The Dragon's Back Trilogy

by Robert Dennis Wilson

  “What do you mean?” the pulsing pounding of internal drums filled Kaleb’s ears again. “Freedom? You can get me outta’ here? To that ‘better’ place? How? Why?”

  In truth, Kaleb felt security in a structured world even while hating the structure. The sudden freedom Raven offered him brought down most of those walls of security with a resounding crash! While the dust settled, Kaleb sought to find his mental place in a world he had dreamed about but never imagined he could actually visit—let alone inhabit.

  The last of those walls tottered precariously on unanswered questions that all tried to rush out of his mouth at once.

  “What about… What about the government? I’m here on some sort of sponsored program that even my GrandSire’s River Valley thornmaster couldn’t get me out of. How can you get that contract revoked?”

  “Oh, you let me worry about that,” the tall young man in the black robe laughed out loud again. But then he bent toward Kaleb and added in a secretive whisper, “Actually, I’m here not so much as a student, but rather as a spy to help keep an eye on this school on behalf of some very powerful people. They are some of the financial backers of the college. You don’t have to worry about government rules and regulations where they’re concerned. As I said, they’re very powerful. They prefer working in the background, but will occasionally reach out and reveal their hand in a special case. You, Kaleb, are just such a case!”

  “What do you mean? You came here looking for me? Is that how you know my name when we’ve never met before?” Excitement, confusion, and not a little trepidation stirred together by Raven’s words, became a powerful mixed drink. As Kaleb tried to swallow the distilled brew in one gulp, his throat burned, his world spun, and his knees began to shake. Quickly he dropped down hard to the edge of his unpadded cot.

  Another thought crept through that mental blur to escape his lips, “If you and those you work for don’t like the teaching of this school why do you support it?”

  “Can you think of any better way to get people to drink more water than by feeding them dust and sand? I’ll explain everything in just a little while,” promised the dark-cloaked giant, kneeling down as though he sought to better look Kaleb in the face, “but first of all, I need to hear your story in your own words. How did you get here? I know it must be a painful subject for you, but I need to know all of the details. What terrible events have marked you as one qualified for an orphan’s scholarship in a school you don’t want to attend. Do not fear. Your answers will not be used to hurt you further. No! In truth, they are required by my masters so that they may possibly help you. And their help, once offered, is beneficial in ways which far exceed by many lengths your greatest imaginations and fondest dreams!”

  For some reason he would never be able to explain, Kaleb poured out his heart to the massive stranger. Only his now absent brother has ever reached that far into his soul before. All of the pain, bitterness, and frustration that had filled his life to that moment flowed out in an angry torrent. The giant became a willing mirror reflecting back to the orphaned boy an image that justified his hatred of a cruel and hostile world. Seeds of discontent and rebellion, long-held dormant by inhibition and fear of exposure, found light and moisture in Raven’s sympathetic face, sprouting at last to glorious fruition. The words themselves, stretching like an endless highway into the night, became a pathway to an exhilarating freedom. Suddenly Kaleb knew—it was right to feel wrong! It was right to expect revenge for the transgressions others inflicted! It was right to take up thorns! Those who had hurt him deserved to be hurt and hurt again!

  “Your pain will soon find its end!” Raven’s spoken words startled Kaleb as they broke through his silence. Kaleb looked down to see his fists gripped so tightly that both of his arms shook uncontrollably and his nails had cut red marks into his palms.

  “Kaleb, my brother,” continued the giant, “there is a special place for you in this world and, with your permission, I will take you there. We call ourselves ‘the Society’. We are very selective about who we allow to become members. You, my friend, are being offered that privilege.”

  Quickly Kaleb debated this incredible opportunity in his mind, yet, in spite of himself, discovered that he remained hesitant to accept.

  There are still too many unanswered questions, he reasoned. The walls have not been fully broken down after all. First, the government placed me here. Wouldn't leaving be breaking the law in spite of what Raven's told me? And even more important, how would Jason be able to get messages to me or I to him?

