The old man seemed to separate himself from me by keeping my sister between us while the boat returned to the other shore for another passenger. He was finished talking. But I was not.
*Anna, did you get any inkling of what he’s hiding?*
*It’s not hiding. Not exactly. There is just a subject he does not want to discuss. I don’t believe it places us in danger.*
Everyone has secrets.
But I was not satisfied and felt his reluctance to be honest with me placed his offer in jeopardy. We could use our original plan without any danger from him withholding information. The other consideration was that we would be refusing valuable help. The conflicting viewpoints had me in a quandary.
Kendra allowed her horse to drink its fill, then moved it to stand beside mine. She returned to where neither the old man nor I made eye contact—and noticed the tension. Her voice was cutting, “What is it?”
When he didn’t speak, I did. “He’s offered to help us. I like his idea, but he’s not telling the whole truth.”
Kendra glanced at the stubborn faces of both of us and looked off into the distance. We remained at the little standoff until she said, “Does anybody ever tell the whole truth?”
Coffin shrugged. “Not in my experience.”
“Mine neither,” she said deliberately, then faced the old man. “Does it matter to us?”
“Nope.”
She flashed a smile. “Then why are we talking about it?”
Coffin’s sad eyes returned to the surface of the lake.
I was still uneasy.
CHAPTER FIVE
Kendra’s admonition to us sat between us like a stone wall on a cold day. For me, I considered that most of the people who had provided help for us in the last ten years had probably withheld information of one sort or another. The fact that Anna could confirm my guess should make no difference.
However, it did. There is an impassible gap between suspecting and knowing. I tried to justify both positions and, in the end, couldn’t satisfy myself with either.
Anna burst into my head with a bright red flash of pure emotion followed by shouting. *Enemies! Attacking!*
“Enemies,” I said, turning to Kendra. “Anna says they are being attacked.”
“We have to go help,” she answered while searching the sky for Wyverns that might be trying to attack us. There were none. She scanned the surface of the lake for a boat. Again, there were none. We were stranded on the far side of the lake and couldn’t return in time to help.
I touched minds with Anna. *Tell me.*
*Soldiers. Ten of them.*
If I could get back across, even if they were taken a prisoner, I could use my magic skills to help, scant as they were. I said, “Kendra, send your dragon to help them.”
“How will it know who to kill?” she asked. “What if it makes a mistake?”
That gave me a bit of a pause but realized it could still help. Our people would know it was coming, but the soldiers did not. Maybe just the sight of it nearby would scare the men. “Have it fly low, right at them. The soldiers might run away. Can you make it scream as it flies over?”
Instead of answering, she closed her eyes, and I assumed she was trying. The old man rightfully looked confused. I said to him, “Soldiers from Dagger have attacked them.”
“How could you possibly know that?”
He didn’t follow up with the rest of the questions sure to come before Anna’s excited mental stab, *We beat them back. They lost three, two at the hand of Will and his sword. We have one boy with a small cut on his arm.*
*Great,* I responded in my mind then out loud continued to the old man, “In my mind, I can talk to the girl at a distance. The soldiers lost three in their attack. One of your sons is slightly wounded with a cut on his arm, nothing serious.”
“You are a mage?” the old man asked as he took a couple of steps away from me. His fingers made a complicated twist that was supposed to ward off magic, an old and entirely untrue belief.
For the first time, I had to answer that question out loud. It gave me a pause, despite the ongoing attack, the soldiers locating us, and our group being separated by a lake. Me, a mage? I searched for a definition, but each way I considered it, the result was the same. I was a mage.
A great one? No. A normal one? No, again. On the scale where mages are measured, if there is such a thing, I was at the very bottom. But I was on the scale. No matter how I tried to avoid associating or being identified with them, I was a mage. Just not a very good one.
“I am a mage,” I said aloud for the first time in my life, drawing reactions from both. The old man pulled away another step and held an arm up as if to ward me off. My sister gave me the smallest of smirks and a slight nod of her head as if satisfied I’d finally admitted the truth to myself.
Anna burst into my mind again, *They are going to attack again. They have bows they should have used the first time, but the fisherman boys had three bows in the hut. We’re outside now. It’s a standoff.*
If I had the numbers correct, there were now only seven soldiers against Anna, Will, Elizabeth, and the boys. Seven to five. I said to Kendra, “How long before your dragon gets there?”
“Count to twenty slowly.”
To Anna, I said, *The dragon will get there soon, flying low and screaming like it’s a devil from the depths of Turban. Tell everyone to get behind cover in case it attacks and does not know who is who.*
There was another pause, then she said, *We’re down and behind a little hill for protection. Here it comes. Just in time because they are starting another attack again with swords.*
I didn’t like the remark at the end. Why attack with swords when they had bows and could use them from a distance? The answer seemed obvious. They wanted some of us alive and overrunning us was the best way. Arrows are indiscriminate and kill. I said to Kendra, “Our people are under protective cover. If you can instruct the dragon only attack those out in the open, do it.”
She didn’t bother arguing that she had little, or no, control over the dragon’s actions beyond broad communication. She concentrated with a look in her eyes as far away as the other side of the lake. Sweat broke out on her forehead. Her jaw was so tight the muscles shown clearly as she breathed shallowly.
*We are all fine. The dragon swooped in and grabbed one solder in its mouth and shook it like a dog with a rat. It also snatched another in a rear talon and carried both high into the air—then dropped them to the ground right in the middle of the other soldiers. The falling body missed hitting the others, but not by much.*
*Then what?* I asked.
*They are running away. Not all in the same direction.* Her mental voice conveyed relief and laughter.
I said to Kendra, “Your dragon killed two and drove the others off. Everyone is safe.”
“For now,” she snapped, her anger belying the fact she was helpless to reach them.
*The barge is almost here. We don’t know what to do. If some of us leave, the ones here can’t hold off the attackers when they come again.*
I understood the problem instantly. Who to send across the lake next? Keep our best fighters on the far shore, but fewer of them? Send Anna here because she is a child and then we would lose our only communication? Send the princess? That seemed our best option. *Princess Elizabeth is next. We’ll figure out who will be after her.*