John shrugged. "I heard there were just seven types of Dragons, and Golden wasn't one of them."
The others laughed with him. "Today, we relax," John told them. "Tomorrow, chaos will reign. They'll be holding a military council here, and they'll try to tear our story apart. Its years since this country has been to war, and they won't want to believe it's true. They'll imply that we're liars, that we're fantasists, that we're silly children who are just looking for attention. It doesn't matter what family you are all from; they'll try to undermine us all. But it doesn't matter. There are enough voices of reason in there, combined with those itching for a fight, who will be willing to listen. They'll come around. Don't worry about convincing them, even when they're making you feel wretched. No, what we need to worry about is how they respond when they finally believe you. Unless they agree to my suggestion, unless they agree to reach out for help, we're doomed. Without the Browns, the Blues will win. Tomorrow, when your families arrive, that's the one thing you need to convince them of."
Seth shook his head. "John, forget the Browns. You didn't see this thing fly. We don't need the Browns. We need Golden Dragons. That one this morning was unstoppable, and it seemed to have no problem helping us fight the Blue Dragons. Please, tell me you know something about them."
John laughed. "Golden Dragons. I'd like to see you present that suggestion to the Military Council. At least they believe Browns exist. Come on, Daisy, let's go for a walk. I feel we've earned some time to relax. See you at dinner, everyone."
Crystal watched Daisy and John leave the room together. Arthur shook his head disapprovingly.
"Give it up, Arthur," Seth told him, patting him on the back. "She'll never leave him now. You may as well get used to it. Come on. Let's get lunch. I don't know about you, but I'm starving."
Chapter 43: Convincing the Council
The Military Council scheduled a meeting for the evening of the next day, straight after dinner at the home of Lord Lance. The rest of the students and all of the teachers began to head back to Furnace first thing in the morning, but the five headed to Newcastle, to retell their story once again. Jenna was clearly disappointed to be left out, and begged to be allowed to stay, being related to Crystal, but the Headmaster was unmoved.
Lord Lance's home was not a very welcoming place, having being designed with security rather than comfort as the top priority. The children were led to a rather cold hall near the entrance, where they were to await the arrival of the military council. Fortunately, they didn't have to wait long till others began to arrive. Their relatives were the first, ahead of the Members of the Council. News of their disappearance in the storm had been swiftly communicated to them, and everyone was anxious to see that they were all alright—everyone except John, of course. Daisy noticed that John sat all alone reading while her family fussed over her and Arthur. She beckoned for him to come over, hoping to introduce him to her mother as her boyfriend. Arthur noticed and gave her a furious look, shaking his head silently. John looked at her and smiled while shaking his head.
"Don't say anything about him being your boyfriend," Arthur whispered in her ear. "Not if you want to stay at school."
Daisy looked at him in surprise. "They wouldn't take me away! Not over something like this."
Arthur stared at her in disbelief. "If they believe us about the invasion I wouldn't be surprised if they take us back home anyway. Announcing that you're going out with him? I don't think this is the best moment. Besides, I thought you agreed to keep it quiet. Why tell them now?"
"What are you two whispering about?" their mother asked. "Come on now, you're with family. You should have no secrets."
Gerald laughed. "Families always have secrets, mother, especially from their parents. Although in Daisy's case, I doubt she has many." He shot Daisy a quick warning glance.
Daisy lifted her head defiantly. "I was wondering if you would like to meet our friends, Mother."
Her mother brightened. "Of course, dear, that would be lovely. There were three others with you, weren't there?"
Daisy nodded. "Come on, I'll introduce you to them."
Seth had just walked in, and was crossing the hall when Daisy intercepted him.
"Hi, Seth. Would you like to meet my mother? This is Princess Charlotte."
Seth looked a little surprised. "Um, alright, Daisy. Of course." He turned to Daisy's mother, looking a little intimidated. Daisy noted that her mother often had that effect on men; she was as tall as Daisy, and had a striking appearance, looking not that much older than her daughter, but with a harder, more determined look about her. "Seth Bragon. Pleased to meet you, your highness."
