Dragon Clan #3: Fleet's Story

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Tessa lay beside him and moaned almost as much as he did. And then the pain stopped as if it had never been.

They exchanged looks, both suspecting the same thing, but neither wanting to say it out loud. Fleet felt something in his hand. Opening his fingers, he found the coin he’d tried to give the sailor.

Tessa said, “I broke my leg when I was about your age. I thought that was the most pain I could bear. This was worse.”

“Is it dead?” Fleet asked.

“I don’t know. I cannot feel it at all.”

It was nearly dark before Tessa suggested they go downstairs and eat. It was the first words since the dragons had fought shortly after midday. The dining room held six other people, none of them familiar.

A table sat to one side, but Fleet steered her to an empty one near the others. She gave him an inquiring look. He said softly, “So we can listen.”

She understood. They were in a circle of tables and could hear the conversation from most.

Almost immediately a woman leaning across her table said, “No, I didn’t see it, but heard about it.”

The man at the table answered, “Me neither, but they say the two of them attacked each other, spitting and clawing like cocks at a fight.”

From another table, a man said, “I agree with you. Dragons are menaces. At least three people were injured today while those two destroyed each other.”

Fleet had heard enough. He turned and asked, “Where did it take place if I may ask?”

“Over the road to the north.”

“Were either of them killed?” He held his breath for the answer.

“Not that I have heard. They say they flew into the drylands, and only the green returned.”

Fleet felt sick. He couldn’t eat. Tessa stood up before he did. She went to the stairs and when he followed and reached the room, she lay with a blanket over her head. Fleet sat and watched the few people on the streets without really seeing them. Soft sobs came from beneath the blanket, but he just sat and tried to figure out what to do next.

Seeking out the green dragon and killing it was high on his list. He had spent the entire winter observing dragons close up. A longbow purchased in Fleming and a quiver of arrows might do it. Arsenic could be added to the guts of a sheep. He didn’t know if it would kill a dragon, but it might be worth a try.

First, he had to find it. Then he would watch the roost, and if he could get above it, he might start a rockslide. When it flew from its nest in the morning, he could slip in and make a trap. If it had eggs in the nest, he could smash them.

His anger grew, and more ideas filled his mind. Most wouldn’t work for one reason or another, but he would try. It wasn’t that they were bonded, but more like they were friends who looked out for each other. Fleet felt that he had somehow let the black dragon down. At the very least he had led it to its death.

A touch as soft as a butterfly’s wing brushed his back. He sat still, waiting for it again. To a normal person, it might have been an ant crawling under his shirt. But he’d felt the touch too many times in the last year. It was a dragon.

He couldn’t feel green dragons, at least, those from across the sea, but he could sense others from further away than anyone he knew except for Raymer. The touch came again, soft and weak.

“Tessa wake up! We have to leave.”

From the tone of his voice, she didn’t argue or hesitate. She leaped up and gathered what she needed in silence. He did the same. When they passed through the eating room people were still there, most with mugs in front of them instead of bowls.

They didn’t pause or speak. Fleet turned left at the door and headed for the intersection of the main road to the north. They retraced their footsteps of the morning and soon the city of Fleming was behind.

During the walk uphill Fleet had felt the touch of the dragon twice more, the second time stronger as if the dragon was improving, or getting closer. Tessa followed twenty steps behind, trying to keep up, knowing something was happening but trusting him without asking. She was too winded to talk and so was he.

When the road leveled, he paused and caught his breath. In another time, the lights of Fleming would be beautiful, but even after catching sight of them, he turned his back on them and walked beside Tessa.

“I feel it.”

In the starlight, her mouth hung open. She finally said, “The dragon?”

“Yes. Four times, now. All so soft I thought the first was my imagination.”

“They said the fight went out over the drylands,” she said.

Fleet said, “The last touch was a while ago, but it was stronger.”

“I have not felt anything, yet. You have to guide us until I can feel it.”

She had not questioned his word or argued over any detail. She was a leader of the watchers of her village, and that also meant she had to be a follower when required. He didn’t take the time to explain. They walked over the top of the ridge and no longer could see the lights of the city.

Another twinge on his back drew his attention, but, also, was a mental stab of misery. It told of pain, injury, and loneliness. And thirst.

“It’s alive but hurt. And it’s thirsty.”

She said, “You can tell all that?”

“Never before, but it’s talking to me. Crying out for help.”

“I’ve never heard of a dragon doing that.”

He trudged along, waiting for the next contact with the dragon. “Me neither, but it works the other way. When we need help dragons will come.”

Fleet considered leaving the road, but knew the faster travel was to stay the course. He wanted to break away and head directly into the drylands.

When they passed a small farm, Tessa said, “Give me a copper.”

He pulled one from his pocket and handed it to her.

“I’ll catch up. You go on ahead. You know where to leave the road.” She spun and headed for the lights in the small farmhouse.

Fleet continued on, not thinking about Tessa, but about the dragon. When he neared the place to leave the road, he felt it again. Not so much as the touch of the image on his back, but more of a general feeling.

But more than a feeling. It transmitted raw information directly to his mind, so sharp and intense that he stumbled in reaction. It was like the howl of an animal in his head. The howl relayed the pain and hurt.

Fleet started running and tripped. He fell chest first and stood again. The dim light let him see enough to walk, but not run. He called, “Tessa!”

No answer. He allowed to mental link to the dragon stay with him. It was stronger, more intense. He moved without thinking.

The dragon was not ahead. It was off to his right. Tessa was behind and wouldn’t know where to turn. He called to her again. He wanted to run to the dragon but waited. He called again and heard her faint reply.

She finally reached him, a lamb over her shoulders, the feet tied in front of her. Fleet understood the lamb was for the dragon. He slipped it off her neck and placed it over his head. It was maybe half grown, and heavy. He pointed, “Over there.”

As she followed, she suddenly said, “I feel it.”

They had already walked half the night, near a stream and then into the rocky drylands. They climbed one side of a small hill and down the other, time after time. The lamb had long ago stopped bleating and trying to get away. It now either slept or was dead.

They came to a sharp split in the ground, a canyon deep enough to hold a black dragon. One side of the split was taller than the other and protected the dragon from attacks by another dragon unless the green landed and fought on the ground. If it did that, the black was protected by rock and the green lost its advantage.

The dragon hissed, and made the gurgling sound in its throat that they made before spitting. Fleet was too tired for that. “Knock it off. You called for help, and here we are.”

The dragon looked from one to the other as if ready to snap at them.

Tessa said, “I’m scared. I’ve never been this close.”

Fleet lifted the lamb from his shoulders and took a tentative step closer. Sheep were a favorite, next to deer. The dragon sniffed. Fleet then placed it on the rocks near its head and backed away.

Tessa retreated also. Then, faster than their eyes could follow, the dragon’s neck extended and the mouth snapped. The lamb was no more.

Tessa said, “I thought it might be hungry. Besides, the lamb will help with the thirst.”

“There is nothing we can do until morning. Then we’ll decide what to do. The copper was to buy the lamb?”

“The farmer will sell us more, too. I overpaid to get his silence.”

“Good idea.”

“I’m so tired I can hardly stand,” Tessa said.

“We can sleep here. Nothing’s going to bother us with a dragon so close.”

She spread her blanket and was about to lay down. “Hey, my back doesn’t hurt.”

“Never does when you get close, and they accept you.”

“If they don’t accept you?”

“They eat you. But you already knew that, right?” Fleet asked.

“Great. I cannot wait until morning.”