Dragon Clan #4: Gray's Story

CHAPTER ELEVEN

It was near dark when the final questions were asked, and Gray answered. Nearly all had remained to the end. Normally, council meetings were a social time and most departed as it grew boring. This time was different.

The questions flew at Gray one after another, and the answers tended to support the conclusion Sawyer had made. The dinner meal was skipped as Tessa took Sawyer’s place on the podium. She asked for the volunteer runners to meet with her near the dock, where she would pass out assignments and instructions. She wanted them to depart before sunrise.

Sawyer stood again and said, “Gray has done a service to all of us. Now he needs to rest so he can leave again. I suggest that he also leave early, so while I know most of you would like to congratulate or compliment him, I ask you to save it for his next return. The council does have need of a little of his time to settle a few minor issues in private.”

In other words, go home. Gray tried to anticipate the ‘minor issues’ he spoke of, but nothing came to mind.

The entire council did not stay. Gray must have missed some signal that made all but Emma, Sawyer, and Tessa remained before she departed to dispatch the runners. The four of them huddled around a small fire to talk.

Sawyer took charge, as normal. “First, thank you from all of us. Now, to other issues. Stinson is dead. Perhaps because of injuries, you caused when you struck him, perhaps because of his own actions. However, he was not your responsibility. He was ours. We chose to send him, with our hopes in your hands, but the reality is that if any is to be held responsible, it is me.”

When Tessa and Emma started to object, he shushed them, as if they were wayward children. He continued, “You will leave tomorrow, but will not travel alone.”

“What?” Gray blurted out.

“If anything, your visit here proves that at least one other must go with you. That person can return with important information, so you do not have to.”

Tessa said, “I’ll get my things ready.”

“Not you,” Emma said. “We need you here.”

“Then who?” Tessa barked, her tone demanding.

“Anna,” Sawyer said, as Emma nodded her approval as if they had agreed before the council.

Gray said, “Anna? She’s not even fully trained to be a watcher, yet. What is she, thirteen or fourteen?”

Tessa allowed a slight smile to grow, her first for the entire afternoon and evening. “Yes, I like it. She’s smart, quick, and will attract no romantic attention from sailors or tradesmen in Shrewsbury. Young women will not see her as a threat. To most, she will be all but invisible, but has learned her drylands survival lessons well.”

She’s a child. Gray wanted to go alone but saw the wisdom of a partner, just not a girl he was teaching to watch the empty desert only a few days earlier. Thinking of her, he had seen her splashing and playing with the other children on a couple of summers ago.

“Can I take a child into danger?”

Emma said, “Anna is my granddaughter. She will have instructions to run away from any danger. A child like her can slip past many an opponent, and she can disappear like a lamp being turned off when there are chores to be done. We will instruct her to flee before fighting.”

“Then she will not carry a staff,” Gray said. “She cannot fight.”

“And neither will you,” Emma said. “A staff is too directly linked to Dragon Clan. It will not work for this trip of yours.”

Gray didn’t like the answer. He cast a guilty look at the base of an apple tree where his things were, including the bow and quiver. . . And his staff.

Emma chuckled. “Yes, the bow is fine. In fact, I think Anna should carry one, too. I hear she’s very good.”

Sawyer said, “Leave your things there and go sleep. When you return, there will be traveling food, fresh water, and anything else you believe you need. For now, you need sleep.”

“But first,” Emma said, “There are two things. If there is something, you’d like to take along, tell us now. The other is that I expect you to do your best to bring my granddaughter home.”

Gray said, “She will come home even if I do not.”

“What more can I ask of you?” Emma said. “Now I will go inform her and help her pack. She will be waiting for you here before dawn.”

Each laid a hand briefly on Gray’s shoulder as they stood and departed. He sat alone, thinking and wondering at all that was said, and what was to happen. He had thought he’d be the one with the information that would shock and awe the family, but it was Sawyer. He’d figured out the puzzle of the dragon attack. King Ember had been silent and not as relentless in chasing them down for the past few years. Now they know why.

They had to stop the king, but he had a three-year head start. He wanted to eliminate all of the Dragon Clan, but he was now working with the others. If they were not Dragon Clan, who were they? It seemed the answers he’d arrived with only raised more questions. He headed for his small hut and his old yellow dog.

The night didn’t provide much sleep. Long before dawn, he rose and walked to the council meeting area. There waiting for him was Anna. In the moonlight, she looked even younger than fourteen.

She sat alone, watching him approach. At her feet were her bow, pack, water jugs, and a bedroll.

Gray thought of several greetings to ease the tension, but settled for, “Ready?”

“Let’s do it.”

He thought it odd that a small crowd had not gathered to wish them well. It occurred to him that it would have slowed their departure. A glance at Anna told him she was worried, sleepy, and eager. Still, she was a girl and would have to be protected. Hopefully, she would not become a problem, but if she couldn’t keep up, he would send her home.

