“Come on,” Ledría said, “let’s go make sure the boys don’t drown themselves.” Maerek followed Ledría to the river, covering his nose with one claw in jest.
The river water was clear, pure, and as cold as a cloudless winter night. This particular section was on a deep bend. Rocks and debris were piled on the other side of the river, while the bank that the trading group was on was a soft, black sandy beach that sloped gradually deeper into the river before steeply dropping off into faster water. The beach extended back a few yards to a tree line, and then behind the trees was a field of tall, faded green grass. The seeds on the grass had long, wispy strands that clicked and chattered together as the wind brushed over them. The field extended back a good distance before grass yielded to forest. On the border of the glade and the forest were two trees that had fallen during a windstorm some time ago. Black dirt still clung to the root structure of the trees, leaving gaping divots in the earth.
Maerek picked up the fallen trees that were at the edge, snapped them in half like tooth picks, stacked them into a pile on the beach, and then lit them on fire. The dry timber caught quickly as his combustible saliva burned away and let off a clean, white smoke.
Thomas was the first to come up from the river wearing only his underclothes and carrying an armful of broken tree limbs that were wrapped in his wet shirt, coat, and pants. Ledría blushed a little, but the blush was hidden from the warmth of the fire. One by one, Thomas pulled the sticks out from his clothes bundle and laid them side by side next to the fire, creating a platform large enough only to sit on. He laid his clothes on top of the bundle and stood next to the fire, arms outstretched toward the heat.
“Sand is one of the worst things to get out of clothing, and it gets everywhere.” Thomas said as he rubbed his arms. Shortly after, the rest of the traders came up out of the river, carrying their clothes wrapped around sticks they found by the river. Each laid the sticks out in their own platform and laid their clothes on the platform the same way Thomas had.
“Maerek, it looks like you are out another set of clothes,” Keane commented. Maerek shrugged and smiled back.
“No matter,” Aelex commented calmly. “This gives us some time to figure out how we are going to get to Noiknaer without raising any suspicion. If what the lieutenant from the Capital Guard said was true, I doubt there is any way for Maerek to get in without raising suspicion. Thomas mentioned the Seer, and this Seer must know how and when you will come to the city. I think the best thing that we can do, or should do is—”
“Not another word,” Japeth said quickly, “Who knows what he, or she, might See. Aelex, I understand exactly where you were going, and we must give credit to the dragon’s wisdom.”
“I understand,” Maerek smiled again. “It must be done with full intent and purpose. There is no doubt in my mind how it must be done. We will wait for night fall and let us take great caution. We may not be safe here.” Maerek stared into the fire, watching patches of the logs glow bright red, and then fall onto the sand, beginning to create a bed of embers. Maerek then looked across the river, as if staring at someone unseen. “Remember Seer, the future is malleable, like water, and can change. You would be foolish to send another battalion to us, and their lives will be answered upon your head by my claw. You will fear and obey me, and I will end you. I swear it upon my dead kin.”
Everyone stared silently into the fire, watching the wood burn and crumble into flickering flares of yellow and red. For whatever reason, Maerek’s thoughts turned to Mearto. He thought about his oath to Boshk. Perhaps it was the bright red fire that reminded him of her fighting spirit, and as he listened to the songs in his mind, he began to see her not as a daughter, but as a potential mate. He knew who she was, all the intimate details of her life, her strengths, her flaws…
“She’s perfect,” Maerek whispered to himself. She was one to have her own way, and fight for it when opposed. And more than one time, she was scolded for doing things her way, rather than heeding to the council of her elders. Due to her stubbornness, more than a few hunts were ruined. After Maerek would rescue her, he would sing his song to her, and hopefully, she would find him suitable as well.
I will rescue you, Maerek thought.
Soon enough, the clothes were dry, and the group got dressed. The suon happily munched on the grass and small trees. Maerek laid on his belly, his nose a few inches away from the fire. The pupils in his eyes had become narrow slits and reflected the flickering orange and yellow flames. Those same flames reflected in a purple shade in Maerek’s scales. Against the black backdrop of the night and forest, Maerek looked like the sunrise of the next day.
While the others admired him, Maerek kept thinking about the Seer, and the plan to rescue Mearto. Two things he knew for certain: The Seer would use her as bait to lure him into a type of trap, and that he would use the potential death of the traders to attempt to force him to give up the location of another keep. Even if everyone was disguised the same way, there were enough differences in height and weight amongst the group that he would be easy to spot.
He assumed that was what Aelex planned before being cut off by Japeth. All of his choices up to this point had been tactical, minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day. He was being led like a mule on a rope, and things needed to change. With each choice, he was coming closer and closer to the Seer, but not in any way that he wanted. He wanted to meet the Seer on his terms, in an open area. Even with his strength, there were too many unknowns that had thwarted him and his family. The poisoned bolts, arrows and spears, the tainted blood that granted a form of regenerative healing, and the circles of power that gave immense strength. All of that, combined with a Seer created a fearsome opponent, and not for the first time, he wished that Vaalkún was with him. Moving Mountain would know what to do.
