Dragon Clan #3: Fleet's Story

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Fleet took the time to examine Tessa in detail. She stood tall and slim, her hair as long in the front as the rest of her head, and when she let it hang loose, the long brown strands protected her face and neck from the burning sun. She wore baggy pants and a loose shirt. Her age was somewhere between thirty and forty, but he couldn’t pin it down closer.

As he examined her, she returned the favor. Fleet imagined what she saw. He stood only a little taller, he was thin, and his hair was cut shorter and tied at the back. Still two years from twenty, his beard was growing full, but he kept trimmed shorter than many men.

“I’m going with you,” she said.

“You’re welcome.”

She hesitated. “You didn’t tell me that you’re in charge or able to give me orders. Most would have made sure I understand that you’re the leader, and I will either obey or stay.”

“You already know.”

Tessa gave him a penetrating look as if reconsidering her opinion of him. “If we hurry, there is a shallow cave carved out of the sandstone where we can stay tonight. There is a seep nearby where we can refill our water. If that’s acceptable to you.”

Fleet nodded, wanting to get onto a better footing with the woman, and then decided it would either happen or not.

She held out a ceramic flask with a wide leather strap for carrying over his shoulder, the almost flat flask would ride effortlessly under his left arm. “One more is not much heavier than what you already carry. After tonight, there is no water until Fleming.”

Fleet accepted the flask and slipped the strap over his shoulder. “Ready?”

“I’ll lead if you don’t mind. Tonight we can talk.”

“We can talk while we travel.”

“Not if you’re going to keep up with me. You’re in charge only as long as you don’t put my life in danger, and we have a long way to go, and at a speed that will not permit talking.”

Fleet clamped his mouth shut. She thinks she’s going to out-walk me? By the time he’s thought of a proper reply, she was several steps ahead. He followed, expecting to catch up right away. He didn’t. Then he decided she’d tire soon. She didn’t. Then he struggled to keep her in sight as they left the mouth of the valley and entered the desert floor and the soft sand.

The waves of heat made the ground shimmer. The sand made walking difficult, yet Tessa never slowed. Fleet refused to allow her to put any more distance between them and wished he’d have borrowed a hat from someone. He used his hand to brush his hair down over his forehead for minimal protection.

Tessa veered to her right as they walked, never making an actual turn, but both crossing the dry lands to the far side as they headed west. She paused twice under stunted shrubs that provided sketchy shade. At each, she drank deeply.

Fleet took only a sip. She noticed and held up her canteen. “Almost gone. In this heat, you need water or you’ll slow down.”

“What if that trickle of water you know about is dry? Or the king’s men poisoned it?”

She smiled and nodded, looking genuinely impressed at his words. “Neither of those has ever happened, but they might. When we arrive there, we will each have one untouched canteen remaining. There is a stream a half day’s walk further north. We’ll have enough water to reach it.”

Fleet upended his first jar and let more than half of it quench his thirst. When he finished, she tossed him a roll of material. He unrolled a strip of cloth as wide as his hand and almost as long as he was tall.

“Wrap that around your forehead and neck. Keep the sun off or you’ll blister. Use your arms swinging higher to help you walk in the sand.”

He wrapped the material around several times, fumbling with it until she stepped closer and took it. She tossed it over his head and wrapped it once to cover his forehead, then the next wrap left a slit for his eyes but covered his nose and cheeks. She continued until she had his neck covered as well.

Fleet knew he must look silly, but said through the cloth, “Let’s get moving.”

The terrain became rockier, more than sandy, the sharp edged lava rocks made walking difficult. The sky remained cloudless, and the wind blew without pause. Fleet decided he hated the desert. Sand got into his eyes, in his shoes, and a dozen other places he didn’t want to think about. Once it reached those places, it stuck to his sweat covered body.

He finished two more jugs of water and could have drunk five more. As the drylands turned from soft sand to hard rock, it also started to rise and fall, often in broken, jagged cracks. A snake watched them pass. A hawk or falcon flew above, but Fleet wondered if crows or buzzards had their eyes on them, too.

