wife sunken rock. When fee tide’s making, current can
pull you right in. If you sail this way by yourself, and
you’ll soon be able to, make sure you keep your dis-
‘iance.”
“The lads say you saw fire lizards there once,” Elgion found fee words out of his mouth before he could censor them,
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Alemi shot him a long amused look. “Lefs say I can’t think what else it could’ve been. They weren’t wherries: too fast, too small, and wherries can’t maneuver that way. But fire lizards?” He laughed and shrugged his shoulders, indicating his own skepticism.
“What if I told you that there are such things? That F”nor, Canth’s rider, Impressed one in Southern and so did five or six other riders? That the Weyrs are looking for more fire lizard clutches, and I’ve been asked to search the beaches?”
Alemi stared at the Harper. Then the skiff rocked in the subtle cross currents. “Mind now, pull the tiller hard aport. No, to your left, man!”
They had the looming Dragon Stone comfortably abaft before further conversation.
“You can Impress fire lizards?” If Alemi’s voice was incredulous, an eager light sparkled in his eyes, and Elgion knew he’d made an ally; he told as much as he, himself, knew.
“Well, that would explain why you rarely see grown ones, and why they evade capture so cleverly. They hear you coming.” Alemi laughed, shaking his head. “When I think of the times …”
“Me, too.” Elgion grinned broadly, remembering his boyhood attempts to rig a successful trap.
“We’re to look on beaches?”
“Thaf s what N’ton suggested. Sandy beaches, sheltered places, preferably hard for small active boys to find. There’s plenty of places where a fire lizard queen could hide a clutch around here.”
“Not with the tides so high this season.”
“There must be some beaches deep enough.” Elgion felt impatient with Alemi’s arguments.
The Sea Man motioned Elgion out of the tiller seat, and deftly tacked about
“I saw fire lizards about the Dragon Stones. And those crags’d be right good weyrs. Not that I think we’d have a chance of seeing them today. They feed at dawn: thafs when I saw them. Only,” and Alemi
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chuckled, “I thought my eyes were deceiving me since it was the end of a long watch and a man’s eyes can play tricks with him at dawn.”
Alemi sailed the little skiff far closer to the Dragon Stones than Elgion would have dared. In fact the Harper found himself gripping the weatherboard very hard and edging his body away from the towering crags as the skiff breezed lightly by. There was no doubt that the crags were riddled with holes, likely weyrs for fire lizards.
“I wouldn’t try this tack except when the tide is full, Elgion,” said Alemi as they sailed between the innermost crag and the tide-washed land. “There’s a right mess of bottom-reaming rocks here even at half-tide.”
It was quiet, too, with the waves softly caressing the narrow verge of sand between sea and cliff. Quiet enough for the unmistakable sound of piping to carry across the water to Elgion.
“Did you hear that?” Elgion grabbed Alemi’s arm.
“Hear what?”
“The musicl”
“What music?” Alemi wondered briefly if the sun were strong enough to give the Harper a stroke. But he sharpened his ears for any unusual sound, following the line of Elgion’s stare to the cliffs. His heart leaped for a moment, but he said, “Music? Nonsense! Those cliffs are riddled with caves and holes. All you hear is the wind…”
“There isn’t any wind now…”
Alemi had to admit that because he’d let the boom out and was even beginning to wonder if they had enough wind to come about on a tack that would clear the northern side of the stones.
“And look,” said Elgion, “there’s a hole in the cliff face. Big enough for a person to get into, I’d wager. Alemi, can’t we go inshore?”
“Not unless we walk home, or wait for high tide again.”
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“Alemil That’s musicl Not wind over blow holesl Thaf s someone playing pipes.”
An unhappy furtive thought crossed Alemfs face so plainly that Elgion jumped to a conclusion. All at once, all the pieces fell into place.