Dragon Talker

by Anderson, Steve

  “You just stay over there,” he said to the raccoon. Yuri looked around for something that he could give or use to hit the raccoon. That’s when he noticed the boys were gone. He jumped up, forgetting about the raccoon that wandered off at his sudden moves.

  “Stone! Bernard!” What have I done, he thought. Lost them after only one day. Come on, boys, you better be around here. “Stone! Bernard!”

  Yuri ran in a wide circle around the fire, hoping to see the boys. As he did, he noticed the boys’ gear was gone. Oh man, I have done it now, he thought. Okay, they are kids and I am a man. I can find them. But if I was a boy, where would I go? Yuri figured they wouldn’t go just anywhere. Would they try to head back home? Why did I fall asleep? They’re going back home.

  He quickly packed up his gear. And if I’m wrong? The question ran through his mind more than once. He smoothed out a patch of dirt on the ground. He drew a crude fire, two small figures, and one tall figure. He then drew a line from the tall figure heading out and then returning. He hoped that if the boys came back, they would know that it meant he was coming back.

  Before putting on his pack, he walked in another circle for any sign of where the boys went. The only recent tracks were all leading to or from the village. Yuri put on his pack and headed back to the village, wondering what kind of lead the boys had on him. Well, he told himself, if I can’t catch up to two boys lugging a cooking pot and a burnt up stool, I’m not much of a dragon talker.

  While mad at himself for falling asleep, he had to admit that it really restored a lot of his energy. The strength he first experienced in the lake hadn’t left him, either. He found that, even with his pack, he could run quite comfortably. The full pack felt like little more than a day bag loaded with a lunch and water.

  After he had been running for an hour, he saw their cooking pot on the trail. He was relieved at first, until he saw the torn pack next to the pot. A shirt that looked like Stone’s size was also on the ground. Yuri checked it for blood.

  “Thank goodness for small favors.” Examining the pack, he saw that the stitching had torn completely down one side. He figured Stone must have packed the pot poorly and it torn out his pack as he walked. He didn’t want to think of any other scenario, like wolves. No blood, no wolves, but Yuri couldn’t shake the feeling that he had let the boys down.

  He added the shirt to his own pack and put the pot upside down on the top of his own pack, tying it down with a spare deer tendon he kept for his bow. Before Samora, running with a pack wasn’t something Yuri would do for long, and running with two cooking pots didn’t seem in the realm of possibility, yet that was just what he was doing now, without raising a sweat.

  A half an hour later, Yuri saw the boys up ahead on the trail. Stone was standing over Bernard, and it looked like he was shouting. Yuri picked up his speed, and he saw that Bernard was crying. “Hey boys, you two just about gave me a heart attack. What’s wrong Bernard?”

  Stone answered, “Nothing.”

  “Thank you, Stone, but I was asking Bernard. How are you doing, Bernard?”

  Bernard looked up at Yuri. Yuri could tell that he had been crying, and he looked determined, “I want to go home.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry Bernard, but…” Yuri scratched his head, not because it itched, but he was hoping something would come to him. “There’s nothing…that just isn’t possible, Bernard. I’m going to take you where you get to start over.”

  “I don’t want to start over! It’s not fair.” Bernard stood up and ran at Yuri. Yuri didn’t know what to do, so he let Bernard crash into him. As Bernard did, he also started flailing his arms, hitting Yuri in the chest. Yuri could barely feel the hits physically because of the dragon scales, but his heart went out to Bernard.

  The hits started to slow as Bernard started to exhaust himself. When Yuri thought that Bernard didn’t have much strength left, he put his arms around him and pulled him into his chest. Holding him tightly, he tried to comfort him, saying, “I’m sorry, Bernard, I’m really sorry.” Yuri felt Bernard sag into him. He was spent.

  Stone spoke, “He quit walking, so I was trying to get him up.”

  “Stone, there’s nothing to go back to. You two can’t live on your own for long.”

  “I know, but who says we have to go with you?”

