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

Chapter 6: Preparations for battle

King Dova was anxious to see whether or not Jerno had Aggy

under his control. It was all he thought about, conquering Donn with the help of his mercenaries and Aggy.

Aggy was now a grown dragon, it had reached its full growth

potential. Aggy was strong and Jerno had managed to make Aggy do whatever he asked of it. But neither did Dova nor Jerno know that this state of affairs would only last until Aggy's true master would take the Fire Necklace from the cave on Shale Mountain. The moment the Fire Necklace would be in the hands of the one meant to be Aggy’ s master and friend for life, Aggy would feel the change and from that moment Jerno and Dova would have no power over him anymore.

Jerno was gloating, proud that Aggy did what he wanted. So

he was safe from Dova's wrath as long as he had Aggy under control. And he was willing to do whatever it took to keep things that way. Jerno had been assigned with training Aggy from the moment Dova had found it when Aggy was just a cub. Now he felt he was ready to go to Dova and tell him that Aggy was finally ready. So he went to see the king, to see Dova.

Jerno entered the throne room with an air full of confidence.

He was so proud to announce his victory: that Aggy was finally ready to be used in battle when he tripped over the rug right before reaching Dova's throne. His fall was sublime: he lost his balance, made a pirouette and then landed over Dova, knocking him off his throne. They both tumbled, Jerno on top of Dova and

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the cup of wine that Dova had been holding in his right hand was now broken on the floor and the wine spilled all over them. Og and Bris, Jerno's brothers were also in the throne room as Jerno had summoned everybody to witness his accomplishment, his great moment, the moment he would be praised by Dova himself. This would be Jerno's moment of glory which he would remember with pride and joy, especially as his brothers were there to see it all. But now they were laughing so hard at seeing what their older brother had “accomplished” that he felt he was on fire with shame and fear of Dova's reaction. His moment which should have been one to remember with pride and to remind his brothers of with joy over a pint of beer had turned into a total disaster.

Dova got up, anger clearly seen all over his face, pushed Jerno

aside and sat back on his throne. Then he looked to see whose laughter he had heard, who had dared to laugh at him. He wasn’t called Dova the Ruthless for nothing and he was about to show them this once more. Then he saw the two brothers, Og and Bris, who were still laughing with their faces to their chins, trying to hide the fact that they were laughing.

- Og, Bris, said Dova in a thunder- like voice, come forward! Now the two had stopped laughing and were trembling with fear. They felt their feet turn to lead and could hardly move because of the fear that Dova induced in them. When they got in front of Dova's throne, they both knelt in front of him waiting for him to speak.

- Jerno, said Dova, cut off Og's right ear and Bris' left ear. This should teach them to laugh at their king next time. Just pay attention not to trip again, maybe you cut off their noses instead of their ears! Ha-ha, I want to see you laugh now, you imbeciles! And Dova started to laugh like a crazy man, like a mad man. By cutting off their ears he would turn everyone's attention to them, taking off their minds from the embarrassing moment he had

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gone through because of the other nincompoop, Jerno who had tripped and had fallen on top of him. He would leave Jerno alone for the time being, it was enough of a punishment that he was the one to cut off his brother's ears.

- Please, Almighty king, said Og through sobs and tears, let us keep our ears. We are sorry, we were laughing at our brother, we wouldn’t have dared laugh at you!

- Yes, Bris accompanied him, we were only laughing at Jerno! And Bris couldn’t refrain his tears either.

- Laughing at me, eh? Asked Jerno furious at his two younger brothers’ audacity. Well, then I guess I will enjoy cutting off your ears. Saying that, he cut off their ears. Og and Bris were crying in pain.

- As I was saying, said Jerno continuing his speech and addressing Dova and the crowd and totally ignoring his two brothers who were writhing in pain, Aggy is ready to follow and help us in the battle against Scar's kingdom, Donn. With our army and Aggy as our most powerful weapon, the odds are in our favor!- Then have your two brothers prepare the army and you get Aggy ready. We are going to war in two days. Make sure everything is ready until then! And then Dova asked them all to exit his throne room and get going.

- Yes, your Highness! Said Jerno and he was the first to exit. On his way out, when he got next to his two brothers, he nudged them making them lose their balance and fall due to the slippery floor which was bloody from their ears which were lying there. Then, satisfied, he left the throne room, grinning widely. He had shown them for laughing at him! In the end, he had the last laugh. It served them right for mocking him on the day he was expecting praises from Dova and the rest of the ones present for his accomplishments with Aggy.

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