Free Dragonback 03 Dragon and Slave by Timothy Zahn Page B

Dolom followed.
    Behind him, Lisssa hissed something vicious sounding. "May her
body swell up and burst," she muttered.
    "What's she going to do with him?" Jack asked.
    "Probably paint him," Lisssa said, biting out each word like it
was a piece of bad-tasting gristle. "That's what she usually does when
she takes Doloms. She thinks our scales look like a paint-by-number
mosaic, just waiting for her to decorate. May she and her family be
cursed forever."
    She made a deep rumbling noise that seemed to echo in her chest
and throat. "Or maybe she'll decide to try carving designs in him
again. She did that once."
    Jack winced. "Sounds painful."
    "It is if you get too deep," Lisssa said. "She did. After she got
bored and sent him back, like she always does, he got sick from
infections in the cuts. It took him six days to die."
    "Nice kid," Jack murmured, hunching his shoulders. Draycos was
sliding restlessly along his skin, and he could practically feel the
dragon's anger.
    He didn't blame him. If things like this were why the K'da hated
slavery so much, he was ready to join the club himself. "What about
this one?" he asked Lisssa. "Do you know him?"
    It was a stupid question, he realized too late. Of course she
would know all the other Doloms among the slaves.
    But her answer surprised him. "Not really," she said. "I think his
name's Plasssit or Plusssit. Something like that."
    Jack frowned at her, but the thick tile-pattern of her face as she
stared at the Brummgas was unreadable. "You don't know?" he asked. "I
mean . . . he's one of your people."
    Her eyes shifted back to Jack. "What was your name again?" she
asked pointedly. Just as pointedly, she turned her wide back to him and
went back to her work.
    "Right," Jack murmured. The message was clear. Lisssa didn't want
to know any of them. They were slaves, and she was a slave, and the
only place to hide from that reality was inside herself.
    And so that was where she would stay.
    The Brummgas and the Dolom drove away, and for a moment there was
silence. Then, the Klezmer resumed his music, and the slaves returned
to their picking.
    Later, when the Klezmer came by, Jack put a handful of berries
into his bowl. The old man murmured some thanks; and on a sudden
impulse, Jack put in a second handful.
    For a long time afterwards he wondered why he'd done that. It had
probably surprised him more than it had the Klezmer, especially
considering that his own dinner or lack of it was on the line. Perhaps
it was his reaction to Lisssa's selfish attitude that had sparked such
unusual generosity.
    Or maybe it was just knowing that Draycos was watching. Draycos,
and his blasted pain-in-the-neck K'da warrior ethic.
    He did notice that when the Klezmer went past Lisssa, she ignored
him completely.
    As it turned out, his generosity didn't end up costing him
anything after all. By the time the Brummgas set up at their tables, he
had filled his bowl to the line. In fact, he'd continued past the line
and loaded berries all the way to the very top. He turned in his bowl,
collected his meal ticket, and joined the line of slaves heading to
dinner.
    The meal hall looked about the way Jack had expected: long tables
with plain wooden benches on both sides. The meal itself was actually
better than he'd expected. It consisted of another of the cabbage rolls
he'd had the night before, plus a bowl of the nutrient soup they'd been
given at noon, plus a piece of multigrain bread of some kind, plus a
small slab of real meat.
    The cabbage roll didn't taste quite as good as it had when he'd
been starving. But it tasted good enough. He drank the soup, too,
wiping the bowl with his bread to make sure he got every drop.
    The meat went quietly into a pocket to give to Draycos later.
    When the meal was over, each slave cleaned his utensils at a long
tub of water and returned them to the cooking slaves. After that,
Jack's plan had been to take a quiet walk off by himself, where he and
Draycos could talk without being