Well before dark Tessa slowed and pointed. The ground dipped, and a spot of pale green grasses tried to survive. As they moved nearer, he saw the cave. It was a hollowed out area carved by the wind, water, or both. But it was situated facing east, while the wind came from the west. The wind would blow right over them.

A glance beyond revealed the other side of the valley was shielded by the head-high lip of rock the cave was under. A fire could only be seen out in the drylands, not the other side of the valley. There had been small shrubs and bushes, even a few trees. Fleet would gather wood as soon as they came to rest.

Tessa, a dozen steps ahead, tossed her shoulder pack aside and went to the edge of the cave. She knelt, and Fleet saw the water flowing in a stream larger than his finger down the rock. He set his things aside and managed not to push her out of his way so he could get over to the water. Of course, he also had the thought that if he tried, he might not succeed. Tessa might do her own pushing.

However, as he moved to her side, she stood. “Fill yourself. I’ll drink more when you’re done.”

The water was cooler than he expected and tasted of minerals, which reminded him of wetting a stone with his tongue. He filled his mouth time after time. When he paused, Tessa was placing sticks on the small ring of fire-blackened rocks.

She looked up and shrugged. “I keep a supply of wood in the back of the cave. I got caught in a snowstorm once and couldn’t find any wood.”

“Snow?”

“Not often, but it happens.” She stuffed dry leaves and pine needles under the branches and pulled her flint.

Fleet turned back to the water. When he heard the crackle of the fire, he turned back and reached for his pack. They had not stopped to eat. He pulled the dried fish, meat, and nuts from it, offering Tessa a share. He still had two small loaves of bread and handed her one, but it was too hard to get his teeth into.

Tessa thought the stale bread was funny. She also had food, including fresh bread, a loaf of heavy dark grained, but soft enough to chew. She broke it in half and settled down to feed small sticks into the fire. “I know it’s not big enough to really warm us, and you can’t eat anything cooked on it because of the greasewood, but I like a fire.”

The sun was low, and a chill would soon cool the desert heat as if the fire that warmed the desert had run out of fuel. Fleet unwrapped the cloth from his head and said, “Tell me about the people you call others. And we need a better name for them.”

“I can’t tell you much. You know what we know.”

“You’re more experienced at this than I am. What do we tell people about us when we get to Fleming?”

“We say as little as possible. That’s the best solution to prevent most mistakes. But you’re right, we need a story of some sort. Suppose you tell me one.”

He let his mind wander, and then spoke. “Fleming is a seaport. Castle Warrington in the Northwoods is also on the sea. We can say we’re considering taking a ship home to Castle Warrington. That gives us reason to be around the docks listening to what people say, especially about the ports where the ships that stop their travels. That might give us a clue where the others came from.”

“That works until someone asks a question about Castle Warrington that anyone who’d ever been there should know, and we do not. As for your earlier question about the others, it’s hard to give them a name when we know nothing about them or where they’re from.”

“I’ve been to Castle Warrington. That’s why I think it would work.”

Tessa said, “What about me? I know nothing about it.”

“We have tonight and tomorrow for me to teach you. I’ll tell you enough that you can get by, and I’ll be able to jump in when needed.”

“How long did you live in Castle Warrington?”

“Lived? I visited for a few days.”

Tessa made a sour face. “Maybe we’re from a small village a day’s travel from the castle, and I’ve never seen it. What’s our business being so far from home?”

“A boy named Brix lives with my family. His father and brothers spin string, twine, and rope. Suppose we pretend we are part of his family. We say that I came south to find new buyers for our spinning? You came with me because you’re better at bargaining. You are my father’s sister.”

She held her hands closer to the fire to warm them. Then she gave a nod of her head. “I like it. Tell me more.”

They discussed their imaginary background until well after dark. Both realized that anything a stranger says is scrutinized carefully. But the story was simple enough that filling in the gaps with half-truths was easy. They quizzed each other until the answers came smoothly.

Fleet’s legs protested every time he moved. He fell asleep and when he woke the sun was not yet up, but Tessa was. He quickly gathered his things. They walked on hard, broken, black rock while the rising sun gave them enough light to see by.

Fleet asked, “What’s Fleming like? You never said.”

