by LeRoy Clary
“Speaking of the perfect choice of words, I cannot help but notice yours.”
“Ah, that is perceptive of you. No, I have not lived here in this village for my entire life. There was a time before, but you must prepare for leaving so you and I will discuss it in the future. Is there anything else I can do for you?”
Anna hesitated, then said, “When you send out messengers, have one stop at the Drylands and tell my family where I am and that Raymer and I are now going to Racine.”
“That has already been handled.”
Raymer threw the door open and grinned at them. “Where’s that scallywag, Thief?”
“Scallywag?” Hannah asked, withholding a smile.
“I heard you talking about perfect words and that’s one I’ve always wanted to call someone. This seemed like a good time.”
Hannah chuckled and said, “I’ve always wondered why dragons bond with some and never others. Now that I have seen you and Carrion together, I see a pattern. Irreverent, fun, disorderly, and often disrespectful are but a few of your common traits.”
He bowed deeply. “Even though we don’t know each other well, I sincerely thank you for the kind words.”
Hannah couldn’t help but laugh, and Anna joined. She rose and went inside, finding Raymer had packed all their things and rolled their blankets tightly. Even Thief’s.
After a quick bite, they were following Tanner as he led the way. Fog again rose, and direction and distance became confused. The sun seemed to try penetrating, but the fog held it off. The fog still lay over the Highlands when they arrived at the edge of the forest. Shortly after midday they reached the road that would take them to Racine.
Carrion called for a halt at a stream and said, his first words of the day, “Can I make a suggestion?”
His eyes were on Anna. She nodded.
“We can go to Racine as you plan, but if we backtrack on the road we can make good time, and I’ll show you where the green dragons are roosting.”
“Why not tell Hannah and let her spread the word?” Anna said. “I have been there before, as you well know.”
“Four of us carry bows and might be considered experts. We know how dragons act and their habits, and we know where they will be at night. We could kill them and not have to face them at a later date.”
The idea repulsed her. She snapped, “We are Dragon Clan!”
“But those are not our dragons. They actually kill our dragons. And they will help Breslau when they attack Princeton.” Carrion shut up and waited.
Anna considered and looked to Raymer for support. She decided they had larger problems and would not kill the dragons.
As she started to speak, Carrion held up his hand to interrupt and said quickly, “Quiet! Remember, we destroyed two eggs last time. It occurs to me that there may be more since then, and depending on the timing, chicks. Chicks that may be old enough to fight us during the invasion. Killing them now may save hundreds or thousands of lives.”
Anna let out a sigh. “Okay, we go kill them. But one other item we need to discuss.”
“I’m sorry I was rude and told you to be quiet.”
“Not that. You were right. As of now, you are in charge of the expedition until after the killing of the green dragons,” Anna said.
“But . . . You can’t do that,” Carrion protested.
She puffed out her chest. “I am in charge as appointed by the heads of two Dragon Clan families. As any good general would do, I am appointing the man best qualified for a job.”
“You can’t . . .”
“I can, and I have. You do not have the right to question my authority. Shut up until you’re ready to tell us what to do.”
Raymer said, “You’d better listen to her.”
Thief started to laugh and choked it off at the look Carrion flashed him. Tanner turned away where nobody could see his face, but his shoulders were shaking.
Carrion drew a deep breath and said, “Okay, we need to arrive nearby just before dark, so we have to hurry.”
He set a brutal pace that Anna suspected was in response to her appointing him to the leadership position, but as she huffed and puffed to keep up, her every conclusion was that she made the right decision. He had been there, he knew more about dragons, and he had slain one at that location, in addition to destroying eggs in the nest.
Their stops were few and short. They passed only three others on the almost deserted road, a farmer and two sons. Near sundown Carrion pointed to a stand of boulders on the right side of the road and said, “This is where we turn off, and it gets dangerous.”
At the boulders, he paused and waited until they were all comfortable. “We have to get close to them by morning. This is dangerous because we don’t know how many there are, but there were two. Three or more may be a problem. But waiting another day to survey the situation is one more day that we give Breslau to invade us. I’d hate to lose our homes because of a single day.”
Nobody spoke. Anna felt a tinge of fear, but more of excitement. She motioned for him to continue.
“Raymer, bring your dragon in close. Have it follow mine. I know where they can roost and be ready to attack at sunrise.”
Raymer’s eyes faded as he communicated with the dragon and Carrion continued with the others, “We’ll talk more as we move, but the general idea is that wewill creepp in close to them tonight. At dawn, before they stir, our reds will fly in and attack. Hit them hard, and then fly away. It will be up to us to finish them off, but again, there may be more than two.”
Anna said, “We will destroy any young?”
“Young and eggs, both. I know it’s disgusting and against all we know and believe. If you find that you cannot do it, leave after the battle, and I will do it.”
Raymer was listening again. “After our dragons attack, you said?”
“Ours will fly in low and between two hills where they won’t be spotted. With luck, they can take the heads off the two greens and be gone in a heartbeat without injury.”
“If there are more than two?” Raymer persisted.
