Dragon! Book Two: "Revenge"

CHAPTER FIVE

Despite the problems of leaving Bitters Island with Tad, all of the pieces fell into place on the day the supply ship arrived. Amy reluctantly agreed with her husband, Paul, that Gareth could protect him at his side better than if the boy stayed at home. Their heated discussions often ended with no answers the last few days, and all living on the island had heard them. The one item that remained was that Tad had somehow inherited unique mental powers neither parent understood, except for the fact that he brought danger to them.

The sighting of the approaching supply ship put it all into action. After the ship had unloaded the cargo, the entire family turned out to see them off. Enough tears were shed to float the supply ship home.

But another ship would arrive soon, one large enough to carry the entire family to Vespa. The animals would be set free to survive or not. Most of their possessions would be left behind as if they might one day return, but repeated family discussions had convinced most that their idyllic lives on Bitters Island had come to an end.

Sara had taken charge of the family and packing. They would first sail to Vespa. However, Gareth didn’t have to convince her that she needed another plan in place as well. A good general in any army has his next move decided whether he wins or loses a battle. The general plans for victory and defeat. Sara carried enough gold with her to plan twenty more moves but intended to keep her family alive and well, and together.

She had discussed the options with Gareth, and since Vespa was a seaport on the lowlands, she would secretly invest in a ship. As the owner, she would have it standing by, never more than a few days away, and the Owner-Captain would be paid handsomely for the services. If trouble arose, the family would flee to the ship and depart on little notice to destinations to be determined.

There were two places she chose, with others held as possibilities. North of Vespa were forests so thick the sun seldom reached the ground. East were the Steppes, grasslands where they said the winter snow never melted and the ground remained frozen all year. Snow blew along the ground from the fierce winter winds until it wore itself to powder, and then to nothing, but it didn’t melt.

Their plans avoided vast cities, large towns, and even most villages. Vespa was an exception. As a seaport, it had a regular influx of visitors arriving or leaving. There were sixty-three people in Gareth’s family, far too many to not be noticed in most places. But in Vespa, they might succeed. Long ago Gareth had purchased houses, farms, and an inn. Over the years, he had added to the holdings and now controlled enough for all the family. Each part of the family could take their place in Vespa with nobody in the town knowing they were related to the others.

Of course, people of the small city would come to realize some of them were related, but that was little different than others who moved there. The plan was simple, able to adjust to the needs of the time, and only the members of the Brotherhood wandering the streets in their green robes need be avoided.

Standing at the rail as the ship cast off, Gareth clutched Tad so hard the boy grunted in pain. Will I ever see this island, my wife, and my family, again?

He tried to keep a dry eye as the island grew smaller while the ship sailed away and he continued waving to people he could no longer see. Tad was fascinated by the sailors shouting orders, climbing the rigging, and setting sails. His head was turned upward so often that he almost looked deformed. Probably have a neck-ache later. Long after the island was gone from sight, Gareth turned and located the first mate.

“Can you show us to our cabin?”

“Yes, sir. I didn’t want to interrupt you back there.”

Gareth nodded gratefully and placed a hand on Tad’s shoulder. I never expected it to be this hard, and we’ve just begun.

The small cabin drew Tad’s complete attention. Gareth sat on the single bunk and watched the almost seven-year-old inspect, discover, touch, and inquire about everything in the tiny cabin while ignoring the increasing pitching and yawing of the ship as it sailed into the unprotected waters.

“Why are there drawers under the bed?”

“To keep our things from shifting when the ship is in a storm, and to use all the space.”

Glancing around the cabin recalled the memory of one of his first sea voyages. Blackie had been a kitten and shared the cabin with him, although the captain rightfully charged twice the normal fare because of the dragon’s immense appetite, even at his small size.

“Grampa, why is the window round?”

“Because . . . Well, because.”

“It stinks on this ship. Why does it smell so bad?” Tad asked.

“Ships sometimes smell bad, but you’ll get used to it. You’re smelling tar, salt, dried fish, smoke, and only the gods who dance know what else.”

“Can I play outside?”

Gareth shook his head in wonder, and in answer to the question. The boy would ask another hundred questions before the mid-day meal, and he’d require answers for all of them. Gareth might supply half. “Come sit beside me and we’ll talk.”

Tad hiked up his trousers and climbed onto the raised bed beside Gareth. His eyes still wandered, but he was as attentive as Gareth was going to get him for a while. Instead of speaking out loud, he touched the young mind. “Tad, we have to have a man-to-man talk.”

“About what?”

Gareth found it difficult to explain without words, so he spoke normally. “You have a gift. Your mind allows you and me to speak without words, but this is very important. You cannot let anyone else know about it. Only your family on Bitters Island, and you will not see them for days and days.”

“Okay.”

“There is more. We are going on a dangerous mission. Just you and me. Bad men are waiting for us, but we are going to hide and try to find a friend of mine to help us.”

