Page 21 of Emperor of Draconis

He left to climb to the roof. It was disappointing that they hadn’t had more enthusiasm. Were they right? Maybe there were more details to work out. Davy was a genius and she would help. Once he reached the roof he changed and spread his wings. His dragon was large, larger than any he’d seen even Toreen’s. His solid gold dragon only had one other color on the bottom. That was black. From overhead during the dark of night he couldn’t be seen.

Once he landed that was different. His dark gold was immediately recognizable by any dragon in his empire. By color, size, his fire, and his scent they all knew him. Supposedly all dragons in his empire were at his command so what had gone so terribly wrong? It was true no dragons had been in the group that attacked his castle. Maybe it was still true they couldn’t attack him in person.

It seemed odd these rogues could recruit people to attack him. Was it possible these leaders weren’t dragons at all? The rebels had been, but they had attacked their king and been under the influence of a witch of some kind. Only an intensive investigation would prove this one way or the other. His general needed to be on the job as well.

Once he got home, one of his kings, Freder was waiting. This was probably the one he liked least. Now he told him what had happened. “How is this possible?” Freder asked.

“None were dragons.”

“Does that make a difference if dragons led this opposition movement?”

“Who said dragons led this? Do you know something I don’t?”

“No, my liege.”

“If you do, I’d best know it too.” He snorted smoke to show his anger.

“I don’t know a thing. Truly.”

As Freder left, he watched him until he was out of the room. His secretary sent in one king after the other and he had no satisfaction, nor did he expect any. Half his kings were fools. How had that happened and why had it not bothered him before? If only he could trade kingdoms around and send these fools far enough away that he didn’t have to deal with them.

Now he was at home but still not content. He missed Kitty. All this trouble was interfering with his mating. It was time to move her here for a while if not for good. Earl would come too, and they could do their work as they did it elsewhere. Maybe she could find mates and positions for the next load of humans here instead of Erak’s kingdom. Eventually she would have to travel everywhere to see to other kingdom’s needs and he would go with her.

Sending a message to Erak, he knew his will would be done as it always was. An unhappy Kitty would be on her way to him in the morning. As much as he enjoyed the thought of seeing her, he knew she would not be easy to deal with. He sent a message to Dori for a list of spices and what they were used for. This wasn’t something to discuss with Dori because she wouldn’t agree, he just knew it.

He’d done what he could as he worked his way through those kings that had shown up. Those who hadn’t would not find him in a good mood with them. In the end, he worked paperwork as one or two odd kings came in. The word would get out then the others would show too. At least they better.

Now that things were tough for him too, he saw he needed some of his own experts. Relying on those Erak had stretched resources too far. He began to write a list of the experts he needed, and he would see what Kitty could find him on Earth to cover those needs. Their people were simply too few to cover all these needs especially with so many people being brought in from outside.

The choice was to embrace them or send them all away except for mates and children. His planet was severely under populated and needed the infusion of new people. He would just have to be selective, that was all. This planet could grow and be as it had been in its glory days. It had been every emperor’s dream in fifty generations or more ago and he could make it that again.

All he had to do was stay on this path and follow it through. It wouldn’t be easy, but he could do it. It wasn’t like he wouldn’t have help. If he was able to claim Kitty, he would have enormous support. For now, all he could do was keep going and deal with problems one at a time. The first was these rogues who were either all human or backed by dragon traitors.

His day finally finished, and he grabbed a pitiful supper that he compared to the food at Erak’s. It was time to sleep and, in the morning, Kitty would come and make everything seem better. A decent night’s sleep helped put him in a better mood. His breakfast was alright, and he moved on for the day. A plan to create a better cafeteria might help morale too. He’d benefit as well.

It was nine and he was well into his day and Kitty hadn’t made it yet. Maybe it was better if they took a transport. He’d not liked the idea of her flying on Earl’s back. That was the most likely reason she wasn’t here yet. By the time noon came around, he was extremely worried. That was when noise on the roof came to his attention.

“My liege, you have guests.” A guard announced.

Yes, it was Earl and Kitty. “My liege, Erak’s castle was attacked just when we were leaving. We had to go back to help with the defense of the castle and then we had to go by dragon.” Earl explained.

“What were they after?” He asked.

“Kitty and Tomi. They didn’t know what they looked like though which is odd.” Earl explained.

Kitty hadn’t spoke yet. Was she scared or angry that he’d ordered her here? “Is everyone alright?” He asked looking at her.

“All our people are. They continue to send untrained fighters. Some are alien fighters from other places, but many are from Earth.” Earl said.

“Maybe you should recruit them first?” Kitty suggested.

“How would we do this?”

“The same way we recruit the others.”

“You think this would work?” He asked and he noticed Earl had slipped away.

“We can do this together. There will be mistakes but we will correct them. This can work.”

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