The Dragon's Back Trilogy

by Robert Dennis Wilson

  “What?” said Kaleb, filled with sudden anger at his brother’s words. “Raven would never do that! He’s my best friend and he knows how I feel about you. Wait… Why would it bother you if those in the mob are looking for Swimmers? You’re not carryin’ a Gryphonskin. Or are you? Raven warned me…”

  Suddenly aware of the intense interest the shopkeeper had been taking in their conversation, Kaleb turned on the man and quickly drew his sharpened scaline blade. Startled by this turn of events, the heavy man took a quick step backward. Even in the dim light of the shop, Kaleb saw him blanch several shades lighter.

  “You, shopkeeper!” Kaleb barked as he had heard Raven do many times when giving orders to his men. “My brother and I need some privacy! Here is some coin for your wares. I will pay, but I will not take. Consider this a good day for business.”

  The young blackrobe tossed several polished scaline bits onto the counter before continuing, “I assume those stairs on the back wall lead up to your apartment.” Not waiting for the man’s nodded response, he demanded in his most severe voice, “Now, sir, I want you to take a break from your labors and go home for a while. If you refuse or if you draw attention to my brother and me while we are here, I swear by the Dragon that I will tell the mob out there that you are a sympathizer! I will bring their uncontrollable wrath down on your head! Do you understand? If you obey me, however, I myself will guard your place of business. I am, after all, the constant companion and friend of the largest blackrobe of them all, their Captain, Raven!”

  The target of the threats had already ascended halfway up the steep flight of stairs before Kaleb had finished his warning. The blackrobe chuckled as he disappeared from view and then commented lightly, “I didn’t know a man so fat could move so fast!”

  After pushing shut and latching the door, he turned back to his brother in time to see the bard removing a second waterskin from his pack.

  “So you kept that thing after all,” he stated dryly. “I suppose Raven was right then. You have become one of those Swimmers. Jason, how could you? After what they did! After all we promised each other! You’ve broken your word to me and you mocked our parent’s death. How could you?!”

  His younger brother stood there as silent and unmoving as a boulder on the seashore (as Kaleb had seen him do many times while they were growing up) and weathered the pounding surf of his older brother’s unleashed frustration and pain.

  But Kaleb had not finished; an entire ocean of anger released itself to crash down in verbal fury on that tiny unresisting piece of stone. The pain from the thorns on his back had suddenly increased to a point where he felt like screaming. Stepping to within a handbreadth of his brother’s face, he shouted with all his strength, “Don’t you know who you’ve been with? Nathan, that bard! He’s the Swimmer from the boat. He’s the one that killed Mom and Dad! Then he poisoned our GrandSire. And now he’s gone and turned you into one of those twice-cursed Swimmers too? Jason, you’ve been living and working with the very man we’ve both pledged ourselves to kill!”

  As the spent tsunami subsided and that living sea prepared itself for another swell, the silent rock spoke for the first time. His soft and gentle words cut into the raging surge like a massive jetty built as a solid breakwater greater than any wave. “I have known who he was, almost from the beginning.”

  “And you haven’t done anything about it yet?!”

  “The man you seek to kill is innocent of the crime you accuse him of committing.”

  “Lies! Lies he told you and made you believe! I saw what he did with my own eyes!”

  “You saw what the Dragon wanted you to see. Nathan almost died protecting our parents!”

  “From what?! There was no one else on the boat, except the captain and he was manning the tiller! Was the sail gonna jump down and suffocate them? Just what is it you think that bard was protecting them from?”

  “From the dragons that had attacked the boat for the express purpose of killing our parents!”

  “Dragons? Do you mean to tell me you still believe in that childhood nonsense? I’ve told you before, there’s no such thing as dragons!”

  “Yeah, I know what you told me over and over again, but that was before I saw some with my own eyes!” For some reason, the calm confidence his brother conveyed with that assertion made Kaleb very uneasy and not a little angry.

  “You mean in that dream? He asked, giving his brother an out.

