Dragon Clan #6: Anna's Story

by LeRoy Clary

  Raymer said, “Tattoos on the arms of two men. And another. A sailor is at the wheel.”

  But it was the third he was interested in, the one who stood and watched. Raymer flew in close again and was rewarded with a look long and close enough, that he’d know him from now on. He freed the red to return nearer to shore where it could hunt a seal, a meal it had enjoyed many times since arriving on the coast. If it didn’t find a seal, it would fly along the shoreline searching out a meal, a deer, goat, sheep, cow, or even a horse. He tried to keep the dragon away from farms, and when he couldn’t, he tried to compensate the farmer generously.

  But a few coins didn’t repay them from the fear of witnessing an animal fall from the sky and tearing apart one of the herd. While a dragon flying past is a wondrous sight for most, one attacking and dismembering a familiar animal dispells the wonder replacing it with fear. The crunching of bones and the sight of blood streaming down the dragon’s neck and chest is enough to make most people ill, or run away in terror.

  Raymer pulled back from the dragon’s mind and blinked a few times to clear his vision. “Did you hear me?”

  “Two men with tattoos. They’re lower than slaves in Baldour, no status at all. But it tells us the third man is from there.”

  “Yes,” Raymer said. “The last was probably the boat owner, just following orders.”

  “Why?” Anna asked, then said again, “Why is he following me?”

  “He isn’t. He heard about me and has been watching what I do. When they heard about my dragon attacking King Ember’s troops and sending them back to Princeton, he was sent to Warrington Castle because they knew I was Dragon Clan.” Raymer didn’t seem upset by the revelation as if he had almost expected it.

  “That all makes sense,” Anna said.

  “Is that a compliment?” he asked.

  “We could sink that boat, I guess. Have the red spit at it, but it would make no difference,” Anna said, thinking out loud. “The boat can sink or float, but they already know about you.”

  When the two of them went on deck Thief was at the wheel, looking cheerful and pleased. Captain Blaise said, “Might make a sailor out of him, if not a fisherman.”

  The idea intrigued Anna. She had been worried about taking him to Breslau, but saw no other options. He worked hard, caught on quick, and when performing a task, he did his best. Working on a fishing boat seemed perfect, but she had time to think about it more before making a choice. Still, it was nice having a choice. She wanted the best for Thief and working on a fishing boat solved a variety of problems.

  The other boat pulled up closer to them, not trying to hide their pursuit anymore. It followed them for two full days until they reached the entrance to the Bay of Fleming.

  Captain Blaise asked Anna, “What do you want us to do?”

  “That fish we caught? Without it, we would have barely had enough food to reach here. Right?”

  “It’s a working boat. Supplies for one or two people for a couple days is normal.” The Captain sounded defensive.

  “I have an idea. Why don’t we sail on past Fleming? There’s nothing I really need to see there. I’m more interested in a few things further down the coast.”

  The Captain said, “We can always try to catch more fish. This is a fishing boat, you know, and we can lower the nets and see what this part of the sea has to offer.”

  “No, They’ll see us putting your net out, and it will give that boat time to do the same. I’m thinking they’re also out of food, or close to it. So we won’t stop to set your nets.”

  Raymer said, as if challenged, and liking the idea. “We try to out starve them!”

  Anna laughed and shook her head at him. “Is that even a word? But now who’s forgotten the dragon? Send him to snatch a deer or whatever he can find and drop it to us.”

  Raymer grumbled, “That sounds like a good idea until you try to deal with a dragon, especially overtaking his food. I guess I can have him find a meal for himself and then when he isn’t hungry, which doesn’t last long, he can bring us something.” Raymer was already closing his eyes to make the connection.

  Anna glanced at the Captain. He knew Raymer, as everyone in the Northwoods did. Raymer was the hero behind the defense of Castle Warrington and the defeat of King Ember. However, knowing that he was a member of the Dragon Clan and watching him at work were two very different things. Even most Dragon Clan members had never seen a bonded pair of man and dragon at work, in fact until recently many believed bonding didn’t exist.

