Dragon Princess

Short, Mini Story Idea for Dragon Princess, (may or may not be in the book and may be in another, mini book I write later)

Dragon Princess Story Idea:
One day when High Queen Linet was sitting on her throne listening to petitions, a woman with a black eye, a broken arm, and a young boy no older than seven years old holding her good hand, burst into the chamber crying. “Please. Please, you have to save my baby boy!”
She started sobbing uncontrollably, and Linet motioned her forward. “What happened? Who did this to you?”
The mother got ahold of herself and said, “The Society. They took my son Jacob a few weeks ago. Three days ago they…” She choked out the words. “…took Lucy, my baby girl, away from me, and yesterday they told me they were going to take my youngest, Sam, away. I just couldn’t stand it and…” The mother started to sob again, her head in her hands. “I know you are busy, but, please, do what you can for my children, I’m begging you.”
“Are the soldiers staying in your village or in a nearby fort?” Linet asked, her brow furrowed.
“Both. A small number of the bastards are pushing their way into our homes, while the majority are staying in their fort a few miles from the village. We live in a village near by the Isle of the Mist, a good thirty miles from the border.” A few seconds later, she started wailing, “I have condemned those children to death! Oh, how could I be so foolish?”
“What on Earth do you mean?” Linet asked, slightly taken aback by the woman's  outburst.
“The Society. They said if any of us went to the Dragon Queen they would slaughter all of our children. Please, save them. I don’t think I could live with myself if they were killed because of me…” Once again she started to sob.
“I promise you. I will bring your children back to you, and save the others if it is the last thing I do.” Linet’s eyes began to glow with a fierce determination and she turned to her advisor, Curtis. “Prepare the men. I want a hundred of our elite dragons to join me in this village within a fortnight. We will storm the fort when they arrive and make sure this does not happen to any other family in the kingdom. Oh, and get two of my sisters to come as well, preferably Helena and Jade. I want Daniee and Annalyse to rule while I am gone. Advise them the best you can.” With that she leapt from her throne, threw on her cape, and strode out of the hall. The guards at the door struggled to open the huge doors in time.
Linet jumped on her horse and rode off to the village. It took two days of hard riding, and when she arrived, she pulled the hood of her cape over her head. Then Linet dismounted and walked into the village square, where it seemed the whole village was gathered. She walked up to the nearest woman and asked what was going on.
The lady turned to her with tears in her eyes. “It’s…my son. The Society soldiers took him almost a month ago and tried to train him in their ways. But he’s very stubborn, always has been. They tried their hardest to convert him to their way of life, but he would never listen and always fought back. I knew it would bite him in the butt eventually, but I never thought it would be this soon. See, a few days ago the Society stole a little girl and claimed she was a mage. My son Jason let her free the day she was to be executed. He did a good deed, and for that he will pay with his life.” She turned back to the platform crawling with at least ten Society soldiers.
Linet followed her gaze and watched as the condemned man was brought forth in chains. As he was shoved to his knees, a Society soldier that everyone seemed to be afraid of read a lengthy speech saying how this man did wrong and everyone that follows in his footsteps will meet the same fate. The prisoner’s head was forced onto a stump, and the executioner raised his blade, preparing to strike.
Finally Linet can’t take it anymore. “Stop! This is wrong. This man did not do anything that would warrant this kind of punishment. He simply let a little girl go free. What harm is there in that? So the kid escaped. You can catch her again.” She stepped out onto the platform. The soldiers all raised their swords and prepared to attack. The fifteen Society soldiers that were standing around the platform rushed towards her, but they didn’t get two inches before they were knocked off their feet by Linet’s magic.
She took out ten soldiers before she had to draw her sword, and when she did the fight was over before it even began. Pretty soon only the lead soldier was left, and as she turned toward him, her blade raised, beads of sweat formed on his forehead, and he started to back away slowly. He stuttered slightly. “This man…this man is a traitor, and he deserves what he’s going to get.” He motioned for the executioner to proceed, but he was lying on the ground somewhere near the platform, having met with Linet’s blade.
As Linet neared the Society soldier, he gulped loudly. “Please. Just take the traitor and go.”
Linet walked over to where the defected soldier was still tethered. She removed his shackles and a fierce gleam appeared in her eyes. “I will leave, but I’m taking you with me. You will never bother this town again.”
The Society soldier started to run, desperately trying to get away from her. He put up quite a chase, and just as she was close to catching him the soldier she had freed hit him on the head with a sword handle. The Society soldier crumpled to the ground, unconscious, and the defected soldier held out a hand to Linet. “Thanks for the rescue and all, but I have to get going. I have a meeting with the Queen in two hours to discuss what is happening in this town." He nodded and turned to go, dragging the unconscious Society soldier with him.
