Dragon! Book Two: "Revenge"

CHAPTER SEVEN

The woman identified herself as Ann. She stood at the door of the ship’s cabin, facing Gareth and Tad, her stance defiant and imploring at the same time. She said softly, “I am one of the Sisterhood.”

The woman looked middle-aged, at least, perhaps fifty, but on second glance, she might have been much younger. She didn’t wear makeup, her hair was covered with a hood, and she seemed intentionally bland in appearance, and her actions gave her the appearance of age. Gareth considered her admission of being one of the Sisterhood and said, “I watched you following the two Bothers off this ship at St Michelle. You were following them, weren’t you?”

“I was. The Brotherhood is upset about something, a huge something, and lately, they’re acting very odd, as if in danger. Those two Brothers were the first anybody’s ever seen on a ship. There’s something they do not like about ships, but those two booked passage and on impulse I did likewise to see what they were up to.”

Gareth hoped to keep Tad’s abilities hidden from her. He said, “There must be ten pairs of Brothers on the docks to inspect passengers getting off ships. Three pairs are waiting to board and search this ship if I’m not mistaken.”

Ann nodded, “That’s why I’m here. I know that you are Gareth, and you might try to hide in this cabin until they are gone. You could probably hope to get away with it because of your experience and expertise in mind-talk, but your grandson, Tad, cannot.”

The words shocked him. How had she known his name, their relationship, and why had she hinted Tad’s talents couldn’t be hidden? “Tell me.”

“It’s difficult, but I’ll hurry. I’ll use your example. When I speak to my sheep telling them the pasture that they should graze in and why only my sheep hear me. Otherwise, all the sheep in the kingdom would make for my lands. I limit the distance of the mind-speak.”

Gareth had never considered that idea, but she was obviously right. He could see tens of thousands of sheep heading for her farm is she did not limit the distance. His mind churned to understand the implications. Like speaking softer, he decided.

She went on, “Your mind speech can travel over long distances, but there are limits that we can discuss later. For now, you have to understand. While you cannot hear speech from everywhere, the opposite is also true. When closer, more people can be heard, just like when talking with your voice. Even if you whisper, those near enough will hear.”

Gareth pointed to the bunk, offering her a place to sit while he gave a warning look for Tad to remain quiet. “I accept that you are of the Sisterhood, and I accept at least part of what you’re saying, but there is more than you’re trying to tell me.”

She looked at the boy. “Tad has your gift. You smother his thoughts so they cannot be heard, but any nearby sensitive person of either sex can hear him. Not clearly, or understand what he is saying. But he is there. No mistaking it.”

Gareth hoped he was misunderstanding her.

She continued as she rummaged in her travel bag, “The Brotherhood is coming aboard, soon. You cannot use your mind to shield Bitters Island, the existence of the boy, and speak to the Brotherhood all at the same time. One tiny slip and they will know. I’m here to help suppress Tad’s thinking.”

“You’re hunting for the same medicine I used when everyone was after me?”

“Nothing that strong. Just a milder sedative. One used to help people sleep.”

Gareth reached out and felt the minds of the crew of the ship. On his third touch, he found a sailor already speaking to two Brothers. They would arrive below decks before long. “How much time does it take to work?”

“Not long.”

“Tad, drink the medicine she’s giving you. I don’t care what it tastes like, just do it, this is important.”

As he looked at Tad to encourage him to drink it, the vial was already empty and the boy smiling.

Ann sat on the bed and said, “Give me a minute.”

Her eyes went blank, and she remained still. Gareth imagined he looked much like her when he contacted The Gareth or Blackie. She finally shivered and looked up at him, a smile spreading on her face. “I just delayed them for a little while.”

“What did you do?”

“Bats. I suggested that tonight mosquitoes are swarming around the heads of men. If the bats fly close to men, they will find the best hunting. I’ve tried to send my thoughts as far as I can, but if you want to draw more bats here with your mind, please do.”

“I think your help will cause enough problems for them for now. You said that if you are close, you can listen to Tad’s thoughts?”

