Dragon Talker

by Anderson, Steve

  Melanie didn’t want to talk about it anymore. Every thought of the archer led her back to her own hijacking by Perante. “Let’s just take the baby and go.”

  “That is fine by me. When I wake him, he will be confused. Let me do the talking and just play along. I’ll keep it as close to the truth as possible so we don’t have to waste time trying to remember lies.”

  Xeron walked over to the archer and knelt down. He slapped him lightly on the cheek, causing the archer to stir.

  “What? Who?”

  Xeron smiled, pulling out his knife. The boys eyes widened in fear. Xeron ignored his fear, “So what, pray tell, is a young man doing tied to a tree out in the forest?”

  The boy leaned forward into the roots, but they didn’t budge. “Let me help you with that.” Xeron started cutting at a root with his knife. He asked, “What’s your name?”

  “Niri,” the boy replied.

  “Well, Niri, before I cut you totally free, do you mind telling me why you are tied to this tree? You’re not going to hurt me when you are loose, will you?”

  “No, sir. I don’t know what’s going on, or how I got here.”

  “Well, we…” he turned his head, indicating to Melanie, “came across some bad men a little ways back. Maybe they got to you before they tried attacking us.”

  “Bad men?”

  “Mage killers,” Xeron spit on the ground after saying it.

  “But I’m no mage.” The boy watched Xeron cut at the root.

  “But I am,” Xeron said sternly.

  “Oh.” The boy wasn’t sure what to say to that.

  “And I don’t like being attacked. I don’t like that at all.” Xeron finished cutting through the root. With the one root broken, he was able to loosen the others enough that the boy was able to stand up and step out of the tangle of roots now at his feet.

  “Niri, I don’t know if it’s safe here, so I and my traveling companions are going to leave. You can go on your way, or you can come with us. The choice is yours.”

  Niri looked at Xeron, then Melanie, and stopped at Tail Biter, who was growling. Melanie flicked him on the head and he stopped. “Sorry, he’s a bit jittery from the attack. He won’t hurt you.”

  Niri nodded and looked around the forest. He had no idea where he was or how he got here. All he knew was that he was alone. Fear and sadness seemed to fill his entire body. The man in front of him was strong and confident, two things he wanted to be right now but wasn’t. He made his decision and said, “I’ll go with you.”

  Xeron clapped him on the shoulder, “Good choice, young Niri. Now let’s get moving before anything else untoward happens.”

  Chapter 49

  The trail was well-worn and they made good time on it. Samantha and the boys were sleeping in back as Yuri led the horse through the night. The moon was bright, which helped the horse, but Yuri now had great vision, day or night. He marveled at all the nightlife he had heard in the past but could now see: bats, owls, mice, and foxes. He saw them all flying, fleeing, or hunting in the woods next to the trail.

  What he didn’t see was the man following them. He wondered if maybe, just maybe, the man found something else to do or someone else to follow. He hoped that was the case, but he did not plan on letting down his guard until he got home. He could feel home in his bones, and it felt good. They would reach Vrotsim in the morning, the last major village before Mandan.

  Yuri’s thoughts were about the crazy dragon talker he met there. For some reason, he had the feeling, possibly because of their contact in the lake, that Samora had visited that talker after his attack. He didn’t know exactly why, but he was not afraid. He wasn’t sure if that meant the dragon talker would leave him alone or if he knew he could handle him. Either way, it felt good to not be afraid.

  He thought about the merchant he met there and smiled. Who says the women of his own village are “a mean and ugly lot”? The thought that maybe he was protecting the women flashed through his mind, but he shook it off. That couldn’t be it. The merchant liked him. That was obvious. The flute was still in his pack, but he had not had time to practice since meeting the boys. He wouldn’t now that Samantha was around. He’d have to be pretty good at it before he would play it in front of a woman.