  She looked at Thief, hands stroking the wheel lightly to keep their course straight. He had taken to the boat like he’d been born on one. He learned fast. She paused and reconsidered Thief again. In reality, she didn’t know how much he understood, or didn’t. He seemed to understand everything with little repetition, but he only chose to speak when he needed to.

  He was stubborn at times, like when she had tried changing his name. But he had also become her protector, willing to fight Raymer or anyone else in her defense. He said little and was usually simple and to the point, but the more she learned about him, the less she considered him slow.

  Then she turned to watch the boat following them. Instead of just the sail visible, it was close enough for her to see the hull and people moving about, although she couldn’t tell who was who. But the red dragon had told her all she needed. A boat owner, two ‘crabs’ as they were called in Breslau, and a mysterious fourth. She was certain the last was who hired the boat and told the two covered in tattoos to designate their low status, what to do.

  It was not the three of them on Captain Braise’s boat against three or four back there. It was three against one. Anna liked those odds, even when she didn’t include a red dragon into the equation. She glanced at Raymer again. His eyes were still unfocused as he directed the dragon.

  As she often did, she allowed her mind to wander, thinking of her Grandmother, a fierce warrior in her younger days, and now a leader of the Dragon Clan. What would her Grandmother think of her present situation?

  Anna settled herself against the rail where the morning sun warmed her. Since leaving the Drylands, she had found two solid allies, yet as a girl not yet sixteen, she also commanded them. Thief was a natural follower, but she couldn’t ask for a more loyal companion. He did anything she asked. But there was also Raymer, a famous black sheep of the family and a renowned warrior with the ear of the Earl of the Northwoods. He was also treated like royalty wherever he went in Castle Warrington, yet he readily acquiesced to her leadership and oddly enough, seemed to relish in it.

  Or did he? His head tilted to one side and was near bumping on the side of the boat as it rose and fell with the small waves. She reached over and tilted it the other way. His eyes remained closed, and she continued with the idea. Raymer was two heads taller than her, and a full head taller than most men. His chest twice the size of his waist and his shoulders too wide for some doors. He emanated power and strength.

  Yet, he had never once challenged her authority. He had verified parts of her story, but that was acceptable, even admirable. Raymer had little to prove in his position or that he wielded power. His confidence and trust in the Dragon Clan allowed him to follow rather than lead.

  That was the key. While she had to lead and prove herself, Raymer didn’t.

  The understanding she came to also provided more responsibility, too. She didn’t dare make a mistake. Her planning turned from the present to the future. Passing by Fleming gave the boat behind two choices. Follow and remain in sight, or put into Fleming for supplies and lose them. If the boat turned in the direction of Fleming, she would request of Captain Braise to make haste, ensuring that the other boat never caught back up, because she had no doubts, it would try. If it remained at sea, she planned to order her boat farther out to sea where there were no food supplies or freshwater for the other boat.

  “Captain?” she called. “How are we stocked for water?”

  “Two small casks I keep fo
r emergencies, and because I enjoy a taste of wine now and then after hauling nets, five or six jugs of good wine.”

  “Is that normal for other boats?”

  He waited for a heartbeat before answering. “A storm pushed me far out to sea once. I almost died of thirst before reaching land. It scared me into always keeping more water in the hold.”

  “More than others, I assume.”

  “Yes. And most boats don’t allow wine, ale, or beer. Nothing worse than a drunk sailor, on land or sea.”

  Anna smiled at his comments, but they had been what she hoped for. A cask or barrel, even a small one, would give them water for at least two or three days. There were two casks. The wine added another two or three days. The meat she felt sure the dragon would deliver added food, and it could deliver more if needed.

  “Captain, if we need, we can stay out here for ten days?”

  “How badly do we need to?”

