Dragon Clan #5: Tanner's Story

CHAPTER FOUR

Tanner watched the approaching ship with fear and trepidation. Talking about what they were going to do when the ship arrived, and the reality of the impending action was not the same. The appearance of the ship turned a mental exercise into reality. The next day or two would determine the course of the rest of his life.

It might affect hundreds, if not thousands of others. In his heart, he understood that what they planned would not prevent war, but might delay it. If nothing else, his people and King Ember might have time to better prepare.

Carrion was still on the ground directing his red to deliver pieces of the packing crates and contents, helmets, and swords. If he found any other damaging evidence, the dragon would deliver it also, but the travel time would require Carrion’s attention most of the day. He would take a few breaks, but if left unattended a dragon went about its own agenda. Taking the time to locate pen and ink, and then penning a message would take an extra day they didn’t have.

The ship sailed closer to the entrance to the bay. It wallowed in the waves instead of breaking through as sleeker military ships near his home did. The hull more resembled a lumbering fishing boat than the few fast packets he’d seen in the seas to the south. It sailed around the end of the breakwater as it lowered the first of its sails. A few shouted orders drifted on the air.

It sailed directly to the dock. While sitting and watching the ship, a rabbit ducked in and out of a burrow right in front of him. Reaching for his bow and a single arrow, he waited until the rabbit disappeared down into the hole again. Then he quickly scooted closer and waited. He turned away because rabbits instinctively recognize predators have their eyes on the front of their heads, and when the rabbit peeked out again, he didn’t want to be looking at it as a predator. The rabbit would duck down again and maybe not come back up today.

The rabbit appeared again. Tanner fought with himself in not looking at it. The rabbit ducked back into the hole, then peeked out again. Rabbits depend on speed, stealth, and wariness to survive. If a man wants to hit one with an arrow, he must have patience. Tanner knew the routine. The ship was already busy loading and unloading when Tanner was close enough for a good shot. The rabbit was far less wary now that Tanner hadn’t made any quick moves or even glanced at it.

The arrow was drawn part of the way and pointed at the top of the burrow when the rabbit appeared again. Tanner sat only ten paces away as he slowly increased the pull. A flick of his eyes told him the arrow was aimed correctly, and he released. The arrow penetrated the chest of the rabbit and pinned it to the dirt.

The rabbit twisted and fought. Tanner used the butt of his knife to end its life. Besides the chance of it escaping into the burrow, allowing an animal to suffer is against the instincts of all hunters.

They had meat for another day, and the chicken eggs he’d stolen were in his pack. He went back to watching the ship as he cleaned the rabbit and built a small, smokeless fire. When Carrion woke, he would be hungry.

The rabbit was almost finished roasting when Carrion pulled himself to his knees. He glanced at the makeshift spit with the rabbit and nodded. The eggshells were pierced and placed beside the hot rock of the fire ring until cooked firm. It was the hard way. Boiling them in a pot would have been better, but they didn’t have a pot. Piercing and baking often burned one side, but couldn’t be helped.

Tanner said, “How’s the red?”

Carrion stood and stretched as he answered, “He’s already delivered the things to our family. They gathered the pieces we sent and understood they were from a foreign army. Before the red flew back here, a council meeting was already under way. They’ll know what to do.”

“That’s why you took longer than I expected.”

“I know. I wanted to make sure they understood the meaning of what we delivered. On the way back to the monastery the second time we also found something odd. King Ember has probably half of his entire army hidden, but it’s hard to hide that many troops from above. They’re in a wooded valley, down near the southern border.”

“That is odd. What’s that idiot King of ours up to now?” Tanner asked, his mind turning over the possibilities.

“All those weapons at the monastery and the army standing by so close by cannot be a coincidence.”

Tanner sliced a leg from the rabbit on the makeshift spit and offered it to Carrion. “Do you think the army knows about the hidden weapons?”

“There’s no way to tell. But the question is interesting. I hadn’t considered the idea that they might not know about them because the two are close together, less than a day’s march away.” Carrion blew on the rabbit until it was cold enough to bite into. He remained quiet the entire time, his eyes gazing out to sea. When no more meat remained on the bone, he still held it.

