Dakar took the rear which was fine with everyone. Twice Raymer looked back to see him struggling with three extra staffs to carry, but never offered to help him. There was almost no talking.
After passing two more streams and countless hills, dips, and one flat valley, Raymer noticed the face of the cliff they approached had a distinct place where the color of the rock didn’t precisely match. He kept his eye on it. As they continued, the mark grew more defined, if only because he knew to look for it.
Quint said, “One of you little people wouldn’t happen to have a pair of sandals or shoes that would fit me, would you?”
Raymer had taken notice of his feet before they left their campsite. Each had several scrapes and cuts, and his left had a raw scrape that probably came from slipping while crossing the talus. If Quint complained, even as little his question indicated, he must be in pain.
“Just a little further,” Raymer said.
“How do you know how far it is?” Dakar snarled.
Raymer turned to face him as he struggled to carry his load. He smiled and shrugged, then said in a jolly voice, “You look old enough to seek out other families. You might try mine. And on the way there you can stop at the king’s summer palace. You might enjoy staying in my old room. Just ask anyone for directions to the palace, and I’m sure they’d be glad to show you the way.”
Ander and Quint broke into laughter while the other two just looked and wondered at the joke they missed.
Dakar said defiantly, “I just might do that.”
Now all three laughed, and as they continued the trek now and then one or the other added to the humor. The distance and time passed faster with their minds occupied.
The next time Raymer looked up to the cliffs they were much closer, and again, knowing what to look for, he spotted the actual split in the wall that they would traverse.
Reaching the entrance seemed anticlimactic. The path turned slightly and almost without warning they walked between two high walls, taller than the highest trees. The floor of the split was soft sand, and a thousand plants grew there, especially where the split began. Raymer realized many of the plants were probably moved there to conceal the entrance from an accidental discovery. Looking ahead, Raymer estimated the passage must be at least a thousand paces long.
His heart beat faster and his breath came in shallow pants, not because of the altitude, but because he neared the destination that had been his goal over a year ago. A thousand steps. Nine hundred. Eight.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Not long after, the trees and undergrowth thinned and they stood in a meadow facing perhaps twenty people he’d never seen. There were goats, dogs, men, women, and children. Everyone stood quietly and looked at them as if they were strange animals from a far land. Perhaps they were.
They looked like ordinary people, but Raymer knew different. He pulled to a stop at a respectable distance and waited.
Meryn stepped beside him and said in a strong, firm voice, “I bring a member of our clan seeking refuge. His name is Raymer, from the family at the Raging Mountains.”
A single older man stepped forward. “I am Myron, Meryn’s father and the leader of this family. Will you present to me your back?”
Without hesitation, Raymer turned and lifted his tattered and too-small shirt. He waited until all in the group saw his dragon, then he faced them again. Myron turned and raised his shirt. He said, “Ordinarily, this is the time I’d invite you to eat with us and welcome you. However, times are different, and I understand you wish to stand in front of the elders with your companions as quickly as possible.”
“Yes, sir.”
“You do not wish to eat first or have someone care for the bleeding feet of the giant?”
“When is the earliest we can meet in council?” Raymer asked.
Myron glanced nervously at those standing behind him as if mentally counting and making a difficult decision. “Is now too soon?”
Raymer said, “That would be best. I think you’ll agree when you hear us.”
Myron motioned for them to walk down a dirt road that led between about twenty huts, ten on a side. A few dogs ran to investigate the new smells. A fast flowing stream cut the village in half and there at the stream was a semi-circle of seating on stumps and logs that had been placed there for seating, leaving a raised dais in the center. It served as a stage or podium for the village.
Myron stepped up on it, raising his hands to the crowd that followed. “We have an unusual situation. Our family member has brought two outsiders with him. He wishes to speak with the elders and we will grant his request. I will have the elders gather here, along with Camilla and Robin. We require privacy.”
Dakar stepped forward and dumped their belongings into the dirt, along with their staffs. He said, “I will remain standing guard.”
Myron quelled a twitch of a smile. “They come in peace, Dakar. We will not require a guard, but I thank you for your intended service.”
As the crowd dissipated, three men arrived together. One limped on a crutch, another looked too old to walk, but managed slowly, and the last was a powerful man of about fifty years, a warrior, by the way, he carried himself. A woman of middle age walked down the slope, a girl in her early teens beside her.
Myron motioned for the elders and the two women to sit on the stumps nearest the dais, then he pointed at Raymer, Ander, and Quint. “You three up on the stage where we can see and hear you.”
When everyone was in place, Myron said, “You have asked for this council meeting. There are a few things we need to understand between us. Outsiders cannot leave, nor can they live here in ordinary circumstances, however, in recent years, we have waived, or relaxed that rule. It would take but one traitor to bring down the king’s wrath on this village.”
He looked at each of them as he spoke, but as if sensing the impending danger, or maybe just wanting to find the reason for the council, he spoke rapidly. With a wave of his arm, he said, “These men are the elders you face and who will judge you. Camilla, the girl, is new to us, but she lived with outsiders her whole life and may hold some insight to your words, so she is here. Robin is the woman I spoke of earlier. She is only the second outsider to ever be welcomed into the Dragon Clan to my knowledge.”
Raymer didn’t feel as confident as he expected. The men looked hard but honest, the girl held a stern expression, and the woman appeared as if she didn’t like them at all. He understood. The three of them were a threat, even though they didn’t intend to harm the village. Their very presence was a danger, and all wanted to hear the extraordinary circumstances of the council.
Myron continued, looking directly at Raymer as if he stood alone. “You have a story to tell.”
Where to begin? He looked at Quint and pointed. “This man is of royalty in the Northwood kingdom. A year ago, he carried a treaty to King Ember, but was thrown into the dungeons and betrayed. The King has now assembled his troops and is moving them to the Northwood Kingdom border for a sneak attack.”
Myron asked, “What do we care of the wars of others?”
“You care for these reasons. Innocent people are going to die. A lot of them. And if King Ember wins this war, he controls all the lands surrounding your homes. All of it. There will be a thousand soldiers at your doorsteps, and they will locate you.”
A few exchanged glances, but nobody spoke, and Raymer felt he hadn’t convinced them of anything. “Quint here is my friend and a member of a powerful family. He is of the Earl’s family. If this invasion is defeated because of what happens here this day, the King will have fewer men to hunt us down, and we will have someone with great power who can help us.”