“Yes. For the entire voyage, I have listened to his side of your conversation, but not yours because you shield yours so well. Now that we are here, the Brothers will certainly hear Tad unless you continue to blanket all of his thinking, or we use medicine to keep him quiet.”

The revelation stunned Gareth. He quickly realized that they could have kept that information to herself and simply stayed within the range of Tad’s thought emissions and know everything they discussed. Trying to remember everything else he’d talked to Tad about during the last five days was impossible.

The awareness of her listening to them was like finding someone had been watching him get dressed for the last five days. Her listening to their conversations was not right, and as he started to be offended and angry, he caught a hint of her smile.

“It is sort of like what you do to others, right?”

Gareth settled his emotions and accepted the comment for the truth within it. This was not the time nor place, and he had larger problems. The idea with the bats flying around the men’s heads to distract them was good, but he was thinking ahead to Freeport and the sheer numbers of Brothers probably waiting for there for him. “Ann, I think Tad and I plan to leave the ship here.”

“I was going to suggest that. There may be a hundred Brothers looking at the ships in Freeport. But getting off here will be a problem, too.”

Reaching for his travel bag, he said, “Maybe we should extend your idea with the bats. How many oxen, mules, and horses are on these docks? What if they begin acting up? Go hysterical?”

She said, “Too complicated to control their minds. Rats. Ships and ports are full of rats. We can tell the rats about the bags of grain spilled inland, not far away. Free food. Every rat will race for the grain like boys after free jars of honey.” Her smile was infectious. “Besides, I’ve always wanted to cause chaos like that to happen.”

Tad was looking droopy-eyed but still awake.

“Do you know this port?” Gareth asked.

“No, but I’ll bet there is a town or small city within short walking distance. And once there we can find a stable.”

“Why do we need a stable?”

She batted her eyelashes at him. “We are not going to walk to wherever we’re going when we can ride, are we?”

“So it is we, now? You don’t have any idea of why I’m here or where I’m going, but you want to come along. I’m not at all sure about that.”

She took a step back and waited.

Gareth said, “It will be dangerous, and I don’t know what is going to happen.”

“Then consider me as your emergency escape plan for Tad. I’ll make you a promise to do my best to get him safely away from danger and return him to Bitters Island if anything happens to you. Plus, if you need more help, there is the entire Sisterhood to back you up.”

“What about the Brotherhood?”

“I think you can see for yourself that idea is not going well. You have never trusted them, and besides, they are working with King Alfred the Great, as he now calls himself.”

Gareth considered her offer and came to a conclusion. “We go together as far as the edge of the city. There are more things I have to think about before agreeing to your entire plan.”

Ann pursed her lips. She nodded, and said, “We can do it that way, but there are few things I still need to tell you. I know about Bitters Island, your family, and Blackie. I know you are going to try locating your father, another man with talents as great as yours. He lived in the mountains, and I know there are new, threatening voices in the vapors that we all hear.”

“You know a lot.”

“Well, know this too. I cannot use my mind to spread that information to my Sisters, nor would I if I could. What I have learned on this voyage is private between us. I give you my word. Unlike the Brotherhood, which is formal and demanding of each member, the Sisterhood is still just a loose confederation of like-minded women. I pledge to you here and now that I will never utter a word to anyone of what I overheard unless you agree to it.”

“Then, why don’t I see if I can upset some animals while you let the rats loose?” He threw Tad’s travel bag along with his over a shoulder and placed his other arm around the boy and helped him rise.

Ann flung open the cabin door and instantly a cascade of noise assaulted them, growing louder by the moment. Men shouted and cursed. Footsteps ran across the deck overhead. She said, “Follow me.”

Gareth paused at another cabin door as she reached inside and grabbed her travel bag, then he followed her up on deck. Looking around as he jogged behind her, several men slapped their arms as if they were trying to fly, while others dived to the semi-safety of the deck or ground. Most shouted and cursed at the bats, adding to the din. He shifted his attention to the pier. A pair of horses jumped and bucked, tossing the wagon behind to one side and then the other. The crates that had been securely inside the bed of the wagon were now strewn and broken while a driver attempted to calm the animals as he swatted at nearby bats.

