Dragon Age; Books 1 And 2

Chapter 4; I Promise

"Who are you, and why have you come?" General Theaven asked Axel, his mood slightly uncomfortable, serious and even a little mad. "Well, I helped Lian escape her villagers. I am the Alpha of a pack of Sabres who live in the forest beside her village." Axel explained and General Theaven's expression changed to a curious and surprised expression.
"You are the Alpha of sabres?" General Theaven asked, and Axel nodded.
I right away noticed the General's respect levels for Axel raise much higher. Perhaps the bond with man and animal proved to him that Axel was capable of making a bond with the dragons, and not feeling left out or jealous.
"Well, Axel? Where is your pack?" General Theaven asked and Axel sighed.
"They weren't fast to follow us here, but I couldn't leave Lian without making sure she had gotten here safely." Axel said. I hadn't thought about how he had felt about that until now, having to decide whether to stay with us or his pack.
"So, you were just accompanying Queen Lian for the journey? So does that mean you will be leaving now?" General Theaven asked, causing Axel to sigh once again.
"General Theaven, I will never ask you for anything, this is my one request for you, and you have my word it will stay as one." Axel started and I looked at him curiously, not sure what this request of his was.
"Go on." The General said simply and Axel spoke, "I know this is the home of dragons, and not the home of humans. But I ask that you let me stay here with Lian, because mine and my packs home was destroyed while we risked our lives to bring Lian here." Axel said hopefully and the General nodded, "Fair enough, as long as you don't cause trouble. But I warn you, you will need to gain the trust and respect of the other dragons, or they won't be comfortable treating you as one of their own." General Theaven said.
"Thank you General, but the bigger problem about my request is- as a leader you should know- I can't leave my people behind to wander homelessly without a leader." Axel said, and I understood his request now. He wanted to live with the dragons, along with his entire sabre pack.
General Theaven didn't answer as he thought hard about the question. He looked like he was trying to give Axel a chance, if he wasn't he would've denied him entry right away. I understood that. Dragons and humans have been at war for thousands of years, none of us really trusted each other easily, but the dragons were trying to change that, especially with a human being their Queen now, and no one would change if their leader didn't change first.
General Theaven sighed,
"As long as you keep them under control, because I assure you I won't be afraid to get rid them if they cause any trouble." General Theaven said and both me and Axel smiled. "I promise you General, they are very well behaved." Axel said, paused, then added, "As long as you feed them."
I smiled at that. He said them, but I knew he would probably react just like the sabres if he wasn't fed. After all, he was one of them.

"I will send some dragons to go with you to bring back your pack Axel, until then, let me lead you all to your rooms." General Theaven said, a grin staining his scaled face.

🐲

General Theaven had led me and Axel to our rooms, which were right across from each others in a hall of rooms, just a few metres from the entry to the volcano.
General Theaven had said the hallway was the sleeping quarters of the highest ranked dragons, that's why I was put in one of the rooms. He also said that since I knew Axel, I might feel more comfortable if his sleeping quarters wasn't far from mine, plus if a whole pack of sabres were to come live here, and he was in charge of them, then he was in fact a leader.
I'm sure it was also just an act of respect to a new guest too.

The room was only bit bigger than mine, and it was made up of all stone, like the whole rest of the volcano. Thankfully it didn't have any lava in it, and it also had a bed-like stone to one side. It was a flat stone about one and a half metres high and as long as the average single bed, with a thirty centimetre gap under it, with a thin cover made of some animals skin. The bed was standing on thick and uneven bed legs, which joined to the uneven thick bed posts. I smiled at the effort that was put into making this as much like a human room as possible. The room had a small head sized hole on the wall beside the bed like a small window. I smiled, remembering how much more simple the dragons sleeping quarters were, which meant this was probably prepared especially to fit my needs. It was simple, but that was all I needed. I sat on my the stone bed and sighed. The emptiness of the room didn't bother me, besides the fact that it reminded me how much I had really left back home. I was never one to care too much about physical belongings, but I noticed now how much I really had. Clothes, oils, cleaning equipment, draws, all this I no longer had. The only things I had brought with me was that cranky bird sitting on the bed post watching me, my old, torn, burnt and ripped clothes I wore, my bow and quiver, my bag which had already cooked mammoth meat in it that was probably dry, and in my pocket I had Jarrath's Diary, the Monile, the old painting from the Chiefs house, Oak, mothers bracelet around my right wrist and the long thin plank of Heart Oak that I got from the Chiefs roof, which on the way to this volcano, I strapped it onto my back with a thin piece of the bottom of my dress I had torn off.
That sounded a lot when I said thought how lucky I was to escape from my village not only with my life but with all these belongings too. But than, most people can't even count all their belongings can they?

