by LeRoy Clary
But dragons tend to seek out isolated mountains for their roosts, or the warm slopes of volcanoes. When on the ground dragons are at their most vulnerable, if an attacker managed to avoid the mouth full of deadly teeth and the head that darted as fast as any snake. But they were slow and awkward, and their wings easily were torn.
Their wings were their weakest vulnerability, as well as their best asset. Tanner had heard stories of dragons with holes in wings from arrows or tears from packs of dogs, and still they flew. When fighting another dragon, the damage to wings can determine the winner, although more often the injured dragon sinks its claws in the other and both fall to their deaths.
Carrion said, “We’re flying over the mountains south of the river. The land is dry, but not like north of Breslau. There are sagebrush and cacti, a few small trickles or lakes, some streams and small rivers. Everywhere there is water, there is green. So far, no signs of people, but we’re still on the foot of the mountains.”
Tanner made a few small squiggles indicating streams on his map. He made a small notation of what Carrion reported. The tray of food he’d had delivered held salted fish with a smoke flavor he enjoyed. He wished grapes were in season, or perhaps some berries.
The cook managed to boil small loaves of bread about the size of a fist. Not too hard on the outside, and soft inside. He’d make a point to compliment him next time the cook was near.
The ship sailed smoothly, barely moving fore and aft, and a fresh breeze kept it leaning to port, but not so much it was uncomfortable. He wanted to leave the dark cabin and warm himself in the sun, but Carrion needed him at his side.
Twice more in the morning, Carrion reported what he saw, which was nothing of importance. Then, as Tanner sat in the chair and dozed in the afternoon, Carrion sat up, eyes wide open.
He said, “Dragons.” Then he closed his eyes again and laid back down.
Tanner wanted more information, but didn’t dare interrupt whatever Carrion was doing.
Carrion was silent for a while, then he moaned, and sweat broke out on his forehead. Tanner thought about wiping it with a cool, damp rag and decided against it. The shock of the rag might interfere with his concentration.
Carrion’s eyes popped open and looked at Tanner. “Three dragons were flying low. We followed them to the mountains. There is a place where the mountains are almost solid rock, not a tree or bush in sight. One has slopes that are almost vertical, all the way around, as if a giant sliced the top off of a column of rock. There were, at least, ten more dragons roosting there.”
“Thirteen? I’ve only seen four or five of them roosting together.”
“I think half were juveniles.”
“They didn’t sense you? Or your red?”
“Nope. They didn’t see us either because we were so high, although I think one either saw us or ‘felt’ us. It became agitated, and flew off, circling and searching, but it was looking below, not up.”
“That was lucky.”
Carrion nodded, took a long pull on a mug of water and pointed to a spot on the map Tanner was drawing. “Right about here. I’d better be getting back.”
Tanner watched with feelings of awe, jealousy, fear, and joy. He could only imagine what wonders Carrion experienced. He bent to dip his pen in the bottle of black ink.
Carrion said with his eyes still closed, “We’re over the river, flying downstream. There’s green on both sides, and we just passed a few small houses, barns, and outbuildings. No planted fields, but it looked like animals grazing. Tell you about it later.”
Tanner dutifully made a few notations and waited for more information. He glanced at the map as a whole and realized even the few additions they had made were more than any in the Dragon Clan had made in hundreds of years.”
While he was thinking these thoughts, Carrion said, “Late in the day and my dragon is tired. We’re heading out into the drylands for the night. We need to find a deer to eat.”
“What about those animals grazing? The farmers can’t stop you.”
“But they will talk about a red dragon. They may have never seen one before and then rumors will fly. If possible, we need to get in, find out what we can, and leave without attracting attention.”
Carrion turned silent again. Just before darkness fell, he sat up and declared how hungry he was. He also wanted to walk on deck and breath some fresh air as he talked about his day. Carrion stood on knees that wobbled. He reached to Tanner for support.
They left the cabin and went to the rail where they stood and watched the night pass. The stars were sharp, the air crisp, and the sounds of the ship soothing.
Tanner said, “When you feel like it, tell me what you saw.”
“The river is wide, even in the mountains. It is getting even wider as it reaches the flatter ground. I think it must be shallower, too. There are islands where debris piles up. As expected, I saw more farms, but we only flew down a tenth of it.”
“Why would the Royals hide the fact that so many people live on the river?”
“I have a guess, but it is only a guess. When I was young, there was a woman. I think she may have been from there. I know she was not from Princeton. She asked me an odd question one time, and I remember it because it was so odd. She asked me the names of the three cities that the three points on King Ember’s crown represent.”
Tanner said, “I didn’t know they represented any.”
“Me neither. I don’t think they do, but if she were from Breslau and asked that question, it would be logical to assume that the five points on their crown represent five of their cities.”
“Even so, that doesn’t account for the secrecy of the river.”
“Maybe not,” Carrion said. “But what if there are five cities located on the river? Five that were joined together into one kingdom?”
