Page 5 of Hidden Dragons

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”Bear sent to Robert privately.

“If you’re thinking we’re going to camp near Isabelle’s house, I’m way ahead of you, partner,”came the dry reply.

“Milady Isabelle,” Robert began, broaching the subject delicately. It wouldn’t do to scare her off. “We have been dispatched from the Border Lair to do an in-depth survey of these lands. It was our intention to camp in the area for a few days and make our study, but we’ve never been here before and we could benefit from your knowledge. Would you be willing to aid us in our mission?”

Oh, that was very cleverly worded. Bear was glad yet again that he had been partnered with a knight who had a gift for oratory. Bear himself would have made a hash of it, he was sure, which was why he mostly kept quiet.

“I’m not sure what help I can be, but I am willing to assist if I can,” she answered thoughtfully.

“There would be payment for your services. And we would not expect anything but that you share your knowledge of the area with us,” Robert was sure to point out. “We can do surveys from the air—and of course, we will—but the trees often obscure what lies beneath. For that reason, Growloranth and I will be scouting on the ground each day while Bear and Tildeth take to the sky. Would you be willing to act as our guide on the ground? That is, if it doesn’t interfere with your own work too much.”

Bear was jealous as hell that Robert would get her all to himself all day while Bear and Tilly scouted in the air over the border, but it couldn’t be helped. Bear trusted Robert to keep her safe and while it wasn’t necessarily their mission to scout this side of the border, it wouldn’t hurt.

Nobody from the Lair had been this far north in a very long time. Rumors of enemy infiltration of border towns were flying lately, and this was as good a place to start their reconnaissance as any. In fact, from what Isabelle had already revealed of the villagers’ suspiciously bad attitudes, it was perhaps a very good place to begin.

“The harvest is in and my preparations for winter, such as they are, have been mostly completed,” Isabelle said slowly. “I believe I could help you for a few hours each day. And…I’m not sure if you’re interested…but I do have a barn of sorts where you all could camp out under a roof at least. It looks like it might rain before the dawn and I hate to think of you all suffering in the cold and wet out here in the woods.”

Robert smiled broadly and shot Bear a triumphant look. “That sounds like a grand idea, milady. Thank you for your generosity.”

Chapter Two

Robert and Bear, plus the dragons, followed Isabelle to her home on the edge of the woods. Her small dwelling was situated on a rise above the rest of the village. It was a good vantage point to see anyone coming up the path, and gave a view of most of the village.

It was dark by the time they got to her place, and they could see the little dots of flame in the distance that marked the lights of people’s homes. There weren’t all that many. It was a very small village. But it was telling that they all clustered their houses together while Isabelle was sentenced to live up here on the edge of the wood, without the little protection afforded by clustering together with the rest of the inhabitants of the area.

Robert didn’t like that at all. To him it was like the villagers just left her out here to fend for herself. What kind of people did that to a young woman who had lost her mother?

She showed them to the barn, located to the right of the house. The home itself was run-down, but the barn was even worse. Robert knew he would be making some repairs as soon as he was able. For now, at least, the place had a roof and enough space for the dragons and knights to shelter from the rain. It would do for the night. After all, they had intended to camp anyway. The roof and dry floor would be nice, since there was little doubt, as the night deepened, that it was going to rain by morning.

“There is firewood for the old forge. Before the healer lived here, it was a smithy, though the lighter equipment was taken away long ago. The forge remains and can be used for a fire, if you wish,” Isabelle explained, showing them around. “I also have an oil lamp you can use for light.” She reached up to take the lamp down from a peg. It was of simple design and only had a small amount of oil left in its base. Robert took it from her with a smile, though inside he noted the sparse way she lived and the lack of proper supplies in the barn. “Will you be warm enough?” She seemed to worry over how to provide for them.

“We will be fine, mistress,” Robert reassured her. “Our companions provide plenty of heat, and we have supplies of our own. We had intended to camp all along, so we came prepared. Do not fret about us. We’ll be all right. In fact, we’ll be far more comfortable here than we would have been out in the forest with rain coming. Now, you go inside and take care of yourself.”

She seemed to hesitate, but Bear, bless him, stepped forward. “Is there anything we can do for you before we all seek our rest?” Bear was gruff at the best of times, but he didn’t seem to scare Isabelle, which was a very good sign.

“Oh, no. I am fine. Thank you, Sir Bernard.” She looked at them all, the dragons standing behind their knights, every eye on Isabelle. “Good rest, then. I will see you all in the morning.” She blushed, curtsied and then hurried away.

The knights watched her until she was safely inside and a lamp was lit. Robert followed her progress through the small house through the fabric-draped windows. The curtains were thin and allowed him to see the movement of her lamp through the building until finally, she seemed to settle in one place.

He wondered if she was sitting by a fire, or maybe lying in her bed. That thought led to much naughtier thoughts of her lying inhisbed. Preferably naked.

“Are you going to help set up or stand their dreaming all night?” Bear asked, shouldering past Robert with a pack in his hands.

“Sorry.” Robert shook his head to try and clear it. They had work to do.

As the lights in the village went out one by one, Robert and Bear crept down into the town, beginning their evaluation of the people who lived there. The dragons were up in Isabelle’s barn, just a mental shout away if their knights ran into trouble, but this job was just a little too small in scale for their large bodies.

Robert and Bear were used to skulking around in the darkness. They examined the layout of the village, confirming most of what they’d seen from the air and learning new facets that could not be seen from above. For one thing, the largest home in the village was more or less hidden under trees, keeping it invisible from dragon overflights.

And it was a really big home. Incongruous given the general poverty of the homes around it. Robert was instantly suspicious. Hidden from view, the big house in a comparatively unfriendly village was something quite out of the ordinary.

“I think that place bears further scrutiny,”Bear said into Robert’s mind.

“Without doubt, my friend. Shall we check it out?”

They spent the next two hours listening at every window they could access and peering in wherever it was possible to do so without being seen. They also took a brief inventory of the outbuildings. There were three small sheds behind the main house in addition to a large barn that housed quite a bit of livestock including a number of horses that didn’t look like any farm horse either of the knights had ever seen.

The rest of what they learned was equally as troubling. Silently, they agreed to halt their activities for the evening, heading back to Isabelle’s barn as covertly as they had left it hours before.

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