by LeRoy Clary
That brought a smile to both Thief and Anna. They continued into the thinning forest, staying below the tops of trees where they could and climbing the slopes until they reached softer ground and the footing made it harder to walk. The trees abruptly disappeared as if a line had been drawn. Trees grow on one side of the imaginary line and low shrubs and grasses on the other.
Ahead lay flat land, sluggish streams, thousands of ponds stained dark by the leaves, and far beyond stood jagged mountains, none high enough to have white peaks, but appearing impassible with their steepness and the lack of space between any two.
Raymer said, “We sleep in muck tonight if we go any further. I suggest we go back to the firmer ground and continue in the morning.”
The prospect of sleeping in two or three inches of stinky water didn’t sound appealing, so Anna nodded and said, “You can fly your dragon over the Highlands and see if you can find the Dragon Clan.”
At the mention of the Dragon Clan, Thief looked apprehensively from one to the other. He had heard them talking about dragons, and had been close enough to touch one if he hadn’t fled. He’d heard the discussions at Castle Warrington, but they had carefully omitted mention of the two words in case they were overheard. He didn’t understand they were Dragon Clan, Anna realized. He would have to know if he thought about it, but if he found out by accident he might hold it against them. Tonight, she decided. He needed to know.
Back under the protection of the forest treetops, they found a small running stream and a clearing covered in soft grass. Soon after gathering firewood, Raymer unrolled his blanket and laid on top, closing his eyes. Anna knew he was not sleeping, but directing the red with his mind.
She would give anything to be able to do what he was right then. To see through the eyes of a dragon and to tell it where to fly. Her imagination filled in details while Thief started the fire.
Anna sat on the ground and tried to think of a way to explain things to Thief, without telling him directly who they were, but without holding back.
She asked, “Have you heard of the Dragon Clan?”
He nodded and continued tending his fire.
“Are you scared of them?”
“I was.”
“But not now?” she asked.
“No.”
Anna thought about his answers and decided he was holding back. Even with his short answers to questions, he had never avoided looking at her before. Now he kept his eyes averted. “What changed?”
“You.”
“Me? Do you mean that you found out I’m Dragon Clan?”
“And him,” he motioned to Raymer with his chin.
“We’re just like other people. Right now we have a few problems, one of which is trying to protect everyone you know, including the Dragon Clan. There are bad men coming from across the sea and they will fight all of us.”
“Fight?”
“And kill. Not just our army, but everyone. The people who live across the sea want our land. Our houses and farms.”
Thief played with the fire as he digested what Anna said, while she settled back and watched him. Finally, he looked up at her and asked, “That man. The attacker at night. He was one of them?”
“Yes, he was one of them, or at the very least they paid him.”
Thief seemed to consider that, and Anna gave him time. When he lifted his eyes again, he said, “Kill them all.”
“I didn’t mean that! We need to protect ourselves, but first, we should talk to their leaders and try to work things out. Maybe we can prevent fighting.”
“No. Kill them.”
Anna’s words had turned Thief into someone else, a man who hated because of a single incident. It hadn’t been her intention, but she saw no way out of the predicament. She needed to think before they spoke of it again, and do a better job of presenting the ideas. Thief took what she said literally, and once his mind was made up, it was hard to change.
Raymer sat up and flashed a smile. “Found them. Right out in plain sight where you’d never look.”
“Tomorrow?”
“By midday if we hurry. I have the dragon behind us, grounded but watching our back trail, just in case we’re followed. He also has strict orders to stay on the ground. What’s wrong with Thief?”
“I tried to explain us. Along with the people planning to invade. I did a poor job, and now he wants to kill them all.”
Thief nodded his agreement without looking away from the fire.
“Want me to try explaining?” Raymer asked.
Anna had a flash of Raymer’s dry humor coupled with his black sheep mentality and disregard for authority and quickly shook her head, no. She said, “This is something I need to do. I caused the problem and I’ll correct it.”
Raymer settled beside her and placed an arm over her shoulder. “How’d you get to be so smart in fifteen years? I know people who are three times your age with half the wisdom that you possess naturally.”
“I’m not smart.”
“I’d argue that, but what you cannot deny is your leadership abilities. What are you planning now, waiting until tomorrow so you can present it to him again in a better fashion?”
Thief said, “I’m listening, you know.”
They both laughed. Raymer stood and reached for a handful of food and his blanket. “I need a good sleep. Tomorrow may be difficult.”
“I thought it was not that far,” Anna said.
“It’s what comes after. As our leader, what are you going to tell the Highlands Family?”
“I plan to seek information, not tell them anything.”
Raymer said, “Think again. They will pick your brain for all you know, and offer help unless I’m mistaken. What sort of help do you wish, up to and including messengers being sent to all the other families for more people? You’re talking about preventing a war that involves all of us, and they may think that is a bit too much responsibility for a little girl, a young man who is a little slow, and a reckless do-nothing with a red dragon that follows him everywhere.”
“That’s not who we are,” she snapped, her eyebrows furrowed and cheeks flushing red.
