Dragon!: Book Two: Revenge

by LeRoy Clary

  The floor was again stone, the walls plaster, the roof beams covered with wood planks. To their right was a table long enough to seat thirty, fifteen to a side. Places were set for eleven, all near the far end. Beyond the table was the kitchen and tables for preparation. Bins held apples, onions, carrots, and more.

  Three cauldrons of similar size hung from hooks over brick-lined fire pits under chimneys spreading over the three. The chimneys were also brick, built against the wall, and their sole purpose was to vent smoke and heat outside. Enclosed ovens for baking stood knee high beyond. Gareth had seen similar in the islands where it was hot and humid, but food still needed cooking. The aromas made his stomach do a flip, but he ignored his hunger.

  What drew the attention of all three was the remainder of the room, fully three-quarters of it. It was a clear pool of water, a natural pool from the appearance, and the building had been built over it. The paving stones went to the edge and were cut to form-fit to the irregular edge. The sides of the pool dropped away quickly to a depth so deep Gareth couldn’t stand in it unless his head were below the surface, yet the rocky bottom was as clear as the finest mirror.

  The water in the pool glowed an eerie pale green in the dim light. Gareth could not see the source of the light. It was as if the water glowed and spread its light throughout the cavernous building.

  He had also seen a similar happening in the ocean, once. But as boats rowed or sailed through it, the effect spread as if it was mostly on the surface. The water here didn’t have the same look. Instead, it glowed equally from the bottom to the top, as if the entire pool was a giant firefly. The effect made him shiver.

  There was not a single plant, fish, or living thing in the water. It was perfectly translucent, and in the stillness of the room, the rocky bottom was so clear it gave the impression there was no water in the hole. They stood looking at it as if expecting something to happen when Gareth heard the slight sound of material rubbing against material.

  He spun and his eyes, seeing much better now, found the old Brother already sitting in a high-back chair beside five of the women in the village, all of whom sat as still as he. Two others were working quietly in the kitchen. Counting the two babies in the arms of a pair of women, that accounted for all of them.

  Ann recovered first. Her finger pointed accusingly at the pool “Did we drink that water when you gave us water in the pitchers?”

  The Brother said, “Yes.”

  “It wasn’t glowing.”

  “The effect is hard to see in bright sunlight,” the Brother said calmly. “This building without windows was constructed ages ago to reveal the beautiful phenomena.”

  Ann snapped, “You should have told us first.”

  “In your state of thirst after traveling the dry lands outside, would you have refused water?”

  She considered and relented. “When traveling in the forests, I’ve swallowed from ponds covered in scum, moss, and slime. I guess that water over there isn’t going to hurt me any worse. Especially if you drink it, too.”

  The Brother said, “I have lived here since you were born, I imagine, and in all that time this has been our only source of water.”

  Before Gareth could speak, Ann placed her hands on her hips and demanded, “What do you do here? All of you?”

  The Brother smiled, his white teeth flashing in the dimness of the room. A few of the women looked to him as he spoke. “I’d expected you to recognize seven of your Sisterhood, Ann. As for me, I am not only of the Brotherhood; I am the leader of all of them.”

  Silence descended on the room as if the ceiling fell without noise. Neither Ann nor Gareth moved. They looked at each other and Gareth averted his eyes to look at the table, again. He noticed the two in the kitchen had paused in their preparations. The whole room was still as death and silent as a tomb.

  Ann spoke first. “You are Sisters?”

  All seven of the women nodded, some more vigorously than others.

  “Why are you here?” Ann asked.

  One holding an infant said, “We were called.”

  Gareth recognized the same sort of evasive answers he’d grown up with. He looked to the Brother and said, “You are the leader of the Brotherhood?”

  “I am.”

  Gareth hesitated again, prepared to play the word games to reach the answers he needed. “There is a secret hierarchy in the Brotherhood, I believe. Are you saying that you are the single Brother who all others eventually report to?”

  “I am.”

  There seemed to be no humor or deception in the answer. Gareth had often been in such situations as a boy with his teachers. Changing the type of question often provided better answers. He said, “Were you elected to the position?”

  “No.”

  “How did you come to acquire it?”

  “My predecessor appointed me, as he before him.”

  Still not satisfied, and still standing, Gareth walked to the chair across from the Brother while thinking of what to say. All eyes and ears in the great room focused on him. He finally said, “One of the Brothers was my teacher while I grew up. He has always been honest with me, even to the point of telling me he cannot answer a direct question. You know who I am. Suppose I reach out with my mind and speak to him and have him confirm your identity?”

  The Brother smiled wanly, and in a softer voice said, “Gareth, I know who you are, and I know your powers. To communicate with the Brother, who you claim as a trusted friend, a relationship that I heartedly agree with, you must travel back up the mountains and at least to the top of the pass. Please do not insult me with more unrealities.”

  Tad, having seated himself beside Gareth, wriggled in his chair and seemed intent upon speaking. A hand on his knee stilled his tongue before it began to wag. The Brotherhood didn’t know of Tad or that he could combine his abilities with those of Gareth and together they could speak over the mountains. Gareth would keep Tad and his abilities to himself.

