“Oh, let the man alone, Robbie,” the Captain said, “you can see by the look on his face he isn’t interested in joining the army.” To Delno, he said, “You see, Robbie here is of noble birth. He got it into his head to try and marry a girl whose father didn’t find Robbie’s family up to the standards he had set for his daughter. The girl’s father used his connections to have the poor boy reassigned here hoping the daughter would get over the whole thing and find someone her father found more to his liking.”
Robbie was noticeably uncomfortable with his captain telling Delno the story, but held his tongue. The Captain continued, “Robbie knows that if he can find someone to take his place in our little backwater garrison, he could then have his father use some influence to get him reassigned to a less provincial posting. He has high hopes that you will join, knowing that your record will guarantee you a commission, and that they will then station you here, making it possible for him to leave.”
Robbie didn’t look up from the table as he said, “It’s not like I’m trying to get the man to do something dishonest. He is without a position, and the army could use a man of his experience and prowess.” His final words on the subject were almost mumbled, “I think it would be good for all concerned.”
The Captain laughed easily and Delno couldn’t help but laugh with him. Then the Captain clapped his lieutenant on the shoulder and said, “Cheer up, man, it’s not the end of the world; I’ve written stellar reports on your performance since I’ve been your commander, and your tour here is up in eleven more months regardless. Then I’ll do what I can to see you stationed in the capitol city of Ramira.”
With the real reason for Robbie pushing Delno so hard to join the army out in the open, the rest of the evening was extremely pleasant. Even Robbie’s mood improved considerably after a couple of more glasses of wine. When the Captain observed that the two boys serving them were nearly falling asleep on their feet due to the late hour, they rose from the table.
“Well, good night, Captain, it was a real pleasure meeting you and Robbie. If I could join, I would, but I do thank you for inviting me.”
The Captain responded, “Well, since you are training here, you will have to stop calling me ‘Captain’ and start calling me by my name: it’s Winston. Perhaps I will be able to join you on the training field soon. I would like to try myself against that two-bladed style of yours; it’s somewhat common in the southwestern lands of Horne, but we don’t see it much around here. Perhaps we’ll get the chance to spar. Good night to you both.” He turned and strode away.
Robbie thanked him for coming and showed him to the gate. “I’ll try and get out to the yard tomorrow; perhaps you could teach me that style you use. Good night.”
Delno walked quickly and quietly to Nat’s and let himself in. He went straight to his bed, but didn’t sleep for some time, thinking about how life could have been different if he’d come to the south after his term of enlistment ended instead of going home. Then he realized that if he had, he would not have met Geneva’s mother, and he couldn’t even begin to think about not being bonded to Geneva.
“Fate.”
“What, Dear Heart?”
“Fate, love, it’s what brought you to me. If you had come south at that time instead of going home, you wouldn’t have met these same people and the prospect of joining them wouldn’t have happened.” Then she said the word again. “Fate.”
“You are right, of course,” he responded, “and I would rather be bonded to you than anything else I can think of. Perhaps Fate isn’t such a bad thing.”
He slipped off into sleep and then became aware that he was with Geneva in the Dream State. He didn’t speak a word; he was completely content to simply be with her there.
Chapter 30
Delno woke early the next morning, and, this time, he was eager to be up and moving. Nat’s housekeeper was just coming in as he was leaving. “Oh, Missus Gentry, I’m glad I found you now. I have some clothes that need to be cleaned; I’ve laid them out. If you could have them cleaned and have any mending they need done I would greatly appreciate it. I won’t have time to have breakfast this morning, so I will find something in town.”
Missus Gentry was in early to receive the grocery order. She assured him that she would personally take care of his laundry, and he left the house headed directly for the garrison, wanting to get there early. This day he also carried his bow and the six practice arrows he had purchased with it. The practice arrows were exactly like the other arrows, except the tip was just a rounded piece of metal that was the same weight as the deadly double-bladed arrows that could be used for hunting or war. He intended to see what his new bow could really do, and, if possible, get any needed instruction from the archery master of the garrison.
While the night watch was ending their shift, the garrison proper was just getting into full swing. The men he met insisted that he join them for breakfast. He didn’t want to use garrison supplies, but was assured by Sergeant Smith that it would put the garrison under no hardship. They were well supplied and often shared their provender with travelers, so he ate with the men.
First light found him in the practice yard with a blunted blade in each hand facing his first opponent: it was Sergeant Smith. This Sergeant Smith was quite different than the good-natured, gossiping sergeant he had met. Despite his boyish good looks, this man was all business.
The two opponents circled each other, wary of the blades that were ready to strike. The sergeant, normally smiling, showed no emotion on his face of any kind. He was nearly impossible to read. Delno also became aware that there was quite an audience gathering. As he started to identify the men he knew in the audience, the sergeant took advantage of his momentary distraction and lunged with his sword. Delno turned the blade with his short sword easily enough but that had been a feint, the real danger from the attack was the sergeant’s shield. The man had expected him to block the blade and strike, so he caught the saber, allowing it to glance off his small shield and then tried to use the edge of the shield to strike at Delno’s face. The counter attack with the shield was unexpected and nearly succeeded. Delno had seen this ploy before and was able to recover in time to prevent the blow from landing, barely.
