Chapter 15 - Rise of the New King.
King Evon the First, Supreme and Merciful Ruler of all Blue Dragons, (he had given himself the new title), was feeling rather pleased with himself. His first meeting with the elders of his community had, in his august opinion, gone rather well. He had slain the one objector brave enough to come forward and now all the other elders were both in awe of his power and scared witless. Yes, he thought, a good day all around...
When in waltzed the little band of wizards with three, yes, three this time, three dragons, one Golden Dragon, a fiery Red Dragon, and a rather pompous and slightly overweight Purple Dragon.
“Oh, it’s you lot again,” he said with a certain amount of disdain, “what do you lot want now?”
Llewellyn started. “King Evon....”
“Let me stop you there, my new title is King Evon the First, Supreme and Merciful Ruler of all Blue Dragons, what do you think? Catchy or what? With that title, I’ll lead my little flock with an iron fist,” he said without even a hint of irony.
“Well, your Majesty, it doesn’t exactly trip off the tongue, maybe a little long for everyday use?”
“Oh, all right, I’ll just use it on special occasions then.”
Tom piped up, “King Evon, there is something you need to know before you get too carried away with the fancy titles and the iron fist stuff.”
“What? How dare you, I’ll have you know, at yesterday’s meeting of the elders, one of them dared to question my authority and I slew him there and then on the spot. Now the others are terrified of me and my formidable power.”
“And how exactly did you slay him, your Majesty?” Tom inquired.
“Well, I, erm, I, erm, I just did, there and then, on the spot, dead.”
“Yes, but how, and with what did you kill him?” Tom pressed.
“Llewellyn the Brave, can’t you keep your offspring under control, make him show some respect, I am after all King Evon the Mighty, Supreme and Merciful Ruler of all Blue Dragons.”
“Oh, you’ve changed your title already,” Gwen said, “but please, we would all love to know how you slew this awkward elder who dared to stand up to you, the one who dared to say ‘You are planning to destroy all that we and your father have built up this past thousand years. I will not be ruled by a fool of a king, and I demand you either step down or I will take you down.’ Please we would love to know.”
“How do you know what he said? Who’s been telling tales?”
“No one your Majesty,” Tom answered, “me, my brother and my mother were here with our dragons listening in. We saw that he was going to try and take you down, so Ren here, my Golden Dragon took him out first.”
“Oh,” said Evon, “I must admit, I had wondered what had happened, but I did carry it off rather well when I asked if anyone else wanted to challenge my authority. The meeting went quite well after that.”
Llewellyn continued, “My boys and their dragons will not always be here to protect you, you must lead by consent and consensus, you have to get the other elders and the purebreds on your side, or you may have a rebellion on your hands which we would not be able to stop. Your aims are noble but will be hard to swallow by the others. May we be so bold as to make a suggestion or two?”
“Well, I could say no, but I have the feeling you’re going to tell me anyway.”
“Yes,” said Gwen, “may we suggest, that at least for the time being, you only stop breeding the warrior drones? They only get killed anyway, they don’t live long compared to purebred dragons, they’ll all be gone in a couple of centuries, and it’s cruel and spiteful the way you treat them. Keep your servant dragons but change your attitude toward them and stop treating them as slaves, slowly start showing some kindness. It will take years, many years, but you could create consensus and harmony by treading carefully and gently. You cannot lead with an iron fist; you can only lead by example. As my Tom has said many times, you earn respect, it’s not something you get just because you have a fancy title.”
“How would I do that? Show them a little kindness I mean?”
“Gratitude,” Flintock said, “it’s something you could do immediately. When the servant brings food, acknowledge it, and say thank you, when they clear up your mess, show appreciation. If you start, others will follow. Don’t decree it, they will never obey, just do it and others will follow.”
“Yes, I will, I will be a great leader not a despotic ruler like my father and his father before him. I will lead by example; I will show respect and then earn respect.”
“Now,” said Llewellyn,” may we talk about your friend, the Master?”
“He’s not my friend, he wasn’t even my father's friend. He came here offering us power over all dragons in return for a little help, but I saw through him and so did my father. He would have used us, and then destroyed us.”
“Then why was he still here when we last came?” Llewellyn asked.
“Well, he is best described as like the loud and rude uncle who turns up drunk at every family gathering, no one likes him, nobody wants him there, but no one knows how to make him leave.”
“Oh yes,” Faraji said, “that describes my brother to a tee.”
“Your brother?” Evon said, “well I never knew he was your brother.”
“He is my twin brother, an identical twin, surely you saw the similarity between us?”
“No, not really, that’s the other reason my late father despised me as his son and heir, whereas I know who is here and where you are, even what you are doing, I can’t see you; only sense you.”
“You are blind?” Tom said as a question.
“Not completely. In the light, I can see shapes and movement, but in this dingy dark hole, I can see nothing.”
“Oh, my goodness,” said Tom, “perhaps we can help.”
“I doubt it, I’d like to pretend it was an injury from battle, but unfortunately, my bad-tempered and not so dearly missed father, in one of his little outbursts, enveloped my head in flames and burned my eyes to near blindness when I was just a whelp.”