  He turned around and looked at Samantha sleeping. Bernard had curled up beside her and her arm was wrapped around him. Awake, Yuri thought she looked sharp, always on guard for something. Sleep changed her, softened her. Yuri knew she was attractive, but sleeping, she was beautiful. He wondered what his mother would think. He knew his father would like her - he liked women with a bit of an edge. He rarely saw that edge in his mother, but he knew it was there. If she ever thought the family was threatened, she would come out swinging.

  Yuri blurted out, “What am I thinking?” He thought to himself, I am really bringing a female mage home? This was an entire realm he had never heard of. She had saved Bernard’s life and the way she handled the boys was compassionate, but he’d never heard of a kind mage. Was this a trap of some sort? What was she doing out in the world as a man? The questions started to build up in his mind. Maybe, he considered, splitting company in Vrotsim would be the safest course of action.

  Doubts continued to run through his mind as they came closer and closer to Vrotsim. The sun began to rise as woods gave way to the oak savanna and farm land that surrounded Vrotsim. Samantha stirred as the sunlight washed over her face. Yuri looked behind him at the sound of her rustling and watched the transformation from peaceful to guarded take place as she sat up in the wagon and looked around, checking her surroundings.

  Yuri greeted her with, “Good morning. You seem to have slept well.”

  Samantha arched her back then stretched her arms out in front of her. She sounded a little surprised as she said, “I did.” She looked at the boys still sleeping. “I bet they stay asleep for a while.” She carefully worked her way to the front and climbed over the wall to sit next to Yuri.

  “Do you want me to take over?”

  “Not yet, I’m enjoying the sunrise.”

  Samantha reached back and grabbed a blanket to wrap around her shoulders. “Aren’t you cold?”

  “Since the scales,” Yuri answered, “cold has not been a problem. I actually like it. I feel like it charges me up.”

  “What happens in the summer?”

  Yuri tilted his head to the right and shrugged. “I have no idea.”

  Samantha didn’t say anything else. Instead, she settled into a comfortable seating position and readjusted the blanket to cover her better. After getting situated, she asked, “Any more of our friend?”

  “No, and I’ve been looking. He’s either gotten good at following us and staying hidden, or he’s found something better to do with his time.”

  “I wouldn’t count on that,” she cautioned.

  “I know, but there’s only so much a person can watch out for before they go crazy.”

  Samantha nodded her head towards the horse, “How’s Mable?”

  “We stopped a few hours ago for a rest and some hay.” Yuri didn’t tell her that he also walked off and washed himself and combed his hair. “She’s a strong horse, and we’re almost to Vrotsim. I think we will make it without putting her out too much. We should probably spend the day in town, though, or at least near it. Give her the day off and head off again at night.”

  “If we are going to spend any time around town, I should make a few changes before the boys wake up.” Samantha could tell from Yuri’s look that he didn’t understand. “I was in Vrotsim a few months ago.” She paused and checked to see if the boys were still sleeping. They were. “As Bogdan,” she added.

  “Oh,” Yuri nodded as if he understood, but didn’t.

  “Same horse, same wagon, different person. People notice these things,” she explained.

  “Oh,” he said, stretching it out a little longer as he did understand this time.

  “I’ll add some socks to Mable and lighten the color of th
e wagon a bit. Hopefully that will be subtle enough to be missed by the boys and enough to stop any identification with Bogdan.”

  “Smart,” Yuri said, impressed at how a few simple changes would totally change the overall picture.

  “I was always taught less is more.”

  Yuri couldn’t help but ask, “By who?”

  “Whom, and that’s none of your business.”

  Yuri ignored the correction and smiled, “Can’t blame a man for wanting to know the lay of the land.”

  “Can and will.” Samantha smiled back.

  “I think it’s time for me to take a break. Are you awake enough to get us to Vrotsim?”

  “Of course. Go ahead and get some sleep. I’ll wake you if you’re needed.”

  Yuri started climbing into the back. “Sounds good.”

