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themselves, as we rescued the eggs.”
    Hap heard the Dragon Lord’s breath hiss from his nostrils. The copper dragon’s wings ruffled, and it flexed its claws, splintering the wood below. “And the person who stole the eggs,” the Dragon Lord roared, for every person on the ship to hear. “What became of him ?”
    Hap looked behind him and saw exactly what he feared. Oates was biting his lip. He looked like he was struggling to keep a violent sneeze from escaping. Over Oates’s shoulder, Hap saw the growing alarm in Hameron’s expression. Hameron knew what was about to happen. Oates was compelled to speak the truth, and when a question was asked, nothing but a muzzle could keep him from answering. He crammed his fist into his mouth, but it popped back out like a cork. “It was this man right here,” his voice boomed out, as tears drizzled from his pained, squinting eyes.
    Hameron gasped. He darted away from Oates and raced for the hatch. The Dragon Lord sang out, and the golden dragon on the mast dropped onto the deck. Hap and Sophie leaped aside to avoid the lash of its tail. Umber never moved, and found himself within arm’s reach of the dragon’s rear haunch. He put a hand up and touched its scales, and his gaping mouth curved into an infant smile.
    Hameron darted into the hatch, but the dragon’s head and the entire length of its neck followed. When the head came back out, Hameron’s short cape was clamped between its teeth. The dragon reared up on two legs, and Hameron dangled under its chin, shrieking and pinwheeling his arms.
    Hap was dizzy with terror. He leaped toward the Dragon Lord, a gesture so rash that the copper dragon arched its neck and snarled, showing a row of pearly daggers. Hap dropped to his knees with his hands clasped before him. “Show mercy! He helped us bring the eggs back!”
    “Where was mercy for my lost children? Can your thief return the fallen ones, as well?” the Dragon Lord snapped, slamming the lid on the chest of eggs. He called out again in that strange song. The golden dragon tossed its head, flipping Hameron into the air. It caught him neatly, almost gently, with its jaws around his waist. “Umber!” Hameron cried, spotting his rival on the deck. “Umber, do something!” The words seemed to register dimly, as Umber looked stupidly about him, trying to find the source of the voice.
    The golden dragon’s wings snapped open, blotting out the misty sky. They flapped once, so hard that Hap and Sophie were driven to their knees. A second flap bore the dragon aloft, with every head turning to watch its ascent.
    “Ummmmberrrrrr!” came Hameron’s faint, desperate cry. The dragon’s chest expanded, its neck straightened, and its breath came out as a river of flame. Beside him Hap heard a choking sob from Sophie. He put his hand over his throat. The dragon opened its jaws, and a tiny, charred form dropped into the sea.
    Hap stared, numb with horror. Balfour had covered his face with his hands, and Oates kneeled with his forehead on the planks and his fist pounding the deck.
    “The same fate could be yours,” the Dragon Lord said. “But I spare you because you have returned these eggs.” He lifted the chest and tucked it under one arm. “Now leave this shore. Come back again if you wish to die.” The copper dragon offered its foreleg as a step, and the Dragon Lord climbed into the saddle. Jewel clung fast to his shoulder, but she turned her head toward Sophie and squeaked once. Soon the dragon was airborne, but before they flew from sight the serpents wheeled and soared past the sides of the Bounder , slashing the waves with their tails and scorching the port and starboard rails with their fire.
    Time passed. Hap couldn’t have said if it was a minute or an hour. Oates sat up and sniffed. “Curse this curse,” he said. “I didn’t like Hameron, but I never wished that on him.”
    “We know,” Balfour said thickly.
    Umber had a hand on each cheek. He was