I sighed, what I needed more than anything right now was a new change of clothes. I would need to work on making one, I couldn't count on buying one, or getting my mother to make one anymore. I had made a few dresses before, but they never worked out as good as mom's ones.
I took the plank of Heart Oak and quiver off my back, emptied my pockets and slid everything under the bed, throwing myself back onto the bed, my arms spread out.
I groaned and scratched the back of my head. That was much more painful than when I used to do it on my pillow...

So many things I didn't appreciate in my village that would be luxurious now. Even simple things like my pillow. But most of all I miss my parents. I felt like I had let them down. I know I was lucky to get the opportunity to talk to them all for the last time, but I still just wished more than anything that I could see them one more time. Just to give them a hug and tell them how much I love and appreciate them. But there was no going back. No miracle in this world would allow me to see them again.

A soft and odd sounding knock was heard on the door, telling me it was a dragon who was knocking, who obviously not having knuckles like humans, makes it a lot harder for them to perform that action.
"Come in" I said, then a moment later General Theaven entered the room.
"Is everything up to your liking your majesty?" General Theaven asked and I smiled at him. "It is beyond, thank you General." I said as he walked over and stopped beside the bed, his head towering over me. Even on the bed, I only reached just above his knees, it was quite intimidating.

"Why do you look so down then?" General Theaven asked with a concerned expression. I was going to insist I was fine, but I knew just from looking at him that he wouldn't believe me.
I sighed, "I lost my parents as a result of stealing the Monile..." I said, hoping General Theaven didn't blame himself for my loss, since he was the one who had me steal it to begin with from what I gathered.
"I'm sorry for your loss, Zane told me. I know you sacrificed a lot for this, and this is all foreign to you, but I promise you my dragons will follow your every order from now on, and no more lives will have to be wasted pointlessly. Here, we don't turn on each other like those humans. Here, we are all family, no matter what colour- red, blue, green, we're all equal and punishment by death is not so easily used. Here we are brothers, no matter your differences, human, dragon, bird, cat- male or female, you're judged by your actions, not your appearance, race or gender." General Theaven said, almost bringing tears to my eyes. And here I always thought dragons were the heartless ones. I began to wonder if I was in paradise- the only place I ever thought there would be gender and race equality, but then I reminded myself not to get too excited, life always has challenges waiting in store for you, and nothing is ever perfect.

"But I warn you my Queen, not to believe your troubles are over. I cannot promise you a life without hardship or heartbreak, but what I can promise you is a strong and loyal alliance, army and family, who will each risk everything they own including their very souls for you." General Theaven said and I shook my head in wonder but guilt.
"What did I ever do to earn this? Why me? Why do you all care about me so much?" I asked and General Theaven smiled,
"It is the nature of dragons to be loyal to their leaders. And the close tie of kinship built between dragons makes it easier to follow orders. Now I must say this was hard when some of us found out the destined Queen was to be human, but I have told them over time, that you are destined by fate to be the bond that holds the relationship and peace between human and dragon." General Theaven said and I frowned in determination as I sat up.

"And I promise you to try my best to start and keep the tie between our species, and to be a fair, honest, just and strong leader. I always wished for more in my life, a chance to prove to the world I can do better, a chance to change the world for the better, but I could never do it, because I am female. But here, that doesn't matter, here I can get the chance to show everyone what I can truly become, now I have the chance to change the world. And I promise to do everything in my power to lead you all to victory. You just need to teach me first."

April Bluebird/BlueWhiskers1.
Dragon Age; The Queens Jewel.
Chapter 4; I Promise.
12/Jun/2020.
9.49K reads.
1959 words.