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.Suddenly an enormous opening was before him.It was ashigh as the nursery studbam and opened on to endless sky.The water carried him through.He turned over and floated along on his back, looking up into the clearblue Austarian sky where a black dot was scripting an elliptic message.His mind still crackled with thewater s static, so there was no way he could receive a sending that would tell him if that dot was adragon-or a copter.He flipped back over onto his stomach, took three strong strokes, and clamberedout onto a bank whose grass came right down into the water.From where he stood, shaking himself like a dragon just emerged from a bath, he could see that the riverwound on for another couple hundred meters, and then disappeared precipitously, as if the end weresuddenly sheered off.There was a constant low deep sound, which seemed at once comforting andominous.He wondered about it, but it wasn t like any sound he d ever heard.Behind him the mountain climbed straight up, as if a second mountain stood atop the first, its dark rocksbroken and ugly.On the other side of the river was a grassy slope similar to the one he stood on, andbeyond it a sheer drop.He could see a stretch of desert land below with scattered green-black clumps oftrees.And even farther on there was a black snaky line he guessed was a river, perhaps even theNarakka.He became aware of the untrammeled grass between his toes, cool and tickling.Smiling at last, he threwhimself facedown and let the strong familiar earth smell surround him.But all the while he was thinking furiously, questions boiling up inside.How was he to get Akki, whocould not swim, through the water to this blue-and-green haven? How could he convince a dragonalready beginning to swell with eggs to swim to an unknown and unknowable destination? How could hehold both girl and worm through the terrifying moments underwater when none of them would be able tolink minds? And, above all, how could he do it so that the cave people didn t know their plans ahead oftime or follow them into this light and open place?Shaking his head, Jakkin let the sun warm and dry him.Slowly his mind cleared of the static, and as it didhe felt it invaded by a faraway sending, faded but familiar: Sssargon rides.Sssargon turns.Sssargon soars.Jakkin chuckled to himself, waiting for the dragon to become aware of his presence.Then as the dragonmonologue continued unabated, realization dawned on Jakkin.Sssargon simply didn t hear him.He,Jakkin, was broadcasting none of his feelings.The habits he had learned in his long days deep in the caveheld.Without even worrying about it, without working at visualizing a wall or a curtain or a fence, hecould now cloak his feelings.Thankfully he opened his mind and let out a whoop of color. Sssargon! his sending shouted. Sssargon, shut up! And Sssargon-come here! The dot did a complete loop-de-loop and started toward him, its sendings blasting out a parade ofpatterns-reds, golds, purples.In its wake there came four other sendings, related yet individual.The hatchlings, Heart s Blood s five, had all heard him and were on their way.chapter 35THEY NEARLY BROKE two Of his ribs and fairly suffocated him once they had landed, crowdingaround him in boisterous delight.Sssasha had to buffet the triplets away from him with a broad sweep ofher tall.And Sssargon, undaunted by their teasing, continued his commentary throughout the reunion, acolorfilled drone that soon had them all chuckling. Sssargon laughs.Sssargon feels joy. At last Jakkin caught his breath and cleared his mind.He looked carefully at the five, all of whom seemedovergrown after the stunted, dull dragons of the cave.He patted Sssasha s nose with its splotch of gold,then opened his mind to them slowly, like a storyteller beginning a tale.He made them feel the low, darkinside of the mountain caves and the low, dark minds of the cave s damaged inhabitants.He pictured thework details, the reunion with Akki, the healing of the dragon, and the silent, steady laying of the eggs.Then, with a kind of mental drumroll, he pounded out the rest of the story, ending with the great gout ofblood red spewing over them all.If dragons could weep, they wept.Crowding close to him, they rubbed against him in their need forcomfort.Sssasha licked his ear carefully with her rough tongue.Then Tri-ssskkette, with the mental equivalent of a sigh, sent a fluttering thought that flapped like the skinover her ears. Akki! She laced the picture of Akki in gold but the flutter lines kept breaking up the image.It was so plaintive,Jakkin reached over and hugged her around the neck. Akki, he said aloud, framing a simultaneous sending.Dragons recognized certain spoken