Book with flying lizard - read in 90's [s]

[Matthew]

This isn't a Dragonrider of Pern book, but it contains a flying lizard. I don't think it was ever mentioned to be a dragon in the book.

I'm 28 now, but in elementary-school I remember a book about a boy who is in this desert-wasteland. He finds an egg and decides to escape from his life of servitude. The egg hatches, so he knows he must escape. However, he's made friends with this young girl, probably 12-15, and doesn't want to leave her there. The only problem is that she's forced to live as a prostitute (the boy who's going to save her, to my knowledge, hasn't bedded her).

I don't remember the actual plot, just that they escape from the compound and at some point the boy rides the lizard. The escape happens within the first half of the book.

Also, I think there are point-of-view shifts between the boy and girl, because I seem to recall a scene where she is mater-of-factly describing lying on her back in a cot with other young girls in a surrounding room having to service soldiers.

This could have been the start of a series. Since it was in a school's library that I found the book, it's likely to have been written in the 80's to early 90's.

I've looked all over for this book, to no avail. I hope someone can give me some leads.

[Ann aka Iftcan]

Dragon's Blood or one of the other books in this series perhaps? Jane Yolen wrote the series and it is a good one.

[Matthew]

Yes, I do believe that is the book I was thinking of. Thank you.