Marut nearly snorted but stifled himself. “Okay, suit yourself. If I had professionally polished fangs, I probably wouldn’t want fur in them either. I have some of the catch from earlier if you are interested. I am going to have some tea, want some?” he said, getting ready to start a fire in the little potbelly stove.
“Here, let me,” Agne said, smiling, eager to show off her new campfire-skills. “It’s the least I can do to help repay you for your hospitality.” She breathed fire into the stove, and the logs caught fire immediately.
“Awesome. I wish I could do that,” he said smiling, slightly wagging his tail. He put his teapot on top of the little stove and rummaged around for some tea leaves. “I harvested and dried some fresh tea leaves recently. Hopefully, you’ll like it. I also – of course – have pine needle tea. It’s supposed to be relaxing.”
“Then two cups of pine needle, please.”
She sat and listened with great interest to him chatter on about his puppyhood memories from when his parents were still around. After they had been presumably killed at East Blue Ridge, he was alone and scared as he watched her father's forces level the waystation inn his parents owned. It was once the most popular rest stop on the route between Blue Valley and South Dragons Ridge since it was the halfway point.
His life was the extreme opposite of hers. He had no private play yard or garden unless one wished to consider the vast, lonely forest to be a private place. His claws were not faceted; they looked like he had been scratching at the rock bluff. He had no tutors, and could only read on the level of a small pup.
Despite all this, she would love to have his life, even with his loss. Both of his parents had treated him like a prince; no, not like that. They treated him like they loved him. Her mother told her she was loved, but she wasn’t so sure. However, she knew she was valued, but only as long as she conformed to the version of what they loved. There was a difference, a big one, and she could see it crystal clear. What would they have done when her tail horns grew in, and she wanted to look for her own mate, have her own life, and her own pups? Her own home?
Something about both her and Zhao sleeping in a stranger’s house seemed unsafe, so she stayed up to talk further with Marut. He seemed happy to talk about anything and everything. She put on her best princess smile and listened to him. It didn’t take long to realize that he was as lonely as she was, but for a different reason.
He carried on and on about his adventures in the woods. Then shifted his focus to the woods as a whole. His tea experiments fascinated her. He knew how to make some of the most exotic teas she had ever tasted.
He crinkled his brow, “The leaves of that flower made a particularly foul tea.” He pointed at a dried red flower, smiling. “But, it will heal your dragon’s breath if you have a cold or flu.”
Her favorite story was a game he played as a little pup, called Castle Tower. It was played on a large field with four castle towers; one for each element. It was designed as a training tool for human children who would someday become dragon riders and for dragon pups to learn how to work with tame humans. There were four teams, each team had four pairs of dragons and riders. One Fire, Water, Air, and Earth team. Common Dragons, even ones that flew, could only play in the ground positions. Each tower had an important human in it, like a village chancellor or one of the council. The idea was to stop the other teams from capturing the important human. And, the human couldn’t be a magical one. It had to be a helpless human, just not a wildling.
She wanted to ask why the flying Common Dragons weren’t allowed to fly, didn’t they need training too? She decided the conversation was best left for later, but if she ever played, as the princess, she would choose flying Common Dragons for her team, and have them fly.
Marut had loved playing. He went on for nearly two hours about how he had once captured both the West and East tower’s important human. He’d developed quite a skill at sneaking into places and avoiding capture.
Agne listened to the rules and strategies about Castle Tower with more than a bit of interest. Her quarters were nearly four thousand square feet of luxurious splendor, but they were a prison. She had heard the servants talking about playing when they were pups, and that was how they found out they didn’t want to work with non-magical humans. Most of the palace staff had bitten or chased off their riders. The only acceptable rider was a magical one. It enhanced the dragon’s power tenfold, and if they were completely tame, they knew what to do without being ordered. So, why did only her father have a magical rider. How was that possible? Was he oppressing the staff too? Again, how was that possible; the staff was forty or fifty dragons, they could easily overthrow him, so why did they kowtow to him?
