The Dragon Tamers

The Dragon Tamers [17]

Thank goodness Fenwir interrupted the silence.

"You're telling us that there isn't an army, but aren't your citizens willing to fight for their freedom?"

"We don't wield much battle magic, we are healers and shifters, not mages or wizards. You're welcome to address the people for aid, but we as a council can not help; we have no means of protecting ourselves." Another council member, to the mayors left

Completely dumbfounded, I stayed quiet but nodded in acknowledgment.

I began to say something, stuttering the first few letters but Fenwir's hand clamped tightly around mine. I took it as a sign to shut up and not embarrass myself.

"Thank you for your time, Council members. We will have to discuss our next action, but we anticipate to engage your people in a call to arms." Fenwir stood slowly, placing his hand out to help me out of my seat. I stood, wobbled on weak legs, but lightly bowed and left the room. The council bowed deeper in response as we left the meeting room.

My beautiful dress trailed down the stairs like a silent waterfall, we remained silent as we descended. I sighed deeply, a lung-filling anxiety-releasing breath of clarity. My eyelids fluttered quickly, snapping me back to reality and helping me not miss the last step.

"My Queen, a call to arms is our best bet. I've never had to order and action such a call but it couldn't be too hard, right? I'm sure people are eager to defend their homes." Fenwir remained unsure of his words, his words quivered at the end of his sentences, scared that this was a lost cause.

Stormcloak had graciously provided some housing for us for a few nights while we did what we needed to do. Even though the staff were more than able to provide us a 5 course meal, we instead decided to immerse ourselves in the Shapeshifter culture. Such a distant land, we had barely any contact with, this was a great opportunity to update our information on Shapeshifter culture.

Fenwir brought along a journal to the local markets and busily jotted down the exotic foods and meals that were being prepared by street vendors. I had known Human food to be very bland and dry, but this food was so colourful and flavourful!

As it turns out, Shapeshifter's are a vegetarian race, they respect and worship the animals who's forms they can take and could never eat them. Not that we minded at all, fruit mixes and vegetables on a stick were my favourites but Fenwir seemed to have more of a taste for vegetables stuffed with interesting concoctions, like butter, garlic and cheese!

Back in The Veil, we only had records of the Shapeshifter race when they were very young, and without much established culture; expect for what they had retained from being Human. I was glad that in amongst all the doom and gloom of war, that something so simple as investigating newly developed culture made us happy; I laughed for the first time in a long time since this war business broke out.

The sun was just about to set as we stepped into our temporary housing. The place was small, the guards were just a room away this time, but the beds were comfy and the hearth was ablaze. It became cold quickly here, I could hear razor-like winds slice through the canopy, I was grateful to be inside and warm.

As I sat near the warm fire, Fenwir took a seat next to me; we had to begin planning.

"I was thinking that we should visit the printing press to print fliers, might be the best way to get the word around town." Fenwir always had good ideas.

"That sounds like a fantastic start! Maybe we could grab the peoples attention by letting them view the dragons? I'm sure they've never seen Dragons before, maybe even a shifting contest to see who's the best at being a Dragon." I smiled and giggled as I remembered that young child chasing his friends around with his oversized dragon head.

We asked the other soldiers what they thought of our ideas, they smiled and laughed, thinking it was a fantastic, more light-hearted way of reaching out to the people. Nothing scares people more than the doom and gloom of war.

"But for now we should get some sleep, seems like we have a huge day ahead of us tomorrow." I said my goodnights to the soldiers as they sorted out their guard rotations tonight.

My private room was nice, the mattress was soft and the blanket warm and cuddly (I had already tried this all out). I sat on the bed and kicked my shoes off, turning from side to side, I cracked my back and neck; the tension release was divine! I was grateful that corsets are easy to take off, as opposed to the terror of putting them on, it was easy to slip off and even easier to slip into my night gown.

For the first time since I was in The Veil, I had a deep, undisturbed sleep.