  ***

  They had decided it would attract less attention if Yuri was the one in the driver’s seat as they entered Vrotsim, so Samantha had Bernard wake Yuri about a mile from the village to take over for the ride into town. Yuri was driving, Bernard was sandwiched in-between him and Samantha, and Stone stayed in back, but sitting up straight so he could clearly see everything that was going on.

  When strangers ride through a village, it always takes time because they are expected to stop and share news as well as messages from other villages they might have passed through. It never hurt if the local offered a little food for the trip, either, to make sure the message made it to its intended audience. Some took advantage of this, making up incredible stories in hopes of getting some extra food or other thanks, but even that was expected. With the really good story tellers, most people didn’t care if the story was true or not, as long as the action and danger was far away and heading in the other direction.

  Most villages, if they had a well, placed it in the center of the village, creating a public center where everyone could both get water and see how much everyone else was taking. While herders were discouraged from using the water, strangers were not. A trough was set up near the well for animals, and Yuri stopped the wagon near it and jumped off the wagon.

  As he was unharnessing the horse from the wagon, a few of Vrotsim’s more curious villagers showed up first, greeting him and asking for news. Among them, Yuri saw the merchant who had sold him the flute. He waved to him as he approached, shouting, “I found a good one” as he pointed at Samantha. Samantha scowled at first, but quickly changed it to a smile and waved at the villagers from the wagon.

  “It looks like you got the complete set, my friend,” the merchant said, indicating the two boys staring back from the wagon.

  “That is another story entirely, and not a positive one, I’m afraid,” he said solemnly, nodding his head.

  There were a few “ahs” from the crowd. Orphans were not foreign to village life, especially when disease went through a village. When the horse started drinking, the crowd made a semi-circle around Yuri, as if to say that it was time to share some news. Yuri hesitated, deciding on how much to say about the boy’s village. He didn’t want them to be asked a hundred questions, but he also felt responsible for telling the truth. If a village near his was burned down, he would want to know about it so he could watch for trouble in his own.

  Thinking of his own village decided it for him. “There is a small village about a week’s ride from here that was burned to the ground by people.” Yuri made sure to add the people part. When it came to fire, people were quick to assume dragon. Two boys in the crowd ran out to get the village elders.

  A large man in a leather apron of a metal smith said, “That’s a pretty bold statement, there, stranger. You have any proof to back it up before you get this village all worked up.”

  Stone stood up in the back of the wagon. “It was my village.” Tears were running down his cheeks. Yuri noticed he was also holding his sling in his hand.

  The metal smith eyed the boy, judging his sincerity. After deciding to believe the tears, he raised his hands, “No offense, young man. I am sorry for your loss.”

  Stone nodded and moved up to Samantha, who had waved him up to join her. Bernard was already up front, next to her. Stone joined her on the other side.

  “How many?” some called out from the crowd, which was getting bigger as word spread, both about the stranger and the burning of a village.

  “Around 250. These two were the only survivors.” Yuri was kicking himself for not thinking this through. Of course the burning of a village would bring increased attention. Yuri wondered why he hadn’t thought more of it. He had tried to not think about it as much as possible, and all the things that have happened since then had made it easy. Until now.

  “Look, I know you have a lot of questions, but I don’t have a lot of answers. I came up after the fire and found the boys. Your dragon was part of the funeral…at least, if you have a green dragon it was.” Yuri was mentally kicking himself. He was telling too much.”

  Someone shouted, “Our dragon showed up?”

  Someone else shouted, “It must be Lansing.”

  Yuri looked to Stone, who nodded confirmation. In all their time together, Yuri hadn’t learned the name of the village. He was following the boys lead, and if they hadn’t wanted to talk about it, he wasn’t about to bring it up.

  “It was,” Yuri wanted all this to stop. “Look, it’s been a long travel. Give us some time to take care of our horse and catch our breath. It’s a lot to be rushed like this.”

  There was a fair amount of grumbling from the crowd, but the merchant spoke up. “Okay people, give them some breathing room.” He looked at Yuri, making sure he had eye contact before he continued and said, “If it’s okay with the lass, I’ll stick around and get the details.”

