Chapter 50
General Rex
“All the riders have been assembled, sir.”
The man saluted as I approached the main hall.
“Very good, Kennedy,” I replied, then entered the room.
Watching the entire Royal Rider corp rise as one had a familiar feeling flaring to life inside my chest. I nodded in recognition as every eye turned my way. Taking up position at the head of the room, with a gesture, all of the riders sat down at once and focussed entirely on me.
“I’ve asked you all here for a reason.” My hands gripped the lectern tight. This was a conversation that I shouldn’t need to have and yet here I was. “Many of you have reached out privately to ask about the whereabouts of Lady Fern and her queen dragon.”
A low murmur through the crowd made clear that this conversation was long overdue.
“When the silver dragons first appeared, my thoughts were that such powerful creatures could be just the thing to keep Nevermere safe.” Yet more rumbling from the assembled men.
I smiled, knowing that I needed to get my riders on side and fast or I’d lose the crowd.
“The lack of discipline of their riders was my first clue that this was not the case.” I held up one of Christian’s precious books and every eye followed the movement. “The second came from my research.”
Ahh, now I had their attention. I set the book back down on the lectern. It wasn’t the annals of history I wanted them focussed on, but me. I had the solution. I knew the way forward.
“The corp enjoyed hundreds of years of peace and stability under the Nithian kings. We had but one queen dragon and she was infinitely precious. Bonded to the king’s consort, she rose to mate only with his dragon.
Her progeny became the next lot of dragons riders bonded with, ready to lay down their lives to protect our country. ”
Spines straightened and chins lifted as the mood of the crowd shifted. Pride, I knew that feeling well, and my smile widened.
“One woman changed all of that. Many of you will remember Pippin and her queen dragon, Glimmer. We call them the gentler sex, but that minimises the very real power a woman and her dragon can wield.”
My throat bobbed, remembering the day I counselled the Runaway Queen, making clear her responsibilities going forward.
The little chit had to scurry off to some backwater, leaving the king of all Nevermere behind as she left with his riders.
The shame of that, it felt like it had happened yesterday, rather than five years ago.
“Women are creatures ruled by their emotions. They have evolved this way to ensure they become good partners, mothers, good caregivers to our elderly, but I think we all know that this… tendency towards irrationality means as men, we need to ensure their soft hearts don’t make unwise decisions.”
For a moment I just stared out across the crowd.
The wilfulness of women knew no bounds. Fern could’ve chosen to take any of my riders as her husbands and she’d enjoy a good life, a happy one.
Moving into one of the suites in the keep left empty for bonded riders, she’d have born bouncing baby boys that would become the next generation of riders, if those hips of hers indicated anything.
But when did women ever make sensible decisions?
Flush with a sense of her own power, that plump partridge of a woman had dared to come into my office and declare how things would be?
We’d see about that.
“Many of you have sisters, cousins, young women in your family whom you seek to protect. What would you do if an unsuitable man came sniffing around her skirts? Where she saw charming smiles and flattering gestures, you saw him for exactly what he was. An opportunist, a cad. Someone who would talk his way into taking her money, her lands, her virtue. Would you allow this to happen, picking up the pieces once the bastard was done with her?”
The sound from the crowd had changed to a far more familiar one. The dull rumble of a corp readying itself to tackle the next challenge with all the bravery, pluck, and determination that had kept the country safe for generations.
“You would not stand by and let someone despoil a woman under your care then, and you won’t do that now.”
“Sir.” That should’ve been a question, but when Rider Harrison stood up, his frown made clear his intention.
His arms crossed his chest and he regarded me steadily.
This kind of frankness would not be tolerated in the infantry, but the corp did things differently.
“The girl has gone to the gods know where with these blaggards. You’re right.
I’d never have allowed my sister within ten feet of those idiots, but Lady Fern has spent the week in their company. ”
“We could send a wing to escort them back,” another rider said. The formalities were being dispensed within their excitement, but I prided myself on the fact I prioritised getting a job done right over strict adherence to protocol. “To ensure Lady Fern and Auren return to the keep unmolested.”
“And make clear she’s got other options than those idiots,” Slade grumbled.
More stood, ready to give their input, but when I held up a hand, everyone sat down and went quiet.
“All good ideas,” I said, “and I presented similar options to Lady Fern before she left.” Eyes widened at that.
“Which she rejected absolutely. This is a privileged young noblewoman who is letting her newfound freedom get to her head. Just as you would your sisters, she needs our protection. It’s why I insisted that Rider Axton travel with the group. ”
People seemed to settle at that.
“He assured me he’d do his best to make sure Fern was not…
pressured in any way during the trip. When they return…
” That should be any day now, if the information forwarded to the keep by bird was accurate.
“We need to make clear that Lance has the entire corp behind him. More specifically that a select few of you will become the lady’s husbands.
Your dragons will mate with Auren when she rises, producing the next lot of corp dragonlings that will grow up to protect our borders. ”
Something the silver dragons could not be trusted to do. It was bad enough we now had all of these wild dragons flying around willy nilly, but as they kept out of human politics and the running of the country, they were not a threat to our national security. But those silver beasts…
“During the civil war, we saw exactly what can happen when men use dragons for their own end rather than for the protection of the country.” That was the moment when the hall went perfectly quiet.
Every rider here had seen or heard about the horrors visited on dragons and men alike, and the fact the man who initiated it all was the father of the leader of the silver riders?
Well, that was just coincidental. “The corp’s strength comes from our collective purpose.
Protect our country.” My fist slammed down on my chest and I watched my riders do the same.
“Serve the king and keep our people safe.”
A murmur rippled across the hall as mouths moved, repeating our motto along with me.
“In this instance, it is a person we need to keep safe. Lady Fern.”
Breaths were sucked in and I saw riders begin to move, ready to ask the question, but as general, I had already mapped out a plan. Reading all of Christian’s books and some others I had acquired had helped me formulate it.
“When non-Rider cadets were admitted to the keep, we were told the discipline that had kept the corp strong for so many years needed to be relaxed. That the focus was on education, not battle readiness. Well, I say that all men benefit from being expected to be their best. That if some lordling’s son wants to swan around the keep, playing at learning, he would be better served the university, not here.
But they are not the only ones who need to be exposed to the kind of discipline that has made our corp great. ”
I scanned the crowd and saw the moment when each one of my men saw my vision.
“The silver riders need to understand the kind of focus and self-regulation a Royal Rider must develop, and I expect every one of you to help them develop that.”
Things would go one of two ways. Either the silver riders would buckle down, learn their place in the corp, and they truly would become the assets I initially saw them as.
Or…
They’d be just as obstinate and disrespectful as they’d proven themselves to be thus far and when they inevitably lashed out?
I’d have all the evidence I needed to take to that bastard masquerading as a prime minister, as well as the king.
They’d be forced to give me a free hand to deal with the lot of them and I’d ensure none of those men and their dragons posed a threat to the country.
Nor produced anything as monstrous as a white-gold queen.
If it wasn’t bad enough that the future of dragon kind was decided by wilful queen dragons and their equally as silly women riders. What I’d read about white-gold queens had my blood running cold. A creature so large, so uncontrollable that no dragon alive could contain her.
No, that would never happen. Not while I drew breath.
“Lady Fern and her contingent will be returning any day now,” I said. “You know what to do. Thank you, gentlemen.”
With a nod, I turned and walked out the door, feeling satisfied I had the situation in hand.