Daisy's mother beamed back at him. "Bragon, that's a familiar name. Very pleased to meet you. Are you a good friend of my daughter's?"
"Well, I know Daisy through Arthur, really. I sit near Crystal, so I am friends with her, and Crystal is Jenna's cousin, and of course Jenna is going out with Arthur."
"Oh," the princess said, turning to Arthur with an irritable look on her face. "This is the first I've heard of Jenna. When were you going to mention her?"
Arthur blushed furiously. "Thanks, Seth. It's not particularly serious, Mother, I hadn't thought it worth mentioning."
"Why the blushes then, Arthur?" Gerald asked, feigning ignorance. "For a not particularly serious relationship, you two do seem to spend a lot of time together."
Arthur glared at his older brother. "Sorry, Gerald. Maybe I should follow your example and choose a different one each week."
"Gerald!" his mother scolded. "Arthur's just teasing me, isn't he?"
Gerald nodded. "Of course, Mother. I change them daily."
His mother slapped his arm and shook her head. "Well, it's lovely to meet you, Seth. Although of course we'd have preferred to have met under different circumstances. I expect your parents were terribly worried as well."
Seth shrugged. "I guess so. Not enough to fly here though. They know I'm alright though. Hardly the first scrape we've been in this year, is it?"
Princess Charlotte shot a startled look at Arthur and Daisy. "What's he talking about?"
"Oh look, Mother, this is Crystal," Daisy said brightly, grabbing Crystal's arm and pulling her towards her mother. "Crystal is Jenna's cousin."
Princess Charlotte gasped upon seeing Crystal. "Wow, your hair! I've never seen anything like it."
Crystal blushed and looked down at the ground.
Princess Charlotte apologised quickly. "I'm sorry, my dear. I spoke without thinking. I've just never seen hair like that before. Is it dyed?"
Crystal shook her head, pushing her hair over her shoulder.
"Oh, don't do that, dear," Princess Charlotte objected. "You should be proud of your hair, it's absolutely stunning. Does your cousin have hair like yours?"
Crystal shook her head. "No, just me."
"Oh, shame. Oh, that boy over there. Is he related to you? He has hair just like yours."
Crystal glanced over at John. "He does, but he's no relation. He's the first person I've met with hair like mine. He just happened to be in the same class."
Princess Charlotte was staring over at John. "So, is he the fifth member of your little group? Did he get swept away with you as well?"
"No," Crystal replied. "He's the one who came looking for us."
The princess turned back to her quickly. "What? In Blue Dragon territory? He flew in to find you?"
Crystal nodded. "Found us and brought us back."
Princess Charlotte turned to Arthur and Daisy. "Come on, twins, introduce me to this one."
Daisy called, "John, come over here." Crystal excused herself and followed after Seth.
John looked up from his book and rose to his feet, approaching the princess cautiously, bowing as he approached. "Your highness, it's an honour to meet you."
Daisy giggled. "Mother, this is John. John, this is my mother."
"So, John," Princess Charlotte began. "I understand you flew into Blue Dragon territory to look for my child
ren."
John nodded. "That's right. The direction of the storm and where Jenna told me that they had been sucked up led me to believe that they could only have been taken eastwards into Blue Dragon territory."
Princess Charlotte nodded, smiling to herself. "Yes, John, I wasn't really commenting on how you worked out where they were, although I'm guessing that finding them was quite a feat in itself. No, I'm more interested in how you summoned the courage to fly into Blue Dragon territory on your own looking for your friends."
John shrugged. "Well, I guess I assumed that they wouldn't have much of a population living near the border, so I'd have a good chance of looking around without being noticed."
The princess shook her head and laughed. "What absolute nonsense. Still, I guess you have your reasons. Do they involve a pretty young girl with golden hair?"
