I nodded to the dryads, and they trotted ahead to stay even with Whitaker. I wasn’t sure if he was stupid enough to run away, but I didn’t want to take any chances. The rest of us followed the council out to the patio and looked out over the citizens who had gathered already.

  “Five more minutes,” I whispered into Whitaker’s ear as I passed him and stood on the front of the stone ledge.

  Five more minutes, and then the dragon lord was coming out to play.

  Chapter 13

  “He’s a dragon!”

  “Yes, that’s the Divine Maiden!”

  “They went to the records room.”

  I listened to the whispers and murmurs among the crowd that had gathered at the bottom of the stone steps to the council tower. Some were frightened, and some were just curious. The handful of citizens had gathered at least half the city to stand before us in awe. From dwarves to Demi-Humans to humans, the citizens had come from all over the city to see what was going on, and probably to get a glimpse of the dragon.

  The magistrates stood awkwardly behind me, and Nike and Laika worked to spread them out so the people could see each of them.

  “Good evening, citizens of Colaruma,” I announced with a smile, and the crowd’s voices died down as everyone waited. “By now, you may have heard, but I will go ahead and introduce myself. My name is Lord Evan of Hatra el Shamash, and yes, I am a dragon.”

  The murmurs and gasps rippled through the crowd again with my confirmation of the rumor that had obviously spread since the citizens left the tower. I heard a few of them sound more like doubts than surprise, and I looked at Alyona with a broad grin.

  She smiled back and nodded.

  That was all I needed.

  I jumped off the edge of the patio, shifted into my dragon form in one fluid motion, and took flight just above the crowd. As their expressions transformed from apprehension to complete surprise, I flew low enough that some of them could have reached up and touched my underbelly, and then I took off higher and blew a plume of flames against the dirt ceiling of the city’s cavern. I took a quick lap around the tower and landed on the roof with a roar, so all the people could see me before I slid off the edge and shifted back into my human form mid-air. I sent out a wave of my healing magic to cushion my fall as I landed on the stone steps and walked back up to the patio. Then I brushed off my shoulders dramatically and turned to face the audience.

  The crowd had returned to a shocked silence as I resumed my position in the center of the ledge, and several more people walked out of other buildings to see what was going on.

  “Now that we’ve cleared that up, my beautiful fiancée here is the Divine Maiden, Princess Alyona, heir to the throne of Rahma,” I said with a bow to Alyona.

  “Hello, everyone.” The princess stepped forward to stand next to me and gave a perfect royalty wave to the crowd.

  More of the citizens gasped as they took in her white and black hair, as well as her violet eyes that were clearly a trait she’d gained from her father.

  “We have been living among you for several days now,” I began. “And I have learned a few things.”

  “Such as?” Whitaker hissed from behind me.

  “Such as, there are a bunch of greedy ass bastards in this city.” I smirked before I turned to look the lizard in the eyes. “Like you.”

  “I have no idea what you mean.” The Demi-Human’s yellow eyes narrowed to slits as he glared at me.

  “I think you know, Whitaker,” I said as I clasped my hands behind my back and strolled back and forth in front of the magistrates. “You see, I think you know exactly what you’ve been doing wrong for the past nine years, and you seem to think the citizens of Colaruma are too stupid to figure it out. Right?”

  “Of course not!” he shouted. “How dare you accuse me of such a betrayal! The people of Colaruma know I’ve always looked out for this city!”

  “Have you?” I raised an eyebrow and looked out to the crowd. “Do all of you feel as though Whitaker has your best interests at heart? Go ahead, raise your hand if you feel that way.”

  Less than twenty hands went into the air.

  “Wow, that’s a pretty low percentage, Whit,” I chuckled as I looked back at him. “Hope it’s not an election year.”

  Whitaker scowled and averted his gaze.

  “Let’s do another little poll, then,” I continued. “How many of you have been tested for banner status?”

  Hundreds of hands rose in the crowd.

