Dragon Clan #2: Raymer's Story

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Raymer stumbled to his knees, ignoring the stinging pains on his back. Except for a stray thought where he wondered if being close to him made the dragon feel a stinging sensation similar to his.

“Any idea what it’s doing?” Quint asked softly as he looked at Raymer and stood slowly, looking ready to flee.

Dancer remained lying down and said, “It’s not from around here.”

“The dragon?” Raymer asked.

“I know all of them from the slopes of Bear Mountain. This one must be from your Raging Mountains.” Dancer said.

“What do I do?” Raymer asked.

Ander had backed to the edge of the clearing, one slow step at a time. Then the dragon leaned forward and the neck stretched out until the face of the dragon was so close Ander could have reached out and touched the snout. Instead, he froze, not even drawing breath.

Raymer turned to Dancer, “Does your back hurt?”

“It itches in warning.”

“Mine hurts. Really hurts.” Raymer said. “It feels like fire.”

In the dim light, Dancer appeared upset. He said, “You have bonded?”

“I have no idea of what that means, but I’ve never been this close to a dragon,” Raymer said. “So the answer is no.”

The dragon finished inspecting Ander, who stood as still as the trees behind him. It turned to the boy, Fleet. After a sniff or two, it swung its head and smelled Dancer, then Quint. Then it swung its great head to Raymer.

One sniff and the entire body of the dragon shifted. It tensed and drew back, giving the impression of a cobra ready to strike. Raymer’s knees went weak as he anticipated the dragon spitting at him. Instead, it leaned forward and sniffed again. Then it reared back and screeched so loud all five men covered their ears.

The pain on Raymer’s back dissipated as if it was morning fog evaporating with the sun. The dragon’s head returned to face Raymer again, this time, the tongue flicked out several times before it sniffed him again.

Quint had eased away, too. He said, “What’s it doing?”

“I don’t know,” Raymer said in a soft, even voice so he didn’t upset the animal.

“Talk to it,” Dancer suggested.

It was not the worst idea if there had been another to contrast with it. Raymer felt sweat break out on his body, and his hands started to tremble. Another horse freed itself and ran into the darkness. The dragon smelled like the dungeon, dank and wet, and of death.

“How are you doing, boy?” His voice sounded raspy and scared, although he tried to speak softly and with friendliness. At the first words, the dragon moved one step closer and placed the snout so close Raymer could smell the exhaled breath of the nostrils. He could also smell more of the rank and putrid smells of rotting flesh from past meals.

“Why’d you come to see me, boy?” On impulse, Raymer reached out and placed his hand on the nose of the dragon as if introducing himself to a horse. He stroked it. He expected to feel a hard surface, but instead the snout felt soft. Warmth flowed over him like a soft blanket filled with goose down on a cold night. The dragon shivered, its eyes never leaving him.

“Is it safe?” Ander asked from the depths of shade fifty paces away.

Raymer glanced around and didn’t see Quint. Dancer and Fleet stood near the camp fire, beside each other, as if fascinated instead of scared. Raymer allowed his hand to drop to his side. The dragon leaned closer and nudged him in his chest. He placed his hand back on the muzzle, or snout, again, speaking softly and rubbing.

Dancer said, “I’ve never seen or heard of anything like this.”

“The pain on my back is gone. Now it feels warm and almost happy, like when a puppy licks me.”

“Mine still tingles like normal,” Dancer said, and his son nodded he felt the same.

Raymer said, “I’m not sure, but I think I can feel its emotions. It’s both happy and fearful.”

Dancer moved forward and placed his hand on the side of the dragon’s head and gave it a few soft pats. The dragon didn’t acknowledge him but didn’t resist.

Quint moved closer, and the dragon’s posture stiffened. It moved to place itself between Quint and Raymer in a protective action a sheepdog might make to defend its flock.

Quint eased back a few steps back and said nothing.

Dancer said, “Fleet, come here.”

“I don’t want to.”

“Just a few steps. We need to see his reaction.”

“What if his reaction is to eat me?”

Raymer said, “You don’t have to, Fleet.”

The boy took a guilty look at his father and then took a tentative step ahead. “If I don’t, I’ll regret it the rest of my life. This is the first dragon I’ve ever been close to.” He took another step, then another. Finally, he stood beside his father and stroked the dragon’s neck with long, careful motions.

“Ander, you’re next,” Raymer said.

Instead of protesting, Ander stepped confidently ahead and walked in their direction. The Dragon instantly came alert and drew his head back in preparation to attack. Ander wisely halted and then slowly retreated, holding his hands up for protection.

Dancer said, “The dragon will allow the clan to approach, but no other.”