“What are you thinking?” Keane asked, stirring Maerek from his thoughts. Maerek grumbled and lifted his head slightly.
“The wind has a voice, but does not speak, the mountain has a face, but never smiles, the river has a bed, but never sleeps. What has eyes, but never sees?”
“A potato?” Aelex responded after a moment’s silence.
Maerek chuckled.
“I suppose that is true as well. The Seer knows what I seek, and he is under the assumption that I will, with all my strength and capabilities, strive to free her. Yet with each step and leg of our journey, something moves within me and tells me that I am walking into a trap. I will not be led astray again. What is your group’s plan now that you have nothing to trade?”
“True enough dragon,” Japeth said, “we came out this way to make a good living with intentions on making a return journey with full pockets. I believe that I can say that there are no regrets among us in helping you fulfil your oath.”
“Yet you fear how you will survive,” said Maerek. “It is plain to me, the worry that is upon your countenance. Surely you must be well enough at your home village? You could go back now, but to what end? And would you risk the pass so soon, after suffering so much, and being extremely fatigued as you are with little cargo?”
“This I know,” Japeth smiled as he spoke. “I am washed, and I have a soft bed. We each have wealth enough to support this one failed trip, but not every stream has fish, and not every forest has game. I’m sure we would survive the return trip if we turned back now, but I would not risk it without much needed preparation and supplies. This moment, we are alive, warm, dry, and in good company. Our worries will still be waiting for us in the morning.”
“Here here!” the traders chorused.
Maerek sat up straight and glared at Japeth.
“How can you stand to wait until tomorrow to plan your survival? That is foolish!”
Keane smiled and shook his head.
“It is what makes us human, Maerek. It keeps us sane. How else are we to be happy unless we push away the darkness for a time?”
Procrastination on problem solving was unheard of within Moving Mountain.
Now seeing it in action, he began to really worry for the safety of the traders. Yet, even in the simplicity of the stress, fatigue, worry, and fear that had followed them so closely for so long, it all seemed to be pushed as far back as the shadow from the burning fire.
“It keeps you sane…” Maerek whispered, audible only to himself. He looked into the fire and then was reminded of Mearto. If he were to take her as a mate, and she, to take him as a mate, safety would be found in hiding among the humans. And if he were to hide among them, he would need to act like them, which meant sometimes solving tomorrow’s worries, tomorrow.
“It’s said in my home country,” said Keane, “that the song of the dragon is one of the most beautiful sounds to grace the wind. Is that true?”
In an instant, Maerek was taken back to Moving Mountain, when he was just a drake, and learning the history of his family. The joy, love, peace, family bonds and sadness that came in that history stirred within him. He shivered for a second as a feeling of mental tranquility shot through him.
“I would agree with that. We communicate our history, good and bad, through song. The memories carry with our voices, and the other dragons who hear it, gain the memories we sing. The tones and rumbles that your country speak of is our language. All of my kin were taught since infancy, through song, to speak the language of your kind.”
“And would you grace us with a song?” Thomas asked, smiling. Maerek nodded and smiled back.
“I will sing this song in your tongue.” Maerek cleared his throat, sat up on his back legs, spread his wings fully, and then began to sing.
“Like iron strong, or steel cold,
Like daggers sharp, and mountain old,
With blood and fang, and tooth and wing,
Moving Mountain, had found a king.
Since ages past, and memories long,
Ne’er did one, so brave or strong
Rule with power, so great and true
Live long and great, among the sky
Your song shall never die
Your song shall never die”
His deep, clear song echoed in the valley, pure and sweet, like the voice of a mountain. As Maerek sang, the memory of the siege of Moving Mountain came back to him in full detail. He’d never sang a song of his people in the language of the human race, but the memories and hurts of that day were still too tender. Maerek rubbed tears from his eyes.
“The smoke got to me,” he said as he turned away and walked to the other side of the fire, his back to the river.
“It seems your countrymen are right Keane,” Japeth said softly. He turned to Maerek. “Never have my ears heard a more magnificent voice. Truly your songs are not fit for any hall or palace. We thank you.”
“My gratitude toward you is full as well. You should sleep. I will keep the fire burning and keep first watch.”
With that, the group stood, and walked over the wagon and pulled out the canvas tarp and blanket that were spared during the trip. They laid them out around the fire, lay down, and peacefully went to sleep. Maerek looked at the fire, up at the stars, and then over at the Blades. Glad to be through the darkness, he looked east, across the river, and peered deep into the forest.
As simple as it was for the humans to put aside thinking and planning for the next leg of the journey, Maerek couldn’t help but worry about Mearto. There was too much out of his control that impeded him rescuing her without another potentially fatal encounter. He knew now, for a surety, that if he continued his course, he would be walking into a trap, one that would end in his death.
The Seer was capable of killing dragons. Through the Seer’s direction, hundreds, if not thousands, had been slaughtered, their blood drained and tainted. There was some key factor that he was not seeing, some piece of the plan to exterminate the dragon race, would explain everything, and how to stop it.
