by LeRoy Clary
Seth looked over his shoulder, questioning the old man.
Dawn said simply, “A dragon.”
CHAPTER FOUR
“A dragon?” Seth repeated. He hadn’t heard the word before.
“That great creature we saw flying was a dragon. Part bat, part horse, and part snake, if you ask me. It eats anything it can get talons into, including slow men and small boys in canoes.”
Dawn spoke too much, and as a result, Seth didn’t believe all, or even most of his wild tales, but recalling what he’d seen, he didn’t know what to discount. Every lie or exaggeration held a kernel of truth. “Does it live near where we’re going?”
“Course it does. That thing is part of what keeps us safe from people like your friends back there,” he jammed a thumb over his shoulder in the direction where the Salt People had last chased them.
Remembering the evil look in Modoc’s eye, and the many beatings from the angry old woman, solved the issue. The idea of living with a nearby dragon didn’t seem as bad. The general air of meanness from all of them in that family had kept him constantly on edge. A dragon couldn’t be worse. “We can keep a watch out and hide when it flies.”
“Now, that’s a plan if I ever heard one,” Dawn said. After a short time, he continued, “What do you expect we’ll do when the others fly?”
“Others?”
“That one back there looked like a black. There are also reds, greens, tans, and I don’t know what all else. What I do know is that they’re always as hungry as small boys, and people in boats are just snacks. I'm about worn out and going slow, so if you think you can paddle us a little faster, let me know, and you can take over.”
Seth snatched the paddle from his hands and drove the paddle deep, swinging the front of the canoe to a hard left. His next powerful stroke turned it back to the right, but neither drove it ahead very far.
“Taking a long way, are we?” Dawn asked, the humor clear in his tone.
“Are you keeping the same name today?” Seth shot back, “Dawn?”
“So far, I think so,” he spat over the side.
“Then shut up, Dawn and let me paddle.”
The old man cackled so much he fell into another coughing spell. Seth eased up on the power in each stroke, and the canoe surged ahead in more of a straight line. He looked ahead and found the shoreline where it met the water with a strip of gray sand. It drew closer. The breeze now came from his back and pushed the canoe ahead. He could have let the air and currents carry the boat ashore, but kept paddling, his eyes scanning the sky.
Dawn said, “Take her a bit to the left. See that black rock outcrop where it reaches down to the beach? We want to land right about there.”
Seth adjusted the direction and kept watch on the sky for dragons at the same time. In the far distance, he found another, or perhaps the same one, flying away from them. He pointed the paddle at it.
“We’ll see a lot of them on the island, son. Don’t be pointing them all out or you’ll wear out your pointing finger and only have four left on that hand.”
Seth would have argued about the loss of a finger, but Dawn had used another unknown word. Island. He asked, “Land? Island?”
Dawn said, “Well, it’s land of a sort, like you’re used to, but has salt water all around it. There’s fresh water on the island, including a small lake. Your friends from last night cannot get here unless they have another boat and are brave enough to travel out of sight of their land. But with nothing in sight, dragons flying all around, giant fish eating small boats and paddlers, and storms that shred boats into firewood, who in their right minds would ever come here?”
“Just us, I guess,” Seth grinned.
“Watch out for the waves when we get closer to shore. They’ll try to spill us over. Catch the tip of one and it’ll carry us right onto the beach. If not, be prepared to swim. Know why we’re here?”
“Because a crazy old man brought me here.”
“Nope. I lived here when I was your age. This island has plenty of food, water, and see that mountain in the center? It’s warm.”
“Warm? What’s that mean?”
“The sides of the mountain are warm. The ground itself. Not from the sun. It comes up from below like there’s a fire down there. Some smoke seeps up, too. And bad smells now and then, but in the winter snow and ice melt before touching the ground. This side of the mountain points away from the land we came from so anyone in a fishing boat won’t see it. They’ll just see the smoke from the mountain and the dragons circling. It must be the safest place you ever saw.”
“Except for the dragons.”
“Well, yes, there is that.”
After the other tales Dawn had told, Seth didn’t intend to believe half of what the old man said. The problem was that he didn’t know which half. “You used to live here?”
“That I did. Most of my life until I was maybe twenty. I was a strong young man from a good family. I went out into the world to see what else I could find. And there is much more to my story, but I’ll tell that to you about it later. Things are about to get busy.”
They had reached where the waves formed into white tips and rolled over themselves. A larger one lifted the boat up, then pushed it ahead where it rested between others so they could only see the sky in any direction. Another wave raised them higher again.
“Paddle us closer, and get ready to hold on, Seth. We’re going for a ride,” Dawn shouted.
While he didn’t understand the consequences, Seth did as told. They reached the point where the tops of the waves made themselves distinct and churned white. One caught the canoe and pushed it closer to the shore in a sweeping motion, skewing the boat sideways and threatening to tip them over.
“Use your paddle to keep us going straight,” Dawn yelled in a panic, sounding much calmer than Seth felt.
