Read Online Dragonsinger by Anne McCaffrey - Free Book Online

them.’ And he jerked his head backwards, towards the girls at the hearth table.
    ‘Well, she’s here now, and fine where she is, Ranly,’ said Piemur with unexpected aggressiveness. ‘She couldn’t very well change once we were seated, could she? And besides, I heard that she’s to be an apprentice, same as us.
Not
one of them.’
    ‘Aren’t they apprentices?’ asked Menolly, inclining her head in the girls’ general direction.
    ‘Them?’ Piemur’s astonished query was as scornful as the look on Ranly’s face. ‘No!’ The drawl in his negative put the girls in an inferior category. ‘They’re in the special class with the journeymen, but they’re not apprentices. No road!’
    ‘They’re a right nuisance,’ said Ranly with rich contempt.
    ‘Yeah, they are,’ said Piemur with a reflective sigh, ‘but if they weren’t here, I’d have to sing treble in the plays, and that’d be dire! Hey, Bonz, pass the meat back.’ Suddenly he let out a startled yip. ‘Feldon! I asked first. You’ve no right …’ A boy had taken the last slice as he handed down the platter.
    The other boys shushed Piemur vigorously, darting apprehensive glances towards the right corner.
    ‘But it’s not fair.
I
asked,’ Piemur said, lowering his voice slightly but not his insistence. ‘And Menolly only had one slice. She should get more than
that
!’
    Menolly wasn’t certain if Piemur was more outraged on her behalf or his own, but someone nudged her right arm. It was Camo.
    ‘Camo feed pretty Beauty?’
    ‘Not now, Camo. They’re not hungry now,’ Menolly assured him because his thick features registered such anxiety.
    ‘They’re not hungry, but she is, Camo,’ Piemur said, shoving the meat platter at Camo. ‘More meat, Camo. More meat, please, Camo?’
    ‘More meat please,’ Camo repeated, jerking his head to his chest; and before Menolly could say anything, he had shuffled off to the corner of the dining hall where sliding shelves brought food directly up from the kitchen.
    The boys were sniggering with the success of Piemur’s stratagem, but they wiped their faces clear of amusement when Camo shuffled back with a well-laden platter.
    ‘Thank you very much, Camo,’ Menolly said, taking another thick slice. She couldn’t fault the boys for their greed. The meat was tasty and tender, quite different from the tough or salted stuff she was used to at Half-Circle Sea Hold.
    Another slab was dumped on to her plate.
    ‘You don’t eat enough,’ Piemur said, scowling at her. ‘Too bad she’ll have to sit with the others,’ he told his tablemates as he passed the platter. ‘Camo likes her. And her fire lizards.’
    ‘Did he really feed them with you?’ asked Ranly. He sounded doubtful and envious.
    ‘They don’t frighten him,’ Menolly said, amazed at how fast news of everything spread in this place.
    ‘They wouldn’t frighten me,’ Piemur and Ranly assured her on the same breath.
    ‘Say, you were at Impression at Benden Weyr, weren’t you?’ asked Piemur, nudging Ranly to be silent. ‘Did you
see
Lord Jaxom Impress the white dragon? How big is he really? Is he going to live?’
    ‘I was at the Impression …’
    ‘Well, don’t go off in a trance,’ said Ranly. ‘Tell us! All we get is second-hand information. That is, if the masters and journeymen
think
we apprentices ought to know.’ He sounded sour and disgusted.
    ‘Oh, shell it, Ranly,’ Piemur suggested. ‘So what happened, Menolly?’
    ‘I was in the tiers, and Lord Jaxom was sitting below me with an older man and another boy …’
    ‘That’d be Lord Warder Lytol, who’s raised him, and the boy was probably Felessan. He’s the son of the Weyrleader and Lessa.’
    ‘I know that, Piemur. Go on, Menolly.’
    ‘Well, all the other dragon eggs had hatched, and there was just the little one left. Jaxom suddenly got up and ran along the edge of the tier, shouting for help. Then he jumped on to the Hatching Ground and started