Tom shifted Gareth to stand on the other side of him as he shook his left arm to get the blood flowing. Then he looked directly at Gareth as if trying to grasp information of any sort from his slack face, but Gareth allowed his eyelids to slip down and pretended sleep so he wouldn’t see the tension and fear in his eyes. Gareth also fought to keep his emotions in check, and his mind calm. If he failed, Karen would administer more medicine, perhaps by force.
Tom spoke after a few seconds, slowly and with caution. “Karen, you say nobody in the past ever had Gareth’s abilities?”
She hesitated, sitting on the path to rest, her knees drawn up to her chin. “You’re asking a lot more than we agreed upon. The answer is, none. Oh, I guess that it’s possible there have been others in the dim past, but if there had been others you’d think we would have heard rumors or stories. It’s time for us to continue.”
“Wait. Do you know for a fact that Gareth is in mental contact with his dragon? You’ve seen or heard it for yourself?”
“I’ve seen it and heard it. My sister Mary, the one who watched over him while I fetched you from the road, told me she witnessed it, too. Baby dragons have insatiable appetites, yet at a mental command from Gareth, it dropped food and moved away until Gareth allowed it to eat. They are definitely linked, and bonded together, which is far more than simply suggesting an animal acts in a specific way when ordered, as a shepherd telling her dog to gather the flock of sheep. It is more like the sharing of a single mind. We’ve been here too long.” Karen stood.
Despite Karen wanting to travel further and faster, Tom placed Gareth on the ground where Gareth’s back rested against a small tree. Tom sat the bag with the dragon on the ground, and slid down himself, supporting Gareth so he didn’t slump over.
The dragon stuck his head out and hissed weakly, then pulled his head inside, again. Seconds later the rustling sound of huge wings flying overhead filled the night air. When it was past, Tom continued, “Karen, I won’t pretend to understand all of what you’ve said, or even most of it. But why are so many people after Gareth?”
She scowled and balled a fist at his defiance to her wanting to travel faster, but held her temper. “Power. Some want to kill him before he has a chance to learn or abuse his powers. Most simply want to use him for their own purposes. The Sisterhood can provide a good safe life for him. In return, he can keep us safe from the brothers, and king’s army. Our abilities are no longer secret, and we fear the war to come.”
“War?”
She looked down at him with the same expression a teacher might give a slow student. “War. Purge. You give it a name. When ‘normal’ people feel they are slighted and in danger from those, who are different, like the brothers and sisters. They will kill all of us if they can.”
“You don’t seem to be threatening anyone.”
“Still, they will see us as superior, as a threat. Maybe we are, I don’t know. But we are different, and they will not trust us. Different is always dangerous.”
Tom drew back at the venom in her words.
“It has already begun, Tom. If not, I would have shared none of our secrets with you. Too many people have learned of our abilities in the last few years, and the word spread like wildfire on a dry plain. In some far off lands, orders for our deaths have already been issued. In others, rewards for our heads are posted. There are recent reports of all brothers beyond the Burning Hills disappearing. Some were hanged or beheaded, others were slain in uprisings. The rest simply disappeared. Some are rumored to have escaped and perhaps returned to their mountains, but who knows?”
“Sisters too?”
“A few of us have faced angry riots from their villages. More are rotting in dungeons. We are all on high alert and trying to decide how to survive, which is part of why many of us have taken to living in the forests, especially those of us without husbands. But even married sisters are cautious with what they share with their husbands. Then, word of Gareth reached us. We don’t know who he is, or if he can help us, but we wanted to find out if we should keep him alive or kill him to prevent him from becoming a danger in the future.”
“Gareth hasn’t done anything. He’s barely more than a child.”
She stamped a foot and spun around, a stern stance and iron in her voice. “We are here wasting time when we should be escaping. You seem much more intelligent than the average corn farmer I meet. Perhaps better educated is a more correct assessment. Yet you ask stupid questions. Who are you?”
“I used to be a naval captain and a favorite of Queen Kristin.”
“She’s been dead a good many years, but I always thought highly of her. Let me tell you what I think while we remain here risking our lives and talking about things that can wait. Your young friend here places fear in the minds of all people of power. The king wants his service and his protection. The Brotherhood sees him as a threat if he is not aligned with them, and an asset if he is. So fear is the answer you seek.”
“You sisters fear that he might align with the brothers, or king, right? He upsets the balance.”
“Yes. Not from whom he is, but of whom he may become.”
“If you decide he is dangerous to your goals?”
“We’ll kill him. Direct a raging bull to attack him, or send a rabid dog to bite him.”
Gareth felt fear touch him for the first time. Fear bordering on panic. He was supposed to be so drugged he couldn’t understand them, but they spoke as if he was a creature not of the same earth. As if he was inanimate or a thing, instead of a person. They were calmly outlining his future, intending to gain what they could for themselves, not considering what he wanted. She even said she might kill him, and he believed her. He breathed in deeply, allowing the remains of the drugs in his body to help calm him. Raising his eyes he saw Karen flinch, and she looked back at him as if startled, but he shifted positions and looked away as if still heavily drugged, fighting to control his mind. He slowly let the air out between pursed lips, thinking of warm days and mindless plowing of endless fields.
“I may not let you kill him,” Tom said.
Karen snapped, “Don’t be foolish. You’re also unsure and distrustful of him, Tom. That’s why you said ‘may’ not let us kill him instead of ‘will’ not. Yes, I know you’d probably try to stop me or us or the Brotherhood, but in certain circumstances, I may be the one trying to prevent you from ending his life. But, for now, I’ll do my best to ensure he survives this night.”
“Only because he may be of use to you and your cause?”
“Certainly. Is that so different from you? I stand here and see you pretending to help him out of friendship, escorting him to sell his egg and all, but the egg has already hatched and is worthless to the army. The dragon chick has already bonded. Are you so honorable that you do not intend to escort him to safety and then offer his services, and those of his black dragon to the King? For a price?”
“I’m doing what’s right.”
She continued, “Well then, it seems that you also have an agenda. You served the crown as a captain of a warship and your allegiances to the crown have not waned over the years. You swore an oath to your queen, and while she may not sit on the throne, her eldest son does. “