Eire

Chapter 13

Village of Draco

After ensuring the palace was secure and that no one would be able to leave beyond the gates the journey towards Draco started. Mark and I decided to start with this village as it was the closest. "Did you have to bring your heaviest crown?" Mark asked surprised. "It was the one mother used for these trips so yes. It will also stop villagers from thinking I am a walkover. Some of them have not seen me in years. The visits to the villages will be almost like tests to see if I shall be fair." I said remembering what mother had said. It took us a few hours but as we drew closer to the Village of Draco I put the crown on my head and wore my most regal expression. I heard the bells ring warning the villagers of my arrival. By the time we reached the gate the head of the village was on a horse ready to greet us. "My Queen, welcome to the Village of Draco. I hope your journey has not been tedious." The head said. "The journey has been pleasant. Now please let us see to things. There are two other heads I must see in the next 2 days." I said politely. "Actually my Queen it is more than 2." The head said. "What do you mean?" I said instantly alert. "There are many severe issues in many villages surrounding us." The head explained. "Then I shall see to them as well." I promised internally grimacing. "There is no need for you to see the village itself. We have made it easier for you the best way we could. There are several heads here and several in the other two villages you are going to." The head said. "This is going to take longer than I thought, but these matters must be seen to. I shall start immediately." I said in a tone not allowing for an argument. "Let us start with the issues here Head Draco. Then I shall see whom I can today." I said and we got down to business.

Several hours later I had only been able to see three other village heads. Sighing heavily I looked over the paperwork with Mark. "This is going to take longer than the three days you allotted my Queen." Mark stated simply sitting down next to me. "Yes. We are going to be here through tomorrow for certain. I need you to communicate with Alexis and tell her it is going to be at least 5 days if not more." I said resigned. "I will let her know. What are you looking at?" Mark asked. "Raids. The good news is they seem to have stopped for now." I said handing him a paper. Quickly looking over it Mark nodded his agreement. "What is odd however, is what was taken. Raids normally consist of live stock. These consist of harvest which is not good." I said pinching my nose. "You need to rest you have had a long journey and many meetings. You will have many meetings tomorrow from what I can see and I will do my best to assist you." Mark said. "You are right. Let us go find something to eat and then we can retire." I said standing up and putting the papers away. Mark help me clean up and we walked out into the village. We found something light to eat and sat down. "I do apologize we do not have anything more refined My Queen." Head Draco said walking over to us. "It is fine. I hardly ate fine foods while I was captured Head Draco. Compared to that this is grand." I said honestly. "Then I am glad. I must say I am impressed, I thought you would try to rush things but you are giving your absolute attention to each Head." Head Draco said. "Nothing would be solved properly if rushed." I said honestly. "You are wise for one so young. Your mother would be proud." Head Draco said. "Thank you, I am sure you are right. Now at the risk of sounding rude I must go to bed. I have several things I must tend to tomorrow." I said standing and Mark followed. "Something is off about this." Mark said uneasily. "Agreed but we must let whatever is going on happen. These people do not know my secrets and they can never know Mark." I said. "I understand. Let us go to bed then. Hopefully we can finish the rest of the meetings tomorrow." Mark said. Me to. I thought as we went to our separate rooms.

The next morning I woke feeling on edge. I washed quickly and dressed before heading down stairs. Mark was waiting for me and we sat down to begin the day. Before I knew it the entire day sped by when the final Head entered the room. "My Queen, I would like to thank you for taking the time to see me." The Head said sitting down. "It is my privilege and duty as your Queen to serve you. Let us begin." I said glad I sounded upbeat. "These are the notes I have brought in regards to the raids. They are similar to the other villages but that is not the issue I needed to speak of." The Head said and I nodded. I leaned across the table to take the paperwork when he snatched my wrist. "How dare you-" "Shut up, you are nothing but her puppet." The head said drawing a dagger out from his robes. "He is no such-" I didn't get to finish the sentence as I watched the dagger go through my hand and into the table I screamed in pain. "You little-" Mark got cut off once more as the other Heads raced into the room and I quietly placed an illusion spell over my hand. "You attacked the Queen!" head Draco said shocked to see the Head still touching the dagger buried in my hand. "She is an unnatural creature! This blade is pure silver it will show us her true colors!" The head said now held by two guards. "I am human. The only thing that may happen is that the wound could be infected." I said gritting my teeth. "I have to pull this out, it is not going to be pretty." Mark said putting his hand on the handle. "Just do it." I said shortly. Mark pulled the dagger out and the blood from my hand flowed. "We must stop the bleeding immediately." Head Draco said sitting next to me. He pulled off his jacket wrapping my hand in it and placed pressure on the wound. "I do not understand, I was told the silver would burn you." The Head said. "Well as you can see it did not burn her. You attacked an innocent woman." Mark spat at the man. "Head Draco, my wound must be tended to and then we will deal with him. Since you are head here I shall let you pass judgment." I said. Head Draco nodded keeping the pressure on my wound. His jacket became drenched in my blood when he finally unwrapped my hand to see that the bleeding stopped. "I will-" "No, the Head who attacked you will replace my jacket Queen Ireland. I will not allow you to replace it." Head Draco cut me off holding his hand out for a needle and thread. Head Draco stitched together both sides of my hand as I bit down onto a piece of leather. "I need some water. My Queen, you will have to watch this hand. You cannot over tax yourself." Head Draco said as he finished stitching my hand and picked up the wet cloth in the water. He gently cleaned my hand and then wrapped it in the bandages.

"Now we can deal with you." Head Draco said. "I only thought to-" "You didn't think at all! The Queen has been nothing but gracious and listened through all of our concerns! You repay this by injuring her? You are a traitor." Head Draco said coldly. "I deserve to die, I know this. I can only say I thought I did what was best." The Head said. "You all have seen what he has done to the Queen. Do any of you object to my sentence of hanging?" Head Draco asked. For a moment there was silence as none objected. "So be it. Imprison him." Head Draco said and the man was dragged out of the room. I stood up and the men came to attention. "Head Draco, I want to thank you for attending to me. Gentlemen, while it has been a pleasure I will have to go tomorrow. I must see to the other villages and cannot delay." I said. "Only if you agree to go in a cart My Queen. You cannot hold reigns with that hand of yours. We can tie your horses to the back of the wagon since they are not wagon horses." Head Draco said. "I can agree to that. Once I have returned to the castle I will return the cart and the horse." I promised and bade them good night.