Tessa was in the lead again. She half turned her head to speak. “I’ve never been there. Not officially.”

“Besides the king’s Summer Palace, isn’t it the closest city?”

“It seems that your family does more traveling than mine. We’re isolated. The fear of discovery keeps us in the valley we call Oasis. There is little need to risk one of us being captured and tortured by the king’s men when we have all we need.”

The sun rose behind them so the glare of the white sand was not in their eyes. It defined the rocks with long shadows that made it easier to see them. However, Fleet wondered at the idea that few of the drylands Dragon Clan ever ventured out. It almost seemed wrong. They were a proud people. The idea of spending a lifetime hiding, seemed so different from what his family believed.

The primary difference was in long-term planning, he realized. At his home on Bear Mountain, there were, at least, four ways for the family to escape the deep valley they lived in. The huts they built for homes were temporary. They accepted that one day the king’s men would discover them, and they would have to flee. There were two other places selected for them to join up, and known to all, where they would make a new home.

The drylands people had no escape routes. Their long term plan was that nobody would ever find them, and they would improve their valley. In Fleet’s mind, they were making an error that could end their family. They could not stay hidden forever. Fleet’s family history told of at least two times they had been discovered and managed to move on because they had plans in place.

He said, “When will we reach Fleming?”

“Between midday and dark, we’ll find the main road. For some, it takes three days, but we’re traveling faster.”

“We might reach Fleming tonight?”

She kept on walking, but slowed enough to allow for easier conversation. “We could, but I think not. We’d have to push ourselves, and then we’d be tired and worn out for a day. Better to get close and enter the town in the morning with the morning crowds.”

He followed, thinking ahead. Fleet had always been called a planner by the other boys. They were right. He liked to know what was to come, and it made him a good watcher. He choked off a hundred questions, knowing they could wait because most would be answered when they arrived in Fleming.

“How are your legs?” Tessa asked.

“Not so stiff. We have nothing like this to walk on in my mountains.”

“You’re doing better than most.”

He was about to ask about who else had ventured this way when he felt the first gentle touch of a dragon. Just the slightest tingle on his back. It could have been an insect or the sand scratching, but lately, he had felt it too many times to mistake it.

The dragon touch continued. Why had the dragon followed him all this way? He was sure it had a reason. The few glimpses revealed an older black female. The same one that allowed his approach on the side of the mountain. The same one that snapped up the treats of small animals he trapped or an occasional haunch of deer, he brought to her.

He had watched the night another black dragon fell from the sky and stood beside Raymer as they bonded. He had observed Raymer as he learned what they could accomplish together as Raymer directed the dragon while seeing through the dragon’s eyes. He knew there were other powers that hadn’t been revealed. But after the short-lived war, Raymer had gone back to the Raging Mountains and his family. At least for a while. The dragon flew over him as he traveled.

Nobody in his family, not even the old ones, knew first-hand information about bonding. Most had thought it a myth until Raymer proved otherwise. Nobody in the drylands family knew, either. The obvious solution was to seek out Raymer. He would discuss it as soon as he returned home with the information on the others.

Tessa paused as she approached the top of a hill. Fleet appreciated the fact that she stopped before she sky-lined herself to anyone out there who might be watching. While they couldn’t see another person, that didn’t mean the vast empty desert was without watchers.

She made a complete turn, looking behind and to either side, then slowly crossed over the hill to the other side and paused with Fleet at her side to peer ahead again. Ahead lay new land. The harsh flatness was behind. Ahead lay rolling hills and shallow valleys, one after another.

As far as he could see, the land rose and fell. Ten thousand watchers could be out there, and he’d never know.

Tessa pointed. “Between those hills, you can see a little of the road. This is as far as I’ve gone this way. Sawyer said there is a stream of good water for drinking near here. I think I can find it.”

Excitement grew inside Fleet. The port city of Fleming must be less than a half day’s walk away. The road would lead him. He still felt the tingle of the dragon on his back. Tessa had never mentioned it, so he assumed he was more sensitive than her, at least for the one dragon.

“Let’s do it,” he said, sounding far more confident than he felt.