  “There’s a problem with staying out?”

  “Yes and no. The hull is wood. Worms in salt water, love to eat wood. The longer we stay at sea, the more wormholes in my hull. I haven’t sat in freshwater for long enough as it is.”

  “The boat needs to ‘sit in freshwater’?”

  “It kills the worms that eat the wood. Just a few days in freshwater and all the worms, seaweed, and shellfish that have attached to the hull die. Gives the bottom a good cleaning and to boat sails faster, too. Should have done it days ago at the Port of Warrington. Nice deep river empties right there, but I wanted to get in a few more days of fishing.”

  “Ever been to Shrewsbury?” she asked.

  “Heard of it of course, but, no.”

  “It’s a long skinny harbor, almost like a sunken canyon. A river feeds it at the top end. A breakwater crosses almost all the way across the mouth, so the water in the Bay must stay almost fresh, I’d think. I never saw any ships move up to the narrow end of the bay. They stayed by the docks.”

  “I take it you’ve been there to know all that first hand?”

  “I have. That’s where I’d like to head, depending on what that other boat does. If it leaves us, I want to sail right into that bay and look around.”

  “You got it Little Miss.” The Captain said. “Do you mind me saying it’s easy to see why you give the orders?”

  “Well, thank you. I was just thinking about that a while ago and sort of doubting myself.”

  “No need for that, if’n you ask me.” He turned and watched the boat behind them. The entrance to Flaming Bay was behind them, now. But the other boat stayed close as if expecting them to do something tricky to get away.

  Instead, they turned and sailed directly into the morning sun, getting farther from land with every flap of the patched sail. Anna could no longer see the coastline. She said, “Let’s head south, again.”

  Captain Blaise told Thief what he needed to do, and the boat turned. So did the other one. The Captain said, “If I was back there I’d have thought we were trying to lose them at sea, and I would have stayed with us. Now that we’re heading south again, I’d worry because I have no idea of your plan. That captain back there is probably giving them an earful of the dangers of running out of water and food. There is nothing between Fleming and Shrewsbury except jagged rocks and steep cliffs. No food and no water.”

  Soon after, the other boat abruptly changed course. As long as it was in sight, the boat sailed north and west, right for Fleming. By the time it reached the port, purchased food and water, and sailed back to the same place it departed, a full day would pass. A day during which the Asia would continue sailing to Shrewsbury at full speed.

  She suspected that the other boat would arrive there a day later, but she expected the Asia to be gone, and the other boat wouldn’t know where. Thief was still at the wheel, and the Captain looked a little vexed, or at least, at odds with what to do with himself. Movement caught her attention, along with a tingle on her back she hadn’t noticed until now. Anna looked up and found a growing dot of reddish black approaching.

  “Our dinner,” she said, standing and moving to the stern of the boat. The Captain stood beside her as the dragon flew closer and closer. Its great wings looked longer than the boat. It clutched something gray in its left rear leg. A goat.

  The dragon swept in, right over their heads and released the goat. It splashed into the water at the side of the boat, and the Captain used his gaff to hook it and pull it aboard. The animal was small, perhaps less than a year old, and domestic. A farmer would be cursing red dragons tonight. If she could, Anna would have the dragon return with a coin. But for now, she leaped to the goat and helped the captain lift it onto the cleaning station where he usually gutted fish.

  Together, they skinned and dressed the animal. A small charcoal stove cooked the best cuts. Raymer came to their side and helped himself. Without a way to preserve the meat, they intended to cook all they could and save it for the future.

  Raymer chewed and said, “Needs salt.”

  Captain Braise reached for a small jar and removed the lid. Raymer helped himself to a pinch. Raymer caught Anna’s eye. “You surprise me.”

  “Because I can skin and cook a goat?”

  “No, because you have not lectured me for stealing a goat from a farmer. Before you do, my dragon found a herd of deer. He ate one and carried one to the doorway of the farmhouse before he took a goat, sort of a trade.” Raymer wore his lopsided grin.

