bit about an hour ago and havenтАЩt had any bad effects, so theyтАЩre safe. YouтАЩll like these, Jakkin. They
may look like cave apples, but I found them under a small tree. I call them meadow apples.тАЭ

Jakkin made a face. He wasnтАЩt fond of mushrooms, and cave apples were the worst.

тАЬTheyтАЩre sweeter than you think.тАЭ
Anything, Jakkin thought, would be sweeter than the round, reddish cave apples with their musty, dusty