Scepter

by Scott Collins

Halem awoke the next morning feeling almost back to his normal self. He sat up and stretched, swinging his feet over the side of the bed and standing before he noticed Daniel was lying in the bed next to his. He frowned, not knowing why Atreyu would offer up his bed to a stranger. Halem leaned over, intent on shaking Daniel awake, when he noticed the blood-soaked rag tied around Daniel’s arm. Still not sure what to make of the situation, Halem snuck out of the bedroom and into the main living area where he found Atreyu and Aidan sprawled on the floor snoring loudly. Both were dirty and were sleeping in their clothes. It also appeared as if they’d dumped all their gear in the middle of the room at some point as it was littered with weaponry. Scanning the living area, he also noted the closed door to his parent’s old bedroom. That must be where the girls are sleeping, Halem thought to himself. He scowled as he tried to piece together what had happened the previous evening after he’d gone to bed. They’d obviously gone out without him. Where had they gone and what had they been up to? He racked his brain, but came up with nothing, so he gave up and decided to make his brother a proper welcome home breakfast like their mother used to make.

  Halem snuck down the stairs to the market, grabbed a bagful of items, and headed out the front door. Stepping out into the cool morning air, Halem paused and inhaled deeply. After having been stuck inside for almost a week while ill, the crisp clean breeze was heavenly. He moved quickly through the streets and left the town via the front gates, pausing long enough to give a small package of sausage to the sentry on duty. He jogged down to the nearby springs and took a quick dip to rinse off the filth that had accumulated over the last few days. Feeling human again, he dressed in a clean shirt and pants he’d brought with him before returning to town. He made a few quick stops, bartering away the items he’d taken from the store. He smiled broadly as he meandered back through the narrow streets to his home.

  Halem had the eggs cooking, the coffee brewing and was preparing to drop the bacon and sausage on the griddle when Atreyu and Aidan finally awoke.

  “You two have been sleeping like the dead,” Halem joked. “I’ve been hauling wood in from outside and banging pots and pans together and you two didn’t even move.”

  “Hmmph,” Atreyu grumbled, still groggy from not enough sleep.

  “What did you guys do last night anyway?” Halem asked as he continued to prepare breakfast. “Daniel’s in your bed with a hurt arm, you two are obviously exhausted, the girls haven’t come out of their room, and there are slings and arrows all over the place.”

  “We went out and fought Argyle’s men,” Aidan chimed in.

  Halem just about knocked the coffee off the stove as he wheeled toward them. “You what?!”

  Atreyu nodded his head. “They were coming here. If they find us, they’ll kill us. We decided to go and meet them on King’s Road. That way we’d have an advantage. I still can’t believe we did it. I thought we were goners when Daniel said there were fifteen of them.” Atreyu looked over at Aidan who was leaning back with a smug look on his face. “We did it though. We won.”

  “We sure did.”

  “And Daniel?” Halem replied.

  Aidan’s self-satisfied air disappeared at the mention of his brother. “Well, he took an arrow through the arm saving Olivia and Lilly.”

  “How bad is it?” Halem asked.

  “Not as bad as it looked at first. He bled a lot, and the walk back last night didn’t help him any, but he’ll be fine I think. He just needs some time to rest and heal, that’s all.”

  “And Olivia and Lilly are both okay?”

  Atreyu nodded. “They’re fine. Olivia got a good scare, but nothing physical.”

  Halem finally turned back to the stove, peeling off pieces of bacon and dropping them into the griddle next to the sausage. “Why don’t you go wake the girls then. Breakfast is almost ready.”

  When the meat finished cooking, Halem filled two plates with food and headed to his bedroom. “You all can serve yourselves. I’ll eat in here with Daniel.” He opened the door with his foot and stepped inside. Daniel rolled over and mumbled something unintelligible before the smell of bacon and coffee woke him up. His eyes fluttered open, and he started at the sight of Halem standing in the doorway.

  “It’s just me,” Halem stammered, “Halem. I’ve brought you breakfast.” He lifted one of the plates out in front of him. “Are you hungry?”

  Daniel settled back into the mattress as he looked around the room and got his bearings. He nodded and pushed himself into a sitting position, cradling his right arm to his side protectively in the process. When he’d gotten situated in a comfortable position, Halem set Daniel’s plate on his lap and sat down on the bed next to him.

  “Thanks. I’m starving.”

  “So you went out and fought Argyle’s men last night,” Halem commented.

  Daniel nodded, picking up a piece of bacon and shoving it into his mouth.

  “Your idea?”

  Daniel nodded again.

  “Why would you do that?” Halem asked. “Why attack his men and bring his wrath to your door, OUR door?”

  Daniel looked Halem in the eye and swallowed. “I don’t have a door any longer, thanks to Argyle. I fight his men to free slaves, slaves like your brother was going to be. We freed him during our last battle and brought him back to get you. Last night, we fought not for slaves, but for lives, including yours. If we’d waited, the fight might not have ended in our favor, and I am fairly sure some of your townsfolk, some of your friends, would have died.”

