Ann pursed her lips. She nodded, and said, “We can do it that way, but there are few things I still need to tell you. I know about Bitters Island, your family, and Blackie. I know you are going to try locating your father, another man with talents as great as yours. He lived in the mountains, and I know there are new, threatening voices in the vapors that we all hear.”
“You know a lot.”
“Well, know this too. I cannot use my mind to spread that information to my Sisters, nor would I if I could. What I have learned on this voyage is private between us. I give you my word. Unlike the Brotherhood, which is formal and demanding of each member, the Sisterhood is still just a loose confederation of like-minded women. I pledge to you here and now that I will never utter a word to anyone of what I overheard unless you agree to it.”
“Then, why don’t I see if I can upset some animals while you let the rats loose?” He threw Tad’s travel bag along with his over a shoulder and placed his other arm around the boy and helped him rise.
Ann flung open the cabin door and instantly a cascade of noise assaulted them, growing louder by the moment. Men shouted and cursed. Footsteps ran across the deck overhead. She said, “Follow me.”
Gareth paused at another cabin door as she reached inside and grabbed her travel bag, then he followed her up on deck. Looking around as he jogged behind her, several men slapped their arms as if they were trying to fly, while others dived to the semi-safety of the deck or ground. Most shouted and cursed at the bats, adding to the din. He shifted his attention to the pier. A pair of horses jumped and bucked, tossing the wagon behind to one side and then the other. The crates that had been securely inside the bed of the wagon were now strewn and broken while a driver attempted to calm the animals as he swatted at nearby bats.
He saw mules fighting for their freedom further up the pier, and the other docks further off were in the same situation. As Ann led them down the gangway, she held up her arm and paused. Suddenly in the light of the lanterns on the poles on the pier situated for the offloading the ship, an almost fluid appearing dark mass appeared on the ground rushing for shore. It swirled and merged with others, and it seemed to melt and mold itself as it moved. Anything or any person in the path reacted in panic.
“Rats. Hundreds of them. I never dreamed there were that many,” Gareth whispered, shifting the boy ahead while resting his arms on their bags.
“Here, let me carry one of those,” Ann said as she took Tad’s bag and turned to follow the rats up the hillside to the lights of the town above. There was no sign of the Brotherhood. Some were probably still searching the ships while others had backed away to safety from the bats and rats and terrified mules.
Away from the piers, Gareth sent out calming thoughts. The bats were told the mosquitoes were gone, the rats returned to their nests, and the pack animals calmed. Sailors and stevedores cleaned up the messes as pairs of the Brotherhood continued their searches for Gareth.
At the first buildings in the small city, Ann asked a drunken sailor stumbling from a tavern to tell her where the nearest stable was located. While she got directions, Gareth issued another calming breath of thought that floated to the animals, even the rats, and as he listened, the remaining turmoil near the ships decreased. The bats had flown off. The mules calmed. Soon it would be a story for the dockworkers tell in the taverns, but nobody would know why the animals all reacted oddly. However, Gareth sent additional thoughts to all witnesses that the mass confusion had really only been a small incident. In a few days, it would not be remembered. Ann paid the sleepy stableman an extra crown because he wanted to remain in his warm bed with his new wife for the night. He told them to wait until morning for a horse as he tried to close the door. “Three horses, now,” she corrected him. “And good saddles. Do not try to cheat me or I’ll find another stable willing to take my silver coins.”
His bony hand reached out and snatched the coins. Stuffing the crowns into his purse, he said, “I do happen to have two fine, well-trained mares that I’ll sell, but the third horse will be a problem.”
“Why is that?” Ann snapped.
“Because all I can offer is a swayback so old it only has half his teeth, and a young gelding barely broke and far too untamed for the likes of you to ride.”
Ann held up another crown to glitter in the moonlight. “I’ll ride the gelding. Don’t protest, I’ve been around horses my whole life. This last coin is yours in addition to the price of the animals and tack if you understand our need for departing as quickly as possible. Your wife will wait, and you can buy her a new bonnet tomorrow.”
His eyes took one last caressing look at her coin, and he leaped to the door and led the way to stalls where saddles and harnesses rested on wooden rails chewed by generations of horses. Two fine looking horses were soon standing beside them, and the stableman was outside in the dark trying to get a bridle on the semi-wild gelding. Ann marched to the door, and Gareth felt her mind touch that of the horse. It calmed and as she approached, it took a hesitant step in her direction then nuzzled her.
Handing the bridle to her, the stableman said, “Never seen him do that before.”
“I told you I have a way with horses. Get the saddle and be quick about it.”
Tad was awake enough to sit on a horse, but Gareth intended to hold the reins. He and Ann mounted together and rode into the darkness. Ann started to speak, but Gareth motioned for her to be silent. He touched the mind of the stableman that was already beginning to fall asleep again. His mind was receptive. Before they reached the cross-street, the stableman believes he had rented horses to a nobleman from the south who was traveling alone but required two more horses for packing all his belongings.
Gareth glanced at Ann. “We need to travel north, past Freeport inland by a good distance.”
“Where is our destination?”
“I cannot tell you.”
“On the ship, I explained you can trust me, and why.”
“I do. The simple fact is that our destination has no name you would know. I have not been there in thirty years, but I do know where we are bound. We will have . . . Help when we get close.”
“Help? There’s something is your words you are hiding.”
Putting his heels to the sides of the horse, he asked, “Are you scared of dragons?”
CHAPTER EIGHT
Gareth rode his horse and watched Ann ride the horse the stableman had told them was only half broken. He listened to her mental words and images as she soothed the animal and convinced it that it wanted to obey her every wish. They were best friends. His duty was to please her. Gareth listened and learned.
Later, Tad rode in front while the adults rode beside each other and talked, the medicine Ann provided keeping Tad’s moods on an even keel, even and helped keep his thoughts to himself although he was awake. His chin often rested on his chest, and he looked through slits in his half-closed eyes.
Just before dawn, Gareth abruptly slowed and drew to a halt. “Quiet.”
“What is it?” Ann asked, worry clearly sounding in her voice as she peered ahead into the darkness and on both sides of the rutted road. The forest closed in on the sides, and the underbrush was almost impenetrable and gloomy, even in the predawn light.
“Soldiers are swarming over the docks behind us.” He paused and reached him mind further. “They’re at all the seaports.”
“Doing what? Searching for you?”
“Capturing the Brotherhood at sword point.”