She wondered if that was by decree or happenstance; perhaps magical humans didn’t want to be riders. Come to think of it, she, again, wondered why her father disliked non-magical humans. No, he didn’t dislike them, he hated them. She wondered why because she did not understand what could have justified his actions toward them. They were helpless, and needed the dragons’ protection, not to be made a menu item.
She nodded at his last comment. “That sounds like so much fun. I was never allowed to play, or watch sports. I have read hundreds of books, and written what seems like thousands of essays and reports on the different sports. My education is Air Temple based, but no sports. Which is curious because sports are Fire based, and I am half Fire,” she said, referring to the fact that a lot of the most interesting sports were Fire based. Air based sports were mostly strategy based, such as Castle Tower.
“What about him?” Marut asked, using his tail to point up to the loft. They could both hear the even breathing of a sleeping human.
“He is taking me to Blue Valley. I couldn’t very well expect him to walk and still show me the way there.”
Marut smiled. “But the two of you seem to move like chosen rider and dragon. Particularly with the way you moved with him nearly passed out from exhaustion on your back. You were very careful not to hurt him, or break his spinal cord or accidentally stab him with your horns. You do have the horns of a Fire Dragon, you know.”
“Yes, I am aware.” She smiled. “He is an excellent human, and rider. Perhaps I will have a rider one day, but for now, I am just a lost little pup with not enough knowledge to survive on her own. I am sure that’s why he stayed awake until we reached Blue Valley. My father once said that humans could stay awake a max of three days before they started acting crazy. He has been awake, probably close to the limit.” She left off the fact that he had been acting crazy before that.
“Well, I would hate to consider how your father knows that,” he said, making a face. “Oh, I am sorry.” He looked away, then pointed toward the cliffs, changing the subject. “This is the leading edge of the Blue Mountain range that surrounds Blue Valley. If you leave at nightfall, you’ll make it there easily by tomorrow evening, especially with the speed of an Air Dragon. Just be glad you don’t have an Earth Dragon with you, you might arrive in two days instead of one.”
“Have you been there. Is it nice,” she asked, ignoring the racial slur, but she thought he knew some strange things for a dragon who has hidden in the forest since his puppyhood.
“Once, when my parents were alive. We mostly stayed at their waystation inn here on the outskirts of East Blue Plains, but we vacationed a few times in Blue Valley. It’s very nice there, beautiful with cascading waterfalls and lakes. If you are lucky, the Mountain Dragons will teach you how to fish. They are magnificent fishers if I remember correctly.”
She smiled and nodded, looking around. “This is a tiny cabin to service a waystation that services three villages with large populations.”
“The inn was burned by Fire Dragons, and then sank into the ground by Earth Dragons from the Blood King’s forces. This was actually designed as a playhouse for me, and I am sure the human child who would have trained with me as my rider. I was lucky I was napping in here when East Blue Plains and the inn were attacked. If
you like, when Zhao awakens, I can show you where the inn was. Do you have any Earth powers?”
She shook her head, “Just the basics that a Stone Dragon would have. I don’t have complete control over it like I do with Fire and Air.”
“So, Earth, Fire—the Blood King. Air—his favored queen. You are his daughter, aren’t you?”
Why was he obsessed with getting her to say that aloud? She stared at the ground. “I was nothing but a prisoner in my own home. I had no idea he was so evil: that they both were so evil.”
“You must have found out somehow? You-the favored daughter of the most feared dragon king in history is out in the woods, alone, with a human boy who isn’t her rider. And she is on her way to Blue Valley for…..”
“Training. he cannot be allowed to continue to burn and bury everything in his path. He just destroyed South Dragons Ridge, burned it to a cinder – for no reason.”
Marut smiled. “Then I will come to Blue Valley with you, and help you take him down, so that a kind, fair-minded, young queen can take his place.” He frowned, “That is terrible news about South Dragons Ridge. They made the best pottery.”