“That might be. But why would they hide them?”
Carrion said, “Some cultures think in the long term. If, and I’m saying ‘if’ they wished to hide them and the river, one method would be to deflect attention to another place. Invite your enemies to only visit that place.”
“Like Breslau City.”
“Build a castle high on a hill so that everyone can see it from the port and build a city around it. While the real seat of power lies on the river where no strangers ever venture. It’s a wild idea, but for some reason, it feels right.”
“You’re going to have to be careful flying down the river. It will take only a few sightings to warn them.”
They stood lost in thought with neither speaking, until the Captain walked to their side. He asked a few questions and then said, “No other ships spotted, but we’re prepared to veer off if we see any. This time of the year, in Breslau there are a lot of clouds, but as I remember it, little rain.”
He departed on his rounds after a few more exchanges, but Carrion perked up. When the Captain was out of hearing range, he said, “We have at least ten more days of sailing. The Captain said there are clouds this time of year. I’ll just keep my dragon grounded until we have clouds, and we can hide in them.”
“Can you see the ground if you’re in them?”
“I tend to forget that you’ve never bonded, so I apologize. I can have my red fly in the clouds where we cannot be seen from the ground, and we can’t see the ground. But he can fly lower, where the bottom of the clouds is still there to protect him. From there he can fly in and out of the clouds, getting a good look.”
“If you say so.”
“We just have to be patient and wait for the right days.”
“If they don’t come?”
“We’re no worse off than now. If we don’t have any cloudy days for the next seven, we still have three more to fly down the river.”
They agreed to the plan. The following morning Carrion shook Tanner awake. “Hey, we have clouds so the red and I are already up there.”
“How long have you been awake?”
“Not long. Just thought I’d better let you know
.”
He closed his eyes and laying on his back, appearing dead with his hands crossed over his chest. Tanner climbed to his feet and threw the bolt on the door before the cook or a crewman looked in on them and fainted.
Sitting in the chair again, he reviewed the conversation of the night before with a fresh outlook. He believed they had discovered the secret of Breslau. If an enemy attacked, they would be at the wrong place. Tanner suddenly had an insight of his own. If an enemy were drawn to attack at the wrong place, they would seek out the right one, unless something prevented them.
That was the key. An enemy would attack Breslau City, but then what? Nobody, not even the Captain, had mentioned a large military presence in the city. Perhaps there was none. Even though the castle was an obvious target, it was nearly unprotected. Why?
Tanner believed he knew. Breslau City was a decoy. The real power was located in the vastness of the river where there was unlimited fresh water for cooking, drinking, and agriculture. The five points of the Breslau royal crown indicated five kingdoms, five families, five cities, or five of something else that was on the river.
The river also explained the expansionist plans, the reason they were looking to Princeton. Breslau existed in a thin strip of land next to the sea. On the other side were impassable mountains and nobody he’d heard of had ever crossed them. Most of the Breslau landscape was desert so dry that no plants grew.
A small river fed Breslau City, and he’d be willing to bet most of the inhabitants were forearm-tattooed Crabs. But he believed most other people lived along the river, the one so secret that it didn’t seem to have a name. The Royals would live there except for a few who occupied the decoy castle, that is if any actually did live there. The Freemen would all live along the river, farming, trading, manufacturing, and joining the army.
The two problems became over-population and irrigation. As the population increased, so did the need for farmland and water, but more people meant less space for farms. He had no doubt Carrion would find irrigation canals, but at some point, all the land that can be farmed is used, and the population continues to increase. Assuming the irrigation had reached its maximum farmland, there are only two possibilities. Shrink the population or locate new lands.
Tanner drew in a long breath and let it out slowly as the implications worked themselves out in his mind. They had stumbled upon a plot to invade Princeton that must have been devised at least two or three generations ago, perhaps longer. Breslau planned for the long term. They intended to get everything laid out where they would be successful.
It was not a choice. If they failed, Princeton would retaliate with a vengeance. Since the entire wealth and power of Breslau lay along the river in one concentrated area, the armies of Princeton would know where to attack. Their plan was put into motion with the arrival of their green dragons. The general population would not notice them among the other dragons, green, red, black or tan.
The only major problem in their way was the Dragon Clan. They realized the greens were invaders from the first. No, not from the first. Tanner felt the blood drain from his face. What if Breslau had always been behind King Ember’s fanatic extinction of the Dragon Clan? What if they had agents in place to influence the kings of Princeton to hate the Dragon Clan?
The Captain had told them he and many other ships had sailed across the sea until the last twenty or thirty years. In the Marlstones, the Harbor Master and all appointed officials were from Breslau. Any businesses friendly to sailors were purchased and closed in the last ten years.
But there was more. The warehouses and bunkhouses constructed in Shrewsbury. The ones Carrion’s dragon had destroyed, but were not essential to an invasion, he realized. While they would help, the army could camp in tents. The same could be said about the weapons stored at the monastery. They were gone, but the army would certainly bring their own. They just wouldn’t have the replacements they wished.
