The Last Dragon: Book Three

CHAPTER SEVEN

Damon

I held my finger to my lips for the girls, my sister, and Flier to all remain silent, as we crept away from the sleeping Slave-Master as if playing a game. Or perhaps better, I acted as the tricky demon he said my name meant. I doubted he would chase after us. It wasn’t because he’d given his word. That didn’t count. What it was about was that he didn’t care about any of us. The slaves he had in chains and that he would sell in Kaon were his only worry unless it was being defeated and humiliated at the game of blocks by the likes of me.

He would probably rush to catch up with the guard that had let him down by allowing Kendra to capture him. Then he’d search for his strings of slaves in chains and be on his way to Kaon. The slave markets awaited his delivery and he has slaves to sell. If we ever met again, he wouldn’t try to take my head, but he would want to challenge me to another game of blocks. That was something I understood and appreciated.

When we had traveled over the hard-packed sand and rocks far enough to feel temporarily safe, we were all suffering the first effects of the lack of water. “Flier, ever been here?”

“No.” His voice rasped.

“Any tips on where we can find a drink?” I continued.

He took the time to look at the mountains where the pass to Trager was hidden to my gaze. He noted the various peaks and must have decided he knew our approximate location. He said as he pointed, “The river is over that way.”

“How far?” Kendra asked.

He said, “It can’t be too far. We walked down from the pass to where the Slave-Master released us in half a night and part of a single day. The Vin river on this side of the pass travels south and east, but we can’t miss it if we keep going in this direction.”

I thought of asking Kendra to use her dragon to fly up there and tell us but thought better of it. The dragon might get a drink but wouldn’t be able to tell us about it. We were still so ignorant of so many things about magic in general, our powers in specific, what information we should share and what we shouldn’t speak of with others nearby. It was better to say nothing until we obtained basic knowledge. The question was, from whom could we learn.

I trusted Flier and the girls, but there were simply too many variables. Later, we saw a stand of green trees in the distance and walked in that direction as rapidly as we could. It was a classic desert oasis. As we grew closer, it was easy to discern there were willows, palms, and other deep-rooted plants that grew near water before our hopes were dashed when we arrived to find a reeking mud-hole we could throw a rock across. It contained a stinking brown sludge where animals watered, peed, crapped, and even the rotted remains of a goat lay at the edge of the brown liquid.

My mouth felt all the drier. Flier wordlessly pointed for us to move on. My mouth was parched, my skin pink, and a headache from the intense sun threatened to burst my brain from my head in a splatter of red and gray. My feet felt like the chains were still on them. I lifted my head to find I was probably in better shape than any of the others.

To their credit, not one of them complained. That impressed me more than words can express. Even little Emma walked with slumped shoulders, her toes dragging in the sand with each step, but she trudged on, never falling behind.

We reached a ridge, an escarpment of sandstone no more than the height of a man, but in the distance from that slight vantage, a line of green cut through the brown sand of the Kondor desert. Flier smirked confidently but said nothing as he looked for a way down to the lower ground.

He turned our direction slightly, so we’d encounter the line of trees sooner. The sandy ground turned rocky, peppered with rough rocks from the size of my thumb to my fist. The ground was hard between the rocks. It was as if the desert had been pounded flat and then strewn with rocks large enough to hurt or trip us. In our exhausted condition, it did both.

Flier limped nearly as much as when we’d first met. However, his attitude was growing more pleasant with every step. The line of trees came clearer, and I thought I could smell a hint of water in the dry air. It didn’t matter because the ground demanded my constant attention to avoid the sharp rocks.

When I did look up, the trees were just ahead, and the sound of water reached my ears. “Almost there,” I mouthed hoarsely through lips too dry to form the words properly. When nobody responded as expected, I paused in my anticipation and turned. No one was there.

My wild eyes searched and found four oddities on the ground in the distance behind, small discolorations that didn’t belong. I stumbled a few steps in their direction, knowing they must have fallen from exhaustion. My foot struck a loose rock, and I tried to catch myself, but another rock assured my continued fall. My left knee struck first, and outthrust hands couldn’t stop my face from striking the hard ground.

Slowly, I sat up and examined myself. The knee bled, as did my palms. There was no way to inspect my face, but it was tender to my touch, and rivulets of blood tickled my neck. Standing was unbearable. Four people were waiting for my help, but I was too weak and dehydrated. Dizziness made me wobble on legs that threatened to collapse.

Water. I needed water to regain the strength to help the others. Right now, if I managed to return to them, I couldn’t provide any help. We’d all die in the sun.

Feeling disgraced, I turned my back on them and walked to the shade of the trees, pushed through the undergrowth, and reached the bank of a wide, lazy river. I walked into the water and fell forward, allowing my body to absorb moisture and coolness. Then I drank. My lips slurped until I couldn’t hold more.

I had nothing to carry water, but my clothing was wet. Fearing it would evaporate too fast, I tore my shirt off and formed it into a ball while holding it underwater. Wadded tightly, it would hold water longer. Turning away from the river, I shuffled back to the intense sunlight beyond the shade and then across the rocky ground until I reached Emma. She was lying too still, but as I knelt and rolled her, I saw her eyelids flicker.

My shirt dripped water into her open mouth. I squeezed a little and more fell. She swallowed, and as if the water was a magic elixir, her body stiffened. I gave her more, then said, “Can you stand and walk to the trees? The river is right there.”

Instead of answering with words, probably because she still didn’t speak Common, she looked to where I pointed and nodded. I got her to her feet, and she walked. Flier was next.

