Queen of the Moon

Part 12: Dragons

I slept well which made me start to believe things were going to be okay. Woke up to a beautiful morning. The sex spells put on me that made my lower parts pulse, irritate, twinge, and sometimes tingle didn't bother me as much. It was a problem I didn't really speak up much about anyway. Nobody really knew I was suffering. But with no bad dreams, shaman's cure on the way, and me and Andrew in a good place, I was planning on having a good day.

I woke up to the sun peeking in through the windows, I always got the same room when I stayed at Weirwood, the same one since I was a little girl, where purple morning glories grew in through the window. Dragons were roaring and I could see them piling up on the royal lawn. The Weirwoods got straight to business. A battalion was being formed. But I expected this. The Weirwoods were known warriors, career warriors even. The kingdom was normally called on as alliances to battles, and the Weirwoods boys enjoyed showing off their military prowess. When they weren't in wars life was boring.

It was another reason why I had moved on from Max. I was convinced he would be gone all of the time, and normal life was boring for him. He'd be a guy halfway out the door, and who would be a husband and father to me and my children? Not that Andrew wasn't gone a lot, he just seemed more invested in the idea of our family. Max however, just seemed like a wife and children were accessories that made him look good. That he attached on like clothing.

Seeing him though, in action was inspiring. I did admire Max a lot. He had the leadership qualities, confidence and just overall assertiveness I wished I could have. He was a man in charge. When he spoke up, people listened, stopped what they were doing turned to crane an ear. And today was one of those days where I found myself remembering my admiration for Max.

While we were gone on our day trip, the King had gotten to work, sending out knights to the homes of all of the dragon riders in town to see if they wanted to come out and fight for this event. He was hoping to raise 500 men, 50 dragons. Instead he got nearly a thousand men and 200 dragon riders. Who had promised to be at the palace by the end of the week. There were already hundreds that had arrived. Needless to say, we were going to destroy Darksea. The moon kingdom almost didn't even need to come. 200 dragons alone would burn all of Darksea to the ground. Destroy it completely.

While people were gathering and setting up camp on the palace grounds, Max pulled the hundreds of men whom had already gotten together for a speech. I was meeting some dragons at the moment. Prince Peter was pointing out a huge brown one with spikes all over, it's sharp edges alone enough to poke out an eye.

"Backwards Spinster," I said to Peter who smiled and looked impressed. I looked back to see both Andrew and Jacob way far away, practically all the way in the trees.

"Come on," I said. I knew that Jacob didn't like dragons, had nearly gotten his arm chomped off once, never even approached one since. But Andrew, I guess he had never even experienced one. And was a bit wary, agreeably so. Not anyone can just jump up on a dragon and ride one, it takes years of training, a bond formed between dragon and man. 

If me or anyone were to randomly climb a top a dragon, without the training, without knowing a dragon at all, then you could possibly get eaten whole. But I spent many of summers in Weirwood, had even taken dragon training and riding lessons, and I was a natural with them. It was all about reading body language, you knew at first glance if a dragon will let you approach them or if it's going to bite your head off. The problem with most people, is that they don't bother to learn these things.

Andrew actually took a step forward to approach when I waved them over, then Jacob held out a hand and shook his head. I could tell that he was then telling him the story where a dragon almost took his arm off.