Chapter 8

15 0 0
                                    

Devon:

I managed to get to the meeting on time somehow, but I still felt bad for that girl.  She seemed familiar somehow, but I couldn't put my finger on why.  I was in a meeting once again with my father to discuss how we were going to deal with the dragon, but this time with more people then just me and my father.  My brother, Ian, was sick in bed as usual while my sisters, Lila, Rosie, and Penelope were off somewhere, probably sewing or something with Mother.  It is against protocol for women to attend meetings dealing with war and fighting.  Especially, something as dangerous as fighting dragons.  We currently have no other choice but to fight the dragon since there are no dragon tamers known where to be found in this world.

"Okay, here's what I think we should do about our dragon problem," I began.  We were each sitting around a large, rectangular table.  There was me, my father, and three other men.  The three men besides my father and me are the three generals of our soldier units.  There are the generals for archery, swords, and spears.  "I think that we should try to get our soldier units into formations.  The front will be swords.  Behind them will be spears.  And in the back lines we'll have it be the archers.  We'll start with-" I continued, but stopped all of a sudden, as a plan was starting to form in my head.  It was a long shot, but worth a try.  "I changed my mind," I quickly stated.  There were shocked faces on everyone in the room, for before this they were all listening intently to me and nodding their heads in agreement.  Now, however, there was an expected turn of events.  If everyone was shocked now, imagine how shocked they would be when I told them my plan.  "Instead of all this fighting in lines and formations with units business, I've got a different idea."

"Son-," my father started to raise himself up from his chair with the help of using his arm which was holding onto the back of his chair.  He had his other arm facing towards the table and was looking at me.

I didn't let him finish and put my hand up right in front of him to stop him from continuing talking.  "Father, it's alright.  I have an idea that just might work.  It involves the dragon tamers," I continued.  My father looked doubtful.

"Son-" he tried again, but again I didn't let him finish.

"It's alright.  It'll be alright.  I promise.  Let's just see how this goes, okay?" My father gave in and nodded his head.  I was trying to appease him and everyone else in this room involved with the meeting.  I continued on.  "Here's what I think we should do."  And then I laid out my plan.  "I think that we should gather all of the royalty together from around the world, and hold a contest.  We should try and figure out which ones are the dragon tamers and which ones aren't.  We will hand out invitations immediately.  In fact, don't just hand them out to the royalty, but also to the peasants as well.  Who knows?  We could always use all the help we could get.  This could also be a chance for the peasants to be able to rise in the social classes.  Depending on how they do, if they're peasants, they could skyrocket up the social classes.  Maybe even have some join our fighting forces.  What do you guys think?"  I asked them with a big, fat smile on my face.  Everyone had such a huge shock by this news that they're faces were almost comical for about two seconds, and then everything erupted into chaos.  Apparently, it seems like this idea wasn't much appreciated.  But I didn't care.  In the end, I would have my way.  After all, I was going to be king in the end, if all goes well.  I'd probably have something like this happen once I was king anyways if it wasn't before then.  No way was I giving up on it now.

"Quiet!" I bellowed.  "I'm going to go through with this whether you like it or not.  I was just hoping that you'd all appreciate it.  Apparently not.  You know we can't kill or control a dragon unless we have a dragon tamer on our side though, right?"  I folded my arms across my chest and had a dark look on my face.  I looked at each one of them sitting around the table, taking my time with each one, including my father.  When they couldn't look at me anymore, they hung their heads in defeat.  They knew I was right.  "We might as well try it, and that's what we're going to do."  They probably just didn't like the idea of peasants joining the ranks of royalty.  That was probably the root of the problem.

"We yield to your command, Prince Devon," the three generals said in unison at the same time that my father said, "I yield to your judgement, son."

"Excellent!" I clapped my hands together and my face turned into a big, fat smile once again.  "Now, let's think of the plans for the contest, hm?"  I looked around the table at everyone with my hands still clapped together.  "Anyone got any ideas?"  I was eager to hear what the others might have planned.  This was a meeting with five people, not just one or two.  No one offered any ideas and so I ended up offering mine.  Okay, then, I thought.  I opened my mouth then and said, "How about first, we test out how much magic they have by using some sort of magical object to measure it.  If they have any magical power at all, then they can join in the fighting forces.  If they get a two-hundred to three-hundred and ninety-nine for magical power they get to become a baron or a baroness.  If they get a four-hundred to five-hundred and ninety-nine, they get to become a viscount or viscountess.  If they get a six-hundred to seven-hundred and ninety-nine, then they get to become an earl or countess.  If they get an eight-hundred to nine-hundred and ninety-nine, then they get to become a marquess or a marchioness.  And if they get a one-thousand or more, they can become a duke or a duchess.  They can't, however, become higher on the social class levels then that.  For dragon tamers, it has been written that they most likely will have the highest amount of magical power then anyone else in the whole world, except for possibly other dragon tamers of course.  There is hopefully the possibility that there will be a dragon tamer among the competitors that show up.  After the testing to see how much magical power there is in someone we will use a magical item to find out what their special affinity is in magical power.  They can most likely still be able to do any type of magic, this will just be what will be easiest for them to learn and control.  At least at first.  After we discover their special affinity for magic, well see how well they can control it and what they know how to do.  You know, spells and stuff.  After that, we'll give them their placements in the social classes.  However, if they don't have any magical ability, then they will sadly be stuck as peasants unless someone wants to take them in or something.  We can begin with this. Afterwards, we will think of how to do the final test for dragon riders, but it will end up involving only the people with the highest magical power out of the bunch," I finished.

Everyone was quiet.  Then one by one they each agreed, knowing that I'd end up doing it in the end anyways, whether they wanted to or not.

"Okay, then.  Now that that's settled.  Let's get started on those invitations and hand them out."  And that's exactly what we did.

Kaylee:

I went to my bedroom that night, only to find my room had been demolished.  It was like some natural disaster had come in while I was away.  I cupped my hands to my cheeks and cried out in horror.  My pillow was all torn up with three large diagonal slashes that looked like a gigantic cat might have slashed at it, and there was also what little of my things strewn all over the ground and the blanket torn into many little pieces.  My desk was also overturned.  I was scared.  No.  I was terrified.  Who would do this?  I wondered.

I left my room in such a rush thinking I could go to find some help from someone.  But then I stopped.  Who was I going to go to?  I thought.  Even if I can find someone, no one will believe a lowly servant.  They'll think that I did it instead, and maybe wanted to get some attention because of it.  I turned around and walked back to my room where I got into bed and tried to go to sleep.  It was hard because my stomach wouldn't stop growling from hunger, since I wasn't allowed supper tonight, but eventually I managed a fitful sleep.

Royal vs DragonWhere stories live. Discover now