Linet smirked, crossing her arms. “Well we both know that isn’t true. I mean, I think I would know if I was to meet you in two hours.”
The man’s eyes widened and he turned around sharply, dropping his prisoner. “What? You are the..." His voice dropped to a whisper. "...Dragon Queen? But how? And why would you come to this village and save me, of all people? I’m just a defected Society soldier.”
“Precisely,” Linet said. “You are a defected Society soldier. Therefore, you might know more about the inner workings of the Society than my spies have discovered.” She smiled and placed a hand on his shoulder reassuringly. “You don’t have to fight alone, you know.”
He smiled ever so slightly. “When do we start?”
“Well, before we get down to business, I have to know what you were planning to do to that man.” She motioned toward the prisoner lying unconscious at their feet.
“Oh, him? I was…er…I was going to…” He paused for a few seconds. “…torture him to tell me where the main fort is and who is on the Council of Generals.” He looked at his feet for a second or two.
Linet smiled widely. “So he knows where the Society’s main camp is? This is my lucky day.” She rubbed her hands together gleefully. “But you said something about a ‘Council of Generals’? What is that?”
He sighed. “It’s what controls the Society. The most well-known and respected generals are among its ranks, but there are also many others that you have never heard of. I have only heard rumors of its members, but there is talk that this man is a member of the Council."
Linet then walked over to the unconscious prisoner and lifted him up with her magic, causing the defected soldier’s eyebrows to do a little dance. “Whoa, I guess you really do have magic…”
“Yup.” She smiled, before slamming the palm of her hand into her face. “Oh gods, I don’t even know your name.”
Jason Avery Barbosa,” He said, bowing low.
She shook his offered hand and bowed slightly, “The High Queen Linet Evelyn Calliot, at your service.” She cleared her throat, “Well, now that’s out of the way, we can get down to business.”
Linet threw off her cloak, revealing a beautiful gown encrusted with rubies underneath and catching Jason’s eye. She noticed his eyes widen, and laughed softly. “I can’t work in this. Hmm…what to wear, what to wear…I’ve got it!” In her mind’s eye Linet pictured a tight black corset over a black top and a thick belt over tight black pants. Keeping that image in her head, Linet worked her magic, and all of a sudden she was wearing the outfit she pictured. She donned her cape and clasped her sword and dagger to her belt.
Linet then conjured shackles around the prisoner’s wrists and an iron collar with a chain attached around his neck. She grabbed the chain attached to the iron collar just as the prisoner began to awaken.
The man rubbed his eyes and yawned before trying to sit up. On his first attempt, the unexpected weight of the iron around his neck dragged him down, forcing him to the ground. From his place on the ground, his hands shot to his neck. His eyes followed the chain to Linet’s hands, and he looked up, meeting her eyes. The man’s eyes widened and he tried to get away. But just like a puppy on a leash, his chain brought him back to his new master.
“The reason I woke you up from your little slumber is that you’re going to come with me on a journey to a little prison of mine. Oh, and I wanted to ask you your name and give you a chance to tell me everything you know before I torture it out of you.” Linet’s cold stare bored into the soldier.
He gulped and his breathing started to quicken. “I-I’m not afraid of you.”
“Sure you’re not,” Linet laughed. But a few seconds later her expression turned serious and she said, “But I do need to know what your name is and what you know.”
He gulped again, before answering, “My name is Lieutenant Darren Trott.”
“And…what do you know about the ‘Council of Generals’?” She prodded, feeling as if she was speaking to a child.
The prisoner’s eyes widened and he answered, “I…cannot say.” At this, Linet turned to Jason and whispered something in his ear. He then smiled widely and cracked his knuckles, advancing on the Lieutenant, who pleaded, “Please! You don’t understand! They’ll kill me if I tell you!”
Slightly taken aback, Linet motioned for Jason to stop. “What do you mean, they’ll kill you if you tell me? Aren’t you a member of the Council of Generals?”
It is Darren’s turn to be slightly taken aback. “No, of course I’m not a member of the council. I’m not even a general for God’s sake!”
“But…you do know about the Council, right?” The Lieutenant hesitated, but nodded almost a minute later. “Then can you at least tell me the name and location of one member? I just need one.”
Lieutenant Trott hesitated for a minute or so before sighing. “I can tell you only if it never gets back on me. At noon tomorrow  senior member of the Council is going to visit the fort a few miles from here. His name is General Nathaniel Trueman, and he is one of the ten senior members of the council.”
“Thank you for your information.” Linet turned to Jason, who to her surprise was already packing the horses and preparing to leave. “What are you doing?” She exclaimed. “We should not rush into this blindly. We must be prepared!”
Jason sighed before putting down what he was doing and walking over to her. “Fine. What do you suggest we do, Lieutenant?”
