The Last Dragon: Book One

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

We found Elizabeth kneeling at Tater’s side, tending to his broken arm. Springer announced our return long before we arrived, and Alexis grazed on small tufts of grass near the other horses. I gave a weak wave, my mind and body too wound up and preoccupied to do much else. Even from that distance, the roars and screams from the dragon were audible, as were the last buildings of the city of Mercia being methodically destroyed.

“She’s going to be very upset at you,” Kendra said from the side of her mouth as we approached Elizabeth.

“Me? Why me? I didn’t do anything.”

“For allowing your sister to make such a mess of an entire city that is ruled by her father. Prepare yourself for a tongue lashing—and who is going to pay for all the destruction you caused?”

I threw my head back and laughed like a man gone mad, and perhaps it was true. Even Alexia turned to look at me. We talked no more until reaching our friends. Elizabeth stood and waited for us. I went to her and wrapped my arms around her and cried.

It was an emotional release. I could see a dragon stomping on buildings in the distance, mages and worse were threatening our lives, and despite it all, we were alive. I cried, sobbed, and realized that the three of them would view me differently.

My mood shifted to one of anger. We hadn’t asked for any of the happenings. They were forced upon us.

Tater said, “No matter when they left, all the people from up there didn’t use this road.”

“What are you saying?” Elizabeth asked.

“It’s on the other side of that river. Once, a long time ago, someone wanted to go to the port from Mercia. If memory serves, there is another road across the river. Since there are only a few farms and villages this way, they went to the port where there is transportation. That’s been bothering me. People can’t just up and disappear.”

Kendra said, “Then the port must be overflowing with people.”

“Not necessarily so,” Tater said. “Ships probably sailed away with some, but Mercia never was like other cities. No trade, nothing they made there, no reason for most to go there. The streets were always pretty empty, only a few noblemen and servants moved about.”

“Meaning?” Elizabeth said.

“There were maybe six or eight big houses, but only a few important people in each of them. The surrounding houses contained servants, but not that many,” Tater said.

Elizabeth seemed to understand. “If there were fifty servants for each house, that is still only four or five hundred in the city. Another couple of hundred tradesmen and all food and goods were bright in, so there were never many living there.”

They had gone on to other things to talk about, and none spoke of me. I dried my eyes and sucked in deep breaths to calm myself.

A glance showed the dragon stood on hind legs and bellowed louder as if proud it had finished. It turned away from the mountain and spread its wings. As if it had all day with nothing to do, which it did, it slowly rose into the air, crossed the river, and gained altitude as it followed the road right at us. Both Tater and Elizabeth moved to the side of the road and the ditch that might offer a measure of safety. However, the dragon looked only at Kendra, as it flew higher and faster.

As I turned to watch it fly over us, Kendra was smiling faintly.

“Where’s it going?” I whispered.

“Anywhere it wants,” she answered softly.

“Can you still hear those sounds?”

She shook her head and then shrugged. “Not the deep thrum of the dragon. It’s gone. The bee-buzzing of the wyverns is still there.” She stopped talking as if confused. “We have made enemies this day.”

That drew me up short. It was not a deduction. She had reason to believe what she said. Elizabeth and Tater came to join us but saw the concern on my face. They waited for her to speak again.

She closed her eyes and said, “There are minds hunting for me. Not my body, but for me. The Blue Lady is one of them, and she is telling them what to look for and where we are.”

“Strike back,” Elizabeth ordered. “Do not stand aside and allow them to mass and attack as one.”

She had always been the better planner and more cutthroat. A cold streak held Elizabeth in the face of enemies and her first reaction was to fight, to strike first and hardest. Her secondary reaction was to plan another strike, one that would not fail. If she was directing a military battle, she would order a smaller group to attack her enemy and watch for weaknesses to exploit before sending in the larger force.

Kendra sat on the road and pulled her knees to her chin as she wrapped her arms around her legs. She rested her chin on a knee, eyes closed, and brows furrowed. Her lips were pursed, her jaw tight, and her arms tightened so much the tendons stood out.

She said nothing, and neither did we. Elizabeth knelt at her side. I watched as Tater gathered the horses and made unnecessary adjustments to their saddles. A blue haze shimmered beside Kendra. It expanded and grew in height until the vague outline of a woman formed.

