Chapter 3!

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Chapter 3

The rest of the year passed oddly. The other bonders treated Lance with some wary respect, and he mostly stayed out of the way. Jakkin learned little of dragons from him, but he learned of Lance’s homeland, green and lush and covered mostly with water – something he could hardly imagine.

Finally, finally, his Red was ready…

< You need someone to take you to the pits; I take it. > Lance was busily feeding red berries to his gray dragon, now quite well known in the pit circuit, with twelve wins to its name. Twelve! He was going to the planet-wide competition this year…

Lance had kept his promise, no, he had never betrayed the secret of Jakkin’s oasis to any. And he was kind enough, if of few words… he never failed to give Jakkin a coin or a sweet after his help, despite the fact that he was under no obligation to. It was almost as if he knew that Jakkin would be too proud to take money from him outright, but little bits were fine.

Jakkin swallowed. “Yes.”

< It’s fine. I’ll take you. >

“You will? But how will we get there? You don’t have a truck-.” And then he laughed nervously, remembering…

Lance always fought in the pits with his dragons, on their backs, he’d seen it once, once… paid a few coins to get in, and then, Lance had been fighting with one of his blues this time, and he could have ended it at the beginning by calling rain, but somehow, he seemed to know, and though the dragon had no claws and fangs, only a slippery body like a snake, a worm…

The other dragon trainer had laughed and taunted and figured an easy victory, and his dragon had charged, and he’d been afraid for the Master’s life, but the blue had wound its long coins about its master protectively every time the dragon came close, and smacked it with its tail hard, and despite the scratches the fangs and claws left, in the end, the blue had suffocated the other dragon and had won that way.

Lance smiled, as if having guessed his thoughts. < My Hakuryuu can carry if necessary, twenty… >

“Twenty people?” But it was large…

< It can easily carry us both, but if your dragon were to fly all the way, wouldn’t it be tired after? Ah, no matter, I’ve got a solution for that. >

“Thank you.”

< It’s nothing. You have the makings of a dragon master within your heart… > Lance shook his head. < Be ready tomorrow. >

Jakkin nodded, and the next morning, he followed Lance, his red behind them, and at the pits…

Lance smiled as he touched his hands to the dragon’s wings, and suddenly, all the tiredness seemed to drop right off. < Jakkin, good luck. >

Jakkin nodded.

The fight – what to say of the fight? He won, brilliantly, and what if Heart’s Blood was mute? He was a winner! And the gold plumped out his bag, and now he was his own master…

It was odd, but the next day, Lance bade him farewell, and smiled and said that he should visit sometime, and then flew off on his dragon. Jakkin assumed he was just scouting around, or going for a flight like he often did, but he didn’t come back.

And Jakkin thought it didn’t matter anymore, but he was glad… for a friend, odd as it had been…

END

Completed 6/18/05

Short, I know, sorry, but I think it’s pretty good. ^^ Enjoy! Um yes. I think they’d be friends. And there’s no Ash around…