  “My goodness, that’s a lot,” I said, and my voice dripped with sarcasm. “And how many of you were confirmed to have a clean bloodline?”

  All but about fifty hands went back down.

  “Now, how many of you have figured out those people with their hands up right now were given extra rations by your Council of Magistrates?” I asked.

  “What!”

  “Are you serious?”

  “How could this happen?”

  As tempers flared in the crowd, I waved a hand in the air to call back their attention. I didn’t need them to get pissed at each other. I had to clarify who was the real enemy here.

  “It isn’t your fellow citizens who made that decision,” I advised carefully. “I have no intention of starting a civil war. But I would like for the council to tell all of us where the extra rations came from.”

  The magistrates looked at each other like deer caught in the headlights for a few moments, and then Roland took a step forward. He wrung his hands together, and his long, mole fingers wrapped around each other as he contemplated his approach.

  “Listen, it was already like that when I got here,” he muttered, and his rodent eyes darted around the crowd. “I just help get things built, that’s all.”

  “Okay, fair enough,” I said. “Go ahead and step back. Anyone else on the council care to explain the extra rations to the people? My understanding is the king provides exactly the same portions for every citizen, right?”

  The mole Demi-Human returned to his place in line and crossed his arms over his chest while Whitaker stared daggers at him.

  “I, ah, I can answer the question,” Tilly’s voice was so quiet, I was glad I had dragon hearing.

  “Tilly, thank you,” I said as I pulled her forward to face the crowd. “Go ahead.”

  The mouse stood at the ledge and froze. Her tiny pink tail quivered behind her as she looked out over the people standing in front of her with angry faces, and it appeared the little mouse had stage fright.

  “Lord Evan will just keep asking,” Alyona prodded the Demi-Human.

  “The extras, um, they came from the worker class,” Tilly finally whispered.

  “What did she say?” a few people muttered and looked to each other.

  “Louder, if you would,” I said with a gesture toward the crowd.

  “I said… ” Tilly cleared her throat and tried again. “I said, the extras came from the worker class.”

  “How does anyone have extras if it’s all the same?”

  “Did she say worker?”

  “The worker class?”

  “Now, what is it that defines a worker class?” I asked her.

  “I, uh, I’m not sure,” she admitted as she shook her head, and a tear fell down her cheek. “I’m so sorry! I just can’t.”

  The mouse’s shoulders shook with her sobs, and Alyona pulled her back away from the edge of the patio to console her. Tilly was part of the council, but she wasn’t the one I suspected of masterminding the whole thing.

  “Lord Evan?” Aggie called out from the crowd, and I saw her big meaty hand in the air as she pushed her way through to the front. “I have a question.”

  “Of course, Aggie.” I grinned at the tavern owner. “What is it?”

  “Did the council put us in classes based on the bloodline tests?” she asked.

  “That’s a great question!” I replied as I pulled the parchment from my pocket and unrolled it. “See, I’d like to say they did, but I’m a little unclear on the details. Perhaps Whitaker could come explain this to me.”

  Whitaker stood still as he caught a glimpse of the paper I held, but I waved it around and motioned for him to join me at the ledge. Then Nike walked up behind him and pushed him forward to stand next to me.

  The lizard inhaled sharply as he confirmed what I had.

  “Read it,” I growled.

  “It is my family tree,” Whitaker mumbled.

  “Louder.” I gripped his upper arm as I spoke. “All of it.”

  “It is my family tree,” he repeated in a loud voice. “It shows that I was born in Kana, my mother and father were born in Kana, and my grandfather was born in Novali.”

  More gasps rippled through the crowd.

  “So, for those of us who don’t know, go ahead and tell us what that means,” I boomed.

  “It means… ” he trailed off and took a deep breath. “It means I’m a quarter elf.”

  “Y-You, you lied to us!” Ingrid shouted from behind us. “You got us all in this stupid mess! And you don’t even have a clean bloodline!”