  Gareth said, “The point being, I can confirm your identity and your position—after a long walk.”

  “Yes. That is your prerogative.”

  “For now, let us continue and see where it takes us,” Gareth said, trying to smile. “Ann, can you confirm these women are Sisters?”

  Ann nodded slowly. “I believe they are.”

  Gareth said, “How?”

  “Small things. The Sisterhood is unknown to most people, and they obviously know of it. But there is more. There are no insects inside this building. None. And there is food in those bins but again no flies, mice, or other pests. Given a source of water and abundant food, the only method to keep them clear of here is with a Sister’s powers with creatures.”

  “Fair enough,” Gareth said, turning back to the Brother. “This is almost a desert. I can understand building this structure around the only water to protect it, but I have more questions, beginning with wanting to know your exact position here. Not the Brotherhood, but here.”

  The Brother spoke quickly, “I think of myself as a caretaker of this place. I watch over the buildings and grounds, ensuring there is ample food and that repairs are performed. While they attend to births, I work with the children, educating them and teaching them to use their abilities.”

  “There are only two babies,” Gareth snapped.

  “Until recently there were seven older children. You know one, but there were others.”

  “Belcher. He was born here?”

  For the first time, the Brother’s eyes flicked away before returning as he set his chin. “As were the other boys.”

  “Belcher was your student, and he was born here?”

  “Over time, many have been born in this community.”

  The evasion again in the answer. However, Ann half stood and looked at the Sisters. She said, “All of you came to this place to have your babies.” It was not a question.

  Each of the women nodded but said nothing. The two who had been working on the food in the kitchen came to the table and
seated themselves. One of them said, “For the sake of our babies.”

  Ann turned to her. “What does that mean?”

  “We want the best for our children. The Brotherhood helps them, and us.”

  “As teachers?” Ann demanded. “There are fine teachers in our world on the coast.”

  “My world is not on the coast,” the same woman said.

  Gareth turned back to the Brother, confused. He raised his eyebrows and waited.

  Then Brother cast a disappointed look to the woman, and then as if giving up something he hoped to withhold, he said, “From the top of the rise when you first found this settlement, did you notice three other paths?”

  Gareth shook his head.

  “There are four. One leads over the mountains and to the coast to the west where you live. Another leads over the white mountains to the southeast. Two others, to the northeast and north, also across mountain ranges. Our Sisters come here from all four roads.” The Brother settled back into his chair and waited.

  Gareth recovered enough to speak. “There are other lands? Lands with people?”

  “In each land there are men of your abilities helping the populations avoid wars, preventing famines, the spread of contagious illnesses, and a hundred more things that do not favor one sect over another. They do their work in private, unknown.”

  “Who are the Brotherhood?” Gareth asked. “What is the purpose, or foundation of it? The reason for its existence?”

  The Brother smiled. “I often describe us as the ‘hands and feet’ of those few men with your unique abilities. We do what we can to pass on knowledge and provide help to the general population. It is often rejected, and we are murdered, jailed, and beaten in the performance of our tasks. However, you know those things as well as I do. To say we are misunderstood is to minimize the situation.”

  Ann pointed to the glowing water. “That has something to do with it.”

  Again she was not asking a question.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  All eyes turned to the pool of self-lighted water. Ann’s declaration didn’t upset them if their demeanor was an accurate description. They had expected her, or Gareth to come to that conclusion. Most of the Sisters either smiled or nodded in agreement.

  Gareth observed their reactions with the dawning of understanding—at least for a few items. “This place, this village, is responsible for all people like me. And you. Women carrying babies who drink from that water bear children with our mental abilities. Some abilities are greater than others, but it is what makes people like us. You and me, and everyone in this room except the boy I brought. Is that a correct statement?”

  “Only a few Brothers and Sisters were born here. Many mothers sipped from the water of our pool before birth without knowing,” the Brother said, and as soon as the words fell from his mouth he clamped it shut. Hard.

  The obvious impression was that he’d accidentally revealed information not intended. At first, Gareth didn’t understand what information was not intended until he focused on the second part of the answer. The first part was incredible enough to make Gareth rise to his feet in excitement, but it was what came after that revealed more. Gareth centered on wondering ‘how’ and ‘why’ mothers “sipped from the waters of the pool.”

  The revelation and the Brother’s reaction to the misspeak hinted at darker deeds, ones not spoken about, but immediately Gareth imagined young women preparing for birth unknowingly drinking the glowing water. If the Brother was believed, every Brother and Sister was the result of water taken from the glowing pool and carried to a pregnant woman in another land.

  However, Gareth’s early history with the closed-mouthed Brotherhood also brought forth a sense of distrust at the ‘accidental’ revelation. When was the last time he’d heard a Brother misspeak? Not only a slip of the tongue but a massive admission. Couple that with the Brother’s stated position that he was the head of the Brotherhood, Gareth paused in disbelief.

  The Brothers he’s known and met over his lifetime never made such a careless mistake. This man was too important and wise to make that sort of blunder. That told him the Brother intended to reveal the information. Gareth glanced at Ann.

