Dragon Clan #1: Camilla's Story

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Camilla woke terrified, again. Her sharp intake of breath woke Brix. They exchanged looks in the dim light as if wondering who the other was, and why they were sleeping near each other. It was the first time they had made camp together.

“What’s wrong?” He asked, sounding alarmed.

“I dreamed of the red dragon and those soldiers, again. It scared me.”

“I woke a dozen times, too. I can still hear that dragon screeching and the horses screaming when it attacked.”

Camilla stood. She glanced around in the gloom. There was nothing to tell her where they came from or the right way to walk.

As if understanding the problem without speaking, Brix pointed. “The road is that way.”

With a nod of agreement, she rolled her blanket and gathered her few belongings. Brix followed suit, and as she started walking, he came crashing through the brush behind. Her pace was slow, and she used her staff to help clear the brambles and stickers away until an animal track crossed in front of her. She turned to her left, and followed it, moving twice as fast. Daylight came, and she pushed faster.

Brix said, “We need to find more food. I’m about out.”

“You ate all you brought with you?”

“No, it spilled when we ran away from the dragon. I was in that much of a hurry. When it spilled, I just left it.”

Camilla nodded. “I have food, and we’ll share it, but look for more, too. I could use some meat cooked over a fire.”

“Or bread. I love bread.”

“If you find bread out here in the forest I’m really going to be impressed,” she snorted.

“I was just telling you what I like.”

She bit her lip. They walked in silence until he spotted a cherry tree with some late season ripe fruit. They stuffed themselves, put more in their rolled blankets, and continued on. Brix took the lead and said over his shoulder, “Do you think it’s safe to use the road?”

“I hadn’t thought of that.”

“Well, I think we can decide when we reach it, but if we spot anyone we dive into the brush and hide.”

Camilla shrugged, even though he couldn’t see it. It didn’t sound like a good plan, but she didn’t have one that sounded better. She said, “Others on the road might do the same if they spot us from a distance. Then all of us will just lay still in the bushes and grow old.”

Brix thumped his staff on the ground, swung the bottom end up and grabbed it with both hands, parallel to the ground. On his next step, he snapped the left end forward and withdrew it just as fast. Then he snapped the right. Each movement in time with a step. Another step and he let go with his left hand and let it strike the ground with another solid thump. He repeated the movements. The third time, Camilla duplicated each of his moves, although clumsily. The next time she almost did it in step with him.

“Are you copying me?” he asked, using his staff only for walking, again.

She laughed, “Yes. Is that a problem?”

“I’m not laughing. I’m still thinking about that dragon and the soldiers. And those boys back at Nettleton. There seems to be a lot of fighting.”

“Want to practice running?”

“I don’t think so. Wait until we reach the road.”

“Can you set our pace with those movements of your staff again?”

Brix shook his head. “I forgot you were back there. I was just practicing taking a few jabs at the dragon. I hate them.” Despite that, he set the end of the staff on the ground in front of this right foot and as he took the next step he kicked it with the toe of his boot. The bottom shot ahead. He let it fall to the ground and kicked it again.

“Your toe will get sore.”

“I’m amazed what you can do with just a stick.”

“Staff.”

“Okay, staff. In two days we’ve learned how to handle these things like weapons. It’s so simple for a weapon, but I’d hate to have someone use one on me.”

“Robin, the washerwoman said a man using a staff, one who knows how to fight with one, can defeat a soldier with a sword.”

Brix snorted. “You believe that?”

Camilla used the swing of the staff on her next step to raise it higher. She swung it sideways and grabbed it with two hands near the middle. Then she lunged to the left. Her next step lunged to the right. Robin had slid her hands to one end and used the staff to hit a tree. With that swing, she would be twice as far from an opponent as with a sword. The wielder of the sword couldn’t get close enough to cut her. “You know what, Brix? I think I do believe her.”

They walked out of the underbrush and onto the road.

They looked in both directions first, then tentatively stepped onto the road and examined the tracks.

“Arum will be waiting,” Brix said.

“Not for me, but let’s go. Keep a sharp watch ahead.”

“And behind. We don’t need someone sneaking up on us.” Brix matched her stride.

“What are you doing?”

He swung his staff to strike the ground at the same time as hers. Then he increased the swing and waited for her to match him. In time, they jabbed the ends at imaginary fighters ahead of them, together. They sprinted again and again, between walking. Nobody shared the road until near midday.

Brix hissed, as he dove to the side of the road. “I saw movement.”

