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Invading Will

Chapter 19

By: D. C. Henry ("Ahndeleck")

She hadn't expected Matthew's reaction. She was so used to pulling the blade back to her that it had become second nature. Maybe that knew her in Freeraven knew she could do it, and were as used to it as they could be. Matthew had never seen her return a sword to her, and having one fly suddenly into her hands must have scared him immensely. She almost felt rude for laughing at him.

He stood from where he fell and smiled back at her. No one ever smiled at her, and she turned from him, unsure what she was supposed to do next. She couldn't say anything, and it seemed wrong to just keep smiling back at him. Her sword, she could return to practice, something she knew well.

The tree had several blows all at the level of a man's chest. Her next throw would be at the head level. She hadn't done anything that warranted Matthew smiling at her, why would it in the first place? Everything she had done lead only to duty, could her duty make him happy? It didn't even make her happy.

When she released the blade, she felt her hold on it slip. The tumble brought it to fall short of the tree completely. It was the worst throw she had done in months. She felt her neck and ears grow hot. She clenched her fists as she walked to pick up her sword. From her first throw, a miracle that she could command the blade so soon, to a throw she hoped she would never do again, back to back. She felt mortified that Matthew had even seen it.

She picked up the blade and turned slowly. He was still watching her. He had to be mocking her. He would be thinking how much of a terrible thrown she had done. He would be thinking that she was a complete failure. She had to get away from him before she made more of a fool of herself.

"I think I'm done for the day. I'm going to see the dragon I think."

"Alright, I think he could definitely use some time with a friend. Just don't be surprised if he's angry."

"I would be."

Deanna didn't wait for a response and walked away from him. She wondered if he would laugh when she was out of earshot. He would laugh, she was certain of it. While she hadn't planned to visit the dragon today, it did provide a good distraction to get away from Matthew.

She would talk with him tomorrow. Hopefully the dragon would be well enough to fly a message down to Freeraven. Surely after what he had been through he could see the danger the nation was in. She knew that he would see how important his message would be to everyone in Freeraven.

******

The next day, Deanna woke and ate in the common kitchen. The food was wholesome, though not her favorite. She had worse though, especially when she helped track down the Red Fingers. At least she could eat well as a criminal on the road.

With breakfast finished, she needed to talk to the dragon. Something told her that he would be more difficult this time. She hated difficult, but they both needed each other to save Freeraven. While his attitude annoyed her, he had been helpful. This time would be his shining moment however, a chance to help more than he'd ever done.

She climbed down into the cellar where the dragon rested. He lay on the pile of blankets and rags they had given him, and scratched slowly on the stone floor. Hearing her coming down the steps, he looked up from his scratching. His spines hung limply on his face, and she could see depression outlined in his face. It would be a challenging talk.

"What are you doing?" Deanna stopped at the end of the stairs.

"Writing." The dragon looked down at the smooth stone floor, "Wishing I could actually. I lost my journal."

"I've heard." Deanna walked into the room and sat on a small box near the dragon. "I'm sorry Dragon. Are you feeling any better?"

"A little." He raised one wing slowly and looked at his side, still bandaged, "My side still hurts some, but I think its better. My shoulder doesn't hurt as much anymore either. There's still aches all over though."

"Everyone would have some aches after a fight like we had."

"It wasn't a fight." His eyes narrowed as he looked back at her, "They beat me. I couldn't fight back."

"Sometimes that's fighting as well, and you did well."

The dragon laid his head on the floor and closed his eyes. He sighed heavily, but remained silent. She wasn't used to the dragon not talking, he always said something.

"We'll be leaving tomorrow."

"Good," he opened his eyes, "I don't want to stay here any more. There's too many people I don't trust."

"I trust them."

"You trusted this mission we went on that lead to-" He narrowed his eyes, and his spines raised, "We went out here based on trust. Then they betrayed that trust. I trusted the people of Freeraven, and they betrayed that too. What makes these people trust worthy?"

"They've let you heal in their cellar dragon. We're fugitives that Torland-"

"That doesn't matter. They're people, and I don't like them."

