Edward dismounted. “Do you know me?”
“Yes, sir. Edward, son of the Earl.”
“What happened here?”
The man tried to lift his head, but it fell back to the grass. His voice sounded no louder than a hoarse whisper, he answered. “We were closer to Nettleton when a red dragon attacked us. It killed six and injured most of us.”
“Why did it attack? I haven’t heard of a dragon attacking in my lifetime.”
“We don’t know.”
“Your mission?”
“Find a boy of the Dragon Clan and take him to the King.”
Edward was taken aback. Another group after the boy? That made three. “You didn’t find him?”
A man missing an arm and wrapped in bloody bandages answered, “That’s what done this, we think. We got too close.”
“Close to the dragon boy?” Edward asked. His attention focused on the speaker, a man of some years, his beard gray and sparse.
“It’s what they do to protect themselves. Get too close and they call a dragon down, to destroy you.”
Edward ignored the commander of the troop. He moved closer to the old man. “You’ve seen this before?”
“Seen and heard of it.”
“The boy. Did you see him?”
The man coughed a red foam. “Went by us during the battle is my guess.”
Edward glanced around at the others. “Anyone see anything?”
Nobody answered for several heartbeats. Then a thin young man sitting with his back against a tree said, “I saw footprints in the dirt on the road. Small ones. Boy or woman.”
“Where were they headed?”
The soldier nodded up the valley.
The road that way was the only direction escape was possible. To the group at large, he asked, “Is there anything I can do for you?”
The commander said, “Go catch that boy of the dragons.” He tried to laugh and failed.
Edward turned to Tangos. The mental picture of him lying beaten and torn as these men turned him cold. But, he said, “Let’s go.”
The day had enough light left to travel and Edward intended to use it. He set a faster pace, and said to Tangos, “If we see a dragon you are to escape and return home.”
“I cannot leave you.”
“I am ordering you to run like the wind and leave me.”
Tangos shook his head. They rode in silence and Edward considered sending him home immediately. “Why not?”
“What would people say about me if I ran and you died?”
“They wouldn’t know.”
“I would tell them.”
Yes, he would. The damn boy was honorable. Nothing worse in politics. He pushed the horses to move faster. His eyes kept a watch on the sky, and he noticed the boy looking up more than once. Near a granite boulder standing on the left side of the road, Tangos pulled up.
“What is it?” Edward asked, fearing the worst.
Tangos pointed to a scuff mark in the dirt.
“Does that mean something?”
Tangos shrugged as he climbed down. And walked to look at the marks. He knelt. “A footprint going that way,” he pointed. “Someone tried to hide it by brushing dirt over it.”
“Really,” Edward said, dismounting, his interest flaring. “How long ago?”
“Not long. See, the edges are still damp, that’s what caught my attention. Before long it will be dry.” Tangos moved to the edge of the road and knelt again. “A foot smashed this plant.”
“Look for more. What else do you see?”
Tangos moved to the underbrush in line with the two indications he’d pointed out. He motioned for Edward to join him. A broken branch on a bush was bent in the direction someone had passed. Near the shrub was the small footprint of the person who broke the branch.
Edward moved further into the brush and found more prints. Away from the road, there was no need to hide them. He looked at Tangos and kept his voice low. “What is over that way?”
“Cliffs and more mountains, I’ve heard. It may be true. Maybe not.”
“Why would they head that way?”
“I have no idea. Unless it is to turn around and throw off pursuers. There are other villages that way, and, of course, Nettleton, but that would be a long trip.”
“What else can you tell me about the footprints?” Edward asked.
Tangos said, “Two people, at least. No, three. I see small tracks and some slightly larger.”
“Can a horse make it up the trail?”
Tangos said, “That isn’t even a trail. No, I’d say. If anything horses will slow us down.”
Edward strode to his horse and pulled the pack off the rump. “I’m going alone. Help me to get what I need to follow them.”
Tangos didn’t hesitate. He grabbed both blankets and filled them with all the food they brought, then rolled them tightly. The knife he wore on a belt around his waist was handed to Edward as if he’d asked for it. The boy pulled his small purse free and handed that too. “Iron and flint, and some tinder.”
Edward pulled two silver coins from his purse. “Give one coin to the stableman to care for my horse until I return. The other is payment for you.”
“It’s too much, sir. I cannot accept this.”
“I know it’s too much, but it’s all I have. You take your fair share and when I return I’ll get the rest from you.”
“I’ll go with you, sir.” Tangos nodded in the direction the others had gone.
“This is something I have to do myself. One more thing, there are two men following us. They work for the King and are willing to kill for information about the boy I’m after. I want you to take the horses and hide in the forest, but stay where you can see the road. Wait for them. Let them pass before you go home. It will probably be no longer than a day.”
“They’ll not see me.”
Edward gathered his bedroll and started following the faint trail the dragon boy and his accomplices made. He kept his eyes on it because he knew he was not a tracker and those signs were his future and the past. He might find his way back to the King’s Road, but by sunset he didn’t know. Worse, the footprints seemed to be fewer and fewer as the ground grew rocky.
As daylight faded, Edward nearly lost sight of the tracks. Scared, he unrolled the blankets and used one spread on the ground and the other over himself. What if the tracks are gone in the morning? What if it rains?
Tracking is an art he knew little about. For all he knew, the others were only a hundred paces ahead and building a fire would tell them where he was. He might wake to find his throat freshly slit.
He felt gratified to find more footprints as he stuffed a handful of nuts into his mouth. When he climbed to a crest, a mountain with a sharp, snow-covered peak lay directly ahead. The trail he followed through the thick underbrush intersected with a path. There, footprints in the soft sand told that the dragon boy turned and followed the path, the other two still with him.
Edward followed the path, keeping a keen eye on the footprints as well as ahead. He didn’t want to be taken by surprise. In a muddy area, he paused. Three distinct sets of footprints were clear in the wet areas near streams. Not two sets, as expected. All were clear imprints, the edges not yet fallen in and a couple had water still seeping inside. He didn’t need to be a woodsman to see that they were fresh.
How had this dragon boy befriended two others and elicited their help? Or are they of the clan, too?
Edward felt for the comfort of the knife at his waist, a knife with a blade as long as his hand. Now that he traveled the mountains alone, with a goal of locating a member, or members, of the Dragon Clan the knife was a minor comfort.
The sun sank behind the peaks to his right while the path continued left. A warm glow provided enough light to continue on if he moved carefully. Standing, he stretched and moved ahead his mind tossing and turning at the new revelations. His mind had been little more than a large child ten days ago. The changes in him were in his mind, not body.