  Kaleb felt confident that his new-found friend would accept his doubts, so dared to express them. He deliberately chose his words carefully, not wishing to seem either ungrateful or unwilling to accept the generous offer, “Raven, you have been very kind to me and I am overwhelmed by your offer. But before we leave I would like to know the answer to several questions, if I could. What am I to tell the schoolmaster about my leaving? I don’t want to be here, but I also don’t want the government after me for backing out of our agreement. But, what’s really got me concerned; how will my brother be able to get in touch with me if I leave here? At this point, he knows where I am, but I don’t know where he is. Like I told you, my GrandSire turned him over to that Swimmer bard before he died…”

  Suddenly Raven’s expression grew very angry. The giant rose to his full height and smashed the side of his hand against the rough scaline block wall with such force that the room itself seemed to shake. This unexpected behavior caused Kaleb no little fear. He knew instinctively that this big man would make a good friend, but feared he could never be trifled with. Yet the object of Raven's surprising outburst caused Kaleb even more surprise and concern. "That bumbling idiot, Marvin!” shouted the giant. “He messed up things royally! Your brother’s in the hands of that cursed bard! Yet bringing you here definitely had its purposes. Kaleb, you really don’t have to worry about the law! We in the Society control the law, and much of the government, too! The most important thing for us and you as well is to get you away from here!"

  Kaleb, in his confusion, managed to ask, "How do you know about the Director? I never told you his name! How do you know about me?"

  Raven sounded suddenly apologetic, almost as if he had accidentally revealed too much, "I'm sorry, Kaleb, for my outburst, but it is time for you to know the truth. We know much about you. Probably more than you know yourself. You see, my young friend, as I told you, you are very important to us. Both you and your brother, Jason, are. We were the ones who sent you to the Orphanage. This was necessary to protect you from the Swimmers who murdered your parents. I swear to you that we did not know that Marvin had treated you so poorly. The Society gave him very different instructions for your raising. It is my promise to you that he will surely be rewarded for his failed efforts! Yes, I know the Orphanage was a hard place to grow up and I’m truly sorry for that; but in retrospect, harsh environments cause sturdier trees, and you needed to be very sturdy for the task in front of you."

  The more Raven spoke the more confused Kaleb became, but also the more excited. Secret plans? They had sent us? Protection? A task?

  But the large man gave him little time to think. Leaning forward, Raven spoke rapidly in an intense whisper. Kaleb was deeply affected by this: someone cared enough to share secrets with him! "There's an extremely urgent reason why you and I need to leave this place at once. I was sent here by the Society to specifically offer you a membership. It is your birthright! You see, your father and mother both belonged to the Society. They were full members! When we sent them on a special assignment, they were intercepted by the Swimmers... You saw the results, as you told me, with your own eyes. What a horrible way to start your childhood!"

  Kaleb stared at the black-robed man in startled wonder. Someone was finally giving him some answers! If only they could give him a name!

  As though he could read the boy’s mind, Raven continued, "Did you know that the man responsible for that atrocity never received his due puni
shment? He is still free to roam the countryside and spread his deadly propaganda. And spread it he has. He is a bard that travels throughout the countryside spouting his 'Words of the Gryphon', filling the minds of unsuspecting people with the poison of bigotry. He seems particularly interested in your family. First, he tried to recruit your parents; and when that failed, he killed them. Next, he found your grieving GrandSire and convinced that confused old man that if he, the old carver, had only been a Swimmer, then the bard would have had more help in the water, and everyone might have been saved! Rubbish! That black-hearted lying singer held your parents under with his own hands, watching with joy as his enemies sank into those dark and bottomless depths!"

  Kaleb, by force of will, held back the tears that threatened to blind him. Pain seared his back as the unbattled thorns thrusting through his pack inoculated him once more against reason. Rage, the untamed beast, found in those thorns a key: unfettered at last, it consumed the man.

