Dragon Clan #3: Fleet's Story

CHAPTER TWENTY

Fleet sat stunned, unable to understand why he couldn’t feel it. A dragon was flying right by him, and he felt nothing. Had he lost his abilities? Was he normal? His breathing came shallow and short while his heart raced. His eyes were locked on the green dragon.

Tessa hissed, “Do you feel it?”

“Sh,” Fleet ordered, glancing around to see if anyone listened to them, and when he found they were not, he turned his attention to the dragon again. He had never heard of anyone in the Dragon Clan not being able to sense one flying so close, let alone the two of them sitting together and feeling as little as ordinary people.

Certainly, some Dragon Clan, like himself, were more sensitive than others, but only by degree. They could all sense dragons far beyond the distance they could see them. As they flew closer, the pain increased. In this case, the dragon flew so close that both Fleet and Tessa should have felt pain approaching that of insect stings all along their backs.

“We need to go back to the inn and talk.” He stood and walked back up the street, the loading and unloading of the ships temporarily forgotten. He heard Tessa at his heels, but never turned to look at her, or speak. When they entered the Red Bear, they headed directly for the door and stairs, and then to their room.

Two pitchers of water sat on a low table that had not been there earlier. Mugs were there too. The window was closed so Fleet reopened it and sat on the bed watching the bustle of traffic below as he drained a mug of water and refilled it.

Tessa took the chair, her face pale and scared. “I felt nothing. How can that be?”

“There are only two answers. Either both of us have lost our abilities to sense dragons or the dragon we saw cannot communicate with us.”

“At Oasis I always sense dragons, even those from far away. We all knew when your black was cruising up and down the valley.”

Fleet tried to think of when the last time he’d sensed the dragon following him. It had been the day before. Could it be something we ate, or in the water like a hallucinogenic?

Tessa said, “It’s not us. The green dragons that followed the others do not touch our minds. Remember the fight between the dragons? I have never heard of two dragons fighting, but what if they’re somehow different?”

“What if the green dragons can touch the minds of the ‘others’, but not us?”

A quiet filled the room. Fleet drank another mug of water then watched the street below, again. Finally, he said, “These people you call the others must touch the minds of dragons, but if that’s the case, how would they know about us?”

Tessa shrugged and didn’t answer for so long that Fleet thought she wouldn’t. When she did, it was a question instead of an answer. “How could they not know about us? There are posters on hundreds of walls offering rewards for Dragon Clan. There are people who talk about us at the inns and with their friends. Tales are told. Oh yes, they know about us, I have no doubt.”

“Your family is the closest to Fleming, and for them to locate you should be fairly easy if they’ve come in peace.”

“That they have not contacted us does not mean they necessarily come with malice, either. I’d think that wherever they come from they must face the same problems as us, and would seek us out for the help we can provide.”

“Yet, they do not.”

“I wish we had brought a third person, as the king’s triads. I would now send the third back to Sawyer and the Council with all the information we know.”

Fleet said, “We know very little, and the rest are guesses.”

“Still, it is important enough to warn our families. I think that I may return. Then I can also send a messenger to your family and one to the family in the Raging Mountains. The word will spread to other families.”

“And if we’re wrong? What if tomorrow we can sense the green dragons? Or we find the others are allies? Remember, they helped Raymer.”

Tessa watched out the window, too. “Any of those passing us on the street may be our enemies or allies. We do not know who is who.”

“If one of them is an enemy and he has a dragon fly over the drylands, he can reveal your home to the king, or attack Oasis on his own. Your family has nowhere to go because you live in a box canyon with no way out so they cannot be protected by a simple warning.”

Her face reddened, and she spun on him. “What about yours? Is it any different?”

“Yes. While a dragon flying over will probably find us, we have more than four routes to escape. Since birth, we have all known about our plan to leave in different directions, and where we will meet at a later time. Each of us has a backpack ready for the moment when we flee. Daily, we face that painful reality that someday it will happen. If it isn’t Kind Ember’s men, it will be a force from another province.”

She crossed her arms over her chest and fumed.

