by LeRoy Clary
While Rake was tall, the man walking their way was a half-a-head taller, and wide at the shoulders, indicating his strength. Instead of the challenge Rake expected, the tall man placed his hands on his hips as if angry for any of his friends to see who looked that way and saw him from behind. His voice was soft. “These are my trees.”
That got Rake’s attention. The bland statement might innocently mean nothing—or everything. He replied in the same manner, “I have apple and pear trees at home, mostly different varieties of apple. You’ll never go hungry if you plant the right ones.”
“True. Some ripen in early summer and others last through the winter.”
Rake said, “Was it you that pruned these?”
“It was.”
“You’ll have a good harvest for a few years. Do you mind if I gather some seeds to plant near my home?”
The man reached into a small purse at his hip and spilled dried seeds into his palm, an action that almost certainly identified him as Dragon Clan. Rake did the same. “Maybe you’d like to plant some of mine?”
The man accepted them. “My name is Fallow, son of Richter and Marie. In other circumstances, I’d reveal myself properly.”
Each of the women provided a brief history of their parentage in a formal manner. Then Fallow sat, casting glances over his shoulder now and then at the others camped across the clearing. “They are curious, of course. But good people. Not ours.”
“We’re here to search for information or rumors about Breslau,” Cinder said bluntly.
Rake appreciated her directness. They wouldn’t have long to talk and needed to get to the point. He let her take the lead.
Fallon asked, “Do you have reason to believe things have changed? Other than a dragon attack and Breslau Greens arriving?”
He had heard of the Green, not any rumors of the small blacks or an invasion of Breslau from the north. They shared what they knew and suspected, and he promised to spread it to others of their kind in the city. The incident was small but significant.
Rake thought back to the morning he left his home. Since then, he’d met Cinder, the owner of the trading post, Carver, Frog, and his family, Sadie, the young girl earlier, and now Fallow. Members of seven Dragon Clan families in a few days.
Fallon promised to find them at the Rocking Chair if he either found any factual information or any interesting rumors. Then he said, “I was hesitant to speak to you because I’ve never met a desert wanderer who was one of us.”
Cinder snorted, then seemed to remember how we were dressed.
Rake said, “Within hours of arriving in Mercippio, our inn was being firebombed. I shot two men with my bow. The next morning, we found there is a price on us. Someone, we think named Rancor, wants us dead. We are hiding in these clothes.”
“Are you the mad killers I’ve heard so much about?”
“Did anyone mention the mad killers wanting to use men’s heads to roll down the street?” Rake asked with a chuckle.
Fallon turned to Cinder. “You’re the crazy, bloodthirsty woman?”
“That would be me,” she replied with a laugh.
Fallon turned back to Rake. “I heard several men have quit working for the Breslau foremen because of your stories, but they just hire more. There are always thugs wanting to earn easy money.”
Cinder stepped forward until she stood directly in front of Fallow, and between him and Rake. “Do you know the name of the one they report to? The men at the inns? And where to find him or her?”
Fallow was clearly puzzled. He shook his head.
She continued, “Think about these facts. Each inn, except for the Rocking Chair, has one man who hires men to do the rough work. They sit in the inns all day and direct their thugs to beat, threaten and kill. They all do it the same way, as they buy or steal businesses that make weapons or distribute food. We found all that in two days. Your city and all of Oakhaven is being invaded.”
He shook his head. “I don’t know what to say. Rancor, the man at the Castle seems to be in charge.”
Sadie said, “You know where to find us. Tell the Dragon Clan members you know what’s happening and ask for meetings and decide what we . . . you, are going to do about it because if you do not, none of us will be alive in a year.”
Rake had seldom heard such venom in two voices. He decided to say nothing.
Cinder was far more than a head shorter, but she gently placed both palms on Fallow’s chest and shoved, not gently. “Go.”
He appeared ill, ready to vomit as the impact of their revelations sunk in. Then he ran from the forest into the city.
Rake said, “You were a little hard on him.”
Sadie said, “It has all been right under his nose the entire time. And the noses of everyone in the Clan who lives here. They’ve been blind. Stupid.”
“Or, complacent. Maybe because they didn’t want to see what was happening. Or didn’t want to believe it.” Rake said, wondering which it was. If the three of them could discover the information in two days when they were not trained or even familiar with cities, a warning should have been sent to every family in Oakhaven.
Cinder sat down heavily on the grass without taking a single step. She looked defeated. Tired. She said, “What they saw or didn’t see is no longer the important problem. Explain the pack of Blacks.”
“How do they fit in?” Sadie asked as she sat, her eyes also on Rake.
Rake remained on his feet peering at the increasing smoke rising into the sky. He saw the bright orange and red of fires burning buildings. The shouting and screams from the city below hadn’t abated. Without looking at either woman, he asked, “Anybody got any ideas? Any good ones?”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Sadie, Rake, and Cinder were silent. All had eyes and ears on the fires, rising smoke, and discord of sounds assaulting them. The meadow was an oasis of peace that Rake knew they would abandon when the sun set. They would enter the melee below.
