Chap. 89 The horse trader

Chap. 89  The horsetrader

Siskin flew to him as he approached, outrageously happy to see him. K'ndar offered him a shoulder, then began scratching his head. The blue rolled his eyes, purring in happiness.

He missed you. He was a very good boy, he didn't try to leave. He stayed right here with me, even when we flew to the pens. 

Many of the dragonriders had gone home, many of them who would wake up with hangovers, tomorrow.

"I'll be spending the night at Honshu Weyr," he told D'mitran. 

"Got a girl there?"

"No, although I wish! No, honestly, I want to spend the day just looking around there, seeing the murals I've heard so much about, that sort of thing."

D'mitran scratched his chin. "I like that idea. If I didn't have work tomorrow, I'd go, too."

He looked around himself to see if Lord Holder Toric's spies were around. He spotted at least one who looked suspicious, a man, wandering around the dragons at a safe distance. There was a large crowd of noisy children, tugging their parents to 'see the dragons'. He was in the middle of them but it was obvious none of them were his.

He lowered his voice to a conspiratorial whisper.

"Good on you, son, for springing the Oldtimers. Toric isn't going to be happy when he finds out he's got NO transport now, just like F'mart said."

K'ndar nodded and then laughed. "Can he fight or WHAT! Makes me glad I was never so cocksure as to challenge him, he'd have me done less than a minute."

"Sort of surprised us all, but-you know F'mart. Makes me glad he's on our side, I'd hate to face off with him.  Anyway, have a good time at Honshu. This Gather lasts all day tomorrow, I don't know if anyone from the Weyr is going to want to come or return, but I'm not. I'd love to see the repercussions, though."

D'mitran turned to his work, harnessing Careth. 

Siskin wheeped a hello to a pair of fire lizards that suddenly appeared over K'ndar's head. They were Lizard's. Behind them, K'ndar saw the horseman, who'd tried to auction off the beautiful horse. He was walking, so apparently, he'd sold the horse, despite the commotion at the pens. 

He felt a huge pang of regret. That horse. He'd wanted the horse so badly, yet knew he really didn't have the time-or the money!-for such a marvelous beast. 

Because Lizard was still in disguise, K'ndar expected that he'd still play the part of the aristocrat from the North.

The spy saw Lizard, too, and fell in behind him after he'd passed.  Once Lizard reached K'ndar, he stopped, hanging about just within earshot, pretending to be absorbed in watching the dragonriders harnessing their dragons. K'ndar would make sure that he heard precisely what he wanted him to hear.

"Good evening, sir, I have to compliment you on that magnificent horse. Did you manage to sell him?"

"Yes, my good man, I did. Private treaty. I wasn't about to try and convince him to go back to the auction pens after all the dragons showed up. That also means I needn't pay Toric his usurious commission, which would have been obligatory if he'd gone through the auction." 

He laughed, deep in his chest.

"I was wondering, sir, if you would be willing to transport me to Honshu Weyr? I'm staying there for a while.  I'm willing to pay."

"By all means, sir, I am going back to Honshu myself. I charge a mark for transport, one way."

Lizard pulled out a very well made pouch.

"I hear a mark is the going rate for transport, now?"

"It depends, sir. That's the rate all us dragonriders have agreed upon for the moment. If one needs transport IMMEDIATELY, or one has a lot of cargo, it will, of course be more. You've been on a dragon before, I assume?"

"No, I'm afraid not, but I'm certain you'll have no problem out of me. So I owe you more money, as I want immediate transport?"

"Aye, sir. Two marks for immediate transport."

Lizard pulled two brand new marks from the pouch and handed them to K'ndar.

"I'll harness you in, sir, then we will go 'between'. That's a few brief moments of nothing, and then we appear above Honshu. I'll help you up."

Why…why is Lizard dressed so differently? And he's ridden dragons before. 

I know. But he is pretending to be someone else. See that man just a few winglengths from you? He's a 'spy'. He is not our friend, and means dragonriders no good. He is listening to us talk, and will report to Toric, maybe, and we don't want him to know we know he's listening.

That's confusing.

I know. I'll explain later. You remember Honshu's dragonstones?

Yes. So do the lizards.

By the way, I am so proud of you and the rest of the dragons, coming to aid us at the horse pens.

It was FUN. I like roaring like that, surrounded by other dragons. Can we do it again sometime?

Only if needed, my brother

Please give Lizard a knee

____________________________________________________________________________

Once at Honshu, Lizard wasted no time heading for his tent, pitched next to his wagon. He began stripping the moment he was in the privacy of the tent.  

