“You like me?”
“As opposed to despising you for following me and trying to change the wolf’s name behind Henry’s back. I should have said, I am learning to tolerate you because now you’re going to confuse like with love, and it isn’t anything like that.”
Shell just smiled like an idiot, his grin stretching across his face until it hurt. Her protest was too loud and too long for it to be true. He lifted his gaze to the road ahead, and beyond. The roofs of the first buildings of Fleming were in sight when they found a wide, shallow stream with a path along one side.
When they were concealed by willows, cottonwoods, and cattails, Shell prepared to ask Pudding to come to him. He felt her resting slightly ahead of them. She stood, but when she stepped out of the undergrowth a few steps away, Camilla drew back.
The sight of a predator so close, with its head almost reaching to her chin, and weighing close to twice what Camilla did, must have startled her. She recovered quickly, holding out her hand in greeting. Pudding stepped closer and rubbed her chest on the side of Camilla’s leg, then sat and allowed Camilla to talk to her while stroking the wolf’s neck.
A butterfly flitted past, and Pudding snapped at it from reflex, drawing laughter from the two people. The butterfly continued flying on, but Pudding kept her amber eyes on it.
“She’s beautiful,” Camilla said.
“If you like your beauty tall, lanky, and dangerous.” The wolf was receiving more affection than she ever had, and Shell felt a tinge of jealousy. He also felt the twitch on his back that told of the dragon flying nearer.
Camilla paused with her playfulness with the wolf and looked up.
Shell said, “There’s more I need to tell you.”
“You mentioned you wanted to speak alone. Go ahead.”
“At Henry’s farm, there were five of them waiting for me, all with shovels and ax handles. I was so angry at what they did to Henry, I sort of lost my head and went after them all.”
“And your staff, I suppose, which evened things out considerably.”
“Nope. It was in the house, forgotten. I went with my fists,” Shell said, hanging his head in shame.
“Well, that was stupid, but I understand. Did Pudding save you?”
“No, a dragon had landed beside me a few days before, just as we arrived at your village. A small dragon. A Red. It stood no taller than me, but otherwise, it was the same as full sized dragons. At Henry’s home, it flew from nowhere like in the old Dragon Clan stories, and attacked the Smithson men, knocking them to the ground and tearing into them.”
“Don’t stop just when the story is getting good,” Camilla said when he paused at the memory.
“Well, it saved me, then flew over their farmhouse and started spitting acid. Some of it hit the stove I guess because there was smoke coming out the chimney. The house burst into flames.”
“Where was Pudding?”
“Killing all of their stock. He was very upset that they hurt Henry.”
“Whew, that’s a story. Those people deserved to have their stock killed and house burned if you ask me. The red dragon was small? I’ve never heard of one like that.” Camilla continued, asking reasonable-sounding questions that put Shell on edge.
His voice grew sharper. “It looked and acted like an adult in all ways but how small it was.”
“But the two of you didn’t bond? You chose a wolf instead?”
Shell hesitated. Her choice of words was offensive, even if the tone was not. She still sat and stroked the coarse fur of the wolf’s back and down her side, now and then pausing to remove a sticker or bit of tangle in the fur. He decided that if she had a hairbrush with her, she would brush her coat, and Pudding certainly seemed to be enjoying the attention. With a shock, he realized he hadn’t hardly touched the wolf as she and Henry had.
He said carefully, “I don’t know what happened in either case. There is a sort of bond with the wolf. I can tell where it is at all times, and we can exchange simple messages. Impressions might be a better word. But I cannot see through its eyes or hear what it hears, not the way bonding with dragons has been explained to me.”
Camilla rubbed the wolf under its chin, her hand idly searching for more tangles. “Then tell me about bonding with your dragon.”
“It’s not my dragon.” She seemed intent on wording conversation in ways to irritate him. “I’m not sure what happened, but of all the things I’ve heard about bonding with dragons, the only one that seems to hold true is that I can sense it nearly all the time, the same as you. But it follows me.”
“That’s not bonding because you’re right. I sense it, too. Dragons have been known to seek out others of the Dragon Clan and follow them for days or weeks, especially in times of danger. It’s happened recently to Fleet, and others. But it is not true bonding.” Camilla gave the wolf a final pat and stood.
Shell asked, “So, what do you think?”
“I think we should start for Fleming. We have things to do.”
She’s avoiding answering me. “We can still talk while we’re on the road.”
When she didn’t respond, he stood and started back to the road, head down, thinking. The Red dragon remained in contact, if barely, the wolf was ranging out to his left moving twice as fast and would soon be far ahead of them. Camilla walked almost silently behind. He missed Henry and his innocent talk and endless questions. And as he reached the road and turned west, the city of Fleming and the promise of what might happen stood ahead under a pall of dark smoke.
Camilla caught up and walked beside him. She remained silent for a long time, then said, “We should discuss a plan. I had one when I was going there alone, but you should tell me what you think.”
I should be honest. “I’m scared, is what I think. The grasslands are a different world, and the stories we heard about fighting against an invasion by Breslau were. . . romantic and exciting. I wanted to be part of it, but since leaving home, I’ve learned how little I know.”
Camilla said, “I know the feeling. Everyone I meet thinks I’m an expert on Breslau, but all I did was escape the King’s men to live with the Bear Mountain Clan. But, if the family messengers are right, there are a lot of us trying to stop Breslau, and we’d better succeed because there is nowhere else for us. It’s win or else.”
Shell took hold of her arm and made her stop. “Listen, there is one other part of my story I have not told you yet.”
“Yet? Like you were going to? Or not?” She yanked her arm away.
“It wasn’t relevant until now. Actually, I told you part of it at the cabin but got sidetracked. I was going to tell you all of it. Remember, Myron kept my friend because he had important information?”
“Shut up and tell me.”
Despite her impossible demand, he thought of how to begin. In other circumstances, Shell would have laughed at her statement, but kept his voice earnest and conversational. “Remember, I met another traveler on the way here? His name is Quester, at least now it is. We traveled together a few days and found out we were both Dragon Clan, but he’s from a family that lives near the mountain on the other side of the grasslands.”
“There are no mountains beyond the grasslands, and no Dragon Clan lives there.”
“I thought so too, but we’re both wrong. They do. And beyond those Blue Mountains are more grasslands and then another sea, with at least five kingdoms and thousands of Dragon Clan. Quester said there are several Families spread out, just like here in Princeton.”