  Yuri continued to hold onto Bernard. “You know, Stone, no one. But I come from a good village and I will take you there and make sure you are taken care of.”

  “And then leave us?” Bernard leaned back and looked up at Yuri after Stone said that.

  “Leave you - it’s my village. I will be living there, but I don’t think I’m the best person to raise you.”

  Bernard said quietly, “You’re all we have.”

  Yuri picked him up, holding him at his side like his mother used to hold him as a child. “Look, boys, I will watch out for you. Come with me to my village and we will sort out the little details when we get there, okay?”

  “They are not little details,” replied Stone.

  “You are right. But how about this, come back with me and we’ll figure all the details out, big and small, and I won’t leave you. Deal.”

  Bernard reached around Yuri’s neck and hugged him, saying, “Deal.”

  Stone answered with, “I want my cooking pot back. I only left it because my stupid pack broke and I couldn’t carry it.”

  “I was only carrying it for you. We’ll get you a new pack along the way. What if I carry it for now since I’ve got it rigged up?”

  “Okay.” Stone got back on the trail and started walking back the way they had come. “Let’s go.”

  Yuri shook his head in wonder and followed, carrying Bernard.

  ***

  That evening, Yuri made the boys promise they wouldn’t run off before he went to sleep. It had been a long day, carrying most of the boys belongings and Bernard. Yuri was more worn out emotionally than physically, but in any case, he was ready for some sleep. This time, though, he set out a few snares in the woods off the trail.

  After Yuri had been asleep for a while, Bernard tapped Stone on the shoulder. As Stone started to mumble a response, Bernard put his hand over his mouth. Stone got the message and sat up quietly. He whispered, “What is it?”

  “Yuri,” Bernard whispered back, “isn’t a person.”

  Stone was confused, “What are you talking about?”

  Bernard checked to see if Yuri was still asleep and then turned his head back to face his brother. “I think he’s made out of wood or stone.” It was dark, but Bernard knew what the silence meant. “Listen, I’m telling you the truth. He carried me all day, didn’t he?”

  “Yeah, so? He’s strong. That doesn’t make him something besides a person.”

  Bernard pushed on Stone’s chest. “You squish. He doesn’t squish. His arms are soft, but his chest is like a rock or brick.”

  “I’ll give you squishing,” Stone warned. “He’s human, and if he has anything under his shirt it’s probably armor. Maybe he is a soldier.”

  “Or a tree man.” Bernard wasn’t ready to give up just yet.

  “I’m going back to sleep, and if you wake me with anything else crazy, I’ll squish you. Do you hear me?”

  Bernard had heard that tone before. Now wasn’t the time to push his brother. “I hear you. Fine, go to sleep, but when he turns us over to the wood monsters, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

  Chapter 26

  Noticing that the quiver was not empty, Tadeus asked, “How did you do?”

  Hental stood a little taller as he said, “I made it.” His shoulders drooped a little as he added, “though I was just a little bit closer than you were.”

  “Good for you, Hental. And when I was your age, I would have come back with an empty quiver and get a thrashing from my tatush. You’ve got more discipline at your age than I did. I’m proud of you for that.” Hental stood tall at his father’s words.

  “Warm up by the fire and I’ll tell you the rest of t
he story. Where was I?”

  Lared was the first to answer, “The so-ge-an was making monsters as big as the village.”

  “Oh yes, you have a good memory, Lared. So, the ocean…” Lared frowned as he realized he got the word wrong but smiled when his father winked at him. “has made these big monsters to fight the dragons, but no matter how big they were, they had to live in water. If one attacked Samora, she just froze it in place. If one attacked the green or red dragons, they steamed the water, chasing the fish away or cooking them on the spot! And the white dragon, well, they could never find that one. So all those big creatures just swam around looking for dragons, only to be cooked, clawed, steamed, and eaten by them.”

  “The ocean was mad and worried. It knew it was losing. It realized it couldn’t beat the land physically, so it was going to have to outsmart it.”

