Destroyers and the Dragons

Page 17

     "Does it jar you much?"

     "This thing is your design?" I ask smiling at the kindly old man.

     "Yes I guess I am an inventor as well as a scholar," he says bowing over my uninjured arm and kissing the back of the hand.

     "Do you think I could borrow her?" he asks. "She promised to tell me a few tales of her life."

     "That I did should I survive the fight," I say feeling awkward.

     "Well then I should get parchment and ink, I will return shortly," he says smiling at me.

     "I didn't realize he intends to write it all down," I groan.

     "He will only write it down to compare it to the existing stories," Evergreen says smiling at me. I nod and try to not to think about what this will do to me. The tutor reappears with another strange contraption I watch as he sits down on the nearby bench and settles the thing onto his lap. It appears to be a desk top, but it sits on his lap. I wait as he gets the parchment organized and then gets the quill ready.

     "Okay tell me about The Battle of the Forge," the tutor prompts.

     "I was nine, and I had lost my sister and mother both in the last year. The savages had raided us for a third time. In my rage I rode off after them the same day that they fled. A few of our warriors followed behind me. We followed them back to their village and killed everyone."

     "By everyone you mean all the men," the tutor asks.

     "No unfortunately I mean we killed every man, woman, and child."

     "Why?"

     "They had a bad year and intended to take what they had stolen and sell it or eat it. The children were half starved, I couldn't let them grow up and become men though. They had killed my mother and sister. I put the starving children out of their misery and made sure none lived. Then I started a fire after we retrieved our things. The place burned brightly that night. Those our some of the deaths I regret, the children."

     "Why would you regret doing that if they were starving?"

      "When I look back it could have been any of the plains tribes if the situations were reversed. It could have been them ending my misery. Some of those children might have survived, but in my rage I spared none."

     "It must have been hard to deal with all those deaths, being so young," the tutor says.

     "My sister was killed by a spear through her chest, my mother was raped and beaten to death. Those two deaths haunt me the most of all."

     "Why?" asks Evergreen. I have forgotten he is here.

     "I was helpless to save them, I watched my sister die. We were running from the savages as they came and raided. We were holding hands and running for the trees, then she was falling, her stuffed bear mother made her covered in her blood. I wanted to stay with her, but my cousin pulled me away. He probably saved my life that day. After that day I asked my father to teach me."

     "You mentioned a stuffed bear that your mother made her?" the tutor asked.

     "Yes for our eighth birthday mother made her a stuffed bear out of some nice fabric and straw. My father fashioned me a bow and a quiver of arrows."