A smaller wave pushed them farther ashore, then a large wave already breaking roared their way. It lifted them higher and higher, then pushed them ahead as they slid down the front side. The breaking wave stayed right behind Dawn, always curling over, threatening to pour into the boat, but the canoe managed to move as fast and stay just ahead.
Seth looked at the beach and found it racing at him faster than Modoc could run. He grabbed a huge breath and held it as the sand seemed to rush at him. . . and then the wave fell apart as it lost energy. It reminded Seth of after he sprinted at top speed and had to stop, hands on knees while he wheezed to suck in a lungful of air. He simply ran out of energy, like the wave.
The waves after the point where they crested, shrank in size until they deposited the boat in water only ankle-deep, and the canoe scraped bottom. Seth leaped out and faced the incoming waves as if he’d defeated them in battle, while shaking a fist. Dawn climbed out in a more dignified manner and took hold of the back of the canoe so it didn’t drift off.
He looked at Seth. “Well done, my boy.”
They pulled the canoe up past the sand to the first of the trees, then beyond. Dawn said, “Tie it well. There are times when the water reaches this high.”
Looking behind at the beach and the sand between the boat and water, he sighed with disbelief. But to satisfy the old man he did as he asked.
Dawn had moved down the beach, closer to the rock ledge that jutted out into the water. Seth raced to join him, glad to use his legs again. The wet sand sucked at the bottoms of his feet. Shellfish coated the rocks and between where the water crashed ashore on the beach and the rock cliff, swirled a lake of green and white water, of relative calm.
Dawn pointed at it. “The fish swim in there to eat the shellfish. A boy with a fishing line can catch a meal quickly if he uses the right bait.” He walked on, finding the remains of a small path that led up the side of the cliff. Flat rocks had been placed almost side by side until they formed a walkway and even steps, now overgrown but visible.
Seth followed, but couldn’t help pausing now and then to look behind. The beach, the black rocks of the cliffs, and
the churning water drew him. The place where Dawn said there would be fish also looked like a perfect place to swim, if it was only a little warmer. The vegetation was dense and much of it alien to him. Plants with wide leaves grew beside trees so tall he couldn’t see the tops.
Colorful birds flitted or flew above, and a black crow hopped from branch to branch, squawking and scolding them as they moved along the path. They reached a wide, level valley barren of trees, but filled with grass and smaller shrubs. Goats grazed in the distance. Three sheep were nearer. A doe looked up from eating the green grass and snorted before lowering her head and eating again.
A flutter of nearby movement turned Seth’s head. Chickens ran free. Chickens meant eggs and easy birds to kill. The island was filled with familiar domesticated animals.
“No hunters?” Seth asked.
“No people. At least, not for a while. See that ridge up there?”
Seth looked to where the finger pointed. Above them, the ridge ran as far as he could see, and below it grew trees. The trail wound up the mountainside, avoiding the steepest slopes. “Yes, I see it.”
“Water flows down the mountainside when it rains and fills a lake up there. The ground is warm, even in the winter, and there are caves carved from the soft rock.”
Seth didn’t recognize the word, caves, but Dawn said it as if it would be something good. The old man followed the path, taking it slow and breathing hard as they climbed the steep path. Seth wanted to race ahead, but held back. He asked, “Are there people up there?”
“I hope not.”
That seemed an odd answer. But Seth was also feeling the strain of the climb and decided any more conversation would wait until they reached the ridge. Dawn tired quickly and rested often, but when he did, a smile usually filled his face when he looked down the hillside to the white beach and the water beyond.
From the direction they watched, they looked out to sea and even on the clearest day Dawn said you couldn’t locate the mainland unless they went to the other side of the island. That also meant nobody on the mainland would see the island or their campfire.
The vegetation turned sparse, and Seth spotted two more deer and later a ram. The grass was on the path was dotted with the scat of different animals. After climbing a particularly steep section, they emerged winded onto a wide shelf above the ridge. Above, on the side of the mountain grew a forest of hardwoods, but the huge level area in front of them could graze several hundred sheep, and looked like it may have at one time.
On his left, the hillside rose higher to become the top of the smoking mountain, but against the base of it grew trees in orderly rows that he recognized. Apples, pears, cherries, and peaches, still a few apples hanging here and there. A stream emerged from the fruit trees, flowing off to his right, and farther to his right the lake sparkled in the sunlight.
Dawn ignored all of what Seth saw. The old man walked slowly in the direction of the steep hillside. Seth raced to his side anxious to ask a hundred questions, but pulled to a stop at his expression, one of sadness and pain. Against the hillside, a stone wall had been built by stacking flat stones, one upon another, and there was the unmistakable outline of a door. Beside the door to one side stood another door, and as Seth looked, he picked out five small windows, and three more doorways, each trimmed in flat rocks the same color as the hillside and held in place with matching mortar.
At least four stone chimneys extended above the doorways, all made of the same flat, gray stone and mortar, so they blended into the hillside. Vines draped down from the rock wall above, and a variety of small green plants clung to the side of the rock wall, and grew in front of the doors and windows, telling the tale that nobody had entered them in at least a year, probably much longer.
Dawn pointed at the door directly ahead. “Mine.”
Seth drew back in confusion. “We’re not going to live together?”
