by LeRoy Clary
Anna spotted people at the edge of the forest peering out at them. She waved them closer, but the older man and two boys refused to come very near. She called, “You can safely go on about your business.”
“There're dragons down by the water,” the man who was probably the father warned her.
Anna thought of a hundred things she might respond, but all seemed out of place. Finally, she said, “They are ours. We just fought a battle and need to clean up a little.”
All three people watched them limp past before taking the mules by the reins and leading them away as fast as the animals would walk. The two dragons were standing beside each other on a gravel bar at the bend of the stream. One reached out and licked a wound on the other.
Anna unrolled her blanket and cut it into wide strips. She walked into the water and up to the nearest, she couldn’t yet tell them apart, and soaked the rags in river water while ignoring the combined stench. She gently washed one hind leg and found only a small scratch. The rest of the blood belonged to one of the others.
Carrion and Raymer were doing much the same. Thief watched from a hundred paces away, but showed no desire to join them. Anna dabbed softly at two parallel slices caused by talons. The wounds were deep. She wished she knew which plants would help heal, but for now, clean water was the best she could do.
As she touched another raw spot on the chest of the dragon it pulled back and she found it looking at her from a handsbreadth away. She felt the soft snort on her face. One snap of the massive mouth and teeth and she was dead. Anna held still, “Whose is this one?”
The dragon pulled back. Carrion said, “It knows you are helping and is grateful.”
Looking at him, she said, “Can dragons be grateful?”
“They show that when they don’t bite your head off,” Carrion said.
Anna didn’t laugh. “How are your wounds?”
“About like yours. They need cleaning and time to heal a little.”
Anna glanced down at her knee and found the water had opened the cut she hadn’t known about, and it bled freely. She continued washing the dragon, smelling a musky odor below that of the rotting flesh of previous meals. The other odor reminded her of old leather, a familiar, yet warm feeling filled her. She gave the dragon a pat on the shoulder. “We won.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Thief gathered firewood and built a fire before midday, sensing they were not going to be moving on. He cleared a space for sleeping and after wandering off for a while returned with a pheasant and rabbit. He carried two green branches with forks for holding up a spit.
Anna went and sat beside him, watching him work on cleaning the animals and preparing them for cooking. She didn’t speak, and of course, he didn’t either. No words were needed until she asked, “Were you scared?”
“Yes.”
“Injured?”
“No. You were.” Thief still hadn’t looked at her.
He seemed to be avoiding her eyes as he concentrated on getting the meat ready to cook. Anna left him alone as she went back to the stream and insisted on washing the wounds of Raymer and Carrion, both of whom were far more concerned about the health of their dragons. Tanner arrived and waded into the stream and washed, especially his wounds. He was as silent as Thief.
She went to Carrion’s red and inspected the injuries, most of which were now cleaned and some clotted with the first indications of scabs. She went to Raymer and did the same, washing one nasty cut again to make sure it was clean down deep.
Raymer said, “What’s our plan?”
“The dragons come first. When it’s safe for them to fly, and all of us are up to it, we move to Racine.” Anna didn’t even look up to answer. She kept washing the dragons while ignoring the smells. When she did raise her eyes, the dragon had lowered its head, twisted its long neck and was watching her with calm eyes.
“It likes you,” Raymer said.
“You don’t know that unless you’re reading its mind again.”
“You’re alive, aren't you?”
Anna paused. “A year from now, if we run into each other, will it remember me?”
“Remember is perhaps not the right word. Neither is ‘like’. But a year from now, or ten, and this ugly beast will not kill you. It may not remember, but it will know that you are not only Dragon Clan but more. I don’t have the words.” Raymer, who was seldom lost for words, cocked his head to one side and tried to think of the right ones.
Anna said, “More than Dragon Clan. If one of our family approached too close, this dragon would snort and warn him or her to halt fifty paces away. If I approached closer, what would happen?”
Raymer considered the question before speaking. “I think it would allow you to do that. Even touch it.”
“So we’ve formed a mini-bond?”
He laughed and pointed to the other dragon. “Two of them. I was watching as you cleaned Carrion’s and I think it has an even stronger bond with you. Turn and walk up to it and watch.”
Anna strode to the other dragon trying to appear to have more confidence than she felt. But Carrion was watching and would control it if needed. She went directly to the foreleg with the worst injuries, directly under the chin of the beast. It calmly watched her, even as she lightly touched the open wound to feel the tacky blood forming a scab.
Carrion, who had been listening, said, “Tanner will you come over here and try the same thing?”
After a slight hesitation, Tanner squared his shoulders and walked in Anna’s direction. When it was twenty steps away, the head of the dragon turned and a deep warning sound emanated from inside the chest of the dragon? Tanner halted as if he’d heard the hiss of a rattlesnake. “This is as close as I’m coming.”
Raymer said, “You can back away now. Thanks for helping.”
“Any time you need to feed your dragons, feel free to call on me,” Tanner muttered as he backed away and went to join Thief.
