DragonKnight (6 page)

An unbroken kindia would spin and buck and even roll to remove the pest on its back. The most common way to tame one just required stamina and agility. Six to twelve uninterrupted hours in the saddle, and the breaker usually broke the kindia to accept a rider.

Bardon had never done it, never witnessed it, but he’d read about the process. His eyebrows rose as he heard the words form on his lips.

“Where do I find Hoddack?”

         
7
         

B
REAKING A
K
INDIA

When he saw the six unbroken kindias, Bardon thought first of his dragon friend.

I am so grateful Greer isn’t around to add his insightful thoughts on the folly of this endeavor. If I can avoid his ever finding out, my peace of mind will be preserved. Otherwise, I’ll never hear the end of it.

The kindias grazed in a large field surrounded by a ten-foot-high, wooden slatted fence.

Hoddack looked first at the young squire, then at his valuable animals. “Five hundred grood for each one you break. I don’t pay for fixing you up or the time you spend out of work if you’re injured.”

Bardon nodded.

“When can you start? They’re going to be two-year-olds in three weeks. If you know anything at all about kindias, you know if you don’t break ’em by two, you might as well turn ’em loose.”

Bardon nodded again and forced his voice past the lump in his throat. “Heard that.”

“Well, do you want the job or no?”

“Yes, I’ll start now.”

“Never done this before, have you?”

“No. I’ve ridden several, but never broken one.”

“Remember, I don’t provide care for you if you’re busted up.”

Bardon nodded.

“You want a drink or something? I don’t recommend eating. Likely make you sick.”

“I’m fine. Where’s the saddle?”

Hoddack pointed out a tall, brindled kindia as they walked to the barn. “That’s Mig. She’s the oldest, and the one that tossed my last breaker into the fence. Best start with her so the others know you mean business. I got other things to do. I’ll get one of the boys to sit on the fence to haul you out should you take a fall. You don’t get paid ’less you finish the job. Remember that.”

Hoddack sent an o’rant named Ilex down from the main barn. The man helped Bardon corner Mig and get the saddle on.

“All I’m going to do is sit on the fence and watch,” Ilex explained. “I thank you for the time off from real work.” The older man grinned, showing two teeth missing from a crooked row. “Hoddack’s a hard man, but he won’t let a man break alone down here. Someone needs to be on hand to pick up the pieces when the breaker comes off.”

“Nice of him.” Bardon stroked Mig’s neck. He had to reach up, since his head came to her shoulder.
Seems to me the kindias in Wittoom were shorter.

Her muscles quivered beneath his hand.

Bardon lengthened his stroke. Her smooth coat felt silky beneath his fingers. “There, there, girl, this isn’t going to be so bad.”

She jumped away, and he brought her back with the reins.

Ilex scrambled up the fence, away from flying hooves. Once he settled on the top, broad plank of wood, he took out a stick and a whittling knife. “Don’t be surprised if some of the other boys wander down here whenever they got a minute. Hope you don’t mind watchers.”

Bardon thought of the few tournaments he had participated in.
When you’re busy trying to keep from being killed, you don’t think much about who’s watching.

He just nodded to Ilex. The other animals in the field had moved away, as if to distance themselves from the upcoming battle between man and beast. If the stories were true, the others would do their best to overlook the captivity of their fellow herd member. Bardon sighed and turned his full concentration on the kindia at his side.

Still grasping the reins, he took hold of the saddle horn with his left hand. He moved back toward Mig’s head, stepped forward, and vaulted into the saddle, turning in midair to face forward. His legs landed with knees in the saddle hooks. If he’d missed the hooks or been slow to clench his leg muscles, he would have flown from the saddle as quickly as he’d found it.

Mig danced in a circle, bouncing on all four legs one minute and heaving her hind legs into the air the next. She bounded sideways and reared so that Bardon had to throw himself forward to keep from sliding off her back. She then spun in a crazy circle, switching directions so that Bardon’s head snapped.

The agility and stamina that would serve the beast well when she raced over countless miles of desolate territory kept her moving for more than two hours. Bardon clung to the saddle with his legs and eventually threw his arms around Mig’s neck to keep from being hurled to the ground. After a grueling campaign to rid herself of her rider, the beast stood still, flesh quivering, chest heaving, nostrils flared and blowing, but still.

Bardon knew better than to loosen his hold or try to get off. He had not won the battle yet. Instead, he crooned to the wild kindia, stroking her neck, and even scratching the top of her head right behind each ear. Fifteen minutes later, Mig kicked up her hind legs. When the nuisance on her back did not sail into the air, she commenced another round of gyrations designed to destroy the rider. The second wild dance lasted just over an hour.

A row of men lined the fence closest to the barn. After a brief interlude where she regained her breath, Mig lowered her head and charged them. They scrambled up to safety, but the maneuver had apparently given Mig an idea. She proceeded to try to scrape Bardon from her back by running into the fence at an angle.

Bardon’s body felt like scrambled eggs. Now Mig seemed intent on crushing him. First one leg and then the other took a beating against the wooden slats. Bardon held on.

The contest lasted until dusk. Mig’s bouts of fury shortened in length, but never in ferocity. When at last she’d been calm for an hour, Bardon used the reins to direct her. She responded sluggishly at first and then caught on to the gentle pressure he used to guide her. He brought her up to the fence, and Ilex handed him a bottle of drink. He downed it gratefully, then rode the newly broken kindia around the circumference of the field. As they passed the rest of her herd, the kindias turned their backs and ignored the two, rider and mount.

Bardon again went to the fence by the barn, and Ilex passed him a sandwich.

