The Dragon Queen

Dragon Slayer

It is a terrible thing to kill a dragon, one of the worst crimes in all the Ten Realms. The only thing that Lucia could possibly see as worse would be to smash a dragon's egg, a defenceless baby. Both horrors were punishable by death in Lucia's kingdom, yet most sources reported that her anger and disappointment were both far worse to endure than any death penalty. But this time, with this prisoner, every council member, dragon rider and advisor would agree that there had never been a case worse than this. The entire throne room was so silent it was as if everyone held their breath. No one dared make a sound as the accused slowly approached where the queen surveyed him upon her throne. Her corset must have been too tight, Lucia thought, doing her best to hide her shaking hands. She couldn't breathe. At last, Thomas came to stand afore her, surrounded by many guards, and he offered her the ghost of a smile, which Lucia's heavy lips could not return. She took a deep steadying breath, hands clenched into fists upon her lap. "Prince Thomas of Assar" she addressed him, her voice echoing throughout the room. No one noticed how it shook. "You are bought to my court today under suspicion of killing a dragon egg". A barely stifled sob left the crowd and Lucia knew it to be his mother - she had fought bitterly when he and been imprisoned - but Lucia ignored it. Her attention was fixed soley on the man afore her, who watched her with a perfect mask of calm, but with eyes like a caged animal. "How do you plead?" she barked.

"To you, not guilty, my queen" Thomas replied slowly "That should be enough for you".

"Well, it isn't!" Jenna snapped from where she stood beside the throne. Even she had returned from flying around with her dragon for this. She always returned for any meetings regarding the dragons. Aside from her servant, they were the only things she cared about. "Then I'm lucky you are not the judge, aren't I?" Thomas hissed.

"Present the evidence" Lucia commanded no one in particular. How could there be evidence? Zane quickly came forward from the blur of onlookers and handed her the slip of paper that had been left in place of the dragon egg. That little egg. Lucia read over the untidy scrawl - obviously written in a hurry - and frowned. It didn't look like Thomas' hand. His letters were always so extravagant and swirly - she had often mocked him for it, to his defence that his writing was elegantly cursive. "This is your hand?" she questioned him, handing him the note. He quickly scanned over it and shook his head. "No".

"Of course, he is lying!" Jenna snapped, but Lucia raised a hand to stop her.

"I know the prince's hand and this is not it" she stated. She could have been mistaken but Thomas may have breathed a sigh of relief. "We have several witnesses who wish to remain anonymous" Zane announced.

"How convenient" Thomas muttered audibly.

"Witnesses to the.... the actual smashing... of the egg?" Lucia asked, almost choking on the sickening thought. She couldn't look at Thomas. How could he possibly be accused of this? No. She couldn't afford to allow emotion to cloud her judgement. Without her permission, her eyes flickered to him, only to find that he had been watching her all the more intently than ever before. She didn't think she had ever seen his eyes so hopefully bright or so darkly narrowed. Zane cleared his throat. "Some say the accused stamped on the egg, some say he stabbed it, others say he threw it at a wall, but all say that they saw him do it" he growled firmly, sneering at the prince as if he was nothing more than dirt. Something in Lucia still existed to dislike that. "Where was this?" she inquired.

"What?" Zane asked, a clever tactic for stalling. Lucia was glad to have him as her ally.

"Where did he break the egg?" she questioned in no uncertain words.

"I... Er...". Zane hurriedly looked through some notes but eventually shook his head. "I don't know" he finally admitted.

"Well, the witnesses can't be blind" Lucia snapped "They say they saw Thomas kill the dragon egg. If they did, they should at least be able to know which realm he killed it in. What about times? Have you been able to determine when the egg was smashed? At least if he is to be accused he should be given the option of an alibi". Zane quickly looked through his notes again, but this time was victorious in his search. "Yes" he nodded triumphantly "Judging by the warmth and colour of the yolk, its safe to assume that the egg was only around two months old. Considering that the egg was layed on exactly the 10th of May at 10:36pm, the egg was smashed at some point in the middle of July. The same time that Prince Thomas was staying in Saltari to finalise his becoming the Chief of Greencloaks".