She nodded. “The oppression must end. Peace and fair trade must be restored. Your waystation rebuilt. He must be stopped. No more villages can be allowed to be destroyed – human or dragon. The world is too big, and the nations are too numerous for one king to control it all. Balance is needed.” She knew she shouldn’t be speaking about this, but she could no longer keep the truth inside her. It was spilling out over the edges of her consciousness. “We need to be concerned only with the unification of Shestafa; not conquering Rothelande, Brovast, or the other nations.”
“I totally agree with you. However, no one is allowing it; he’s simply too powerful.” He pointed at her with his tail, then offered a sheepish smile as he tucked it around his legs. “Sorry didn’t mean to point at you.”
She laughed, “It’s fine.”
They spent the rest of the day trying to read over some scrolls left by his parents, but they were mostly fairy tale scrolls for a pup and his training rider to enjoy together. Marut asked her a million questions about reading.
“You are very advanced at reading,” he said, smiling, as he pulled another scroll down. He seemed to choose them carefully, pausing over this one or that one, before choosing another. It seemed like he was deciding what not to show her.
She nodded, “It’s all I was allowed to do. I read mostly fiction chosen for me, but the only non-fiction I was allowed to have was about government and economics. He also let me study the Great Elemental Philosophies of Fire and Air.”
“Did you read about Queen Shestafa?”
She shook her head, then shrugged. “A little, I only know she was our nation’s founding monarch. You know, the basics that everyone knows.”
She didn’t tell him that she had read about it in the same history book that told of her grandfather’s battles. There was definitely something off about Marut. It was starting to creep her out. If Zhao didn’t need the rest, she would consider sneaking away.
Marut smiled, with his eyes narrowed, clicking his front claws together, “He probably pulled it from your reading list for some nefarious reason.”
Nefarious! Not that she doubted her father would have pulled it for his own unscrupulous reasons, but where would Marut have learned a word like that? Not from these pup’s scrolls. She prayed he was a friend and not a foe because he’s surely not a lost orphaned pup. What was he really doing out here?
THE SAND DRAGONS
For the second time in less than forty-eight hours, Chactau stood on a hill overlooking a vast field that had once been a vibrant village. This time, it was a dragon village, Ownagla, the Sand Dragon Capital. Loutic stood next to him, also looking out at the barren landscape. It was almost indistinguishable from the rest of the desert. Parts of the sands shone of translucent turquoise as the sun shined down on it. It was the effect of the Fire Dragon’s attack melting the sands, the pressure his Earth Dragon’s caused, followed by the sudden cooling of the Water Dragons’ flash freezing magic.
It was now infused with three of the Elemental powers. If anyone cared to brave the desert, the largest, driest on the planet, they would be gifted some of the most magical glass in the world. Its magic would last centuries – and fetch some lucky witch or wizard a fortune.
“Did you hear what he ordered the Water Dragons to do when the Princess is found?” Loutic asked him.
Chactau nodded. “Have her taxidermied and placed at her tea table – which I strongly suspect is actually the King’s table and not Princess Agne’s. I wonder if his rider eats there with them?” He had misjudged the princess. She is not the spoiled brat his father had presented. She had been held prisoner by the most overbearing parent on the planet.
“Have you met her?”
“I see her, same as you, but she never speaks – she just rides there, like his little human dolly. It’s said, he even dresses her. I heard he spends a significant amount of money on her clothing and uniforms.”
“Not Ja Hua, the Princess. Everyone sees her.” Loutic perked his ears forward. “Are you being obtuse on purpose?”
“No. And no, I haven’t met her, or seen her.” Chactau squinted and put his ears back as he tried to remember. “Nope,” he shook his head, “I have only seen a portrait of her, but not her in the flesh.” His father had taken him to see the portrait in the Royal Hall of Records just before he suggested he become betrothed to her. His father asked if he thought she was pretty. He did think she was beautiful, but there was more to holding his interest than beauty.
