34
THE NEXT MOVE
Sir Kemry made himself comfortable and closed his eyes. Pat found a bush harboring ring beetles and called to the other dragons to join his feast.
Kale gathered wood and built a small fire. She put a kettle on and assembled a light tea, pulling everything she needed from her cape hollow. After having a cup of tea, she put together dough for fried mullins but didn’t cook them. She’d wait until her father awoke.
She knew the knights took great care in giving importance to sleep and sustenance. Sleep represented resting in Wulder’s care. Slumber served as a tribute to Him who cared for them. And sustenance signified the nourishment received not only in the food and drink, but in the study of the Tomes. In days of old, many households read a principle from the pages of one of the volumes. The little ones were led in a discussion of the meaning and application of the truth they had just heard. Kale had missed that in her upbringing, but she’d learned a lot since she’d come into Paladin’s service.
Sipping another cup of sweetened tea, she watched the minor dragons’ antics. Once his tummy was full, Pat curled up next to Sir Kemry, looking like a very round, bumpy stone next to the knight’s elbow. Filia and Gymn soon joined him. Kale knew by the way the green healing dragon draped himself across her father’s shoulder that Sir Kemry would awaken from his nap with more energy and fewer aches.
Kale’s feet hurt, so she took out her medicine bag and mixed up an ointment. She put it next to the fire to warm while she pulled off her boots and socks. When the balm felt warm to her fingertip, she scooped up a dab and rubbed the arches of her feet and then her ankles and heels. The medicine tingled as it soothed.
Dibl landed in front of her and flipped onto his back. He wiggled his feet and slapped her leg with his tail.
“You want your muscles soothed as well?”
The minor dragon blushed with anticipation, changing his yellow skin to orange and his orange skin to red.
“Oh, you always look so pretty when you do that.” Kale reached for another dab of ointment and picked him up. He purred with contentment, not as a kitten purrs, but as a dragon does. The vibration trembled even the tips of his wings.
She massaged the balm into his arms, legs, and body. When she finished, Ardeo and Metta had lined up for a turn. She rubbed Metta first, and then while she smoothed the ointment over Ardeo’s mottled gray skin, Metta sang. Dibl bopped about in a comical, clumsy dance. Kale had to be careful not to laugh too loud and wake her father.
“You know, Ardeo,” she said as she finished his tail and put him down, “this reminds me very much of traveling with Wizard Fenworth. I hope my father wakes up with a brilliant plan. Fen would sleep and dream and sometimes concoct the most outrageous scheme. I miss him.”
She poured hot water into her cup to warm up her tea and finished it while the three dragons stretched out on a log to soak up what was left of the afternoon sun.
Paladin had charged her with six minor dragons, and soon there would be more. Kale lifted her tunic and unwound from her waist the bulging blue scarf. She had tied six dragon eggs into the long length of material. Of course, not enough time had passed for the eggs to hatch, but they might have quickened. Kale wanted to feel that thrum emanating from each one of them. She’d been too tired last night and the night before to check.
At this stage of hatching the dragon eggs, she didn’t have to be careful. The stonelike shells would not break even if she threw them against a boulder. Later, the developing babies would be secure in a leathery shell. On the last day, the shell became brittle, and the newborn would kick and peck its way out.
Kale had never quickened more than one egg at a time. How would she ever handle so many? Good thing they didn’t require as much care as infants did. They walked at once, flew soon after, and slept a lot. The second day they searched for their first meals. Keeping the chickens happy in River Away had required more work and was much less fun.
The small creatures even came with a name. As soon as she held the hatchling, she knew its name. Kale thought that was one of the most amazing parts of being a Dragon Keeper. She also thought that it must have something to do with Wulder. She would have to remember to ask her father. After all, he had been a Dragon Keeper for decades.
With care reflecting her awe of dragonkeeping, Kale untied the thin ribbons that secured the eggs, unwrapped the six orbs, and laid them in a row on the soft blue material. The old cloth still held its bright azure color, and the eggs looked deceptively fragile on their long bed. Kale picked up one after another and smiled at the slight pulse she felt from each one.
