The Dragon Saviour

Prologue Part 2

Drake’s POV:

Everyone met in the throne room. As instructed yesterday, I was about to lead my people through the tunnel. The sun was beginning to set, it was time for us to leave. I nodded to Kenneth, and he nodded back, before heading around the palace to find anyone that had not made it to the throne room yet.

I was incredibly nervous; I was basically now the King. The youngest King in our recorded history, I had a lot to prove and a lot to live up too. I was going to do my ancestors proud, no matter what.

I waited a few minutes, and he returned to my side, whispered, “Everyone is here.”

I nodded, and stepped forward to speak, just as my parents entered the room. I guess they wanted to see my first speech as King. Even from here, I could see the pride and sorrow in their eyes. I cleared my throat, drawing everyone’s attention to me.

Once there was silence among my people, I began, “Now, I know I am young, but I will promise you this, I will protect you all. Today, I will lead you through the tunnel, and to your new lives in the Lycan territory. The moment we leave this throne room, I will become your King. I can take that responsibility very seriously. You were asked to write your names on your bags. That was because when you exit the tunnel the Lycan army will be there waiting for us, they have a truck that all of our bags will be put in. So we can all walk faster to their territory. Once we are safe on their land, they will give us our bags back, as well as schedules for training or school, depending on your age, and they will want to talk to us about what we can do, so whether you are a teacher or doctor or nurse, they will want to know, so that they can get you a schedule and job you once had here. That way we can get some normality back in our lives as we start fresh there. They are providing us with homes, food, and clothing, until we can get back on our feet. More details will be given once there, but for now, when we exit the tunnel, I want kids in the centre of the line with the civilians and warriors surrounding them. They are our future. They need to be protected. Some of you are wondering about the captured dragons. Well, when the time is right and you are all safe, I will get them back. Now, let’s move downstairs, and I will give final orders there.”

Everyone nodded, and began to move downstairs, which allowed my parents to approach me. They hugged me. For some reason, this hug felt like a final hug. I felt like I would never see them again.

My mother sobbed, “I knew you would be a great King one day; I just wish I could have been with you longer to see it. Take care of yourself. Take care of our people, and beautiful Elisa. Tell her, I said, that she would make a great Queen for our people. I will always be with you, so make sure to tell my grandbabies about your father and me. I love you, my baby boy.”

“Son, you have done me and your mother proud, every day. I have known all along that you would be a great King, even better than me, and what you just said in your first speech proved it all. I want to give you the sword of the Elders. It always stays with the King of Dragons, you are now the King, it belongs with you. I love you, Drake, keep our people safe,” Dad croaked a few times, he really was fighting the tears back, as he handed me the sword.

I wrapped them both in a hug, fighting my own tears back, as I whispered, “I love you, both. I promise to make you both proud, and to tell my children about their brave, fearless, and loving grandparents. I am proud to be your son. Now, I really must go, fight like you never have before. I want my children to meet their grandparents one day.”

“We won’t go down without a fight, you know that. Now, go lead our people to safety,” Dad said, as he pulled my crying mother into his arms.

As I walked away, I put the sword’s belt up around my hips. I really was going to miss them, it was breaking my heart to leave them like this, but I knew it had to be done to protect my people, and ensure my species' existence.

I got to the door of the throne room, where everyone was walking towards me. I stopped and turned to my parents, giving them one final smile, and waved goodbye. My mother was still crying even though she tried to smile. Dad’s breathing was erratic. He was really struggling to keep a brave face, but they still waved goodbye to me. After they waved back, I took one last look, and headed down the stairs, squeezing past some of my people to get to the front of the line, but most moved immediately out of my way.

Kenneth had followed the orders I had given him earlier and arranged two three-man teams. They were standing at the entrance to the tunnel, waiting for me. I made my way through the crowds to them.

“Everything ready,” I asked him.

“Yes, everything is ready. The sword of the Elders,” Kenneth said, pointing to the sword hanging around my hips.

I nodded, “Yep, Dad said it needs to stay with the King of our people. I am now the King, so he gave it to me.”

“Well, let’s get our people to safety, and get you back in the arms of little Elisa,” he smirked. He knew I was excited to see her.