  Tearing from his back the offending leather-bound burden, he smashed it onto the table, bursting its bindings and exposing its intimate contents. Blackened thorns spilled across the wooden surface, in swordsign, the ultimate call for conflict: ANSWER OR DEFEND! Uncaring, Kaleb faced the giant opposite him: staring deep into those midnight-black eyes, he issued his irrefutable challenge, "Will the Society help me find this... man? Will they help me destroy him?! If not, tell me his name!!"

  As though he had seen no challenge in thorn or word, Raven smiled at the youth. Tilting his head slightly to the side, he spoke as to a friend, "Why do you think you are being recruited?" Then, in the silence that followed, the juggernaut reached across the table and gripped the younger boy by the shoulders with each of his massive hands. Drawing a startled Kaleb toward him, the youth suddenly found himself no longer alone in the world but sequestered in a huddle of conspiratorial intimacy.

  In a voice still as low as a whisper but as forceful as dragonsbreath, Raven drove his words into Kaleb's face, "My brother, you have already met this man, our enemy, though you were unaware of it at the time. Your GrandSire committed your younger brother into his care, just before that poor old man was shoved off the top of Dragonshead. Yes, he is that same bard you hated when first you laid eyes on him, for you had seen him before in your distant youth!"

  Kaleb could not think or see. A veil of swirling blackness became his only reality. Anger and Pain ruled his collapsing universe, squeezing it tighter and smaller, until all that had once been called Kaleb, exploded in a conflagration of unbounded chaos!

  In those swirling, expanding clouds, imagination, crushed yet not quite broken, found coalescing patterns. Memory claimed the patterns as faces. In a forgotten, faltering voice, he whispered unspoken Names: "Mom! Dad! GrandSire! Jason!!"

  Words from outside of this fiery maelstrom touched it, and in touching, molded the destiny of a universe reborn. "Our people have been diligently watching,” said the voice. “The Swimmer-bard has been sighted! And he still has your brother with him! We need your help to rescue the boy, for by this time, that treacherous Swimmer will have totally corrupted his young mind. You are the only one who can convince Jason of his error and save him from the curse of the Swimmer!"

  Chaos took on burning, white-hot form, and in that form found Purpose.

  Kaleb stood forth, fashioned anew from the cauldron of pain. In his upraised hand he held aloft a long-treasured thorn, set aglow by the unconsuming fire of Chaos.

  He spoke, and found in words a reaffirmation of existence, "My name is Kaleb, Son of Timnon, Son of Thaddeus!"

  He shouted and Purpose grew to fill the world! "Hatred also has a name, and I know it! Vengeance wears a face, and I can see it! Nathan!!!"

  THOUGH HE WERE

  THE SON

  (Part 1)

  I.

  The Gryphon, who in many times and many ways,

  Spoke unto us in times long past,

  Has now, through His Son, Throne-sitter, Swimmer,

  Clearly spoken out at last.

  Of old, the words came winging to us,

  As eagles brought signs of another land;

  But on the waves, the Proof was carried,

  Guided by His unseen hand:

  A coracle of reeds came floating,

  Bourne in the night to the fisherman's cove.

  And in it, a virgin found the Baby

  From Gryphon's Land, the Son of Love.

  II.

  In the craft, the Child did carry

  Proof of His birth, a Gryphonskin,

  Untarnished by the Dragon's poison,

  For fresh pure water flowed within.

  Then Gryphon spoke unto the virgin

  And to the lowly fisherman,

  And bid them take His Son unto them

  And raise Him in the Dragon's land.

  So they, the Gryphon's Cub adopted,

  And He took on Him the fisher's 'skin:

  Marked as a man, but never tasted,

  The River never entered Him.

  III.

  For a time, made lower than the eagles;

  Now crowned with glory, we see Him;

  The Gryphon's Son (pure, spotless, holy),

  Was in the River forced to swim.

