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Invading Will

Chapter 3

Part 1

By: D. C. Henry ("Ahndeleck")

Raogothcar awoke after another nightmare, one where he had been running from the huge blood-red eyed grey insect with eight legs chasing after him. His rest had been interrupted for the past six days with similar dreams of the Cickrack. After the fight in the cave he had settled down quickly, but back in the safety of his den, the monster seemed to haunt him.

He turned his head slightly to look at the mouth of his den to see what time it might be. Finding it just a little past day break, he slowly stood in his nest on the ledge and stretched his limbs like a cat. After a moment's pause, he decided to skip his journal for the morning and go straight to the lake for a drink.

He walked out of his den to a completely overcast day. Despite the gloom the pine forest was alive with the sounds of smaller insects and birds. Raogothcar smiled as he stood at his ledge looking down on the small lake just a few minutes walk from his den. The pine forest completely covered his path to the lake with its dark healthy green needles. With a deep breath of fresh mountain pine air, Raogothcar trotted down the small path into the forest towards his lake.

He had only been in this mountain valley for a few weeks, but despite the short time it was beginning to feel like home. The lake was perfect, a nice cool mountain spring with fresh water. With the small set of woods nearby, food was always available for him in one form or another. One of the best parts of his home were the humans at the foot of the mountain, with their mysterious city. The only thing he missed was his parents.

The musings stopped as he reached the sandy edge of his deep blue spring. Raogothcar drank for a minute before slowly wading into the water. After a couple minutes of a swim, he slowly walked back out of the waters and shook off some of his dampness. As he looked back at his reflection in the water he grinned at how his skin shown again in bright reds and yellows. Satisfied with his morning, he trotted down his path towards his home.

He slowed his pace as he neared the den when the sound of milling horses reached his ears. He furrowed his brow and tilted his head at the visitors. He guessed that if they had come from the city below, they started before the sun rose. Two brown horses stood grazing on the grass below his rocky ledge. Nothing else around the small clearing told him anything about where the horses came from.

"Who did you bring to me today little horse? Was it anyone from the city?"

The horse looked up from its grass at him and froze.

"Although I suppose you probably aren't sure. I bet you brought a friend though, at least a friend of yours. If only you could tell me." Raogothcar started walking up the stone step way to his den, "I certainly wish you could tell me."

After he reached the large stone landing, he peeked his head around the mouth of his den. The memory of meeting Deanna and her crew the first time came to his mind. He hid from them just as he was trying to do now. This time he was certain he would handle the situation better, he would try to be more like his father.

Close to the back of the opening chamber stood two cloaked figures. The two men were dressed in similar green shirts and brown pants. Their cloaks were both a dark brown, but stitched into the shoulder was the mark of a winged sword. The shorter of the two men had short black hair and a full black beard and seemed thin to Raogothcar. The taller man had long brown hair, but looked as if he could win in a wrestling match against any dragon his size.

"Hello," Raogothcar said, "Welcome to my home."

"Ah, I am sorry we are intruding," The larger man said as they both turned to face him. "We are looking for a dragon by the name of Raogothcar. Is that you?"

"Yes it is, I'm Raogothcar."

"Well, we're very glad to find you Raogothcar. I am Thomas, and this is my friend Richard."

Thomas was easily the largest human he had seen. Although, Raogothcar instantly liked the man, something about the way his face seemed to smile instantly made Raogothcar feel safe with the man. His brown hair seemed a little longer than many of the other men he had seen so far. Richard wouldn't look at Raogothcar at first, and seemed to look all about him carefully. His face seemed more worried to Raogothcar, but it was hard to tell through the beard the man had. Beards made it very hard for Raogothcar to see their faces. Human faces were so different.

"Hello Richard. I'm very glad to have company. I've not had company since Deanna came a week ago. She and the others didn't want to stay very long though. But maybe you could stay long enough for some tea? My father showed me how to make some very good tea for humans."

"I don't think- That is um... Thank you, but no thanks." Richard said, "We're actually here from the king to request you come to the tower for the kingdom's anniversary dinner."

