Dragon Clan #3: Fleet's Story

CHAPTER EIGHT

Fleet felt confident the old man was somehow involved with the Dragon Clan. For some reason, he didn’t believe the man was part of the family, at least not directly. Fleet said, “How long before the fish is ready?”

“You have enough time to wash up,” Camilla said, still facing the fire and her back to them.

Fleet stood and walked to the edge of the stream, his back also to the old man. They were giving him an opportunity to trust them, to think without interruption, or to run. Turning after washing his hands, Fleet saw the old man still sitting, lost in thought. He returned as sat beside him.

“My name does not matter. It might get you into trouble if you know it, and it might send the king’s troops after me.”

Fleet said, “Knowing that, we could contact the king’s men at the Summer Palace and tell them of you and claim any reward after they come for you.”

“You won’t do that.”

“How do you know?”

Now Camilla watched the two intently, the fish ignored. She didn’t speak, which may have broken the spell between the two men.

“Because you are good people. I can see that. I wondered why you invited me here and decided for only one reason. You wish information and hope I can tell you what you need to know.”

“Have you killed anyone important or stolen from the king?” Fleet asked.

The old man said, “Not very subtle of you, my young friend. I’ll give you credit for trying, but you lack the finesse of your sister. The answer you seek is no, I am not part of the Dragon Clan.”

Camilla said quickly, “But that is not your whole story.”

The old man pulled his blanket around his shoulders again and adjusted his position. “Your fish is about to burn.”

Camilla tended the fish while Fleet tried to catch up mentally. They were speaking above his head, using cryptic body language and emphasizing certain words. Reviewing the conversation, he started to understand some of what was said, and what was not.

“You are not part of the Dragon Clan, but you know something about it,” Fleet said, stating a fact and not asking a question.

“If that were true, I’d live out here so that I can never endanger anyone with my knowledge. It is best to end this dangerous conversation and eat our meal. I must travel back to my home before dark.”

On impulse, Fleet stood and turned. He raised his shirt and allowed the old man to see the mark of the dragon on his back. Fleet’s design was a black dragon, mouth open and a red tongue licking the air. The eyes were also red, an oddity for two colors on anyone’s back.

He looked over his shoulder, expecting to see the surprise, shock, fear, and possibly anger. Instead, the old man’s eye traced the detailed lines like someone would examine a painting by a master.

Camilla held two skewers of fish. “I have more salt if you wish.”

“Would you have flakes of peppers?” The old man asked, speaking as calmly as if he had not seen the mark on Fleet’s back.

“No,” she said. “I’m not a person to enjoy the spice.”

“Too bad. It’s been a long time since I enjoyed it. If you are his sister, you also have a dragon on your back?”

Camilla turned and pulled her shirt up. She gave him time to see it, then returned to eating.

“The two of you grace me with a secret that can cost your lives?” The old man had not taken a bite, yet.

Fleet said, “You were right, we require information. We’re heading for the king’s Summer Palace, where one of our family escaped half a year ago. We believe he was helped by some person or people of the Dragon Clan. But neither of our families knows of others who live nearby.”

“You are searching for them?”

“We are.”

The man tore a bite of fish and placed it in his mouth, then licked his fingers before speaking again. “Do you intend harm to them?”

“Of course not. They helped a member of our clan escape. But we wonder why they did not contact us.”

“You are from the west?”

Not wanting to relay more information than he needed to establish trust, Fleet nodded.

“If you believe you can barge into King Ember’s Summer Palace and start asking questions about the Dragon Clan without being arrested you are very wrong. He is so paranoid that a single innocent-seeming question will have you displaying your backs to guards within the first day.”

“You know a lot about it?”

“I believe you two, but you are young and stupid. I may help, but not today. I will think and either return in the morning or not at all.” He stood.

Fleet said, “You saw our backs. Why do you hesitate?”

“Someone beat your sister no more than a day or two ago. That tells me you may be too young to keep secrets that can cost lives. You should have been more careful.”