“Those black dragons were a quarter the size of ours or the ones Breslau controls,” Sadie said. “Don’t take this wrong, but I think our primary objective just changed to explain them. At the least, we now have two serious problems to resolve.”
Rake said, “I estimate them a tenth the size of ours, but it does not matter. The first we heard of them was from Frog’s brother, Cobalt a few days ago. He’d heard a rumor. Cinder, correct me if I leave anything out, but he also said an army from across a sea up north had landed at the Breslau border and built a fort before Breslau knew they had landed. What else?”
“More troops were arriving, and they were expanding the fort. They have small black dragons that fight in packs,” Cinder added. “That’s about all.”
Rake furrowed his brows as he recalled the conversation. “Didn’t he also say Breslau was moving troops north to fight them?”
“Another rumor. And he said they were either killing Crabs or recruiting them to join the army. Wait, that may have been a different conversation. Let me think,” Cinder said. “No, I think that was what he said, and then he changed the subject because we all felt it was a silly rumor and there were more credible ones to discuss.”
“What if it was not such a wild rumor?” Sadie asked. “I mean, the appearance of those Blacks confirms much of what your friend called a wild rumor. The Red you’re bonded with hates them, so I’m inclined to hate them also.”
“I didn’t bond,” Rake said mechanically. “I had a brief thought that if Breslau is being invaded from up north, maybe we could help the invaders. But if our dragons hate theirs, we might be helping the wrong side in a war.”
Cinder snorted derisively, “You’re not suggesting we help Breslau!”
Rake finally sat between them and wiped stinging tears from the drifting smoke away. He said, “I’m suggesting I don’t know what to think. But we may have identified a new enemy as if Breslau is not enough.”
Cinder said, “I can’t imagine the reaction from my family if I suggest we help Breslau
, but I agree with you about supporting our dragons against the Blacks. So, instead of gaining an ally, we fear another enemy.”
Sadie, who had been rather meek and subservient when they first met a day earlier, now knew them better and asserted her feelings without hesitation. “We don’t know that at all. We don’t know anything. That is what we were sent here to discover.”
A pair of men entered the clearing and were clearly upset to find them there. Both were poorly dressed, covered in soot, and one had a dried streak of blood down his left arm from his shoulder to his fingertips. He favored the arm. As one, they changed directions and walked determinedly to face them.
The taller of the two snarled, “Go back to your Drylands.”
“We don’t live there,” Rake answered agreeably.
The other said, “This is our place and we don’t want you here.”
Rake smiled to relieve the tension but was ready to fight if needed. He had little doubt he could defeat both without getting tired, and they didn’t know about Cinder, who he still suspected could hold her own against him, or both of them. Sadie was an unknown quantity but she hadn’t backed away from danger yet. Rake saw themselves as three coiled snakes ready to strike.
Cinder’s hand had casually moved into the slit-pocket of her robe and undoubtedly grasped the hilt of her knife. At the same time, Sadie had shifted positions slightly, so little that unless someone was looking for it, the movements would be missed. She now stood balanced on the balls of her feet, her knees very slightly bent, her hands away from her sides to either repel or attack.
Rake used his smile as a weapon. Hopefully, it would be enough. He said, “We will leave right after dark.”
“Now,” the taller one snarled, shuffling a step closer.
“Maybe we can help bandage your friend,” Rake said, allowing his voice to deepen as his smile faded. “But if you believe you are going to fight me, please think again. I have the knowledge and wisdom to drop you both where you stand. My training will take over and,” he held up his bare hands, fingers splayed, “will kill. You have been warned as the gods have directed me to do.”
Cinder stepped to one side as she said, “Sadie, move away and give him room to leap and kick. This won’t take long.”
“No?” Sadie asked in an innocent voice better suited for a girl half her age.
“It never does.”
Cinder’s warning to Sadie did more to scare the men than Rake’s threat. He stood, arms limp at his side, face composed, calm eyes on the men. He didn’t move.
The one without the injured arm said, “Be gone as soon as it gets dark. I mean it.”
“Understood,” Rake said, finding the fear of the unknown is greater than a direct threat. He wore the robes of a desert wanderer and the two men knew little about them, so assumed the man within the robes held some special powers or training.
They would tell the tale tonight to their friends across the clearing. In the morning, the tale would be repeated and enhanced. By noon, the magical fighting powers of desert wanderers would reach new ears, and again the tale was too good not to exaggerate. It would grow and spread with each telling.
If one of the pair of men walking away heard his own tale tomorrow night, he wouldn’t recognize his part in it. All of which brought Rake back to the tale of a mysterious army crossing an unknown sea and building a fort at the edge of Breslau. How much of that story should he believe? Could it also be lies?
He allowed his mind to wander for a moment, and it revealed another question. If that story Cobalt had revealed was true, even part of it, why didn’t Breslau send its army north and wipe out the fort and the invaders?
He said, “If a ship or two, or even three landed in Breslau near the northern sea, and an army came ashore and started building a fort, how long before the new Kings of Breslau would send an army to destroy it? Probably an army ten times as large as that of the invaders?”
Both women shrugged and remained silent.
Rake continued, “That part does not make sense, so the entire rumor may be just that. A rumor.”