“Maybe not. But I ask you, what will the Dragon Clan family we’re going to meet tomorrow, think of us? Now, I’m going to sleep while my leader dwells on things she cannot change.”
Raymer spread his blanket and crawled to one side, then pulled the other half over himself, but not before Anna saw his hand free the knife he wore and placed it in easy reach beneath the cover. She decided to do the same, but instead of unrolling her blanket she sat and watched the fire die down. When she looked up, Thief had also gone to bed and was fast asleep.
The solitude of the night, the chill air, and the soft crackle and hiss of the red glowing coals comforted her. An owl hooted and a small animal moved through the brush. She looked up at the stars and played the childhood game of making images by connecting them with imaginary lines.
The last thing she felt was sleepy. This was her time to think and plan. All she had to do was figure out how to save the world before tomorrow. No further. But the variations and possibilities were endless. It was the doorway into her future and like few times in her past. She knew it would decide her future course of action, possibly for her entire lifetime.
Anna watched the others sleep while her mind twisted and turned. She concentrated on the sounds, hearing a few insects buzz, a persistent mosquito that demanded a place to land on her head, and a frog that croaked while fifty answered. She listened harder, searching for new night sounds, but in reality, remembering the constable sneaking into their camp and taking Raymer, prisoner.
One snap of a branch and she’d be up and ready to fight. Just one. Holding her breath helped. There was no way she’d admit she was afraid. Not to others, but to herself might be different. Perhaps that the real reason she couldn’t sleep was fear.
Tossing aside the blanket, she stood and went to the fire. A few more branches would make sure there were coals alive in
the morning. As the flames grew and the campsite blossomed into view again, she cursed herself. With the fire, her night vision fled. An army could quietly approach, and she wouldn’t see them.
Back on her blanket again, she waited for sleep to come. When it did, she had closed her eyes for just a second. When she opened them, the fire was out, and Raymer was moving quietly. She glanced up and found fewer stars. Dawn was near. She said, “Morning.”
Raymer flashed one of his winning smiles. She turned to Thief and found his bedroll neatly rolled, but there was no sign of him.
Raymer said, “He’s out on the moors or whatever you call them. I expect company early, so don’t eat. Hopefully, we’ll get ourselves a real meal.”
“You’ve made contact with the family?”
“No, but when my red flew over them yesterday somebody must have seen it, and they’ll send people to investigate, which means they’ll show us the way.”
She rolled her blanket and secured her pack. “We should go to Thief and meet them as they arrive.”
Raymer said, “Better to stay here. We don’t know which way to go, other than to where I think the Dragon Clan would live.”
“I’m worried,” she said.
“Only a fully prepared army of thousands bristling with weapons is going to march through here, what do you have to worry about?”
Raymer sounded happy, but Anna detected an undercurrent of something less than joy. She said, “I have a feeling they won’t want me to lead.”
“Think they will try to appoint someone older and wiser?”
“Something like that,” Anna admitted.
“They can do that, you know.” Raymer’s voice now held no humor, “But Thief and I will go on with you. They are free to send their own people.”
Her sense of pride soared. “It might not be a bad thing. Another leader, I mean. How are the three of us going to stop a whole army?”
Raymer said, “You haven’t found a way, yet. Notice how I stressed the word, yet? If anyone is going to find a way, it will be you. I have a question to illustrate. If you’re this good a leader now, what will you be when you’re thirty?”
“Maybe half as good as Grandma Emma.”
That answer had Raymer laughing when Thief called softly, “People here.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
When they joined Thief at the edge of the bogs, there were two figured slogging through the muck in their direction. Thief had found a slight rise where his feet were dry, and he waited as if knowing the men were coming.
Anna and Raymer stood beside him, weapons sheathed. It seemed odd, but the two men slogging through the muck could be anyone, even enemies or highwaymen, but she didn’t believe it. They were her family. People she hadn’t met yet, but family.
Their progress across the soggy ground was slow and indirect. They followed the contours of the land, staying on the higher mounds and rises while avoiding the dark pools that could be deeper than they appeared. Many were deeper than a man she knew, but the water stained darker than any tea revealed little of what lay below.
The two eventually stood in front of them, one darker skinned and the other taller. They were dressed in heavy material colored the same drab tan as the land, probably from washing it in the local water. The darker skinned one was older, but he turned to the younger and motioned with his palm.
“I’m called Cloud. This is Danner.” He had spoken politely, firmly, and as he quit he waited for their response.
Raymer nudged Anna with a jab. She introduced them, failing to mention Thief was not Dragon Clan. At the end of the brief introductions, she turned as was customary, and lifted the back of her shirt. Raymer did the same.
Cloud and Danner waited for Thief. Anna said, “He is not one of us, but you may identify yourselves, nonetheless.”
Cloud did not turn. “You speak for the three of you?”
“I do,” her voice sounded more confident than she felt.
Puzzlement crossed Cloud’s face. He looked at Raymer.
“She does,” he confirmed shortly.
“In our family, we do not display with outsiders present,” Cloud stated, more a challenge than a statement.