He handed the empty skewer to Camilla and turned away, limping in the direction of the far-off ridge. Neither Camilla nor Fleet called for his return. Both watched wordlessly until he was out of sight.

Camilla said, “Do you think he will be back?”

“Yes. But if he does not come back there is no sense in chasing after him. He won’t talk unless he wants to. He’s protecting a friend or lover.”

“He never said that.”

Fleet looked at her and realized that for all of her insights earlier, she had missed one of the most important ones. “He’s right, you know. We can’t just go into the market and ask questions. All strangers will be suspect, especially after the escape from the dungeon and the dragon attack on the marketplace. We will have to be very careful.”

“Listen to everything. No talking. In short, we both act like you on a normal day.” She headed for the deep pool in the river. “I’m going to swim.”

“There goes my fishing,” Fleet said.

“Me splashing and swimming will not make your fish swim to another part of the river,” she said.

“I was thinking of the sweat and grime tainting the water.”

She spun on him, “Then you had better stay dirty, too. And stay away from the water or you may find yourself dunked.”

He chased her to the edge and after stripping off his shirt and boots, he dived in. The old man had given them hope that he would return with information that might help. Camilla swam through the water as if born to it while he struggled to stay afloat. More bruises showed themselves on Camilla, and Fleet realized that the one covering half her face was possibly not the most serious.

They splashed and played like children, which was not far from the truth. For a few minutes, the pressure and responsibilities evaporated. After swimming Fleet spread his blanket on the sand to lay in the afternoon sun and dry. He instantly fell asleep.

When he woke, Camilla was on the sand beside him, the sun setting, and the fire low. He moved softly and then gathered more wood. You can never have too much, but you can always have too little. His father had taught him that when he was camping for the first time and it remained good advice.

Camilla still slept. Healing from injuries uses energy. He left her alone while he sat beside the fire and watched the flames, as countless people have done since the beginning of time. The warmth, the soft crackles, and hisses, and the ever-changing patterns that soothe and allow a mind to wander, and sometimes to center on what is most important.

Without warning, the old man stepped into the firelight and sat, uninvited. He chose a spot only a step away from Fleet. “Walking all the way home and back is a chore for an old man,” he said. “Too much walking two days in a row.”

“I thought you didn’t want to walk in the dark.”

“The moon will be up soon. That’s all the light I need.”

Fleet tossed another few sticks on the fire. “Does this mean you’re going to talk to us?”

“Yes. But the truth is, I don’t have much to tell. A long time ago a woman, a young woman, stood by me when I needed it. I was a soldier and refused to set fire to a farmhouse. A neighbor had accused them of being part of the Dragon Clan. I was thrown in chains and called a sympathizer.”

“You refused orders from a superior? Why?”

“I did not think it was right to burn their home, even if they were Dragon Clan. They were just a family trying to get by.”

“Were they Dragon Clan?

“No, it was a case where the neighbor who accused them wanted a larger farm. If the king’s army burned the house and took the family away, the neighbors wouldn’t even have to purchase the land.”

“Clever.”

“Not really. A lot of that sort of thing was going on at the time. I’d seen it before and so had my officer, so I refused to set the fire. I expected my officer to stand by me, but he didn’t. They burned the buildings while I watched.”

“You said that they chained you?”

“Yes. They left me chained to a post beside the burned out house while they went off to respond to another report of a Dragon Clan sighting. A young woman came along. We talked. Then this great dragon flew over the treetops and spit a black wad at the side of the stone farmhouse. She used a shovel to carry some of the spit to my chains. She put it on and they sizzled and smoked . . . And melted.”

“Then what?”

“You don’t talk much, do you, boy? Then we ran for our lives. They chased us for three days before we gave them the slip, but there are those I served with who would recognize me. So I headed to places unknown. I heard later that the dragon went back and burned the other farm to the ground a few days later, and then again after the new house and barn were built.”

“You have stayed away from people all this time?”

“As a soldier for more than twenty years, I met a passel of men. There’s probably not a king’s unit that doesn't have at least a man I served with, even to this day. The reward the king offers for my head will turn even a friend into a wealthy ex-friend.”

