AutumnQuest Read Free

pet.”
    “No! Definitely not! We need to get her out of here, first thing in the morning. Or sooner. There’s no such thing as a tame dragon, no matter how cute and sweet she is right now.”
    “You think she’s cute and sweet? You’re pathetic.”
    I ignored him. “Not to mention what would happen if you got caught with her.”
    The dragon curled up on the cot, which was littered with bits of egg shell, the food she hadn’t eaten, and the juice of the meat. Her eyes were already half closed.
    “Guess you’re not sleeping in your bed tonight.” I grinned at the dismay on his face. But I was still curious about something. “How’d you get hold of this egg anyway?”
    “My chore group had market duty yesterday, and on the way back, we came across an old carter stopped on the side of the road. The tongue of his wagon had broken. I helped him fix it, and in exchange, he gave me the egg. I didn’t believe him when he said it was a dragon egg. Honest.”
    “You accepted a gift for a favor? You know that’s against the rules for novices.”
    Breyard rubbed his eyes. “I know. But the old man wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer. He almost cried when I first refused. What was I supposed to do?”
    “I don’t know, but it strikes me that accepting a gift that could get you executed wasn’t the best choice.”
    “I told you, I didn’t think it was really a dragon egg,” Breyard insisted. Then his face blanched as what I said registered. “Oh, no,” he whispered. “What am I going to do?”
    “Well, as soon as she wakes up, why not just take her outside and let her go? She’ll know how to take care of herself. Reptiles do. And she’s a sort of reptile. I think.” I looked again at the sleeping dragon. “In the meantime, clean everything up. It’s not as if you’re going to get any sleep anyway.” I moved towards the door.
    “You’re not going to leave, are you?”
    “I’ve already lost enough sleep tonight. I’m going to bed.”
    “Donavah, please! Don’t leave me alone with . . . with
. . . a dragon in my bed.”
    “Maybe it’s fate’s way of getting you used to the idea.” That left him blushing and speechless, and I had a hard time not laughing aloud as I left his cell to sneak back to my own.

    Next morning, I was doubly careful to use the right candles for meditation. Everything had seemed off-kilter since the previous afternoon, and surely this would set things back to rights.
    At breakfast, I could tell even from a distance that Breyard hadn’t had any sleep. The dark circles under his eyes and the untidiness of his hair and robe gave him away. He’d shaved, but that was probably only because it was a rule for male novices and he would’ve been in trouble if he hadn’t.
    I wondered if he’d managed to get rid of the dragon yet. As if he could read my mind, he looked over and gave me a small, relieved nod. I smiled back at him.
    Despite having gone back to bed the night before, I hadn’t got much sleep myself. I kept imagining over and over what would happen if Breyard got caught with the baby dragon. Only the king could have dragons, and he used them for what he and his hangers-on called ‘entertainment’ and everyone else called ‘executions.’
    He was a brutal man, was King Erno, Thirty-Second Absolute Monarch of Alloway. I tried to put a stop to that treasonous line of thought, but I couldn’t stop the stories I’d heard coming unbidden into my head. He’d as soon execute an innocent man, they said, as bother with a trial. He kept slaves in chains, regardless that slavery had been outlawed hundreds of years ago. I’d even heard it whispered that he drank babies’ blood at high feasts. Being in possession of one of King Erno’s precious dragon eggs was not exactly the best means one could contrive to avoid coming to his attention.
    But Breyard must have gotten rid of the “evidence,” and now that I knew all was well, the smell of porridge and buttered toast