K'ndar remained just outside the tent, unharnessing Raventh. Then he entered the tent, to see Lizard trying to pull off the shiny, knee high boots.

"These boots about killed me," he moaned. K'ndar bent down and held each boot to allow Lizard to pull each foot out.

"Oh, so much better," he sighed in relief, "It'll take all night for them to stop complaining."

"They certainly made you look the dandy," K'ndar said. The fire lizards swirled over their heads, wanting something to eat. "And taller!"

"Aye. The lifts in them, they're  what made them so painful."

Siskin's eyes began to roll an unhappy yellow.

He's getting hungry, K'ndar thought, but he'd no meat for the fire lizard.

How about you, Raventh? Hungry?

Yes. There is a hunting area not far from here. I think there are other dragons there now.

Go. Good hunting. If you kill, will you call Siskin? 

Of course. He is my brother.

Raventh trundled away and then leaped into the air, winging his way towards the hunting area.

"He's going hunting?"

"Yes"

"How does it feel to see your dragon leave without you?"

"At first it worried and scared me. But, as the oldtimer at my weyr said, sometimes dragons just want to be with other dragons. He'll be fine."

K'ndar watched, fascinated, as Lizard came out of disguise. He pulled pieces of face off his face…not real, of course, but real enough when seen at a distance. Took wads of something out of his cheeks and roughed his hair up from where it had been plastered straight back. Even pulled something off his ears that had made them look bigger than they were. The patch came off his eye and he rubbed where it had been stuck.

In a few minutes, he looked like..Lizard.

"Amazing," he sighed, "It took me, what, almost half an hour? to recognize you."

"Even when you stood right next to me?"

"Aye. Although I wasn't really looking at you. I was feeling fairly sheepish after almost bidding on the draft horse."

Lizard chuckled. He finished dressing into his usual, drab, nondescript clothing, then sat down in one of two chairs in his tent and offered the second to K'ndar. 

"What gave me away?' Lizard asked, rubbing his sore feet.

"Um…….it was the way you called the horse in from the rail. Just the way you said "Here, lad, that'll do," I could hear YOU through the accent. I've heard you say that to your lizards in just that tone."

Lizard poured them some klah. It was cold, but still good.

"Thanks. I'll remember that. Good thing about it is, probably you're the only one there who'd heard me say it before."

"It was the patch, though, that distracted me. I couldn't take my eyes off it."

"That was the idea, my friend. Sometimes the most obvious thing is also the most distracting."

"I laughed when you said "I got his manhood." I think every man there had his bollocks shrink up into his belly. I know mine did."

Lizard roared. 

I've killed a small herdbuck. Send the fire lizards Raventh said.

"Siskin. Raventh has a fresh kill for you. Find Raventh," he said, and the blue cheeped and vanished. Within seconds, so did Lizards pair.

"Raventh's killed?"

"He has, and invited the lizards to come and eat."

"That's handy. I didn't know dragons shared their kills."

"Some don't. MOST don't.  Raventh has always been generous like that. Since he's no longer eating firestone, I see all sorts of changes in him. He's smarter, quicker to catch on, more…fun. He's not like a dragon anymore. He's more like a kid brother. Funny, always has something to say, always the most generous of souls. "

He thought of the horse again.

He had to ask.

"So…………what happened to that fabulous horse?"

"I sold him."

"I KNOW. But-for twelve marks?"

"Nay, nay. When you auction off a fine animal such as that beauty, you ask a BIG price, much bigger than what is realistic. That way, you scare off the cheapskates, the horse skinners,  traders, the idiots who'd try to race him, or worse, hook him up to a dung cart. That horse was meant for a horseman, a person who knows good horseflesh when he sees it and handles him accordingly. Even so, I'm betting I'd have gotten more money than twelve marks at auction. That was just the STARTING price."

"But...when it's a one on one transaction, you start smaller, a more reasonable price, and work together. The man got a good horse, I got a good price, and I know the horse will get a good home."

"Oh. Whew." He paused, replaying the vision of the horse in his mind. "Ahhh, I wanted him so badly, Lizard, I was ready to sell my soul. Only thing that kept me from bidding was, as you noted, I haven't the faintest idea what to do at an auction, and the price kept me scared off. I kept thinking, what am I going to do with him? How am I going to get him home?"

"Well, I can tell you this, there's more like him where he came from."

"He really was steppe bred?"

