Dragon Clan #6: Anna's Story

by LeRoy Clary

  Thief thought about it for a short three-count, then snatched the apple from James’ hand and took a bite so large almost half the apple went into his mouth. He chewed with his mouth open. Anna reached up and held her hand over his lips. “Manners. Chew with your mouth closed. We’ve talked about this before.”

  “We have?” Thief managed to ask as he chewed.

  “You know we have,” she said. “Remember three days ago when I told you the same thing?”

  Confused, he shook his head. Anna would have to be careful in stretching her stories around Thief in the future. It was a good lesson to learn. Thief wouldn’t be very helpful when she needed support for her lies, but on the other hand, most people wouldn’t understand that Thief didn’t remember because they had not yet met three days ago.

  James peeked around Thief. “If I might ask, what is your business at the Summer Palace?”

  “You may not ask,” she said in a snippy tone, then looked straight ahead up the dirt road to where an open farmer’s wagon approached, rattling and bouncing on the rough surface of the road. It was a response she would often use while playing her part, but never in real life. If her Grandma Emma ever heard her talk like that to an adult, especially a stranger, there would be a trip to the woodshed, literally. Her Grandmother was all for decorum and manners.

  A farmer sat high on a seat in the wagon being pulled by an ugly horse with patches of fur missing or falling out. Its back was swayed and the pace agonizingly slow. The wagon and farmer looked in about the same shape. Still, he tipped his straw hat as he neared them and wished them a good morning.

  After it had rumbled beyond, Anna said, “James, what is it you do?”

  “You dare ask me my business while denying me the same answer?”

  She shrugged, knowing she had built a house of her own and refused his entry, so why would he allow her in his? She fell back to her lie. “All right. I guess there is no harm in telling you that I’m going to help my mother’s mother. She fell.”

  “A noble cause, young lady. I, on the other hand, am simply a wanderer of these lands who occasionally plays a game of Tiles or Flip at the local pubs.”

  She eyed his wide smile and remembered his easy ways in talking. “How do you pay for your room and meals at those inns?”

  “There are sometimes small wagers made on the games.”

  The answer confirmed what she had suspected. “You must win a lot of the time.”

  He flashed another smile, this one making the face with the big nose look surprisingly like that of a snake about to swallow a mouse. “If I lose too much I sleep outside and go hungry.”

  “And if you win too much, you find yourself walking down a road to another village, or running as the villagers chase you.”

  Casting her a sideways glance, he said, “You are far too smart for your age.”

  The comment put her off. James was a gambler. That meant that he had to see things in other people and use those to win at his games, assuming he didn’t outright cheat all of the time. But to win regularly, he had to be a keen observer of people. He was not the companion for a secretive pair such as she and Thief.

  However, she was not as innocent or young as he might think. To win enough money to live on over time, he had to consistently win far more than he lost, and even if he was an honest player, others would begin to doubt him. Traveling with a man and a reputation such as he wouldn’t help her blend into the background.

  She asked as if it was another idle question, “Have you ever been to the King’s Summer Palace?”

  “Many times,” he bragged.

  Anna wondered how many of those times he’d been asked to leave. They came to a wide, shallow stream with a green meadow beside the road. A freshly used fire pit and trampled grass, gave evidence of others who had paused there, probably for the night. She said, “Let’s rest and eat.”

  James said, “We can’t linger too long, or we won’t reach the palace before nightfall.”

  “Thief and I are hungry,” she used her petulant voice while watched his eyes. His smile might divert others, but she looked past it and didn’t like what she saw. “Besides, we have walked too far for one day. This might be a good place to spend a night.”

  When he spoke, any irritation was gone, or skillfully masked. “Okay, we’ll stop, but only for a while.”

  Anna didn’t like the way James had assumed control. In fact, she was beginning to not like much about him. The large nose aside, his laughter came too quick, his questions were too penetrating, and he reeked of falsehoods each time he spoke. She found herself wondering if every sentence was a lie, and if she could not trust a single sentence, she needed to find an excuse to be free of him.