How am I going to give each of these dragons the attention it needs?
“You aren’t their sole caretaker.” Kale’s father stretched. “I’ll be there to help you. The older dragons will mentor the younger ones.” He rubbed his hands together. “This is going to be one grand adventure.”
He sat beside her and helped rewrap the eggs, securing them with bows that would untie easily. “You know, Kale, I had an interesting thought when I left off sleeping and reentered the wakened state. An image rose out of a fog. The picture may have been left over from a dream, but it sharpened to the point that when I opened my eyes, I thought I might see in reality what I knew was just my wishful thinking.”
Kale nodded, watching her father’s face, enjoying the sound of his voice. This was something she knew about. Dreams that almost seemed real came to her as well. “I’ve done that. What did you see, Father?”
“Before I got myself entangled by that sleeping spell, I had a fair amount of dragons in my keep. Two riding dragons, Benrey and Alton. Six major dragons, Poe, Dobkin, Streen, Clive, Wardeg, and Veryan. I wonder if any of my old friends are in this valley of dragons we seek. That is what I saw. My dragons, hale and hearty and waiting for me to come rescue them.”
“That would be wonderful.” She put her hand on his arm and leaned against his shoulder.
Kale had rarely considered how her father must feel. He woke up from the long sleep induced by Wizard Risto to find his daughter grown, his wife changed by the hardships she had endured, and his dragon friends dispersed, their whereabouts unknown. Her heart contracted at the thought of Celisse, Greer, and all her minor dragons she knew disappearing. Their lives were interwoven with her own. How she would miss them. It pained her just to think about what a loss their absence would create.
She squeezed her father’s arm. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think about how sad you must be.”
Sir Kemry wrinkled his brow. “Sad? I’m not sad. I’m hopeful. Why, it’s unheard of that a Dragon Keeper be without dragons.”
Kale leaned back to examine his face. He did not look morose, after all, but a bit excited. Her own doubts expressed themselves in her words. “It’s been three years.”
“Yes, and busy years. Your mother and I returned some order to the Northern Reach, specifically the region surrounding the castle.”
Kale shivered. “Mother told me about some of the wild animals that had overtaken the land, nearly consuming all the small creatures and making it unsafe for the high races.”
Sir Kemry chuckled. “I have to admit, after years of inactivity, it felt good to hunt down packs of icebears and thin a herd of fanged portucads. Those portucads, if they are young, are very tender and tasty.”
She loved to hear her father relate tales of his adventures, but rather than encouraging him to go on, she asked a question to get him to talk of the task ahead. “Have you decided how to get through to the valley?”
“We’ll wait until dark and then walk through the center of the camp. I also thought it would be a good time to give those bisonbeck soldiers a scare. They’re altogether too cocky for my liking.”
“What’s the plan?”
“I’m going to teach you a few tricks using your talent to control light.”
Kale thought they would pull off their major hoax as soon as full dark spread over the land. But her father took her back into the ravine where they were less likely to be seen and made her practice the manipulation of light he had explained. At first she didn’t see the necessity, but after trying to maneuver energy particles, she saw she needed to be able to change the intensity quickly and without having to think through the procedure. After they ate supper, they experimented again.
The moon came up, a sliver of waning light. Stars glittered through the chilling air. Kale and her father watched from a distance as the soldiers wrapped themselves in woolen blankets and crawled into their single-sleeper tents. Three guards walked the perimeter of the camp.
“Wait here,” said Sir Kemry. He disappeared into the darkness.
Kale knew what he intended to do and that he was capable of the tactic, but nonetheless, her nerves jangled at every little sound. “Oh, Wulder, protect us and help Father bring back two of the guards alive.”
By using her talent, she kept track of her father’s location. She gritted her teeth when he approached a guard and breathed out a sigh of relief when he stunned the soldier and took command of his mind. Influencing a person with a suggestion placed in his thoughts was not such a difficult thing. Requiring the person to do something contrary to his will was harder. Kale kept tabs on her father as he met up with the second bisonbeck guard and brought him under his power. He returned to Kale, followed by the two subdued soldiers.
“Are you ready to do this?” he asked.