"Mother!" Daisy objected in horror. "You can't ask John that sort of question!"
"I'm just curious," the princess replied innocently. "It's a pretty big risk to take; I was wondering what would motivate someone to do that."
John smiled. "Friends are important to me, your highness. I'd have taken that risk for any one of these four."
"John was the one who saved Crystal's father," Daisy told her mother proudly. "You must have heard about that. When there was the raid on Furnace last term?"
"Oh, that's who's Crystal's father is!" the princess realized, noticing that Crystal and Seth were both speaking to Lord Robert on the other side of the hall. "Not much of a family resemblance. And you're the one who saved him! I see, John. You're a bit of a risk taker, aren't you? I hope you're not going to be leading my twins into taking silly risks."
Gerald burst out laughing at this comment. His mother turned to him and glared. "I don't see what is so funny, Gerald. First I'm brought here and told that my twins have both disappeared because they were silly enough to fly through a terrible storm. Then that boy Seth tells me that this sort of thing is normal for them. I want to know exactly what he meant by that. They were never getting into trouble before they came to this school, and I want to know whether it is because they're associating with the wrong people."
"Hey," Daisy objected. "John isn't the wrong sort of person. He's very respectable. The Headmaster has appointed him as our flying instructor."
Her mother eyed her suspiciously. "Really. I remember being contacted about that. I had no idea it was one of your classmates. I thought it would at least have been someone in the year above you. Anyway, no one has answered my question. What was Seth referring to?"
Gerald shrugged. "Perhaps he was referring to their weekend away to the south. They had a spot of bother there. Did the twins not mention that?"
His mother turned to him and glared at him angrily. "No, and you know they didn't. That's your job to tell me about these things, although I now suspect that you've been doing your best to hide things from me. I still can't understand why you've let them wander around without their guards all year. I don't care if that is what they want; they're children and need to do as they're told."
"Perhaps I should leave," John suggested. "This seems like a private discussion."
The princess regarded John suspiciously. "You were on this trip to the south as well, weren't you? And you saved the Commander? You do seem to be involved in every situation. Are you the one who gets them into these messes in the first place?"
Gerald intervened before John could reply. "Mother, John is many things, but reckless is not one of them. I can assure you that he never takes risks with anyone's lives but his own. He's the one who gets them out of trouble."
"They're safe now, your highness," John added. "Surely that's the most important thing."
The princess glared at him. "Thank you very much for bringing my children home. But right now I want to find out how they got there, and whether being friends with you is not putting them in more danger in the first place."
"Mother!" Daisy objected. "John would never put me in danger. And he's not reckless at all. If he'd been with us we'd have never flown in that storm. He wouldn't have let me do something like that."
"Wouldn't have let you?" her mother asked suspiciously. "How would he have influence over what you do?"
Gerald quickly intervened again. "Arthur, I think it's time to tell your mother about the camping trip."
Arthur's eyes widened in disbelief. "Gerald! I can't believe you brought that up. You promised you wouldn't mention it."
Their mother turned to him. "Not another word out of you, young man. Gerald, you're to tell me everything at once. I don't want to have any more surprises from their classmates. What's this about a camping trip? Since when has Daisy taken up camping? I've never been too keen on Arthur wandering off on his own, let alone his sister."
"Excuse me, your highness," John interrupted. "I doubt I can add anything here, and I expect that you'll want to discuss this in private. It was nice to meet you. See you later, Gerald; Arthur; Daisy."
Princess Charlotte turned back to her children. "So, Gerald, this camping trip…"
John spent the next couple of hours reading outside, until Daisy came out to find him.
"Hi, John. I was wondering where you were." She sat beside him and kissed him on the cheek.
John glanced around, checking that no one was watching them. "Not worried that your mother might see you kissing me?"
Daisy shrugged. "Not as worried as Arthur is—or you for that matter. You didn't want to meet my mother earlier, did you?"