Carrion said, “You and I can only control so much of the natural instincts of our dragons, but if there are three, ours should still prevail and escape.”
Raymer wouldn’t let it go. “What if there are four. Or more?”
Carrion said, “In that case I may order us all to hunker down for the day, or until they fly off to hunt, and then we escape and leave them alone. Now, we have quite a ways to go and prepare for the attack.”
They moved down a trail single file with less talking as darkness fell. Carrion set a slower pace, and as they neared the nesting area, he moved slower and cautiously, often going ahead a hundred paces or more before motioning for them to catch up.
Just as the moon rose, he called a halt and whispered, “No more talking. They will be down the slope from us, so no noise. If one wakes, halt and don’t move. We need to get within range of our arrows because we won’t have time to move closer in the morning.”
Anna reached for her bow for the first time since leaving the Drylands and felt the comfort of the thick grip, even though it remained unstrung. Even in the dark, she could string it and pull the first arrow in the time it took most to think of doing it. Her short bow used shorter arrows, but each was tipped with a shard of flint, worked to an edge that sliced through flesh like dragon’s teeth through deer.
That was not the example she should have thought of, and she tried to shake it off with a shudder. Carrion moved far slower, and Anna smelled the dragons and the spit they surrounded themselves with that protected their eggs and young from varmints. Even rats stay away from it.
The sky held clouds hanging low and thick, preventing light from above. She felt as if she followed a shadow, and was in turn followed by three almost soundless beings who moved without bodies. Anna realized that for the first time in days she was in danger, and she was not in charge. She didn’t enjoy the feeling.
A dragon snorted. Carrion paus
ed. The dragon was close. Closer than she expected, or wanted. Even straining her eyes didn’t bring the dragon into view, but she heard the smallest rustle of thick leather skin so close she felt she could touch it.
Then another sniffed. It may have caught the scent of them. She held still and waited, hoping the others did the same. But something was missing. Carrion was gone.
Anna clenched her teeth to keep from speaking or calling to him. She eased one more step ahead and waited. Then another. A hand touched her ankle, and she almost whimpered in fear until she realized Carrion was pulling her down.
He lay behind a small stone ridge no taller than her knee, yet it afforded protection. She moved past Carrion so the next in line could join her. At the end of the ridge, she waited and listened. Now and then she heard a rustle or adjustment, but always from the dragons and not any of them. If one of her people cleared his throat or sneezed, the dragons would be alerted. Just one sound.
She realized that she could make out the form of a dragon in front of her, maybe fifty steps away, but she might as well be in the nest if it found her and attacked. She’d seen the incredible speed of them, and with the neck extended it could be on her before she could flee two steps.
The sky was growing lighter. Dawn was coming, but not for a while. Carefully, very carefully, she strung her bow and laid five arrows side by side in front of her, keeping the others in the quiver within easy reach.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
The morning light filtered past the heavy clouds and the area in front of them gradually became clearer. There were not two dragons as they expected. There were five. Five!
Carrion had told them that when he was here before, no more than two lunars ago, there were three, and he killed one. Worse, they had no way to retreat. When the day dawned, the dragons would certainly see them.
They had taken a chance and lost. If there were two dragons, even three, victory was almost certain. With five, they were lost. She turned her head slowly and looked in the direction of the others. She counted four heads in the dim light, all staring at the dragons and probably thinking much the same as her.
She set the first arrow to the string and put only enough tension on it to hold it in place. If needed, she could let the arrow fly in a heartbeat, but she tried to remember everything about killing dragons she’d ever heard.
Their heads were bony, and arrows often tore skin, but bounced off. Arrows sank into haunches and flanks, perhaps making them sick with an infection in the days ahead, but that did little in a battle. The dragon would fight and then perhaps die days from now, but that only meant she would die first. There were tales of great archers putting an arrow into an eye, but even as she looked at those dragons in front of her, she realized those were either extremely lucky shots or just stories.
Grandma Emma had told her that arrows in the neck prevented dragons from twisting and turning their serpentine necks, but those necks were thin and an arrow to either side passed by harmlessly. But her grandmother had also said that their great wings folded against their bodies several layers thick, like the fans children make from folded paper. An arrow would pierce those wings and luck shots break wing bones needed to fly.
A small sound drew her attention. Raymer was a larger shadow than the others, and he pointed to two hilltops. There was a valley between them. She watched the pale sky and found movement. A dragon looking so small it might be a bird approached, then another. Raymer and Carrion were going ahead with the attack. Time to stop contemplating and begin fighting.
Her eyes flicked to the five dragons sleeping in front of her. None had reacted so far. She looked back at the two approaching reds. They grew larger, and in the quiet of pre-dawn she heard their wings. Carrion and Raymer were directing them to the nests. She drew the first arrow back a little more.
The two dragons went lower after they cleared the pass between the hills and were out of sight, but the flapping of the great wings grew louder. One of the dragons in front of her sat up. Its head twisted and turned alertly, then the beast stood. It threw back its head and roared as the first of the reds appeared right in front of it, talons extended.
