Dragons of the Watch - Donita K. Paul [76]
“Yes, I don’t think Wulder approves of turning our backs on others.”
“Do you suppose the children are next?”
He leaned closer and kissed the top of her head. “I know you think so.”
“I don’t want to get caught up doing my list and not paying attention to what should be first duty for us.”
Bealomondore turned to face her. “I thought we did first duty—Old One.”
“Yes, but once you’ve done first duty, it’s taken off the list, and the next thing down becomes first duty.”
“Well, until we get the list and can read it, why don’t we work on getting the daggarts to the ragamuffins?”
“That seems like a logical course.”
Bealomondore embraced her and hugged tight. “No, my adorable tumanhofer. A logical course would be to avoid the monsters altogether. That way no one would get hurt.”
“No one would get better either.”
He mumbled, “Good point,” right before he kissed her, but Ellie, at that moment, didn’t much care whether he thought her logic held up.
Old One refused to leave the library to participate in the Great Lure of the Children. Bealomondore didn’t blame him and wished he, too, could forgo the experience, calling the enterprise the Great Trap of the Horrible Horde.
Bealomondore met Ellie at the back entrance. He carried bait and so did she—an appealing treasure of daggarts in two baskets, a cloth covering the contents.
“I’m excited,” said Ellie.
“I’d rather you limit your expectations to a reasonable outlook. These children are not civilized. A daggart will not make them docile, sweet-tempered, and obedient.”
“I’m not expecting all that. I just want them to associate good things with us.”
Bealomondore studied her face for a moment, wondering if there was any argument that would knock that innocent hope out of her head. Then he decided he didn’t want to erase the glow in her eyes. He held the grate open for her and helped lower the baskets to the ground outside.
“Maa!” Tak stood at the gate to the library park.
Ellie stopped to scratch between his horns. “You can’t come this time.”
The goat stamped his front feet and butted the gate.
“No, I’m not taking you. Don’t you remember the children being unkind to you? We have to teach them manners before I will let them get near you again.”
Bealomondore looked sternly at the goat. “I back your mistress, Tak. This is a dangerous mission, and you need to stay here. We’ll be back in an hour or so.”
Ellie scoffed at his words. “Dangerous? They’re only children.”
He took her arm and headed her toward the circle fountain. “You’re to humor me and be ready to run for your life if I yell, ‘Go!’ ”
They did no running. For more than an hour, they walked the streets where the children usually played. At one corner, Bealomondore climbed a drainpipe to retrieve a blouse belonging to Ellie. She looked it over carefully once he handed it to her.
“They haven’t been rough with it.” She turned it over in her hands. “It’s a bit dirty but nothing I can’t wash out.”
She folded it and put it on top of the cloth in her basket. They strolled down the street of shops until she paused to look in the window of a clothing store. “You know, I really admire all the things the urohms have in their shops. In the village, the mercantile had one rack of ready-made clothes. Old One mentioned industry. Is it industry that makes the difference? Everyone at home spent time making for themselves, with little time left over for making things to sell.”
“In my explorations before you came, I found that many of the urohm homes on the west side of Rumbard have a cottage at the rear of the property where different things were made—cloth, candles, furniture, clothing, hats, boots, anything one might need. Those homes are more modest than the ones we’ve visited.”
“So as a town, they were pretty much self-sufficient. My gramps says that when the first farms were built, they were so far apart that each family took care of their own needs.”
“I suppose that’s so.” Bealomondore gently nudged her into once again walking down the sidewalk in front of