by LeRoy Clary
Ann moved her belongings to the other side of the fire, leaving Gareth, Tad, and the boy on the other side. She didn’t speak or look at any of them. Gareth spread their blankets over them and allowed her to have the separation she silently demanded. Each time he woke to check the camp during the night he found her sitting across the fire, eyes glazed.
She stood and packed her bag before sunrise. He heard her and joined, but she still said nothing until Gareth took Tad by his hand, ready to walk.
“I’m not touching that thing,” her hand briefly moved in the boy’s direction.
Gareth directed Tad to stand beside her while he went to the boy and helped him up. Twice the youth snarled, and his mind weakly attacked Gareth, but they were put easily aside. However, after the second attack, Gareth lashed out with a red swipe of energy that rocked the boy back on his heels.
Gareth watched for the reaction, which was fear and puzzlement. He had never faced anyone who could hurt him like that. The explanation of fear was obvious. The puzzlement was that the red swipe of pain had been as intense as it was quick, and from a stranger. In the past, the pain had not been as violent, and it had gone on and on instead of stopping so fast.
Gareth pointed for the boy to walk ahead, but behind Ann and Tad. He did as he was told, but turned to look behind often, as if trying to figure out what had gone wrong and why he felt the pain instead of the other way around.
No explanation was offered. It was better that he understood little of what was happening for now. However, when they stopped to eat Gareth would ask for more medicine to dull his mind. He didn’t want, or need, to keep a constant mental watch on him. At least not the sort required by a mind fully alert.
But it did bring up the question of what they were going to do with him. The boy, now that he was cleaned up, his hair washed, and his clothing clean, looked like almost all other boys. But his mind was different, and he was a threat, no matter how well he cleaned up.
There were two problems. First, the boy did not appear to present a threat. Indeed, he almost invited affection with his freshly scrubbed face. Second, their options were finite. At this point, he could either accompany them and continue to present danger, or they could kill him and continue—which was not an option for either of them. Tad remained quiet and watchful.
It was not that Gareth couldn’t control him with his mind, and keep any stray thoughts from escaping, but the dual tasks of performing the same for the boy and for Tad were tiring. The secondary reason was worse. If Gareth stumbled and struck his head, he could no longer control the two minds while he lay unconscious. What would the stranger do? He feared he knew all too well, just not the details.
“Ann, we need to talk.”
“Which means that you need to talk, and you want me to listen.”
Gareth ignored her sharp tone and when she said no more but continued walking, he stopped. He stood and waited. They were in a dense forest of hardwoods, ash and oak, with a walnut tree directly ahead. The sun was hidden both by the canopy and high wispy clouds. The forest sounds were early morning, more insect than animal. The rustle of leaves brushing each other made a soft hiss as they passed. No sharp or unusual sounds or smells.
Reaching out, he found Blackie dozing in a patch of sunlight that warmed him. No people were close, and those ahead were still sleepy and just waking for the day. He hoped to reach the base of the mountain with the pass this afternoon. A single inquiry assured him that the members of the Brotherhood were still restrained and living on three separate farms.
The snapping of twigs and small branches under angry feet brought him back to the path in the forest. Ann and Tad had returned. Tad wore a tiny smile he tried to hide.
“Talk about what?” Ann demanded.
Gareth glanced at the boy attached to the hand he held. “We need to keep this one under the power of your herbs. Do you have enough or can you gather more as we hike?”
“I now have enough for two days, but I will keep a watch and expect to locate more soon.”
“Good. One more thing. You need a bow. Use mine for now.”
“There are better ways for one of the Sisterhood to hunt.”
“But your ways will not help to defend yourself, should I trip and strike my head, or be attacked and die,” he glanced at the boy again, making sure she saw the action. “If anything happens to me that might cause my mind to lose control, illness, accident, or whatever, you have one task.”
She nodded in understanding.
“Can, and will you do it? Are you able?”
She hesitated. Gareth waited her out, giving her the time to sort through the options—or lack of them. Finally, she fully understood the implications and her duty. She reached for his bow.
The medication helping keep Tad’s mind at bay was gentle and only took the edge off. He understood the conversation. His reaction agitated him as he understood the boy might hurt Gareth and Ann. He scowled at the boy. Gareth felt Tad reaching out to the boy, but not in the manner of friendship. The smile was a threat. Tad struck a mental barb that made the other boy wince. Gareth deflected most of the barb and shook his head at Tad.
Gareth examined the youth in the light of day and found that he still showed signs of neglect that a bath couldn’t clean away. A dab of white medicine covered each flea bite, tick bite, infected mosquito bite, scrape, puncture, and cut. Scars of older injuries or infections littered his skin like fallen leaves in winter.
One tooth in front was broken off in a jagged ridge at the base of his gum. The others were more green and brown than white, even after Ann’s cleaning. His breath was sour enough to curdle whole milk.
While he was older than Tad, he was near the same size because of the lack of food. Although he stood a little taller, he weighed less. His arms and legs were the sizes of Tad’s wrists. The trousers of Tad’s that he wore fit around the middle, but the length ended well above the ankles. The shirt was the same, ending half way to the wrist.