  Yuri nodded in agreement. There was a lot of murmuring from the crowd, but the merchant was obviously a man of clout in the village and the crowd moved away from the wagon. They didn’t go very far, but Yuri appreciated the space.

  “They’re not going to stay back for long. That news is too big. What were you thinking just blurting it out?”

  Yuri shook his heading, “Thinking. Oh, I don’t think I was doing much of that.”

  The merchant laughed and clapped him on the back. “That’s it. Keep your sense of humor. Sometimes that’s all we have.” The smile left his face before he said, “This news about Lansing. Everyone?”

  “Yes, the boys were off playing when it happened. Everyone else, as far as I could tell, was dead.”

  “Why?”

  Yuri had taken the harness off the horse and was brushing its back. “I have no idea. I didn’t even know the village existed before I saw the smoke, and the boys either didn’t see anything or aren’t saying. I sure didn’t see the need to push them about it.”

  The merchant shook his head, “No, we need to find out what happened. Whoever did it could be heading this way.”

  Yuri interrupted, “But we didn’t see anything on the way here…”

  The merchant picked up on Yuri’s hesitation, “but what?”

  “There was a man on horse who followed us for a while, but one man couldn’t burn down an entire village.”

  “No, a man couldn’t, but a mage could.” The merchant sat down on the edge of the trough. “I’d say our dragon would keep us safe if our dragon talker hadn’t lost his last acorns.”

  Yuri blurted out, “He’s crazy.”

  “You’ve met him?” the merchant asked.

  “Yes, as I was leaving town. I got turned around and ended up at his hut. He attacked me.”

  “That’s new. He’s crazy, but he hasn’t attacked anyone before. You didn’t do anything to provoke him?”

  “Only if you count being visible,” Yuri said angrily.

  The merchant laughed again, “No, I suppose I can’t fault you for being visible. Still, something isn’t right. A fire, well, that happens, but a fire that kills everyone… And why Lansing? What’s the point of destroying a little village like that?”

  “I do
n’t know.” Yuri was feeling overwhelmed again. “I’m just trying to go home.”

  The merchant nodded at Samantha, “If I found such a lovely bride, I think I would want to go home, too.”

  Yuri blushed.

  The merchant continued, “You do not waste any time, do you, young man?” He walked over to the wagon extended his hand to Samantha. “Morning to you, young woman.”

  Samantha reached down and took his hand, “Morning to you, good sir.”

  “Fine young man you have there,” he said, pointing at Yuri. “Has he played the flute for you yet?”

  “Flute?”

  The merchant looked back at Yuri, who was looking anywhere but at the two of them. “Never mind,” he covered for Yuri, “just something we say in the village. It means, did he woo you well?”

  “Oh,” Samantha hesitated a moment before smiling, “He’s quite the charmer. And you should see him with the boys. He’ll make a great father.”

  Yuri blushed and the merchant slapped the side of the wagon, saying to Yuri, “Well, looks like you didn’t need my advice.”

  The merchant turned his attention to the boys next to Samantha. He lowered his tone when he spoke, “I’m sorry for your loss, boys. You are too young to have to face such a calamity.”

  The boys didn’t say anything, but they nodded to the merchant.

  “Now boys, I know you probably don’t want to talk about it, but we need to know what happened, to make sure it doesn’t happen here. Do you understand?”

  Stone’s tone was one of finality when he said, “We weren’t there.”

  “That may be the case, but there may be something you learned before the attack. Something you heard. Maybe your parents talked about it when they thought you were asleep?” The merchant watched the boys closely, trying to see what, if anything, might trigger a memory.

  “Maybe someone in town showed up with something new? Bragged about becoming rich? Or someone started acting strange? Anything like that happen?”

  The merchant stopped talking and waited. The boys had only thought about what they did before the attack, trying to figure out how they had caused it. They hadn’t thought it might not have to do with them. It was a new thought to take in.