Finally, Carrion snapped back from his reverie. “If they don’t know about the weapons it signals something more serious. It would mean the weapons are in defiance of King Ember. But that brings up the most relevant question of all.”

“You’re going to make me ask what it is?” Tanner said when Carrion didn’t continue.

Carrion sliced off more of the rabbit and said, “No, but I was waiting for you to draw your own conclusions and see if they match mine.”

“Well, I don’t have any, but let me see. If the weapons are not for King Embers army, they must be for another. A large army, if all those crates contain weapons. The only place another army could come from to collect the weapons is Shrewsbury. Right? An army landing here? That’s what you’re thinking.”

“Why would King Ember have an army in hiding near here?” Carrion asked.

Tanner snapped his fingers. “To join up together!”

“Good guess, but before you hurt your fingers snapping them like that again, think it through. The army of King Ember has no enemies near here to fight. If he wanted to invade the Shetlands to the south, he could without help. The Shetlands could be taken with a few hundred troops. He has over two thousand down there.”

“Then who will they fight?”

“Perhaps each other?”

Tanner nodded, then said, “What if Ember is setting a trap?”

“Why allow a foreign army to land on your shores, hike to their storage locations of weapons, and then fight them? It would make more military sense to meet them while they’re unorganized and without weapons.”

“That would make better sense,” Carrion agreed. “We’re missing something.”

“Most consider King Ember, a dolt when it comes to military tactics, but he’s reasonably fair and just in ruling us, with all but the Dragon Clan. Another ruler could be far worse. But the question remains, why are his troops positioned near here?”

Carrion wiped his greasy fingers on his pants and reached for an egg. “Sea salt?” Then he carefully pinched a few grains and sprinkled it over the egg before continuing. “I think he intends to send those troops across the sea. They’ve packed light. No horses. No goats, sheep, or cows to feed them corralled in that forest. They intend to either travel on ships or fast and light.”

“That doesn’t make sense. If they’re going to sea on ships, why is there a supply of weapons at the monastery?”

A wicked smile flashed across Carrion’s face. “I think I know. Because he is about to be double-crossed by somebody. I imagine it will go down one of two ways. The first is that Ember’s men load onto ships and sail away. Another fleet then arrives, and foreign soldiers take over Princeton while King Ember’s is gone.”

“That sounds too complicated.”

“Then how about this? The ships arrive in Shrewsbury, but instead of being empty, they hold troops. An elite army land and marches to the monastery where their weapons and armor is waiting. They quickly march north, away from Ember’s troops and march right into the palace because half the King’s army is waiting in that forest to the south. They take King Ember and force him to surrender his crown.”

Tanner drew in a sharp breath as he understood. “By the time Ember’s army arrives at the castle in Princeton the war is already over without a battle.”

“Our king is dead or deposed, replaced by another.”

“It’s crazy to move half of your troops to the furthest point in the kingdom. Is King Ember really that stupid?”

“Remember last year? His ‘secret’ assault on the Northlands? A single dragon defeated his entire army and made a mortal enemy of the Earl.” Carrion shrugged as if to say that his king was a poor planner when it came to military operations.

They settled down and each reviewed his own thoughts as the sun sank. Tanner said, “If we stay here we need more to eat. The next ship might not arrive for a ten-day or more. Let’s sneak into town and steal enough food from the store.”

“I have the required coin to pay. We’ll take what we want, but leave enough copper so the owner is not at a loss.” Carrion again wore his wicked grin and seemed distracted.

Tanner said, “That’s what I meant.” Then he remembered they planned to burn the entire town. The store, contents, and all around it would be gone. What value is in a coin or two that might not even survive the fire? Very funny.

Carrion said, his voice now gruff and demanding, “Give me a while before we go down there. The red is getting near to Princeton, and I’ll need to guide him to the castle and tell him when to drop the packing crate planks with the writing and the weapons.”

“Hopefully, someone at the castle is smart enough to figure out our warning and tell the king. Go ahead and I’ll keep watch for you. How’s your back feeling?”

“Sore, but not like earlier.” Carrion settled down, closed his eyes.

Tanner’s back also felt better. He watched for a time, but there was nothing to see but an older man lying on the ground with his eyes closed as the day ended. The ship was too far from the point of land to watch, even if they were not so far away. He reached to slice more of the rabbit, but decided on an egg, instead. His eyes went back to the sea. Were there ships filled with troops just out of sight just over the horizon? Had they departed from a land across the sea to invade his homeland?