For all that, he was still a little boy, and the question of what to do with him remained. Gareth almost wished he had fought when they encountered him. An arrow back then would have settled so many problems.
Ann placed the arrows where they protruded high above her backpack for easy reach and carried the bow. She said, “You cannot save this one.”
“I cannot fail to try.”
“You’re a fool.”
“That, I am.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
The trek through the forest was hard. The wet ground steadily rose, their footsteps dragging, and each hill seemed a little taller than the last. They moved quickly, one behind the other on the narrow paths, in relative silence. Ann paused twice to gather herbs and once to peel a small strip of bark off a tree. Tad asked her a thousand questions, all of which she answered without irritation. But she never gave the other boy a single friendly glance.
However, not talking and mindlessly following the many trails and paths gave Gareth time to reach out with his mind and search the endless ebb and flow of thousands of minds thinking at the same time. Those that stood out were generally those of a carpenter who hammered his thumb or a cook who sliced her finger as well as the onion. For a brief instant, each of those crackled at bright as the stars on a winter’s night.
But Gareth searched for any familiar voices. Like listening to verbal voices as people spoke, he found their minds also distinct. He wanted to reach the mind of one of his past teachers, a member of the Brotherhood; not just any of them, but one of a select few he believed cared about him when he was a child in Dun Mare, and there had been a few. One particular Brother had defied his leaders in telling Gareth information that should have been withheld, and he had treated Gareth’s childhood friend, Faring, with respect, although he was not sensitive.
The mass of minds spewing information was like all the people in the kingdom gathered into one place, talking at the same time. How could he identify a single voice? But he’d done it before, like hearing that
one familiar voice that calls your name at a party. He listened but did not hear.
Ann called over her shoulder, “We will have to cross the King’s road ahead. Is the way clear?”
Gareth hadn’t been listening for that. He said, “Let me make sure.”
He instantly touched the nearby minds of dozens of soldiers, all directly ahead. “Ann, wait.” He sat and listened. There were not only checkpoints ahead, two of them, but patrols on the road. He sensed that the rings of men surrounding the seaports had been shifted inland during the night as if they knew of his objective.
But that couldn’t be. They had no way of knowing, but they were there, alert and waiting. Not a trap because he found them all along the length of the road, but a warning to Gareth that they were either warned or far smarter than he gave them credit for. He glanced at Ann, but then away. No, he didn’t believe she had anything to do with it even though she was the logical suspect.
Had any of Tad’s emotions or thoughts escaped? He didn’t believe so. His attention turned to the boy at his side.
Yes, he was the reason. Not directly, but the voice that had searched for him last night didn’t find him and probably decided that Gareth had found and killed him. That voice knew Gareth was not only coming after him but getting closer. It had told the King, or the King’s generals to relocate their troops because it told them where to find Gareth.
“Ann, we have a problem.”
“Checkpoints?”
“And patrols. They know we’re close.”
“How?”
Gareth glanced at the urchin at his side. “The mind behind all this was looking for this one last night. Now all the troops have been deployed here. They must have marched all night.”
“He told them?” Her face twisted.
“No. But because he didn’t answer, the other one decided we must be here. At least, that’s what I believe.”
Ann threw her hands into the air and snarled as she looked directly at the boy standing beside Gareth. “How could anyone do this to another? How can he be so cruel?”
“I’ve asked myself that.”
“This isn’t the one that I despise, but he’s part of it, willing or not. Have you decided what you’re going to do with him?”
Gareth didn’t miss the shift in her speech pattern that emphasized the boy was now his problems and not hers. “I’m thinking of asking the Brotherhood for help.”
She started to object but paused before the first word. She nodded. “I can see that. They took you to an isolated place in the mountains and kept you there for years while they taught you only what they wanted you to know. That might work with him. A strict environment and teachers to unlearn half of what he knows.”
“They withheld some information from me, but, for the most part, they provided all the knowledge, if a bit slanted here and there. I had one teacher in particular who gave me both sides of an issue and then we discussed the merits of both sides.”
“He did this without influencing you with his belief?”
“Not at first. Later, when I was older he was impartial, wishing that I would come to the same decisions as his beliefs, but never insisting.”
Ann said, “It sounds to me like he just tested you to make sure you learned the earlier lessons they taught you.”
“I don’t think so. He allowed me to take the other side, in fact, there were times when he demanded it. He wanted me to learn to think for myself.”
“What happened to him?”
“Not long before I escaped he was recalled to wherever they go.”
“He told you this? And you believe him?”
“He was my primary teacher for ten years. I believed him, and in him.”
“And now you want to give this miserable soul of a child to him. What if he trains this boy to be your enemy?”
The conversation was taking an ugly turn. Gareth suspected the calm, gentle, woman who protected and cared for animals wished to kill the boy today. He said, “My dragon is nearby. I’m thinking of having it attack the road and checkpoints while we sneak across.”
