Chapter 5

Dayton rode along quietly moving from the front to the rear of the group, listening to their discussions and speculation about what they might find. As would be expected, the younger men were eager to run into bandits, or even an entire army, so that they might prove themselves on the field of battle. The older men said little, and rode somberly. They had seen death, been involved in battles, and did not race toward either with enthusiasm. If called upon to fight and kill, they would do so, and do it well, but they preferred the peace that had fallen upon the land since the death of King Lothan’s father 28 years earlier and his concerted effort to form alliances with neighboring countries for trade and profit, as opposed to gaining wealth through battle and conquest.

Skeptical at first, his soldiers learned that the King’s desire for peace did not mean he was foolish enough to believe an army was not needed. He kept his army strong, protecting the trade routes from roadside bandits, provided them with the arms, uniforms and strong steeds upon which to ride. He even offered them an opportunity to take wives, raise children and live in their own small homes. This was unheard of in other kingdoms. He built a small village for the soldiers and their families. The small gardens laid out behind each home were tended by the wives and children and they were even allowed to keep the proceeds for themselves to either eat or sell, as they chose.

The men liked Perseus as a leader. He trained hard with them, treated them fairly and exhibited many of the same characteristics as the King. Although they would have preferred to make this trip with the King in the lead, they were not dissatisfied with Perseus. He was just unproven on a field of battle. The older men traveled together, speaking low when they did speak, and when the topic of Perseus came up, one of them looked around and realized that more than two thirds of the soldiers with them were under the age of 30. At least young men tended to race into battle unheedful of the danger – they all felt as if they are invincible. A good quality in a soldier, but not so much in a leader, he thought. Soon the talk moved to Dayton and what kind of leader he would turn out to be. The older men decided it was too soon to make that determination. At least they had seen Perseus perform during military training. Dayton had never taken training seriously, preferring to watch his brother and tend to the dragons. Everyone knew he was disappointed that Gemna had not bonded with him, even though they did not really understand what it was between a bonded dragon and its master that was such a big deal. It was an animal, you could train it and ride it and it fought well in battles. To the foot or cavalry officer, there was nothing else to consider.

Even as this muted conversation drew to a close a shadow passed overhead and they all looked up. Gemna was circling above and Perseus was pointing to the northeast. As the column approached a split in the road, it turned to follow the direction he was pointing, finding yet another trail through the dense woods, though even smaller than the one they had been following.

They stopped in a small clearing for lunch and to rest the animals and then took up the trail again. Periodically, Perseus would point them in another direction whenever choices in the trails were presented. They knew they were traveling in the most direct route possible given then terrain. Even though they might have been able to travel further in open terrain, the dense forest began to turn dark in the late afternoon. Even though he was high above where the sun was clearly shining, Perseus sensed that the trail was getting hard to see and called a halt to the day’s trek as they neared a small clearing suitable for camp. A collective sigh could be heard from the weary travelers as they entered the clearing.