  “No, they were as real as you and I!”

  “You’ve gotta be kid…”

  “The captain has upped the prize!” the shouted words came from just outside the closed door to the shop. “A whole sack of bits for whoever gets them, dead or alive!”

  Into the stunned silence that claimed the room, Jason inserted a very quiet whisper, “Well, brother, who do you think they want to kill? And under whose orders?”

  “It can’t be!” Kaleb responded in kind. “Raven promised me…”

  “It can be and is! Nathan lies dying where I hid him, felled by a coward’s blow from behind! As a follower of the Gryphon, I would never lie to you, brother. But I think… For some reason, they believe that we two brothers are important to them for some unknown reason. There is a hidden agenda behind all of these actions; they're guarding you like some ripe plum and also their hateful search for me! But of this one thing I am absolutely certain: the blackrobes are only using you, for their own purposes. They do not have your best interests as their motive. Once Nathan and I are dead, I doubt whether they will have any more use for you, either!”

  Something in his brother’s words made him think of similar thoughts he had experienced when suddenly awakened from a moss-induced stupor. They were using him. And were using the moss to keep him from realizing it. Why had Raven been giving him a free ride so far? He had thought it had been because of their friendship, but now…

  Then, ever so slowly, like an unoiled and rusty scaline hinge whose massive door hadn’t been opened in a century, something full of resistance turned within the young blackrobe’s heart. A decision was made. The course of a life began to change.

  Well, he thought, if the blackrobes could use me, then I can use them, too, just as easily. He only had two purposes in life that he knew of (since the deaths of Thaddeus and Marvin): protecting his brother and destroying that lying bard. First things first. He had to get Jason safely out of their reach. Afterward, when it was safe, he would use the dragonmen to find the bard.

  “Alright, enough discussion. We’ll take this up at a later, safer time, I promise you.” Kaleb concentrated on efficient business as he implemented the plan forming in his mind. “The dragonmen are looking for two Swimmers in the livery of bards, so if you’re going to get out of here in one piece, you’ll have to do it as someone other than a Swimmer and something other than a bard. You already know how to hide your second skin in your pack, so that takes care of the Swimmer part.

  “I assume you have someplace close by where you were going? No, don’t tell me. They can’t extract teeth from someone who only has gums! Get out of your tunic, I have something else for you to wear.” So saying the older brother pulled off his pack and rummaged through it, finally pulling out the ivory-colored carver’s tunic given to him by his GrandSire.

  “But I can’t wear that!” protested Jason. “It’s wrong to wear colors you haven’t earned!”

  “You Swimmers and your scruples!” Kaleb muttered before adding, “Have you ever sat at a campfire in the evening and tried to whittle something out of a piece of wood or a stick?”

  “Of course I have, that’s part of the fun of being out on the open road!”

  “Good! Then that makes you a beginner carver. Look at this garment. There are no status stripes, only a thin brown thread marking its wearer as a beginner carver. Besides, doesn’t your Gryphonsong have a story in it someplace where people lied to save someone’s life and then were later rewarded for it?”

  “Well, now that you mention it…” said Jason, st
ill sounding to his brother like he remained unconvinced.

  “Great!” exuded Kaleb, forcing his sibling into action. “From what we’ve just heard your life is in danger, so your Gryphon won’t mind, in fact, our GrandSire won’t mind, if you wear this tunic of mine for the short time it takes for you to get to safety! Right?”

  “Yes, I guess you’re right.”

  “Then change quickly, little brother. I don’t know how much time we have before someone comes through that door!”

  A short time later Kaleb’s plan had been fully implemented. The blackrobe and the craftsman stood facing each other.

  “It’s been great seein’ you again, Jase!” said the older brother, saddened by the knowledge of their separation.

  “Yeah, you too!” came the response.

  “I wish it could have been longer!”

  “Someday, Gryphon willing, it will be!”

  Then, spontaneously, the two brothers gripped each other in a manly embrace. Kaleb, ever mindful of the wounds he shared with his brother, under their packs, clung only lightly to his sibling.