Which meant nothing that Carrion and Tanner had done would prevent an invasion. It might inconvenience one, but not stop it.
“Are you listening to me?” Carrion asked, breaking Tanner’s intense concentration.
“What? No, I didn’t hear you.”
Carrion said, “We’ve passed over two large cities, bigger than any in the Northlands or Princeton. The farmlands spread out beside the river as far as I can see.”
“Look for the military.”
“That was what I was going to tell you. Both cities have armies camped near the edges, rows and rows of tents. Parade grounds, cook tents, practice fields and so on. But that’s not the worst. Along the shore are military ships. Maybe a hundred in each city. All lined up ready to launch.”
“Let me guess. Medium size, wide bodies. Able to carry a hundred troops and their gear.”
“Close enough. I’d say they could be loaded and sailing in three days. Both cities.”
“You’re going to find three more just like it. I’ve been thinking and managed to put things together. When you’re finished, we need to talk, and you can try and find where I went wrong.”
Carrion sat up and said, “I just ordered my dragon to fly higher into the clouds and wait for me to return so I can talk to you. It seems like you’ve discovered more than me, and you didn’t leave the cabin.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Carrion listened to Tanner’s explanations, insights, suspicions, and guesses. In the end, he simply sat and nodded that he agreed with all or nearly all that Tanner said. When the known information was combined, it provided the needed basis to extend the thinking to fill in the missing pieces. In the end, Carrion didn’t disagree with anything.
Carrion sat and thought, much like Tanner had until he put it all together into one cohesive summary. He said in a sour sounding tone, “I guess it’s my job to confirm your guesswork.”
“Guesswork? I prefer to believe it is my critical thinking you’re defaming,” Tanner smirked.
Carrion shrugged, then in all seriousness, he said, “Now you are beginning to understand why the family council appointed you to be in charge. You’re the smart one. Don’t get all impressed with yourself from what I just said. I’m going back to join with my dragon while I think about this.”
Later in the day, Carrion again sat up and rubbed his eyes. “You were right, my friend. Three more military encampments, one in each city, and ships lined up on the shore. My dragon was not seen, and it’s now perched on the side of a hillside eating two deer that were too slow to escape.”
“Two?”
“Flying increases the appetite.”
Tanner said, “You know your dragon could attack and destroy the ships in all five cities, right?”
“And you know that if their king wants to invade our lands, he will simply seize merchant ships and sail on time. He can also wait while the others are repaired or replaced, but it’s like burning Shrewsbury. It’s an inconvenience that delays, but it prevents nothing. It would also get my red killed when they realize what happened. There would be plenty of witnesses. He might not even get to the second one before a dozen green dragons would tear him apart.”
“Slowing the invasion down isn’t enough. We have to look for a way to stop it.”
Carrion said, “If you’ve guessed right about Breslau wanting to destroy the Dragon Clan, we do have to look for more evidence. Invading Princeton and the Northlands is one thing, but if they have been behind the murders and near extinction of our families, it becomes personal.”
“And survival for our families.”
“Survival,” Carrion repeated as if the word was a threat or a promise.
The following day there were too few clouds for flying safely without being seen, and the same the day after. However, the third day was overcast with low clouds that allowed the red to fly north along the coastline. A few small fishing villages were near equally small streams, but the lack of flowing water kept most of the coastline devoid of villages, town, or cities.
For most of the f
light, there were very few small trees, shrubs, or even dried grass. There were small patches of cacti and similar desert plants, but even they were shriveled, brownish, and desperate for water.
Carrion said he would keep the red hidden in the clouds until he reached the city. He would fly upriver and find a place to water and feed the dragon. If the clouds remained low, he would attempt to fly over the city at night. They had agreed that there was probably not a lot to be found out from flying over, but it was worth the effort.
They also agreed that setting foot in the city was risky, but it needed to be done for several reasons. That brought up the possibility that they might be killed or captured. What of the information they’d gathered if they didn’t return? What was the best way to make sure it reached the right hands?
They stood at their usual place on the rail and watched the water slip by as they talked. The Captain was the obvious choice to deliver a message. But neither felt he would risk his life for a letter he carried. He was a merchant sailor, not someone who could slip through the countryside and avoid thieves and highwaymen.
Devlin could do all those things and more. He was used to skulking around, unnoticed, and he knew how to move about while avoiding drawing attention. Most of all, he was dedicated to Carrion and Tanner in a way only the three of them could understand. If there was anyone who would risk his life to deliver the information, it was he.
They agreed that Tanner would write a complete report before they departed the ship and ask the Captain to hold it safely for Devlin for when the ship returned to Racine. They would find a time to discuss the plan privately with Devlin, telling him how to locate their family and to display his tattooed arms to them as a sort of passkey that would be mentioned in the letter. The family would understand and forgive them for sharing the hidden location with someone who was not Dragon Clan.
