To have a Dragon's Heart

Chapter 2 - Sovijaka's Plan

Sovijaka

Sovijaka stood by the window, staring out onto the streets. Behind her the door opened and a knight in black armor walked in. The queen turned to him, "Did you hear the reports?" The knight saluted her, then said, "Yes, your majesty." Sovijaka turned to face him, "I thought she would stumble around confused and stealing livestock until the end of her miserable life! I never thought she would attack us!" She banged her fist on a desk with such force it could be heard down the hall.

"I am not worried, your highness," the knight said, "Malia is no match for your powers." The queen clenched her teeth in rage. "True Faver," she replied. Then she lowered her voice to nearly a whisper and said, "It is harder to use magic on dragons, since they are more resistant to it then humans." Faver looked shocked. "Still, you must have some way to stop her." Sovijaka nodded. "In fact I've come up with a fabulous plan resulting in you killing her." Faver smiled. "You will choose your company," Sovijaka continued, "But I insist you take that pitiful servant of yours, Jaskar." Faver frowned at this. Sovijaka started smiling.

She reached behind her desk and pulled out a fragile suit of armor and a rusty sword. "When you get there have the boy put on this suit of armor. As for the sword..." She struck the sword against the desk and the blade fell of, "It is rigged to break on the first blow. Have him go up to her cave and challenge her. Once she kills him you will kill her. I think it will be amusing to watch, considering his true identity, don't you?" Faver laughed sinisterly and agreed.

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Jaskar

Jaskar was desperately trying to polish all of Faver's armor within the time limit he was given. "Come on, Jaskar," he mumbled to himself, "If you don't finish this he'll have your hide." This was technically true, since Faver owned him as a servant. He would constantly beat Jaskar over nearly nothing. Faver thought that Jaskar failed miserably at everything. This was for two reasons. First of all Jaskar was too busy being a suitable punching bag for Faver to do anything correctly. Secondly Jaskar somehow managed to gain decent character traits despite being raised by sick, evil, and downright rude people. (It is a known fact that it is rude to turn your neighbor's daughter into a dragon no matter how much you hate the parents.) This caused Faver to hate Jaskar even more.

Jaskar was thirteen and had red hair with olive green eyes. When his face was free from bruises the young kitchen girls and scullery maids would whisper how they wish some of the available boys had his looks. This did not happen often, since Faver made sure Jaskar had at least one bruise on his face at all times. The head knight's dislike for him made him off limits for any girl and none even considered him as anything except filth, which happened to have better looks than non-filth.

The door slammed open behind Jaskar. He quickly finished the last piece of armor and turned to face Faver. He bowed low and said, "I finished, sir" Faver pushed him out of the way and glared at a breast plate. "Pitiful work," he growled (not that he could do better). He threw it at Jaskar. "You have an hour and a half to finish and get ready to leave." Jaskar bowed and asked, "Where are we going, sir?" Faver turned away from Jaskar and smiled secretly, "We're heading into Heskar lands. The dragon her Highness created is causing problems and I have been choosen to slay it."

Jaskar nervously chewed his bottom lip as he set to work. Traveling into enemy territory and slaying a dragon were both highly dangerous. A bad feeling came over him, but he shoke it off. He couldn't let Faver hit him for being a coward.

An hour and a half later Jaskar was in the kitchen grabbing the last minute supplies the kitchen girls were preparing. The kitchen was buzzing with gossip. "I can't believe she's going to kill her!" Shrilled one girl, "I thought she was supposed to be a hindrance on the Heskar!" A few girls nodded in agreement. Jaskar turned to an elder cook who he learned was more likely to answer his questions and asked, "How did this dragon come about? I heard she was the princess, but people have also said she was a newt or pig before becoming a dragon." The cook replied as she kneaded dough to make bread, "She was the eldest daughter of King Yolio. They say she was pretty and several suitors had traveled a long way to court her. Then her Majesty thought up the brilliant idea to turn her into a dragon and curse Heskar with her presence."

A girl excitedly nodded, "Yep, that's it!" She agreed, "She isn't Princess Malia anymore!" The girl giggled. "Her name is Malia?" The girl nodded and Faver stuck his head in to yell at Jaskar. He thanked the cook gathered up the supplies. As they headed toward Heskar Jaskar thought of Malia. Poor girl, he thought, It must have been awful for Malia and now she's going to be killed!