"I don't like them either, dragon. That's why we have to leave tomorrow. That's why tomorrow we need you to fly back to Freeraven. You have to tell Prince Alan know what happened here, to prepare for Torland, and to gather our allies in the south."

"Why would I do that?" He raised his head.

"You have a duty dragon. You're a citizen of Freeraven and because of that you have a duty to protect her."

"To protect people that throw stones at me? Duty to that? A duty to people that won't even remember my name? Duty to her? Duty to people that let me get beaten? Duty to humans? I don't want any duty with humans any more."

"Dragon, you've-"

"I don't want to hear it," he shouted at her, baring his teeth and rage flashing in his eyes, "I don't care about any of you anymore. All of you are ruining my life. I shouldn't be here, I shouldn't be hated by people for no reason."

He stood and stared down at her. For the first time since she met the dragon, he stood truly intimidating. Deanna grit her teeth and stood her ground.

"I want out." He stepped closer, their noses nearly touched, "Now."

"Then go, and damn Freeraven to the slavery of the North."

"I will."

The dragon stomped his way to the stairway. He left deep gouge marks in the wooden steps as he climbed, and nearly ripped the door off its hinges when he left. Above, she heard his stomping, and Thomas's voice.

"Raogothcar, what's-"

"Leave me alone. I'm leaving."

"What? Why?"

"Because all of you are monsters, and I don't want to deal with you anymore."

"Raogothcar, wait a moment. We're not monsters, we're-"

"Get out of my way."

The anger in his voice melted resistance. She heard the door open, and then the stomping slowly fade until it was nothing. The savior of Freeraven stormed away from the cause. Her hope of a successful mission abandoned her in the middle of an enemy land. She stood from the box and shouted to the ceiling.

"Thomas, go after him. Bring him back."

******

Thomas ran outside, Raogothcar stood several steps from the church looking at the sky. Raogothcar looked over his shoulder as Thomas came down from the front door. He could tell Raogothcar was seething, and knew that any attempt to bring him back would be doomed already. Still, he had to try, since he met him, Raogothcar had become a friend.

"Raogothcar, please wait."

"Thomas, I don't want to hear anymore."

"I know Deanna can be a little short sometimes. She's yelled at me plenty of times back in the day. You can't let everything that she says get on you."

"You don't understand. None of you do."

Raogothcar spread his wings and leaped into the air. Thomas charged after him, knowing he couldn't chase after a flying dragon. His voice could though.

"We can understand if you give us a chance Raogothcar. We're different from you and can't see everything the same."

Raogothcar already passed the edge of the clearing.

"Damn it Raogothcar, come back. You know we're not like that. You know it."

He lost sight of him. Thomas kept running after him anyway, he had to think that Raogothcar would stop. His injuries might not have completely healed, and he could try and convince him to come back while he caught his breath. Maybe he would think twice about whatever was bothering him and turn around. Whatever the chances, he didn't want to give up on him.

After some minutes jogging through the trees, he stopped and listened. Nothing, there were no wing beats anywhere, and Thomas couldn't hear Raogothcar's voice either. Maybe he stopped further onward. Hope still burning in his chest, Thomas sprung forward. His second stop became just as silent, only the birds chirping and the leaves rustling in waves above him.

"Raogothcar!"

His voice trailed off through the leaves and branches. No response came to him from the sea of green above him. He ran forward, still hoping that he would see a flash of his hide above him. After another minute, he stopped and waited.

Thomas sighed and kicked a fallen branch. He left them. He might return later in the day, or even that night. Thomas thought Raogothcar as being reasonable and understanding, he would weigh everything and come back. He was sure of it.

As he turned, a low rumble mixed with metallic rattles fell to his ears. Thomas turned back in the direction that Raogothcar had come form and held a hand to his ear. Somewhere ahead of him, people were marching. The mayor from Fort Blister must have sent search parties out to find them, and his shouting around might have helped lead them in the right direction.

Thomas pulled a small knife from his belt and walked toward the sound cautiously. They sounded still a far way off, and from the rumble, as if it was far to large to be a search party. Fort Blister wouldn't send its whole army out after them, no one would go to that length to capture fugitives.