  “Don’t be a fool, Ingrid!” Whitaker shouted back.

  “I was foolish, I’ll admit that,” the lady magistrate said with a dark scowl. “But this was all your idea. We were idiots to follow your lead.”

  “I told you!” he insisted. “This was the way it’s always been!”

  “No,” I bellowed. “The class division and ration pirating began after you were on the council.”

  “Well, there were six other members then, too!” he argued. “How do you know it wasn’t their idea?”

  “It wasn’t,” a new voice escaped the crowd as an older snake Demi-Human stepped forward, and I felt like I’d seen him before, but I couldn’t place him.

  “Please, sir, come closer,” I said as I waved him toward our makeshift stage.

  The snake clambered up the steps and faced Whitaker with shaking hands.

  “My name is Harold,” he introduced himself to me. “I used to serve on the council years ago with Whitaker. He presented the idea of using bloodline tests to divide the people and ensure they would want to work.”

  “Everyone can’t be equal, Harold,” Whitaker hissed. “I told you this. It makes people lazy.”

  “That was your nonsense argument then, and it got voted out,” Harold shot back. “A few months later, he tells us that he’d already begun changing the rations, and none of the citizens had noticed. So, a few of the other magistrates thought they could get away with it. They got greedy, and the vote was presented again and passed.”

  “How did the council decide who went into which class?” I demanded.

  “Whitaker had suggested the bloodline tests, but I knew my daughter wouldn’t pass,” the snake admitted. “So, he offered to marry her and give her banner by proxy status. He said it was the least he could do to ease my mind.”

  “So, you’re Helena’s father?” I clarified. It looked like Laika was right about that family tree.

  “Yes,” Harold confirmed. “Had I known Whitaker was covering up his own family tree, I’m not sure what I would’ve done. I just didn’t want my daughter to be a worker.”

  “You weren’t complaining when you got your portions,” Whitaker snarled and lunged toward the snake.

  I grabbed his arm and yanked him back against me, and then I conjured a fiery rope to wrap around his wrists behind his back. The Demi-Human yelped as the flames licked at his skin, and I pushed him to his knees.

  “Whitaker of Colaruma, your crimes against this city are inconceivable,” I shouted. “Your insatiable greed has led you to commit treason against Colaruma and against His Eminence, King Rodion.”

  “Please, let me explain,” Whitaker begged. “I’ll tell you everything.”

  “I’ll give you your chance,” I growled. “Look out on this crowd and explain to your people what good reason you had to steal from some to make yourself and your friends rich. You forced those you deemed unworthy to work, so they could eat!”

  The citizens began to shout at the lizard.

  “Liar!”

  “Thief!”

  “You labeled people as clean or unclean based on a flimsy test and still falsified the results!” I continued as the crowd continued to curse at him.

  “I knew the people with skills would be able to get their rations back with the barter system!” Whitaker screeched. “They’ve survived just fine!”

  “My children can barely read, while banner children are taking sword fighting lessons!” a monkey Demi-Human from the poor neighborhood yelled. Her tattered dress was covered in stains, and her ratty hair was pulled back into a tight bun.

  “And my son has been working for you day in and day out to earn extra cloth, so his siblings can have more than one pair of clothes!” yelled the salt-and-pepper man from the first part of the meeting.

  “I’d guess that would be your messenger boy?” I raised an eyebrow at Whitaker.

  “Yes.” He nodded and dropped his head to his chest. “We took the family trees and said we were testing them, but we actually watched the members of the family to see who could work and who couldn’t. Those who could were deemed worker class, so they could work for more rations. Those who could not were declared non-status.”

  “And non-status basically means useless?” I asked.

  “Yes,” Whitaker agreed in defeat.

  “And you gave them enough food and supplies to barely survive without working?” I pushed.

  “Yes,” he said without meeting my eyes.

  “I accept your confession,” I declared.