  “He wouldn’t send anyone here. Why would he? There’s nothing left here he could want.”

  “Revenge,” Daniel countered. “That’s all the reason he needs. He can’t let what we’re doing go unpunished, or the whole kingdom will rise up against him.”

  Halem blinked and looked down at his plate. “Oh,” Halem replied softly. “I hadn’t thought about it like that. I guess I should say thank you.” He grabbed a few slices of bacon and shoved them into his mouth.

  “No need to,” Daniel answered. “What Argyle’s doing is wrong. I don’t think making it right is doing anything special. It’s just doing what should have been done a long time ago.”

  “How long do you think you can keep fighting his men?” Halem inquired. He scraped his fork across his plate and stuffed some eggs into his already full mouth. “He’ll come after you eventually with more men than you can win against,” he mumbled through his mouthful of food.

  Daniel shrugged. “I imagine he will. One advantage we have is we can also run. We don’t have a fort to defend, or a castle on a hill. We can move about through the mountains, the woods, the prairies. We can decide when and where to meet his army. It’s been working for us so far. Besides, we also don’t have an image to defend. If we lose, who cares? If word gets out that he’s losing, well that’s a whole different problem for him, isn’t it?”

  Halem chuckled. “Yeah, I guess it is.”

  Daniel focused his attention back on his plate, clearing it before Halem was even halfway done with his. Halem fetched Daniel a refill and grabbed him another cup of coffee in the process. Daniel again cleaned his plate, washing it all down with a large mouthful of coffee. He leaned back against the wall, full and content.

  “Thank you. That was delicious.”

  “You’re welcome.” Halem looked down at Daniel’s bandage. “How’s the arm feeling?”

  Daniel started to flex his bicep before stopping with a hiss. “Hurts,” Daniel replied.

  “Take it easy,” Halem suggested. “You don’t want to get it bleeding again.” Daniel nodded his agreement. “We should probably clean that up a bit more too,” Halem continued. “If it gets infected, you’ll be in real trouble. There aren’t many places to get medicine these days. I’ll be right back.” He returned a short time later with a bowl of hot water and some clean rags. Halem cleaned and dressed Daniel’s wound quickly, careful to avoid reopening the injury. When he was finished, Halem helped Daniel stand and s
upported him as he walked into the next room to join the others. Aidan stood so Daniel could have his chair.

  “It’s good to see you up and around,” Olivia commented. “I was afraid…”

  “It’s nothing,” Daniel interrupted. “I’ll be fine. Just a scratch.” Daniel gave her a quick wink and a smile to lighten the mood.

  Olivia wiped a tear from the corner of her eye and smiled back. “Well, thank you anyway.”

  “I’m glad I was there,” Daniel said pointedly. He leaned forward and stared intently at Olivia. “It could have been ugly.” She shuddered. Daniel broke the gaze and straightened up. He made eye contact with each of the others as he continued.

  “We’re going to need to leave soon,” Daniel announced. “The plan was to leave one man alive to go back to Argyle last night. I guess I got a little caught up in the action, and I didn’t. Did anyone else?” The others glanced around the room at one another, some shrugging, none answering. “I didn’t think so. In that case, this place will probably be crawling with his men in the not too distant future. I think it would be best to be gone when they arrive. Everyone agree?” The others mumbled their assent. “Good. We’ll head out tomorrow morning.”

  “What about the rest of the people?” Halem asked. “If they’re coming here, won’t the town be in danger?”

  Daniel shook his head. “There’s nothing we can do about that now. We can’t stay here to guard everyone. Hopefully they fight back against the first of the men to show up and then leave. Argyle can’t chase everyone around the forest. We’ll have to hope that everything turns out for the best. Sorry.”

  “But it’s our fault Argyle’s men are coming here! How can we just desert them knowing what those men are going to do?”

  “Because we can’t stop it from happening. We can warn them before we go, but that’s the best we can do. Staying here is a mistake.”

  “We should warn them now,” Halem insisted.

  “You can go tell them whenever you’d like,” Daniel answered.

  “Where are we going to go?” Lilly inquired.

  “I think for right now we should head north into the forest. We’ve been doing most of our damage to the south of here. They’ll probably start looking for us there. We’ll head north to give us some time to heal,” he motioned to his arm, “and to come up with a new plan of attack. Any other ideas?” The others just shook their heads. “Good, we’ll pack up our things today and leave tomorrow morning. I think we should leave the back way, Atreyu. The less the people here know about our comings and goings, the better.”

  “I’d rather go fight, but I guess we could use a break. Besides, we’ll be able to kick more butt if everyone’s healthy and we have some time to plan our next move.” Aidan stood. “I’m gonna head out and visit with Custos. He’s feeling a little lonely. Be back in a bit.”

  “Custos?” Halem asked.