words-namesand specific objects-but the sendings were still necessary. Akki is under the mountain by the lake.I mustgo back.But thee will have a place in this ending, Tri-I promise thee that. The others pushed next to Tri-ssskkette, signaling their own willingness, and nearly knocked Jakkin over.He gave them each a pat on the nose. This is my plan, and it will be better to say it to thee now, for once I am back in the water and under themountain, I can send thee nothing. Nothing? Sssargon was startled out of his self-involvement for a moment. Nothing, Jakkin repeated, both out loud and in a sending. The water stops all sendings. Thee will be like other men then? It was Sssasha who understood first. Almost. Jakkin nodded. But the people of the cave can send to dragons, and their sendings arestrong.If thee feels it, Sssasha, if they call thee in this way -and he looked at them fiercely cOME, COME, COME, then thee must all pump thy wings and leave at once.For these are worm killers, bonestackers, blood drinkers.Thee must all leave Akki and me.No more of Heart s Blood s line must die forme.Do you understand? They nodded their great heads up and down, up and down, in slow agreement, Sssasha first and then thetriplets and, at the very last and reluctantly, Sssargon. Thee must wait here, ready to help.Thee must be my eyes and my ears. Then he told them what heplanned, so shapeless a thing that even as he spoke and sent it, he wondered if it could possibly work.When Jakkin had finished Sssargon put his nose against Jakkin s ear and blew a warm breath into it.Then he twisted his neck so that he was eye to eye with Jakkin. Sssargon hears.Sssargon be eyes. We are thy ears, thy ears, thy ears. The triplets emphasized this by fluttering their earflaps outrageously.Jakkin rewarded them each with a chuck underneath the chin.Then he turned to Sssasha. And thee, my beauty? he asked, touching the gold slash on her nose. I am thy heart, Jakkin, she sent.It was as clear and unambiguous as any sending the people of thecave could send, but it shimmered with light and with love, and he could read past, present, and future init.He turned, slid down the grassy slope back into the water.It seemed colder than before.As he started tostroke against the current, moving slowly upstream, he fought the impulse to turn and look back at thedragons [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.Suddenly an enormous opening was before him.It was ashigh as the nursery studbam and opened on to endless sky.The water carried him through.He turned over and floated along on his back, looking up into the clearblue Austarian sky where a black dot was scripting an elliptic message.His mind still crackled with thewater s static, so there was no way he could receive a sending that would tell him if that dot was adragon-or a copter.He flipped back over onto his stomach, took three strong strokes, and clamberedout onto a bank whose grass came right down into the water.From where he stood, shaking himself like a dragon just emerged from a bath, he could see that the riverwound on for another couple hundred meters, and then disappeared precipitously, as if the end weresuddenly sheered off.There was a constant low deep sound, which seemed at once comforting andominous.He wondered about it, but it wasn t like any sound he d ever heard.Behind him the mountain climbed straight up, as if a second mountain stood atop the first, its dark rocksbroken and ugly.On the other side of the river was a grassy slope similar to the one he stood on, andbeyond it a sheer drop.He could see a stretch of desert land below with scattered green-black clumps oftrees.And even farther on there was a black snaky line he guessed was a river, perhaps even theNarakka.He became aware of the untrammeled grass between his toes, cool and tickling.Smiling at last, he threwhimself facedown and let the strong familiar earth smell surround him.But all the while he was thinking furiously, questions boiling up inside.How was he to get Akki, whocould not swim, through the water to this blue-and-green haven? How could he convince a dragonalready beginning to swell with eggs to swim to an unknown and unknowable destination? How could hehold both girl and worm through the terrifying moments underwater when none of them would be able tolink minds? And, above all, how could he do it so that the cave people didn t know their plans ahead oftime or follow them into this light and open place?Shaking his head, Jakkin let the sun warm and dry him.Slowly his mind cleared of the static, and as it didhe felt it invaded by a faraway sending, faded but familiar: Sssargon rides.Sssargon turns.Sssargon soars.Jakkin chuckled to himself, waiting for the dragon to become aware of