Free Shadowed By Wings by Janine Cross Page B

testes, he spread his arms wide, embraced as much of the scrotal sac as he could, and rubbed his torso and hips against the bulge as if trying to scribe circles upon the thing.
    I flushed furiously.
    This was the ignoble part of an apprentice’s duties, the part children giggled over and women sniggered about, and the moment in Arena when men lustily roared their approval and their lewd taunts. This was where we apprentices used our hands and bodies to bring the bull to full penile arousal. This was when we became Temple’s dragonwhores.
    Understand, a bull only achieves erection during shinchiwouk, display and combat with another bull dragon. But due to the scarcity of bulls, no Clutch lord wanted to risk his prized bull in such a conflict. Thus Abbasin Shinchiwouk, oft called Arena, was created. This, then, is what I knew of Arena at the time:
    Situated on the outskirts of Fwendar ki Bol, Village of the Eggs, Arena was both a place and an event. Each year, for eight days, the bull dragons of every Clutch in Malacar underwent shinchiwouk in an enormous Temple stadium. Many wagers were laid concerning how long it would take the dragonmaster apprentices of each Clutch to arouse their bull, how many apprentices would die in the process, and how many female dragons each bull would mount once aroused. The bloody, ribald spectacle was attended by the elite from both Malacar and the Archipelago. The lower stands of Arena, nearest the action, were always filled to capacity by rishi, Xxelteker sailors, and lower-class merchants. The status, wealth, and political standing of each Clutch was determined annually at Arena. Half a dragonmaster’s apprentices never left its bloody grounds.
    During shinchiwouk in the wild, much butting of domed head against flank and scrotum takes place between bulls, with the intent, of course, of driving away one’s competitor. The few extant accounts of shinchiwouk sightings in the jungle all state that the weaker bull withdraws before real damage occurs. All that physical stimulation of the testes, combined with the excitement of battle and the odor exuded by the female dragons witnessing the conflict, causes a bull to achieve erection. Remove even one of those elements from shinchiwouk—butting of the scrotal sac, battle lust, or the scent of gathered female dragons—and a bull is unable to mate.
    For shinchiwouk to be successfully re-created in Arena, then, a dragonmaster apprentice must incite battle lust in a bull while stimulating the bull’s testes. The young female dragons witnessing the mock battle behind a series of huge iron gates exude the necessary pheromones.
    Flushing from the roots of my hair to my toes, I looked away from Ringus as he continued his vigorous, full-body manipulation of the bamboo dragon’s scrotum.
    There were more stations on the vebalu course; I just couldn’t see them clearly, my view obstructed by target pillars, bamboo dragon, and whirling bodies. But this much was obvious: Vebalu training would be intense and exhaustive.
    After leaping several times over the bamboo bull, Ringus came to stand before us inductees. His skin gleamed with perspiration and his lean chest heaved deeply and easily; he looked bright-eyed and exuberant. He was good at vebalu, very good. No doubt he’d be granted veteran status soon.
    His eyes fell upon me.
    He stopped still. Paled. Shot a look toward the wrestlers, where Eidon trained. Ringus’s larynx jogged up and down a few times, then he turned stiffly back to face us, avoiding my eyes, his exuberance gone. Clearly, he had told Eidon of what had occurred last night.
    Anger flooded me, swift and thin, and then was gone. In its wake, I realized I’d expected as much. I’d now have to find a way to use Ringus’s fear of me to my advantage.
    “On your feet,” Ringus cried at us inductees. “Do as I do and don’t fall behind, or Egg’ll beat you.”
    Standing scowling to one side like a gandi, a herder, Egg thwacked a leather