I needed to change my thoughts so reached out and asked, *Anna, are you there?*
*I’m here if that’s what you mean.*
Yes, I heard the humor in her tone, too. Of course, she was there, wherever there was. Where else could she be? *Have things improved so much you feel like joking?*
There came a pause. *Things are the same. Boring. We are playing a game like a mouse teasing a cat. We row closer to shore and spot them about the same time they see us. They race their horses along the shore nearest where we are, and we turn and row deeper into the middle of the lake and try to disappear. There are soldiers on both shores.*
*What is Will’s plan?*
*There is only one more lake before reaching Dagger. We can’t sail there, and even if we could, they will have lookouts, guards, and more soldiers at the neck between lakes. We must get to the south side of this one, and then head into the desert on foot.*
*But you have to avoid the army on the shore, first.*
*Yes.*
I cut off the communication as I pictured the situation in my mind. I imagined the lake, the shore, the boat, and where we were, as well as our objective, which was the fishing village called Ander on the edge of the sea and find Thom. We had intended to go there on our own and meet the others along the way or at Ander. Now things had changed.
I explained the mental conversation to Kendra, and she listened without interrupting once, which demonstrated how important the information was. I guess it was possible she was not feeling well, or perhaps she was too tired to critique me, but I preferred to think of the danger rather than tease me again.
She gave it some thought before saying, “My dragon?”
After denying it was her dragon for so long, it was nice to hear her slip of the tongue again. She was beginning to face facts. I said, “Yes, but the army would scatter and then reform right after the boat lands and chase us all the way to Ander and beyond. Our friends will not have horses. The army will.”
She sighed and said, “You’re right. Our best course would be to slip them ashore in the middle of the night and quietly depart.”
“They will still come after us on horseback first thing in the morning.”
“Not if my dragon is between them and us.”
Kendra had hit on a perfect scenario. If we could get our friends out of the boat and travel for any distance at all into the Brownlands, we could pull it off. My first idea was to have them land on the north side of the lake. They could reach the place where the lake narrowed into the river and swim across and avoid the army to confuse them.
There were too many problems with the idea. First, was another army on the north shore. There had been at least three armies chasing them before they escaped, and it seemed reasonable that boats with messengers were rowed across and information passed from one army unit to another. The second problem was that there would be sentries posted where the lake narrowed again, downriver from a dam. At least, if I were the military commander, that is what I’d do. My assumption was that to become the captain, or general or whatever, he was far smarter than me in military matters.
All of which took us back to our original problem. We needed to get our friends ashore and heading south before anyone knew what they’d done. The idea of a diversion came to me. A diversion instead of trying to sneak ashore with disastrous results if discovered was a better alternative. Once that idea overtook my thinking, all I had to do was find a way to create one that would work.
Kendra still rode alongside and said in a thoughtful tone, “What we need is a diversion.”
I kept my eyes focused ahead. While I knew she could not read my mind, and that given the same information, we’d eventually come to the same conclusion, it still felt eerie.
She continued, “If we could get them ashore and all of us could escape into the Brownlands, the army could only follow a short distance because they wouldn’t have water. With your new talents, we would, and we could easily get away. So, all we need is enough time for them to land their boat, walk into the desert, and disappear. Maybe the dragon will help.”
“What kind of diversion were you thinking of?” I asked as if it was a new subject for me.
“Oh, I don’t know. There are a few that come to mind and are probably not very good.”
“Go on.”
She grinned. “What if we showed ourselves and let the army chase us into the Brownlands? You and me? We have horses like them.”
I didn’t like it. “What if one of our horses stumbles and they catch us? Or if one of us falls off, or if their horses are faster than ours and they catch us? Or only a few chases us and the rest stay guarding the shore? Too many things can go wrong.”
She snorted, “What if my dragon swoops down and protects us if any of those things happen?”
That was a valid point. Hers was a better plan than any I’d come up with. Saying so out loud went against the brother-sister relationship. What I’d have to do would be to think of something better. “Why don’t we get to where we can see the army and lake at the same time and maybe we’ll think of a better plan. If not, yours might work.”
That seemed to please her. As the heat of the day decreased near sundown, we looked for a place to stay the night. It would be a cold camp because we didn’t know how far the army and lake was. Our guess was a half-day, but even at that distance, under the right circumstances, a campfire can be seen in the Brownlands.
If we were closer, the chances of it being seen increased by a sentry, nomad, or thief. With just the two of us, the risk outweighed warmth. I mentally prepared for a cold night. I could always pull a little heat from the ground and spread it around. I saw no place better than any other for staying the night. I said, “We can stop here for the night.”
“Or continue on. Since I’m cold and we’ve only traveled a short way, why not continue and tomorrow we’ll have less distance to go?”
It was a suggestion I was about to make, that is, I’d have made it as soon as I’d have thought of it. It was not that she was reading my mind, although it seemed like it. The simple truth was that we thought alike. Yes, she was smarter, but I was quicker. In the end, we often said what the other was thinking. Hopefully, when I matured, probably around the age of forty or fifty, I’d accept and appreciate it.
We rode in the moonlight, allowing the horses to pick their way through the few shrubs, cactus, and larger rocks. They seemed to see slightly better than us in the darkness. I tried to catch a few quick naps and failed. The awkward gait of the horse wouldn’t allow it.
We came to a series of small hills, none higher than ten or twenty feet, but between them were little valleys that helped protect from the chill in the breeze.
“See that?” Kendra asked. “A light ahead.”
We pulled to a stop at the crest of the next hill. In the distance were three or four small orange winks of light. Campfires. All in the same area. They were off to our right, which was east of us, but I believed we’d found the army pacing the Princess’s boat.
“Sleep here?” I asked.
She nodded in the moonlight and moved her horse into the shallow valley between the hills. After dismounting and hobbling the horsed next to us for their protection, we wrapped ourselves in blankets and slept. Eating could be done in the morning.