“Not what I meant, but I should ask, do you wish to live with an old man or off by yourself?”
“I don’t want to live alone.”
Dawn chuckled, “What I meant when I said it was ‘mine’ is that this is the cave where I lived when I was young. Other people lived behind the rest of the doors, most of them family of one sort or another. That was before illness took all of them. All, but me.”
Seth had to use almost all of the fingers on both hands to account for the number of doors, and he assumed a hut or cave lay behind each. A large flat rock covered the entire top of each door. The rock slanted slightly forward to send the rain away. Seth’s family had used slabs of wood for the same purpose. The windows were openings covered by rotting boards.
Like Dawn said, from the weathering of the wood, the lack of paths or trails in the grass, and the overgrown orchard, nobody had lived here for years. But he had to take everything the old man told him, and determine what to believe. Together they stood on a flat stone set into the ground in front of Dawn’s door. Seth waited for Dawn to open it, but sensed him waiting, too. The emotions of the old man were almost palatable, his hand reluctant to open the door and enter.
Finally, Dawn reached out and pulled free the rusted iron bar that held it closed. The door almost crashed down on top of them as it came free of the door frame. The leather hinges were dried and tattered, now torn strips. Seth and Dawn managed to avoid painful headaches by pushing the door off to one side. Dawn stepped into the opening, moving slowly as if in a shrine. Inside were the leavings of people long dead. Seth respected the dead, but tried to stay out of their way.
“Just as I left it,” Dawn said softly, moving to the single window. He shifted a brace, and the wood closing the opening fell outside, allowing more light and fresh air to stream inside.
Seth took a tentative step inside, sniffed, expecting to smell old, musty, and of even stinky leftovers, and perhaps the smell of death. However, the room was earthy, warm, and almost inviting, at least in comparison to what he expected. Small animals had used it for a home, and they have left droppings long since dried and without the smell.
The first part of the cave appeared to be a kitchen built along the front wall, a stove and oven combination made of flat rocks and mortar, like the outside entrances of the caves. It was part of a single larger room that held two benches and three chairs, none appearing strong enough to survive sitting. There were two more doorways carved into the rock.
Seth watched Dawn enter each of them. Both rooms contained the sagging remains of shelves, sleeping pallets, small tables, and benches. Insects and time had destroyed most. Some rotted and fell apart at a touch, none were solid enough to use for anything.
But the three rooms were larger than Seth’s original home by far and larger than the Salt People’s hut that was less than the size of the main room. It had housed seven people, sometimes eight, plus the two dogs. The cave felt immense. Dawn could use one room for himself, Seth another. Together, they could share the main room and kitchen. He had never experienced such wealth and spaciousness.
Tears eased from the corners of Dawn’s eyes and spilled down his cheeks as he surveyed the two side rooms. Seth said, “We’ll build more pallets and benches. There are plenty of trees, and it’ll give us something to do when it snows.”
Dawn said, wiping his nose, “Yes, the time for all this has passed. Nobody has lived here for many years. You and I will haul all of this outside and build new.”
The choke in his voice told of the emotions surging inside, but Seth tried to ignore them while cheering up the old man. He couldn’t seem to stop his mouth from speaking. Seth knelt on the dirt floor and touched it with a hand. “I thought my feet were wrong, but the ground is warm. I’m glad we’re here, but what if you hadn’t stolen my canoe? How would you return here?”
“Well, I hoped I’d have time to build a boat.”
“Before winter? You’d have to build fast to do that. I already saw snow a few days ago, and ice was on the edges of the water.”
“Yes, I know, but I wished to get here f
ast, and your canoe was available. Have I apologized for trying to steal it?”
“You wanted to get here to stay warm?”
Dawn gathered the remains of a bench in his arms and started dragging it out the door. Seth leaped to help while asking, “Hey, what about the other caves? Don’t you want to see which is the best?”
“No, this one will do, fine. But you’re right. We need to search all of the caves. We may find tools or weapons, or other useful items.”
“Maybe bowls?”
Dawn pointed to slats of wood below a shelf standing beside the oven. It fell apart in Seth’s hand. Behind the remains were three shelves, filled with earthenware bowls, jars, mugs, and trays. Will the wonders ever end?
CHAPTER FIVE
Seth bent and held a palm on the warm dirt floor again. Would it stay that way all winter? He missed the significance of Dawn’s last words as he examined and wondered at the function and beauty of the bowls. Someone had painted designs on them before the final firing. He said, “Hey, I wonder if any of those apples on the tree are still good to eat?”
Before Dawn could respond, Seth ran out the door and headed for the orchard at a full run. He pulled a small apple from an overgrown tree and found it hard, tart, and as good as any he’d ever tasted. Here and there, apples still hung from three or four trees. Other trees were different varieties, but all were tall, tangled, and badly in need of pruning, a few appeared to have died. The fruit on most would grow small and sparse until pruning, if Seth were any judge.
Pruning the fruit trees and cutting down the dead ones would provide more than enough wood for the winter, and it grew close to the caves. He’d helped his father prune and carry off branches to a burn pile since he was young.