It exploded in a flash of orange, leaving the hair on my arms tingling. But all traces of blue were gone. A noise behind drew attention. The dragon was returning.

It flew with long powerful strokes that propelled it forward at a speed hard to believe. Its head was thrust forward, and the thing never even looked at us. The dragon was concentrating on Mercia again.

It landed without slowing, striking the hillside behind the remains of the city so hard with its chest, rocks, and boulders tumbling. It used its foreclaws to dig. Rocks, stone, and debris flew. It managed to fit one paw inside an opening and rip it aside, tearing part of the hillside away.

Then it bent and sniffed at the exposed opening. A roar followed, directed inside the cave penetrating solid rock.

“It came in response to Kendra,” Elizabeth said in a hushed voice. “To rescue her.”

The idea was absurd. The only reason I didn’t refute it was that it did seem the dragon was protecting her, and aside from the knowledge my sister had no magic powers, she was fighting a private war. Deep inside, I knew she must have powers, but it was hard to accept, especially since I’d always considered myself special if the truth were known.

Kendra’s magic outstripped mine in every way. She might even control a dragon, as I watched it tear into the hillside again and again. It was like a cat with a mouse cornered, but it couldn’t reach it.

“Don’t let me get on the wrong side of Kendra,” Tater punctuated the remark by spitting. Springer leaped out of the way and narrowly escaped. The dog would need to pay better attention.

But his statement brought a smile to my lips, and even more so when Springer sprang. It took the heat out of the air for all but Kendra. She still sat in the same position, eyes closed so tightly she squinted, but I wondered how she could be in danger with that animal wrecking an entire city. If anything, or anyone, approached us, I suspect the dragon would leap into the air and approach it as fast as it could fly.

Because my mind does not always work like those of others, it wondered how the dragon was going to handle the bickering between us. Even Elizabeth joined in. We couldn’t have that damn beast swooping in to settle an argument about the color of a scarf being red or ruby. Especially if it was going to take Kendra’s side.

“What do you see that’s so funny?” Elizabeth asked me.

Saving me the trouble of having to answer, Kendra threw her head back and howled, duplicating on a small scale the same action of the dragon at the same time. There could be no doubt the two were somehow connected. For the briefest instant, she looked similar to it.

“Kendra, what’s happening?” I asked as I knelt on her other side. When she didn’t answer, I peeled open an eyelid. She stared ahead with unseeing eyes.

“Should we wake her?” Elizabeth asked.

“No. Not yet. Look at how tense she is.” Kendra had also slowly curled her fingers, leaving the index and middle finger extended in our secret signal. She wanted to talk, but obviously not now. I think it was her way of telling me everything was fine. The dragon took flight and this time went higher up the side of the mountain, then as it reached the peak, it turned.

“It’s heading for the wyverns,” Elizabeth said.

Tater said, “It’s getting late. We need to find shelter and food.

“I’ll carry her,” I said. Elizabeth took her from my arms and waited until I was on Alexis then handed her to me. I gave the horse a touch of my heels, and we walked away from Mercia, a city I’d never been in and would never see. It lay broken, in ruins, no brick upon another.

Elizabeth and Tater rode behind, silent as the barren landscape around us. The soft sounds of the wind sounded more like moans coming across the emptiness. The dragon was out of sight, but Kendra stiffened now and then, her head came erect once, but her eyes remained closed.

Tater said, “There was a farm up ahead. It was the last one we passed.”

Elizabeth said, “We will stop there for the night. Kendra needs a place to rest, and we need food.”

Tater rode in silence for a while then I heard him whisper to Elizabeth, “What if they don’t invite us?”

Elizabeth didn’t hesitate. “They help us, or they are our enemies and will face Damon’s sword.”

That ended the matter to my eyes. The farm came in sight, a ramshackle cabin surrounded by a field with crops trying to survive between the rocks. A small herd of sheep grazed, pigs wallowed, and two dogs raced out to greet us.

When the dogs saw Springer, they charged him. Both were larger and wished to establish their territory. Springer’s one good ear went back on his head, and he waited, eyes locked on the two dogs charging him. Tater shouted, but Springer ignored him. The two dogs reached him, and for a few seconds I couldn’t tell if there was one dog or three, but for the snarling and snapping.

