Chapter 411: Company

Chapter 411: Company

For a moment, nobody in Yard Two said anything. Then the rail started talking all at once. Jin didn’t hear any of it. He was standing in the sand with the spear still out, its tip a hand from Bram’s chest, and his arms had started to shake.

He lowered the spear. Bram looked down at the plate on his own chest, then at Jin. His face was red under the sweat, and his jaw was tight.

"That," he said, "was a good one."

He didn’t sound happy about it. Jin wouldn’t have been either.

"I had to cover the bird," Bram said. "If I’d ignored her, she’d have tagged me." He glanced toward Flicker, now perched on Jin’s shoulder. "You left me a lovely choice."

"That was the idea."

"I know it was the idea." Bram wiped his face on his sleeve. "And the bear. You turned it the wrong way on purpose."

"It’s slow on the turn."

"It’s slow on the turn," Bram agreed, sourly. "I’ve been meaning to work on that." He looked at the spot where Jin had landed, off his left shoulder. "The first one, though. At the start. You went exactly where I thought you would."

"I know." Jin swallowed. "If Glitch hadn’t come, that was it."

Bram glanced at the drake. "He was paying attention."

He held out his hand. Jin shook it.

"I want another go," Bram said. "Not now. Some time. Now I’ve seen it."

"Okay."

"You’ll lose."

"Probably."

Bram almost smiled. Then he went to see to his bear, which was still sitting in the sand looking puzzled about the whole thing.

Crowe found Jin at the water barrel ten minutes later.

He didn’t say well done. Jin hadn’t expected him to.

"The first turn nearly cost you the match," Crowe said. "You know that."

"I know."

"You made Teller defend two angles at once. That gave you the time to finish the movement."

Crowe looked at Glitch, lying in the shade of the barrier block, and at Flicker on top of him. "In that last exchange, you kept track of both beasts and Teller. You knew where the opening would be."

"The first one felt safe in practice," Jin admitted.

"Practice didn’t have Teller waiting for you." Crowe tapped the shaft of the spear. "Keep giving yourself more than one way out."

The girl from Yard Three was at the rail. The second-year with the notebook, the one who’d remembered the Highmarch clip. She’d watched the whole match. When Jin came past with Glitch, she leaned over and looked at the drake for a long time.

"He was a lizard," she said again, as if she still couldn’t quite believe it. "I’ve watched that clip twenty times. He was hurt, and small, and he roared at a tiger."

"He’s still not keen on tigers."

She laughed. "What happened? How do you go from that to—" She waved at Glitch. "To that?"

Jin thought about the Engine, and the quarry, and the ram, and the ibex, and all those evenings spent on a feed crate.

"Feed," he said. "Lots of training. And a lot of luck."

She looked down at her notebook, then back at him. "My brother says a starter beast only takes you so far."

Jin glanced at Glitch licking a patch of damp sand from his foreleg. He couldn’t promise her brother was wrong about every beast.

"Get it assessed properly," he said. "And look after what you’ve got. I had help."

"From the Academy?"

"Verrick. Brand. Crowe." He shifted the spear to his other hand. "Other people too."

She wrote those names down. That, at least, was something he could give her without pretending his own route was ordinary.

Before leaving the yard, Jin took both beasts to the shaded care area. He checked Glitch’s shoulder where the bear had caught him. The plates were sound, though the drake shifted when Jin pressed beneath one edge.

"Sore?"

Glitch huffed warm breath over his wrist. The attendant checked it and advised a quiet afternoon. Flicker’s wings were unmarked; she drank, shook a few drops onto Jin’s sleeve and settled beside the water bowl. Neither looked interested in another match.

Jin sat on the low bench while Glitch leaned against his knee. Now that there was nothing left to direct, he could feel how tired his own legs were. He would check his condition before deciding whether to cultivate that evening. Brand’s routine had room for a shorter session.

He was getting closer to 3-Star, but he had won this one at two. He liked that more than he’d expected. All those evenings practising the end of a turn had mattered.

Glitch nudged the hand resting on his neck.

"You came when I needed you," Jin said softly.

The drake leaned harder. Jin scratched between the plates until Flicker stepped onto his other wrist and demanded her share of the attention. Lucian found them there, carrying Jin’s empty practice case.

"Ready? Or are we sleeping here?"

Jin stood carefully. His knees were steadier now. "Ready."

He and Lucian came out of the assessment yard together. As they walked across the stable yard, they were stopped three times before they reached the gate. The first was Petra Hollis, with her badger trundling behind her.

"How do you time the bird?" she asked Jin, without preamble. "Coming in on Teller. She was already there when he turned. How did you know when to send her?"

Jin opened his mouth, and had to think about it.

"Glitch had to keep the bear busy first," he said. "I sent her while he was doing that. If I’d waited until I had room to move, Teller would have had time to bring it back."

Petra thought about that, nodded, and went away still thinking. The second was a pair of first-years Jin had never seen before. They didn’t want Jin at all. They wanted Lucian.

"The stop," one of them said. "After Stormstep. How do you stop like that? I always skid."

Lucian looked at Jin with an expression of enormous delight.

"Someone stood exactly where I was arriving," he said, "and pointed at my feet until I wanted to kill him."

The first-years looked at Jin.

"I didn’t point that much," Jin said.

"He pointed constantly," Lucian said.

The third was Vasha, with her Ridgerunner. She stopped them at the gate and looked at the two of them for a moment with her sharp, assessing face.

"We’re going to the noodle place by the east gate," she said. "Teller’s coming. Owen’s coming. You two want to?"

Jin looked at Lucian. Lucian looked at Jin. A month ago, nobody in the advanced group had asked either of them anywhere.

"Sure," Lucian said.

They walked to the noodle place in a loose, noisy group. Teller was at the front with his bear, arguing with Owen about whether the harrier’s low swings had been bait or bad flying.

Petra and her badger brought up the rear. Glitch walked beside Jin, and Flicker rode on Glitch’s crest. Somewhere in the middle of it, Lucian fell into step beside Jin and spoke quietly enough that nobody else could hear.

"Two places," he said.

"Two places."

"Teller still wants one. So does Vasha. So does Owen, probably." Lucian glanced at the noisy group ahead. "We beat two of them this week. We didn’t beat all of them."

"I know."

"And nobody’s said when."

"I know."

Lucian grinned. "I’m just saying it so you don’t get comfortable."

"I’m never comfortable."

"You looked comfortable just now. With Petra. If I’d waited until I had room to move." Lucian did a passable impression of him. "Very wise."

Jin laughed and nudged him with an elbow, keeping clear of the bear. Ahead, Vasha was holding the door of the noodle place open and shouting at them to hurry up. Behind them, the light was going gold over the stable block. The two places were still out there somewhere, and nobody had been given one.

But tonight, people were holding the door for them.