Wildemere had confronted the boy at first, even he had lost a tear from his eye. Luckily no one was around to notice. Then the strangest thing had happened, the smoke had been pushed back leaving them to breath fresh air. It had been as if they stood in a dome of smoke and his hand, the one that had touched the boy, felt as if it was ablaze. It had been hard to tell so close to the fire, but something was clearly strange about this situation. Smoke did not magically create domes around people without reason. Of course, that was followed by the arrival of the dragon beast, Windemere just managed not to attack the beast as it landed. The two, young man and dragon, sat there all night staring at the fire.

All Wildemere wanted to do was leave, go home and report his findings. He couldn’t, he knew that he had to return with this Cináed and his dragon. He had almost started throwing buckets of water on the fire when the sun rose. How long could they just stare at a burning barn’s embers? That was when Cináed had spoken in a raspy voice words that Wildemere couldn’t make out. Wildemere had decided that the young man need the water more than the fire and sat the bucket he had filled next to him on the side the dragon wasn't. He definitely didn’t run away once he had done so, a fast walk was sufficient to get away from the beast.

After Cináed had finally noticed the water and drank, Wildemere was able to convince him that it would be best if they both headed to the nearest village. One that wasn’t still on fire that is. Wildemere had been concerned that the two he needed to bring back with him would just fly off but they both looked like they just wanted to walk. Wildemere definitely wasn't going to walk, but he did set a slow pace so the young boy could keep up. It was slow going but Wildemere held his tongue, this was not the time to antagonize the clearly distraught boy and his powerful beast. So, he rode on in silence until sounds further down the road broke it.

The first indication that something would worsen Wildemere’s day were the loud voices. As he turned the corner he could see a caravan. Wildemere had dealt with caravans before in his travels, most of them wanted him to travel with them and provide protection. He obviously denied such requests. Well most of them, a few had rather nice carriages they offered him. The ones with nice carriages were also the ones that didn't really need his protection and so he agreed to join them. This was not a caravan with a nice carriage.

On second thought, it might have had a nice carriage once, but it was hard to tell now that it was covered in blood. What made that even clearer was the fact that it was being robbed. The fight had gone poorly for the caravan and a few bodies could be seen circling it, the rest were encircled by what could only be bandits who were yelling, searching, removing objects and otherwise robbing the caravan blind. Wildemere didn’t need this, he turned to tell Cináed they would be going around through the forest when the young man turned the corner and saw what was happening. Cináed clearly was not hearing Wildemere as he stood still like a statue with his mouth open. The dragon was the next to turn the corner and he too paused. Wildemere didn’t think the beast had stopped because it was his first time seeing a caravan but merely because Cináed and he were in the beast’s way.

“As I was saying, we will just go around through the forest. Yes, it will slow us some but staying on the road will clearly slow us down more.”

Wildemere continued waiting for Cináed to follow as he led his horse into the brush. Cináed didn't follow. No, he was clearly deaf, and he was running down the road. Would the dragon still follow him if the idiot died? He doubted it, Wildemere turned down the road drawing his sword. The boy needed a good spanking for this idiocy. He idly wondered if it was as stupid as charging a dragon alone, maybe they both needed a spanking but who would do it, the dragon? Wildemere then wondered why his mind sometimes randomly wandered, to completely sane though he reassured himself, at the oddest times - like right now.

This is why Wildemere was distracted and slightly surprised as he felt his sword take the first bandit in the shoulder, an intuitive strike as he passed the bandit. Coming around, his blade struck out again ending the man's life. Looking around Wildemere found himself alone, realizing why he smiled. This wasn't so bad, he hadn't thought about the reaction the bandits would have to a dragon, maybe the boy’s misguided ideals wouldn’t be his end. In fact, they would even be able to resupply from the caravan.

.......

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Cináed had heard the knight speak and it grated at him. The way he acted as if there was nothing that could save these people, that the dead and dying were inconvenient. He couldn't help it, he thought of his parent dying with no one there to help. If he had been home could he have made a difference? Cináed didn’t know, but what he did know was that his feet were already moving. Wildemere passed him on his right far faster on horseback than mere running. Cináed wasn’t even sure what to do, sure he had hunted but that was with a bow or really long spear from the dragon’s back. Two things he did not have.

