Not such a long wait for this chapter. I felt I owed it to my readers: Dawn.

Stone

Chapter 19. The Battle

Stone realized that he was in battle mode. He looked around as he pulled Pate, and saw a wireframe in the distance. It was red, a sign that it was an imminent danger to him. He soon realized that it was a dragon, breathing fire as it swooped around the fields of the farm they were passing. A gust of fire hit the thatch of the barn, and it caught fire.

The farm family ran out, and it was soon apparent that they could not see the dragon. It started to burn down the house they came out of. The family just stood by in shock as flames seemed to spout from no place and burn down their place.

Meanwhile, Stone was flicking Pate about, to stop the arrows that were aimed at his head. Then the arrows started piercing his thigh, painfully. He looked to the left, and saw Rayla there, shooting arrows into his leg since she couldn’t get to his head. But she was only about five feet away: too close for an arrow to have any power. The arrows shouldn’t be able to penetrate at such close range. But they were and they hurt like hell. Blood was gushing from the wounds.

Pate took it badly, and flicked at her. Stone watched in horror as the blade first sliced into her bow, effectively stopping the attack. But the sword continued, and slicked off both of her lower arms at the elbow. She looked up at him in surprise, and then Pate flicked back, and sliced through her tiny waist, killing her.

Stone looked down in horror, and then noticed the two little bodies next to her. One was a black boy in buckskins, and a chocolate-hued girl in a red dress. The horror struck Stone: it was the children. Had he killed them? No wonder Rayla was shooting at him.

As he watched, stunned, there was a roar approaching. Looking to the side he saw that it was the dragon: sounding like a badly tuned semi truck. Stone turned and saw there was a rider on the dragon. It was a girl wearing a golden corset: a very pretty blonde girl. She was aiming the dragon straight for him.

Doug surged forward, and Pate sang as he lifted her into the air. The girl looked shocked when it became apparent that he saw them, and was about to fight back. The next few seconds seemed to all happen at once, even in his battle mode. The dragon shot out a huge gust of fire and burning brimstone. Pate sliced into the head of the beast, splitting it in two. The girl looked on in shock as the sword went in between the two halves of the dragon’s head and then hit her. Pate struck into the corset, making a squealing sound as it cut through the garment and then sliced into her. Finally the sword hit the rear of the corset and welded itself to the metal with a sickening thud as the girl fell into parts.

Stone felt a blinding pain as Doug fell to the ground, burnt to a crisp by the dragon’s fire. Then the pain subsided, and he rose up a few feet. He looked down and saw his own body, burned to well done for the first several inches in from the outside. Looking around he observed the carnage. The people from the house could now see the dragon, and approached fearfully. The girl was dead, split nearly in two. Doug was dead, and then a small flaming mound dropped near Rayla’s body. Arthur must have been seared in the sky. His children were dead, and he couldn’t mourn them more if the had been his from birth. And Rayla, his beloved, was cut into pieces by his own sword. His spirit started keening a loud and distressing dirge: not a song, not a death knell, but something else entirely. He slowly rose into the air, continuing the wail.

Then he felt water spash into his face. He opened his eyes and saw O’Breyne holding an empty water bucket. At the other end of the caravan was Rayla, cuddling two terrified children. The keening continued, until Stone closed his mouth.

“Rayla, you are alive,” he gasped. He moved towards her, but she shrank back, even though she was already in the far corner of the tiny caravan.

“A dream, Captain?” O’Breyne suggested.

“Far worse than that,” Stone said, his heartbeat only starting to return to normal after what he had gone through. “A nightmare: the worst nightmare possible. We died. We all died. Thank God you are all well.”

“Daddy,” a small voice said. “Please don’t ever sing that song again. It scares me.”

“I know sweet heart, but your old Daddy is back. Do you forgive me?”

“Yes Daddy. I loves you,” Emily said with her slight lisp. She pulled away from Rayla and darted over to him to hug him. He could feel her body trembling, and held her tight until she started to calm down.

“I bes’ be goin’ out and telling ever’one that all’s well agin,” O’Bryne said. “Yer caterwailing musta got ever’ one worked up some. I’ll sleep under agin.”

Seeing Emily in Stone’s arm caused Jason to rush over to join him. Finally Rayla came too, and Stone was glad that he could hold his entire family in his strong arms.

“What time is it?” Stone wondered aloud.

Rayla pulled away reluctantly and looked out the door of the caravan. She looked east first, and then west, towards the camp. It was the night of the camp halfway between Greenwood and Greenford. She came back to cuddle some more, and reported: “No signs of light from the east, and the camp fire is just embers. I would guess it is sometime between 2 a.m. and 5.”

“Too early for little heads, then,” Stone said as he rocked Emily a bit. Her fear and tenseness were gone, and she was starting to nod off. He lifted her and put her in the box that was her bed in the caravan, and then urged Jason to his tiny bed. In a few minutes both were sound asleep, as if nothing had happened.

Rayla got into Stone’s strong arms, and pushed him back into their bed, where he recounted the dream.

“You can’t shoot an arrow from that distance,” she argued at one point. “It’s a matter of physics.”

“When has physics had anything to do with a dream, or nightmare,” Stone replied. “I mean, only in a nightmare would I kill you. That was worse than being fried myself inside that dragon.”

“Are there even dragon’s in this world?” she said, happily cuddled in his arms.

“I don’t know. If there is a storyteller in Greenford we will have to ask.”

They slowly got to sleep, and slept until O’Breyne shook the door to let them know that the camp was rising, and breakfast would happen soon.