Camilla landed beside him. They crawled into the brush and stayed still. In time, a man riding a donkey rounded a bend and rode right at them. He looked half asleep, his eyes never moving under a floppy hat. Rings and bracelets sparkled. A pair of saddlebags sat behind him, and tied on top was what looked to be a canvas tent and rolled blankets.

They let him continue before walking on the road again. Camilla asked, “Who was he?”

“A gypsy. They’re constantly on the move.”

“Going where?”

Brix laughed softly. “Even they don’t know. It’s said they have itchy feet. Can’t stay in one place too long.”

“He might have come from beyond the mountain pass. He might know things.”

“He’d also sell information about us to anybody willing to pay. That’s the way of them.”

Camilla looked at Brix as if seeing him for the first time. “Who would pay to know where you are?”

“Nobody cares about me. Can you say the same about yourself?”

“What? Me? Why would anyone pay to know about me?”

“Those boys back at Nettleton offered me money to give them information about you.”

Camilla shrugged. “Well, I guess you’re right.”

“What did you do to those boys to get them so mad at you?” Brix asked.

“That is a good question. I swear I did nothing. One day they saw me and started chasing me. I ran and got away, and that seemed to anger them. A few days later they chased me again. Then they started looking for me. They jumped from behind a storage shed the first time they caught me.”

“What’d they do?”

“They shouted and threatened. One hit my shoulder, and another pushed me into the dirt. Then they ran off laughing and teasing me.”

Brix said, “That sounds like what happened to two of my older brothers. At first, it was just little shoves and punches. When my brothers fought back, it changed into something else. The rich Academy boys turned mean and started chasing them, too. It was like my brothers were the fox, and they were hounds.”

“What did your brothers do about it?”

“One fought back a dozen times. He lost most of the fights, but when some of the boys left for the army, it stopped. My other brother went to the Goodman and complained. The Goodman took the side of the rich boys and chided my brother for fighting and warned him he would pay fines in the future.”

Camilla swung her staff high and let fall, the end striking the ground hard enough to bounce a little. She repeated the move and said, “The Goodman didn’t believe your brother?”

“I think he did. So did my father. There have been this sort of thing happening for years, in fact, I think my father was once chased by a pack of them when he was young.” Brix copied the way she raised her staff and let his fall at the same time.

“The Goodman is there to settle disputes and make sure all people are treated fairly. At least, that’s what I thought,” Camilla said.

“That is what we learn, but it’s only half true. If you and I have a dispute, I win. If one of the second sons at the Academy and I have a dispute, he wins. The Goodman settles disputes among equals fairly; from what I see. But other times it is all about gold.”

Camilla stopped walking.

Brix continued a few steps and turned to look at her.

She said, “People with gold or birthright win all disputes?”

Brix shrugged.

“Always?”

Brix nodded.

They walked on in silence because he’d spoken out of turn, and she because of considering new information. When Camilla sprinted ahead, he chased after. When she walked again, he silently fell into step beside her.

At a bend in the road, a solitary tree stood, barren of leaves and most of the bark long gone. The tree stood at the edge of the road, weathered gray and without smaller branches. Camilla slowed.

“What is it,” Brix asked, hand on the knife at his waist.

“That ugly tree is a boy from the soldier school.” She pointed at it. She kicked the bottom of her staff so it raised waist high and jabbed it into the trunk with so much force it jarred her. She pulled it back and grasped the middle of her staff in what felt like a defensive position. Then she swung one end and hit the side of the tree. Then the other side. Then the first again. She pounded the tree until the staff fell from her limp fingers. Then she fell to her knees and cried.

Brix moved to her side. He lifted his staff and swung at the tree, his face set in a grimace. He was slower than Camilla but determined, and each blow resounded with a solid sound.

“You don’t have to do that for me,” she said.

“For me,” he panted, pausing before drawing a few deep breaths and beginning again.

Camilla stepped up to the tree and struck it with several more well-defined blows. She concentrated on pulling the staff back quickly and keeping her feet positioned to provide the maximum power. She turned to Brix and said, “Ready to run again?”

“You really want to do it all, don’t you?”

Her new smile slipped. “The next time those boys come for me will be the last. For them or me, but I intend to hurt them so bad they never come at me again.”

Brix kept up with her sprint, and she ran farther than before. They walked and ran again. Near midday Brix spotted a pear and an apple tree growing next to a tangle of wood and vines that had once been a cabin. When he turned to tell Camilla, her attention was focused ahead. “What?”

“I saw movement up there.”

“Men?”

“I think it was the soldiers.”

Brix glanced around, then back to where she first watched. “We can try to slip into the trees and go around them or wait here and hope they pass us by. There are apples and pears in those trees at the side of the road.”