He opened his eyes and attempted a smile. I squeezed water into his mouth, and as if it was a tonic, he managed to sit, then said, “I’ll make it. Go get the others.”

He might make it, I decided, if he could stand and remain on his feet, which seemed unlikely. However, once on his feet again, he stumbled after Emma, although he moved slower. I cursed myself for not knowing how to use my small magic to make a container to hold water.

Kendra and Anna were lying beside each other, with Anna’s left leg on top of Kendra’s. They’d fallen together, probably while helping each other. I squeezed water into Kendra’s mouth, but only a few drops emerged from the wadded material. I twisted the shirt, trying to force more water from it. Little came.

Anna weighed half of what Kendra did. I placed the damp shirt over Kendra’s face hoping it would help revive her and protect her from the sun. I got Anna on her wobbly legs. It was obvious she couldn’t walk, so I stood facing her, bent at my waist, and shoved. My shoulder struck her stomach, and I pushed forward until her weight settled on my shoulder as I stood. She was over my shoulder, and I stumbled in the direction of the river.

The water had revived me, somewhat. Not completely by any stretch of reason, but Anna’s weight was slight, and the trees close. I walked on stiff legs to remain upright, and as I reached the trees, Flier emerged. He didn’t speak but gave me a slight nod as he hurried in Kendra’s direction.

I managed to get Anna to the water’s edge and saw Emma splashing her way to us.

*Go help Kendra.* The words appeared in my mind, but there was no time to wonder if they were Anna’s or Emma’s. Since Emma hadn’t spoken to me with mind-talk, it had to be Anna, but my mind was anything but clear. Anna tried drinking too much, too fast and coughed. Emma fell to her knees in the water and placed an arm around her sister.

I took another quick drink and left them there. Soon, I saw Flier stumbling in my direction, Kendra limp and unable to walk at his side. Her toes dragged, and Flier had managed to carry her half the distance. It was clear he wouldn’t carry her much farther.

I half-ran to her other side and lifted the dead weight off Flier. Between the two of us, we moved much quicker and reached the river, where all three of us lay in the cool shallows, drinking as much brown water as we wanted.

Kendra said, “I just want to stay right here.”

“The fish will eat you,” Anna quipped.

Kendra rolled onto her side to face Anna and grinned. “Not if I eat them first.”

Flier laughed and inhaled water in doing so. He choked and tried to laugh some more, but it came out wrong. Anna splashed a palm full of water in his direction, but it struck Kendra. My sister, never one to back away from a fight, splashed her back.

Emma leaped into the fray, and we all splashed and laughed like children at the summer swimming hole. Flier stood, placed his hands over his head and dived into the deeper water. Anna cried, “Teach me to do that.”

“Dive?”

“And swim,” she said, standing and looking like a healthy girl who had not been nearly dead a short time ago.

I didn’t feel like I’d almost been at death’s door either. While still weak, tired, and sore, the water had worked magic on me. The thought of magic made me realize again how little I knew of it. Could I have used magic to form the river water into balls to carry or another magical method to have saved the others? I didn’t know. I suspected any mage worthy of the name would have found a dozen methods.

What I did know were two things. Water revived us in remarkable ways, and our lack of knowledge about magic held us back from possible uses, and perhaps that lack of knowledge placed us in danger. I stood in warm, knee-deep water while considering the dangers of the desert and all we faced.

Food. We had none. Our meager belongings consisted of my sword and not much else. The longbow was gone, as were the other weapons. Ashore, I laid in the shade and considered our plight. It was far better than this morning, or even a short while ago. People said that going without food for ten days won’t kill you. Going without water for one in a desert will. It all became a matter of location and need.

As if in response to my thoughts, my stomach growled. Anna joined me, tired looking but smiling at me as if I was the sun on a winter’s day. In my mind, she said, *You saved us.*

The appearance of the words sounding in Anna’s “voice” in my head didn’t offend or even upset me. It was becoming natural. Out loud, I answered, “We did it as a team.”

“A family,” she said as she scooted closer and placed her head on my thigh. Her eyes closed, and soon she slept. Flier came next, being sure to move quietly after seeing Anna. He sat under a kind of tree I didn’t recognize, his back to the trunk. He closed his eyes and soon slumped to one side and snored softly.

I had too much to think about but didn’t want to wake Anna, so I closed my eyes to think clearly better. When I opened them, the sun was setting, the air was turning cooler, and all the others were sleeping in a rough circle.

I had learned another fact without realizing it. Being sunburned, dehydrated and thirsty, tired a person in a way that a nap wouldn’t satisfy. While closing my eyes again, I did so with the knowledge that I’d sleep all night, even after sleeping much of the afternoon and early evening.

The chill in the air woke me well before dawn. Anna had managed to snuggle next to me, stealing any warmth I might have. In the dark, I found my wadded up, damp shirt. It helped a little when I put it on, but the night was getting colder.

By morning, we all huddled together, teeth chattering, and the two younger ones whimpered and complained. We had no fire-starters, few weapons, and no blankets. Kondor was a place of contrasts. During the day hats and long sleeves protected against the sun. At night heavy blankets and warm fires were needed.

I said, “Tomorrow we will buy the clothing we need.”

“With what?” Kendra asked. “You had the gold and silver when you were captured. Do you still have it?”

“And where will you spend your imaginary money?” Flier added.

I patted my waist where the small purse containing both gold and silver should be and knew the Slave-Master had bested me again. I almost laughed. While I had gambled a few small coins for my freedom, he had already taken my entire purse when I was captured. In effect, I’d been playing against him with my own money—and then forfeited it to him at the end of the game of blocks. He was probably smiling at this moment.

I did too.