Dragon Talker (35 page)

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 don’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.

Stone wasn’t ready to give up responsibility just yet. “It’s my fault.”

Yuri couldn’t believe what he was hearing, but the merchant only nodded his head. “Son, tell me what you mean, and don’t leave out any details.”

Bernard started crying. Samantha put her arm around him and held him close. Stone climbed back to the rear of the wagon. Yuri wasn’t sure if it was to hide or for privacy, but both Yuri and the merchant climbed into the back of the wagon and sat down in the hay next to him.

“It’s okay, Stone. I’m sure you didn’t cause…”

The merchant interrupted him, “Let the boy talk. After he does, we can sort it out and see what’s what.”

Stone’s voice was soft, almost too quiet to hear. “We finished our chores, so we went out looking for a fox that was raiding our coops.”

Yuri and the merchant leaned in to hear him better, while at the same time trying to give him physical space for the words to come out. They could hear Bernard quietly sobbing next to Samantha.

Stone continued, “We went out to Winter Pond.  We get most of our water there, but that’s a good watering spot for all kinds of animals, too.” Stone remembered the feeling of coming up to the lake. He felt cold as he continued, “But there weren’t no animals there. It was spooky. All empty, but then we saw this man standing on the shore. He wasn’t from the village.”

The merchant looked at Yuri and shook his head. They both knew this story was about to get much worse.

Chapter 50

Winderall waited east of Vrotsim, as he had been ordered. He left magical markers where he left the trail. Whoever Perante sent would be capable of seeing them and meeting him in his present location. He had chosen to wait behind a small hillock that kept him from view of the village but gave him the opportunity to spy on the village if need be.

He wasn’t sure what he was doing, besides following orders. The last bird’s message was simple and direct: Wait east of Vrotsim. As far as he could tell, Vrotsim was a typical dragon village. The population was maybe 700 people and, by the markings, they were claimed by a green dragon. Even the type of dragon was unimpressive.
No dragon should be laughed at
, he thought, but green dragons did seem to be on the low end of the dragon hierarchy. Their comparatively small size and laid back temperament made them easier to ignore by most.

“As long as they’re not breathing fire,” Winderall said out loud. He would have enjoyed a fire in the cold air, but he had to do with using magic to make his coat more effective. He almost made it too comfortable, for he found himself starting to fall asleep. That would not do.

After two days of waiting, though, the boredom was starting to get to him. He was getting ready to take out the board he had found earlier again when he heard the quiet sound of chimes. It was a warning letting him know that someone had left the path at his marker. The loudness of the sound let him know about the size of whatever passed it.

This quiet, Winderall immediately thought that it was a dog, which confused him. Dogs were not usually sent with messages. He wondered if something could have happened to its mage? He heard the chimes again as the dog reached the midway point and marker between Winderall and the trail.

At least there will be something to do
, he thought. A large dog did walk out into Winderall’s little spot behind the hill. “Well, well,” he said in greeting.

Behind him, he heard, “Well, well, indeed.”

He jumped at the sound of Perante’s voice, turning around to see the mage entering the depression behind him. “How,” he asked, “did you do that?”

Perante didn’t answer him, though Winderall could tell he was pleased to sneak up on him like he did. “We have things to discuss, Winderall. Important things.”

Perante looked around, taking in where Winderall had, judging by his looks, spent the last couple of days. He shook his head, “You really like this outdoor rubbish, don’t you, Winderall?”

“I think best in fresh air, Mage Perante,” he nodded his head in deference to his power. He didn’t like doing it, but he knew it sped things along. Even as he did it, he reminded himself that he would be off again, away from other mages and their power games. It was a trade-off he was semi-comfortable making. By occasionally helping the most powerful, he was able to do whatever he wanted with the rest of his time, which was always searching for and cataloging all the dragon information he could find.

“I think best anywhere,” he replied drolly. “And I do not enjoy this outdoor peasant life, so I plan on making this quick. This village needs to be destroyed, and I am going to do it.”

Winderall didn’t say anything, though he wondered why. He knew better than to ask because Perante would either tell him if he wanted to or he would not. Asking would only annoy him. Winderall caught himself starting to smile when he thought how much Perante acted like a baby. This baby was about to destroy a village full of people, he reminded himself.

“This is a rather large part of my grand plan, which is why I’m here to do it myself. You, though, have a role to play. I think you will rather enjoy it, actually. You are going to get to see a dragon in battle.”

Winderall said, “I am here to serve,” as his heart rate and interest picked up considerably.

“I’m going to burn down this village in such a manner that its dragon will be compelled to come. I’ve made sure of that.”

Winderall had suspected some sort of Perante connection to the destruction the smaller villages in the area, but now he knew that it was true and he was about to find out why.

Perante bent down and picked up a fist sized stone, tossing it from hand to hand before freezing the stone in mid-air between his hands. He smiled, “Do you know this was one of the first magics I tried?” He didn’t wait for an answer before he continued. “Magic always spoke to me.”

Perante was feeling nostalgic so close to the culmination of his plan. “It didn’t take me long to realize I would be, no, that I was called to be the greatest mage of my time. It was actually daunting at first, but the more mages I met, the more I knew the truth of it.”

Winderall kept nodding his head in agreement, the safest response whenever Perante was talking.

“But what is greatness for? Have you ever thought about that, Winderall? What do you do with your greatness? That was my biggest challenge, figuring out what I was meant to do.” Perante gave a subtle flick of his hand and the stone fell to the ground.

“Great power, like great magic, I realized, is all about control and transformation. And why be great if you are not going to use that greatness to control and transform the world around you? Think about it, the insult to power if, when one had it, he didn’t do anything with it?” He shook his head in disbelief that a powerful person would do nothing with that power.

Winderall continued to nod in agreement. Whatever the plan, he realized, it was going to be a lot bigger than he had imagined. And, once again, by helping out, he would be one of the few that actually had an idea about what was really happening to shape the world.

“I am going to destroy this village, slowly, and when I do, its pathetic green dragon will try to do something about it.” He paused, letting the audacity of his plan sink in.

Winderall waited, knowing something else was coming.

“I,” Perante proclaimed, “am going to take that dragon home as a pet.”

For a moment, Winderall wondered if he was joking. It did not last. Perante was serious, and there was something in the way that he said it that convinced Winderall that Perante believed it was possible. And if he did, Winderall had to admit, it just might be.