  “So, I’m free to go?” Whitaker looked up at me with his yellow reptile eyes.

  “Absolutely fucking not.” I met his gaze as I pulled the Sword of Hatra from my spatial storage and then turned to the crowd. “Whitaker has admitted his treason and deceit. His crimes have spanned the last nine years, and they will not be tolerated by the Crown of Rahma.”

  “Don’t I get a trial or something?” the lizard whined.

  “You just did,” I growled. “I am the judge, the jury, and the executioner.”

  Before he could react, I whipped my blade around and cut off his head.

  It rolled off the ledge and down the slope toward the astonished crowd. The head stopped just before it ran into a woman’s foot, and a puddle of blood formed below it as his body crumpled at my feet. The woman screeched, and most of the crowd started to yell and scream.

  The rest of the magistrates immediately freaked out, and my group held them back when they tried to run off the stage.

  “It looks like Colaruma needs a new Head Magistrate,” I announced, and the noise subsided. “I am appointing Mateo. He will lead the new Council of Magistrates. The current magistrates are hereby relieved of their duties unless Mateo sees fit to continue their roles. Over the next two days, those of you who were declared banner families will go through your belongings and clear out the things you don’t use or need. Those things will be given out to anyone else who does not have them. If you avoid participation, and I will find out, I will burn down all of your belongings instead, and you can wait until the next delivery of rations. Are there any questions?”

  Most of the citizens cheered in response.

  “Ah, yes, Lord Evan,” Mateo said as he scurried over to me. “First, of course, thank you for honoring me with your appointment. Secondly, what do I do as the Head Magistrate?”

  “You were trained as a noble,” I reminded him. “Use those leadership skills to return Colaruma to its former glory. I have faith in you, as do the Sentinels.”

  Mateo followed my gaze to see Antonio with a broad smile stretched across his face.

  “When should I choose the new magistrates?” The dwarf looked over at the former magistrates as they shivered with fear.

  “Do you have anyone in mind yet?” I looked across the pumped-up crowd.

  “I’d like to keep Tilly on the council, but everyone else can go,” he replied. “Other than that, I would like to meet with a few groups and see who would best represent them.”

  “Then I think it’s reasonable to give yourself a week or two, so you can speak with enough people to get some good ideas,” I suggested.

  “And if I need something?” Mateo asked with a worried tone. “Or have more questions?”

  “Find a cultivator to send me a messenger,” I assured him. “I’ll help you every chance I get.”

  “King Rodion will be available to you as well,” Alyona added. “If ever His Eminence needs to come help with the portals or anything, he will do so as soon as he can.”

  “Did you ever find the people responsible for opening the portal?” The dwarf frowned.

  “We’ve found some,” I replied. “And we’ll find the rest before we leave. We would never leave you in danger.”

  “Okay,” he sighed with relief. “Are you serious about burning down the banner families’ belongings?”

  “Let’s hope they don’t make us find out.” I shrugged. “Though that does remind me of one other thing.”

  I stalked into the lobby and returned to the patio with the large banners I’d ripped down from the walls. Then I tossed them in a heap on the slope in front of me.

  “This is for all the people who have been wronged by this disgusting and cruel system,” I announced. “And a reminder for those who would consider returning to those unjust ways.”

  Then I roared and opened my maw to bellow flames onto the banners. They caught fire within a second, and the flames reached at least ten feet high while they burned through the thick cloth.

  The crowd’s murmurs of surprise shifted into cheers and dancing.

  “No more banners! No more banners!” they chanted.

  “No more,” I agreed as they settled back down. “The old ways of Colaruma are as dead as the former Head Magistrate, who ironically now has no head.”

  A few people snickered, and I grinned at the crowd.

  “Lord Evan and I will remain in the city with our party for a few more days,” Alyona declared. “Please, if you need anything while we are here, reach out to us at the tavern.”

  “Thank you!” I called out as I stepped away from the ledge and motioned for the former magistrates to be released.

 

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