Read Dragonback 02 Dragon and Soldier for Free Online

the lines, looking each
recruit up and down as he went, describing in vivid detail exactly what
he thought of them, their parents, their expectations, and their
chances of becoming successful soldiers. It was highly intimidating, as
it was no doubt meant to be.
    At the same time, Jack couldn't help but admire the range of the
man's vocabulary. He'd spent a fair amount of time over the years in
the company of Uncle Virgil's associates, and he'd always assumed their
language was as vile as it got.
    Grisko's loud defense of the cooking staff the previous evening
had already put him in the same high-level cursing league as those men.
Only now did Jack realize how restrained the sergeant's mess hall
tirade had actually been.
    And this was just the first early-morning wakeup. He wondered how
much the man still had in reserve.
    He reached Jack . . . and suddenly stopped cold. "What in the name
of Cutter's Hind End are you supposed to be?" he demanded,
looking Jack up and down. "Sir?" Jack asked between stiff lips. "Is
this some kind of joke?" Grisko bit out, waving a hand at him.
    Jack looked down at Draycos, back in his proper place wrapped
around his body. "It's a tattoo, sir."
    "It's a tattoo, sir," Grisko mimicked. "Get rid of it." Jack
blinked. "Sir?"
    "I said get rid of it," Grisko snapped. "Wash it off, sandblast it
off—whatever it takes."
    "But it's a tattoo," Jack protested. "It doesn't come off." Grisko
had been starting to turn back toward the door. Instead, he turned back
to Jack, gazing down his nose directly into Jack's face. "Are you
arguing with me, Montana?" he asked, his voice suddenly very quiet.
"Are you disobeying a direct order?"
    "No, sir," Jack said, thinking fast. "Request permission to return
home to visit a removal clinic."
    The corner of Grisko's mouth twitched into something that was
probably as close to a smile as he ever got. "That's better," he said.
"When I give you an order, you jump to obey it. Clear?"
    "Yes, sir," Jack said.
    "Good," Grisko said. "Permission denied. You don't skip out on
basic for anything. You'll get it removed during first liberty."
    He made a precise about-face, just like the ones Jack and the
others had practiced the previous afternoon, except that Grisko got it
right. "All right, maggots," he announced, starting back down the line.
"You've got five minutes to suit up in fatigues and report to the mess
hall. Thirty minutes from right now, you will have eaten and assembled
on the Number Three parade ground. Now move !"

    They spent the morning practicing more drills and formations. By
the time the lunch trumpet sounded some of them were nearly as good at
turns and about-faces as Grisko.
    Not that Grisko would ever admit that, of course. To hear him talk
and complain, they would never be anything more than undisciplined,
incompetent maggots.
    Though as Jack watched some of his fellow recruits fumbling
around, he had to admit the sergeant might have a point.
    After lunch it was more drills, this time with their candy-cane
weapons. The extra weight didn't seem that important at first, but
after the first hour of spinning it back and forth the Gompers flash
rifle in particular began to feel like it was made of solid lead. By
midafternoon, whatever crispness had been in their movements was long
gone. An hour after that, a couple of the younger kids were whimpering
under their breath with the effort.
    That was a mistake. Sergeant Grisko disliked whimpering even more
than he disliked full-body dragon tattoos. Each time he caught even a
hint of it, he stopped the drill flat and laid into the offender.
    One of them was Rogan Mbusu, the eleven-year-old masquerading as
fourteen who had so admired Jack's dragon back at the recruitment
center. By the time Grisko finished with him and stalked away, Rogan
was nearly in tears.
    There were, however, two notable exceptions to the group's overall
fatigue and clumsiness. One of them was Jommy Randolph, the boy who had
complained to Jack about his