by LeRoy Clary
Karen and Tom took turns walking Gareth, an arm always linked around his shoulder as if he was a drunk stumbling home after a long night at the local inn. He shuffled and tripped, often over nothing more than his feet, many of the falls intentional as he tried keeping up the charade of the medicine dulling his actions. Despite his struggles with walking, the three steadily moved east as fast as Gareth could manage. Thanks to the many warnings from the small dragon, they saw several other dragons flying over the forests, their huge bodies blotting out the stars. Each time, the small black snarled and provided enough warning for them to get under cover. Tom suggested the dragons were only flying at night to flush them out into the open, or perhaps to keep them holed up instead of traveling so they could be located the following day. Either action benefitted their pursuers.
There were others indications of approaching dragons, too. Insects and night birds stopped singing and without their songs, the forest sounded empty as the travelers huddled under trees waiting for the next dragon to fly past.
The three crossed several dirt roads during the early part of the night, after carefully waiting and watching to ensure each was free of watchers. Then they moved across them as fast as possible, leaving few footprints for the Brotherhood or army to find. Twice they paused to allow brothers in green robes to stroll past on the roads while the three concealed themselves in underbrush. Gareth sensed his stupor quickly fading, and he walked on without requiring as much assistance to travel faster. They made better time until Karen pulled to a halt and fumbled at her waist for another flask of the bitter medicine. “He’s beginning to wake.”
“I still don’t understand,” Tom said. “I have questions.”
Karen gave Gareth a sip of the medicine.
Gareth held it in his mouth until she turned to Tom. Gareth allowed it to dribble from the corner of his mouth. Little went down his throat. The medicine had numbed his mind and slowed him until he might as well have been asleep. What was needed was learning to keep his thoughts to himself. He forced his mind to act and feel as it had earlier, relaxed and calm.
Karen said, “Not enough to put him to sleep this time. We just need to quiet his thoughts down.”
“Explain more fully,” Tom said, more insistent.
Karen sipped water from her canteen and sighed, as if reluctant to speak. “Okay, really quick. Maybe one boy in a thousand can either send his thoughts to another or receive them, as the pairs of the Brotherhood do. They kept it secret and managed to maintain their association for hundreds of years. Men with the mental ability can sense the developing skill in young boys at age four or five. When the brothers locate a boy with the power, they “buy” him, which often means kidnapping. They train him to communicate with one other boy. Those brothers you see in the green robes are in constant contact with their opposite who is far away. They have that distracted ‘look’ because they are.”
Tom asked, “You only mentioned men. No women have this talent?”
She flashed a smile in the dim light of early morning. “We have another, related talent, at about the same ratio of one in a thousand, but only more recently discovered. Or found to exist, we do not know. Women of our sisterhood use their minds to communicate with animals, not other people.”
Tom growled, “I talk to animals, too. Explain the difference.”
“We do it without words. Of course, we don’t really speak, or talk to them, we ‘suggest.' Most of us find it’s easier to mouth the words we suggest, which makes us look odd to normal people. The smarter an animal is, the more complex ideas we can suggest. Dogs and pigs do a lot at our urging, like fetching or tracking a deer we’re hunting. A mouse can’t. Nevertheless, we can suggest to all the mice in a house that there’s a cat stalking them, and that if they run outside, they will be safe. Once they are all outside, we shut the door to keep them out and live vermin free.”
Tom helped Gareth stand again. Gareth intuitively understood the woman’s talent probably had other uses, including uses beyond what she was telling Tom. She minimized her explanation, but Gareth could accept that. Her brief explanation had told him much he needed to consider.
Gareth allowed his mind to decipher the puzzles in her explanation. She obviously held more power than she wanted to claim. Gareth imagined she might direct a mother bear to maul him while suggesting to the mother that he hurt her cub. Passive dogs would attack if urged on by fear of perceived dangers. Even geese are used as watchdogs in rural areas, and a honking goose is a formidable opponent.
