16. Stop Them!
Stop Them!
Vasin didn’t go for the gentle circling glide to land.
Instead, he dove and, at the last moment, flared out his wings, bringing us to an abrupt halt before his feet touched the ground in the middle of the group of people.
Everyone scattered with lots of swearing and screaming as a hulking black dragon descended upon them out of nowhere.
The other dragons around us let out deafening roars as they came to the aid of their pair-bonds, so I pulled my feet up under me and used Dayson to steady myself as I stood on Vasin’s back.
I drew on my magic and the ability I used to connect with other dragons and thrust it out around us, grabbing their attention.
“Calm yourselves, please. We are not here to hurt you or your pair-bonds. All we want to do is stop these people from trapping dragons they wish to use for power. Feel my intentions and look at Vasin’s memory about who these people are.
Don’t let them do to others what you’ve been fighting against all this time. ”
The dragons were reluctant to believe me, but seeing that I was reaching out to them in this way when no one had been able to do this before made them curious.
I wasn’t going to second-guess the situation, and seeing as they calmed, I was going to take it as a win.
The human part of this wasn’t as agreeable to what I was doing and tried to advance on Vasin, but even though he might not have his fire yet, his teeth, claws, and wings seemed to serve him well.
“Cassarah, what are you doing here?” Ballard called, his voice full of panic. Glancing at him, I saw his hands were tied in front of him, and he had a massive bruise on the side of his face where something had hit him. “You can’t be here alone. It isn’t safe.”
Part of me relaxed to know that Ballard hadn’t gone along with this, but it also fueled my anger at how he was treated.
“Would anyone care to explain why you are all meeting out here when you should be enjoying a feast?” At my words, the soldiers stopped attacking and looked back at the clan leaders, Gavin’s parents, and Naytan, standing back at a safe distance.
“I’m surprised to see you can make friends so quickly, Naytan, but I might caution you on your choice of friends.
Seems that when they decide they don’t like you, they make plans to stab you in the back. ”
“You should never have come here, little girl. This situation is far too much for the likes of you to be able to handle,” Naytan spat.
“That is your belief in the matter, but I know for a fact that you aren’t the right person to be able to handle this either…
none of you are.” Shifting my gaze, I turned to the king and queen.
“Tell me, are the rumors true that you are looking to dissolve our alliance in favor of a deal with these men? Did the fact that they are willing to betray their own queen not give you any pause to the fact they could also turn on you? If this is how you run your kingdom, it’s no wonder it was taken from you. ”
King Edward did not like that one bit as I watched his face start to turn purple with his building rage. “You dare to speak to your king in such a manner? I’ll have you head for that.”
“You and what army?” I asked, truly curious how he thought he would back up that threat. “I don’t remember rescuing more than you and your sons from the castle. Did you manage to regain some of your military without me knowing?”
“Cassarah,” Dayson whispered behind me. “Let’s try to stay alive through this. Making them even more angry isn’t going to help.”
Ignoring my guardian’s advice, I kept my gaze locked with the once king of Norden.
“These men with you are from Sheca, making them my subjects. In helping you with whatever plan you have to remove me from my throne, they are doing so in an act of treason and shall be faced with death. If you do not have an army or even your own men to defend yourselves with, how do you see this as a valuable alliance? The clan leaders have now sealed their fate and will no longer be of use to you. All that is left is me. No one knows you are still alive after that battle. I could kill you and place your son, Phillip, on the throne, who is proving himself to be a valuable asset, unlike you two.”
My words were cold and ruthless, but I was done giving them chances to prove themselves when, time after time, they betrayed me.
Never would I be safe in my lands if I let these men continue to walk freely, thinking they have the power to usurp my rule.
I could feel the other dragons listening to my words and, being the wise creatures they are, understood my choice was one of sound logic.
They retreated, leaving me to deal with the humans.
The only dragons who fought my touch were the king and queen’s dragons.
The need to protect their pair-bond was all that mattered to them, even if they didn’t have the backup of the others.