“I saw her once when she was a small pup hanging on her father’s horns.” He heaved a sigh, turning one ear to the back and one toward Chactau – meaning he was listening to make sure no one else was around. “I never saw her after that one time. That was years ago. It wasn’t until the party a few nights ago that the high-ranking nobles saw her.”
“Are you suggesting she’s already dead?”
“No. She’s alive.” He shrugged. “I don’t know what I’m suggesting. I was thinking….” His voice trailed off, and he didn’t finish his thought.
“Loutic, this was a dragon village. The Sand Dragons are decimated. It’s not even logical to conclude they would hide her.”
“I know.” He sighed, “They put up quite a fight too. I actually had to dismiss two of my dragons back to North Dragons Ridge. You lose any.”
“No. but Sand Dragons are common, based with Earth and Water. So, they really aren’t a threat to my troops, or the Water Dragons. Didn’t your troops know that? Who doesn’t know that?”
“Two rookies,” he shook his head, “never been out of the capital. I think one wasn’t actually hurt. I think he bit his own paw.”
“Really, that’s nuts?” Chactau shook his head. “No- not really. It happens in battles, especially ones that are more like pirate raids, and not true military campaigns.”
Loutic looked around again, setting one ear back. “Something has to be done.”
Chactau looked around, his dragons were too far away to overhear them. Keeping an ear turned toward the encampment of dragons, he asked, “What do you have in mind?”
TIME FOR TEA
When evening finally came both Marut and Agne were so excited that their tails wagged like young pups. Zhao had to jump out of the way twice. They had locked up the cabin, and were at the cliff base preparing to take off.
"I can't wait to see Blue Valley. I have been alone here for a long time," Marut said, trying to lie still while Zhao helped him secure a saddle that had been converted to a trunk. He had packed his tea set, his children's scrolls, a drawing of his parents, and a dirty gold horn ring. It was the only thing that remained of his parent’s inn.
"I am a little scared," Agne said, frowning and wrinkling her forehead. She scratched her front paw in the soft ground. It felt cool and refreshing, like it was draining some of the stress off.
; "You'll be okay. I’m the one who should worry. I have nothing there. I could be sleeping on the street," Marut said, also frowning. He lowered his head down to the level of his knees to indicate worry in dragon body language.
“You do have a flair for drama.” Zhao huffed. "No one is sleeping on the street." He pulled a strap to tighten the basket.
Agne put both ears out to the side. "I don't know; we could all be on the street. Without my father's influence, I have nothing."
"No one is sleeping on the street unless they decide that is what they want to do," Zhao said, patting Marut's shoulder as he finished the straps. "You have to get the bottom one. It's too thick for me." He walked over to Agne patting her shoulder, “And if nothing else, you have your title. Let’s just hope it isn’t a one-way ticket back to the Blood King’s castle.”
"Good thing I used my favorite blanket to protect my tea set," Marut said, leaning up on his hind legs, tipping the basket as he snapped the under strapping.
“Blanket, are you serious? You’re a dragon, right?” Zhao laughed, "You two are quite a pair."
"What?" Agne said, scratching behind her horn with her rear leg. "Just scratching off the last of the gold dust polish." She straightened up, so Zhao could take his seat.
Marut furrowed his brow, “Your tone suggest ridicule. It’s a Fire Dragon scale blanket. This may look tropical, but I assure you, it can get cold here.” He squinted at Zhao. “I am not a Water Dragon.”
"Yep, very perceptive of you," he said, mounting the saddle, "Well, let's get out of here."
"Wait!" Agne said, not moving. Marut stared at her, startled. "We could just stay here, forever, and forget there is an evil King." She almost said, my father, but caught herself. Part of her still didn’t want to believe her loving father could be a murdering tyrant.
Marut smiled, "We won't tell anyone this place is here. That way, we can always come back to it. Meanwhile, if you can stop your father; do it. The people need their princess to be strong."
The Lilac Princess and the Blood King Page 7