The red found the neck of the standing green and gripped with its mouth, then used its weight and momentum to slash and tear the head from the dragon. The other greens were climbing to their feet when the second red struck, ripping the side of a green open with a single slash of fore claws, then finishing the attack with the rear claws.
But instead of flying off, it spun and tore into a third dragon with its teeth. They rolled on the ground, the red with a mouthful of the green where the neck joined the body, its talons raking the underside of the green over and over. They rolled wings flapping and claws holding each other tightly together.
The attack had happened so fast Anna had little time to do anything, but now she was on her feet. The first green dragon was dead, as was the second. There were the two still engaged in fighting, rolling and trying to kill the other, but she couldn’t send an arrow that way without being sure of which was which.
The first red to attack now faced off with another green, as they circled and spat at each other. She put an arrow at the junction of the neck and body and watched the green wail in pain, almost giving the red time to attack. She let another arrow fly and another. The green lifted its head and darted forward to the red, its mouth grabbing the red near the hind leg.
While biting the leg, three more arrows found the underside of its chin, one of them Anna’s. The green released its hold as the three arrows did their jobs, and the red struck back so suddenly it held the neck of the green and shook like a dog with a toy.
Anna set another arrow. The two on the ground were still fighting, and there was nothing she could do, but the fifth, and last, was on its feet, and it had spied the humans. Instead of joining the fray with the other dragons, it turned to face them. A snarl warned of its attack. The great mouth opened as it charged.
Anna put the arrow in the open mouth and pulled another. They were on the hillside high enough to make the dragon run uphill. Its wings flapped to help, but the hill slowed it. Anna shot into the open maw again, noticing as she did that there were at least three arrows there, now.
It had slowed, closed its mouth and probably broken the shafts as it did, but it still eyed them. She pulled another arrow and took aim for the eye. No, with all of the twisting and turning she would never hit it. Her eyes fell to the forefoot. She let the arrow fly.
The dragon howled in pain and lifted the foot to examine the arrow protruding. An arrow in the foot might not kill, but it slowed the dragon. The green bit at it and finally pulled it free. But as she did, Anna put the next arrow into the other front foot. In protest to the pain, the dragon stood on two hind legs.
“The feet,” she screamed, reaching for another arrow. By the time it flew, the dragon had arrows on all four feet and had rolled to its side, screaming and howling in pain.
The red that had been fighting the other on the ground for so long leaped to its feet and charged the dragon in front of them. With a slash of teeth, the red ended it. Five green dragons lay dead. Or dying.
Carrion leaped over the stone ridge, knife in hand. He finished the last of them and fell to his knees in front of a red, holding its head in his lap and talking to it.
The other red was still snarling and screaming in victory. It moved to each of the greens to investigate and continue the fight, but Raymer was also shouting, telling it to fly away. He ran to the red and stood in front waving his arms. The dragon finally calmed from the fury of the fight and looked at him. Then it flew off, blowing dust and dirt on all of them.
Raymer turned to Carrion. “How is he?”
“Cuts, scrapes, bites. I think a wing has a tear.”
“How bad?” Raymer asked.
Carrion looked at all the blood and pulled his shirt off. He wiped the blood off and found few wounds. “We need to get it to water and clean it. Wash the wounds, then we’ll know.”
“I think so. There was a stream out by the road. I’ll see if it’s up to that.” Carrion stepped back and watched the dragon stand and then extend the wings. There were three rips, but all small. If it flew slow, so they didn’t tear they’d heal quickly. The red took off and headed for the road, the other red joining it in flight.
Thief was bleeding from his shoulder, Raymer dripped blood from his knee, and Carrion was covered in blood, his or the dragons, it was impossible to tell. Anna looked down and found herself also covered, one leg almost all red.
She heard a hiss and rustle. Turning, she saw the head of a green dragon duck behind the rim of a nest. Reaching for an arrow, she was surprised the quiver only held two more. She called, “Dragon!”
All froze and followed her gaze. The dragon raised its head again, looking at her and spitting. The black acid flew less than half way to her, then made a splash in the sand. A second head appeared. And a third.
She had a clear shot, but waited. Tanner placed a hand on her shoulder. He whispered, “Take command again and get them out of here and take care of the wounded.”
She appreciated it. Killing the young of any animal felt wrong, but dragons more so because they were special. Even shooting arrows at them when they were attacking hadn’t felt right. She gave him a smile without humor and called, “Okay, let’s get a move on. We have dragons to care for and our own wounds to heal.”
The command in her voice surprised her probably more than anyone. She sounded confident and in charge, despite the weak knees and the desire to purge her stomach. “Raymer, take the lead. Tanner, you’ll stay behind and clean up this mess.”
When Raymer started limping to the path she exhaled. Thief followed, and Carrion hung his head, but went after him. She took the rear. Tanner would catch up later, but she wanted to know nothing of what he was about to do except that it was finished.
They arrived mid-morning at the stream where two wagons filled with hay had been abandoned. The mules were eating green shoots, and they eyed the filthy, bloody humans and moved further away.