“Mommy said I have to do what you say.”

“She is right, but you are also going to help me.”

Tad’s smile came quickly and his solemn face transformed to one of pure joy. “How?”

I need to test him some more and find his limits and abilities. Gareth sent the image of a mosquito landing on the boy’s neck. No words, just the image. Tad slapped his neck and examined his fingers for evidence of a dead insect. While the boy was distracted, Gareth said with his mind, “You and I are going to pretend to be other people. Even on this ship.”

“Who?” The question came via his mind. Tad hadn’t spoken, and if Gareth was right, he didn’t realize it.

Gareth used his voice. “Is there a name you’d like to be called?”

“Tad.”

“Any other? I’m thinking of something more common, like a farmer names his son.”

“Tad. I want to use my real name.” His arms crossed over his chest in finality.

Gareth settled back and reconsidered. The demand had justification. Nobody knew of Tad or his name. Only the name Gareth carried the stain of instant recognition. “Okay, we’ll do it your way. Can you call me Dad or Daddy? Never Grandpa Gareth?”

“Yes, Dad.”

Gareth smiled at the boy. Dad would do fine. Gareth might change his name to meet the circumstances, but if Tad always called him Dad it wouldn’t matter. “We’re going above decks to stretch our legs, which means we are going outside for a few minutes. I have some thinking to do so don’t ask a thousand questions. You’ll have to stay right beside me.”

Tad bounded down and raced the two steps to the door. Gareth leaped right behind him, making it a race. Outside, the day had turned gray, and a few drops of heavy rain splattered on the deck. They walked near the rail, Tad watching the ocean as he’d never seen it. Staying out of their way, Gareth touched the mind of each sailor they passed and as always, he fuzzed their memory of him. Just a slight image shift, making him taller and thinner. He also placed a question in their minds, asking where had the ship ported and if it had taken on passengers.

By the time they reached port, none of the crew would remember much of either of him and Tad and what they did would be confused and conflicting with other crewmen. If questioned, they might not even remember any passengers this trip. But he would change their minds a sliver at a time, like whittling a stick.

The small, round-bottomed cargo ship would take them to the port of St. Michelle on the island of Indore, and from there they’d catch another ship, a larger commercial vessel that would carry them to Freeport on the mainland. Leaning against the rail, Tad caught sight of a whale in the distance and cried out in pure joy.

The same rail supported Gareth as the ship rolled in the choppy water. He used his insight to touch minds with Blackie again. The dragon was in the air peering down at the ground searching for a meal. It passed up a moose. They were not his favorite. He’d eat one if nothing else were around, but moose and bear were usually passed on. Blackie did like the taste of bear, but unlike most animals, bear fought back. Blackie would win the battle easily, but not without some pain. When a deer emerged from under a small tree Gareth left a warm mental touch for Blackie to swoop down and enjoy his meal.

Tad spotted an island far off to the port side of the ship, just at the edge of the horizon, one of the hundreds, perhaps thousands, of mountainous islands in the shallow seas. “What’s that?” was the first question, followed by “What’s its name?” and much more.

Gareth wiped the hair from the boy’s forehead and answered a dozen questions before a steward carried a tray and paused long enough to tell them he was carrying their dinner and would place the tray in their cabin. Gareth glanced at the boy and met his smile. “Hungry?”

“Yes, Dad,” Tad said with a sly smile.

“The weather looks like a storm may make it too wet for us outside, anyway. Maybe we can nap after we eat.”

“I’m not a baby. I don’t need a nap.”

This trip is going to be a lot harder than I anticipated. “Okay, no naps.”

A day later he went on deck with the excited boy to watch the island port as their ship approached the docks. Tad commented on the number of ships, the number of people, and how large the town was. Tad had never been off Bitters, and the sight of eight ships and a village/town of perhaps two thousand people amazed him with the size.

Before the ship tied up at the pier, Gareth escorted Tad around the entire ship, making sure he passed each of the eleven men of the crew he’d counted. Eleven times he reached out and placed memories of other faces into their minds. Each of them would vaguely remember passengers on the trip, but some would recall two women, other a short woman, and a man. Each would vary their description, but none would recall much detail.

Once off the ship and settled into a snug inn called the Leaping Goat, Gareth took Tad for a walk. This was an excuse to see the town and find a ship to Freeport instead of Princeton, the larger port city where most of the ships would sail to. Freeport was more southerly and smaller. He’d never been there so his appearance should be less known, except for the tales told by the Brotherhood. While walking, he’d do a little eavesdropping to local chatter in the streets as well as in the common room at the inn.

They moved through the streets paved with stones while examining everything displayed in the shop windows, shirts, candles, knives, and pastries. Tad wanted two of everything, no matter if it was cookies, shirts, or glass mugs. Gareth’s father had accumulated enormous wealth over his six lifetimes. He had shared part of it with Gareth so that all in his family could live well for generations. However, any display of wealth invited danger of attempted theft and wagging tongues. Gareth would be frugal, as always.

