Invading Will Chapter 4 Part 2
#12 of Invading Will
Invading Will
Chapter 4
Part 2
By: D. C. Henry ("Ahndeleck")
While he was absorbed in the awe of the scene, the king took his seat at the center of the table, and then the rest of the table sat while Raogothcar looked out at the crowd. To his amusement they stood in unison and took their seats. Then Raogothcar felt a slight poke on his shoulder just below the wing. When he turned his head, he saw Deanna who was pointing down at the floor. With a sheepish smile Raogothcar sat down next to her, quickly.
The king once again stood, though this time no one else stood with him. Raogothcar watched him as he scanned over his guests with a beaming smile. King Roland raised both arms out in front of him, palms open.
"Good people of Freeraven, I welcome you to the one hundred and sixty third year of our kingdom!"
The sudden thunderous sound from everyone in the room startled Raogothcar, and he nearly jumped back to the wall. Every person in the hall started clapping their hands, and cheering. Raogothcar had never heard such a loud noise in his life. Everyone else at the table were clapping their hands together as well. Since everyone else was doing it, it had to be part of the feast. Raogothcar reared back using his tail to balance himself, then with his free front paws, clapped as best he could. Then after another moment, the king stopped his own clapping, followed by the rest of the table, so Raogothcar stopped as well.
When the thunder of applause dwindled to a soft rumble and then the king continued. "There are many things for us to celebrate about this kingdom. We celebrate cutting ourselves away from the oppression from Torland, which founded Freeraven. We also should remember all of our ancestors' work for the survival of our nation during the Dominance War. Then too for all those before us that worked hard to give our kingdom a place in this hard world. We have much to be proud of people of Freeraven. Today we celebrate all our work, both present and past, that has made our home what it is.
The cheers erupted a second time, and it caught Raogothcar by surprise. He had focused on the words from King Roland, and stopped watching the people around him. These new cheers didn't last as long as the first before the king went on.
"There is another thing we celebrate today. We celebrate the heroic efforts of this dragon, Raogothcar, to the preservation of our nation."
King Roland rose a hand toward Raogothcar, and a new set of cheers rang out. Suddenly brought out to everyone's attention made him felt incredible self conscious. Raogothcar wanted to hide behind something, but at the same time loved the feeling that everyone was happy with him. Raogothcar looked down at the many happy faces and felt almost as if his other or father had said he'd done a good job. He felt proud for what he had done. Then the cheering died down, and Raogothcar realized that the king was going to continue.
"Raogothcar helped the kingdom where our own knowledge wouldn't, and where others wouldn't help. His service to Freeraven will always be remembered, and always appreciated. Tonight, we celebrate two things. We celebrate our great nation, and we celebrate a new friend and citizen.
"To celebrate, let us begin with the feast. We are all hungry, the cooks have made us all wonderful dishes, and I'm sure you are as tired of hearing me as I am of talking. Bring out the feast!"
With a last final cheer the king sank back into his chair and gave a quiet sigh. Brightly dressed servants appeared through the doors at the other end of the hall carrying several trays of food out to all the tables. All of the people in the hall turned to one another and began talking and laughing. Raogothcar found it difficult to hear or understand anything anyone was saying, but it all sounded fun. He was glad he could come, feasts didn't appear to be nearly as strange as he thought they would be.
The first group of servants came and laid out several dishes before the table, and Raogothcar inspected the large roast pig they had set before him. He turned to look at what the others had, which smelled just like what he had. Soon the king picked up several small pieces of silver and used them to put food in their mouths. Then everyone else in the room did the same thing. With a slight frown Raogothcar picked up the little silver item placed near him with two talon and inspected it for a moment. Then he watched the rest of his table eat for a moment. Finally he turned back to his roast, with a sigh he plunged the little utensil into the meat and tried to lift it. A sharp crack came from his paw as the now broken tool came free from the meat.
He leaned his head over a little closer to Deanna and nudged her gently with his wing, "What do I do now? I broke it." He held the stub of silver out for her to see.
Deanna regarded the dragon for a moment, then pointed with her knife at his roast, "Just eat it. I think the rest of them will understand."
Raogothcar turned back to his roast. A bitter smell suddenly came to him, and he learned closer to the roast to smell it. A bitter and foul smell came from the meat, but it was very slight. After a few breaths, he turned back to Deanna with a slightly worried look. "Deanna, this doesn't smell right."
"Don't be picky, it's considered rude." Deanna nodded towards the back doors to the kitchen. "See? The cook is coming out to come see you already. He'll want to know what's wrong and that will cause a big scene."
As she motioned to the large group of people dressed in white robes coming from the kitchen, a second group came from the other side of the dining hall. Deanna looked at the second large crew and eyed them cautiously.