He saw mules fighting for their freedom further up the pier, and the other docks further off were in the same situation. As Ann led them down the gangway, she held up her arm and paused. Suddenly in the light of the lanterns on the poles on the pier situated for the offloading the ship, an almost fluid appearing dark mass appeared on the ground rushing for shore. It swirled and merged with others, and it seemed to melt and mold itself as it moved. Anything or any person in the path reacted in panic.

“Rats. Hundreds of them. I never dreamed there were that many,” Gareth whispered, shifting the boy ahead while resting his arms on their bags.

“Here, let me carry one of those,” Ann said as she took Tad’s bag and turned to follow the rats up the hillside to the lights of the town above. There was no sign of the Brotherhood. Some were probably still searching the ships while others had backed away to safety from the bats and rats and terrified mules.

Away from the piers, Gareth sent out calming thoughts. The bats were told the mosquitoes were gone, the rats returned to their nests, and the pack animals calmed. Sailors and stevedores cleaned up the messes as pairs of the Brotherhood continued their searches for Gareth.

At the first buildings in the small city, Ann asked a drunken sailor stumbling from a tavern to tell her where the nearest stable was located. While she got directions, Gareth issued another calming breath of thought that floated to the animals, even the rats, and as he listened, the remaining turmoil near the ships decreased. The bats had flown off. The mules calmed. Soon it would be a story for the dockworkers tell in the taverns, but nobody would know why the animals all reacted oddly. However, Gareth sent additional thoughts to all witnesses that the mass confusion had really only been a small incident. In a few days, it would not be remembered. Ann paid the sleepy stableman an extra crown because he wanted to remain in his warm bed with his new wife for the night. He told them to wait until morning for a horse as he tried to close the door. “Three horses, now,” she corrected him. “And good saddles. Do not try to cheat me or I’ll find another stable willing to take my silver coins.”

His bony hand reached out and snatched the coins. Stuffing the crowns into his purse, he said, “I do happen to have two fine, well-trained mares that I’ll sell, but the third horse will be a problem.”

“Why is that?” Ann snapped.

“Because all I can offer is a swayback so old it only has half his teeth, and a young gelding barely broke and far too untamed for the likes of you to ride.”

Ann held up another crown to glitter in the moonlight. “I’ll ride the gelding. Don’t protest, I’ve been around horses my whole life. This last coin is yours in addition to the price of the animals and tack if you understand our need for departing as quickly as possible. Your wife will wait, and you can buy her a new bonnet tomorrow.”

His eyes took one last caressing look at her coin, and he leaped to the door and led the way to stalls where saddles and harnesses rested on wooden rails chewed by generations of horses. Two fine looking horses were soon standing beside them, and the stableman was outside in the dark trying to get a bridle on the semi-wild gelding. Ann marched to the door, and Gareth felt her mind touch that of the horse. It calmed and as she approached, it took a hesitant step in her direction then nuzzled her.

Handing the bridle to her, the stableman said, “Never seen him do that before.”

“I told you I have a way with horses. Get the saddle and be quick about it.”

Tad was awake enough to sit on a horse, but Gareth intended to hold the reins. He and Ann mounted together and rode into the darkness. Ann started to speak, but Gareth motioned for her to be silent. He touched the mind of the stableman that was already beginning to fall asleep again. His mind was receptive. Before they reached the cross-street, the stableman believes he had rented horses to a nobleman from the south who was traveling alone but required two more horses for packing all his belongings.

Gareth glanced at Ann. “We need to travel north, past Freeport inland by a good distance.”

“Where is our destination?”

“I cannot tell you.”

“On the ship, I explained you can trust me, and why.”

“I do. The simple fact is that our destination has no name you would know. I have not been there in thirty years, but I do know where we are bound. We will have . . . Help when we get close.”

“Help? There’s something is your words you are hiding.”

Putting his heels to the sides of the horse, he asked, “Are you scared of dragons?”