14 The Lesson

  Sara stood up and realized that though she had figured out the lesson, she didn’t do it very well, as David was staring straight at the place she had been hiding. She began walking toward her house and the giant. He turned and sat on the ground, waiting for her to come to him.

  Sara wanted to complain, but remembering the laughter the giant gave when she promised not to, she held her tongue and sat down on the ground in front of him.

  “There is a time to stand against a foe you cannot beat, but most of the time if there is no chance to win a direct conflict, you try something different.”

  “I shouldn’t have tried using the weapons.”

  “Were you trained in them?”

  “No, but then why did you put them there?”

  “When preparing for a conflict, there are often options that are easy to take, but they will lead to failure. Those weapons looked like the only way to defeat me, correct?”

  “Yes”

  “You could not use them to do so?”

  “No, but I thought you were going to teach me to fight.”

  “No, I said I would teach you to defend yourself, and often the best defense is not to fight.”

  “I know that.”

  “Then why did you try?”

  “Because I thought that was what I was supposed to do.”

  “What did I tell you?”

  Sara just stared, and David answered, “I told you to use your mind, and it should have told you that you couldn’t beat me with those weapons.”

  Sara dropped her head, knowing the giant was correct.

  “Sari,” David said in a gentle voice.

  Sara looked up and saw a slight smile on the giant’s face, “It does not feel brave, but running and hiding are often the best defense you can use. They cannot kill you if they cannot find you, true?”

  Sara nodded and then asked, “Why not just tell me?”

  The giant raised a finger, “The first part of the lesson was to run. You practiced that, did you not?”

  Sara rolled her eyes but nodded.

  Then the second finger went up, “You should have hidden in the trees or around the farm when you got there, but the high grasses might have worked for some foes.

  “Finally,” now a third finger was raised. “Often a lesson is best learned by failing.”

  The giant lowered his hands and leaned forward toward Sara and asked, “Do you think you will forget this first lesson?”

  Sara shook her head. “I doubt it, but I really didn’t like it.”

  “Which would you prefer, a lesson that was easy or one that might save your life?”

  “The one that might save me,” Sara admitted, not wanting to look up at the giant.

  “Do not feel too bad, it took me a lot longer to learn that lesson, and the people teaching me hit a lot harder.”

  Sara looked up and saw a look of sincerity on the giant’s face. She couldn’t imagine someone hitting David harder, but then she guessed David had to be a kid at one time.

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  David stood and turned back toward the trees and said, “I will not make you run this time but if you are going to learn to hide then I need to teach you a few things. I will be honest and tell you up front,” then David waved at his own body, “I’m not good at hiding like this but I will teach you what I can. Come along.”

  Sara got up and walked back across the valley to the trees. The rest of the day, she tried to hide. David showed her the ways people could track her movements through the forest. They laughed because, as he pointed out, the little signs that she left behind and the wide path of destruction wherever he went.

  “I might not be easy to hide, but you cannot compare the mess I make if you are still leaving signs. If you are caught, it does not matter how little the mistake was; you still lose.” David said, pointing at a small broken branch she left behind.

  “The person I have to get better than is me.”

  “Yes,” David raised his finger, getting ready to teach her again. “Ultimately, all you have to be is better than the person hunting you. The problem is that people who do that for a living are really good.”

  Sara nodded, knowing that being caught by the wrong person could have consequences worse than what she faced here as a slave in the valley, so she went back to practicing.

  When the day was close to ending, David took her around and quizzed her on different plants. Sara had spent most evenings studying The Natural World of Rishona and was able to recognize many of the plants that David pointed out.

  At one point, David pointed out some purple berries on a small bush and asked, “So what are these, and should we pick them?”

  “That is pokeweed, and only if you want to poison someone.”

  “You have been studying?” David said, raising his eyebrows.

  Sara didn’t answer immediately, so David spoke, “I never told you what those were, so I have to assume you have been reading.”

  “Yes,” Sara admitted. “I would make a poor servant if I were dead.”

  David laughed, “That is true, it is important to learn what you can. Life can change when you are not expecting it.”

  Sara didn’t say anything but wondered once again what David’s motivations were. At one point, he seemed determined to make her a well-trained servant, and then he gave hints that she might escape and things she needed to know how to survive.

  David quizzed her a few more times and finally said, “It is getting late, and I would like to get something to eat before night gets here.” And with that, he turned to walk back toward the farm.

  “Do you mind if I ask you a question?” Sara said hoping that she might get some of her questions answered about where they were.

  “Depends on the question but ask, the worst that can happen is I refuse to answer.”

  “The valley did you build it.”

  “No, this was a prison for members of a royal family which opposed the heir. It was built to keep them in.”

  “It would be cruel but why didn’t the king just kill them?”

  “At the time he had this built, he did not have an heir and wanted to keep them around in case something happened to him.” David pointed across the valley towards the wall that she had seen. “He had that built and set a few trusted guards to watch them. They lived in the cave and their descendants built most of the farm but by the time Draco and I found it they were all dead and most of it needed a good bit of work.”

  “So why live here?”

  “This place has been forgotten and the path to the valley was blocked long ago. Here is a place where we will not be hunted and we can live in peace.”

  “So why kidnap me?”

  “That was Draco’s idea, and you would have to ask him, but you really should not do that. I can guarantee that conversation would not end well at this time.” David laughed, “He will not even talk to you.”

  “Of course he does, I just can’t understand his language.” Sara said in voice that she was raised in disgust.

  “Sure,” David laughed. “Enough questions for now, I am going.” Without another word David ran off towards the cave where he and Draco spent their evenings.

  David’s final words confused Sara, but without someone there to talk to she was distracted by the pain in her body. The pain rushed to the forefront and Sara remembered that she wanted shoes and a hot bath.

  “I won’t be getting either one of them today, but the water will be at least warm.” Sara said but speaking of the bath caused her eyes to head in that direction and that is when she saw Draco standing behind her house. She feared the dragon would once again knock over the trough which she used for a bath and began running. She rounded the corner of the house to see the dragon’s head near what was supposed to be her bath water. She heard the dragon take a sniff and then Draco began drinking out of the trough.

  The dragon drinking her bath water was bad but what made Sara disgusted was that the dragon belched over the trough, letting what Sara assumed was saliva run out of his mouth and back into the trough.

  The dragon looked in her direction but then made a face that seemed to indicate he didn’t like the taste then shook his head. Draco then turned away and walked over to the spring where he drank deep of the cold water.

  Sara walked towards the trough but before she got there Draco turned and lept into the sky. Sara moved over and as she expected half the water was gone and the rest had a film of what she could only guess was dragon saliva.

  “Doesn’t that dragon think about anyone but himself?” Sara walked to one side and dumped the trough. “Maybe he thought that the mint I added to the water might make it taste better?” Sara shook her head, “Still he knows I use this to trough to bath in.”

  Sara sighed and went over and got a bucket of water and splashed it through the trough to get out any remnants of Draco’s saliva then sat it back up.

  “Well, I hope it upsets his stomach” Sara said seeing the wasted mint leaves on the ground.

  Sara went ahead and filled the trough since she had the time and then went inside her house to clean up the best she could and get some sleep before Creator’s Day.