"Aye. There's a family who knows horseflesh, down on the western end of the mountains, on steppe, like your cothold, tucked in the hills. They have a stallion and several mares who are priceless. Every one of those mares could have brought twice as much as the gelding went for today. 

They let them run free for 10 months of the year, bring the mares in to foal, handle the foals, it's called impressing, and then let them back out. Makes for good minds and rock hard hooves, and a horse that can think himself out of any trouble his rider gets him into. I didn't even have to tie him to the wagon. He led the way, by the egg, acting as scout and leader. 

"Were they the ones who trained him?"

"Nay."

"Who did?"

"Me."

"You! You're a wizard!"

"Nay,  I just understand animals, how they think, listen to what they tell us what they feel, and mind you, I had a good solid six weeks on the road with him, every day, a little work, a little training, a lot of kindness and treats. He honestly was only saddle broken, what, perhaps a couple months before I bought him. Had never even been bitted, just broke in a hackamore. He'd been running loose all that time, building up all that stamina, good bone, good mind.

 The woman at the cothold "impresses' them as babies. They're out of the mare half an hour, long enough to stand and suckle, then she handles them…feet, penis, tongue, ears, tail: pulls them here and there, puts a halter on them and teaches them to lead, lifts up a hoof and hammers on it, gently, even puts a band around their belly like a girth. It makes it so much easier to do those things when they're full grown.

By the egg, it broke my heart to sell him, K'ndar, but I had to. He was too tempting, like a beautiful single woman smiling over a fine wine at you when your wife has been in childbed for a week.  I half considered selling off my draft horses and wagon and just riding that horse all over the continent, exploring. Like you, exploring the steppe."

"What's keeping you?"

Lizard stopped dead, his jaw dropped.

"I…I don't know." 

It was the first time K'ndar had ever stumped Lizard with a question. 

"I'll have to think that through." 

They were quiet for several moments. Then K'ndar remembered.

Pulling the marks from his pocket, he offered them to Lizard.

"Here. Thanks a lot."

Lizard looked at his stretched out palm.

"What's that for?"

"It's the money you 'paid' me for transport."

"K'ndar, you said two marks for immediate transport."

"Yeah, I know, but that was for the spy to overhear. I didn't intend to charge you a thing, especially when you'd asked for transport in advance."

"K'ndar. If you're going to be a business man, you have to stand by your price. Let the customer decide if he wants to pay it. I could just as easily gone to a complete stranger and bartered for transport, or paid a mark without questioning."

"Yeah, but, Lizard…not YOU. You're…you're family. I don't feel right charging you a thing."

Lizard shook his head.  "No, K'ndar. Being family means you help each other, feed each other, house each other, love each other. I wasn't 'family' when I was in disguise, I was a wealthy customer who didn't think twice about paying your price. I was interested in getting to Honshu as quickly and as comfortably as possible. If your price was two marks, I was willing to pay it. That's what a smart business man DOES-he doesn't undercut himself, and he knows that there's always going to be somebody willing to pay his price-IF he conducts a business, such as transport, well and fairly. You said you dragonriders had agreed on a mark for transport."

"Well, we haven't actually all sat down and agreed. It's just what Francie charged one day and that was totally off the top of her head."

"Did you or did you not immediately transport me to Honshu?"

"Welll, yes, but…"

"And, I note, you did NOT charge me for cargo, that being two fire lizards," he added.

"Fire lizards aren't 'cargo'."

"If they'd been in a cage, they'd have been cargo. It matters not that they rode along on Raventh's neck."

K'ndar sighed, exasperated, but part of him was grateful for Lizard's generosity, despite his protests. He hated the idea but he was becoming resolved to the idea of having to make money.

"So you earned the money. Who cares who it came from? You performed the service. I paid you. It's your pay."

K'ndar knew when he was beaten. 

"Thank you." The marks felt good in his hand. Books. Books?  A horse. THAT horse. Oh my.

"So…what happened with that horse?"

"Oh, I sold him to a very fine gentleman, an expert horseman who knew good horseflesh and had the right color of money. Last I saw, he was riding it, bareback and on the buckle, no less, I think he was heading for Southern Weyr. I didn't really want to know. That horse would tempt even the most honest man to steal him if he could."

"Oh, I understand. Completely," he said. 

K'ndar slipped the halter off the horse in his mind, letting it run free. I am glad you are sold. I can let you go now.

He opened up his money pouch and put the marks in it. Something made him think to count it. He'd not spent any in some time.

He counted it. 

And slumped in despair.

"What's wrong?" Lizard asked.

"Now, I have twelve marks."