That line of thinking made him review the entire conversation he and Carrion shared. He did his best to find a flaw that would discredit the idea of an invasion. Instead, he found himself believing more and more of the story. War is coming. Shrewsbury needs to be burned.

While they had discussed burning the city earlier, it had seemed unreal. Something in a fictional future. Now it was real. He waited until Carrion stirred again, well after dark.

Carrion nodded in his direction. “It’s done. Let’s head for town.”

They moved quickly, skirting the low-roofed buildings near the breakwater for taking up positions near the rear of the town where the forest grew to within a few steps of many buildings.

They moved to a vantage where they could watch much of the main street. Carrion touched Tanner’s arm and pointed. Behind a building was movement. Someone darted to the rear door of a building and knocked. The door opened, and he was pulled inside.

Tanner whispered, “There’s another in the woods. I think it’s the Dragon Clan.”

The door reopened, and the figure slipped back into the edge of the forest. Carrion said, “something is going on down at the pier, too. Let’s wait here until things calm down.”

Later the rear door opened again, and two figures slipped out of the forest and then across the road. Tanner said, “I want a look in the window of that building.”

Carrion nodded and took them back into the trees, then brought them to where the others had waited. Two large objects were blocking the path. He lifted one, and said, “Their backpacks. It was the pair we’re following.”

“They’re coming back? We have to hide.”

Carrion placed the backpack down and said, “Let’s cross the road and get to the store. I’ll feel better when we’re out of here.”

“Too much going on tonight. I can feel it in the air.” Tanner took the lead. They went to the front edge of a building that didn’t show any lights and ran together across to another dark building. Circling it took them to the rear of the store, and a window that opened as his knife slipped the thumb-lock.

They climbed inside and quietly gathered, dried fruit, smoked goat, and nuts from a barrel. All went into flour sacks that had their contents spilled onto the floor. When each had two bags full, they climbed out the window and huddled in the nearby shrubs.

A commotion on the pier drew their attention. A group of sailors was shouting, shoving and pushing. They were near the shore. Four more men raced to break up the fight, none wearing the blue uniforms of the sailors. Meanwhile, four others darted onto the pier and moved quickly to the ship, unseen by the dozen or so on the other side of the pier.

“Let’s get back to the other side of the road,” Carrion hissed.

They went the way they’d come and ended up at the edge of the forest where the backpacks were. Carrion paused. “The four running to the ship were ones from our Dragon Clan, or, at least, two of them were. They’re safely on the ship.”

“They’re not coming back for their packs.”

“So we take them. There might be things we can make use of,” he handed the first to Tanner, then said, “They left their bows, too. Take what we can and let’s get out of here.”

Loaded down, they returned to the headland and deposited their booty beside their fire pit. It was too dark to examine the backpacks, but the pier and the ship were lighted by torches. There appeared to be more active on the ship than would be expected in the middle of the night, but Tanner fell asleep.

He woke once, finding Carrion sitting with his knees to his chin, eyes on the ship. “Anything?”

“No, just keeping a watch on it and thinking about what to do next.”

Tanner closed his eyes again, and only opened them when the sun struck his face. Carrion was already spreading out the contents of the backpacks on his blanket. There was more food, a purse containing more coins, including one gold piece. The bows looked serviceable. There was nothing to indicate the pair were Dragon Clan, but finding that would have meant the man and the girl were too careless. In one of the backpacks were two small books.

Carrion looked at one, then the other. “Travel books about the Marlstone Islands.”

“We can use those.”

Carrion said, “We can also use the packs for ourselves. Take a few arrows, the blankets, and food. But that gold coin gives me an idea.”

“We have silver and copper.”

“And we have a few small gold, but that gold coin is much bigger. Did you know you can buy a farm with a gold coin that size?”

Tanner shook his head. He had never seen a gold coin, and few others in his lifetime. Living with a large family in a remote area didn’t require coins, or if it did, one of the elders usually traveled to a town or city to purchase what was needed.

“With a coin like that, I wonder if we could buy our own ship,” Carrion said, a smile touching the corners of his mouth.