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As Harper he was acquainted with them; but mindful that he was the Harper, the boys regarded him with respect and kept him at a distance. The moment he told them that they should keep their eyes open for Menolly, for her belt knife, if they knew it, or belt buckle, the distance widened inexplicably. They all seemed to know, though Elgion doubted that the adults had told them, that Menolly had been missing from the Hold for some days. They all seemed equally reluctant to look for her, or to suggest to him possible areas in which to search. It was as if, Elgion told him-
, self with frustrated anger, they were afraid the Harper would find her. So he tried to regain their confidence by telling them that Yanus had suggested that everyone who went outside the Hold should keep their eyes open for the lost girl.
He came back with his charges to the Hold, with sacksful of berries, greens and some spiderclaws. The only information the boys had volunteered about Menolly during the entire morning was that she could catch more spiderclaws than anyone.
As it turned out, Elgion didn’t have to signal for a dragonrider. The next day a bronze wingleader came circling down to the beach at Half-Circle, greeting Yanus affably and asking if he might have a few words
|: with the Harper.
| TouTl be Elgion,” said the young man, raising his
I hand in greeting. “I’m N’ton, rider of Lioth. I heard
|you were settling in.”
g “What can I do for you, N’ton?” and Elgion tact—
IJfuHy walked the bronze rider out of Yanus’s earshot.
“You’ve heard of fire lizards?” l Elgion stared at N’ton in surprise for a moment be; fore he laughed, “That old mythl”
“Not really a myth, friend,” said N’ton. Despite the mghing mischief in his eyes, he was speaking in
“Not a myth?”
“Not at all. Would you know if the lads here have
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spotted any along the coast? They tend to leave their clutches in beach sands. If s the eggs we want.”
“Really? Actually it isn’t the lads who’ve seen them, but the Sea Holder’s son, not the fanciful sort, although I didn’t really credit… he saw some around some rock crags known as the Dragon Stones. Down the coast some ways.” Elgion pointed the direction.
“Ill go have a look myself. But this is what has happened. F’nor, brown Canth’s rider, has been injured.’* N’ton paused. “He’s been convalescing at Southern Hold. He found, and Impressed,” and again N’ton paused significantly to emphasize his last word, “a fire lizard queen…”
“Impressed? I thought only dragons…”
“Fire lizards are much like dragons, only smaller.”
“But this would mean …” And Elgion was lost in the wonder of that meaning.
“Yes, precisely, Harper,” said N’ton with a wide grin. “And now everyone wants a fire lizard. I can’t imagine Yanus Sea Holder wasting the time and energy of his men looking for fire lizard clutches. But if fire lizards have been seen, any cove with warm sand might just hide a clutch.”
“The high tides this spring have been flooding most of the coves.”
‘Too bad. See if you can’t organize the Hold youngsters to search. I don’t think you’d have much resistance …”
“None at all.” And Elgion realized that N’ton, dragonrider though he now was, must have been susceptible to the same boyhood designs on fire lizards that Elgion had once planned. “When we find a clutch, what do we do?”
“If you find one,” N’ton said, “fly the signal banner and the sweep rider will report If the tide is threatening, put the clutch in either warm, sand or warmed hides.”
“If they should hatch, you did mention they can be Impressed…”
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“I hope you’re that lucky, Harper. Feed the fledglings. Stuff their faces with as much as they can eat, talking all the time. That’s how you Impress. But then, you’ve been to a Hatching, haven’t you? So, you know how to go about it. Same principle involved.”
“Fire lizards.” Elgion was enchanted with the prospect.
“Don’t Impress them all, Harper. I’d like one of the little beasties myself.”