  “Like the woodsman and magician!” Hental added, referring to another story about how a village woodsman came across a powerful magician and had to outsmart him to save his village.

  “That’s right, Hental. Water, though, had one advantage the woodsman didn’t - it was, is, huge!” Tadeus raised his voice and stretched out his arms as he said, “huge.” “It knew it couldn’t keep them totally separate, but it did realize it could keep most of the land away from the sky. Water is sneaky.”

  “Like Henti,” Lared added.

  Tadeus looked at Hental to keep him from hitting his brother, adding, “I think clever is a better description.”

  “Yeah, I’m clever. You’re…” Hental tried to think of something clever. “…not.”

  “So,” their father continued, “the water wanted to make sure it could watch over the land after it stopped fighting. It also saw how the green and red dragons turned the water into steam, sending it up into the sky to make clouds. It looked for the red and green dragons and started sending waves after them.

  “The dragons fought back, blasting the water with fire, turning wave after wave into steam. The skies started to fill with clouds. The red and green dragons began to like fighting, and they kept going, even after the ocean stopped sending waves at them. They flew over the water, sending flames onto the surface just so they could fly through the warm steam.

  “The ocean was happy. It now could float through the sky, watching over both the land and the sky. The land was happy, too, because it managed to push up an entire mountain range. The sky was happy because now it could talk to the land and it even liked sharing its space with the light clouds.”

  “Before, though, the land and sky weren’t able to see everything. The sky only saw the water, not knowing the land existed, just as the land only saw the water, not knowing the sky existed. It didn’t take long for the sky and land to decide the ocean had to be punished for keeping them apart. They had won, they thought, so they thought they had the right to pay back the water for its treachery.

  “What they didn’t know was that water can’t be controlled or blocked. Sure, you can contain it for a while, but it will always find a way out, over, or through. First, the land built massive mountains, forcing them high in the sky to keep the water out. The water just evaporated more and sent clouds over the mountains, raining on the other side.

  “The sky tried to blow the clouds away, but the water went underground, moving through all the gaps and cracks that formed as the land pushed up rocks to make the mountains. Springs started popping up all over the land. Not only that, but the water made bigger clouds, denser clouds. Clouds so dense they boomed as the wind knocked them together. Lightning comes from these clashes, too.

  “The three sides can never hold a peace very long. Some days, they get along, and that’s when we have beautiful days of clear skies. And when they don’t, well, we can tell how serious the fight is based on what is happening outside.

  Hental crossed his arms and frowned. Tadeus noticed and asked, “Don’t like the story, Henti?”

  “It’s okay, but there’s nothing about dying.”

  “Hental, this is background. It’s like when grandpa would tell us about when he was a child before telling us what he really thought about what was happening that day. We’ll get there. But tell me, why the sudden interest in dying?”

  “No reason.” Hental looked away from his father.

  Agardia walked over and knelt by Hental. She gave Tadeus the look that let him know she was taking over. “Henti, dear,” she said as she stroked his hair, “what is it? What’s got your guts churning?”

  Hental looked up at his mother, “They are churning, Momma.”

  “There’s a lot going on - foxes in the coop, the…dragon incident. Is that it?”

  “Kinda.”

  “Hmmmm.” Agardia kept stroking his hair. “What else is it kinda?”

  “Selma.”

  “Selma?”

  “Yea. She’s going to die. She says it’s time to quit.”

  “Oh honey, she has been here a long time.” She noticed a tear running down Hental’s cheek. She looked at Tadeus and motioned towards Hental. He joined them. “It’s okay to cry Hental. We all feel sad when people die.”

  “Do you…would you….?”

  His father prompted Hental, “Would we what, Henti?”

  His parents had to strain to hear him whisper, “Quit?”

  Both Tadeus and Agardia said simultaneously, “Oh Henti.” The Agardia continued, “We’d never quit Henti. You’re our boy, Henti, and we want to spend a thousand thousand days with you.”

  Hental looked up at his parents, “Really?”

  Tadeus answered this time, “Of course. You, Yuri, Lared, and little Natalia mean the world to us. We’re not going anywhere.”