  She had her hands held to her mouth in horror. Her eyes were on Tad.

  Gareth, who had been almost ready to stand and verbally confront the Brother leaped to his feet and dived across the huge table, his hands grasping for solid finger-holds around the Brother’s neck. He squeezed. Hands from the women clawed and pulled at him, but he held on until the face turned purplish-red and the brother’s eyes closed.

  Ann was in his ear shouting. Her words finally penetrated his rage. “If he dies he can’t answer your questions.”

  Gareth relaxed his grip while his mind spun. The Brother breathed a gasp of air and his eyes opened. Gareth tightened his grip again. “You are going to answer questions with no evasion or you will die in this chair.”

  The Brother nodded slightly, his eyes wide in fear. Gareth snapped at the Sisters over his shoulder, “All of you, get away from me. Now. Sit.”

  The women backed off, including one holding a knife as long as his forearm. Gareth relaxed the grip again, but only enough for the Brother to gasp a breath of air. “What will the water do to my grandson?”

  The Brother struggled to speak, croaking the first few syllables until he cleared his throat again. “It is a blessing. In some cases, the children of those who drink from our pool have children blessed with the abilities to be Brothers. Or Sisters.”

  “So my grandson can grow up to wear a green robe and be one of you?”

  “You, yourself have admitted to the good deeds we perform.”

  The thought of facing Tad’s mother and trying to explain almost sent him into another rage, but he also heard Ann, still standing at his ear.

  “How will this effect Tad?” she asked.

  Gareth understood the question below the surface, but in his anger couldn’t find a way to ask it without revealing that Tad already possessed powerful mental powers, possibly surpassing his own. He turned the Brother loose and climbed off the table.

  With a show of wisdom, the Brother remained silent and didn’t anger Gareth further. Gareth realized now that they had swallowed the water, his task was to find out what that meant. Would more of the glowing water do them harm? Would his future children be affected? Ann probably wouldn’t have more children but were there other effects that would manifest?

  The women in the room had again settled on chairs and the original two who were working in the kitchen returned to their preparations. Gareth decided he would learn far more by calming himself, at least outwardly, and then killing the Brother if he still felt the need. But he admitted to himself that the need to kill the Brother was strong.

  The Brother finally spoke. “We came together today to eat and talk. However, I understand if you choose not to eat with us. Everything presented on the table grew from the glowing water. The animals whose meat we will eat knew no other water.”

  Gareth’s eyes narrowed, and his stomach twisted in revulsion. “How many times does an expectant mother have to drink the water before her child is changed into one of you?”

  Looking directly at Gareth, the Brother said, “A few mugs in a single day is as effective as daily consumption.”

  “So any damage is already done? Each of us had several mugs when we arrived and more to drink later.”

  “There will be no ill effects. Over the years’ thousands have lived in this community and if anything, we enjoy longer and healthier lives, but that is just my opinion.” The Brother fingered his red throat and as if to prove a point, lifted his mug and emptied it. Then he refilled it from the pitcher before him.

  Gareth knew that sometimes Brothers were taken aback by abrupt changes in conversation. “You welcomed me back. As if I had ever been here.”

  “You’re searching for your roots, I see. Yes, you were born here of a mother who voluntarily came to us and lived here
long after your birth. She came from the lands to the east, as I recall, but I can check our records if you’re interested.”

  “My mother lived in the west, not east. We lived near the ocean as I can clearly remember.”

  The Brother folded his hands together and said, “Yes, that woman loved you as her own. But that woman was your adopted mother. Your birth mother died of a fall in our orchard. A simple act of wanting an apple in one of the trees, a specific apple that caught her eye, one higher up. She climbed, not really all that far, but when she fell struck her head and died there.”

  Gareth simmered in anger and disbelief, but no Brother had ever lied to him. “She died here in this place?”

  “We can visit her grave later if you wish. A Sister knew of a woman over the mountains to the west who wanted one more child. You were placed with her.”

  “And then stolen again when you found out my powers.” The statement had been planned, and Gareth threw it out with as little effect as a small stone tossed at a charging bear.

  “We did do that.” The Brother said simply, refusing to argue or apologize.

  Gareth was not finished. Not even close. “Belcher also lived here?”

  The room had been respectfully quiet. Now it went deathly quiet. The Brother said, “Yes.”

  “The others, too?”

  “Yes. I would offer you a quick explanation and the ability to ask questions later if that might suit you?”

  Gareth motioned with his hand for the Brother to begin, not having agreed to anything.

  “Very well, Belcher was born in the far north in a land called Pleroma, a place of heavy snow and short days in the winter. He lived there for two years, but there was trouble. A Brother escorted him here. The Brother had determined that Belcher might have special powers so brought.”

  “And you educated Belcher?” Gareth completed the thought.

  “We tried. Belcher lived with us many years, and he hid the extent of his powers from us. Oh, we knew he was beyond that of the Brotherhood, but not that he was at the pinnacle, or that his mind was twisted. He hid that defect all too well.”