You're The Only One - Prinxiety [COMPLETED]

Chapter Eight: The Champion of Sun Glade

Virgil yawned as he stretched out his arms, heading toward the stables as the sky slowly became a pale blue. The sun wasn't even up yet but it was his turn to open the stables. He was the first one there which allowed him to enjoy the quiet of the morning air. It was cool and refreshing as he breathed it in through his nose.

Entering the stables, the quiet was mixed with the sound of slumbering dragons; their heavy breathing and snoring could be heard through the walls. Virgil found a platter of fresh meat on one of the tables, courtesy of the royal kitchen staff. Those who were responsible for stocking the kitchen every morning also bought fresh meat for the dragons. It was fortunate that the queen had only gotten dragons who were carnivores because Virgil had a feeling it would be difficult to explain to her that some of them had fruit or vegetable based diets.

He yawned again as he started setting up supplies to wash the dragons. He'd washed Makapo separately because of his blindness and his size, but today was the day of the week he usually cleaned all the dragons at once.

"Alright guys!" he called, whistling loudly. The dragons all shifted and began to wake up. "You know what day it is!"

He unlocked each of the stalls, letting them all swing open. The dragons one-by-one left their stalls and began to roam freely about the stables excitedly as they woke up. This was something Virgil could only do when he was alone in the stables. He trusted the dragons enough and knew they wouldn't run off or cause problems if they were out of their stalls, but Harvey and Brian would have heart attacks if they saw them all out and about.

"Come on, it's bath time!" he said. Most of them cooed and clicked excitedly at this while a couple made displeased grumbling noises. The one who seemed the most excited bounced up and down around him, bumping into his shoulder with her snout. "I know Vandri, I know!"

Vandri was a Riverbelly dragon belonging to the Water Dweller kingdom. Though Roman had said Water Dwellers lived in the ocean, she was a freshwater dragon; at the time, Virgil didn't feel it was necessary to correct him. Water Dwellers, while being most common in the ocean, could also be found in marshes, ponds, and rivers. Riverbellies get their name from their brightly colored stomachs and their habit to play in rivers. It wasn't that they had to be in water to survive, they just enjoyed it. This was why Vandri loved bath day so much.

Virgil led the dragons to the biggest room in the stables that was about the size of a banquet hall. It wasn't used very often, and if he remembered Brian telling him correctly, it was built before the kingdom had grown big enough to have the castle.

The stable boy had rigged it with large baths and barrels full of water so that he could easily bathe the dragons. He lifted his shirt above his head and tossed it aside, heading over to one of the barrels of water. Virgil grunted as he pulled it off the rack and rolled it over to the first bath. He uncorked it and filled it about three-quarters full.

Vandri jumped into it as soon as he put the cork back. He was splashed with water, soaking his hair and his torso in seconds. A laugh escaped his lips as he wiped his face. "Yep, knew that was gonna happen."

As a couple of the dragons joined Vandri in the first bath, he rolled the barrel over to the next ones, filling them up as he'd done the first time. All the dragons but two go into the baths on their own. Virgil had to coax Dozzu and Zuvi, both Fire Breathers that didn't enjoy being in water very much.

"Come on you two, you know you need a bath," he scolded them as he walked them to a separate bath. They both growled unhappily as they stepped in. "I'll clean you guys up first, okay?"

He left and grabbed a brush, a sponge, and soap. He returned to find the two Fire Breathers moping in the bathwater and grumbling. "You two are such babies," Virgil teased. He stepped into the bath and poured some soap onto the sponge. He approached Dozzu first, knowing that the Bristlecrown would want his horns cleaned. "Alright, show me those pretty horns of yours, Dozzu."

Bristlecrowns were very self-centered. He huffed stubbornly but lowered his head to give Virgil access to his crown of horns. The stable boy smiled and began to carefully clean each of the horns that sprouted from the back of the dragon's head. Despite Dozzu's dislike of water, he did coo gratefully as the dirt was washed away from his horns and scales. Virgil moved along the dragon's body and scrubbed away all the dirt and grim there was. There wasn't much, but any there was disappeared into the soapy water in the bath.

"Alright, you can get out now Dozzu," he told the Bristlecrown with a pat on the neck. He turned to Zuvi, smiling at the Blazefang. "Your turn."

He grumbled a little and ducked his snout under the water out of spite. Virgil chuckled and pulled his head out of the water. "This will be over quicker if you cooperate with me," he told him. "Then you can go and eat your breakfast! We got fresh meat this morning!"

Zuvi immediately perked up and allowed him to clean the dragon's scales. Once he was done with the Blazefang, he got out of the bath and headed over to the other dragons. They were playing in the water happily, Vandri the most of them. He smiled and jumped into the bath with the Riverbelly, splashing her snout.

She snorted and looked at him in surprise before letting out a chuckle-like sound. She slammed her tail down on the surface of the water, splashing the stable boy and all the other dragons in the bath.

Virgil laughed as he was soaked again. He tried to scrubbing the dragons and successfully got the dirt off of them, but by the end of it, he and the dragons were having a splashing battle. He was completely soaked and sitting against Vandri with a grin on his face. He didn't care that he need a new change of clothes. He just loved dragons.

"Oh my god, you have to be our champion," a voice said suddenly.

The stable boy jumped and looked toward the entrance, seeing none other than Prince Roman standing there staring at him in awe. He flushed with embarrassment as he stumbled to his feet and shook out his dark hair. "Um, sorry, what?"

"Our champion! You're so... so amazing... with dragons!! You have to represent Sun Glade!" Roman gushed with a grin.

"In what? I'm really confused, your Highness," he stammered. "What are you talking about?"

The prince took ahold of his shoulders. "We're trying to host a dragon based competition here to help strength our alliance with the Fire Stone Kingdom! You could be our champion!"

"Uh, I guess so," he managed, cheeks reddened.

"We have to go talk to Logan and my mother!" he exclaimed excitedly. "You'll be perfect for this! You know all about dragons! Did they have races where you're from?"

Virgil nodded, swallowing nervously. "Yeah, but the dragons we all domesticated by us, how do we know the other kingdoms know-"

"That's perfect! You can help us figure out how to structure our competition!" Roman said, not hearing his concerns. He pulled the shirtless and soaked stable boy into a tight hug as he grinned. "You're my hero!"

He blushed more but hugged the prince back uncertainly. He had questions and concerns, but if he said so...