They headed around the edge of the lake, through the tangle of pear cactus and juniper, Gray leading the way. He varied the route through the desert from the one he and Stinson had taken, to keep from making any sort of trail another might follow. After they had traveled across the flat of the desert for a while, the sky turned pink, and Anna slipped to his side.

She said, “The runners to the other families all left before you came. They seemed excited and worried. You did well in bringing the news to us.”

“I hope the warning is of value.”

“You and I need to have a talk,” she said, her voice stern.

“Well, you go first, and I’ll add in anything I think is important.” After making this same trip with Stinson, he didn’t know what to expect. For that trek, he had done all the planning and talking. Stinson had only been along to complain.

Anna said, “You’re the boss. I’ll do what you say as long as I think running to safety isn’t a better idea.”

“Deal,” he said. What more is there to say?

She fell into step behind him again. When he glanced back, she wore the smile of a girl excited to do something important for the first time. She never complained, and he didn’t see her drink her water, although he once noticed her sip enough to moisten her lips.

They paused in some meager shade provided by a tall rock outcropping near midmorning and ate. Gray looked at the short bow she carried and asked, trying to draw her out, “Are you any good with that?”

She shrugged, “More accurate at short range than yours, and I can draw and release faster. Your arrows will fly further.”

Her answer was not flippant or disrespectful. She simply stated the facts as she saw them.

He asked, “Are you carrying a knife?”

“Two. One for show and one for stabbing.”

“What’s that mean?” Gray asked.

She lifted the edge of her vest to display the handle of a knife similar to his. Then she bent and pulled a loose leg of her britches to her knee. A strap went around her leg just above her calf. Another at her ankle. A sheath held a thin knife positioned on the outside of her leg, where she could reach it easily.

“So they take the big knife at your waist and don’t search for another?”

She smiled sweetly. “Would a sweet little girl me carry two knives?”

“The second has an edge?”

“Two. And a point.”

Gray pushed the stopper into his bottle and pointed, “That way. We’ll stop a few more times but will get there mid to late afternoon. Plenty of good water.”

“But always keep one full bottle, just in case. I know the rules.”

Gray didn’t bother answering. The pull of the soft sand with each step had has thighs and calves aching already. The walking in the soft sand put pressure on his lower back. But he continued, hearing Anna huffing and puffing behind. He once considered offering to carry some of her weight but knew he shouldn’t.

While resting under a sage large enough to cover their upper bodies with shade, they sat and sipped. Gray said, “I didn’t ask for you to come.”

“I know. You think I’m too young.”

“Are you?” he asked, trying to tease a smile out of her.

“Only if I die.”

The answer stunned him. He said nothing for a while and when he did the words didn’t want to escape his mouth. “That won’t happen.”

“Not if you can prevent it. I know that.”

Gray stood. “Maybe one more stop. Then we can rest until morning.”

They found the water trickling from the crack in the stone and spent the night huddled in the shallow cave. No fire to be seen if another triad had moved into the area. The following day they walked and camped dry with little shelter. The next afternoon they found the stream.

Anna wanted to take a side trip and see where the black had fought the red dragon. There was plenty of daylight left, so Gray led the way. They returned to the stream before dark and drank their fill again.

It was too close to the road for a camp fire, although it was a half day walk. Fire can be seen from vast distances on dark nights in the desert.

Sitting in the starlight before sleeping, Anna asked, “Feel it?”

Now that she had mentioned it, he did feel a small tingling on his back, just the lightest touch. It had not been there earlier. “Just a little.”

“I think it’s staying out there right at the limits of where we can feel it. It hasn’t gotten stronger all day, but it has been there.”

Either she was more sensitive, or he hadn’t paid attention. The idea of the red dragon remaining out there comforted him. If he needed it, the dragon would come. He felt sure. Dragons protected their humans.

In the morning, he led the way to the road, or at least near it. He intended to turn south to reach Shrewsbury, but remembering last time he had walked out on the road, Prater had soon joined him. Prater or another might be out there watching. To the south was a ridge, not high, but enough to watch the road, and the broken lands across it. A hundred shallow draws formed from water flooding and running off gave at least that many places to hide.

He told Anna of his plan. Together, they kept out of sight of anyone watching from the other side of the road as they climbed the back side of the ridge and positioned themselves, much like when they performed their watcher duties at home.

They wriggled beneath a sage, as much for the shade as to prevent someone from seeing them. They lay in the shade and watched for the latter part of the morning until Anna said, “There.”

Gray followed her eyes and watched a spot high on a hill, a place where the road could be seen in either direction. There were a hundred places to do that, but only the one Anna watched also provided a view into the drylands. It was where Tessa had directed him to look. The person over there was watching for Dragon Clan. He had no doubt.