“Well, his son is a lieutenant, l-like myself, and if you can get ahold of him, you can c-control the General. But first you should capture the General secretly, so that you can control him later. For if the whole of the Society knows he was captured, he will be worthless to you and the rest of the Council will go into hiding.”
“Very well. I would  thank you for your cooperation, but you are not yet done. I still have to know one thing: have you ever been to the fort?”
“Why yes, of course. In fact I am in charge of  the fort in question.” He stuck out his chest, full of pride.
“Great.” Jason sighed. “Then our plan is worthless. I knew I shouldn’t have trusted him.”
“Now hang on a second. We may still be able to pull this off. We just need a little…plan adjustment, that’s all.” She smiled, gears turning in that brain of hers.

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        Linet worked the magic, releasing the Lieutenant from his shackles and turning his collar of iron invisible. “You know what you have to do. But I don’t have to remind you that if you alert anyone to your predicament or somehow blow the mission, that iron collar of yours will alert me and I will kill you. There will be nowhere you can hide.”
        “I understand.” Darren sighed, touching the iron at his neck. “If I tell, I die. Can we just get on with this?"  Linet nodded, and the three of them set off for the fort.
        They arrived outside the fort after a few hours of fast-paced hiking. Linet  left Jason to lookout duty, and entered the fort with the Lieutenant, turning invisible a good fifteen feet away from the entrance.
        The gate guard let the two of them through with no problem, and they went their separate ways once inside. Darren went about his daily business and Linet readied her escape route.
        A few hours later, at high noon, General Nathaniel Trueman arrived at Fort Alabaster. He strode through its elaborate gates suspecting nothing, and before long was seated in Darren's office.
        When Linet walked through the door, still invisible, it closed with a resounding bang, causing the General to jump a little. “Where on Earth is the Lieutenant? He should be here by now…”
        “Sorry to disappoint, but you won’t be seeing the Lieutenant today. Instead you’ll be seeing me,” Linet said, shimmering into view.
        “Who are you and what are you doing here? Where’s the Lieutenant? I demand to see the Lieutenant immediately!” The General exclaimed, jumping from his chair.
        “I don’t have to listen to your demands, General.” Linet said, pushing him back down. “I am not one of your little soldiers that you can order around whenever you want something. I am the Dragon Queen, and you had better respect that.”
Trueman’s eyes widened at the mention of her being the Queen, and he stammered. “Now hold on a minute. You’re the…Dragon Queen? Dragons are real?”
        “Of course dragons are real you blumbering idiot! What, do you think that the Queen of the Dragons is a myth, that I’m a myth? I’m real Sonny, and you better believe it.”
        “Then…magic is real too?” His eyes and face were lit with a fake confusion that a child could see through.
        “Yes, magic is real, and I know that you know that, General Trueman. Don’t fake stupid; you’re terrible at it.”
        “Then you know what will happen when they find out you took me.” The wild, innocent look in his eyes was replaced with a firm, hard glare. “My people will not rest until they find me, and find you.”
        “And that’s why they will never discover you were taken. For if you tell the Society a single thing, your son William will pay the price.” Linet placed her hands on the General, putting her face close to his. “He’s such a sweet boy…”
        Nathaniel Trueman pushed with all of his strength against her, but to no avail. She had her magic to help, and no mere physical strength can contest with the magic of a Dragon Queen.
        Two or three minutes passed, and the General collapsed in his chair. “If you…hurt my son…in the slightest way…I’ll kill you.”
        “You can try, bastard, but I doubt your miniscule mind could think of anything.” His eyes gleamed with hatred as he glared up at her. “But you don’t have anything to worry about because your son will stay safe as long as you do everything we say to the letter. For the second you do not we will torture him and we will keep torturing him until you start cooperating. And at night we will make you listen to his screams as he wonders why his father would let someone do this to him. So for your son’s sake, I suggest you cooperate.”
        His eyes closed as he assessed his options. A minute or so later he opened them and  said, “Very well. If you truly have my son then I cannot put his life in jeopardy by attempting to escape. But, if I find this is a hoax and my son is free, I will kill you and send the rest of the Society to march on your capital. Now, what is it you need me to do?”
        Linet smirked. “Just the words I was waiting to hear.” She took out a pair of shackles and clamped them around his wrists. “I need you to come with me.” She then started to walk toward the door, turning both herself and the shackles invisible. “Move it.”
        He complied, but deep in his mind he was formulating a plan to escape. And, a few minutes later,  when he and Linet stepped into the most highly populated area of his soldiers, he sounded the alarm. “Men, there is an intruder! The Queen of the Dragons is among us! She has encased my wrists in a sort of invisible shackle and wants to be rid of me. Well what do we say to that?!” The roar of voices and thundering feet was deafening as the Society soldiers rushed toward their general.