Fleet stirred the fire while thinking about the story. The old man was entrusting him with information every bit as damning as they’d trusted him with when they displayed their birthmarks. He thought about retelling the story to Camilla in the morning, but as he glanced her way the light reflected in her open eyes. She didn’t move, so he looked at the fire again.

“I understand why you hide. But there’s more.

“That there is. This is the part I decided to hold from you. Then changed my mind and came back to tell you. During our three days of running, we didn’t know what would happen. There were hundreds of men after us, each seeking the generous reward. She was worn out, her ankle tender from a sprain, and lack of sleep had us reeling. We climbed a steep hillside only to find troops ahead of us, too.”

“What’d you do?”

“Climbed a tree. Figured we’d make it hard for them to get at us. There was this big old elm. The lowest branch was way over my head. I gave her my knee to step up and lifted her to it. She pulled herself up like she was born to it, which she probably was. I was going to divert them, but she shucked her pants and tied the legs around the limb. I jumped and managed to grab them. She reached for the back of my shirt and pulled me up.”

“They didn’t see you?”

“I got up just in time. She untied her pants, and we eased ourselves higher until they couldn’t see us from below unless they looked right up. Later we went higher and braced ourselves sturdy against y-shaped branches. They searched for over a day, but never found us.”

“I will repeat your story to my family.”

“Her name was Violet. While we were up there, we both believed they would catch us. She made me promise that if I got away, I would carry a message to her people.”

Fleet sat right up, almost coming to his feet. “You know where they are?”

“I do. At least, I know where they were. I have convinced myself she would wish me to share it with you. She lived out here with me for half our lives. Tell them she was happy.”

Camilla was now sitting and listening intently. Fleet hadn’t seen her move. He didn’t speak, but waited.

“Travel east after you reach the Summer Palace. Spend only enough time in that god-awful palace market to buy water containers and food. No more than one container from each vendor or someone will figure out you’re heading into the drylands.”

“Drylands?” Fleet didn’t like the sound of the word.

“Two day’s travel east, over land without water. Three days if you do not hurry. There you will find a wide, flat valley. It is rugged, an endless series of dry canyons, I was told. In one box canyon lives a family of the Dragon Clan.”

Fleet cast a warning glance to Camilla so she would remain quiet while he tried to keep the old man talking. “How will I know which canyon? I’m picturing dozens of them.”

“Hundreds is more like it. Maybe a thousand. They always keep people watching the approach, so you just have to have one of your dragons fly over, and they will know you’re one of them.”

Camilla stood and walked to the fire. “What if we do not know how to make dragons do our bidding?”

The old man squinted and scratched his head. He said, “Well, first of all, if I were you two I wouldn’t be telling everyone I met my family connections if you see what I mean. You told me with no reason, more or less. Tell the wrong person and you’re dead. Both of you.”

“I see,” Fleet said, his thoughts already elsewhere.

“Moons coming up, now. I gotta go. An old man like me needs his sleep.” He stood and pulled his blanket tighter, then started walking away.

Camilla said, “When one of us comes back this way we’ll bring a bag of red pepper flakes.”

He paused, half turned and said, “You’d really do that for me?”

Fleet watched him turn and continue walking. Yes, he’d do that. If Camilla didn’t, he would, but then relented. If Camilla returned this way, she’d have his spices even if she had to walk two or three extra days. And she would bring him more than one kind of pepper. That was her.

She shrugged. “Is that the people we’re looking for?”

“Probably. Maybe.”

“I know. I have the same doubts. But it’s a place to begin or a place to visit the Summer Palace,” she said. “It’s also a place to tell our family about. We never know when we might have to leave our valley on Bear Mountain. The only other family I know is Raymer’s in the Raging Mountains.”

“Drylands. I don’t like the sound of it.”

Her laughter tinkled like bells. “Is that so different than you and the other boys spreading chicken feathers in normals camps or hanging little dolls from limbs to scare them off? For them, the name ‘drylands’ alone might keep people away.”

“You sound like you’re in a hurry to go there,” Fleet said.

“I am.”