“I intend to stay and find out more.”

“How will you do that? What makes you think you can find out anything about them? What makes you so smart?”

Fleet refused to argue. Her anger threatened to erupt. He should not have explained how vulnerable her village was, yet it was true. Oasis had been built with the idea it would never be discovered. Fleet believed the idea foolish, if not outright dangerous.

He waited, and when he spoke he kept his voice soft and reasonable. “We have already discovered that we cannot sense green dragons. But while standing on that dock, I heard a man say that he often sees a green dragon flying across the bay. To me, that says the dragon must roost on one side or another of the bay. That is new information for us.”

“Go on.” Her tone had softened.

“Dragons tend to wake late and let the sun warm them before they fly. That tells me the dragon this morning was leaving the nest. If we travel around the bay to where it came from, we’ll see it again tomorrow, and move closer the next day. In three days we should be very close to the roost.”

“That would perhaps take us to the dragon or dragons if we manage to avoid being eaten. However, it does nothing to tell us who the others are.”

“For that, there is another possible clue. You noticed that some of the cargo being unloaded had a green dragon stenciled on it.”

She looked confused, then remembered. Before she managed an answer, he continued. “That cargo was shipped from a place where a green dragon was put on cargo. I don’t think it was a coincidence. I want to know what ports that ship has been to. I’d also like to follow the cargo and see who it is delivered to.”

Her eyes said it all. She became animated. “The others might take delivery! How did you ever become so smart? We have been here one morning, and you have two distinct paths to follow.”

“At the very least. When we know the ports where that cargo was shipped from we might know where to find the home of the others or at least where they boarded the ship at.”

“Instead of waiting for them to come to us, we can go to them.”

Fleet said, “Spoken like a warrior.” He spotted a familiar figure in the street and watched as the man called Caldor turned and entered the inn. “That man from this morning just entered the inn.”

“Why do you think he’s here?”

“As we were leaving the docks I invited him, but didn’t expect him to come until tonight, if at all. But he was free with his information so, I’ll go down to meet with him.”

“Is that a polite way of telling me to stay up here?”

Fleet knew she was kidding. At least, he hoped she was as he slipped from the room and descended the stairs. He found Caldor sitting alone. Fleet offered to buy the meal and soon they were talking like old friends.

Fleet waited until a lull in the conversation and said, “I haven’t seen many dragons before.”

“Mostly greens around these parts.”

The conversation lagged again, but Fleet was reluctant to question more about the dragons. Instead, he said, “I’m new to the city. My family lives north of here, but you mentioned buying cargo. How would I find what is for sale?”

“There are three main auction houses down by the waterfront. Auctions are held most mornings. Of course, not all cargo is for sale.”

There was another way to ask the question he wanted. “If I wish to ship cargo to a place, how can I find which ship will travel there?”

“Chandlers and such might point you to the right one, but most just ask the Cargo-master for each ship. If they don’t go there, they know the route of most ships in port, and they will refer you. Often they will provide other valuable information, usually for a small fee.”

The answer didn’t help Fleet. He wanted to know where the cargo stenciled with the green dragons came from, but mentioning the dragons again would draw attention. However, he would take Caldor’s advice and talk with the different cargo masters later. If he asked enough questions, nobody would know his objective.

Caldor answered many questions, but Fleet noticed that he also asked more than a few. They were carefully couched as being casual inquiries, but a pattern developed. Twice more he mentioned dragons. Then, after finishing his mug and calling for more, he asked if Fleet had heard of the dragon attack on the King’s Summer Palace.

“Everyone’s heard of that, I think. I live far from there, but news like that travels fast,” Fleet said, being as evasive as possible and wondering why the question was asked in the first place. Was Caldor also seeking information? Could he be Dragon Clan?

“Yes, we heard of it here, too. Terrible business, this Dragon Clan stuff. I don’t understand why the king does not exterminate them all.”

The directness of the statement and intensity caught Fleet by surprise, but before he could react, he caught the gleam in Caldor’s eye that said he was trying to provoke Fleet in some manner. “Ever since his father was killed by a dragon, he’s tried.”

