Chap. 28 Fire Lizard Man

Chap 28 Fire Lizard Man

He'd checked on the dragons, sunbathing at the Singing Waters Hold Market. Stowing the small pot he'd been given by Terylin, the potterer, he pulled a fruit from the wicker basket, then, settled down leaning against Raventh's powerful hind leg.  

See the fire lizards? They're on Careth right now. They have been here for a while, playing with us. When are we going to get one?  Raventh asked.

He looked and saw the two fire lizards, preening atop Careth's head. The bigger brown dragon looked a bit embarrassed at his unusual head gear. 

I want one, too, but I still have to wait until graduation he said.

Why?

I don't know why. It's just one of the rules. Besides, I don't have any money to buy one.

Money. I don't understand it.

It's okay. Someday I'll have some. As for now, I don't know where to get one

Why don't you get one from the man who these are Impressed on? He's here at the Market.  

He's HERE?

Of course. They're not wild. 

Tell them to lead me to the man. SLOWLY!

A bronze fire lizard paused in midair in front of him, meeting his eyes. 

Follow the bronze

He followed the bright little creature as it flew unerringly to the edge of the market. Two draft horses idly swished flies in the shade, unharnessed and untethered. A large pile of fresh hay and a bucket full of water was in front of them.  A lanky man, miles of nomadic wandering mapped on his face, sat in the shade of his wagon, a flagon of beer in his fist.  A large wicker basket was in front of him, the grass surrounding it well-trodden. He'd had a lot of customers, it appeared. 

The man looked up at him, shading his eyes from the bright sunlight to see K'ndar.

"And you, my lad, are a dragonrider." 

Warily, K'ndar said, "Just a Weyrling, sir. Are-or were-you, too?"

"Nay, lad, I was Searched but none would have me. After five stands I aged out, so I left to be a trader." 

K'ndar could only imagine the pain five tries and rejections would cause. But the man seemed content.

"Nevertheless, I DO have dragons." The man chirped, and a gold appeared. The bronze greeted her with a cheep, then the two perched on the man's shoulders, the bronze on his left shoulder, the gold on his right. Both shone with iridescence. They were perfect, tiny versions of the big dragons. Yes, he wanted one. Badly.

"These are my beauties," he said, and with a move, uncovered the wicker basket, "and these are their eggs."

In the sand bottomed basket were half a dozen opalescent eggs. The gold chirruped and hopped into the basket, looking up at K'ndar with whirling orange eyes, mantling them protectively. 

K'ndar was smitten.

"They laid them for you in your wagon?"

"Now, then, lad, will a master tell his secrets to a stranger? For free?"

"I guess not. I just thought that firelizards hid their eggs."

"Not if you raise them from the egg…and bond them, like I have. I may not have been able to be a dragon rider, but a dragon raiser? Aye, that's me."

"I would love to have one, but I have no money."

"Which means barter. And, sorry to say, lad, I don't barter fire lizard eggs. Nor are they cheap. Two marks."

K'ndar gasped. All hope for purchasing one fled. It was a fair price, just one far above his means.

"How…how often does someone buy a fire lizard egg?"

"These will be gone in a day, maybe two. I've sold six in just a day. I seldom ever not sell them all. The one's I don't, I allow to go free. If I impressed every one I'd collected, I'd have dozens of them."

"I've heard of you. My friend, Lindea, bought one from you last Market Day."

"Ah, now there is a lassie you might want to marry, lad. She's a lovely one, she is, smart as a whip and still sweet natured."

"Yes, sir, but…I'm a Weyrling. We are geldings and steers while in training."

The man laughed. 

"Do you know what her egg hatched out to be?" the man asked. 

"No sir, but I don't think she cared. She's just happy to have one."

The man stood up, his eyebrows suddenly knitting over his dark, deeply sunken eyes.

"You look familiar." He looked hard at K'ndar, who felt suddenly self-conscious. 

"I'm sure I don't," he said, "I've never seen you in my life, and I'm not from here."

"Nay, let me look at you. Turn to the sunlight. Hmmmm."

 K'ndar did, warily. Again he was glad he had no marks. Was he about to be robbed? But he wasn't afraid. There were many people within a shout's range, he was taller than the man, who wasn't young. Even so, the man's posture made him believe he was more than able to hold his own in a brawl.

"By the egg, you look like my business partner."

"Hmm," K'ndar, doubtfully. "Where is this partner?"

"Ah, he's on t'other side of Southern. Stays away from here, he does. He was banished from his hold after fighting with his father.  Old sod was beating his mother to a pulp and one day, my man, he got tired of it and laid t' old man out cold. And him just a raw teen. One blow, one solid blow, all it took."

An icy cold finger of recognition ran down K'ndar's spine. But still, he was very wary.

"He was from this Hold?"

"Nay, he's born and bred at a cothold just t'other side of the Southern Range, on the edge of the steppe. 'Bout a day's ride from Singing Waters Hold, long as you go through the pass. Lovely place, from what he told me, but with only that one cothold and that far, not worthwhile the trader's time to get there."

