Bookland Two - Chapter 4 - The Dragon Queen, written by Sandie May Joyce. Find out what will happen to Athena and the two boys, Julius and Igor. Their lives are at stake now. They will definitely need someone to save them.
Chapter 4
The Dragon Queen
After the celebration, Blayde went back to his own residential quarter, refreshed himself, and came forward to the open court of law to officially announce to the Queen and the public of whom he had captured the day before. He had taken Athena out of her prison and paraded her around the streets surrounding the palace for added humiliation before marching her into the court. Now, she would meet her fate.
The Dragon Queen took one look at Athena and ordered the death penalty by beheading. Sentencing would be decided as soon as the King voiced his approval. No words were spoken from Athena in self-defense since she was not allowed to speak. Her crime was from 10 years ago for hiding a catface baby from the Dragon Queen and King Atgar.
The court official wrote up the warrant of execution and handed it to the Dragon Queen. The decision was not received well by the public since some of the palace guards and the citizens knew full well who Athena was. They would not allow their former queen to be assassinated in such manner.
The civilians shouted angrily in protest, and a fight broke loose in the open courtyard against the guards. At the end of the confrontation, many civilian lives were lost.
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Back in the forbidden castle, Sky held a secret meeting with the catface people. He relayed the Dragon Queen's decision to behead Athena to the group. Anger had overwhelmed the Catface Tribe. They had agreed that it was time to save their former Queen and King Atgar. Julius and Igor had been informed of the ill fate of Athena, and although they were only 10 years old, they were both more than ready to join the battle for Athena's life and her freedom.
But Sky had a plan, he wanted to save Julius, Igor, and Athena, all three at the same time.
That evening, in the middle of the night, the shadow of a person appeared on the palace wall. The figured jumped up to the roof. He was as light as feather and treaded in eerie silence upon the roof of the palace as if he were a spirit. The figure came to the Dragon Queen's library quarter and watched her as she was reading the matters of the court. He watched as the Queen wrote out the decision on each court affair with Blayde's help. Later, Blayde left, and the Queen folded the decisions on all matters and put them aside on her governing table. She would still need to present these to King Atgar who was now in another quarter of the palace. She often wondered if all the extra castles and courts were even worth her attention. When she was the Dragon Queen to her own castle she did not have all these matters to attend to, but after she "inherited" all these extra castles, the more work she had to do. People filing court cases even when one of the chickens has been stolen by another, or someone's dog had bitten another and the injured party seeks compensation. All of these cases were extra work that she had to attend to, and the decisions had to be written out and read to King Atgar before the sentencing. King Atgar's approval, on the other hand, was just a nod away.
She put everything on the side of the table and retired to her private chamber to go to sleep. The man who cast the dark shadow saw that the coast was clear of any persons, he jumped down and entered the library. Under the dimness of the moonlight, he found the court paper that would put Athena to death. He quickly put the document under his protective black attire. Upon leaving he suddenly spotted another document that took him by surprise. The papers revealed how Julius was found, and a request was made that the Dragon Queen would adopt him and bring him into the palace. The only thing that bothered the dark shadow man was that no catface of the boy was mentioned, which lead him to think about what could be the Dragon Queen's motive for adopting the boy. He would not let that happen before he uncovered the Queen's motive. He put the court document into his protective dark attire as well. After that, he went and jumped out as lightly as he came in.
Bright and early the following morning, the Dragon Queen came to King Atgar's quarter for his approval as she normally would do before she would go to the open court. She browsed through each document one by one and was approved by the King, stamped and sealed. Yet, she was surprised that the two very important documents that she had prepared together with Blayde were missing! She left the King's quarter in disappointment.
Back in her own private chamber, she searched everywhere but still could not find the two documents.
"That wretched woman has to die, one way or another," she told Blayde. Her eyes were filled with hatred and disappointment.
Blayde watched the Queen search for the two documents in vain.
"Why not just take a trip to the Catface castle personally and take the boys back here with you? Once they are in your hands you can decide what to do with them," he suggested.
"Okay, as long as you can bring me the boys. Just tell those people that they are needed for questioning. Tell them there will not be any prosecutions so no court documents are required."
The Dragon Queen had her plan all laid out in front of her. She would tell King Atgar that Igor is their son and that he should let him be the successor of his throne and the Kingdom. The boy was to inherit the King's Stamp of Justice. Several of the King's advisors were still with him, so she had yet to be careful in convincing them that Igor is the King's son as well. But first, Athena must die, if not, her plan would not work out.