They reached Greenford that evening, and it was just as booming as Greenwood had been, with more streets and more building and businesses going on. Both communities had far surpassed the point of being villages, and were now small towns.

The reaction was similar to Greenwood, although there was no game planned: just a busy day stocking up. In the dry goods store Rayla found more bolts of cloth that she just had to have, and Stone asked the merchant where he got his stocks.

“There is a linen mill in Sarn,” he said. “But I haven’t gotten much out of them lately. I guess things down there are pretty hectic, what with the duke taxing everything so dearly.”

“I hope that we can straighten that town around,” Stone replied. “I expect it would be a major undertaking to move an entire mill to one of our towns.”

“Yes. I think they had over 300 slaves there,” the man said. “When the duke declared all of them free a few came up this way to work in other trades. I don’t know if enough stayed on to keep the mill viable.”

“If they did, you can expect your next batch of goods will be dearer,” Stone explained. “It costs a bit more to run a business when you are paying wages. Now, the other thing I hope to find in Sarn are miller’s wheels. You don’t know if the local miller has a spare set, do you?”

Just then a woman who had been comparing fabric with Rayla darted out the door. She came back in, followed by a man in tradesmen clothing.

“Excuse sir,” the man said. “My wife said you were asking about miller stones. Perhaps I can help?”

“Do you know of any?” Stone asked, getting excited.

“Not here in Greenford,” the man replied. “But I worked for a miller in Sarn, and when we were all freed almost the entire workforce left. After working a bit as a carpenter’s assistant I find I would like to go back to milling. Others in town may feel the same, or some of the ones up in Greenwood.”

“Where is this wheel?” Stone asked.

“At the old mill in Sarn,” the man said. “We didn’t even get the new wheels installed before we all quit. With the couple men he has left I doubt it has moved. He might sell it to you. Or you could just take it, like the old duke would have had he any use for it. But he just wanted to take the flour we made, not the tools to make it.”

“No, taking things is not our way,” Stone said. “What do you think it is worth?”

“In normal times, probably 75 gold,” the man replied. “But these days, you might get it for 10 gold.”

“We were thinking 50.”

“At that price he won’t be able to shake your hand fast enough,” the miller said. “I’d come down with you to show you the place if I didn’t have to look after the wife here.”

“Why don’t you both come,” Stone said, getting an eager nod from Rayla. “Your lady can talk fabrics with my wife …” Rayla beamed on hearing her title “… and you both won’t be much trouble on the wagons. Food is plentiful, and good, I am told. I will introduce you to the mill owner when we get to Greenstone. And I will pay you four silver a week for your time ‘til then.”

“Do you think your miller would like some help setting up?” the man asked. “I can mention it to the other boys in town, and they can head north themselves while we go to Sarn to get the wheel. I’m not the only one who wants to get back to what we know. They might be able to get the mill ready before we get the wheel to them.”

“I think that is possible,” Stone replied. “Have them tell the miller that we should be able to get a wheel. I’ll even cut two soldiers out of the group coming with me to accompany them, and prevent any problems with bandits.”

The man darted off, and his wife remained with Rayla for the rest of the day as she shopped for vegetables and other goods for the train to keep the meals tasty.

They spent the night in the local hotel, and the kids, who had spent the day trailing after O’Brayne were ecstatic at being able to sleep indoors, even though it was on cots brought into their parent’s room. The next night would be a camp out again, and then they hoped to be in Sarn, which excited the children to no end. Greenwood and Greenford had be exciting for them, but Sarn was the end of the trip and they acted as though it was a city with streets paved in gold.

At supper that night, Arthur alerted Rayla that there was a band of about 50 bandits hidden a few miles from the campfire. Stone got the soldiers together and set up a perimeter, warning the wagoneers and other men to get weapons to provide a reinforcement line. O’Breyne took the children into the caravan, while Rayla got her bow and quiver and took a horse off to the north, within bow range of the line.

In about 15 minutes the bandits attacked. They were a ragged lot, and only a few were mounted. Half of those didn’t have stirrups, and slid from their saddles to fight. They had been expecting to barge in on a group around the campfire, and were surprised to find an experienced, training band of soldiers who quickly ran after them, killing a dozen in the first minute. That caused the others to stop. One who was fighting on horseback, and doing well for him self, whistled and then threw down his sword. Stone recognized him from the battles with Kona.

“Captain, I surrender,” he shouted to Stone. “I think the others will as well.”

A ragged man on foot came up to him and started to yell: “I am the leader of this group, not you and your other horse fighters. I’ll teach you a lesson.” He started at the man with his sword raised. The man on the horse looked to the ground, where his sword lay. Just then an arrow whistled out of the north and went between the shoulder blades of the ragged man, who fell dead yards from the man on the horse.

“So you see we have artillery as well as swords,” Stone shouted. “Trooper, come forward. Any others who drop their weapons can join us for dinner. It is stew, but hearty.”

There was a rush of just over 30 men who came forward. The men hadn’t eaten in four days, and the smell of the food was what had led them to the camp.

After the men had eaten, or most of them had … some were on second and third helpings … Stone addressed the men. As he expected, most were soldiers of the Duke, and had turned to banditry to feed themselves after he had stopped paying them. Stone offered to let them to head on to Greenford, where they could get free meals for three days, and then take on honest work. Most of the men jumped at the offer: they were not lazy, and the chance of legal work, and a daily meal, was appealing.

In the morning the men were surprised to get an oatmeal breakfast before their march north to Greenford, starting off early and at a fast clip in hopes of getting to the town before the evening suppertime. The rest of the train headed south on their last day towards Sarn.