"It's too early for the second entree." She put down her fork and knife and waved to a guard standing near the table. "Guard, I want you to see what the problem is. Something's not right."
The guard started forward, and stopped the nearest cook. Raogothcar watched to see what the problem might be. He couldn't guess what was wrong; everything seemed wonderful, other than his food smelled strange. The guard stopped the cook, who nodded slowly and stepped in even closer. Then the people around the two men suddenly looked up as the guard fell against the wall. The cook hurried forward as the guard slid down the wall, a small knife protruding from the man's ribs.
"Go men! Jump to it!" The guard's murderer threw off the white cloak as he shouted back at the other robed men. Swords were drawn in unison from each of the eight men behind him as the other figures threw their cloaks aside. Each man wore a deep dark green tunic and trousers, brandishing a short sword. Nine more men on the other side of the hall also threw off their cloaks and drew their swords. Raogothcar realized he was suddenly at the center of a charging group of angry armed men.
Raogothcar blinked as the dark blue blur of Deanna's sword flew past his nose. The blade dove hard into the first ambusher's chest causing the man to fall backward into his comrades. Raogothcar's mouth stood open as he saw the sword twitch and then leap back out of the man flying back to Deanna in the same rotating ark.
"Get the guards," she called as she caught the sword, "we're under attack!"
The guests began a mad scramble for the doors at either side of the hall. None of the assailants made any attempt to slow any of them down, but their passage kept the several guards at the back of the room from coming to the king's aide. The prince leapt from his chair and drew his sword in one swift movement.
Deanna rose from her chair and kicked the table before them and knocked it over. She moved her sword over her head and looked down the isle at the side of the hall with the running assassins. Once again she threw the blade, the sword making a soft singing noise as it cut the air on its path. Within moments the sword had met its target, and returned to Deanna's hand.
"Dragon, go stop them!" Deanna shouted as she turned to the next assailant.
The remaining six nearest Raogothcar split; three continued along the wall, the rest went to the center of the room to advance. Raogothcar leaped forward over the table and landed in front of a pile of broken dishes and spilled food. Before him, he could see the three men.
Raogothcar saw the glint of each sword, and realized that each of the men before him were dangerous. He spread his wings slightly and bared his teeth, he had to look fierce. The men stopped running and formed a small line in front of him.
Raogothcar crept slowly toward the three men in the center of the room, his heart thundering through him. The three men slowly drifted apart, one to either side of him. Raogothcar flared up the spines on his neck and turned his head to watch the three men as they moved. He closed his wings slowly and hissed as he eyed the men. With still several steps between them both, none of the men even flinched at the sound.
The one on Raogothcar's left ran first at him with his sword held high above his head. His eye happened to be on the man before he even began, and Raogothcar crouched with his front feet and with his back swung himself around and brought his tail to strike the man hard in the chest. The man folded over the tail and the sword clattered to the floor. Raogothcar then felt the man slide off his tail and collapse on the floor. Then he quickly looked back at the remaining two men before him.
With his eyes darting from one man to the other, Raogothcar bared his teeth and hoped he looked more intimidating than he felt. Neither man seemed to pay attention and were slowly moving to either side of him. Sounds of swords clashing together rang from behind him, but he didn't dare look with the two killers in front of him.
He could hear his heart hammering in his ear get louder with every moment. Raogothcar found it hard to watch the two separating men. He had lost sight of the man to his left as he turned to face the man to his right. Just as the thought that he had made a mistake to let the men get on either side of him, Raogothcar saw the opponent before him raise his sword for a back hand blow and charged at him.
With nearly an instinct, Raogothcar lifted one paw, and made a pushing motion towards the man. The air before him distorted and the charging man flew backward and landed on the far wall with muffled cry of surprise, the sword rattling on the floor.
After the man landed, Raogothcar felt a brief moment of accomplishment at his display of power. The feeling ended with a sharp note of pain lancing from a slashing cut on his left side. He jerked his head around with a muffled roar of surprise. His other opponent raised his sword for a second more focused blow on his back. Fear exploded into Raogothcar's mind as he collected himself to leap away from the attacker. Escape would not be fast enough.
Raogothcar watched as the man threw his weight into the blow meant for Raogothcar's back. Anticipating pain began to fill his hind quarters, as the spinning blade from Deanna streaked into his view. The blade hacked into Raogothcar's opponent, knocking the man to the floor with a sickening splatter.
Raogothcar looked at platform where Deanna and Prince Alan were fighting. Deanna had already dispatched the last of the three coming from her way. The prince was keeping two last attackers at bay, using the platform to his advantage. At the prince's feet lay Glenn, a sword deep in the side of his chest.
Raogothcar heard heavy footsteps enter the room and saw as he turned several well armed guards enter the hall from either door. The remaining assassins stepped back, and seeing their plight, set their swords on the floor and raised their hands.