Ilex looked grim. “You be sure to get your pay tonight. Hoddack might just be counting on you being too sore to come back for your money tomorrow. Then again, he may take a likin’ to you and treat you fair. Hard to tell with that man.”

Bardon bit into the sandwich. “Thanks for the warning.”

As he ate, he circled the field again on Mig. When he got back to Ilex, he asked, “What do we do with her now?”

Ilex grinned. “I’ll take over from here. I’ll bed her in the barn and treat her like royalty all night. She’ll get groomed and fed. I’ll do everything but rockaby her till morning. By dawn she’ll be convinced it was her idea to enter this life of luxury. Funny thing about kindias, once they is broke, there ain’t no better mount.”

Bardon shook his head. “I ride a dragon. Believe me, Greer is the best.”

Ilex led the way to the barn and opened the door. Bardon rode inside, and the worker closed the door behind him. He dismounted.

“Lead her in here.” Ilex opened a stall.

Bardon found his legs wobbled a bit, and he laughed at himself. Grinning at him, the worker took the reins and escorted Mig into her new home.

“You coming back tomorrow?” Ilex called from the stall.

“If I can walk,” answered Bardon.

“Go up to the main barn. There’s an office in the southwest corner. Hoddack will still be there. Get your money and go home. Soak in hot water, but don’t drown. Have somebody wake you up should you doze off. I’d like to see you tackle the other five.”

Bardon groaned as he turned and headed out the door. He looked through the twilight at the bigger barn.

Was that barn so far away when Hoddack brought me down here? And I don’t remember there being a hill between the two barns.
He put one foot in front of the other.
And I don’t remember the hill being this steep. Oh, what a gift it would be to have Kale’s healing dragon, Gymn, right now.

Hoddack glared at him as he counted out the five hundred grood, but he also handed him a bottle of liniment. Bardon tucked the large gold coins into his pocket and carried the bottle on the long walk back to the inn.
I wonder if the bonus of a bottle of liniment means Hoddack’s taken a “likin’” to me.

Lanterns of lightrock illuminated the darkened streets by the time Bardon entered the inn. He asked for his traveling companions, and the sturdy marione innkeeper ushered him to a private parlor.

“What happened to you?” N’Rae sprang to her feet and came to greet him. “You’re filthy.”

“And in pain,” added Granny Kye. “Innkeeper Nald, bring up a tub and hot water to the young man’s room. And a good, hot meal.”

“For you two ladies, as well, or just the young man?” asked the tumanhofer.

“I think we’re all ready to eat,” answered Granny Kye.

The innkeeper bowed. “I can have a meal here in a trice. The gentleman can eat while his bath is prepared.” Nald backed out of the room as he spoke, then closed the door.

N’Rae tugged at Bardon’s sleeve. “What have you been doing?”

“Breaking a kindia for a marione named Hoddack. I earned five hundred grood. There are five more of the beasts waiting. By the end of the week, we should have three thousand grood, enough to get us started.”

N’Rae frowned. “How did you break this kindia?”

“The usual way. I sat on her until she decided I wasn’t a danger to her.”

“How long did that take?”

“A little more than eight hours.”

A knock on the door announced dinner. N’Rae opened the door, and several servants brought in trays of food and drink. They laid the food out on the table and left. N’Rae brought out Jue Seeno’s basket and set up the minneken’s tiny table and chair so she could eat with them. Granny Kye prepared a medicinal tea for Bardon’s aches.

Bardon hesitated to sit with the ladies.

N’Rae, sitting next to the minneken, giggled. “Mistress Seeno says you may be sweat and grime all over, but you labored for us, so you may sit at the table.”

Bardon nodded to the imperious little matron and sat. He enjoyed the delicious food, and the minneken decided to regale them with tales of the Isle of Kye. The squire relaxed. The tea eased his discomfort. The food filled his stomach. And the company was pleasant, not taxing his poor social skills. He noticed N’Rae held her tongue and wore a pensive expression.

“What’s wrong?” he asked as they ate crisp lemon daggarts for dessert.

“Nothing,” she answered.

“You’re thinking about something.”

She blushed. “I would like to go with you tomorrow.”

“To Hoddack’s?”

She nodded.

“Whatever for? Watching a kindia being broken may be exciting for the first fifteen minutes, but from there on out, it’s just repetitions of the same thing, over and over. You’d be bored. And it’s hot and dusty, and there’s nothing but a railing to sit on.”

With her eyes downcast, N’Rae whispered, “I may be able to help.”

Help. Did she say help?

Bardon looked to Granny Kye. The old emerlindian nodded with a twinkle lighting her brown eyes. The squire looked at Mistress Seeno.

The minneken lifted her chin. “She does have one talent. But when she saw through the chicken’s eyes, I told her just what I thought of such an ability.”

“Saw through chicken eyes?” Bardon asked as he turned back to N’Rae.

She looked up, met his eyes, and looked down. “I can communicate with most animals.” She darted a glance at Jue Seeno. “The chicken didn’t have any thoughts, but I could see exactly what she saw. It was interesting.”

“But useless!” exclaimed the minneken.

“Yes,” agreed N’Rae, “useless.”

Granny Kye scooted her chair away from the table. “Taking the child with you may yield unexpected results. She can always come back to the inn if nothing comes of it.”

N’Rae now looked at Bardon, obviously waiting for him to pass judgment on the scheme. “If it takes you five more days, the comet will be much higher in the sky. If I can help, perhaps we can leave sooner.”

“Why not?” he said, wanting to please her. “I can’t see that it could do any harm.”