  Jason surprised him by saying, “Kaleb, you can hug me like you mean it. I no longer have any wounds on my back, nor thorns in my pack. In fact, even the old scars have disappeared!”

  “How can this be?”

  “It’s the Gryphon’s doing. Only He could truly set me free!”

  “That’s right, you’re a Swimmer, now,” responded Kaleb and the old hollow log sound had returned to his voice.

  “Yes, that’s right. And someday soon, I hope that you’ll be one as well.”

  “Jason, you know that will never happen! Let me warn you, little brother, before you go. I do not believe the lies that bard has been tellin’ you. You will never persuade me otherwise. I saw him kill my parents and for that he must die (if Raven hasn’t done that job already)! Do not get in my way, if I ever meet you two together. Though I am disappointed in you, I love you and I have no wish to ever hurt you. That bard is another matter. I will have a hand in his death! This is my promise!”

  EVASION

  Having waited a short while after his brother left, Kaleb walked boldly out into the blinding sunlight.

  “Kaleb, what are you doing here?” the stern question spoken from very close by caused the young blackrobe to jump with a start.

  “Why, Raven!” he acknowledged the giant’s presence, trying to find words to cover his sudden fear of his friend. “I was looking for you! You took off so fast back there that I couldn’t follow you through the crowd. I tried to squeeze around the outside of the square but found that way pretty much blocked as well. When I saw this side street I decided to try to go out one block and around so I could meet you on the other side.”

  “That still doesn’t explain why you were in this shop,” said the giant and his tone sounded far from friendly.

  “Oh, that’s easy,” Kaleb explained in a deliberately light and cheerful tone. “As I walked by this shop, the glitter of the crystals inside caught my eye. I went in for just a quick look and discovered shelf after shelf of marvelous devices that have moss in them. Well, you know how much I like moss! These things just fascinated me. I had no idea that we manufactured games as well. This is some of our work from one of the hidden cities, isn’t it?”

  “Kaleb, keep your voice down or they won’t be hidden very long!” snapped the huge blackrobe.

  “Oh, sorry! I’ll try to be more careful,” he responded in a quieter voice. “Anyway, I got to thinking. Since this shop is filled with our products, I wouldn’t want anything to happen to it, with it being so close to what’s going on in the square and all. So I thought it would be a good idea if I stayed here and guarded it. Kinda like protecting our investments! That is if it’s alright with you?”

  The giant’s face brightened suddenly at Kaleb’s suggestion, “That’s a very good idea, Kaleb! You stay here and do just that. I’ll send someone to relieve you later. Yes, I should have thought of that myself! Very Good!”

  But Kaleb, suspicious now of the other’s motives, thought he heard something else behind his erstwhile friend’s words. If that something had been spoken out loud he figured it would’ve sounded just like, “Yeah, this way I’ll know exactly where you are and can carry out my plans without you being any the wiser!”

  As Raven turned to leave, Kaleb thought he saw a familiar swatch of ivory cloth standing at a doorway only a block or so away in the very direction the giant would be heading. Thinking very fast he asked, “Raven, if you don’t mind me asking, what in the name of the Dragon got you so excited back there on the Thornhouse steps? That was quite some throw – all the way across the square! I sure wouldn’t’ve wanted to be on the receiving end of that scaline boulder. Whack! Who’d you throw it at anyhow? Anybody I know?”

  ~ ~ ~

  “Help me!” Jason pleaded softly to the rough face of the stout timber door securely shut in front of him. Just above his head fluttered a square yellow banner emblazoned with a dark brown loom.

  He tried knocking again, just a little harder this time. He did not want to draw attention to himself. Among those passing behind him in the street, his carefully concealed glances had revealed several more blackrobes coming his way. Those burly men were stopping everyone they encountered to either question or search. A block and a half away he even thought he saw the huge bulk of Raven near the game shop.

