Dragonback 03 Dragon and Slave Read Online Free PDF Page A

that held no mercy, no
kindness, not even a hint of human feeling.
    An eerie sensation tickled between Jack's shoulder blades. He'd
seen eyes like that before, on some of the most vicious criminals Uncle
Virgil had known. A man with eyes like that was hardly even human
anymore.
    "Well?" the man asked softly.
    It was the slavemaster himself. Gazen.
    Jack took a deep breath. He'd had a whole spun-rainbow excuse all
set up and ready to go, a tangly story full of tears and panic about a
bet with school friends, and how he would never, ever do it again if
they let him go. It was the sort of story a professional thief would be
able to launch into on a second's notice, just that much more evidence
that he was worth the price Uncle Virge was asking for him.
    But as he stared up into those eyes, it suddenly didn't feel like
a good idea to spin such an obvious lie for this man. "I guess I picked
the wrong house," he said instead.
    Gazen's lips might have twitched. "I guess you did," he agreed.
    His eyes flicked to Jack's Brummgan handlers. "Bring him," he
ordered.
    Without waiting for a response, he turned his back and headed for
the door. Wrapping their hands around Jack's arms, the two Brummgas
dragged their prisoner after him.
    After the crowd that had burst in on him inside the house, Jack
had rather expected the yard to be crawling with Brummgas, too. But
aside from a pair of long, squat cars parked in front of the house
everything looked the way Jack had left it. Apparently, Gazen had
decided there was no point in waking up the whole neighborhood over
this.
    The Brummgas stuffed Jack into the back seat of the first of the
cars, wedging him between them. Gazen got in the front beside the
driver. They made a tight U-turn, and with the second car following
closely behind they headed toward the white wall.
    Jack had caught glimpses of the wall on his way to the
gatekeeper's house. But it had been dark, and the wall was set far
enough back from the street that he hadn't gotten a close look.
    Sitting pinned between two Brummgas, his view wasn't that much
better. Still, it was the best he was likely to get, at least from the
outside. Slouching down as far as he figured he could get away with, he
peeked out the window.
    The wall was more impressive at ground level than it had been from
several thousand feet up. For one thing, its thirty-two-foot height
seemed taller now that he was looking up at it. For another, although
Uncle Virge had been right about the wall's X-shape, he'd missed the
fact that the top part curved over and downward, nearly circling up
underneath itself again.
    The effect was like facing a huge, mile-long wave that was getting
ready to break over the approaching car. Not the most pleasant image
Jack could think of.
    The gate was as impressive as the wall itself, made of more of the
wall's white ceramic and laced with gold-colored metal straps. Six more
armed Brummgas were waiting there, all dressed in the same
red/black/white as the group in the gatekeeper's house. The Chookoock
family colors, he decided. As the two cars drove up, the gate swung
open.
    "Stop the car," Gazen ordered sharply, sliding down his window.
    The vehicle braked to a hard stop beside the guards. "Who ordered
the gate opened?" Gazen bit out.
    "I did, Panjan Gazen," one of the Brummgas said, taking an
eagerly lumbering step forward. "I knew you were in a hurry—"
    "You opened the gate without checking identification?" Gazen
demanded.
    The Brummga stopped short. Too late, his walnut-sized brain was
starting to realize that Gazen hadn't stopped to compliment the staff.
"But—"
    He ground to a halt, whatever excuse he was about to make
apparently getting lost somewhere between brain and mouth. Gazen stared
at him in silence for a few more seconds, long enough for even a
Brummga to work out that he was in big trouble. "You will check my ID,"
Gazen continued, his voice quiet. "You will check the IDs of those in
the car behind me. You will then secure