“Do you know how to heal?”
“No, but we could have tried.”
Camilla slowed and shook her head. “I think if we went out there they would have killed us. You’re free to go back and find out. Not me.”
They reached their campsite and without discussion scooped up their belongings and rolled their blankets. Brix pointed, “Let’s cross the stream and go that way. I think it crosses the road again, further up the valley.”
Camilla followed as Brix broke a new path for them, but she noticed he carried his new staff. When darkness fell it caught them by surprise and instead of trying to make a camp they simply spread their blankets under the low hanging branches of a cedar tree. Neither talked. Camilla pretended to sleep until she heard his regular breathing.
Her mind would not slow. Had she somehow caused the dragon attack? Her emotions were raging the last couple of days. The beating had hurt her, and she was not thinking straight. Walking all day tired her more than she realized. Robin mentioned her calling down dragons, which Camilla interpreted to mean calling on them to help in battle. Her mark on her back was red. The dragon was red.
Had she called the dragon down to attack the men?
Tears seeped from her eyes. No, it was impossible. People can’t talk to dragons, let alone ask them to help fight their enemies. Besides, those men had not been attacking her. She felt uneasy that they appeared on the road and seemed to be searching for someone, but that would also be true if there had been any robberies or a hundred other reasons. The soldiers all looked young. They may have been training to be soldiers on this lonely stretch of road. Anything was possible.
She felt compassion. They hadn’t stood a chance against the dragon. Instead of being upset at that idea, she found it oddly comforting that a dragon could fight twenty men and win.
Brix woke twice during the night. Once sobbing and another time he screamed in terror, and she moved to his side where she could sooth him. A few soft words and he slept again.
Camilla fell into a fitful sleep knowing her former life had ended.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Robin paused in her escape long enough to gather only a few things from her cabin. From under the roots of an apple tree, her fingers located a small leather pouch that had a solid jingle as she raised it to tie on her belt. She now wore heavy pants instead of her usual ankle-long dress, and a faded blue shirt of a common worker. The wide belt also held a short knife scabbard, and over her shoulder hung a rope tied to a blanket roll similar to the one Camilla wore.
The Sword Master and the Weapons Master would want to speak with her, if not take her head for lying to them, as soon as they returned from the wild goose chase she had sent them on. She carried enough coin to buy a fast horse, but animals restricted movements when fleeing, and they left tracks for others to follow.
Nettleton had been a good fifteen years of her life. The people were not too inquisitive about her past, and most had welcomed her to the village and the drudgery of washing their clothing. In time, she made a few friends and earned the respect of others.
Damn dragon girl could have gone to anyone else for help and left me alone.
The washer woman had perhaps one day of travel head start before the two men searching for Camilla would come back galloping up the Kings Road looking for her. Robin would chase Camilla and try to catch her before they did. Robin would have to travel twice as far as them in the same time because if those two men got to her, the only chance had been that they were still looking for a boy instead of a girl. But if Camilla continued to act and dress like a boy they would ferret her out in no time. If she wore a dress, she might escape their notice.
Robin reached for her staff leaning against the wall of her cabin. It was old, now. The color had turned to light gray over the years, and it was darker where her hands gripped. When she used to travel with it, she carved the entire length while sitting around many different campfires over the years. Deer antlers decorated one section after she killed an animal to feed her family. The head of an ugly dog that attached himself to her for three years looked back at her from one end. It died protecting her from a wolf. The area her fingers gripped when walking or fighting was an intricate pattern of woven vines. It was decoration, but when the staff got wet from water or blood, she still had a firm grip.
From a small hole drilled in a tree trunk at the edge of her clearing with her knife, she withdrew another leather thong and three small gold coins, each stamped with the head of a dragon. She unwound the strip of leather and revealed a necklace made from a single dragon tooth. She looked at it for a long time, her face expressionless.
She smiled as she slipped it over her head and gave the thong a tug to make sure the leather still held. Looking down at it, she said, “We travel together, again.”
The three coins didn’t go into the purse at her waist with her others. Instead, she inserted them into the small compartment sewn into the waistband of her pants. She’d known this day would come. Her advanced preparations made for a quick transition from washerwoman to traveler.
A last glance at her cabin and the home she had made years ago left her cold, but determined. She slipped the dragon tooth inside her shirt and hefted her familiar staff. She turned her back to her past life and began walking, slowly at first and later faster. When she reached the King’s Road, she ran while counting one hundred steps. Not fast. Not yet. She was still getting used to fast travel again.
The staff was slightly awkward but with use, it would soon again feel part of her. A hundred paces walking and then she ran again. Then walked.
She saw nobody she knew, which was good. None would need to tell lies for her, or die if found at the hands of the two strangers. The beating of her heart pounded in her chest, and she set a pace to match. The girl was a full day ahead, but would likely walk slow while searching for food and enjoying her first venture into the world. She was in no hurry and would make camp early. Robin intended to travel deep into the night and wake early. By midday tomorrow, she hoped to overtake Camilla.
Hard packed clay held a thin coating of dry sand and dirt on the road. Robin noted where Camilla’s footprints came from a trail leading up Copper Mountain and pulled to a halt. As expected, they were spaced closely, as if she walked with all the time in the world. The imprint of the end of the staff showed she used it for support, as a crutch.
Another track in the dirt drew her attention. A footprint that did not belong to Camilla paced her. Not leading, and not following. It appeared to walk beside Camilla. They were traveling together. What is that girl up to, now?
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Camilla woke terrified, again. Her sharp intake of breath woke Brix. They exchanged looks in the dim light as if wondering who the other was, and why they were sleeping near each other. It was the first time they had made camp together.
“What’s wrong?” He asked, sounding alarmed.
“I dreamed of the red dragon and those soldiers, again. It scared me.”
“I woke a dozen times, too. I can still hear that dragon screeching and the horses screaming when it attacked.”
Camilla stood. She glanced around in the gloom. There was nothing to tell her where they came from or the right way to walk.
As if understanding the problem without speaking, Brix pointed. “The road is that way.”
With a nod of agreement, she rolled her blanket and gathered her few belongings. Brix followed suit, and as she started walking, he came crashing through the brush behind. Her pace was slow, and she used her staff to help clear the brambles and stickers away until an animal track crossed in front of her. She turned to her left, and followed it, moving twice as fast. Daylight came, and she pushed faster.