  For it was fitting for Him who is

  The Purpose and Cause of everything,

  To make the One who would build the bridges

  Perfect through His suffering,

  That through His death, the Dragon's power

  Would be destroyed till none remains,

  Delivering them, who through fear of drowning,

  Were all their lifetimes bound in chains. *16

  ALL THINGS

  SHARP & POINTED

  "Back there you sang a song of sorrow and death; almost as if you were too heavy to be a Swimmer..."

  "Even the best Swimmer,” replied the bard, “acknowledges the weights that fill a world without the Gryphon's Son as its center. Dragonsback does not live under the Gryphon's rule, so does not carry the Gryphon's blessing. Look around you, observe the people that we meet. You will see the heaviness that drowns them day by day. You, too, carry some extra weights."

  Feeling suddenly very uncomfortable, Jason sought to divert his master's scrutiny, even if it meant broaching the subject that he dreaded most, "You spoke of dr-dragons' nests! I have dreamt often of dragons and of eagles, but almost everyone I've ever asked tells me they are mythical creatures. No one has really ever seen any of them, have they? The thought of invisible dragons flying around free to attack... it- it turns my insides as cold as scaline. Yet, somehow, I think I can feel those living nightmares lurking around me somewhere just out of sight!"

  Nathan turned to look his student directly in the eyes as he answered quietly, but deliberately, "Those who look through the Gryphon's eyes, see realities others only dream could be true. Some dragons hide without, many hide within."

  In a world full of dark lies, Jason felt a faint glimmer of truth burn its path into his understanding. In the resulting illumination, he saw himself, naked and exposed. To fill his embarrassed silence, he quickly asked, "How did you know that the thorns were poisonous? And that they would attract dr-dragons?"

  "I only have to remember the Word of the Gryphon. It is filled with His wisdom and tells us much of what we are like and what He expects of us. This particular wisdom is found in a song written by one of the First Bards who actually met the Gryphon's Son when He was here. The Bard's name was 'Little Man' (though he became a giant in the Gryphon's cause). This is from the fourth stanza of his "Song of Eph:"

  Put off from you your land-locked clothes,

  Which drag you down so fast:

  Put on instead the swimmer's garb,

  And be renewed at last.

  Never carry the weight of another's thorns,

  No, not even 'till tomorrow.

  Before sun sets, regather your own,

  Lest your next day dawn in sorrow.

  For the Dragon's poison fill
s each point,

  And on you it will turn:

  If you would collect discarded rags,

  Gather but to burn.

  Don't thereby give the dragons place

  To build their thorny nest:

  Put off from you the barb of strife;

  Seek instead the Swimmer's rest. *17

  Hearing these words, Jason grew more uncomfortable. Realizing his diversionary ploy had failed, he suddenly started feeling sick and weak from heat, and overburdened with the weight of his pack. It had never felt this heavy before. "Can we rest somewhere? I'm not feeling too well."

  Having left the forest and thorntree thicket behind, the travelers were now traversing a wide sun-lit field filled with wildflowers. The ground had risen and the River had taken an oxbow turn away from the elevated meadow. The brightly colored menagerie of life spread before them looked like a mirror image of the one that had filled Jason’s waking dreams for years. Now that he had finally found his “safe place”, Jason simply could not enjoy it.

  "I know why you’re sick," said the bard, stopping to take off his own pack and lay it gently on the ground. "In the light of this place we need to make an examination. Take off your pack and spread its contents out so the Gryphon can see what's there."

  "Why… Why would he be interested in my pack?" quickly asked Jason, shock and sudden fear evident in his voice.

  Nathan stood to face his young apprentice, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder before he answered, "It is His desire that all men become Swimmers. Heavy packs make for poor Swimmers."

  Caught! Exposed! A violent maelstrom of thoughts and emotions crashed and warred within Jason's troubled mind. I have carried them for so long! Yet, the Gryphon is concerned for me. But to reveal myself...

  As the youth slowly knelt in the grass beside the road, he began to weep; and, although the perceived unmanliness of this action embarrassed him even further, he could not stop though he tried. Even with his pack now lying on the ground, Jason's still felt the weight of its contents pressing him down into the earth of Dragonsback.