  She spread her food on her blanket and offered it to James and Thief. She ate little, deciding the next step to move on without him.

  James stood, brushing himself off. “Come on, let’s get moving.”

  Her defiance bubbled over, but she kept her voice sweet, “I got very little sleep last night. You know, the animal sounds and all. Thief, I want you to watch over me while I take a nap. Don’t let me sleep all afternoon, because you know I can.”

  She giggled as she looked at Thief, but watched James from the corner of her eye. James’ face flushed, and his smile wilted.

  He said cheerfully, “Come now, you can walk the afternoon. I’ll treat the two of you to a room in a good inn tonight, one with a real bed. But we have to leave now.”

  She fell back onto the blanket and sighed, “I’m so tired.”

  “I cannot leave you here beside the road. It’s too dangerous,” James said, his voice now ordering her.

  Anna opened her eyes, looking at Thief, who was turning to James, his hand again on the hilt of his new knife. Softly, she said, “Thief, let him be on his way.”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  The Gambler whose livelihood depended on reading people’s intentions accurately read those of Thief, and backed off a few steps where he was out of reach. James hesitated, ready to speak again, but looked into the angry eyes of Thief and held his tongue.

  Thief didn’t speak or threaten. He just stood as if carved from a log until James spun and walked down the road without as much as telling them to have a good day. As soon as he was around a bend in the road, Anna leaped up and gathered their belongings. She pointed to the forest instead of the road. “That way.”

  They entered the trees, and she glanced back a few times to make sure the gambler hadn’t doubled back, but as long as the road was in sight, she didn’t see James again. In a gamble with herself, she’d bet that if they continued on the road, they would encounter James, very soon. He would pretend to have sprained an ankle or another excuse to travel again with them.

  Why would a gambler wish to travel with her and Thief so badly? She thought about it as they traveled parallel to the road, or as close as possible while using any paths, trails, or tracks that went in the general direction. They traveled slower, but Anna enjoyed it more.

  Often the paths went through where the trees were so large and close together that the path was a tunnel in a sea of green undergrowth, still a new experience for her. Looking up revealed only glimpses of blue sky, and the ground felt damp as if it never fully dried. For a girl from the drylands, the change was a wonderland. When a deer vaulted completely over the path without its hooves touching the ground in her sight, it was almost magic.

  “That way,” Thief pointed.

  She realized that with the twists and turns of the paths they followed, she had managed to lose her sense of direction. She took the path Thief indicated, but still felt she should have gone straight. Later, when she caught sight of the sun and reconciled her direction, she realized Thief had been right.

  Thief reached out and placed a heavy hand on her shoulder and forced her to her knees. About to protest, she heard a man whisper only ten steps ahead. The sound of his voice told her where he was, and her eyes picked out two men in deep shadow moving across thei
r path slowly, each with a bow at the ready.

  They hadn’t spotted her and Thief, she realized. They were deer hunting, probably, but the tans and brown colors she and Thief wore blended into the background of the trees and shade. It would be easy for them to be mistaken for deer and have arrows flying at them so she prepared to begin shouting and yelling if spotted.

  As she watched them continue their hunt, with no desire to point out the way the deer had fled, she realized her vulnerability more than ever. Thief tapped her shoulder and pointed the way, again. They moved quickly, not running, but not walking, either. They moved quietly in the direction the hunters came from.

  “Smoke.” She smelled it first and hissed the word. They halted and sniffed the air. It was gone, but she was sure.

  Thief leaned closer to hear her. “Probably downhill.”

  “Why?”

  “Water.”

  Fire and water, the two requirements of any good campsite. Thief had a way of making two or three words sound like an entire conversation. She went first. Not long after, she sniffed smoke again. From the edge of a clearing, they watched a campsite with a fire nearly burned out. As Thief predicted, it lay beside a small, but fast flowing stream.