Raymer had heard tales too, but nothing like what he was witnessing. They needed to discuss what it might mean. He gave the dragon one last look. Fly away.

The dragon balked, but from his physical reaction he had heard and understood Raymer’s mental request. Raymer made it a stronger mental order. Fly away, now.

The wings extended, and it turned to face away from them, down the side of the hill. It took a few running steps and then it flapped its wings harder and raised itself into the night sky and disappeared with a heavy rustle of leather wings.

Raymer turned to Dancer. “You used a word I don’t understand. What does ‘bonded’ mean?”

Dancer retreated a step before answering, awe or fear twisting his face. “There are tales of men and dragons who are one in their minds. They share ideas and thoughts.”

“How is that different from you calling down a dragon?” Raymer snapped, uneasy at the explanation.

“In times of danger, I might be able to call on a dragon to protect me. It might or might not obey.”

Raymer allowed the ideas to spin in his head before deciding on his next question, and at the last instant changing it to statements. “I have never met this dragon before today. We do not share our thoughts.”

Dancer stood firm. He held Raymer’s gaze with one of his own before speaking. “Did you order it to fly away?”

How would he know that? “Why do you ask?”

Dancer said, “I’m just wondering why the dragon would land here at this time, this place. Dragons protect us, the same as we protect them and their chicks when they nest. Did it come to protect us?”

Quint, who had been unusually quiet during the entire episode walked closer to them from the edge of the trees and said, “I’m going out there for a look-see.”

“You believe what he’s saying?” Raymer asked, astonished that a man so grounded in basics would fall for Dancer’s words.

Quint had already traveled a few steps out of sight in the dim light. He called softly, “Can we take a chance it was not a warning? Go back to sleep and I’ll return by daybreak.”

Ander sat and looked from one to another as if trying to decide what to believe and what not to. “Any chance of getting the horses back?”

Both Fleet and Dancer shook their heads and sat on their blankets in unison as if rehearsed. “By now they’re halfway back to their pasture.

Raymer continued to stand and think. He paced the campsite several times and the others waited, letting him gather his thoughts.

He came to Dancer and sat, facing him. “There’s a lot I do not understand, but I’m usually pretty good at taking bits of information and putting them together in the right way. This time, I’m missing something.”

“How so?” Dancer asked, sounding interested instead of defensive.

“My escape plan was to ask a dragon to spit on the bars of the dungeon. Quint had scrapped mortar with lime in it too, so we could cover ourselves and make it safe for us to get out with only a few burns.”

Fleet said, “That might work, but I wouldn’t want to do it. Even the touch of dragon spit leaves scars that last a lifetime.”

“If you spent a year inside a cell in that dungeon, you’d try anything,” Raymer said. “But my point is, that was my plan. This dragon attacked the palace screeching and spitting, and then it rammed into the wall of the dungeon. The wall shifted, and the beast hit it again and again, until it fell.”

Raymer paused, letting them picture it in their minds. He waited for one of them to see the problem.

Dancer figured it out first. “You had no idea a dragon could knock the wall down. The question becomes, who ordered the dragon to knock it down?”

“And who provided the apples and carrots at my window?” Raymer asked. “If it had been my family, they would have let me see one of them so I’d know they were attempting a rescue. It was not them. If it was anyone from your Bear Mountain family you’d know about it.”

Dancer set his jaw. If any strangers of the Dragon Clan were in the area, why hadn’t they contacted one of the two local families? If they had directed the attack, as seemed most likely, one of them had bonded with a dragon to tell it what was needed. However, the dragon that had landed a few steps away appeared to have bonded with Raymer.

Dancer said, “The dragon that was here is not the same as the one that rescued you.”

Raymer asked, “What can you tell me of how bonding takes place?”

Dancer glanced at Fleet, who was too young for such secrets in normal times. “Nobody in our family has been bonded in a few generations, and I do not recall any stories of how it comes to be. Truthfully, I have always believed it to be a fantasy.”

“Same here,” Raymer said. “How long until daylight?”

Dancer said, “Plenty of time to catch some sleep if you want.”

Raymer laid back down and closed his eyes with no intention of sleeping. He had more thinking to do.

“I think I’ll make a circle of the campsite, too,” Ander offered. “Then I’ll stand watch.”

Raymer ignored him while allowing the thoughts to spin and twist in his mind. If he called the dragon that had been in camp, would it return? Who had helped him at the dungeon, and why? Who could he seek out to discuss what bonding with a dragon means? Had he bonded tonight? Should he tell Dancer of the change in the feelings on his back?

A hundred other questions forced themselves into consideration. Raymer lost count of the unknowns when a harsh whisper broke the silence.

“Everybody wake up. We have to move right now,” Quint said.