  “Help me!” this time his plea was intended for other ears, not behind the door. “Master Gryphon, I’ve been standing here too long! For Nathan’s sake tell Your children to let me in!”

  A sideward peek confirmed that one of the blackrobes now headed directly for him!

  Unexpectedly, a strong hand grabbed the front of his borrowed tunic and forcefully yanked him through a partially opened door. Blinded by the sudden interior darkness, the befuddled bard heard from behind him out on the street, “Hey, you, wait! I want…”

  But then the solid bang of a heavy wooden door being slammed shut cut off any trace of the hostile voice. The comforting double thud of a stout wooden crossbar dropping home followed that almost immediately.

  Jason uttered a long audible sigh into the darkness before whispering, “Thank you!”

  A lit candle, thrust suddenly close to his face, caused the young bard to jump backward in alarm. At least he would have if that strong male arm didn’t still have his tunic firmly in its grasp. Because of the close proximity of the light, Jason could only see the candle itself, the front of his own ivory-colored garment, and the rather large hand attached to it.

  “Who are you? Why have you come here? An how do you know the name ‘Nathan’?” the words, spoken by an unseen man to his right, sounded only a little less hostile than the ones that had chased him into this darkened room.

  Taken aback by this unexpected turn, Jason could only stutter his response. Did he need refuge from his place of refuge?

  “I… I’m Jason… Apprentice to Nathan… He’s hurt and needs your help!”

  “He’s lying!” said a woman to his left (and the young bard sensed then that the darkened room contained many people). “Nathan’s a bard and this guy’s wearing the rags of a carver! He’s been sent here by the dragonmen to lure us out into the open!”

  Murmuring consent filled what must be a large room with the sounds of anger lit by fires of suspicion and hurt. Those sounds also filled Jason’s lonely heart with the aching pain of fear. Who were all these people? Couldn’t they tell he was a Swimmer? Oh, no!

  “He’s not wearing a Gryphonskin! Why should we trust him?” called out another man as if he had read Jason’s thoughts.

  “Throw him out!”

  “No, we can’t throw ‘im back out,” said the deep voice attached to the strong hand. “He’ll more ‘an likely bring all them blackrobes down on our heads iffin we do!”

  “Wait!” cried the desperate young bard, searching for a reprieve. “I am the grandson of Thaddeus the carver. Before he died he gave this tunic to my brot
her. My brother lent it to me only a short time ago so I could come here without being captured! I am a Swimmer! I hid my second ‘skin in my pack along with my own bard’s colors so I could come here for Virgil the Weaver. The blackrobes are trying to capture my master and me! You’ve got to listen to me! Nathan’s been injured by the blackrobes! He’s bleeding and unconscious. I hid him in one of the… Hold on, how do I know I can trust you? I haven’t even seen one of your faces, yet! Or your Gryphonskins, either. Is this the way Swimmers treat strangers in this city?”

  “It is today!” snarled the big man right in front of him.

  Silence like a heavy wall stood between the opponents in that room. Distrust, the master mason, vouched sure the massive thickness and strength of his handiwork.

  “Kind sir,” Jason said softly with sudden inspiration, “may I be afforded the privilege of formally presenting myself by swordsign? I think that it will clear up this misunderstanding.”

  “Careful, Virg!” said someone from the back of the room. “He might have a sharpened sword!”

  “Seems to me,” replied Virgil the Weaver, the man behind the hand, “that I heard tell of a young ‘un with Nathan at the Games, yesterday. Seems this young feller caused quite a stir by raising a particular sword high into the air an’ then utterin’ some mighty fancy words. Put that whole lot of stuffy right-bank Heartlanders right in their place, he did! Maybe there’s more to this package than the color of its wrappings! Son, go ahead an’ raise your sword, but do it slowly.”

  Released at last, Jason took a deliberate step backward, drew his hand-carved white blade for all to see, then knelt with it raised hilt first into the air. I AM ON QUEST.

  “It’s the blade of Thaddeus!” said the woman who had first accused him.