Free Joust by Mercedes Lackey Page B

within the task—that you were the equivalent of an apprentice until you became an Overseer, or even a Jouster? There certainly weren’t any dragon boys over the age of fifteen or sixteen, not if he was any judge of ages.
    This lot ignored his presence altogether, which suited him. They spoke of other boys, of their families, of what they planned to do this evening when the dragons slept and their duties were over. It astonished him, a little, to hear how very much they were allowed to do in their free time, for Khefti’s apprentices were permitted to leave their Master’s home only to go straight back to their own.
    But the dragons didn’t fly by night. Perhaps they couldn’t. When the sun-god descended, and it grew cold, perhaps they slept. That would mean that there wasn’t much in the way of duties for a dragon-boy after sundown.
    Certainly all of them had plans to enjoy themselves. Some of them planned to bathe in certain pools in the complex, some to fish by moonlight, and a favored few, older, and who actually had real money to spend, intended to visit a wine house outside the complex.
    Then some of the talk turned to certain dragons and Jousters, and the nobles of the King’s court who had an interest in them.
    “The next time Lord Seftu invites Kest-eman for a feast, I’m to come along,” boasted one, to the apparent envy of his peers.
    “Lord Seftu!” exclaimed a boy with who should not have adopted the shaved-head style, for it made his exceedingly round head look like a grape on a slender stem. “They say he has acrobats and dancers and musicians at all of his feasts! And river horse, and bustard and sturgeon and honeyed dates stuffed with nuts—”
    “And boating on his pleasure lake by moonlight,” chimed in another, enviously. “And every guest has a serving maid of his own.”
    “He’s been to every practice,” the first boy said smugly. “And he’s won a great deal of money on Besere, thanks to what I told him. He told Besere that he wants to reward both of us.”
    “On top of what he’s given you already?” exclaimed the round-headed boy. “Shekabis, when we’re done, can I touch you? Maybe some of that luck will rub off!”
    Vetch learned massive amounts about the Jousters and their lives just by listening. The nobles, it seemed—some of them, anyway—found it entertaining to watch the jousting practices. They would wager on the Jousters as they practiced the skills that made them what they were, sometimes tipping the dragon boys for information on the health and temper of dragons and their riders. Now Vetch had at least one minor question answered. So that was where the boys were getting their money!
    And—as he stretched his ears shamelessly to listen—he soon found that wasn’t the only way they got money to spend.
    “Lady Heetah’s getting desperate. She gave me a whole silver piece to carry a message to Ari this morning,” one of the older boys said, with a sly grin for the others. Even Vetch knew what that meant. Ladies didn’t ask boys to carry messages to men unless they were in the midst of (or wanted to instigate) a love affair. It sounded as if this Lady Heetah was in the latter position.
    “And did you?” asked the round-headed boy, with a lift of his lip that suggested that Lady Heetah was throwing away good money on a hopeless cause.
    “I left it in his rooms, when I went to clean Abatnam’s.” The first boy shrugged. “Who’s to say if he even looked at it? Or cared, if he saw it. She should have learned better by now; she sent me on a fool’s errand, that one. But she pays well.”
    “Besotted.” The second shook his head. “Stupid women. As well court the image of Ta-Roketh in the Temple of Kernak as Ari. Actually, you’d be better off courting the statue. You might get a miracle and the image might fill with the god and respond to your invitation.”
    “That’s what Lesoth says,” another of the older boys nodded wisely. “Ari’s never