Chapter Eleven: Preparing for Council

Lifting his head as claws rapped on the door, Ember shouted permission to enter and pricked his ears expectantly as the darkened wood swung open. Frowning as he saw Torch, Ember pulled off his desk and lifted his chin. The pale orange viper shouldered the door open further, revealing Crystal being all but choked by the taught chain.

Barely choking down a growl, Ember flicked his tail and watched as Torch dragged the ice vixen to the center of the room, connecting the chains with a rough snap.

 

Ember nodded to Torch, and turned back to the paper on his desk, waiting for the sounds of the scarred dragon leaving. When no sound came, Ember frowned and turned his head. Torch was still there, one set of talons still curled over Crystal’s chains, his bright yellow eyes watching Ember’s every move.

Ember narrowed his eyes and turned around completely. “May I ask as to what you are still doing here?” Torch was a high-ranking soldier, and one of the dragons involved in the Navy project. He wasn’t just to be respected because of his rank however, Torch had earned the right of respect many times over for service. He was one of the few dragons in the guard with battle scars, because he’d subdued a rouge Ice dragon who’d somehow gotten hold of a sword one year.

That had not been a good year for convincing the council to lessen their treatment of the Ice Dragons, instead, they’d placed several new laws about regulation in the blacksmith and armorer positions.

Torch lifted his head with a small smirk and said, “King Ash requested I assist you with your new servant this morning, seems you’re starting to gain a bit of a reputation your highness.” Ember’s tail flicked unhappily as Torch continued “And well, your father has decided that in order for you to properly prepare to one day take his place, you do need a servant who can stick. As such, he sent me.”

Ember’s tail flicked again. Of course, his father would assign the worst possible dragon in the castle the task of ‘teaching’ Ember how to handle his servants. By the other dragon’s standards, Torch was the perfect image of a master, second only to King Ash, if he was second to any dragon at all, which came from the fact that all the servants Torch trained were too busy being scared for their life to even consider disobeying.

 Torch was the last dragon Ember wanted near Crystal, Ember would even prefer his father to the pale orange viper. At least his father would be too busy scolding Ember about ‘proper behavior’ to mind much what Crystal was doing.

Ember forced himself to meet Torch’s gaze and nodded. “Very well. However, you were too hasty to assume I require her services in my room this morning, I am leaving for Council early, and it would do no good to leave her here laying uselessly about.”

Torch curled his claws onto the stone, but otherwise didn’t react beyond a bow of acknowledgement, before turning to unlock Crystal. The white vixen had her head lifted, not enough to be considered overly rebellious, but enough that Ember could see the smirk in her eyes that her mouth was hiding.

Crystal caught his gaze, and rolled her eyes, which thankfully Torch didn’t see, and then arched her neck downwards. Ember nodded and turned to his desk long enough to sweep the papers back into a somewhat organized pile.

Scooping the papers into his claws, Ember turned his head back to Torch long enough to verify that Crystal was free from the spike, before shoving the papers into a sack which he promptly wrapped around his upper foreleg.

Stepping away from his desk, Ember crossed the room and opened the door, emerging into the hallway before he turned around, and arched an eye-ridge at Torch. “Are you coming?” he growled, snapping his tail with impatience. 

Torch tugged Crystal’s chain free, and half-dragged her with him as he stepped to the door. “Of course.” He growled, clearly angry but unable to lay a claw on the Crown Prince. Ember lifted his head, and then led the way down the hall.

The Council chamber was a massive circular room, with a roof made of clear-stone, revealing the morning sky, where the sun’s glow was bleeding into the dark blue. Stars were giving way for clouds, though Ember thought he saw the moon, still high in the sky, but before he could be totally sure, Torch slammed the doors to the servant area of the Council Chamber, causing Ember to lower his head and blink towards the back.

The servant area was little more than a cage, missing only the iron bars. It was separated from the rest of the room by a wooden barrier that was roughly chest-high for a young Ice dragon adult. Picking out Crystal’s ruffled purple and pink feathers, Ember watched her for a few heartbeats, before turning his attention to the Fire dragons in the room. 

There were seven dragons altogether, including Ember and Torch. A sand-colored viper, a bi-color viper, an orange viper, and two red vixens. The rest of the council would likely be following shortly, as well as any dragons they required for the meeting. 

Of the dragons that were there currently, Ember knew from previous meetings that two of them were newer additions, the bi-color viper, orange and gold with upward swooping eye-marks, was Ember’s uncle, Smolder. Smolder was one of his mother’s three brothers, both of whom were soldiers. Smolder, instead of serving in the guard, worked as a librarian, and had joined the council full time, since he’d been called on quite often.

Unwrapping the leather sack from his foreleg, Ember set it on the small stand in front of him and shuffled out a few papers, though before he lowered his head to read them the door opened and several more dragons shuffled in.  The council was nearly complete, though a few speakers were still missing, according to his notes.

Nodding to each dragon in turn as they made eye contact with him, Ember again looked down at the papers in front of him. Thankfully this council was scheduled to be a short one, and he could soon return to talking to Crystal. First he would need an excuse to get rid of Torch though…perhaps assigning him to help oversee the boat launches.

Straightening, Ember checked the room again, and noted that the entire Council had arrived. Snapping his tail so that it whipped against the metal floor, Ember watched as the noise rang through the circular chamber, and the councilors heads turned towards him. 

“The Council is now in session.”