  There were three drying racks holding strips of meat. Under the racks were smaller fires, the smoke from each drifting upwards and smoking the meat. She wanted some. Nobody was around, and the two hunters were moving away from the camp when last seen. She edged closer and felt Thief’s hand on her shoulder again, fingers digging into her flesh.

  “Just a few strips,” she hissed.

  He held her still as he shook his head. He was probably right. A stray footprint or the hunters noticing the missing meat might have her answering uncomfortable questions if they decided to give chase. Besides, stealing was stealing, no matter the amount.

  The smallest movement caught her attention. A man stood directly opposite of them across the clearing. He had been kneeling beside the stream, probably getting himself a drink. He was a tall, thin man wearing a shaggy beard and dirty shirt. Not just the shirt was dirty. He had smoke and grease stains from foot to head. The skinning knife he carried was larger than a small sword. He strode to a woodpile and used it to chop green branches into firewood, and he fed those to the various fires.

  Anna had seen others like him in Fleming. Their eyes followed her when she walked. It was not the tangled beard or dirty clothing that put her off. It was something in his eyes. A vacant, slightly angry expression that told the world he was not happy with it. His scowl filtered all he saw.

  She felt, more than heard, Thief easing a few steps away each time the man in the clearing turned his head so Thief wouldn’t be seen in his peripheral vision. Anna started doing the same, making sure each movement didn’t make a sound, or that her feet never stepped on a branch likely to snap and warn him.

  When they were far enough away to make sure he couldn’t see them, they walked faster. The day was nearly over, and she wanted distance between them. After climbing a small hill and pausing to catch their breath, Anna caught sight of the road winding along the shallow valley, on the other side where the river flowed.

  A collection of five houses and two barns clumped together drew her attention. Glancing at Thief, she wondered if he had ever slept on a real straw bed or eaten a full meal. She touched the bulge of her purse. “Come on, follow me.”

  She avoided the road while skirting the open pastures as well. Walking out in the open allowed anyone looking her way to see her. Instead, she walked down a hedgerow to a line of trees, then to the rear of the building where she’s seen a large wooden sign swinging in the breeze over the door.

  She’d seen signs hanging like it before. Peeking around the edge of a building she found it had a crude image of a black rabbit made with a hot iron. That made it the Black Rabbit Inn, windows aglow with yellow light from many candles already burning, and a meat stew cooking that had her drooling.

  “This way,” she ordered, darting across the road and pulling up to a small window instead of entering. Knowing who might be inside was only reasonable. There might be soldiers of the King, a band of slavers, or others, who were worse. She peeked inside from the bottom corner of the window and found a large room with two long tables and crudely made chairs on either side. Across the room ran a bench the entire length of the room. Four people sat in the room, a man and wife at one end of a long table, and two men playing Tac at the other, pushing the tiles into the center between sipping ale.

  She pulled away. One of the men had his back to her, but from the clothing and posture, it was James. She peeked inside again. He turned his head enough for her to see the large nose and she ducked, cursing softly. The light was failing, and she pointed to the trees at the end of another pasture. They were almost there when a door opened, and someone kicked a dog outside.

  The door slammed closed as the dog caught the scent of them. They headed for the trees at a run, hoping the dog would give up when they were out of sight, but it didn’t happen. The dog followed and chased them, barking its warning to all ears in the hamlet. It was a guard dog, large and trained to pull down intruders. The inn probably had a lot of wanderers without the coin, trying to steal ale or food.

  The dog gained on them. Thief stopped and spun, arms held wide to prevent the dog from reaching Anna. He ordered the dog to stop in a gruff voice. Snarling, the dog charged ahead and leaped, teeth bared, going for Thief’s throat.

  Thief fell backward as if he stumbled. The dog flew over him, slashing and biting air. But as it flew past, Thief’s hand suddenly reached out. His fingers wrapped around the foreleg of the dog and grasped it firmly. As the dog continued its fall, Thief pulled the leg and twisted.

