Dragons of the Watch (20 page)

She and Bealomondore took turns reading aloud, not to Tak but to each other. Ellie took the first few pages of the diary, holding the book open with one hand and resting her free hand on top of the piles of daggarts wrapped in packets of a dozen each.

“Do you think you can keep them from falling?” asked Bealomondore tilting his head toward the wagon’s load.

Ellie looked up and laughed. “I think I’m keeping
me
from falling. I can feel when the road is rough beneath the wheels.”

“Very clever. You shall be useful to have around.”

She smiled at him, not quite sure how to respond to that statement. In lieu of saying something clever, she went back to reading.

They learned the girl’s name in the next entry.

“Mother says, ‘Tilly, do something useful.’ But when I ask what I can do, Father says, ‘Stay out of the way, Tilly Genejolly.’ ”

“A couple more syllables and Tilly Genejolly would make a good tumanhofer name,” Bealomondore said.

Ellie read the part about two women dying on board the ship, one in childbirth, and one just wasting away, too seasick to eat. Ellie cried, and Bealomondore took the book and read a couple more entries. The third entry after the unfortunate deaths revealed that the baby had survived.

“Now why didn’t she say that right away?” asked Ellie.

“She’s young,” Bealomondore said. “In all likelihood, it was her
first experience with death but not with someone in her circle of friends having a new baby in the family. She wrote about what touched her the most.”

Ellie stretched out her palm and wiggled her fingers. Bealomondore placed the book in her hand. She turned back a few pages and read again the page that had upset her.

“Mistress Cannust hasn’t left her bed for over a week now. I don’t really know how many days. My mother says ten days, and Porta’s mother says fifteen. My mother is probably right. Porta’s father says if she doesn’t get up soon, she’ll die, just like when an animal on the farm goes down. He says Mistress Cannust will be the first death we’ve had on the ship. ‘Halfway to Chiril and only now losing one of our own.’ That’s what he said. Those words
.

“My father grumbled at him. Two sailors have died. Though they aren’t one of us, my father says it is uncaring not to count them.”

Ellie turned the page.

“Mr. Mellow is right. It’s horrible. Kimbin Erllee screamed a lot. Her baby was coming. I went up on deck so I wouldn’t have to listen. I could still hear her some, so I moved to the stern of the ship. I curled up into a tight ball and put my hands over my ears. The wind wasn’t blowing, the sails weren’t flapping and snapping, and the waves weren’t splashing much against the hull. Sailors called it a doldrum, nothing much happening. But in the belly of the ship, that wasn’t true. I wish it had been.”

Ellie took a deep, steadying breath and turned another page.
“Last night, Mistress Erllee was still screaming when my mother made me go to bed. Porta came to sleep with me because we were both crying. Her mother went to help Mistress Erllee, though she said there wasn’t anything she could do. Not really. My mother went to sit with Mistress Cannust. She said there wasn’t anything she could do either. So it happened. Mistress Cannust died
.
As soon as my mother got back to our cabin, word came that Mistress Erllee had a puny runt baby. That’s not the words they said, but that’s what I saw in my head and remembered
.

“So one was dead and one was born
.

“I figured the baby would die next. But I was wrong. Mistress Erllee died. She’d quit screaming, even before the baby came. Now Mr. Erllee stood in the hallway. I could see through the open door. He cried. My father hugged him and patted his shoulder. My father looked like he might cry too. I did cry. Porta didn’t. She’d gone to sleep. I don’t think you should sleep when someone is hurting in his heart so very, very bad.”

Ellie closed the book and stopped walking. Bealomondore stopped as well, but Tak stepped forward without a care. Ellie turned to Bealomondore to see him studying her.

She pushed a bit of curly hair away from her face. “That last entry was more than her usual one page. She didn’t even write big to fill up the lines faster.” She sniffed, but no more tears fell. “I hope her mother found her crying and scooped her up in her arms and rocked her. That’s what she needed. She needed to be held.”

Bealomondore and Ellie walked in silence.

The bells on Tak’s harness jingled softly. He looked striking with red straps, tarnished gold bells, and his pure white coat. He did love to pull the proper goat cart at home, but he seemed to be much more conceited about pulling the toy wagon. He held his chin high, and he pranced. After several hours, he still strutted in a high-step that should have worn him out.

Ellie watched him. What was going on with her dear pet? He didn’t act like himself, and she greatly needed him to be good old Tak. She needed someone to hold. She needed to bury her face in his long white hair and whisper all her troubles. She knew it was ridiculous to unburden
herself on a “dumb farm animal.” But she’d done it many times. And Tak had never made fun of her disappointments. He didn’t discourage her from dreaming big dreams. He never revealed her secrets to another. He just listened.

She hadn’t noticed Bealomondore crossing over to her side, where she walked by the wagon. But his arm came around her, and he guided her off the road into a little overgrown park. Tak followed, jingling those ludicrous bells.

“We all need a break,” said Bealomondore. “We’ll rest in the shade while it’s hot and finish our trip in the late afternoon. We can probably time it to get to the library after the horde has turned in for the night.”

He gently pushed Ellie down on a bench and sat beside her. With his arm around her, she naturally leaned her head against his shoulder.

“Ellie, it’s time I told you more about Wulder. You don’t need to whisper to Tak when times are hard or when you’re excited about something. Wulder won’t make fun of you, or discourage you, or tell your secrets to others. He truly listens, but He also has the power to change things. Maybe the circumstances, or maybe you, so you can handle the circumstances.”

Ellie leaned back. She felt her eyes go wide. “You listened to my thinking. How? Why? I don’t like that. I don’t. How could you do that? Why would you do that? I didn’t know you could mindspeak to me. I didn’t know you could hear me thinking.” She pulled farther away from him.

