The ship sailed smoothly, barely moving fore and aft, and a fresh breeze kept it leaning to port, but not so much it was uncomfortable. He wanted to leave the dark cabin and warm himself in the sun, but Carrion needed him at his side.
Twice more in the morning, Carrion reported what he saw, which was nothing of importance. Then, as Tanner sat in the chair and dozed in the afternoon, Carrion sat up, eyes wide open.
He said, “Dragons.” Then he closed his eyes again and laid back down.
Tanner wanted more information, but didn’t dare interrupt whatever Carrion was doing.
Carrion was silent for a while, then he moaned, and sweat broke out on his forehead. Tanner thought about wiping it with a cool, damp rag and decided against it. The shock of the rag might interfere with his concentration.
Carrion’s eyes popped open and looked at Tanner. “Three dragons were flying low. We followed them to the mountains. There is a place where the mountains are almost solid rock, not a tree or bush in sight. One has slopes that are almost vertical, all the way around, as if a giant sliced the top off of a column of rock. There were, at least, ten more dragons roosting there.”
“Thirteen? I’ve only seen four or five of them roosting together.”
“I think half were juveniles.”
“They didn’t sense you? Or your red?”
“Nope. They didn’t see us either because we were so high, although I think one either saw us or ‘felt’ us. It became agitated, and flew off, circling and searching, but it was looking below, not up.”
“That was lucky.”
Carrion nodded, took a long pull on a mug of water and pointed to a spot on the map Tanner was drawing. “Right about here. I’d better be getting back.”
Tanner watched with feelings of awe, jealousy, fear, and joy. He could only imagine what wonders Carrion experienced. He bent to dip his pen in the bottle of black ink.
Carrion said with his eyes still closed, “We’re over the river, flying downstream. There’s green on both sides, and we just passed a few small houses, barns, and outbuildings. No planted fields, but it looked like animals grazing. Tell you about it later.”
Tanner dutifully made a few notations and waited for more information. He glanced at the map as a whole and realized even the few additions they had made were more than any in the Dragon Clan had made in hundreds of years.”
While he was thinking these thoughts, Carrion said, “Late in the day and my dragon is tired. We’re heading out into the drylands for the night. We need to find a deer to eat.”
“What about those animals grazing? The farmers can’t stop you.”
“But they will talk about a red dragon. They may have never seen one before and then rumors will fly. If possible, we need to get in, find out what we can, and leave without attracting attention.”
Carrion turned silent again. Just before darkness fell, he sat up and declared how hungry he was. He also wanted to walk on deck and breath some fresh air as he talked about his day. Carrion stood on knees that wobbled. He reached to Tanner for support.
They left the cabin and went to the rail where they stood and watched the night pass. The stars were sharp, the air crisp, and the sounds of the ship soothing.
Tanner said, “When you feel like it, tell me what you saw.”
“The river is wide, even in the mountains. It is getting even wider as it reaches the flatter ground. I think it must be shallower, too. There are islands where debris piles up. As expected, I saw more farms, but we only flew down a tenth of it.”
“Why would the Royals hide the fact that so many people live on the river?”
“I have a guess, but it is only a guess. When I was young, there was a woman. I think she may have been from there. I know she was not from Princeton. She asked me an odd question one time, and I remember it because it was so odd. She asked me the names of the three cities that the three points on King Ember’s crown represent.”
Tanner said, “I didn’t know they represented any.”
“Me neither. I don’t think they do, but if she were from Breslau and asked that question, it would be logical to assume that the five points on their crown represent five of their cities.”
“Even so, that doesn’t account for the secrecy of the river.”
“Maybe not,” Carrion said. “But what if there are five cities located on the river? Five that were joined together into one kingdom?”
“That might be. But why would they hide them?”
Carrion said, “Some cultures think in the long term. If, and I’m saying ‘if’ they wished to hide them and the river, one method would be to deflect attention to another place. Invite your enemies to only visit that place.”
“Like Breslau City.”
“Build a castle high on a hill so that everyone can see it from the port and build a city around it. While the real seat of power lies on the river where no strangers ever venture. It’s a wild idea, but for some reason, it feels right.”
“You’re going to have to be careful flying down the river. It will take only a few sightings to warn them.”
They stood lost in thought with neither speaking, until the Captain walked to their side. He asked a few questions and then said, “No other ships spotted, but we’re prepared to veer off if we see any. This time of the year, in Breslau there are a lot of clouds, but as I remember it, little rain.”
He departed on his rounds after a few more exchanges, but Carrion perked up. When the Captain was out of hearing range, he said, “We have at least ten more days of sailing. The Captain said there are clouds this time of year. I’ll just keep my dragon grounded until we have clouds, and we can hide in them.”
“Can you see the ground if you’re in them?”
“I tend to forget that you’ve never bonded, so I apologize. I can have my red fly in the clouds where we cannot be seen from the ground, and we can’t see the ground. But he can fly lower, where the bottom of the clouds is still there to protect him. From there he can fly in and out of the clouds, getting a good look.”
“If you say so.”
“We just have to be patient and wait for the right days.”
“If they don’t come?”
“We’re no worse off than now. If we don’t have any cloudy days for the next seven, we still have three more to fly down the river.”
They agreed to the plan. The following morning Carrion shook Tanner awake. “Hey, we have clouds so the red and I are already up there.”
“How long have you been awake?”
“Not long. Just thought I’d better let you know.”
He closed his eyes and laying on his back, appearing dead with his hands crossed over his chest. Tanner climbed to his feet and threw the bolt on the door before the cook or a crewman looked in on them and fainted.
Sitting in the chair again, he reviewed the conversation of the night before with a fresh outlook. He believed they had discovered the secret of Breslau. If an enemy attacked, they would be at the wrong place. Tanner suddenly had an insight of his own. If an enemy were drawn to attack at the wrong place, they would seek out the right one, unless something prevented them.
That was the key. An enemy would attack Breslau City, but then what? Nobody, not even the Captain, had mentioned a large military presence in the city. Perhaps there was none. Even though the castle was an obvious target, it was nearly unprotected. Why?
Tanner believed he knew. Breslau City was a decoy. The real power was located in the vastness of the river where there was unlimited fresh water for cooking, drinking, and agriculture. The five points of the Breslau royal crown indicated five kingdoms, five families, five cities, or five of something else that was on the river.