Suddenly the boy allowed his staff to fall to the ground and he bowed slightly. “You’re good.”
“I’ve had a lot of practice. You’re fast but need to learn to feint one way while attacking from the other.”
“They call me Bark and my brother Will tells me the same thing. Can you show me a move to surprise him?”
Shell nodded. “It’ll take practice, but if you go high like this . . .” he demonstrated and showed how to pretend one end of the staff was knocked high by the opponent, while the lower end became an unseen weapon. “Make sure your eyes raise to follow the upward tip of your staff to convince him, making his attention go high with your eyes.”
“While I strike his shin.”
“Strike an enemy between his legs, but not your brother.”
Bark repeated the moves, and as his staff turned and one end flew high, the bottom kicked out to attack. He moved to the trunk of a tree and repeated the moves again and again. Quester had silently watched the entire lesson. Now he stood and copied the boy’s moves.
Turning to Shell, he said, “This one move will take down any soldier.”
“Myron said you’re upset with me.”
Quester repeated the sequence of moves before answering. “He explained that you didn’t know I was Dragon Clan, and I accept that. But there is more. Between you and me there is a wall I cannot explain. Maybe it’s that I lived too long by myself and am not ready to accept choices another makes.”
“Myron suggested I leave today and you remain here. I think he wants to discover more about your lands to the east.”
Quester shrugged. “He said about the same to me, but he said you would wish to leave to chase after the girl, Camilla. He thinks you came here to find her.”
How can he know that? I never mentioned it to anyone. “I’ve heard of her, I’ll admit. But I told you the truth.”
“You leave today, and I’ll follow after. We still have a forest to cross and an ocean to sail across, and I don’t expect you to do that and become a hero while I relax here in the mountains with these people. Why don’t we walk up the hill and see if they’re ready for the council meeting?”
“I’m sorry I offended you.”
As they trudged up the pasture to the stone huts, the sounds of the boy called Bark attacking the tree with his staff followed them. When they arrived at the semi-circle of benches in front of the stone ledge they used for a stage, most of the seats were already filled. Food was again spread on tables, and the faces of the people were expectant. It was easy to see there had been many conversations last night and this morning; many had questions they wished to ask.
Myron called the meeting to order by saying, “Now that everyone has had time to think of questions, we’ll give you all the time you need to ask them. Shell has business to attend, so if you would direct questions to him first, I’m certain he would appreciate it.”
Shell felt his heart sink as he looked out at the eager faces. But the questions were less than he expected; more easily, and quickly answered. Most were directed at him, although Quester had interesting information to share.
Quester would remain behind for days and questions could be asked of him then. Shortly before the noon meal, the meeting broke up, and Myron called on Shell to give a few last-minute instructions, as well as to introduce another boy, an older one, named Buck. He would take Shell to the road leading to Nettleton, the town where Camilla had lived as a child, but he would cross the King’s Road and make his way to Fleming by a path taking him through the mountains.
Buck would lead the way to the road, and then Shell would be on his own. Myron handed him a package. “Cheese and hard-baked bread. And, a shirt Camilla likes to wear. When Buck starts to return here, have your wolf sniff it. Perhaps it can pick up the scent of her, especially if you help it understand that you wish to find this person.”
“I can try, but I don’t see how it can single out one smell in a whole sea of trees. The forest is full of smells, different ones from every plant and animal that lives there. A wolf can smell a hundred more of them than us, I guess, but how can it pick out the smell I want it to follow?”
“If you make it understand what you want it to do, the wolf can follow that single scent easily as you and I follow a path flagged with strips of red material.”
“Among the tens of thousands of others scents of the forest?” Shell asked. “I’ve had dogs that can follow scent and track, but I don’t understand it.”
Myron placed a hand on Shell’s shoulder. “People use their eyes. Wolves, their noses. From where we stand now there are tens of thousands of green leaves that you can see on that large tree growing in front of us. We see them all. That is how a person sees.”
“A wolf sees something else?”
“It smells something different. What if one of those leaves, just one, is not green, but bright red in color? A red so bright the leaf almost glows. Do you think that you could find it with your eyes among all the thousands of green ones?”
“Of course.”
“A wolf is like that, but with its nose. With the tens of thousands of scents out there, one of the smells is bright, glowing red. It will find the red one with its nose like you find a red leaf with your eyes, and then it will find the red leaf on the next tree and the next. That is how easy it is for your wolf to follow Camilla’s scent.”
Shell stood stunned, in awe that Myron knew more of his wolf than he did, and Shell believed everything the old man said.
Myron gently pushed his shoulder to get him moving. “Go say your goodbyes and follow Buck to the road. You have a long way to travel today. Take care of Camilla when you catch up with her. Or consider that she will take care of you.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Buck waited for him at the edge of the village. After speaking to a dozen people, all wishing him well, Shell walked up the hill to Buck and nodded that he wanted to leave. One last look over his shoulder found Brix, Robin, Myron, and Trace among the dozen who waved and called out good wishes to him. The boy called Bark held his staff high into the air in salute.
Quester stood to one side. He nodded once, then called, “I’ll be following a day or two behind, but will move twice as fast.”
Shell laughed but knew the comment held more truth than he cared to admit. Even with the wolf leading the way, Quester knew the ways of traveling from his time in the grasslands.
Buck led the way, striking a pace that ate the ground. They traveled between a split in the rock ground, emerging in a dense forest. Another look behind disclosed that even from up close, the front portion of the split in a solid cliff was unnoticeable.
Shell watched Buck turn several times quickly to search behind himself and realized he was not looking for people, but the wolf. That brought a smile to Shell because the wolf was not behind them, but ranging in front.
While he had talked to Quester and Myron, the wolf had slipped to the other side of the village through the opening in the rock. It now loped ahead, sweeping from side to side. From the mental impressions Shell received, she was pleased to be moving again. Twice it fell back and checked behind them, then quickly circled around and again took the unseen lead. When they reached a wide stream with a muddy bank, Shell noticed Buck reacted when he spotted the massive wolf footprints that had crossed only a short time earlier.
From the nervous way Buck moved, and the speed they traveled, Shell got the impression Buck would only be too glad to turn back at the road. After spending a good portion of the remaining daylight to cross a section of rubble at the base of a cliff, Shell asked, “How much farther to the road?”