The Dragonriders

Chapter 33

The Journey To A Marriage

Tara'li

'So, king Trashkanir. I've made a decision regarding your peace offering and the condition.'

The council, my squad and all five of the dragons seem to be breathless for a moment. King Trashkanir steps towards me. 'May I inquire what the decision is, queen Tara'li?'

I nod. 'I will accept your claw according to dragon tradition.'

The dragon king seems pleased. 'In our marriage we will be sealing the deal. If you wish you can come with us...'

He is interrupted by one of the dragons in his following who jumps forward. 'This is blasphemous. She isn't even a full dragon! You cannot marry that... Elf the traditional way!'

Before anyone can respond I have my sword drawn and my shield raised in a defensive stance, the flickering light of the chandeliers illuminating the carved dragon on my blade. 'That is my condition. Take it or leave it. Attack me and you will find out why Rashter had to recover for several years after he met me in combat.'

The yellow dragon charges me, spewing a fire breath at me. I hold up the shield initially and then roll aside, lashing out with my sword. The dragon glides to a halt and looks at the cut in his right front leg with surprise. Then he growls at me and charges again. This time I slide underneath him lashing at his right rear leg. This time the dragon starts limping from the cut. Now I spread my wings and hold my blade to the side. 'Give up now, or you'll die. I killed larger than you.'

The yellow dragon looks at his right hind leg and growls once more. Enough said. As he closes the distance I put my sword away and grab my spear. Taking two short steps I then jump into the air hard, spreading my wings and throwing the spear at the yellow dragon. It goes straight through his scales into his shoulder. He roars in pain and anger and tries to follow me into the air, lashing out at me. As he stands on his hind legs I see my chance and make the tightest turn possible and draw my sword once more, diving in with it held in front of me. As it sinks into the yellow dragons chest the force of our collision sends him backwards, collapsing on the ground with a roar. I pull my sword from him and collect my spear. 'Heh. Challenging me and then not even giving me a challenge. Pathetic.'

The area around me is silent as everyone realized what happened. Then the king speaks, somewhat startled. 'I will accept your terms, queen Tara'li....'

One of the other dragons speaks now. 'He got killed in ceremonial combat. This was on him. Your fire is proven, queen Tara'li.'

King Trashkanir nods once. 'If you wish to have your... guards with you, they can come as well. On the condition that they won't share the location of our race to anyone.'

I turn my head to them. 'They are my squad. Yes, I'll want them to come with me. I know I can trust them.'

They all climb on their dragons. As Tresh'ta climbs on Rashter and leans down to help me up I shake my head. One of the remaining dragons the king brought with him steps forward. 'How do you intend to come with us, if not on your dragons back?'

I laugh. 'Your king may already know. Take to the skies and you will know soon enough how.'

As the king jumps in the air with a mighty jump followed by the three, Rashter leads my squad to follow them. Then I look around and speak to the council. 'This will get us the help of the dragons to. If, according to dragon tradition, either of us doesn't love the other, the marriage is cancelled. We will see if his intentions are pure soon enough.'

Then I jump and flap my wings hard, following the rest into the air. I see the king and his three remaining dragons are circling around, again in the X formation but missing one at the right rear. With some effort I fly up to their altitude and get into the remaining empty position. I find it is at least somewhat exhaustive to fly this hard with the snowstorm still ongoing but once I get in the position I feel the strain being at least somewhat decreased. 'I'm ready. Please lead the way.'