Tom said, “Can the animals answer you?”
“In a fashion, I guess. They often return affection, even unlikable animals like cats. Mostly they just do what we suggest, and we save ourselves from days of hunting for lost sheep. We do not watch flocks at night because alert dogs do it, and we keep pests out of our homes.”
Gareth limped along, still exaggerating his weaknesses, but his mind capturing every word of their conversation. At her mention of animals responding “in a fashion,” his mind seized on the statement. He tripped and stumbled as he considered her meaning, and finally understood what she had not said, what she had not told Tom. Woman with the talent could probably see through an animal’s eyes as he learned today that he could do with his dragon. Probably only with animals the sisters knew well, like pet dogs or pigs, and perhaps birds. She hadn’t mentioned that skill, and his distrust grew. She also hadn’t elaborated on what her ‘suggestions’ could do with an angry bear or dog. Her entire conversation was a series of half-truths. He fought to keep his mind calm, and his sense of anger or excitement concealed from her.
Gareth pictured the tannery back in Dun Mare and himself lying in the sun near that old sour apple tree in late summer. Faring told his made-up ghost stories, swearing the tales were true, and they both laughed at the absurd fantasies. His breathing slowed. He didn’t totally relax, but his mind settled, and he calmed the portion he felt allowed others to peep into his thinking. Now that he knew others saw his thoughts, he tried to set his mind in the same manner as the bitter fluid did. It was like pursing his lips to prevent speaking, only different.
Tom walked quietly beside him, probably thinking about her answers too, and considering the consequences much like Gareth. So much Tom didn’t know.
Gareth listened to their conversation and had plenty of questions to ask, but didn’t want to make them aware of his interest, or wakefulness. Her evasive answers to Tom’s questions indicated she had an agenda of her own, but he had no idea of what it might be. It obviously included Gareth, and keeping him away from the Brotherhood, and the army. For now, that seemed to coincide with Tom’s ideas. Gareth wondered if she could order sharks to attack a fishing boat. Probably. Could a bird watch for someone she wanted to see from high in the sky and somehow relay that information to her? Could she watch through the bird’s eyes and direct it where to look as it flew, or where to fly? Probably.
But why was she trying to keep him from the brothers and army, and what limits would she go to in order to keep him out of their hands? A slit throat as she’d suggested earlier? A taste of copper filled his mouth as he realized he’d bitten his cheek so hard it bled.
Gareth decided she was far more dangerous than she made out. She might shoot arrows straight, but her real abilities were hidden in webs of tangled lies and half-truths.
Tom urged Gareth to catch up with her on the path, half-dragging Gareth along. When they caught up, Tom asked in a soft voice, “You and that other woman who delivered the medicine dress alike. Is that coincidence?”
She said over her shoulder, tossing a hand to one side in indifference. “You know it’s not. We learned to keep to ourselves and conceal our powers from the Brotherhood, as well as from normal people. We’re sometimes accused of witchcraft. Usually, one of the Brotherhood is responsible for starting the rumors, but we face the consequence. Those men do not like us. They don’t trust us, yet we share the same sort of mental ability. So we try to avoid them, and we live our ow
n lives. Our common dress gives us a simple method to recognize each other.”
“One more question before we rest.”
“It sounds important.” Her voice conveyed the idea she wanted to continue their travels, not wait and talk about subjects she’d rather keep to herself.
Tom nodded, although she was facing ahead and only Gareth could see it. “If one boy in a thousand can send or hear another with their minds, how many can do both?”
She hesitated, and then said, “I’d guess Gareth is maybe one in a thousand of those with the normal mental ability men have. Maybe less. Perhaps it has never even happened before, and your friend is something entirely new to the world. So I cannot answer your question with any certainty. I can only say that I, and anyone I have spoken with, have never mentioned it.”
“Unbelievable,” Tom said, casting a glance at Gareth.