Carrion said, “Anna, can you feel any odd sensations in your mind? Anything that was not there before?”
“No.”
Raymer said, “How about on your back?”
“Just the usual stinging from being close to a dragon. Nothing different.”
Raymer glanced at Carrion. “Distance?”
“Maybe,” Carrion said. “We can test that when we leave here.”
“Do you think I may be more sensitive to dragons?” Anna asked.
Raymer said, “Not all of them. But now that you bring it up, that’s possible. We don’t know as much about dragons as we think.”
“But these two,” she was excited. “I might be able to sense them at a further distance?”
Carrion said, “It’s possible. In fact, I think it will happen. Also, if you’re in trouble one of these two will probably react like you’re one of its young. They will protect you much more fiercely than others. That’s my belief, but I really have little proof to back it.”
Raymer said, “I agree. But we’ll try to test it in the coming days.”
The dragons scooped out hollows in the gravel and sand. Both rested and either Carrion or Raymer checked on them several times. None of them had slept the night before, and the warm afternoon usually had two or three asleep at any time. Anna was sitting beside the fire and chewing at the last tiny slivers of meat from a pheasant wing when she heard the steady clomp of an approaching horse on the road.
She stood and found one of the King’s officers riding nearer to them and looking at the dragons. A less brave soldier would have bolted at the first sight, but he had probably seen the people and ventured closer. Anna walked out to the road to meet the officer and held up her hand for him to stop, an action that drew his anger. He barked, “Who are you to stop me?”
“I’m tired, hurt, and not in a mood to put up with your attitude,” she paused. “Sir.”
He wore a uniform with gold braid, a gold loop over his shoulder, gold trim on his cap, and a stripe down the sides of his expensive pants. Beardless
, he showed his emotions with his face. “Insolence.”
“And disdain, confusion, and contempt, sir.” Her eyes never left his. “You are riding away from Shrewsbury like a coward. Maybe I should add that to my list.”
His hand went to the sword trimmed in gold.
Anna tossed her head in the direction of the two dragons. “You really do not want to do that.”
He froze as one of the reds sensed her anger and turned to look at him. They were more than two hundred steps away, but he heard the warning growl.
She said again, “Why are you riding away from the location where our common enemy is planning to land an army?”
“What do you know about politics and the wishes of our King?”
“I know this,” she spoke calmly as if they passed the time of day after meeting in a park in the capital. “You are being taken for fools. Ask yourself, why is your army at the southernmost portion of the kingdom and in hiding? Ask, if an army invades and does not join with you as promised, but marches north to Princeton, how will it be stopped?”
His eyes shifted which told her she’d managed to get his attention. “You know nothing of what we do. This is our King’s business.”
She spat to one side. “The same King who attacked the Northwoods last year before your army slunk home with its tail between its legs like a defeated dog? Your King has a remarkable history of military defeats to his credit. Why would you think this is different?”
“I have my orders, and they include rounding up any Dragon Clan I encounter. If you deny being one of them, let me see your back.”
Anna shrugged and said, “The design is there, I freely admit. Now it is time for you to do your duty.”
His eyes shifted to the dragon.
“Well yes, if you pull a weapon that beautiful creature will spit acid at you, and you’ll be dead before your shriveled body falls from that horse and reaches the road. Still, you have your King’s orders, and you are not obeying them. In one instance you do not obey, but in the other you do. How do you decide?”
The officer was probably one of the younger generals, not used to being addressed by anyone in the manner she spoke, but unable to protest too much or he would die. He said, “I will return with my troops and take all of you.”
“Respectfully, no you won’t. First of all, that red dragon looking at you is the one that defeated your whole army at Castle Warrington, all by himself. The other is much more fierce and a better fighter. Now, before you get too excited I have a few more things to tell you.”
The officer almost sputtered in anger, but another look in the direction of the dragons, and he waited.
“If your King has communicated and made a deal with the Royals in Breslau, which I see by your face you didn’t expect me to know about, or even to have heard the name Breslau before, you will begin to wonder. How do I know these things? Is your King a military expert? Would he be easy to double-cross and send his whole army where they cannot stop an invasion until the capital city is taken?”
The soldier adjusted himself in his saddle as if he was now uncomfortable. He again held his tongue.
Anna continued, “Look at me, sir. I’m just a little girl, and even I can see what’s happening. Are you so stupid you cannot see it?”
Those words stung. She saw it in his eyes and the in the clenched fist holding the reins. “Who are you?”
She flashed her childlike smile and tried to act and sound younger. “My name is Anna. What is yours?”
“Never mind, my name.”
“Okay, if that is your attitude, will you come back and visit me? It was nice talking to you, sir. Now it is time for you to leave.”
The officer put his heels to the ribs of the horse and left her standing there in the road without a backward glance. She went back to the campfire where Raymer sat watching her. He said, “I heard most of it.
“Think it will do any good?” she asked.
He said, “You really stuck your verbal rapier into him, but I think you got his attention.”