Kale wanted to sound more confident than she felt, so she stood straighter and gave a firm nod. “Yes, let’s get into position.”
They stole through the tall grass that edged one side of the camp and waited until the third guard was at the farthest point of his route. Kale stood in the middle. Sir Kemry positioned the pair of captured soldiers on either side of her and then took his place directly behind his daughter.
“All right, Kale. Let see what you’ve learned.”
Kale cloaked the two soldiers with a green light that shifted and swirled like a mist. She and her father were enveloped in the edges of the light as it came from both men.
Sir Kemry gave the mental command to begin walking. Kale maintained the quality of the light’s performance. Around the men, the luminescence was thin enough for anyone to identify the soldiers. The combined light between them hid the o’rant wizards. As the four walked forward, the light pooled around their feet and drifted away in tendrils of thick green luminosity. To the observer the light snaked away and dissipated while the central illumination remained the same.
The first soldier to see the apparition yelled out a warning. “Attack! We’re under attack!”
Bisonbecks roused from their beds and hurled themselves out of their tents with their weapons drawn.
“What wizardry is this?” shouted a voice.
“Isn’t that Agore and Illar?” asked another.
“It may be their bodies, but something unnatural has a hold of them.”
“Your orders, sir?”
The first gruff voice responded, “Destroy them.”
Kale heard her father’s cheerful laugh. “Good thing we planned for this.”
A pike came flying at them. It hit the green light barrier and appeared to ricochet. Kale knew her father’s spell was more complicated than that. Whatever hand had held the weapon was now the target. The pike would return to its owner. Unfortunately for that bisonbeck warrior, the pointed end of the long stick zeroed in on him. The soldier jumped aside in time, but the pike made a wide turn and came hurtling back. This time he tried to catch it. He did but not in the manner he desired. The pike pierced his hand. He screamed.
Kale flinched and marched on, keeping her part of the show operating smoothly. The bisonbecks flung more weapons. Knives, arrows, pikes, and clubs all returned, attacking their owners, usually hitting the hand. If the warrior ducked at the last moment in the wrong direction, his weapon hit him on another part of his body. But then the instrument of destruction would pull back and again try for the hand that had last touched it.
Soon the orderly military encampment dissolved into utter chaos. The beleaguered soldiers ran helter-skelter trying to avoid their own flying weapons. They crashed into one another, knocked over tents, and hollered for help. Kale and her escorts plodded along. When they reached the inside of the canyon beyond the camp, Sir Kemry turned the bisonbecks around and sent them trudging back. The greenish, flowing light clung to them.
“How soon will your suggestion to keep walking wear off?” asked Kale.
He shrugged. “Maybe six or seven miles on the other side of their outpost. But without you to sustain the light energy, that will fade in just a few minutes.”
“I hope they don’t run into any wild animals in the night.”
“Kale, this is the enemy. You aren’t supposed to be wishing no harm comes to them.”
“I just like to think they’d have a fighting chance if, say, a fanged portucad attacked.”
“We are too far south for one of those beasts. They’re more likely to run into a Creemoor spider.”
Kale shuddered. The huge, poisonous spiders gave her the creeps. She’d seen the ugly monsters close up and been poisoned. If not for the combined efforts of Bardon, Gymn, Paladin, and Wizard Fenworth, she would have died. Even now when she heard the sound of a twig scritching against a rock, she remembered the noise made as the hideous creatures advanced.
The hair on the back of her neck stood up. Was it because she was thinking of the spiders that she heard that scritch? Perhaps a tree limb scraped the side of the canyon wall.
“Speaking of which,” began her father.
“Which ‘which’?” interrupted Kale.
“Creemoor spiders,” said her father, pulling his sword. “I believe we have encountered the first obstacle in our trip through the gorge to the valley. I count eight. How about you?”
Kale surveyed the area as her father had done, with her mind and not her eyes. “Yes, eight, but a half dozen are very young.”
“That’s not to our advantage, daughter. The young ones are not as heavy and therefore jump farther.”
“Of course,” said Kale. With a sigh, she pulled her weapon from its sheath.