The Queen would make a frequent display of Igor's presence in an effort to convince King Atgar that their son was growing up. Athena was guilty of kidnapping their son when he was born. The King's memory by now was almost half gone, it is not too difficult to make him believe that he had a son which, in reality, he really did.
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At the Forbidden Castle, Blayde was just finishing off unloading the weekly food supply and clothing and took note that no one had died the week before, he made an announcement to Sky that Julius and Igor were to accompany him back to the palace.
"What for?" Sky looked straight into Blayde's eyes and then slowly narrowing his in trying to figure out what kind of games that Blayde and the Dragon Queen were playing with him. "Do you have a pass from Her Majesty, the Queen for taking them out of here?"
"Well, they are not residents here yet. They are the intruders! We need to take them back for questioning," Blayde answered.
"But you have already sentenced them to work in the cookery. A decision has been made. If Her Majesty, the Queen wants to have the two boys out of this castle, let her give you a pass for them both. I am still in charge of the people in this castle, and no one is supposed to go out without a pass from Her Majesty, the Queen," Sky said, stroking his white beard, his mind, calculating several possibilities.
Perhaps Blayde sees the boys as his future opponents and wants to get rid of them? Sky thought.
Sky's eyes were large and powerful. He spoke with authority and that intimidated Blayde, who quickly got up on his horseback and rode away - back to the palace without the boys.
The Queen was furious after learning that Blayde did not succeed in bringing the boys back. She took it upon herself to go to the Forbidden Castle and demanded Sky to surrender the two boys to her. Sky had no choice but to do what he was told. Both Julius and Igor rode back to the palace with Blayde and the Dragon Queen. Julius couldn't be happier to step foot in the palace. For him, it was like a dream come true . Igor, on the other hand, had been thinking about his mother Beatrice.
Back at the Queen's chamber, the boys were brought in front of the Dragon Queen. She looked both of them over and was deeply pleased with Igor's appearance.
"What is your name, young man?" She asked Igor.
Delighted at the Queen's special interest, Igor could not contain his surprise and happiness!
"Igor," he replied with a genuine smile.
"How old are you, Igor?"
"I'm 10, Your Majesty! I'm the same age as my friend, Julius."
"And I suppose you are Julius," the Queen turned to look at Julius, made no surprise of his half catface.
"Yes, Your Majesty," Julius answered, and forced out an innocent smile to the Queen. He wondered if this was the same Queen that Sky was talking about. In his young mind, he was confused by the Queen's kindness towards them.
The Queen nodded and stood in front of the two boys for a moment, taken by Julius's innocence. Perhaps the two boys don't know anything yet. Good! It would be easier for me to convince them. She thought.
"How do you boys like the palace? If I said I would allow you to stay here," she continued to say.
"B... but I need to go back to tell my parents where I am. I need to let them know I'm safe," Igor told the Queen.
"Do not be worried, my dear boys," your parents will be notified. I will let them know you are safe with me here in the palace.
"Will you tell them?" Igor's eyes brightened up, "Will you let them come here to live with us in the palace too?"
"Sure, I will! Don't you worry about anything. The guards will come to fetch you to your rooms where you will stay and get some sleep. Tomorrow I will have a good talk with you separately.
"Okay," both answered the Queen cheerfully. They were both happy to follow Blayde who would lead Igor to a special preserved quarter of the palace, and Julius to the servants' quarter of the palace.
Unbeknownst to Igor, that evening Farmer Haan's farm had been invaded by an unknown group of terrorists who wore black masks and dressed in black. Farmer Haan and Beatrice were killed, along with his farmers. It was said that a fire had broke out through the farmhouse and the barns which killed most of the farm animals as well.
To be continued on... Chapter 5
Copyright (C) Sandie May Joyce
All Rights Reserved
This was so well written! It kept my interest from beginning to end of the chapter. I can hardly wait to see what will happen in chapter 5. I hope to read it soon.
AWESOME storyline and plots, Sandie! This is so well-told! The story played out inside my head like a movie while I was reading your words. The Dragon Queen seemed very capable of managing several castles in the kingdom while the King was sick, but she has really surprised me with that murderous spree towards the end of this chapter. Did she do that? Can't wait to find out.
This is the long-awaited 4th book of The Chronicles of Henry Roach-Dairier, a future world without people. Think Planet of the Ants, not Planet of the Apes, for young adults and adults.
The Rise of Lord Belmundus is the first book in the fifteen book series, The Adventures of Lord Belmundus, a remarkable tale of others worlds, strange customs, beauty and warfare; and, in its grips, lands a young celebrity, who has the chaps to play
Chapter 4