  “But…” His voice dropped back to a whisper, “the wolf.” Both of his parents leaned in as he said, even more quietly, “it was just walking around and I killed it.”

  Both parents looked at each other, not sure what to say but knowing their boy was hurting. They put their arms around him and held him. After a while, Agardia murmured, “Oh baby. I’m so sorry you had to experience that.

  Tadeus added, “Sometimes, son, death is like that. A dragon, a fox, a bad sickness, but your mother and I are not planning on going anywhere.”

  Hental looked up, “But you might.”

  “Hental,” his father said sternly, “you are right, but that’s not in our plans. And how much do we love you?”

  “A thousand times a thousand.”

  “Straight from the dragon’s mouth, son, straight from the dragon’s mouth. So say one of us dies unexpectedly, do you think there is any where our love won’t find a way to be with you, to comfort you?”

  Hental thought about that for a moment. “No.” He wiped the tears from his cheek, and raising his voice from the earlier whispers added, “You two can do anything. You just shot a fox in the dark from forever away, and mom can make anything taste good. And take any pain away!”

  “That’s right.” Tadeus grabbed Lared, who had woken up at the crying and had taking all of this in. “And the same goes for you, Little Man.” He tickled Lared’s stomach causing him to laugh uncontrollably.

  “Now, Hental, I think you’re ready to hear the rest of the story. What do you think?”

  Chapter 27

  Xeron awoke in a bedroom of Perante’s castle. A fire burned in the fireplace, though it looked like it would need some more wood soon to keep going. The room was nearly 12 feet high, which was odd. Odder still, the window openings were at the very top of the wall. Two foot tall slits by roughly 8 inches ran across the upper wall opposite the doorway. His dog was lying at the foot of the bed. He leaned up and patted him on the head. “What’s going on, Tail Biter?” Waking up in bed had him confused. Was this some dream, he wondered? Then he felt the recent scar on his hand and knew it all had happened.

  “Well, that’s unfortunate,” he said. “And where were you when I needed you?”

  Tail Biter lowered his head. “Don’t do that,” Xeron chastised, “we’ll figure out wha
t happened and I’ll get you some more protection. How nice of Perante to leave a fire for me.”

  Just then, a servant came in, excusing herself as she added two more logs to the fire. “Is there anything I could do for you, sir?”

  “Well, I am incredibly hungry. What time of day is it?”

  “It is late evening, sir.” She kept her head down in deference to his position as a mage.

  “Then a late supper seems appropriate. Bring something for this wretched mutt, too, but not a bone. He’s had enough of them lately.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  She started to leave, but Xeron stopped her, asking, “How long have I been in this bed?”

  She answered, “Six days,” and quickly left the room.

  Xeron thought about getting out of bed, but he was still incredibly tired. His dog was still looking up at him from the bottom of the bed. “Knock it off,” he commanded lightly. Tail Biter’s tail started wagging at his lighter tone. “Come here. Let me check you for ticks. I don’t trust him or this castle.”

  Ticks were magic spells or tricks mages put on each other’s dogs. They could be simple spells to keep track of where the animal went, thus telling where the mage was, too. They could also be more dangerous, siphoning off the dog’s life force or any protective spells the dog’s owner may have placed on the dog.

  The first tracing spell was easy to find, so easy that it was obviously only the beginning. “What is he up to?” “You, Tail Biter, are covered in ticks.” After removing three, the most difficult to find being the one hidden in the tips of Tail Biter’s claws, he found that there were also three siphoning spells, but none had been activated. This is ridiculous, he thought. With this many spells…he’s keeping me busy.

  “Let’s go,” he said as he jumped out of bed. Tail Biter was right behind him. “I think we will stop reacting to Perante and start acting for ourselves.” He was tired and thought about using one of the energy spells he had on Tail Biter, but he didn’t want to give Perante, who he knew would be paying attention to this kind of thing, any more information about how he was feeling and what kind of power he had in reserve.