He remembered that there would be a road nearby, the main route from Fort Blister to Lussor. It could be just a traveling group of merchants. Thomas relaxed at the more plausible thought. Still, caution would only be prudent.

Large bushes, and small trees hid him from the road. The rumble of hundreds of feet grew as he approached. Thomas stopped near a fallen tree and watched. Through the small breaks in the bushes, he could see men walking by at regular intervals. There was too many to be merchants, it had to be Fort Blister's standing army. Deanna would want to know as much as he could discover of the group.

While the bushes proved to be a challenge to see through, Thomas saw enough to confuse his original idea. The men carried no weapons, and most seemed relaxed from the pieces of conversation spoken loud enough to hear. If they were an army, but not armed or ready to search for them, what would it be doing?

Another minute went by and the steam of men didn't slow or diminish. It would have been two minutes since he first heard the group, and at their pace, nearly two hundred people could have passed by. The army had to be more than just Fort Blister, the surrounding Barons must be moving. With a size as large as the western Barons, there might be scouts off the road.

Thomas drew his knife and looked around him. Only the sound of marching feet and tall trees surrounded him. Silently, he turned back to the church, stopping every so often to be sure no one was following him.

When he arrived, Thomas burst through the doors. Some of the studying priests stopped their work and stared as he ran up the stares. He could apologize later. When he reached the top of the stairs, he saw Deanna sitting at the table in the kitchen.

"Deanna, there's an army marching towards Lussor right now."

"What?"

"There's hundreds of men marching to the east. Fort Blister may have called off the search completely. I chased Raogothcar till I reached the road and I heard them marching. If that army is actually marching for Lussor, they'll be readying a fleet."

"Damn Torland. They're moving much faster than I would have expected. How many of them are there?"

"Enough that I thought I couldn't stay and count. Hundreds at the least. I don't think they plan on moving very fast though. They didn't appear to be ready or war, only moving. The force is large enough they may have scouts off the roads though. Especially since we're at large I figure-"

"Yes, I know. It's not safe here any longer. We're going to have to leave.

"What about Raogothcar?"

"He's gone. We can't talk to him and he's flown off. He's on his own now."

"We could wait till the army's gone by and then search for him. He might still be able to get word to-"

"He's gone Thomas, just like Richard."

"That's different Deanna, Richard's a traitor, Raogothcar's just confused and angry right now. Maybe after a few days he'll want to help us again."

"With Torland armies marching, we don't have that sort of time or luxury. We've got to take care of this problem ourselves. Can we get ahead of them, get to Lussor first?"

"It wouldn't be easy, long days, and it would still be a long way to Lussor."

"Deanna," Matthew walked down the hall towards them, "Thomas, what's going on? Sister Josephine said something had gone wrong. Where's Raogothcar?"

"He's gone." Deanna said, "Then there's the Torland army marching towards Lussor."

Matthew shook his head as he sat beside Thomas, "Neither of those sound very good. What are we going to do?"

"I want to beat them to Lussor. We'll get there first, and then we can get to Freeraven before any of their soldiers do. The more warning we can give Freeraven, the sooner we can rally Nyland and Esmorin to fight off Torland."

"They don't have any real head start either." Thomas said, "I think they only just started marching by now. If we leave soon, we can stay ahead of them the entire time. Maybe get to Lussor a day ahead of them, and if we hurry a day and a half."

"Well, I'll go gather some things together then." Matthew stood and headed to his room.

Thomas noticed Deanna watching Matthew walk away. She was still studying him, trying to learn him. Thomas was convinced that he was genuinely trying to help them, but Deanna still seemed unsure.

"He'll stick with us. He helped us get out of Fort Blister, and then helped Raogothcar. Anyone like that is worth a little trust. Up here we can't second guess any ally we have."

"I'm not second guessing him."

"Just don't be too critical Deanna. If you expect too much from-"

"Are you telling me what to do Thomas? I don't need your advice, especially when its about how to treat anyone that serves under me."

"Alright. I won't say any more."

Thomas stood and walked away from the table. She was too critical, and she did demand too much from those around her. Deanna pushed Raogothcar away from them, and now their situation had gotten worse because of it. Freeraven's situation looked grim, without any speedy warning, it could fall to Torland.