His expression surprised her. He looked shocked. He shook his head in a small, steady, and intense motion. “I never have before. I didn’t even know I was doing it. I mean, I heard, but it seemed just like you were talking to me. Only I knew you weren’t. That you were thinking. But it seemed so natural.”

He paused. He looked so confused and genuinely perplexed that Ellie almost took pity on him. But her outrage at his intrusion sat like a block between them.

“I’m sorry,” he said, then shook his head. “No, not really. Somehow it was right.”

“It was wrong,” said Ellie. Her voice amazed her. She didn’t sound angry. She was angry, wasn’t she?

He nodded vigorously. “You’re right. It was wrong. But it wasn’t.” His speaking came to a halt. After a few seconds he started again. This time with more of the confidence she enjoyed hearing in his every bit of conversation.

“It is wrong because it is an invasion of privacy. But it is not wrong, in this case, because we’re supposed to learn something from this. We are supposed to step up to a new level in our relationship.”

“Relationship?”

“No longer strangers who met in a bottle city. No longer co-workers, surviving and gathering information to allow us to escape. No longer just friends who enjoy each other’s company.”

Ellie merely gazed at him, not sure what to expect.

“I didn’t intentionally listen in on your thoughts. I don’t want you to be angry with me for something that came so naturally. I didn’t even notice the oddity until it was over. Let’s be patient, Ellie. I think we are going to have an unusual relationship, something powerful and astonishing. Something Wulder has ordained.”

He picked up her two hands in his. “Can you forgive the trespass?”

Speechless, she nodded.

He dropped her hands and pulled her into a hug. “And the first thing we are going to do together as something stronger than a team is
gain Old One’s confidence with tea and daggarts. Then we will tame the wild ones.” He paused. “That may take more than daggarts.”

She started laughing.

“It’s going to be all right, Ellie.”

She nodded and giggled and leaned into his embrace.

They resumed their journey, but the wound and the healing took its toll on Ellicinderpart’s stamina. After two hours of steady walking, she staggered and almost fell. Her hand on the side of the cart kept her upright. “I’ve got to stop and rest, Bealomondore. I’m accustomed to hiking, but not while talking nonstop.”

“There’s a shady spot ahead.”

Beneath a huge spinet tree, they paused for a break, and Bealomondore tucked Tilly’s diary into the cart.

Ellie sat in the cool grass. Bealomondore checked the harness on Tak to make sure the unusual device wasn’t wearing on his hide. He then went to sit beside his lady tumanhofer.

She picked a small purple wildflower and sniffed it, then offered it to Bealomondore. “I’ve never talked like that to anyone.”

He took it and threaded the stem through the buttonhole on his lapel. “Do you mean for that length of time?”

“No. I guess I mean the content. I’ve never had a friend to share ideas with. Big ideas. Most conversations seem to be about crops, recipes, and what’s come in at the mercantile.”

“Ah, in the circle I came from there were two distinct groups. In one, it was considered notable to be able to debate the issues of the time. In the other, esteem was lauded on those who were fluent in speaking of art, fashion, and the current tastes of society.”

“You listen to me.”

“Of course I listen to you.”

“There’s no ‘of course’ about it.”

He poked her in the side. “How do you know I am really listening?”

“Because you answer with practical ideas about the matters I’ve brought up.”

“So tell me, dear lady. Do you agree with me to keep the peace?”

“No, we agree on most things. I am rather intent on gathering bits of a more sophisticated viewpoint. If I make it to the coronation ball, I do not want to act like a country bumpkin.”

“I think your books have taken care of that.”

“Then I’m grateful to Gramps for insisting that we learn to read. Gramps listens to me at home.”

“So you do have someone to talk to.”

She pointed to the goat nibbling on a bush. “Tak and Gramps. Tak stays awake longer.”

The breeze shook the leaves of the tree. Both tumanhofers leaned back and enjoyed the beautiful day. They talked about the different cultures within Chiril. She regretted the intellectual loss to children when country tumanhofers did not educate their children except in animal lore, farming, wild plants and their uses, and homespun skills. Bealomondore agreed and championed expanding the arts among all strata of Chiril.

Bealomondore rose. “We’d best move on. Are you rested enough?”

She took his extended hand. “Yes.” She went to Tak’s head and stroked his favorite spot between his ears. “How about you, friend? Ready to go?”

“Maa.”

Their conversation restarted as they walked. Bealomondore had
many ideas for the development of Chiril under Paladin and Queen Tipper. He would propose more communication between different slices of their culture. The countryfolk could teach the city dwellers a lot about homemade instruments and lively dance music. Society from the upper ranks could introduce complicated instruments and printed music. Ellie thought his ideas to be grand and practical.

“It’s like us, Bealomondore.” She shoved an errant lock of hair behind her ear. “You have so much knowledge of the world that I want to learn. And I could show you tiny bits of beauty in the countryside that most people walk right past. Some of the things the animals do are beyond fascinating. Watching a butterfly emerge from a chrysalis is too wonderful to explain.”

Bealomondore put his hand on Tak’s harness and tugged to bring the goat to a stop. He stood looking up at the buildings.

“What’s wrong?” asked Ellie.

“We must have been walking faster than we needed to. We’ve reached the center of town too early.”

“Too …” A chill went up Ellie’s spine. “Oh.”

“The callous masses have not tucked themselves into their beds for the night.”

“Perhaps we should seek a nice place to hole up while we wait for dark.”

Bealomondore’s mind was obviously elsewhere. He turned a complete circle, studying the street and structures on it. “I’m not familiar with this part of Rumbard. We’ll have to look for an entrance to one of these buildings.”

He scanned the windows up and down both sides of the street. “This would be a convenient time for the dragons of the watch to come by. We could ask them to scout.”