2023 Story Collection

The Isle of Dragons and The Land of Giants VI

"Do you wish to destroy those fools and take back your kingdom?"

He seems to consider it for a moment, he could. She would help him. She'd destroy it in a day. The Dragons would burn it all down, the Giants would crush what remained. Then they would rebuild it together.

But she knew, even in that moment, that he would never hurt his kingdom. He'd spent his whole life building himself into the leader that could make that country into something he could take pride in, not just because of it's riches but because of the military, the traditions, the festivals, but most importantly the people. He wanted to be a man that his people could be proud of.

Even though his dream had been taken from him, he'd never turn on his kingdom, his people. That was one of the things she liked about him, his absolute loyalty and devotion.

"No," he says. "I don't need to take revenge, what they are facing is enough."

"Do you want to fight and save your kingdom?"

"A war is not what the people need," he says.

"Then, what do they need?" She asks. He knows his people well, he has the answer.

"They will need hope," he looks up at her. Their eyes meet and in his are an untamed fierceness. "But for now they must suffer. I can't save them, yet. They have to want it, to be desperate. They have to be willing to fight to regain what they lost."

"I agree."

"They can't do that until they've faced what God is sending them. They chose my brother as their leader. They never wanted me, not my parents, nor my people. Now they will have him for a leader."

"They will get what they wanted, but will it be what they needed?"

---

Knox sat on the edge of his bed. It was the lower bunk in a room carved from one of the large mountains in the Isle of Dragons.

It was an old cave system made larger into sleeping quarters. Some of the rooms were higher, some lower. They'd all been widened and a stone staircase weaved around, the only path connecting them.

Their were windows where the caves originally existed the mountain, big oddly shaped windows made with thick glass that made the light cast inside wobbly. The view outside was still relatively clear.

In the staircase, the walls were filled with painted carvings telling the history of the Dragon warriors. It is a mural of the legends he'd read a child. Looking at them took him back to that age of wonder and curiosity.

The caves were filled with the bunks where the dragon warriors slept, they had many extra and let the Golds sleep in them. He had taken a bunk near the staircase and a window. He hated sleeping too far from the stars. Even on the ship, he'd often fall asleep on the deck.

He liked these arrangements, he'd always felt most at home when surrounded by those he cared about, under the stars. Living in the castle had taken it's toll on him. This is where he felt alive.

The Old Queen had refused to let them set up camp on an island and told them to stay with her and the Dragons. To say his people were nervous in the beginning would be an understatement.

But as he looked around, most of the men were talking and learning fighting techniques from the Dragon warriors that would also be staying in the caves with them.

Most of his people were quite shy at first. Intimidated by the mighty warriors of their history books but they slowly began to open up and joke with the Dragons. They were quite friendly for being such fierce warriors.