Maerek determined that the Seer would not risk losing potential leverage and knowledge of keeps by letting one dragon escape his Sight. As much as he hated to make the decision, the safest move, and the one that would draw the Seer and Mearto out from hiding, would be to move to where ever they were not.
CHAPTER 15
The group awoke to the calls of the birds. Dew had not yet settled, and the morning twilight cast everything in a grey hue. The group folded up the blanket that they slept on and stood around the fire. Aelex, who took the last watch, did well keeping the fire going, and the smoldering embers shed enough warmth to relax stiff joints. Maerek stood up and stretched his wings. The leathery membrane in the wing shivered as the muscles stretched and trembled. His wing joints popped as he folded them back into place.
“Oooh, much better,” he said, shaking the rest of his body. The traders spent time rubbing their hands over the fire, and then rubbing their faces and necks. Each stared blankly at the red coals, not talking to or looking at one another, or him for that matter. Maerek understood why. The procrastination of solving the larger problem the night before now hit them with a weight that was visibly present on their faces.
“What do you think we should do?” Aelex asked, finally looking at Maerek. The dragon rumbled and stared that the fire. After a long pause, he walked into the forest and then returned with a freshly picked pine tree. He stripped the branches and tossed them onto the coals. A grey smoke billowed up and was carried away in the slight wind. There was a thick overcast above, but the clouds showed no sign of rain. Having stripped the tree, he plunged the smaller end into the fire and turned it every few seconds, charring the tip.
Maerek did this for a time, waiting and thinking of all of the problems that faced not only to group, but himself and Mearto. He sensed that there was a single solution to the issue of the traders’ safety not just in the last leg of the journey, but their trek back home, the rescue of Mearto, and the ensure safety of the rest of his kin. It was like making out an image from a distance in a thick fog. He knew it was their and he had an idea of what he should do, but he couldn’t make out the whole picture.
“What is your business relationship like with your customers on this side of the Blades?” Maerek asked.
“We work with two groups,” Thomas said, pausing to rub his neck with freshly warmed hands, “the nomads and the government caravans. About six years ago, the entire transport and trade industry was nationalized. It is escorted by the Capital Guard, of whom we are so fond. The few that travel this far west, and the guard that go with them, are willing to pay a little extra for what we bring them. We believe that there is an underground market of some kind where most of our goods are sold. Our word to keep silent about the ‘unapproved government transactions’, is what the little extra coin buys.”
“I see. And what of the Nomads? What is their temperament toward you?”
“They are a distant bunch,” Keane said. “Strictly business and bartering. Never threatening and always willing to give a fair trade as it were.”
“Do they ever speak to you of their travels, or where they are heading?”
“The nomads travel where they will and rarely follow a route. Why?”
Maerek turned the aspen over again and shoved it deeper into the fire. He was silent again and turned the tree over three more times before speaking.
“There is a town on the southern side of Tessír, Port Rasmú it is called. From what I know, it is a very industrial city, many people and lots of opportunity. I wonder if these nomads would allow us to travel with their group toward that city. There you can find work and earn enough to pay for a passage back to Ruiska or where ever your home lies.”
“The nomads will not be eager to take strangers with them,” Ledría said. Maerek turned his attention to her. “I was… traded… I was traded to them for a time. Of all my captors, they treated with me as if I was a valuable tool, rather than a human. I was not allowed to speak to them, eat with them, drink with them, sleep in their tents. I was summoned, and then I was put away. They are secretive about how they work.”
“Ledría is right,�
�� Japeth said. “But what about going to the capital instead. We promised we would help you fulfil that, especially with all we have seen. We owe you our lives many times over.”
“I am not abandoning my cause,” Maerek said calmly, though blood was rushing in him at the mere idea that one would suspect a dragon to go back on his word. “I haven’t been thinking this all the way through. The Seer’s goal in this is to capture me and threaten to kill you as leverage against the information of other keeps that I know of. I would be walking into a trap if I were to seek him out. And chances are that you all would die.
“It will be his duty to seek me out. He will do all in his power to put us into a position where only my knowledge would mean your freedom. I will take control of this little game and if he wants information, he will have to bring her to me. He will have no choice but to come find me.”
“But why the port?” Keane asked, scratching his face. “There are a few other major cities, and dozens of minor ones as well that would serve just as simple a purpose. We won’t be leaving you until this is over.”
Maerek smiled.
“Is it true that there are a few individuals at Port Rasmú are not as loyal to the Tessíran government as they should?”
“Dissenters and rebels, no. But there are those who are severely… disgruntled… if that’s the right word for it,” Aelex said.
“But are there people in Port Rasmú who would hide you and your sister, all of you if need be, from the Tessírans?” Maerek asked.
“It is a good enough city to hide in,” Japeth replied. “And escape from if the need requires it.”
“Good. The Tessíran guard might be slightly aware, but at least this way, in case we are tracked and found out, we should have others around us on our side and hide us if need be.”
“Maerek! People could die, people who are not bound to an oath as you or us! The plan is no good!”
“Japeth, be at peace,” Maerek rumbled. “If Tessír wishes to kill its own, it will do so in shadowed streets and out of public eye, where I will have the advantage.”
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