My 8 E-books written over the years by Alina Udrea - HTML preview

Chapter 2: Loyalis

- Hey, Jerno, get your ass in here! Yelled Dova, the king of the northern lands called Loyalis.

Loyalis was a magnificent land, lush with forests and mountains and rivers filled with different types of fish, a land with good soil that gave every year good crops but unfortunately with one itsy bitsy drawback: it was inhabited. By people. By King Dova's people, a nation of ruthless mercenaries who would have killed their own mothers if there was to be had any money out of it. Dova was surrounded by an army of mindless and merciless mercenaries who were ready to do anything for him as long as they got paid for it. His general Jerno had two brothers, Og and Bris who were both assigned with keeping the army under control, making sure the soldiers, the mercenaries, were paid in time for their services and also reporting directly to Jerno if they got wind of any discontents that were threatening to turn to riots.

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Those would have to be dealt with swiftly. No disobedience was to be accepted.

-Yes, your lordship?

- Is your dragon ready? Is it trained and obedient? And Dova looked straight in Jerno's eyes with such menace that Jerno was afraid to tell him anything else but what Dova the Ruthless wanted to hear. King Dova also had the nickname of Dova the Mad but nobody dared to call him that to his face. His nickname was due to the fact that that when he got mad, which happened a lot and for no real reason, he would usually maim the person he got mad at, watching him suffer, giving him a token of his royal “ love”. Dova was a self -proclaimed king. He had conquered Loyalis long ago with his army of mercenaries, killing the former king and queen who had been good to their people and forcing the remaining people of the land, who were mainly peasants with no means to defend themselves, into slavery with the help of the same mercenaries he had paid to conquer this beautiful land in the first place. His army needed supplies so the people were compelled to work the land and grow crops to feed Dova's army, being allowed to keep for themselves just enough to survive so they wouldn’t die of hunger. So the people hated him and no one could say he was loved by his army of mercenaries either, but as long as he fed and paid them, he was sure he could rely on them.- Aggy is a strong- headed dragon your lordship, but it shouldn’t be long now till I break his will, said Jerno trembling with fear as he didn’t know in what mood Dova was and hoping that by the end of their conversation he would be intact, all his limbs where they were supposed to be.

- It better be so or if not I was thinking of making myself a new necklace with one of your fingers hanging from it….- Yeah, and I know which one, whispered Jerno to himself.-What was that? Did you say something Jerno?- No, your lordship. Aggy will be ready. You will be able to use it to

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burn down Donn and conquer it by the end of winter.- I hope you are right. No more stalling, go and do your job now! Jerno left in a hurry not looking back. He went straight to Aggy's pen to check on the dragon.

Aggy was pretending to be asleep, paying attention to Jerno's

footsteps and guessing he was coming to him in another attempt to tame him. He would show him when he would be older and stronger. As for now, he had to comply with his jailor's demands. Aggy was a fire dragon. He had been found by Dova on one of his hunting expeditions when he was just a defenseless cub. He had gone to explore the surroundings of the cave he was sharing with his mother, a magnificent but old dragon who was probably dead by now. How he missed his mother! And a tear ran down Aggy's cheek. Now he was locked up in this pen with this human who kept trying to make him spit fire and hit specific targets. Maybe he should just set the human on fire, at least it would be funny even if he would be the only one laughing. But he couldn’t, if he tried there were a lot more puny humans to shackle him and he didn’t want that. So best thing was to do what the human asked him, at least for now.

Jerno entered Aggy's pen holding a whip in his right hand. The

whip nevertheless was just for show, he never dared to use it on the dragon. But now there was something new in Jerno's eyes, it was determination to get what he wanted. Aggy realized he had better set fire to whatever Jerno wanted so he would leave him alone afterwards. He didn’t want to put the human's nerves to the test this time.

- You dumb creature! Jerno said, taking revenge on Aggy for the way he had been treated and threatened by Dova. You will burn that tree and you will do it now! And Jerno pointed the whip towards a distant tree. Aggy focused his inner fire and burnt down the tree in a jiffy.

- Good, now we’re getting somewhere! Said Jerno satisfied. Till

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winter you will be strong enough to burn more than just a tree! Then he left to check on his two younger brothers, Og and Bris. He found them playing dice with a few of the mercenaries and drinking something which was supposed to be ale but stank really bad. Or did they stink and not the beer? He didn’t really want to find out the answer to that question and as everything seemed under control he retired to his room.