“He said he would bring his troops here to arrest us.”
Raymer said, “It’ll take him two days to reach his troops. Say another to get them ready and head this way. We’ll already be in Racine by the time they depart.”
“Unless there are troops closer,” Anna said.
Raymer shrugged, “In which case he will not return with them. When you told him my dragon is the one that defeated the entire army at Castle Warrington, did it occur to you that he was probably there to witness it?”
“No.”
“I didn’t think so. If he was there, he wants no part of another encounter, especially after you lied and told him Carrion’s dragon is more fierce and a better fighter. You almost had me running up that hill to join in your conversation and defend my dragon.”
“It was not a conversation. It was a warning, and hopefully, one he takes for real. If he placed part of his troops at Shrewsbury to ‘greet’ the invaders, he would see that the King made a mistake. He could come out of this a hero.” Anna settled her head on her backpack to end the subject and sleep. Then she remembered she had torn her blanket into strips to use in washing the dragon’s wounds. Before she would say anything, she felt Raymer’s blanket tossed over her.
When she woke, Raymer was talking quietly to Carrion and Tanner. From the scraps she overheard, they had been up to the road to talk with each passerby. They were spreading the word of the invasion, where it would come from, and offering suggestions on how to survive to the locals, or anyone else.
The few people they’d talked to would spread the word to their friends, relatives, and all they met. Within days, the area would be on alert, with most families packed and ready to run for cover. Most would know of isolated places, caves, or safe locations with family far away. Most would avoid travel on the roads. They knew how to stay alive, and getting caught between two warring armies was not it.
Carrion noticed her awake. “I cannot tell you how pleased I am to turn over command to you.”
“I thought that happened early today.”
“That’s what I meant. I make a much better foot soldier than a commander. As a common man, I can sit back and criticize all you do while doing little or nothing. Please do not ever put me in charge again.”
Raymer said, “As for me, I am so glad to have a commander who knows what to do, how to do it, and who will tell me when and where to take every step.”
They sat beside each other. Anna realized that one good slap of her palm could continue from Raymer’s smirk all the way to Carrion’s. One swing to reach both. But beyond the smirks, she saw respect in their eyes. Respect and a willingness to do what she asked. How can two Dragon Clan warriors bonded with dragons respect me?
She said, “Unless the injured heal faster than I think possible, I believe we should remain here where there is water and where we can warn the locals for one more day.”
Raymer smiled and said, “Then we can go on that ocean cruise you promised?”
CHAPTER TWENTY
Carrion laughed at the idea of a voyage to Breslau being an ocean cruise. He said, “The last time Tanner and I were there, a dragon grabbed us in its talons and flew us to safety.”
Anna said, “I thought that was fiction. Can the two of you tell that story to us tonight?”
Thief had woke and said, “Yes.”
“Only if someone goes hunting and finds more food,” Carrion said.
Raymer said, “My dragon’s wounds are healing, and I don’t want him getting stiff. He can find a couple of deer and bring one to your dragon, as well as enough for us.”
Carrion said, “Good idea. I want to inspect those rips on my dragon’s wings before it flies again, and maybe give it a few more days to heal.”
“They’re that serious?” Anna asked.
“I don’t know,” Carrion said. “But torn wings are serious and need to heal. But you need to move on to Racine as fast as possible. My red and I can hide out
nearby here for a few days, if necessary.”
It was the first suggestion that they might split up. Anna didn’t react outwardly, but inside she felt a sharp jab. In only a few days the group had bonded, and their two dragons had helped them defeat five adult greens. Tanner had stayed and destroyed eggs and chicks, and she hadn’t asked him how many, but if there were only five more, the number of greens in the air would have soon doubled. She suspected that there had been far more than that.
While others might not know what happened last night, she knew that they had struck a major blow. First burning Shrewsbury and now killing the green dragons so the ‘dragon masters’ from Breslau couldn’t use them.
She said, “Tanner or Thief can stay with you if needed.”
“I can watch over my dragon alone. If anyone gets close, they will find out how accurately it can spit. But I’m still hoping we can go on with you.”
Raymer’s dragon delivered part of a deer by dropping it near their camp. It left again and soon returned with one that it placed at the forelegs of the other dragon. They skinned and roasted the haunch over the fire, while surrendering the rest of it to Raymer’s red. They stayed awake talking like they’d done so many other times.
In the morning, Anna limped from her wounded leg, still uncertain as to how it happened, Raymer grabbed his side when he moved too quickly, and each of the others tended their wounds. None seemed inflamed or infected, and as the morning drew on their movements became easier. Most slept several times during the day, but always at least one watched the road and went to greet anyone traveling in either direction.
Raymer made the comment that few seemed surprised at the information of the invasion. All seemed to know at least pieces, and most had already made plans to escape from the area. A few joked about inept King Ember sending his troops so far south that the back door to the King’s palace was wide open. If peasants could see and understand his mistake, how could a well-educated king be so stupid? It was a question often asked in one manner or another.