"You would be the guest of honour," Thomas said, "You saved the prince and King Roland will never forget that. He'd like you come with the parade in honour of the anniversary. You would ride with the prince himself."

"A parade?" Raogothcar flapped his wings excitedly, "I've never even seen one of those, but to be in it? What do I do?"

"Well," Thomas said, "You would come with us to where they are assembling the parade and walk beside the prince as they travel through the city to the tower. There isn't a whole lot more than that I think."

"Wow, let me get my bag though. I can't leave my journal behind for something like this. I'll have to write about it after its all done." Raogothcar trotted quickly into his den, saying as he passed the two humans, "I won't take long at all to get it."

Once inside his den, Raogothcar walked over to his large table and picked up the large leather bag and slipped his journal inside it. He pulled the strap that was attached to it around his neck and settled it squarely on his shoulder. With his bag in place, he turned his head to look at where he had a small fire in the end of the den earlier that night, but it had long since extinguished itself. He grinned and took a deep breath. It was the first time he had ever done something so exciting before. Neither of his parents had ever told him about being in a parade. They would be jealous he was certain.

Raogothcar, satisfied that his den was in order, marched back down the path to the mouth of the cave. The two men outside were settling themselves on their horses as Raogothcar walked out onto the rocky ledge looking down at the small grassy clearing in front of his cave. The two men were sitting on their horses looking up at their guest, while Raogothcar beamed down at them. Raogothcar hopped with a slight spring to the grass beside the horses.

"I'm ready to go, I just can't wait to get into the city. Have you ever been to the city?"

"Actually," Richard said, "We both live there."

"Oh, well who will be at this parade?"

"Well, everyone should be there Raogothcar." Thomas said as he started his horse forward. "It's a national celebration today. Nearly everyone will come out to watch the parade. Pride in our small nation runs strong."

Raogothcar started walking after the two men as they started down the path, "I've never been to a national celebration, what is it like?"

"Several different groups that make up the kingdom will be there. The army is one of the largest groups, lead by the prince. Of course there will be representatives from each of the cities, leading their own small dress guard as well. Then different guilds and groups will bring up the rear. All represent some part in this nation's growth in the past. Its very impressive."

"And its very loud," Richard said over his shoulder.

"I can't wait, it sounds so exciting. My parents never told me about parades or human celebrations like this one. They never mingled with the people very much." Raogothcar said, "Is there going to be a lot of people there? I've not been around a lot of people before. Only when I met Deanna and the prince. Most of the people were very quiet then, are all people like that?"

"Everyone was worried the only heir to the throne was about to die." Thomas said as he slowed his horse to walk next to Raogothcar, "News of his revival made everyone very happy, and they all want to meet the kingdom's hero."

As the three of them rounded a bend and cleared the pine trees, Richard called over his shoulder, "Speaking of that, the parade is below us now."

Raogothcar looked down the road to the foothills before the city, to see the bright glistening of a much larger army than he had seen before. Rows of men and women in bright polished silver armour stood in lines stretching from one side of the road to the other. The rows were each separated by a soldier in similar silver armour on horseback. Each mounted solider bore a pair of banners. The top most banner for each was the flag of their nation, a bright blue flag with the picture of a golden winged sword. Below that each banner was different. Raogothcar reached out with his right wing and lightly tapped Thomas on the shoulder with the little thumb on his wing.

Thomas turned in his saddle slowly, "What is it?"

"I was wondering what all those flags were."

"The one in front, the raven pictured symbolises our leaders. That book banner is for our mage army, its pretty small though. Next is the foot soldiers, then the archers, and behind them is the cavalry. Then there in the rear is all the other military groups, supplies, spies, scouts, and so on. The flag on top is the national flag of Freeraven. The other city guards and the last bits of the procession will join as the procession heads through town."

"I've never seen so many banners before." Raogothcar stopped and watched the parade assemble below him, when Thomas and Richard turned back and faced him. "What do I do now? Where do I go?"

"To the front of the parade with Prince Alan," Richard said, "That's where they are expecting you."