“Well, let us have a look at least. Dad, come with me, between us we might be able to help.”
Evon lowered his head almost to the floor, the two wizards approached and examined his eyes, they were grey, pale, and like smoked glass.
Llewellyn spoke first, “I am sure we can do something to help, but it will need magic which is a blend between a woven spell and an incantation, not our speciality, but I know a lady wizard who could help if I could persuade her to come into the Blue Mountains and then into the cave of the Blue Dragon king.”
“Let me have a look,” Gwen said stepping forward muttering sarcastically under her breath, “oh, I know a lady wizard who could help if I could persuade her to come......,” then loudly and with authority, “step aside, I am a lady wizard!”
Gwen cupped her hands over the eyes of the nearly blind king, a soft blue glow, just like the one Tom makes appear surrounded her hands and Evon’s eyes. She stood motionless for several minutes, muttering; then lifted her hands. The blue glow stayed over Evon’s eyes as she stepped back.
“There,” she said, “stay in here, in the dark for twenty-four hours, and that should do the trick.”
“Well thanks for trying, but it won’t make any difference, even the Master, who said he was the most powerful wizard ever, could not help me.”
“Well, the Master is only the greatest wizard ever in his own mind, I am greater than he, and he knows it,” Gwen said with certainty, “now, when you are healed, which you will be, will you align yourself with us against the Master?”
“If it works, which I doubt,” Evon retorted, “I will be forever in your debt, so your will, will be my will.”
“Then we’ll be back tomorrow.”
The next day, they returned as promised. King Evon was still in the throne room where they had left him. After the normal greetings, Gwen walked over to him, the blue glow was still about his eyes, she laid her hands over them again and the glow died.
“There, open your eyes, what can you see?” Gwen asked.
King Evon slowly opened his eyes, first a small crack of one eye, and then fully open in a flash.
“Oh, joy of joys, I can see everything and more,” he squealed delightedly, clapping his hands together and doing a little dance, “Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you.”
He then swept Gwen up in his arms and danced around the room with her like a child with their favourite doll. Once he had settled down and decorum had been restored, Tom stepped forward.
“King Evon, we have a gift for you, Ren returned last night to his ancestral homelands in the Taihang Mountains of China. He has brought to you a sword, like the one he used to slay your attacker two days ago. This one is special, made of the finest elven steel which has been plated with a rhodium alloy to make it the deep, dark blue of a true Blue Dragon. Its edge will never be blunt and can cut through the thickest scales of the strongest dragon like a hot knife through butter. When you are cloaked invisible, the sword too will disappear.”
“Oh my, what can I say? I never knew that human wizards could be so kind. I was always taught to avoid you as you slew Blue Dragons on sight, but then I knew that at least you were different as you tried to heal my father even after he tried to roast you all. Thank you all, how can I repay you all for your kindness?”
“There is no need,” Llewellyn said on behalf of them all, “it is what we do.”
“Well at least you must all have a great chest of gold coins each for your kindness, let’s face it, I’ve got tonnes of the stuff, it’s piled up everywhere.”
Llewellyn thanked him for his generosity, and they all left for home again.
“What do we do with all this gold and stuff?” Tom asked his dad.
“I’ll place ours in our safe places and send mum’s back to Wales to add to her collection.”
“No, you won’t,” said Gwen, firmly, “Find a place here for mine as well, ‘cos I’m not going anywhere soon, I’m stopping here with my boys. If, and only if I go back, then I’ll take it with me, thank you.”
There was a question which Jon had been aching to ask, “How did you find me so quickly? I apparated away to the Blue Mountains and then flew at high speed across the tops of the mountains until I contacted a Blue Dragon, but you were all like minutes behind me. How come?”
“That was Faraji,” Llewellyn answered, “he used a little known magic called astral thread tracing. Listen, he’ll explain.”
“It is all to do with your inner aura, the inner aura or spark is something within all wizards, when another wizard is around, you can sense it, position them even, so you can know where they are, even if cloaked invisible.”
Jon interrupted. “Is that how I knew where King Eiddoel was when he was hiding near the entrance of the throne room?”
“No, not exactly, you knew his position, just as you knew where all the other dragons were because of your gift, you are a Dragon Master. No, this is different. When you apparate, in fact wherever you go, whether apparating, flying or even just walking around, you leave a hint of your inner aura, it is like an invisible thread, finer and thinner than gossamer, exceedingly difficult to detect unless you know how, but if you can find it, then you can follow it wherever it leads.”
“Can anyone learn it?” Tom asked.
“Many learn it, but few master it. I have mastered it over many years and a couple of the Wizard Guards have honed it very well. But it is both hard to teach, hard to learn, and even more difficult to master. Once proficient, you can even know who’s thread it is and then follow that person. With you it was easy, I saw you apparate away so was able to follow your thread with ease. One more thing which may surprise you, you can even find a phobl.”
“But how?” asked Llewellyn, “phobls have no spark, no inner aura.”
“Everyone has a spark, phobls have just never learnt how to bring their dull ember into a flame.”