  “A trade the farmer didn’t want,” she countered.

  “Well, maybe it was a poor trade, but we don’t know that, do we? That farmer may have been tired of eating goat. Venison might be a welcome change, besides, look at the great story he has to tell. A dragon dropped from the sky and gave him a deer and took a goat. How many have a story like that?”

  The Captain was also grinning. “If he spins it right when he tells it, that story will have many a tankard of ale served to him at no charge.”

  “Or, more likely,” Anna said, bracing both of them with her eyes, “People will say he lies like a drunken sailor.”

  Her response was so quick that both the Captain and Raymer stood in shock for a moment, then both fell into fits of laughter.

  Thief still stood at the wheel and watched them through the open windows. His expression was one of confusion when Anna started laughing too.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  After three more days of steady sailing, they reached the breakwater at Shrewsbury. It extended from one headland out across the mouth of the bay in a straight line, made of rocks the size of a man’s head. The end result was a deep water, narrow bay capable of protecting twenty or more ships from the fiercest storm. As they sailed closer, it was in silence.

  The Captain said, “Never seen a breakwater built like that. Must have taken hundreds to carry that many rocks, and even then, it must have been years in the making. Odd, I never heard of it in all the tales in all the taverns and ale houses I’ve sat with other men of the sea.”

  “Crabs built it. I saw them doing it,” Anna said.

  Captain Braise gave her a questioning look.

  “Crabs. People from Breslau, who are lower than slaves because slaves have jobs to do,” she explained. He was still looking at her, puzzled. She went on, “When I was here before, I watched them building that. They had probably a hundred men and women they called ‘crabs’ carrying those rocks they took from the side of the hill you see over there. They carried every boulder and rock. No animals to help. And they worked from sunup until dark.”

  “That’s no life for a person.”

  “With the tattoos, they’re marked for life. Just useless Crabs who can’t even elevate their status to slaves. They’re not allowed to hold jobs unless manpower is required.” She spat the words as if getting them out of her mouth would make them taste better.

  Captain Blaise shook his head in sadness. “Are there a lot of them?”

  “Yes.”

  “Keeping people chained to the bottom of society like that isn�
�t right. If’n you’re fighting against those people who do this to others, count me in. Are we going into the harbor?”

  Anna looked at Raymer. “I was going to suggest we land outside the harbor and sneak in past the headland, but I keep forgetting about your dragon. I’ve never been around anyone who can do what you do. Besides, the Captain wants to soak his hull in some fresh water.”

  “You want me to have the red take a look before we commit to entering, in case there is an army waiting for us in there.”

  “Something like that,” Anna said.

  “Let me make myself comfortable. Can you accompany me to the bow?” Raymer asked.

  She followed him into the small cabin where he lay on his back and closed his eyes in what was becoming a familiar action. How strange it must be to close your eyes and find you’re inside the eyes of a dragon flying high above the sea. She marveled as she tried to imagine the wonder of it.

  Tales said that dragon’s eyes are far better than peoples. Raymer would be looking down and seeing things she never would see. In ways, that was better than the ability ride the back of one, if that was possible. She had heard the stories of being carried in the claws of a dragon, including Carrion’s wild ride in Breslau not long ago. Tanner had done that, too, or so his story went, but it was still hard to believe because it sounded so much like a fairy tale of long ago.

  “I’m flying over our boat and approaching the breakwater. Just in case of danger, I’m staying high for the first pass.” Raymer’s voice was soft, almost a hiss that she had to lean closer to hear.

  She shifted positions to hear anything else, imagining it in her head as he described what he saw. Suddenly, his body went stiff, and he half sat.

  “It’s black,” he said loudly.

  “Black? What are you talking about?”

  Awareness returned to his eyes. “There are no ships, no docks, and the entire town has burned. Nothing is left standing.”