Karen drew a deep breath and turned to speak. Her face was dark, her voice a rasp of anger. “Want more unbelievable information? Your friend leaning on your shoulder can speak to animals like women of the sisterhood. He just learned of it today, but already he’s better at it than any of us. That’s after just a half day of bonding with his black dragon. I’m not sure about how he deals with animals besides his dragon, yet, or if he can. But you have to admit that his goat did seem to have an unusually firm attraction to him.”
Tom shifted Gareth to stand on the other side of him as he shook his left arm to get the blood flowing. Then he looked directly at Gareth as if trying to grasp information of any sort from his slack face, but Gareth allowed his eyelids to slip down and pretended sleep so he wouldn’t see the tension and fear in his eyes. Gareth also fought to keep his emotions in check, and his mind calm. If he failed, Karen would administer more medicine, perhaps by force.
Tom spoke after a few seconds, slowly and with caution. “Karen, you say nobody in the past ever had Gareth’s abilities?”
She hesitated, sitting on the path to rest, her knees drawn up to her chin. “You’re asking a lot more than we agreed upon. The answer is, none. Oh, I guess that it’s possible there have been others in the dim past, but if there had been others you’d think we would have heard rumors or stories. It’s time for us to continue.”
“Wait. Do you know for a fact that Gareth is in mental contact with his dragon? You’ve seen or heard it for yourself?”
“I’ve seen it and heard it. My sister Mary, the one who watched over him while I fetched you from the road, told me she witnessed it, too. Baby dragons have insatiable appetites, yet at a mental command from Gareth, it dropped food and moved away until Gareth allowed it to eat. They are definitely linked, and bonded together, which is far more than simply suggesting an animal acts in a specific way when ordered, as a shepherd telling her dog to gather the flock of sheep. It is more like the sharing of a single mind. We’ve been here too long.” Karen stood.
Despite Karen wanting to travel further and faster, Tom placed Gareth on the ground where Gareth’s back rested against a small tree. Tom sat the bag with the dragon on the ground, and slid down himself, supporting Gareth so he didn’t slump over.
The dragon stuck his head out and hissed weakly, then pulled his head inside, again. Seconds later the rustling sound of huge wings flying overhead filled the night air. When it was past, Tom continued, “Karen, I won’t pretend to understand all of what you’ve said, or even most of it. But why are so many people after Gareth?”
She scowled and balled a fist at his defiance to her wanting to travel faster, but held her temper. “Power. Some want to kill him before he has a chance to learn or abuse his powers. Most simply want to use him for their own purposes. The Sisterhood can provide a good safe life for him. In return, he can keep us safe from the brothers, and king’s army. Our abilities are no longer secret, and we fear the war to come.”
“War?”
She looked down at him with the same expression a teacher might give a slow student. “War. Purge. You give it a name. When ‘normal’ people feel they are slighted and in danger from those, who are different, like the brothers and sisters. They will kill all of us if they can.”
“You don’t seem to be threatening anyone.”
“Still, they will see us as superior, as a threat. Maybe we are, I don’t know. But we are different, and they will not trust us. Different is always dangerous.”
Tom drew back at the venom in her words.
“It has already begun, Tom. If not, I would have shared none of our secrets with you. Too many people have learned of our abilities in the last few years, and the word spread like wildfire on a dry plain. In some far off lands, orders for our deaths have already been issued. In others, rewards for our heads are posted. There are recent reports of all brothers beyond the Burning Hills disappearing. Some were hanged or beheaded, others were slain in uprisings. The rest simply disappeared. Some are rumored to have escaped and perhaps returned to their mountains, but who knows?”
“Sisters too?”
“A few of us have faced angry riots from their villages. More are rotting in dungeons. We are all on high alert and trying to decide how to survive, which is part of why many of us have taken to living in the forests, especially those of us without husbands. But even married sisters are cautious with what they share with their husbands. Then, word of Gareth reached us. We don’t know who he is, or if he can help us, but we wanted to find out if we should keep him alive or kill him to prevent him from becoming a danger in the future.”