He made a fist, he would punch them in the face and just go from there. That was when he realized all the bandits were running away. One was cut down by Wildemere, but all the rest were running as fast as they could. Actually, the surviving caravan workers were running also. Cináed looked over to Wildemere who surged and said,

“Looks like we now have a horse for you to ride.”

Wildmere gestured to the caravan’s horses. Cináed could not believe that was where the knight's thoughts had gone. Even if the caravan had been so grateful to have given him a horse, he wouldn’t need one. He had a dragon. But they hadn't, they had run away. He might not have left his farm much, but he knew that leaving something behind was not the same as giving it away. After all, you should have the right to retrieve what you left behind.

Wisely reached them; the clear reason everyone had run. His look at Wildemere told Cináed he had heard the comment. Cináed really wasn’t sure what to do, there was no one around to leave the caravan with, he almost felt a responsibility for it. Wildemere wanted to keep going, he instinctively knew that. Trying to buy time, Cináed started walking around to inspect everything and looking important. After looking too long at a wheel he realized it probably didn't look like he knew anything at all. When he saw the figure lying on the ground knocked out yet still breathing, he was relieved. Finally, someone who could take the responsibility.

.......

Being a dragon, judging the age of humans was sometimes hard. Yet Wisely was almost certain that the person Cináed had found was near Cináed own age. And was female, he was mostly certain about that. Wisely, after an appropriate amount of time contemplating, had suggested the he move himself into the woods and out of sight. It was his experience, his wisdom, that told him all the people had run from him. Cináed clearly did not want this new person to run and so Wisely reasoned he should not be around when she woke up.

Dragon hearing is excellent, as is their sight. Although his wasn't all that great these days, he could still watch the caravan from a distance as the sleeper woke. Her eyes looked up at Cináed then to Wildemere and finally all around before she lay back down.

“Are they gone?” she asked

“Clearly,” came the terse reply from the knight.

“Yes, they all ran off… the others from the caravan ran off too, I think most of them looked alright."

Cináed was clearly better at this then Wildemere, Wisely reasoned. It must be because of the wise old dragons’ wise teachings.

“They ran off?” this time there was anger in her voice and Wisely took a second to ponder why she would be angry. He missed the next part of the conversation as he slowly came to the conclusion that she had either wanted the bandits or the other members of her caravan to not run off and the fact they did had made her angry.

“No no no, you aren't leaving me here with this caravan in the middle of the woods. We were going to Aradon, so you can escort me the rest of the way.”

“I am a knight on important duties for the king and must return to his court. I apologize but there is no time for us to escort you." Wildmere replied.

Aradon, what a word, it must be a name of some sort like that of a location. Yes, that would make the most sense. Wisely praised himself for his wise reasoning especially since Cináed recently said that Wisely often misunderstood people, as if such a wise mind as his would misunderstand people. An absurd notion. Cináed had never really talked about an Aradon, did he know about this place? Wisely was being distracted again best if he tried to listen to the conversation.

“Yes, if we used your horse and took it slow… we could pull two wagons with most of what’s left in them,” the girl said thoughtfully, “We would need to stop often and let them rest as we really don’t have enough horses anymore, but it could be done.”

“That sound good,” Cináed replied, “I've never driven a wagon before. Is it difficult?”

"MY HORSE, you want to use my WAR HORSE to pull a wagon? That is the most ridiculous, peasant thought up…” Wildmere protested vehemently.

Not enough horses what did they mean? Wisely looked over the wagons and realized that most of the horses were missing. The argument seemed to be getting louder. The few arguments that had happened at the farm found Cináed and himself hiding out in the barn and Wisely, using his better hearing, had let Cináed know when it was safe to return to the house. The Baldwin’s rarely argued but, when they did, neither of them liked it much. Wisely new Cináed would be uncomfortable at this point so he thought about the problem. He realized there was a solution.

Wisely moved out of the woods and around to one of the wagons without a team of horses to pull it. He grabbed the harnesses the bandits had cut and pulled the wagon up to the arguing humans. It worked; the arguing stopped.

“At least she didn't run off,” Wildemere noted sarcastically glancing at the frozen girl.

“That’s solved," Cináed said, “we can take two wagons and Wildemere can ride his horse.”