Blood Moon

Part 3

As they had walked to the War Room, Astrid and Jaelah traded pleasantries at the front of the group behind Kass. Ellora recalled that he said to refer to him as Kassian for now until they all become more acquainted. She had lagged behind to study the others she would be with for an indefinite amount of time.

The two tall Alpha dragons blocked her view for the most part of Jaelah and Astrid's conversation but she assumed she didn't miss anything of importance. The dragons all moved with the fluidity of a predator. This was something that she did not expect, somehow she expected them to be awkward or clumsy in this form that is so different from their primary.

The darker skinned dragon, who she deciphered to be Kaine, glanced back at her twice and the lighter skinned dragon, Harper, glanced once. They occasionally whispered to each other and made no moves to integrate themselves with the group. This could likely spell disaster later in the expedition, but she does not often act as the cauldron and call the pot black.

Every now and then Kassian would turn and address the group, pointing out the parts of the castle they traveled past. He seemed very familiar with the staff, greeting multiple by their names and waving a hand at them. The green horned dragon never once slowed down and navigated the almost catacomb-like hallways while talking on about the treasury department and the private armories that belonged to each member of the royal family. Overall Ellora's opinion of him was the highest and she hoped to get along well with the friendly, albeit talkative dragon.

Eventually they arrived at a pair of heavily guarded doors that featured two dragons, one green the other brown, in their primary forms and four in their secondary, heavily suited in armor. Kassian greeted the first one that stepped towards them, "Drax, how do you do?"

The dragon lifted the visor to his helmet and smiled, "Sweating my balls off, what d' ya think?"

Kassian laughed, "I do not envy you, my friend. We have a meeting in there scheduled, would you mind letting us in?"

"Code word?"

"Uh, Arlan didn't give me one..."

"I'm just pulling ya tail," the guard laughed and stepped aside, signalling the others to lower their pikes and the shifted dragons to step aside.

"Way to make me sweat, Drax. Thank you." With that Kassian and the group moved forward and the green and brown dragons held the doors for them to enter.

Inside was a wide room lined with suits of armor and expensive glass cases displaying undoubtedly priceless, historic weapons. Some of them she recognized by the style of sword that was popular during the civil war. To the left and right were separate rooms that looked like a map room on the left and on the right was a large meeting room with a long oval table and comfortable looking chairs. At the end of the room were more oaken doors that were propped open.

The room was dimly lit until Kassian quickly clapped his hands together twice and the bewitched sconces and chandelier flared and brightened the room. The room was circular in shape to match the massive round table in the center of the room. The table was old, potentially over a hundred years old, and the chairs seemed to match. Around the War Room were maps of the empire and surrounding regions.

On the table was an advanced, enchanted map display device (or MDD) that Kassian activated with a simple incantation. She was fascinated as a holographic bird's eye view of Capital City appeared across the span of the round table. Astrid was also drawn to the display, "Kassian, do you know what year this model is? I have never seen something like this outside of the Academy!"