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“What if we find nothing?”

“Well. I’ve wondered that, too. At what point will Captain Leftrin give up and say that we’re going back to Trehaug? To be honest, I don’t see him doing that. For one thing, the keepers and the dragons can’t go back. There’s nothing there for them. He has to keep going until he finds somewhere that those creatures can live. And that would be nearly as big a discovery as Kelsingra.” Carson scratched his beard thoughtfully. “For another, as long as Leftrin pushes on, he has Alise at his side. The minute he turns that barge around, he’s just counting down the days until he loses her.” He lifted an eyebrow at Sedric and added, “Pardon me if I’m talking out of turn, but that’s how I see it.Advertisement

“I overheard him and Swarge talking about it one night. Leftrin listens to his crew, more than most captains, and that’s why so many of them have been with him so long. He wanted to know if Swarge and Bellin were discontented and wanted to turn back. Swarge said, ‘It’s all one to us, Cap. No homes in the trees waiting for any of us. And this river has to come from somewhere. We follow it far enough, we’re bound to come to something.’ And Leftrin laughed and said, ‘What if what we come to is a bad end?’ and Swarge said, ‘A bad end is just a new beginning. We’ve been there before.’ So. I think they’ll keep going, until they find Kelsingra or the Tarman can’t crawl any farther.”

He poked the firepot again and seemed to take genuine pleasure in the drakes-tail of sparks he freed. “And I’ll go with them. After all, I’ve got nothing and nobody calling me back to Trehaug. Or anywhere.”

His statement seemed to be a question in disguise. Sedric considered it. He shrugged and answered it. “I’ve got no choice, do I? There’s a life waiting for me back in Bingtown. One I’m rather good at, even if I can’t survive on my own out here. But I’ve no way to get back to it. So I’m doomed to return to the Tarman with you and endure whatever comes next. I’m trapped.”

And he was and he knew it. Even so, he regretted how mean and small his words seemed following Carson’s more generous view of the world.

Carson’s face shifted. The corners of his mouth dropped, and his eyes became solemn. He dropped the stick he’d been stirring the fire with into the pot and leaned back a bit. With both his big hands, he pushed his wild hair back from his face. When he spoke, his voice was tight. “You don’t have to go back, Sedric. Not if you hate it that much. I’ve got the boat and the basic tools of my trade. I could take you downriver. It wouldn’t be an easy trip, but I’d get you back to Trehaug. And from there, you could go home.”

“What about the others?” Sedric asked reluctantly, trying to keep his rising excitement out of his voice. And then, as the complication came to him, “And what about the dragon?”

Yes. What about me? Her voice was a sleepy gurgle.

“Oh. That’s right. The dragon.” Carson smiled ruefully. “Strange, how a small detail like a very large dragon can slip my mind for a time. I suppose I’m still thinking of you as Alise’s assistant rather than as a keeper.” He was quiet for a time, and the bubble of excitement that Sedric had felt at the prospect of an early return to Bingtown began to subside.

Carson shrugged. “We could make sure she got back to the other dragons. After that, she’d have to manage on her own. We’d have to go upriver first anyway. I couldn’t just vanish; Leftrin would think I was dead, and Davvie would be crazy with fear and sorrow. I wouldn’t do something like that to a friend, let alone a boy who depends on me. And I’d want to ask Leftrin to let me out of my contract to hunt. A bad time for me to be asking that, with Jess missing. And you’d want to say good-bye to Alise, I’m sure…” His voice dwindled away. “I guess neither of us is as free as I was thinking we were,” he said softly. “Too bad.”

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“Too bad,” Sedric agreed sickly. He was silent for a time, and then he observed, “Just a few minutes ago, you were talking about how wonderful it was to be part of something big like this expedition. Mapping the river, looking for an ancient city. Why would you offer to walk away from that just to take me to Trehaug?”

Carson grinned. He met his eyes frankly. “I like you, Sedric. I really like you. Haven’t you figured that out yet?”

The man’s frankness astounded him. He stared at the hunter, at his scaled skin above his bearded cheeks, his wild hair, and his scruffy clothing. Could he have been more unlike Hest? pqdm.com