They circled again; this time Delno didn’t let the audience distract him. He watched the sergeant closely. Again the man’s face told him nothing. Delno shifted his concentration to the man’s chest. Again the sergeant attacked without warning, and again Delno deflected both attacks. The sergeant used the small shield nearly as efficiently as a weapon as he did the hand-and-a-half sword in his right hand.
Delno settled back and watched the man’s feet. At first, there was still no hint of the man’s intentions, then he noticed a slight movement just before an attack. It wasn’t much, and it was difficult to read—a lesser swordsman would most likely miss it, but it was there, and once Delno had figured it out, the sergeant may as well have been telling him with words exactly what he was about to do. His opponent lunged again, but Delno was ready. He shifted at the last possible second when the sergeant was completely committed and let the larger blade slide by and used both of his own blades to go after the shield. This time he managed to dislodge the shield, breaking the strap that held it to the man’s arm.
Unfortunately, in the process of taking the man’s shield, he lost his own saber. The sergeant switched to a two handed grip on his sword and lunged again. It was all Delno could do to get out of the way of that eight-pound blade. The opponents circled and the sergeant lunged time after time. It took several attacks before Delno was again able to read the sergeants coming move by paying attention to the man’s feet: once he had it though, he simply waited for the right attack.
Sergeant Smith’s feet moved first, then he brought the blade back and up to make a powerful downward slice. This was precisely what Delno had been waiting for. He dropped his short sword and raised both hands and stepped inside the swing of the blade. Their arms met, and the sergeant’s arms sl
id harmlessly down Delno’s while Delno swung his hands down and around to bring the blade between them. Then he grabbed the man’s wrists and, before Smith could react, Delno stepped forward and brought his opponent’s arms in front of him. Then, with his opponent off balance, Delno stepped even farther in and brought the man’s arms up and over their heads. Then he pivoted while still holding the sergeant’s hands and brought them back, sword still in them, beside the man’s own head. He simply pulled the man’s arms back, making Smith fall backwards while taking the sword from him. Then, with the sergeant lying on his back, before he could react, he placed the sergeant’s own blade to his throat.
The sergeant looked up and smiled, and Delno smiled back. Then, moving the sword away from the man’s throat, he reached down and grasped his hand, helping Smith to his feet. It felt like the entire garrison was an audience, and they were all now clapping at the performance the two men had just put on. The Sergeant said, “That was a neat trick; you’ll have to teach me that one.” His words were almost drowned out in the applause and cheers from the men around them.
As the noise subsided, Winston stepped forward and said, “Well, I see you’ve disarmed our Weapons Master; good work.” He shook Delno’s arm. “If I didn’t have to go and meet with some city officials, I would ask you to spar with me; unfortunately, duty calls. I hope to see you soon.”
Delno stayed and practiced for another hour before moving on to the archery range. Several of the men were quite interested in his bow, and he let them try the draw. None found it comfortable, and they all walked away shaking their heads and talking about it to each other. The targets they had were barely suitable to stop the practice arrows he was using.
Norman, it seemed, was the Archery Master. While he was impressed with the quality of the bow, he scoffed a little at the strength of the thing, saying, “You can have a bow that will shoot through a giant oak tree, and it’ll do you no damn good at all if you don’t hit what you aim at.”
He then worked with Delno for over an hour on his stance and how he actually drew the bow. By the end of the first lesson, the Senior Sergeant actually pronounced him fit to train.
He left the garrison tired but quite happy.
He then found a clothier in town and bought three tunics made out of the same fabric as his good shirt. The material was much lighter than the material of his heavy northern-made tunics, but was still strong and serviceable.
He also bought two more pairs of pants made of a denser weave of the same material as the tunics. They were of an interesting design. Instead of using a drawstring that ran around the waist like his other trousers, they were tighter through the hips, which kept them in place once the fly was buttoned. The clothing was expensive, but both pairs of trousers he owned were thick, because they were made with northern weather in mind. Also, the one pair was beginning to get a little threadbare. While he hadn’t traveled that far south yet, it was hotter than he was used to and he was still planning to travel even farther. The new clothes would serve him well.
As he left the clothier he reached out to Geneva. She was pleased with herself, and he soon found that she had located a good hunting range. The recent rains had enticed many large wild animals down from the nearby foothills to the rivers. Geneva was quite happy to report that she had fed well and didn’t think that hunting would be a problem for at least another week or so. He decided to join her, and they spent the afternoon together. He was even able to find two nice pieces of wood for his carvings.
They managed to settle into a very easy routine over the next few days. He would train hard with the soldiers at the garrison in the mornings, and then join Geneva in the afternoons, sometimes with Nat, or Pearce, or both. The evenings were usually spent with Nat and Pearce discussing dragons and magic.
His magic was improving as well. He had found that he could improve on his shield by completely surrounding himself with the energy. He could make a shield strong enough that normal fire had absolutely no effect on it. He wondered if dragon fire were hot enough to still cause harm through it, but since he needed a fire-breathing dragon for that, and it would still be some time until Geneva could oblige, much to Nat’s disappointment, that experiment would have to wait.