  “Don’t ask,” Lilly said. “I’m sure you’ll find out about him soon enough,” she giggled.

  “Whatever,” Halem grumbled. “I’m going to go tell everyone they need to get out of here.” He got up and stormed from the room.

  “He’ll be okay,” Atreyu said. “He just needs time to get a grip on what’s happening.”

  After spending the day relaxing and chatting, the rest went to bed early to make sure they were well rested for their journey. Everyone rose before the sun and headed out into the calm morning air. Once they snuck out of town, they found a footpath that headed north into the woods. Daniel took the lead and meandered slowly along the trail. With no real goal to their march, the pace was an easy one, and they took frequent breaks to sit and talk amongst themselves. Atreyu and Halem were brought up to speed on the gifts and talents of the various members of the small clan. Halem mumbled that he wasn’t good at anything. Aidan and Daniel gave each other a knowing smile that something might develop in the aftermath of his brush with Witch’s Breath. Although there was no way to know if he’d receive a gift, or what it might be if he did, the potential was exciting. Not wanting to let everyone down if nothing happened, the two brothers remained silent to the possibility.

  As the sun hung high in the sky marking midday, the group trudged along, stirring up the dry dust from the path and making Aidan sneeze. Having had enough, he jogged to the front of the group.

  “I’m tired of sucking in the dirt you all keep kicking up,” he yelled back over his shoulder. “Your turn.” He unplugged his water pouch, took a mouthful, swished it around, and spat into the grass that lined the trail. “Blech.”

  He then took a few more gulps of water, enjoying the cool refreshment as the sun beat down on his upturned face. He poured some over his head and rubbed it into the back of his neck before plugging the pouch and returning it to his side.

  A short time later, they all stopped for lunch at the top of a small hill, taking advantage of the sparse presence of trees, to plan the next leg of their hike. To the north, they could see the White Mountains turn west and cross their path and continue their line to the Great Lake to the east. The Styx River could be seen emerging from a wide gap in the mountains, having carved its way through over hundreds or thousands of years. In the distance to the northeast, the towers of Argyle’s kingdom shimmered in the heat.

  Overhead, the sky was clear with the exception of a few cotton ball puffs of clouds moving slowly across the sky, one lazily transforming from what looked like a flower to a shape resembling a short-legged horse. Aidan lay on his back watching the development when he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. He sat up quickly, scanning the landscape to the north for what he’d seen. Circling low over the treetops, he spied a dragon. He couldn’t be sure it was the same dragon they’d encountered previously, but the markings and coloring appeared to be the same. He tapped Olivia on the shoulder and pointed out the animal.

  “Oh, no.”

  Daniel looked up from his lap. “What?”

  Olivia nodded in the direction Aidan had pointed. “He’s back.”

  As she spoke, the dragon dropped from view, rising back up a moment later with what appeared to be a horse in each of its claws. It looped slowly around for a moment as if searching for something else below before turning in a large circle and flying west toward the mountains. Its large body landed in a rocky outcropping at the base of a tall cliff and then disappeared.

  Aidan looked over at his brother. “I’d like to go take a look.”

  Daniel choked on a mouthful of water. “What for?” he asked. He saw the crease form in Olivia’s brow as she realized what Aidan was suggesting.

  “I want to see if I can make contact again. Last time something happened, but I didn’t have time to see if I could really communicate with it. I want to try again.”

  “And what happens if it tries to torch you again?”

  “Well,” Aidan continued. He had to choose his words carefully. “We leave everyone here, and only you and I go. If it doesn’t work and the dragon comes after us, we can run. It can’t keep up with you, so you should be fine. I’ll just transform into something small so it can’t find me or so you can carry me easier. As long as it doesn’t somehow follow us back here to the others, we should all stay safe.”

  Daniel glanced over to Olivia. She looked at him, her right eyebrow raised. “I hate to say this, but I think it would work,” she offered.

  Daniel knew they should stay away, be safe, and focus on the battle with Argyle’s men. But he, too, was curious to see if Aidan could make contact. “Okay,” Daniel agreed, then turned to the others. “You four stay here. Aidan and I are going to try to find that dragon and see if he can communicate with it. If you see it headed your way, hide. Get into the trees and stay out of sight. We’ll be back in a bit.”

  Aidan sprang to his feet, excited by the prospect of trying his gift on the dragon again. “Should I change?” Aidan asked. “We could travel out there a lot faster if I’m in a different form.”

  Daniel waved his hand at him as if shooing
a fly. “Whatever you want is fine with me.” Daniel grabbed his water pouch and put his pack and weapons behind a nearby tree. Aidan walked over to the same spot, checked to make sure he was out of sight of the others, and undressed before transforming into a deer. The two boys set off together in pursuit of the dragon.

  It didn’t take them long before they arrived at the edge of the forest below where the creature had disappeared and Aidan shifted back to his human form. They stood, eyes scanning the rocky mountainside above them for signs of where the beast may have landed.

  Chapter 22

  Try Again