That sounded like his home cothold, K'ndar thought, the time span from cothold to Hold,  and knowing he'd never seen a trader there. Not that it would have mattered, his father would never have allowed a trader to stop.

"The father's name, it was Hansen, right?"

 The man shook his head.

"Nay. The man's name was HanLISS."

Could it be possible? How could a stranger know his father's name?  None of them had any idea what had become of his brother.

"So, your partner's name is Sandriss?"

The man was surprised. "By the egg, it is."

K'ndar's blood went cold, then hot. It could only be true!

"He's my brother."

"AYE, it's THERE. I sees it in your jaw. Aye, even in the way you speak, the same steppe accent. It's there."

He rocked back on his heels, laughing without a sound, pleased with his sharp eye and ear.

"How is Sandriss? I've not seen him in six years. So much has happened, I was only 12 when," K'ndar stopped the rush of his tongue. 

"He's doing well, my lad, well indeed. He and I, we know where the lizards nest, we makes a good living. He's a savvy trader, same as me. I taught him what I know, he taught me what he knows. He's got a pretty little woman for a wife and a baby, now. He's always wanted to return here, but your dad, he put a price on Sand's head."

"FOR WHAT!" K'ndar exploded, then calmed down. "I'm sorry, it's not your fault. My father ….he had it coming. Sand was innocent. He beat on Sand, too, and would have on me, but my uncle stopped him after Sandriss left."

"It's okay, lad. He's a happy man, now. All his darkness was left in the cothold."

A great longing rose up in his heart. He'd love to see Sandriss, love to have Sandriss see how far he'd come. 

The man could see it.

"So..you can't afford a fire lizard, or have one til graduation?"

"That's true."

"When is graduation?"

"Next Year, at Turn. Just before Turn's End Gather at Kahrain Steppe Weyr."

They both stood, thinking.

"You would be Mardriss?"

K'ndar shook his head. "No, Mardriss is my oldest brother."

"Then you must be Kandar."

He nodded, dumbly. It was just too bizarre, this stranger knowing so much about his family.

"Yes, sir.  But now I'm K'ndar."

The man nodded, knowing the customs.

"He speaks of you, and your mum and brother, often. He's missed you."

K'ndar was now fully assured of the man's honesty.

He nodded. "And we've missed him. So much. Tell him he has a sister now, Glyena, she's 7 now." Oh, there was so much more, so much!

"When you see Sandriss," K'ndar continued, "tell him Hanliss was almost banished himself for cheating Lord Dorn out of his rightful tithe. Then he had a stroke. He can't speak and his arm is paralyzed. He is no longer Holder. Mardriss is invested now. That was just noise from my father, this 'price'. That was my father, he couldn't stand the fact that Sandriss had the courage to stand up to him…and even worse, knock him out cold."

"Aye, I'll tell him. And…." he sucked on his teeth for a moment, coming to a decision. 

He pulled up his shirt. Although well healed, a scar, red and puckered ran from his shoulder almost to his navel. "Take a good look, K'ndar," he said. "This is what comes of not being aware of where and what you are doing, always. Especially when you're out, alone, like traders."

Pulling the shirt back down, he said, "I owe your brother my life, K'ndar. He pulled me arse out of a bad situation when bandits almost killed me.  I went a little too close to a hidden camp of 'em, with a wagonload of trade goods and fire lizard eggs. They ambushed me, cut me up and left me to bleed out, took my draft horses and wagon with every bit I owned. Sandriss came along, tore up his only shirt to bandage me, gave me his last bit of food and water, then went after them. He'd already been tracking them, on foot, after they'd stolen his horse.  He got me wagon and draft horses back. Broke one of they's arms so badly it won't ever heal right and managed to cut off t'other one's ear with the man's own knife, the one he cut me with.  And he a stranger to me, without a mark to his name. We've been partners-and friends-since.

He still carries that knife. Says it's good luck and so far, it's been so."

He stroked the bronze's head, softly, affectionately. 

"I see how badly you want a fire lizard. When I meet up with him, I'll tell Sand where you are. I think he would be willing to gift you one. Mind you, it all depends on the lizards and when they lay."

Almost afraid to believe the man…yet how could it not be true? K'ndar shook the man's hand. 

"Your name, sir?" he asked.

The man laughed again, shaking his head. 

"Nay, K'ndar. Nay. I have a history what dogs me heels. Sometimes, when a man makes mistakes early in life, they follow him forever even if he tries to make amends. If he wants to stay out of a cell, or keep his head on his shoulders, a man what's learned his lessons has to start a new life with a new name, and then stick to the clean and honest path. Since then I have been many Turns and many miles from my home, been hungry at times, without a mark to me name, but freedom-and my honor-is more important to me than marks. So just call me "Lizard'. But should you want to find me, just ask for the Fire Lizard Man. Everyone knows him."