Anna heard the disrespect in his tone. The man facing her was hardly older than she was, perhaps a little over twenty, so a difference of five or six years, but he was making a point or several of them. She said, “In my family, we are taught to adapt to present circumstances and not offend visiting relatives, but it is not my place to teach you good manners.”
Cloud took a tentative step closer to her, but Danner’s outstretched arm held him back. “She is right, Cloud. Besides, unless I’m mistaken, this is one you do not wish to brace. She will turn you over her little knee and spank you. Make no mistake about it.”
Finished speaking, the older man slowly turned and pulled up his shirt to display a fierce blue dragon with eyes as red as coals in a fire on a dark night. Cloud turned and casually pulled his shirt part of the way up his back, and then released it in an insolent and disrespectful manner that would have her grandmother’s ire raised and ready to administer a beating.
The action was also one of defiance and disrespect. She wouldn’t let it pass. Looking at Danner, she spoke to Cloud. “We would talk as we travel, if that is acceptable to you, however, the young one who has no manners should run on ahead like a child and announce our arrival. Running messages is good for the ill-mannered the people of our clan too young and immature to act like adults in front of guests.”
Without turning to him, Danner said, “You heard her. Move.”
Cloud’s face turned red with anger, but he turned and stalked away slowly. Anna was going to call and tell him to run, when Danner said loudly, “If you don’t get a move on, we’ll beat you there.”
Danner waited until Cloud was almost out of sight before speaking again, “He’s a good boy, just young and impulsive. Maybe also headstrong, but that can develop into something useful. Please do not hold our greeting against him.”
“Why was he speaking for you?” Anna asked.
“I thought a little responsibility would be a chance for him to learn. Perhaps it still will. I assume that you are the ‘Anna’ from the Drylands Family? The girl who traveled with Gray?”
“I am.” They started walking, Danner gently leading the way.
“Are you as fierce as I’ve heard? Was I right in warning Cloud?” Danner asked, his voice almost crackling with humor.
Raymer quickly broke in. “You saved his life, without a doubt. That girl there is the toughest, meanest, most spiteful clan member I’ve ever met. Do you have time to hear some of the terrible things she’s forced on Thief and me?”
Even Thief grinned as Anna sputtered.
Danner waited for her to calm before asking, “And you must be Raymer. That was your red we spotted last night.”
“Yes. Will there be a council waiting for us when we arrive?” Raymer asked.
“There will. Like the Drylands, we get few visitors, so we assume you come with news. While I would like to know what it is, I prefer to wait until we meet as a unit. However, there are a hundred other questions I’d like to ask for myself. I’ve only left the Highlands twice in my lifetime and have a natural curiosity about other lands and places.”
“Ask all you want,” Anna said, trying to establish her authority after shooting a fierce look in Raymer’s direction.
“Well, first of all,” Danner said, turning his head to Thief, “I’d like to apologize to you, but I wish to know how and why you are travelling with these two.”
“Her.” Thief said, his voice strong and unoffended.
“I don’t understand,” Danner said.
Raymer said, “It’s a long story, but the short version is that he protects her. It’s his job.”
“Very unusual. Later, if we have time I might wish to hear the long version, and so will others. You know the rules and our fears about outsiders.”
Danner had just broach
ed the subject Anna struggled with most. One slip in a conversation with normals endangered an entire family. That was the reason most Dragon Clan only knew the locations of two other villages, at most. If they were captured, they could not tell where other families were, but each family had messengers that could fan out and spread the word of an attack, if only to others. Those two would send out more messengers, and all branches of the family would soon receive warnings.
Bringing an outsider into the location of a family would require her to answer for the infraction—and worse, if the council refused to allow his passage, he would never leave. She had felt confident, but now that they were near, apprehension filled her. But it was already too late. Danner had been kind enough to warn her in advance so she would be ready. He had handled this exactly as Grandma Emma would have. He had not told her what to do, or how to do it, but all the same, she understood.
Anna said, “Walking in this mud makes my legs tired. How much farther?”
“Not long. I’m sure you have questions of me? Please feel free to ask.”
“Tanner and Carrion are from this family. Will they greet us?” Anna asked.
“They will be there. Raymer, do you see those hills ahead?”
“The rocky ones?” Raymer asked.
“Yes. They are taller than you would think when looking at them from here. It’s a bit of an illusion. If you’d like to have your beautiful red dragon fly there, he will find Carrion’s red expecting him.”
Raymer said, “You go on, I’ll catch up.” He closed his eyes.
The morning quickly warmed and fog lifted from the cold ground, swirling and shifting. Danner walked as if he could see right through it, but try as she might, Anna could discern no path or trail that he followed. She glanced behind so they didn’t lose Raymer and found him running as if in slow motion as the muck pulled at his feet.
Every step disturbed the rotting plants and soil. Old smells, not unpleasant, rose and assaulted her nose. The sun looked weak through the mists, and she saw no sign of animals, green plants, or living anything that was not an insect. The squish of feet, pulling from the black soil was a constant.
