LeRoy Clary
Dragon Clan #4: Gray’s Story
CHAPTER ONE
High above the entrance to a hidden valley, Gray spotted movement where there shouldn’t be any. His breathing slowed as his heart beat faster. The flat drylands spreading below the mesa left few places to hide. The animals eking out lives down there did so with minimal food, water, and shade. Most were small. It was uncommon to spot animals large enough to see at any distance.
Still, he had spotted a flash of movement. It was larger than a rabbit, although he hadn’t managed to identify it yet. His eyes roamed the same muted drab landscape he had watched for most of his life. He saw it again. A fleeting movement from one meager piece of cover to another, just a subtle shift in desert browns as something, or someone, changed position.
“See that?” he asked without turning his head.
Anna, the youngest and newest of the watchers remained still, not answering. They lay beside each other in the shade of a shallow lean-to built on a lip of stone at the edge of the mesa. The small structure protected watchers from the burning sun by providing shade. The sloped roof and a ring of the carefully placed brush in front also helped conceal them from below.
The view was commanding. Best of all was a tiny trickle of cool water that seeped from the rock and pooled in a depression long ago chiseled into the stone. The water overflowed the shallow bowl carving and ran down the side of the rock mesa, evaporating long before reaching the bottom.
Anna finally said, “No, I don’t see anything, Gray. Am I in trouble?”
“You would be if you lied about something so important. Never lie about your duties as a watcher. Now, let your eyes drift to the floor of the desert. Allow them to find something not there earlier. But most of all look for movement first, and then color. Your eyes will pick out movement.”
“Since we went down there last spring and removed so many plants, there isn’t much for anyone to hide behind, so it should be easy to spot them. Did you really see anything out there or are you testing me again?”
“I saw it.”
“I didn’t.”
Gray’s eyes picked out a small flash of movement, again. It was probably Tessa, trying to sneak up on them again. She often tried that with the watchers, but it was her family job. She’d been trying to elude his quick eyes for fifteen years. Twice she’d done it. Only two times, but her attempts had kept him alert for countless other watches. She also assigned the shifts and ensured that each of them on watcher duty did their job well. They protected the family from intruders, an important position, and it had to be performed. He held no resentment.
Anna came alert with a start. Her body tensed. “I saw it.”
Gray had been looking at her eyes. She had not been watching the same place where he had seen movement. Maybe it’s not Tessa after all. “Be still. There might be more than one.”
“They’re the king’s men?”
She sounded frightened. From habit, Gray glanced at the sky to ensure no dragons flew. People of the Dragon Clan sometimes announced themselves by having a dragon fly past as they approached the canyon. His mouth felt like it had filled with desert sand. His eyes roamed the entire landscape, seeing nothing out of place.
“Over there,” Anna said, her attention focused on one side. “Near the wash. Look where that darker rock is near the bend.”
“I see the rock.” Gray watched until he noticed a tiny shift in color. That meant, at least, three men. A triad. All moving passed the mouth of the canyon slowly. They did not seem to be approaching the canyon. In time, they would pass by and continue south unless something changed.
“Want me to sound the alarm?”
“No. Not yet, Anna. Good job spotting that last one.”
“Will we kill them?”
A few of the family warriors could silently slip out into the wasteland and slay those skulking past, but then others would come seeking information about the missing dead. After that happened a few times, tales would spread among the normals living nearby. People would wonder why so many died. Eventually, his family home would be found and destroyed.
“Not unless we have to,” he said, never taking his eyes off the landscape. If the triad turned into the canyon mouth, Anna would race to warn the family, but there was no immediate danger unless they changed direction.
The best thing to do was watch and wait. The intruders still seemed to be moving further south, but they were always searching for anything that might point them to the location of his family home. They had searched for a long time because King Ember offered huge rewards.
The proper response was not about defeating the three men out there in the burning sun. That was easy. It was about whoever had sent those three. And all the ones before. King Ember’s father was snatched by a dragon from the center of his army and flown so high he could barely be seen. Then he was dropped down to the ground in the center of his troops. Dropped from so high up that after the rain, a puddle formed in the shape of the former king where he’d struck the ground. At least, that’s what people say.
Gray said, “Okay, go tell Tessa. Tell her they look like they’re passing us by.”
Easing to her feet, Anna whispered, “Please don’t insult me by telling me to be careful or quiet. I know what to do.”
Gray smiled, but his eyes never left the rolling, flat desert in front of him. Now that he had located the triad he relaxed to a degree. They always traveled in threes. A shift in color told the third was moving again. Anna vanished as if she had never been at his side.
Those below were the first of the king’s searchers they’d seen since before winter. But instead of exploring each canyon and searching for clues, as was normal, they were skirting past the entrance as if they had a destination further south in mind. While too far off to see detail, they appeared to move with unusual purpose. Whatever it was, the Dragon Clan needed to know. Normals had hated the Dragon Clan for hundreds of years. King Ember despised and feared them.
Any information on the actions of a triad was important. But the vastness of the drylands held its own secrets and death came slowly to those unprepared, unwary, or stupid.
Days further south, near the port city of Fleming, another Dragon Clan had first appeared three years ago, a mysterious group unassociated with all of the other families. At least some of them were living there. The others, as they called them, and they may have come from across the Endless Sea. Fleming lay, at least, two full days of hard, dry, travel away. Three or more days when moving slowly, as the triad below, maybe more. Still, Tessa might wish to send a warning of the triad to the new Dragon Clan near Fleming—and Gray decided he would volunteer for the mission.
Ever since meeting Fleet a year ago, the clan member from the slopes of Bear Mountain, Gray yearned to venture out of his home and make his own mark in the world. Well, that was more than he allowed himself to think about. But since meeting Fleet, Oasis seemed smaller, restrictive, and unexciting.
The triad used the growing afternoon shadows and moved further out on the flat desert floor. They should head in a more northerly direction where they might find water. In their present direction, at the slow pace they moved, all would die. Nobody could carry enough water to last more than two days and still be able to walk. This triad was moving at half the speed of travelers, so their trip would take more than four waterless days.
Tessa appeared silently at his side. She moved so quietly he hadn’t heard her approach, but he tried to hide his surprise. Anna must have found her quickly.