  A snap of bone was followed by the wailing of the dog as it lay, one leg now at an odd angle. Anna started to go to it, but the dog saw her and snapped, trying to bite her while frothing at the mouth in its attempts to reach her.

  Thief pulled her away. How could he do that to a dog?

  She was sickened. But the answer was easy. Thief had protected her, risking the dog’s attack. What would have happened to her if he hadn’t broken the dog’s leg? Was it any different than if she had put an arrow into the beast, which was what she should have been prepared to do? She drew a breath. While not liking what had happened, she should accept that Thief may have saved her from serious injury or even death. She had it almost reconciled in her mind when the next thought crashed down upon her.

  James was waiting at that inn. She felt he was waiting for her. He had mentioned he wanted to reach the Summer Palace quickly, by dark today, yet there he was sitting in an inn at a table where he could watch people on the road as he ‘gambled’ with a local. No doubt his room also fronted on the road. For the first time, James scared her.

  “We have to get away from here,” she said. “I know it’s getting dark, but we have to move.”

  Thief shrugged. He pointed to the whimpering dog.

  “I know, but there’s nothing we can do about it. If we try to carry it, the dog will bite us.”

  Thief’s eyes flicked to the Inn.

  “That man James is in there. Waiting for you and me.”

  Thief shook his head. Then shrugged in a fatalistic manner. What happens, happens.

  She took the lead again. At least she knew James was now located behind them, and she intended to keep it that way. He’d mentioned that he was going to the Northwoods so if she slowed they might meet up again. There were only two roads leading to that area of the kingdom. After they had moved past the small community, she felt safe to take to the road again where they could move faster. They were tired and exhausted, and the lack of sleep was catching up, but they doggedly kept on. The night sky didn’t provide enough light to prevent a few trips from exposed roots and one fall from a hole, but neither mentioned slowing, not that Thief mentioned much of anything unless prompted and then it was usually a one-word response.

  She had heard the creaks of
wood and the jangle of chains before she heard the steady clomp of a mule. Turning, she found another wagon approaching from behind so she stepped aside with Thief to allow the wagon room to pass on the narrow road.

  Instead of passing, the wagon pulled to a stop. A man wearing a drooping felt hat perched on the edge of a seat peering down at them. “What’re the two of you doing out here at night movin’ so fast? Somebody chasin’ you? I didn’t think I was ever goin’ to catch up with you.”

  Anna muttered the brief account of going to help her grandmother who had taken a fall.

  “Doin’ a good deed, are ye? Well, might as well climb in, I got lots of room.”

  He didn’t have to ask twice. They climbed into the empty wagon bed. Anna asked warily, “Where are you going with an empty wagon?”

  “The morning market at the Summer Palace. Hoping to buy me’self a few lambs and maybe a calf or kid. That’s a baby goat before you get all concerned and think I’m buyin’ a baby.”

  Anna didn’t laugh at his joke. “The ride will be wonderful. Can we sleep in back?”

  “Wouldn’t recommend it with all the bouncin’ and shaking this wagon’s gonna do, but you sure can try,” he laughed as he spoke. The mule walked on with the flick of a rein.

  Thief sat with his back against one side of the wagon bed and watched the stars, and the few lights from farmer’s cabins in the distance, and the road ahead. Anna curled up and went to sleep, but after a jostle where she bounced her head on the floorboards painfully, she woke up. Thief reached out and pulled her head to rest on his thigh. She went right back to sleep.

  She woke several more times, and with each of them, she heard the farmer telling tall tales and talking. Now and then Thief grunted a response, and that seemed like enough for the farmer to continue. Anna noticed Thief kept one hand on the handle of his new knife as she slept. Thief didn’t trust anyone. With what she imagined of his history, he had little reason to trust—but she trusted him, and the reverse seemed to be true.