LeRoy Clary
Dragon Clan #3: Fleet’s Story
CHAPTER ONE
Fleet looked over his shoulder and waved a final goodbye to his parents, siblings, and the entire population of the small mountain village he grew up in. All but one. Camilla stood at his shoulder, her eyes red and puffy as she sniffled softly and turned away. She trudged up the hillside, taking the lead as if she was in charge.
“Slow down, we’re supposed to go together,” Fleet called after her, holding back any show of emotion lest he breaks down and cries in her presence. His beard had flushed out during the winter and Dancer, his father, agreed with his intentions for this trip. To ensure the safety of his family, someone needed to find out who had helped Raymer escape from King Ember’s dungeon.
Camilla shot back, “If you can’t keep up with me, go home and let me do this alone.”
Fleet understood the anger behind Camilla’s remark as she increased her pace and drew away. Some believed the responsibility should be hers. In the years since she joined the family she had established she was a full member of the Dragon Clan, and equal to Fleet. No, that was not precisely true. She had convinced the other family members in the last three years, but not him. Not yet.
Before that, she had survived for at least ten years, surrounded by normals, people not of the clan, and without powers. During that time, King Ember had posted huge rewards throughout his kingdom for information about any of the Dragon Clan. She had managed to evade capture. Any knowledge of how the outside world worked made her his superior, and she had the experience and knowledge. He had been raised in the mountains away from contact with normals.
Fleet had listened to her stories of living near them around warm campfires for the last three winters. She had survived alone as a child, living in a cave on a barren hillside near Nettleton, a village located on the King’s Highway to the south. She lived near, and among them. Then she found her way to Myron’s family, on the south slope of Bear Mountain. She had hundreds of experiences he didn’t. She knew things that would help him when he found himself with normals. Not knowing those things might cost him his life if he should slip, and he should feel grateful for her help, but did not.
He resented a girl, at least, two years his junior flaunting her skills and acting as an equal. At the clan meeting, she had offered to help him. She expected to tell him what to do. Advise him, the council had said. Tell him to not bare his dragon mark in front of people. Tell him how to act. How to speak. It was a gentle way of saying that she was in charge of his trip far more than he wished.
Fleet slowed, even more, walking and thinking, as well as using the action to silently protest her officious attitude. She wouldn’t allow him to fall behind, but he needed to consider options. It was early morning, and their first campsite was well known to both and lay only half a day away, so he took his time.
He swung his staff forward and back, letting the weight of it do the work. Then he snapped it to the horizontal defensive position in front of him. A twirl and the center was tucked under his armpit. The exercises were done without thinking because he had done them so many times.
Tiny, early summer strawberries grew alongside the path. He paused and gathered a handful. Later, he came to a bend near a stream where he knew three apple trees grew only a few steps into the forest. He had planted two of them years ago during treks with his father. “Eat an apple, plant a tree,” the mantra went. He picked an apple of an early variety that was so green it would still be hard and tart. He anticipated saving the seeds for planting.
He had finished the strawberries, and almost the apple, when he found Camilla sitting calmly on a fallen log beside the path, her staff resting on the damp ground beside her.
“Are you going to sulk from now on?” She asked.
Fleet sat beside her and continued eating, finally picking out three seeds and slipping them into the leather purse tied to his belt.
She sighed, “Listen, I know you don’t talk much. I get that. I also get that you like to think about what you’re going to say before speaking, but it’s upsetting to people.”
“Why?”
“We never know when you’re going to talk, or if you will. That makes the rest of us talk too much if you see what I mean. We go out of our way to explain things you already know, like I’m doing now.”
Fleet knew he should answer, but perversely held back. Silence became a tool. He had almost never seen anyone get into trouble for being too quiet, but those who talked too much made all kinds of mistakes.
“See? I asked you to talk and instead you sit there with a face set like stone and say nothing. Personally, I don’t know why they even chose you.”
“They chose me because I know more about what happened at the Summer Palace than anyone else, including Raymer. And he was there. I’ve talked with Quint, the son of the Earl of Northwoods, too. He was involved, as well as my father. And I’ve studied the dragons on Bear Mountain all winter.”
Camilla scowled. Her expression said she was about to start another fight with him, but instead, she settled herself and crossed one leg over the other and said, “You know I didn’t want to go with you.”
He shrugged. “You’re the best qualified.”
“I know little of the story we’re chasing. Well, more than that, I suppose because everyone has heard parts of it. But not the details.”
“For now, we’re just traveling to Nettleton getting acquainted with the locals where you grew up, and gathering information. It will give me a chance to be around people. Then we’ll go on to the Summer Palace and stick our noses into the business of others.”
“Do you really think they’ll still be there?”
“The ones who gave Raymer food in his cell?”
She nodded, then said, “But more than that. Who called down the dragon that knocked down the dungeon wall? Only a bonded clan member can do that.”
“There has not been a bonding in the Bear Mountain family for so long we thought it was a myth. Raymer says the same of his Raging Mountain family.”
Camilla closed her eyes and bit her lip. “I know all that.”
“You wanted me to speak more.”
She scowled but held her temper. “Why is there someone living so near both of our families who is dragon-bonded, yet does not contact us?”
He smiled, “Yes, that’s the question we need to answer.”
Camilla stood, looking away from him and seeming as if she was going to stomp off. But, she was quiet, her attention focused far off. “Do you feel that?”
He had felt it for some time and wanted to know when she experienced the same. Several verbal exchanges ago he’d felt the first tiny tickle on his back draw his attention, growing stronger until it evolved into sharp little pins of pains dancing along the birthmark on his back. He’d felt it long before her. “Yes.”
“You spent days and days during the fall on Bear Mountain where they nest. All I know is that you did not bond with one.”
She wanted more information. He decided to be truthful. “I either do not have what a dragon wants, or the right dragon was not there. Actually, there were only three adult females and three hatchlings not yet two years old.”
“They said you approached them.”
“I did. They let me go right up to them after I visited many times, but it was more a tolerant sort of approach, not like when that dragon dropped from the sky at night next to Raymer and bonded with him. Then it was more like a kitten, purring and wanting to get close to and show affection.”