Ann placed both hands on her hips and set her jaw. “Gareth, sometimes you are so stupid. Yes, we’d get across, but every soldier in the kingdom would be marching double-time for here, along with the best trackers. They would know that if your dragon did that, you must be here. In a day, the forest ahead would have more soldiers than trees, and it is a thick forest. That does not even consider that every sensitive will hear the disruption. Especially the one you are trying to avoid.”
“Your idea?” Gareth felt like hanging his head in shame for the suggestion.
“Well, it won’t have a dragon in it, for sure. If there’s one thing that will bring everyone here, it’s a dragon, especially a black one. No, we need a diversion, but a smaller one.”
“Such as?”
She smiled, “I would want all of them looking up while distracted, as we rush across the road. We only need a short time.”
“Your smile tells me you have an idea.”
“There are birds in this forest. Everywhere. What if all of them flock to the road where we intend to cross, and they fly low over the soldiers? They can chirp, screech, and tweet. Some will poop. The soldiers will all look up; maybe even while they are pooping.”
Gareth considered, but added, “We need more. Between us, can we get every bird near this place to carry something? Twigs, acorns, small rocks? If all carry things in their beaks and claws, then drop them, it will hurt nobody, but will be so unusual that all will look up long enough for our sprint.”
Ann pursed her lips and considered. “The items they drop won’t hurt anyone unless by accident. I think it’ll work, but I’m concerned it may draw the attention of the evil mind we’re trying to avoid.”
“It might or, not. Odd things in nature happen every day. The incident will begin and end in such a short time that most won’t even comment on it. But it isn’t going to draw attention like the appearance of a black dragon.”
Ann said, “I see. It’d just be a small, local event, especially afterward when you use your powers to calm everyone and tell them it was nothing. I like it.”
A while later the four of them huddled together behind a stand of briars at the side of the road. There were three checkpoints in sight. Nothing could cross the road without being seen by the three, and Gareth reached out with his mind and verified the entire road seemed equally protected. Patrols walked the areas between the checkpoints. More soldiers were on the way.
Gareth sent an image to the birds he could identify and told them to gather things to carry.
“No, silly,” Ann whispered, “After feeding, mating is the strongest urge. Instead of touching the minds of individual birds, just let them all know that carrying two things, one in the beak and one in the claws will increase their chances of mating if they fly here.”
“Why not food, if that’s the strongest urge?”
“What if they’re full, or they gather worms or seeds to carry? Can you feel my suggestions and amplify them?”
Gareth closed his eyes. Touching the mind of anyone he knew went against his personal ethics and it felt distasteful, even if he’d been invited. He found it instantly. Ann had formed a mental link filled with the desire to mate, and all that was needed was to gather items and fly to the source of the link, which was Ann.
Her link was weak. It traveled only a hundred paces or less. Gareth calmed himself and took control. He didn’t want every bird from the mountains to the sea flocking here. There would be so many they would block the sunlight and the incident a cause for all to remember for a hundred years.
Her mental link soothed and encouraged the birds. Taking the essence and expanding the distance was easy. He doubled, then tripled the power of her images. Looking up, he found a few birds, but not enough. He doubled the power again, adding to the suggestion that the birds fly higher and circle without dropping anything.
Birds appeared by the hundreds, then t
housands. They circled, wheeling in great flocks comprised of dozens of varieties, but the phenomenon went almost unnoticed by the soldiers on the road. The birds were too high for them to see they carried items, and the great circles and height managed to keep their numbers hidden.
“Let’s do it,” Ann said.
Gareth scooped the boy into his arms. He concentrated on the birds as he said, “I’m telling them to fly lower, below the tops of the trees and drop whatever they’re carrying on the road. Also, tell them to chirp, screech, and sing.”
Birds swooped lower, and a rain of small items started falling. The birds that released their twigs, acorns, and seeds, began their squawking and singing while flying in loops and circles to attract mates. There were so many that a few collided in midair and fell, causing, even more, confusion.
The number of birds increased with every breath and the amount of falling debris rained down. One glance at the soldiers guarding the road told Gareth all he needed to know. He cradled the boy as he sprang from the cover of the tangled briars and ran. He heard Ann at his heels. The road was only ten steps across, and then they were safely in the undergrowth on the other side.
They hid behind the trunks of two oaks. Gareth released his hold on the birds, telling them to fly to their nests. In the time it took to repeat the message and look out at the road, the sky cleared of all birds as if they had never existed. Soldiers stood in the road still looking up, but some were already recovering and resuming their duties while others talked about the incident.
Gareth broadcast a soothing image, telling them they had all seen birds act similarly in past years. Just another flock gathering and nothing to worry about, let alone remember. He issued feelings that told them they needed to keep a sharp watch on the road for Gareth. Superiors who found them bird-watching would not be happy.
“You did it, Ann hissed in his ear.
“We did it. Let’s move away from the road and get deeper into the forest.”
Ann took the lead again, finding animal paths and trails as if she knew where each existed. The land gently rose. Ahead, Gareth watched the white peaks getting closer all day until he thought he saw a separation between two. They arrived at a small meadow at the top of a hill that provided a view of ahead, as well as the forest behind, although the road could not be seen.