Page 48 of Emperor of Draconis

Chapter 8

A New Kingdom

Jarel felt awkward as they settled into a guest room. He could have taken the room the captain of the guard here kept, but since they’d turned him to ashes that still lay in the hallway on Torr’s orders, that didn’t seem right.

He and Davy settled in with one eye on the door just in case. When the alarm woke them, he felt relieved they’d taken a guest room since the captain of the guard’s rooms had been fire bombed to where only fire burnt walls and floors remained.

“Looks like we made a good choice.” Davy observed.

“Someone will be seriously punished for this.” He promised. “Since it’s dawn, should we rise and send someone after whoever did this?”

“You do that, and I’ll fix some food.”

“Smell everything carefully before you use it. These rogues don’t care who they kill while they try to get us.”

They went their separate ways as he went to the meeting room and sat at the table and she went to the kitchen to deal with whatever went on there. As he was assigning tasks, he could smell something good baking. He’d not expected her to be able to find what she needed to cook one of her recipes.

“What’s that?” Milem asked. “It smells wonderful.”

“I’m not sure exactly what Davy is cooking, but it will be based on Earth recipes.”

“I mentioned the food at Erak’s castle and Frick said we wouldn’t have such poison here.”

“Lately it’s made with our own products as Dori has found many replacement items among flavors and herbs we don’t use.”

“I’ve heard tales of this Dori. They say she can cook amazing items. Frick said it was lies to lure us in.”

“In to what?”

“Erak’s kingdom that was growing fast.”

“It’s sad what he’s done to his people. He’s denied his males of mates and all his people of good food.” Jarel explained.

There was a knock on the door and Davy came in. “I thought you two might want some breakfast. I did the best I could.” She pushed the cart to the table and spread the plates, including hers, on the table.

Davy sat down with them and began to eat. That would have shocked Milem, but his first taste of food shocked him more. “This is amazing. And you say you could do better?”

“I didn’t have all the spices. Your kitchen only has a few of the more common ones. Regardless of who ends up here, I’ll suggest they hire a cook from Earth. We have two trained working at Erak’s waiting for a full-time job. One is a single female and cute as can be.” Davy observed.

“A male that is a cook?”

“Yes, it’s common on Earth.” Davy replied.

“If you say so.” Milem agreed. They finished eating and Davy loaded the cart and left.

“You’ll get your king soon, but before you do, I’d like to deal with the fire bombers.”

“Why do you think it wasn’t a fire dragon?” Milem asked.

“I arrived while it still burned. There was a smell of gasoline like we get from Earth. Once the fire went out, there were signs of clay pots that they’d used to hold the fluid smashed all over the floor.”

“Those are very good reasons. I’m not familiar with this gasoline.” Milem replied.

“We bring little in, but someone managed to get it. It burns dirty and we don’t need it here except for one or two things like burning off the thick grasses around the marsh. It can hide rogues who attack passing travelers. Now we may have to stop getting it. Every time we find something good to help our people, rogues turn it into a weapon against us.”

“That sounds serious. A squad of my males are hunting down the ones who firebombed the captain’s quarters. I believe they will have some information soon. A teenager saw them as they turned to leave. We believe they will be identified soon.” Milem suggested.

“I hope so. They tried to kill some of the emperor’s people in a cowardly way.”

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