Tad carried a fried meat pie in one hand and a stick of honey-candy in the other. The street they followed terminated in a thatched roof with public seating under the welcome shade. The view was of the port, and in the distance, another ship’s sails came into sight. Instead of the smaller two mast cargo ships busy loading and unloading in the port, the new arrival was taller, sleeker, and the three tall masts held three tiers of sails.

Gareth turned to four sailors enjoying free their time by sipping ale in the shade as they played a gambling dice game. “Excuse me, do any of you know that ship?”

One of the four said, “Tis the City of Adelaide, good sir.”

Another confirmed his opinion. “Right on time.”

“Where does it travel after it leaves here?”

The first to talk answered, “The port of Reteam, on the south coast, then to Freeport along the coast. She makes a three port voyage.”

Gareth appreciated the information as well as the friendly manner of the four men. Perhaps later they would share more with him. He slipped a full copper from his pouch and lifted his chin in the direction of the girl hustling between the tavern and the public area. As she approached, he handed her the copper and said for only her ear, “Please, a round for my friends.”

“You don’t have to do that,” one of the sailors with above normal hearing protested, but not sounding sincere.

Gareth shrugged, telling the girl to do as he asked, and watched the ship pull into port, lowering a longboat attached to a line to help guide the ship the last part of the trip. Other men lined the pier, catching ropes thrown to them, and more waiting to unload cargo.

He turned to the four sailors again. “Is it a good ship?”

“That she is.”

“The master, is he fair?”

One of the sailors nodded as he said, “You ask the right questions, my friend. If yer sailing for the mainland, you can’t do better than the City of Adelaide.”

Tad tugged his sleeve. “Can we go now?”

Gareth shook his head and looked around for anything that might entertain the boy. Down the hillside were two boys playing that were near his age. They were closer to the water and throwing rocks at anything that moved and much that didn’t. They had been trying to throw stones further into the water than the others. Gareth could keep a watch on Tad as well as the ship at the same time. He pointed to the boys and told Tad to go introduce himself.

The boy held none of the reluctance to meet strangers that he’d probably have in a few years as he grew older and began doubting himself. He raced to join them and soon all were trying to out-throw the others, laughing and cheering for the best. Gareth watched them and the ship as he ate part of the fried meat pie that Tad left. He ordered an ale for himself and settled back to observe it all. Twice he touched minds briefly with Blackie, and once he attempted to locate the mind of his father.

He already missed Sara and his family and thought of sailing back with the next ship. After thirty years he felt odd being in public with so many strangers around that he didn’t know. Men and women strolled past selling pineapples, bananas, and slices of lamb skewered on sticks. Others sold small loaves of fresh baked bread, and one sold flowers of so many colors Sara would be envious. A soft afternoon breeze soothed him as he sat in the shade.

As his attention returned to the ship that had just tied up in front of him, two figures walked single file down the gangplank. Both wore heavy, long green robes that fell to their feet with hoods pulled so far over their heads that the shade protected not only their shaved heads and eyebrows, but their pale faces as well.

The Brotherhood. The words leaped into his mind even before he watched them pair up side by side and begin their odd walk that held little sway as they slithered along. The robes touched the sandals all of them wore. He hadn’t seen one of them in thirty years, and the sight brought back floods of memories, some good, most disagreeable.

“Ye’r looking a little green around the gills,” one of the friendly sailors at the next table said.

Gareth started at the voice next to him. He swallowed hard. “Those two men in green. Ever see any of them?”

All four turned to look. Three shook their heads. However, one said, “I seen the likes of them before. Just like them two. They watch what’s going on and hardly ever talk.”

“They dangerous?” Another sailor asked Gareth.

“Not exactly. Well, maybe, in certain circumstances. It’s best to stay well away from them and don’t answer any questions.”

The four nodded in agreement. The one who had seen the Brotherhood before said, “He’s right. They’re bad news. Always show up when there’s trouble.”

Another said, “We got a woman getting off that ship, too.”

Gareth didn’t bother looking at her as he watched the two Brothers walk up the hillside to the edge of town and enter an inn—not the same one he was staying at.

The tall woman wearing the heavy clothing suitable for a colder climate pulled a bonnet onto her head as she slowly looked around and took account. She followed the brothers up the hill, but at the last minute turned and walked down the street in the direction of the center of town instead of the inn.

Gareth had already sent for a ship large enough to carry his family and their possessions to Vespa and was going to stay and make sure the ship met his demands, but the sight of the Brotherhood in the islands for the first time changed his mind. The ship he’d ordered had a fine reputation, was large enough, and the captain would take on any provisions required. Gareth was simply a mother hen when it came to his family.