But I did have to concentrate on the mission at hand. I cleared my throat again, drawing everyone’s attention to me.

“Right, listen up, everyone. You three will be up front with me. We will lead our people through the tunnel. You three will bring up the rear with Kenneth, make sure that all our people go through the tunnel, and the door is shut behind us. The rest of you stay close together and stay quiet in case I need to get orders or hear what those at the back say, we need to get through the tunnel as quickly as we can. Remember to stay calm, quiet and together. Let’s move out,” I called out to them.

I opened the entrance to the tunnel, and began making my way down the tunnel with my suitcase, and the three-man team with their suitcases were following right behind me. Kenneth and his team were making sure everyone got into the tunnel so they could bring up the rear, and close the tunnel door.

It was a long march on foot. I knew everyone would be tired by the time we got to the tunnel’s exit, but we would still have a long march ahead after that too. I just hoped we wouldn’t get attacked when we got out of the tunnel.

The tunnel was dark and cold. It would not be a nice place to be trapped in, small oil burning lanterns lined the tunnel. They were magically enhanced so that they would never go out. We dragons really didn’t need them to see, we have an amazing sense of sight in the darkness. When we say we can see through the blackest of nights or caves, we really can.

After awhile, I heard the door to the tunnel close behind us, which meant all my people were in the tunnel. That was when I heard Kenneth’s voice, “Everyone is in the tunnel.”

His voice echoed but it was audible. I am glad he didn’t shout it any louder. About a mile in, there would be a circle room within the tunnel that had other passage ways splitting off in several different directions. The circle room had flaming torches. They were lit earlier today, thankfully, so that we had light for the small children. Some children were still scared of the dark. I was one of the few who knew which tunnel would be the escape tunnel. So, I would be able to lead my people safely through the tunnel. I figured once we got to the circle, we could pause, and allow everyone to rest for ten minutes, before we pushed on.

We arrived at the circle room, I stopped at the tunnel we needed to go down, and turned to my people, “Take ten minutes, have a rest and a drink, then we will continue down the tunnel.”

They all took a breath and sat down on the floor, to rest. Kenneth pushed his way through the crowd, and asked, “Is everything alright?”

“Yes, I figured now would be an ideal time to allow the children and elderly to rest. We don’t want anyone to be left behind, so allowing them ten minutes to rest is the best we could do. We still have a long walk ahead of us, and if we get attacked, our people will need to have the strength to run,” I explained.

“I actually agree. What do you need me to do, for now,” Kenneth inquired.

“For now, get back to your post, keep your men frosty. When we get out of the tunnel and begin to move toward the Lycan territory, I will want you to take your men, and just move along the line of our people and check to make sure everyone is there and is alright,” I gave him his orders.

He nodded, “Yes, I will do that right away. Now, keep your wits about you, I will get to the back with my warrior group.”

I nodded, patting him on the back. He turned and left. I turned and focused on the tunnel; we would be walking down in a few moments. I could feel a soft breeze, which meant that the tunnel exit was open, so I hoped that meant that King Robert and his Lycan army would be there ready to help us. I tried to listen for noises. There were a few noises but it was hard to make out what they were.

I turned to face my people, and called out, “We need to get moving, so up on your feet everyone. Stay quiet and stay close together.”

I waited a moment for people to get to their feet, and then I turned and began to walk down the tunnel, pulling my suitcase behind me. I was getting really excited and the closer I got to that tunnel exit, it meant the closer I got to being with Elisa again. Elisa is my mate; I really can’t help but be excited. I hadn’t seen her in a few years. I wondered how much she had changed. She had hit puberty, so she had to go through some kinds of changes.

We still had to trek quite a distance, before we got to the end of the tunnel.

Kenneth called forwards to me, “We are all through the tunnel.”

That was good news to hear. We were almost there, and it was getting harder to get control of my emotions. The excitement was the hardest to control. We were making good time; within an hour I reckon we would be there. Then just another hour and we would be in the Lycan territory, where housing arrangements would be sorted, food given out to us, and schedules for jobs or school given too, all while I spent time with Elisa. It did leave me the huge burden of so many questions: will my people recover? Will they accept a Lycan Princess as their Queen? Will I be able to save my people? Will I be a good king for them?