Cinder said, “I’d have agreed with you yesterday. Today, I saw a flock—is that the right word for a group of dragons? —fly over and attack Mercippio. Explain the small, black dragons and their attack, why we couldn’t sense them, and perhaps you can convince me otherwise.”
Sadie said, “We can figure that out later. Right now, the light is failing, and I think we should head back to the inn. To avoid being noticed with each other, I should lead by at least fifty steps and you can watch my back. You should walk slowly through the crowds, side by side, not appearing to hurry at all. I’ll also be walking slowly and act as if I cannot believe what I’m seeing.”
Cinder indicated she liked the idea.
Rake glanced at the smoldering eyes across the clearing that were still centered on him. Sadie’s idea seemed better. He gave the men a curt nod and a hint of a smile.
Sadie walked out of the edge of the forest and moved down the hillside to where the streets were paved, the buildings stone, and the people confused and frightened. After two blocks, they reached the rubble of a building that had stood three stories high. People were sifting through the stones in search of buried victims. Two were laid out at the edge of the street, their bodies crushed by falling building blocks and blackened by fire.
A woman at their side cried softly. Another wailed her grief from across the street. Men kept one eye on the sky and weapons at hand as they dug.
Further down, there was another collapsed building, and it had also burned, the charred remains still smoldering. Three people gathered at a partially collapsed wall, one of them pointing. Sadie steered them closer to see. The extended finger showed where a hollow had formed in a solid rock wall as if half a drinking mug had been plucked from it, leaving the hollow behind. Below the hole, a black substance dripped like heavy syrup down the stone. Where it touched, the rock sizzled and hissed.
“Dragon spit,” someone behind them said as if that explained it all.
The words hung in the night air. Rake had heard of it, of course. He’d never seen it, nor the results. Even when the small black had spat at him, he was too busy preparing for the fight of his life to see where the dragon spit had gone. He was tempted to find a flame and see if it burned with the fury legends said.
Closer to the center of town and the marketplace, more buildings were smashed, and others burned, a few were both crushed and burned. People wandered the streets in a daze. Many were grieving for lost friends or family, others lost their homes or workplaces. In the space of one short attack, the city had changed, become morose and scared. People stumbled along as their eyes scanned the empty sky for dragons.
Sadie said as they reached her at a corner, “I hope the Rocking Chair was not harmed.”
Rake hadn’t thought about that. If it had not burned in the attack, any enemy could have taken the opportunity to use the attack on the city as cover to set fire to the inn. As they rounded the last corner, the inn stood ahead, unharmed.
The skinny Crab called Moon stood on the little upstairs balcony, Rake’s bow in his left hand, an arrow in his right. The stance was a threat to any who might wish the inn or its occupants harm. Rake had no doubt Moon would use the bow.
Moon spotted them and waved. He disappeared from the balcony and even from the distance, they heard him shouting to Demi.
Before entering the inn, Rake took the time to examine the surrounding area despite the growing darkness. There seemed to be nothing and nobody out of place. No lurkers or men waiting to throw bombs their way.
Inside, Demi had a meal prepared. The dining room was still vacant, which he assumed meant she had no other customers. However, both she and Moon had stories to tell.
Demi began, “There is a young woman upstairs sleeping. She said that you sent her.”
Rake gave a curt nod. It was the one he’d identified as Dragon Clan. They would speak later.
Moon told of
one small dragon that had landed only two streets away and killed more than six people. It had acted as if it intended to move directly to the Rocking Chair before it suddenly took flight when only a few buildings away. Moon had gone into their room and stood guard with the bow and arrows, always in sight of anyone who watched the inn. It was a brave thing to do.
Demi suggested they gather in front of the cold fireplace and plan their next moves as if she was one of them. Rake wondered if she had found out they were Dragon Clan and decided it either didn’t matter to her or she was one of the few naturals friendly to their kind.
Sadie said, “The girl upstairs? If we wake her, we won’t have to repeat what we decide, and she might have insights we don’t.”
Cinder nodded her agreement and Sadie climbed the stairs as they shifted a few chairs to form a ring near the fireplace. Moon said he was going to do a “walkaround” before the meeting. He went out the front door. Demi carried a large plate of cheese and sliced meat to a nearby table and then brought pitchers of wine and water, along with mugs.
Rake stood aside and admired how they were working as a group, all people unknown to each other only a few days earlier. The vacant chairs were for the sleeping girl and Sadie.
They came down the stairway, Sadie full of confidence and smiles, the other girl meekly descending behind her. Rake noted for the first time that she was younger than he’d thought and almost timid.
Sadie paused long enough to call out, “Fran, our newest member.”
Fran was clearly embarrassed. She drew herself up and strode to the fireplace. She cleared her throat and said, “My name is Fran and I live to the east and south of here. I arrived this morning after two days of walking.”
Demi was in the kitchen, Moon still on his walkaround. Rake stood and turned while raising his shirt and repeating the ceremony, and Cinder was next, then Sadie. Fran did so last. The dragon on her back had a tail curled around its feet, the head turned to face directly behind itself. It seemed to be looking directly at each of them.