The Dragon's Speech Ch. 02

Disclaimer: All characters in this work are purely fiction, are all over 18 years old, all situations are consensual and all writing is the sole property of Bella Bellua, author.

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Chapter 2: This is Our Way

Clearing my throat I began, "Now that we have reached an agreement, it is in the best interest of your people that we begin training immediately. My brother, Terrowin, will accompany you or your representative to begin taking stock of all of the provisions, horses, livestock, and other resources that you currently have available. You will need to share any and all information with him that he asks, we will need to know all resources at your disposal if we are to survive the winter. Sybalt, our best weapons maker, will accompany myself to evaluate your weapons stock, construction, assembly, and the current fighting force you have assembled to aid us in ending this conflict."

At this statement, I could already see their eyes shifting back and forth between my father, brother, and I. This is when things get good. "I will need you to gather the best fighters you have in each fighting style and weapon, and upon my personal evaluation I will reassign them as first or second class under one of our respective men for instruction."

As this the murmurs began, as they always did. I could barely hide the contemptuous smile from my features. As was the way with my people, when your life is your own, it brought about a strong sense of equality among all races, creeds and genders. You were worth what you could take with your own hands or what you could weave with the intellect of your words. In this land, there were confusing invisible boundaries dictating your class and status. And for some backwards reason, the presence of breasts, a deeper skin tone or penis somehow dictated your standing. This way of life was perplexing to me, and I thoroughly enjoyed undermining this way of thinking whenever I had the chance.

My brother was a brilliant orator, 'he could charm a king from his crown,' as my father likes to say. His primary role was to win the hearts of the people, to secure our food, lodging, and win the opinion of the local people we were staying with. He also had a gift for battle strategy, this he gained from my father, whose military mind was the driving force behind all of our operations. My specialty was in combat. I lived for the thrill of it. I was proficient in a variety of close quarter weapons, and trained to quickly disarm those that I was not capable of defeating by brute strength alone. Being the last female in my line, and the youngest child, my father was very protective of me. Much to my aggravation, but I understood his reasons. The loss of our homeland, and the tearing apart of my family almost broke him. So I gave into his requests when it came to my safety.

It was the older gruff man that spoke first, "My apologies, my lady, but I do not think my men will take kindly to being," noticeable pause, "evaluated by one such as yourself."

I retorted strongly, "If they want to live long enough to take back their land, then they will have to." Seeing the red creep swiftly across all their features, my father stepped forward. "Garloch, I know our ways may be strange to you and your men, but I promised you my best warrior and instructor. That is none other than my daughter, Eilea. We have precious little time, so the sooner we can get past this and begin training your men not only to survive, but to fight back, the faster you can return to your peaceful way of life."

He bowed his head slightly in acceptance. "I will take your words as wisdom, Tarac, but when we entered into this agreement, we were in belief that we would have the dragon of the north fighting with our men."

"And you shall," my father assured him. "Both my son and I will be on the battlefield alongside your men. But to defeat an enemy such as this, your men must be shown where they are weakest, in order to become stronger." He stated with a nod of his head. Garloch accepted this was a curt nod and a grunt.

"I cannot spare my men to accompany your daughter, so I will appoint my eldest son, Gareth to ensure her protection while on the training fields." The second tallest gruff man stepped forward, crossing his arms across his chest. He bowed deeply. "It will be my honor to accompany you, my lady."

"That will not be necess-" my father cut me off mid-sentence. "Your generosity is much appreciated, I am sure Eilea will appreciate a local guide to show her around the encampment, Gareth." I glared at my father from the side of my vision, I could see my brother's smirk had returned in full force. They both know how much having a local babysitter irks me, but in the name of diplomacy I accept the gesture.

"Thank you Gareth, we will begin our tour immediately." I stated with authority.

"Actually, we have prepared a feast in honor of our new agreement, it will do the people well to see your men in force and instill some hope for the future," the sunken eyed man spoke up.

"We thank you for your generosity, Rulf, we will all be in attendance." At this my father placed his hand on my shoulder, if there was anything I loathed more than meetings, it was formal gatherings. I groaned internally.

"We would be happy to attend and will value this opportunity to meet your people, and to show them our commitment to their safety and ultimate freedom," my brother added, already sewing the seeds of his own diplomacy.

"Thank you my lord," Rulf bowed. I gritted my teeth, struggling against the urge to utter every snide comment that passed through my mind.

"We shall take our leave to notify our men and prepare for tonight." My father stated, turning to leave. He squeezed my shoulder lightly, encouraging me to say my parting sentiment.

"Until tonight then," I bowed my head slightly in Rulf's direction and strode out, I know I should not ignore Gareth and his father, but I had been looking forward to stretching my cramped muscles with a good spar. Outside, a small carriage awaited to take us back to our tents. My father emerged, discussing something with Terrowin.

"I'll jog back, if it's all the same." I said turning to begin my journey.

"Actually, I have something I need to discuss with you, Eilea." My father stated. Hanging my head in sullen defeat, I boarded the carriage after my brother.

Once settled, my father seeing my sour expression, began to speak. "Eilea, I have another task for you that is of great importance, but before I explain, I need you to promise me that you will complete this task as if my life depended on it." His tone became serious. Glancing at my brother, his face reflected the same confusion that shown on mine.

"Anything father, what is it?" I inquired my demeanor immediately changing. My father was generally light hearted, so when he was serious, you had better take note.

"Eilea, listen to me, during the feast tonight I need you to find someone educated that can be appointed to teach you the language and writing of this region. From my talking with Rulf, there are distinct differences in the regional dialects in this area and I will need someone I trust to learn these dialects in order for us to communicate with the neighboring nations." I continued to stare at my father, confusion clear on my face. He resumed, "I am not undermining your skills or taking your time away from the training grounds lightly, but I need this task to be your top priority. I know you were not paying attention during the contract negotiations, so you missed the central bargaining item that they offered up in place of monetary payment."

I sighed deeply, he knows how boring I find the prattling of these meetings. "They are offering us land, Eilea, a large plot of fertile land. A place where we could start again and our people could settle down." At this his eyes grew wide, glistening with hope. "When you learn the language of the common folk, it will help us gain their support. And when you learn to write in their tongue, it will aid us in gaining more information about these mysterious invaders."

At this I perked up, "What do we need to learn about them? I thought they were some neighboring people driven crazy with greed?"

"Yes, I thought so too but there are rumors that their motives are more...insidious in origin. Their methods of assimilation, the particular way they are burning the bodies of those who will not yield. It seems ritualistic. Some think they are pillaging and burning in the name of a foreign religion." At this my eyes went wide.

"You don't think they've found us, do you father?" My brother questioned, a distinct nervous edge to his voice. "I do not know my son, but we need to do everything we can to prepare in case they have."

I spoke up, "Father, you know that I do not want to disappoint you, but why don't we just leave?" He shook his head sadly, "We cannot run forever Eilea, you and your brother must settle down eventually. I think we have a real shot here, to make it work for not only us, but what is left of our people. I want you both to be happy, start a family and continue our bloodline. It is what Eimera would have wanted."

Terrowin and I flinched at the mention of our mothers name, father rarely spoke of her and when he did, it always hit us hard. He continued, "You both are the last of the Northern Dragons, and if our bloodline were to end with you, the world may never see another." I nodded my head in acceptance, "Alright father, I will do as you wish. I will find this person and begin instruction as soon as possible."