One of the farm dogs broke and ran—the smarter one of the pair. Springer leaped to the other and grabbed its neck, then hung there as the dog tried to get away, dragging Springer along with it. Tater had dismounted and chased both.

A farmer ran out from a dilapidated and leaning barn, carrying a pitchfork also while shouting and running at the dogs. Tater, the farmer, and the two dogs met in the middle. The pitchfork went flying. Tater grabbed Springer and stepped back.

The farmer knelt beside his dog, then shouted at Tater, “Look what he did.”

Tater spat, then said, “Shouldn’t let your dogs go on a public road and attack others.”

I looked around and couldn’t find the other dog, but confirmed Springer was half the size of the injured one. I moved Alexis forward and pulled to stop right in front of the farmer. “We need the use of your house.”

“And food,” Tater added.

The farmer noticed my sister for the first time. He said, “My house. I only invite friends inside.”

“My name is Damon. We can be friends. Invite us in.”

“If I don’t?”

“Tell him, Princess Elizabeth.” My words were chosen carefully, and he realized who she was, and that must have felt like being kicked by a mule. He backed off a step, then knelt with head bowed, as he should.

I carried Kendra inside where we found a small cabin, old, and clean. There were no signs of a woman or other occupant. The sleeping mat was for one, and Kendra was placed gently on it.

The ceiling beams were so old they had turned black from smoke that escaped from the fireplace. A cook pot hung from a swing-arm, and at the bottom was a warm stew, enough to feed two or three. There was a small table, two homemade chairs, and beside the fire a stump the right height for sitting.

“Your name?” Elizabeth asked.

“Henry,” he said with awe. “Just Henry.”

“Well, Just Henry, I will pay you well for the food and roof.”

“No need to pay, Princess. You are welcome.”

“Do you have what it takes to make more food? We are starving,” she asked.

Behind a curtain were shelves lined with wax-sealed jars. He said, “I can make more, easy. I got eggs and smoked meat outside, flour and the makings for flatbread.”

“That would be wonderful,” Elizabeth said.

He went outside. Tater followed as he said, “Not room to change my mind in here.”

My suspicion was he needed room to spit. He also was going to check on Henry’s dogs—that’s the way of Tater. Elizabeth turned to me. “Any change?”

“Not yet.” It was one of those questions where she already knew the answer. If there had been a change, she stood two steps away and would already know it. Still, the tone and question reminded me she cared as much as me.

Henry returned with eggs in a bowl and a ham tucked under his arm. Without hesitation, he worked at the small table and the pot, soon serving two portions in the only bowls he owned. He asked, “How’s the girl?”

“We think she will be fine,” Elizabeth said.

Henry sat on the stump and watched the flames for a while. Finally, he said, “Saw a dragon today. First ever.”

“We saw it too,” Elizabeth said with finality.

Tater came in and helped himself to a bowl of eggs and ham, then carried it outside. A good bet would be that Springer ate half. Henry and Tater were still on non-speaking terms. The barn would have Tater sleeping there, and a peek out the door told me he’d already taken care of the horses. I wanted Alexis under cover for the night—where no dragons would find her.

Elizabeth said, “Henry, can you take what you need for the night and give us some privacy?”

He leaped to his feet and almost fled the cabin.

She called after him, “We wouldn’t ask, but . . . never mind. Damon, I wanted to speak to you with nobody else around. Are you up to it?”

“I-I, no.” The answer spilled from my mouth before thinking.

“There will be time later. But, tell me this. Is the kingdom in any danger from that beast?”

“There is no way for me to know. Kendra might.”

“But there are things I do not know.”

That was a tricky question. I wouldn’t lie to Elizabeth. There were times when the entire truth didn’t pass my lips, but even then, guilt devoured me. Only on this trip had it seemed necessary to withhold information. “There are things neither of us knows, none intentionally held back. Not to spite you or keep you unaware, just privacy.”

“Where did the wyverns disappear to? And why?” She asked.

“Kendra might know that, too. But if you ask me, they were scared of something, maybe the dragon, and flew away.”

We sat in silence as the fire burned down. My head was beside Kendra’s, so when she woke with a start, she woke me. When she screamed long and loud, I leaped to my feet and reached for my sword.