The subject changed, and Caldor excused himself a short time later. Fleet nursed his ale while remembering all that was said, and each inflection. Caldor was not what he pretended, but beyond that Fleet couldn’t decide. He may be a bounty hunter or a spy that reports to the king. He might be Dragon Clan or one of the ‘others’. Without more knowledge, Fleet decided to put distance between them. The man was too dangerous if he was one of the first two. Even if he was one of the others, Fleet didn’t’ feel confident dealing with him.

But he had gained valuable information. He climbed the stairs and found Tessa asleep. He left quietly and walked back down to the ships.

The Cargo-master on the first told of the ship’s regular ports and wanted to know if Fleet ever sent or received cargo to any of them. The second cargo-master was much the same. The third was where the cargo arrived with the stenciled dragon on some crates.

After introductions and a few preliminary questions and answers, the Cargo-master said, “Regular route, we run. Three days out to Shrewsbury. Five more to the islands of Marlstone. Then on to Breslau on the far coast after nine days of hard sailing against the trade winds. Fifteen days sailing with the wind to return here. Right on schedule, we are. You can’t do better than shipping with the Lady Marion.”

Fleet glanced at the bow of the ship. Marion, in large white letters. “I thank you, sir. I will pass on your information, and you will see me again.”

Strolling away was one of the hardest things he’d ever done. He wanted to skip and run for joy. The short conversation had told him more than he ever hoped to learn. Shrewsbury was only three days’ sail away, to the south if Fleet remembered correctly. The green dragons did not come from there because it was too close and if they lived there, all would know about it.

He hadn’t heard of the Marlstone Islands, but they were only five more days of slow sailing by a cargo ship, not the fastest ships on the seas. Again, it was too close to Fleming.

That left Breslau, a word Fleet had never heard. A city, port, island, or another land? He didn’t know, but finding out shouldn’t be too hard. Somewhere in Fleming, there were maps he could purchase. The hem of his shirt still held all the coins Camilla had sewn there, including the two gold, worth enough to purchase a small farm and all the buildings and animals.

Walking up the road from the port was hard work, but his mind was busy as he congratulated himself on being so clever. Breslau, an odd name, but one he felt he’d learn as much about as possible.

He was still thinking deeply and struggling up the pave stones when the first touch of a dragon came to his back. It was more than the usual twinge of the first sense of contact. More than the tickle that normally followed, but not yet a sharp pain.

Turning, Fleet looked out over the bay expecting to find a green dragon flying over the water. It was not there. He looked at all the sky he could see between the building and didn’t see it, but the feeling was becoming stronger, more intense than he’d ever felt.

No! Fleet leaned against a stone wall and projected the word again to the dragon. No! Fly away!

His pain intensified. The dragon flew closer and closer. His black dragon. The one that had followed him from Bear Mountain was coming right at the place where the greens flew. The touch was so familiar he embraced the pain as he ordered it away. He felt sure it was the same dragon, but there was no way to know for sure.

He remembered the story of the green dragon fighting another over the bay. The green had defeated the other, and both had fallen into the water, only the green to fly away. He made a mental picture of the drylands and tried to tell the dragon to turn around and wait for him there, but it was too late.

A wave of sharp pain that could only be rage struck him. Fleet fell to his knees.

“Are you alright, friend?” a sailor who appeared at his side asked.

Fleet fingered a large copper from a pocket and pressed it into the palm of the sailor. “Get me to the Red Bear.”

An arm went around his shoulder and lifted him to his feet. The rage turned his back to pain as hurtful as if his shirt had caught fire. Then it increased. He felt the toes of his boots dragging across the cobblestones as the sailor pulled him. Then, another sailor rushed up and together they half-carried him to the inn.

Tessa had seen them approaching from the window and met them at the door. “Upstairs,” she snapped as if she was the captain giving orders.

The sailors managed to get him into the room and on the sleeping pallet before Tessa ordered them out. She fell beside him, tears streaming down her face. She said, “My back hurts so much.”

“It’s fighting a green dragon.”

“I know.”