The Princess's Dragon by JManess Read Free Book Online

needed 28
    ✥ Susan Trombley ✥
    to amass a standing army, the king considered himself intelligent enough to heed the veteran warrior’s advice. With a decisive nod he called for pen and scroll.
    “Very well, Warlord. We have placed you in charge of our protection and as such we must trust you to do your job; therefore, we agree to your advised action and reinstate conscription as of this very day. Naturally, we leave the details and the recruitment to you and our current soldiers. We only ask that you treat the people fairly and with great compassion. Never forget these men are the sons, husbands, and fathers of this kingdom.” The king finished scribing the new decree and the steward raced off to order it copied, sealed, and sent out to every corner of the kingdom.
    “Thank you, Your Highness; you will not regret this decision. I will dispatch a company of soldiers to reestablish the border guard at the pass and the remainder of our active soldiers will begin recruitment and training immediately.” Derek nodded to one of the soldiers who guarded a second exit from the chamber. He saluted and hurried silently from the room to carry out the Warlord’s commands.
    “Now,” commanded the king, “we order all of you to reassemble in these chambers this evening with detailed reports on how this new find will impact each of your departments. Mr. Foreman will remain in the Royal Library until then to answer any of your questions and assist you with any mining details.
    We wish to speak to the Warlord and the Councilor of Titles, Deeds, and Trusts alone. The rest of you are dismissed.” The councilors filed out. When only Derek, the king, and the Councilor of TDT remained, the king began, “Now, about the Dukedom of Arivale…”
    “Well, what do you think about all of this, Sondra? After all, we are talking magic here?” Sarai leaned forward in her chair, her perfectly stitched embroidery project all but forgotten on her lap as the three siblings huddled together in her morning room. Ranged along the walls, the ladies-in-waiting embroidered their own scraps of spidersilk and tried unsuccessfully to appear disinterested in the barely audible conversation taking place in the center of the room.
    The princesses perched on daintily carved chairs upholstered in a pale yellow spidersilk. The young prince lounged on a matching upholstered chaise longue that complemented the blazing sunset oranges and pinks pouring

    ✥ Th e Princess’s Dragon ✥
    29
    through the room’s only window to pool on the heavy loomed carpet that warmed the wooden floors.
    “It’s not magic obviously. I am not certain what sort of logical phenomena it is. I will need to consult my books, but I believe I read a mention in Pilphragm’s manual about such a stone. He didn’t refer to the energy as aether but rather some sort of chemo kinetic force that occurs naturally…”
    “Why can’t you just admit it, Sondra?”
    The ladies jumped in surprise as the always refined, elegant, and calm Sarai snapped impatiently at her sister. Even Sergen looked up from where he lounged bonelessly, picking his fingernails and yawning in boredom.
    “I wish you would stop insisting that magic exists …”
    “And you should stop insisting that it doesn’t, despite irrefutable evidence to the contrary. You saw that stone–how could you possibly deny the power in…”
    “Yes, Sarai, I saw the stone, and I admit it possessed considerable power,” Sondra interrupted heatedly, “but why must we assume that any power is magical in origin? Perhaps there is a store of naturally occurring energy in the world that we have all along called magic but in actuality possesses a purely logical explanation.”
    “You are hopeless, Sondra; there is no getting through to you, and I am sick and tired of imploring you to listen to reason. Everyone here thinks you are some sort of aberration, and I am tired of defending you when they call you strange and unnatural!”
    The