his presence.Then as the dragonmonologue continued unabated, realization dawned on Jakkin.Sssargon simply didn t hear him.He,Jakkin, was broadcasting none of his feelings.The habits he had learned in his long days deep in the caveheld.Without even worrying about it, without working at visualizing a wall or a curtain or a fence, hecould now cloak his feelings.Thankfully he opened his mind and let out a whoop of color. Sssargon! his sending shouted. Sssargon, shut up! And Sssargon-come here! The dot did a complete loop-de-loop and started toward him, its sendings blasting out a parade ofpatterns-reds, golds, purples.In its wake there came four other sendings, related yet individual.The hatchlings, Heart s Blood s five, had all heard him and were on their way.chapter 35THEY NEARLY BROKE two Of his ribs and fairly suffocated him once they had landed, crowdingaround him in boisterous delight.Sssasha had to buffet the triplets away from him with a broad sweep ofher tall.And Sssargon, undaunted by their teasing, continued his commentary throughout the reunion, acolorfilled drone that soon had them all chuckling. Sssargon laughs.Sssargon feels joy. At last Jakkin caught his breath and cleared his mind.He looked carefully at the five, all of whom seemedovergrown after the stunted, dull dragons of the cave.He patted Sssasha s nose with its splotch of gold,then opened his mind to them slowly, like a storyteller beginning a tale.He made them feel the low, darkinside of the mountain caves and the low, dark minds of the cave s damaged inhabitants.He pictured thework details, the reunion with Akki, the healing of the dragon, and the silent, steady laying of the eggs.Then, with a kind of mental drumroll, he pounded out the rest of the story, ending with the great gout ofblood red spewing over them all.If dragons could weep, they wept.Crowding close to him, they rubbed against him in their need forcomfort.Sssasha licked his ear carefully with her rough tongue.Then Tri-ssskkette, with the mental equivalent of a sigh, sent a fluttering thought that flapped like the skinover her ears. Akki! She laced the picture of Akki in gold but the flutter lines kept breaking up the image.It was so plaintive,Jakkin reached over and hugged her around the neck. Akki, he said aloud, framing a simultaneous sending.Dragons recognized certain spoken words-namesand specific objects-but the sendings were still necessary. Akki is under the mountain by the lake.I mustgo back.But thee will have a place in this ending, Tri-I promise thee that. The others pushed next to Tri-ssskkette, signaling their own willingness, and nearly knocked Jakkin over.He gave them each a pat on the nose. This is my plan, and it will be better to say it to thee now, for once I am back in the water and under themountain, I can send thee nothing. Nothing? Sssargon was startled out of his self-involvement for a moment. Nothing, Jakkin repeated, both out loud and in a sending. The water stops all sendings. Thee will be like other men then? It was Sssasha who understood first. Almost. Jakkin nodded. But the people of the cave can send to dragons, and their sendings arestrong.If thee feels it, Sssasha, if they call thee in this way -and he looked at them fiercely cOME, COME, COME, then thee must all pump thy wings and leave at once.For these are worm killers, bonestackers, blood drinkers.Thee must all leave Akki and me.No more of Heart s Blood s line must die forme.Do you understand? They nodded their great heads up and down, up and down, in slow agreement, Sssasha first and then thetriplets and, at the very last and reluctantly, Sssargon. Thee must wait here, ready to help.Thee must be my eyes and my ears. Then he told them what heplanned, so shapeless a thing that even as he spoke and sent it, he wondered if it could possibly work.When Jakkin had finished Sssargon put his nose against Jakkin s ear and blew a warm breath into it.Then he twisted his neck so that he was eye to eye with Jakkin. Sssargon hears.Sssargon be eyes. We are thy ears, thy ears, thy ears. The triplets emphasized this by fluttering their earflaps outrageously.Jakkin rewarded them each with a chuck underneath the chin.Then he turned to Sssasha. And thee, my beauty? he asked, touching the gold slash on her nose. I am thy heart, Jakkin, she sent.It was as clear and unambiguous as any sending the people of thecave could send, but it shimmered with light and with love, and he could read past, present, and future init.He turned, slid down the grassy slope back into the water.It seemed colder than before.As he started tostroke against the current, moving slowly upstream, he fought the impulse to turn and look back at thedragons [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]