He suspected it was Prater, but was not going anywhere near to find out. His first instinct had been to try and slip up on the watcher, but then what? He’d either be spotted or have to kill someone.

Instead, he and Anna eased back over the crest of the ridge. They hiked parallel to the road until both agreed the watcher could not see them. The found a gully to follow that took them almost to the road; then they watched the sparse traffic until they were out of sight of all other travelers, although there were few.

Once on the road, Anna said, “My grandmother said we’ll need to think of a story before we get to Shrewsbury.”

“Okay. The trick is to keep it simple. When we meet people let them do the talking. That way we won’t get caught in a lie.”

She said, pointing at him and then her, “Brother and sister. We’re from near King Ember’s Summer Palace, which is sort of true. We both know what it looks like. But why are we going to Shrewsbury?”

“We can’t say we’re related to anyone there because from what I understand, it’s a small town. Everyone will know each other.”

Anna said, “Then we’re traveling. Shrewsbury is only a place to stop.”

They walked for a while in silence. Gray said, “I can’t seem to come up with a story that will hold water.”

“Well, you said to keep it almost true, but simple. What if we tell people our older brother was in Shrewsbury a year ago, and we think he took a ship to the Marlstone Islands. We’re trying to find if that’s true because we haven’t heard from him in all that time. Our mother is sick and wishes to see him one more time.”

Gray considered the story and saw the fallacy. “Then why are you with me? Why send a man and his little sister on such a trip?”

“Oh, you silly man! Because you are mentally slow and since I am very intelligent I have to care for you.”

Her giggle was that of a little girl who had pulled one over on an adult. But there were parts they could use. Gray said, “Try this. Our father died last year. He was a soldier for the king for many years before buying a farm. Our mother died a long time ago, from a sickness. There are just the three of us children now, but the taxman took our house, and we have nowhere to live. Billy went to earn a fortune so we can buy it back. We have to find him.”

“Only a few ships go to the Marlstone Islands, you know.”

“Who said that?”

“When Tessa and I were on watcher duty together she told me all about her trip with Fleet. The Lady Marion makes port there, Fleming, Shrewsbury, and Breslau. And according to you, it loses money on every trip.”

“You listened well. Okay, let me think about the entire story. So far, I like it.”

She skipped along and clapped her hands together, singing her words. “This is the first road I’ve walked on. I’ll see lots of new things. La la la.”

“I hope you’re playing with me.”

Anna calmed and walked at his side again, smiling up at him. “I was just acting like the little girl you think I am.”

Gray didn’t answer. She was right. He needed to treat her as a partner, not a child. “We have to sleep outside again tonight, but late tomorrow we would get to Shrewsbury if we went directly there. But I have a stop to make, first.”

“A place where you’ve never been either, so we’re on sort of equal footing.”

“Sort of is the phrase I’m hearing. Remember that I’m in charge.” He walked a few steps before relenting. “Okay, you’re right. I need to think of you as my partner so I’ll try.”

“And I’ll do my best to obey your every command. But when others are around I should act younger. People ignore children.”

The evil-sounding giggle after her prim statement made him join in the laughter. He watched the terrain change again, becoming hilly. Small trees grew on the slopes. They crossed a stream and paused to drink. Off to the east, the hills turned to mountains, not the largest he’d seen, but angular and rugged. They began almost at the road and continued until they disappeared into the distance.

They were the mountains that made up the peninsula that jutted into the sea between Fleming and Shrewsbury. They were where the map in the bookstore suggested the green dragons might roost.

At the thought of them, his focus turned to the tingling on his back that had been there all morning. “Anna, we talked about bows. I’m not the best with one, but do you feel the red that’s still with us?”

“I do.” No trace of impudence or humor in her tone.

“I think the greens that belong to the others are in those mountains over there. I want to go take a look.”

“You’re worried they might spot us?”

“Yes, but more than that. They kill other dragons. If that red comes too close, they’ll fight. If I can, I’ll join in with my bow.”

“You’re not really going to tell me to hide or run from the fight, are you?”

“If it comes to that, I don’t think you’ll have a chance to do either. If they fight, and if we’re in a position to help, I expect you to put as many arrows into any green dragon you can. Don’t stop.”

She was breathing deeply, and her cheeks were pink. Her eyes betrayed her excitement, but her voice remained calm. “You can count on me.”

“I am. So is the red.”

“Raymer could tell it to stay away. I wish I were bonded like him.”

“He’s not here. But, nobody knows how much a dragon understands. That red keeps pace with us, and if we get into a fight, I expect it to try and join in. Maybe if both of us try to send the red a message to stay away from those mountains, it will understand.”

Anna said, “That might work. We know it’s following us, so it is touching our minds, or, at least, yours. It followed you before, right?”

“I think it knows both of us. It has been around us our whole lives. While we’re walking, think of it staying away.”

“We’re going into those mountains?”

There seemed to be no easy way to tell her. “Yes.”