Thomas looked behind them back at the parade, "Looks like getting you to the front would mean a detour," Said Thomas as he threw a hand up at the assembling mass, "They've used the whole road. We would have to go around them all to get to the front. It'll make the whole thing late." Then he smiled as he turned back to Raogothcar, "That is unless you give them a bit of a show and fly up to the front there."

The dragon watched the people moving in and out of the lines, the people talking to each other, and the people milling out trying to organise the last of the troops. Raogothcar gazed to the front of the line and could make out a small group of horses that wore what looked like a royal banner, the king's crown on a background of blue.

"Thank you very much for taking me this far. I'm going to fly up there and find out what to do. This is so exciting! Where will you two be in the parade?"

"We weren't invited to come." Richard said, "This isn't a parade to honour those who do the hard work of the kingdom, only the ones that founded it, and those who work in the public eyes. You saved the prince, which made you public too. This is your parade not ours."

"Ravenstone wouldn't want to hear what you think Richard," Thomas said, "Anyway Raogothcar, after the parade we can show you the city. Let you see the crowds and how they really are, if you are free after the parade of course that is. Would you like that?"

"I would love it. All these people at so strange, strange indeed. "

Thomas pointed over his shoulder at the parade, "You better be on your way, don't want to keep the prince waiting. They got the whole thing planned out for you, don't let them down. I'll find you after it's over. Have some fun Raogothcar."

"I will!"

Raogothcar started trotting forward between the two men on horse back, who turned to watch him go. After Raogothcar made sure that he had gotten far enough from the horses, he spread his red wings and leapt forward. The road fell below him as he slowly beat his wings and turned straight over the assembling lines below him. Within moments he was flying just over the banners below him; heads turned as he passed over his audience.

As he neared the front of the line he banked off to one side. As he turned he could see out of the corner of his eye that Deanna was pointing up at him from the horseback crowd of men in the front. He was pleased to see that she was there, although he remembered what she had said the night before. His joy shrank slightly, but only for a single moment, the banners and chatter still exciting and new.

Moments later he finished his turn and was flaring his wings forward to slow himself to land in front of the crowd of horse-backed men. He touched land and trotted to a final stop a few steps from the group with all eyes on him.

"Where are your escorts?" Deanna said as her horse totted up to him.

Raogothcar grinned at her as he folded his wings behind him, "Hello Deanna. I can't wait for this to get started. I don't even know what is going on, but I know its going to be fun. What do I do? I've never done anything like this before."

"Dragon, where did your escorts go?" Deanna said again slowly, "Are they with you somewhere?"

"Oh Richard and Thomas are still back up there on the road just at the edge of the pine forests. They said it would take them too long to get down here and that I shouldn't keep everyone waiting. So they told me to fly on ahead and meet everyone up here."

"I doubt they would have been late."

A finely dressed man rode forward on a white steed out of the crowd of finely robbed men and women. Raogothcar could hardly recognise the prince he saved a week ago. The man's entire presence seemed to have changed. Instead of the drab clothes he was wearing while ill, now he had on a brilliant blue long tunic with similar blue pants. Every stitch of clothing from head to toe was embroidered with gold trimming. Upon his thick, long brown hair, lay a golden crown displaying his royal status. The man flashed a practised smile at Raogothcar as he rode up slightly past Deanna.

"Raogothcar, its good to meet you." The man said, "I am Alan Roland. I've much I owe you it seems. Whatever you did, made short work of the sickness, and the pain."

"Thank you," Raogothcar said, "I just drew a healing circle my mother taught me, and hoped it would work. Although I felt terrible having to use the paint. I still can't remember very well without it. It was embarrassing having to use it."

He hung his head in shame, feeling his spines fall flat on his head. He really wanted to impress everyone, and having to use the paint wouldn't do that he was sure. Then he felt even worse when he realised he had said that out loud to someone as important as the prince.

"Don't worry about those details. Come along though, I want to show you where you will be in this parade."

"I can't wait! This is amazing."

The prince turned back to the middle of his advisors with Deanna following close behind. Raogothcar trotted into the thick of them all to hear what prince Alan had planned for them into the city.