“That’s some big talk, little girl. Who’s to say I can’t just shoot you down where you stand and end this right now?” Naytan said, signaling to the soldiers. “If they are going to die for treason as it is, what do we have to lose?”
Out of the group of six men, four raised their bows while the other two drew their swords ready in case shooting me didn’t work. “You can take that chance, but what makes you think I came alone?”
As I spoke, I could feel Tahir, Ifra, and Ninnat were right upon us just in time to prove my point and settle this once and for all.
The dragons that belonged to the soldiers snarled and gnashed their teeth at the newcomers, but they backed off, leaving us more room for the fifteen dragons that landed with doubled-up riders.
I now had thirty people to back me up, and by the looks on my guardians’ faces, they were pissed as hell.
“What is going on here, Naytan?” Alsten barked as he leaped off his dragon’s back. “You were warned what would happen if you didn’t come to terms with Cassarah becoming our queen.”
“I took your warning under consideration and decided I didn’t care. I won’t bow to some child claiming to be the savior of our people. It’s not right, and you won’t ever convince me otherwise,” Naytan snarled.
“Cass, I need you to step down now that the others are here. It seems I’m in luck of finding a late-night snack.”
As much as I wanted to preserve life, Naytan made his bed, and there was nothing I could do to change his choice.
With Dayson’s help, I slid off Vasin’s back with him right behind me, ready to spring into action once our feet hit the ground if it was needed.
Someone pushed through the crowd of guards and dragons that just landed, surprising me when I saw it was Phillip.
“Mother, Father, what have you done?” he demanded.
“Are you so determined to get out of this alliance with Queen Cassarah that you would stoop to this level? Do you not realize that this whole thing is your fault? The Lost King claims to be my half brother, and I’m inclined to believe him.
If you’d kept better tabs on your firstborn, Father, then we might have avoided this whole issue, but instead, you hid him away like the bastard you believe him to be.
Now look at us, chased out of our kingdom and at the mercy of the kindness of these people you are slapping in the face with this kind of stunt. ”
“Son, you aren’t king yet, but when that day comes, you’ll understand why we are doing this.
There is more going on here than just an alliance with Sheca.
Here in this land they are so close to are thousands of dragons up for the taking.
We can bring back the days when we were feared for our dragon army and crush those who oppose us,” King Edward explained, his eyes wild with excitement.
“Wouldn’t you want your own dragon, son? ”
“I would be honored if one picked me to be its pair-bond, but I don’t want a dragon for the power it would provide.
I’ve also done my own research in the lore of the black dragon, and I know their bond to their chosen human is far deeper than what I’ve seen from you and your dragons.
What they have was created by choice and honoring that bond not by stealing or lying,” Phillip countered.
“It’s time to back down, Father. Surrender from being king and live to see another day. If you don’t, I can’t help you.”
“Never!” the king shouted, triggering his dragon to open its jaws and hurl fire at us.
Vasin moved forward, spreading his wings, blocking the flames from hitting us, but I could still feel the heat of his on the wind that blew around his wings.
The king of Norden just declared war on me and almost killed both his sons in the process.
I could hear the queen screaming on the other side, but our view was still blocked, and I didn’t trust being able to move from behind Vasin.
The other dragons and their riders didn’t hold back.
They moved in ready for battle, teeth bared and swords brandished.
Dayson grabbed my arm, pulling me away, but when I didn’t move fast enough for him, he tossed me over his shoulder and darted behind a boulder.
Phillip was right on our heels, diving out of the way as a dragon tail sailed through the air right where he’d just been.
I tried to wriggle out of Dayson’s hold as he set me on my feet, but his arms were like bands of steel keeping me trapped against his chest.
“Cassarah, I can’t let you go out there until things have calmed down. Trust our people to take care of it. They are trained to deal with situations like this, and we can’t afford to have you get hurt right now,” Dayson said, trying to reason with me.
“Why… why would they do this? It doesn’t make any sense?” I stammered, rattled at how fast everything just evolved. “He could have killed everyone with his dragon reacting like that.”