Whispers of Dragons

Chapter 9

A whooshing sound broke through the darkness as a torch was lit. The light revealed the faces of two men. "This way," the man holding the torch stated. I looked at Will and he smiled at me reassuringly before pulling me forward to follow. I scooted a little closer to Will as we walked and in the dim light, I could have sworn I saw him smile a little.

We continued walking through the corridors with only the torch to light the way. Every once in awhile, we would pass a dark wood door but no noises ever sounded from the doors, making me wonder if the rooms were even used. Eventually, we stopped at a solid black wood door and the other man not holding the torch pulled a key ring off his belt and fumbled around for a minute before choosing a key and putting it into the keyhole. The man turned the key in the lock and the door swung outward from us and revealed a large room filled with people.

The room had no furniture but the people had brought crates and buckets to sit on. There was a small, raised platform against the far wall and everybody else had arranged their seats to face that platform where one man stood, talking passionately. His dark hair flew around him as he gestured widely and his dark eyes were lit with passion.

The man on the platform was the first to see us enter the room since he was the only one facing the door. Upon our arrival, the man stopped mid sentence to stare at us and the rest of the audience turned to face us as well.

I gulped as the stares of over fifty people fell on me and Will. I did my best to meet those stares with confidence to show the people that I was not someone who would cower under pressure. I did a little double take as I realized that the people in attendance varied widely in class. There were some people who were obviously from the noble class, dressed in their fine clothing and their confident air but there were also commoners, dressed in their rags and curling in on themselves.

Even more shocking than seeing such different people in close quarters, I couldn't even see the line between the classes. Although all of the noblemen and women were sitting on one side of the room while the commoners were on the other, both groups seemed to be cordial to each other, which was a big difference from what I saw in the city, where noblemen wouldn't spare a commoner a passing glance. It seemed that in this meeting, everyone was equal regardless of class or status and it made me wonder what could bring all these people together to act in such a way.

As silence filled the room, I stood stoic, waiting for someone to make the next move. However, I was shocked when Will stepped forward and shouted, "Samuel, nice to see you!"

I flinched a little at the loud sound and stared in puzzlement when the man on the platform broke into a grin before leaving the stage and moving through the crowd of people until he reached Will. He pulled Will into a quick embrace before putting his hand on Will's shoulder and looking into his eyes.

"It's nice to have you back Will. It's been awhile since you've dropped by."

"I know. I'm sorry Sam," Will apologized. "It's been hard to get away from the castle lately. The council has been... difficult to say the least." Will stated. Sam's face grew darker. "There are some things we need to discuss in private." Will said under his breath as he nodded his head towards me then towards the door. Sam's eyes darted to me.

"Of course," Sam agreed. "Derrick!" Sam yelled. A man who was sitting next to the platform stood up. "Finish up here please. I will see everyone at the next meeting." Sam stated with a raised voice in order to address the whole room. Derrick nodded and stood up on the platform to continue whatever meeting had been in progress. Sam nodded towards the door once more and started to lead Will and I out the door. Right as we were about to exit the room, a voice stopped me in my tracks.

"Clara?" I heard a voice say. I followed the sound of the voice to see a blonde-haired, blue-eyed boy staring straight at me. I stared in shock.

"Jake?"