He was on the practice pitch one morning when several townsfolk ran into the garrison shouting for the soldiers to come. It took several moments to calm them enough to learn that there was a dragon and rider just outside the city gate. Delno had been sparring with Winston and Robbie and simply fell into step with them as they headed for the source of the commotion. “If it really is a dragon and rider, you’re in for quite a treat; this isn’t a sight you see in the North, my friend,” Robbie whispered to him.
When they reached the gate, it was nearly impossible to get through because of the crowd. Norman smiled to his commanding officer and said, “Allow me, Sir.” The Captain put his hands to his ears and nodded his head. Norman open his mouth and shouted out in the same ‘Senior Sergeant’ voice that he used when training large groups of men, “MAKE A HOLE!” Then only slightly softer, “Make way for the Guard.” People hastily moved aside.
Winston said, “Thank you, Sergeant,” and walked through the ‘hole’ past the startled citizens. Just outside the gate, the officers and Delno were joined by the Territorial Governor who resided in Orlean, as well as several members of the city council. They walked a few more paces forward and Winston stopped short. The Governor, who had been trying to talk with one of the Council Members, nearly walked right into him and was about to complain when all conversation was simply forgotten. There, directly in front of them, was a gorgeous royal blue dragon. The muscles under her hide moved slightly as she repositioned herself, and he could see flashes of iridescence, mostly reds and greens. The only other mark she bore was a reddish orange splash, rather like a starburst, on her head between her eyes.
The Governor took a step forward, a very small step, and opened his mouth to speak, but the rider spoke first. “Where is the Dragon Rider?”
Delno estimated that the Rider would be about average height once he dismounted, but that was the only thing average about him that was visible. His hair was so black it shone blue in the sunlight. His eyes were a piercing, deep shade of brown. He had high cheekbones, and a narrow, well-sculpted nose, and his skin was the color of dark chocolate. He was wearing a fur-lined jacket and Delno thought he must have been boiling in this heat. As if reading Delno’s thoughts, the man began to unbutton the coat. He was seated in a saddle of simple leather and wearing a plain, unadorned sword, the hilt of which was quite visible over his shoulder.
“Come, come,” he said, “Where is the Rider? I don’t have much time to waste.
“R-r-rider?” the Governor managed to sputter.
“There’s no need to hide the Rider from me. I know the dragon is here; her Rider can’t be far off.” He scanned the crowd. Delno knew at once that he was scanning their minds as well as their faces. He was especially looking at the older boys present. Delno shielded himself and reached out to shield both Pearce and Nat who were in the crowd. To his delight, he found that both men were already protecting themselves.
Finally, after several moments the rider pointed to Pearce and said, “You.” Then he repeated the same to Nat, “You.” Then, looking at Delno, he said, “And especially you, step forward.”
“Careful, Love, this dragon is much older than I am,” Geneva said to him, then added, “I am coming.”
“No, stay where you are, I’ll handle this.”
She ignored him this time. With a strange dragon present, and not knowing that dragon’s intentions, she would not listen to his words of caution.
Winston made a quick gesture to his Senior Sergeant, and the man motioned the nearest soldiers into action. They moved quickly between the blue dragon and Delno. Winston spoke up, “I am Winston Eriksson, Captain of this garrison. What is it you want here, Rider?”
The Dragon Rider shook his head, “This is ridiculous,” he said,
“Tell your men to put down those weapons; if I intended to harm you, you’d all be ashes by now. I merely want to talk to the Rider of that dragon.”
As if on cue, Geneva roared and landed less then twenty feet from the blue dragon. “You will state your intentions,” she said, “if you try to harm my Partner there will be much blood spilled this day.”
The older dragon snarled back, “You are no match for me, youngster, calm yourself.”
“I may be a youngster, but I am not only large enough to destroy your rider, I am too close for you to stop me before I can do it.” Geneva responded. “So, if there is to be trouble here this morning, we will all die together.”
While Delno wasn’t happy with the way things were progressing, he had to admit, to himself anyway, that he was quite impressed with Geneva.
The other Rider held up his hand and said, “Peace, both of you. No one here wants trouble. As I’ve said, we’re here to talk.” To Delno he said, “Control her, man, before this gets out of hand.”
Delno said, “Looks to me like she has the situation under control.” At the other Rider’s look of consternation, he said, “If you are really here to talk, why don’t you dismount, and we can have a conversation like civilized men?”
The man’s demeanor diminished considerably and he said, “You’re right, of course.” Saying that, he unbuckled two straps that were attached to his belt on one end the saddle on the other and climbed down. Once on the ground, he removed his heavy jacket and said, “Whew, it’s good to get out of that thing. You need the warmth when flying, but here on the ground you can boil in your own juices wearing it.”
He stepped a few paces forward and held his hand extended toward Delno. Delno, much to the Senior Sergeant’s disapproval, stepped forward and grasped the man’s arm. “I’m Delno Okonan, and this, he said, pointing with his left hand at his dragon, “is Geneva.”
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