“Gareth hasn’t done anything. He’s barely more than a child.”
She stamped a foot and spun around, a stern stance and iron in her voice. “We are here wasting time when we should be escaping. You seem much more intelligent than the average corn farmer I meet. Perhaps better educated is a more correct assessment. Yet you ask stupid questions. Who are you?”
“I used to be a naval captain and a favorite of Queen Kristin.”
“She’s been dead a good many years, but I always thought highly of her. Let me tell you what I think while we remain here risking our lives and talking about things that can wait. Your young friend here places fear in the minds of all people of power. The king wants his service and his protection. The Brotherhood sees him as a threat if he is not aligned with them, and an asset if he is. So fear is the answer you seek.”
“You sisters fear that he might align with the brothers, or king, right? He upsets the balance.”
“Yes. Not from whom he is, but of whom he may become.”
“If you decide he is dangerous to your goals?”
“We’ll kill him. Direct a raging bull to attack him, or send a rabid dog to bite him.”
Gareth felt fear touch him for the first time. Fear bordering on panic. He was supposed to be so drugged he couldn’t understand them, but they spoke as if he was a creature not of the same earth. As if he was inanimate or a thing, instead of a person. They were calmly outlining his future, intending to gain what they could for themselves, not considering what he wanted. She even said she might kill him, and he believed her. He breathed in deeply, allowing the remains of the drugs in his body to help calm him. Raising his eyes he saw Karen flinch, and she looked back at him as if startled, but he shifted positions and looked away as if still heavily drugged, fighting to control his mind. He slowly let the air out between pursed lips, thinking of warm days and mindless plowing of endless fields.
“I may not let you kill him,” Tom said.
Karen snapped, “Don’t be foolish. You’re also unsure and distrustful of him, Tom. That’s why you said ‘may’ not let us kill him instead of ‘will’ not. Yes, I know you’d probably try to stop me or us or the Brotherhood, but in certain circumstances, I may be the one trying to prevent you from ending his life. But, for now, I’ll do my best to ensure he survives this night.”
“Only because he may be of use to you and your cause?”
“Certainly. Is that so different from you? I stand here and see you pretending to help him out of f
riendship, escorting him to sell his egg and all, but the egg has already hatched and is worthless to the army. The dragon chick has already bonded. Are you so honorable that you do not intend to escort him to safety and then offer his services, and those of his black dragon to the King? For a price?”
“I’m doing what’s right.”
She continued, “Well then, it seems that you also have an agenda. You served the crown as a captain of a warship and your allegiances to the crown have not waned over the years. You swore an oath to your queen, and while she may not sit on the throne, her eldest son does. “
“I am simply helping a boy who fell into the ocean near my boat.”
“A boy carrying the egg of a black dragon!” she hissed. She turned on Tom. Gareth saw the sly look mothers give small boys who lie by admission. “So you say that you never saw the black mother dragon searching for her egg?”
Gareth listened carefully. He now suspected the woman was intentionally talking so he’d overhear, but he kept his eyes closed and listened. He sought out his dragon huddling in the bag and suggested that it look at Tom’s face. Gareth attempted to peer through its eyes.
The mental shift and change in vision came easier. Finally, he saw Tom from a nearby location.
Tom looked livid.
She continued, “So let’s be clear. You will use the boy and dragon to suit your King’s wishes. Is that so different from me using him to protect others like me? Or the Brotherhood? Now it simply becomes a question of which of us manages to have our way. If two of us work together, the odds of success are greater. Two against one. Think about that.”
She waited. Karen’s proposal had to be answered. Gareth waited too, using the eyes of the dragon to watch Tom’s every twitch and movement.
Tom stood and pointed at Gareth, “I only want to help him.”
“Lie! You lie, but I can see it in your face. You pretend you are better than we are but in truth, we are open and sharing in our intentions, while you deceive this man you say is a friend that you are helping. Gareth and dragon are better off dead than in your hands.”
