Chronicles of the Soveriegn

Chapter 6: Suspicions

I was sweating profusely. That had been a strange dream. Who had that girl been? I figured she was the one the dragon had warned me about. She certainly seemed strange enough to be evil.

I shook my head and jumped onto the cold floor, dressing quickly so I could eat breakfast.

Cedric was in the kitchen, “Hello Ari.”

“Good morning. How are the borders looking?”

Cedric laughed, “It’s a bit early in the morning to worry about that, isn’t it?”

“I suppose. But based on your tone, everything’s alright for now so I don’t have to worry about that.”

He nodded, “Very true.”

“So what happened?”

“Filkras didn’t attack. He didn’t even near the border.”

“Why not?”

“We have no idea. That’s what we’ve been trying to find out, but we haven’t been getting anywhere. Tulus toyed with the notion of holding a treaty meeting, but that was overruled by the rest of the council because the previous one only lasted for a year before Filkras violated the terms. He doesn’t have the best record for those types of things.”

“So we’re all safe?”

“Everyone here is, for now.” His volume dropped to almost a whisper, “But not everyone in Erca was as lucky.”

“I heard about your dad.”

Cedric looked down, “He had it coming to him. But then again, I guess we all have it coming to us one way or another,” he added looking back at me.

I nodded, not quite sure what he meant by that. Cedric was a reserved person, and despite out similarities sometimes I had a hard time understanding him.

“Do you want me to get you anything for breakfast?” Cedric asked as he went over to a cabinet.

“Sure, toss me something.”

He chucked a roll at me and I chomped down hungrily. “Are you going to eat anything?” I asked through bites.

“I ate already.”

“So you’ve been up for a while?”

He laughed, “Filkras may not be ready to attack us any day, but there are still plans that need to be made in preparation for an attack, because it will happen. But enough about that. I am going to train you in potions and healing today.”

Cedric led me outside into a secluded corner of the courtyard. There was a big, black pot that reminded me of something a witch would have. He opened up the bag slung over his shoulder. Inside was lots of glass phials filled with different colored liquids. Some were big, some tiny, some part way full, others looked like they were about to overflow.

“First, we’re going to do a basic healing broth.” He leaned over the pot and poured in a large jar of orange goop. “This, is dragon saliva from Alvar.”

I stared at the gooey stiff now in the bottom of the pot with a bit of doubt. It smelled kind of gross, like burnt meat. But I figured that that’s what dragons ate, so logically, their saliva would smell like that.

“It’s not toxic. Actually, it’s very strange. It feels cold. Go ahead, you can touch it, spit won’t hurt you.”

I reached in and pulled out a bit on my thumb. It was very slippery as I rubbed it between my palms, and ice cold. “That’s kind of bizarre.” I wiped it on my skirt.