John shook his head. "I was pleased to meet her, but I didn't want to intrude when she first arrived. But I think your brothers are right, I don't think it's best for her to know I'm your boyfriend. Not now anyway. I don't think she was too impressed with me."
"Oh, don't worry about that," Daisy replied. "Gerald and I did a great job of singing your praises after you left. We told her all about how you risked your life to rescue you us in the valley, as well as coming to get us after the storm. We've assured her that you're very sensible and respectable."
John looked at curiously. "How much did you tell her?"
Daisy sighed. "For all his bold talk, Gerald was no keener to tell mother about us than Arthur. We told her about camping in that valley, about the weekend away at Crystal's and everything about the last couple of days. Everything except us."
John nodded. "How perceptive is your mother? Does she suspect anything?"
Daisy shrugged indifferently. "I don't know. I think she was pretty shocked about the year we've been having. I wouldn't want to be there when she catches up with Arthur."
"He was with you, wasn't he?"
Daisy shook her head. "Seth rescued him, saying the headmaster wanted to see him. Apparently he's stayed behind for the meeting. I thought he had left us here after we arrived."
John nodded. "I would have been surprised if he hadn't stayed. When is the meeting?"
"Oh, that's why I've been sent to find you," Daisy replied. "They're going to start it in a few minutes."
"Daisy!" John said. "Why didn't you tell me straight away?"
Daisy shrugged sheepishly. "I thought it would be nice to spend a few minutes together first. It'll be difficult to see you with my parents here. I suspect my mother will never let me outside alone without guards again. But they won't start without us. Besides, there's nothing we can tell them the others can't."
John shook his head at her. "You're impossible. There's plenty I can tell them the others can't." He took Daisy's hand and stood up. "Come on; show me where the meeting is."
Daisy led him to the meeting hall where nearly everyone was already gathered but she was right, they weren't ready to start yet. Daisy and John sat down with the others in a row of chairs against the wall and watched as the council members took their seats. There were a number of aides and assistants who sat on chairs next to the five.
In addition to the normal attendees and the five young people, there were a number of other guests, including the twins' parents and Crys
tal's mother (her father being a member), as well as a few people John didn't know. They all sat quietly at the far end of the hall.
John knew all of the commanders from the dinner party, and the head of military intelligence, but there were many faces in the council he didn't recognise. He knew the names of all of the council members, so it was now just a matter of matching faces to names. All of the others were representatives of the old families, the noble and powerful houses that, although they had no formal power, had massive wealth and influence and would finance most of the defence operations. They had no voting powers on the council over most matters, but according to custom, most policies were agreed according to consensus and little was done without their consent.
Daniel Thorne's father, Lord Thorne, was instantly recognisable, the family likeness and the flamboyant dress of the western region giving him away. He was seated next to Lord Jeremy, the commander from the west, and he assumed the other man beside them was Lord Dominic, another westerner, and rumoured to be the richest man in the Kingdom. John had no time to study the rest of the attendees before the meeting began.
Lord Robert stood up. "Let us begin, gentlemen. This is far from a normal meeting, so let us dispense with the formalities and get straight to business. You all know why we are here, so I propose that we move straight to hearing the testament of these young people. Prince Arthur, I believe you have prepared a statement?"
Arthur nodded and stood up and approached the table, taking a seat beside Crystal's father. Arthur began to read the statement, which he and Seth had prepared with the help of John and the headmaster. Arthur's statement was quite brief, starting with the school trip, the ill-advised flight through the storm, John's arrival, plenty of details of what they had seen on the plain, and their trip back. They missed out the part about the Golden Dragon altogether.
Then the cross examining began. Were they sure they hadn't exaggerated the number of Blue Dragons? Could they be sure the drill had been preparation for an invasion? One council member, Lord Oscar, even implied the whole thing was the product of overactive imaginations.
Becoming a Dragon Page 47