The Drache Princess

Chapter 9

After three short hours, Lara wakes up to a loud roar echoing from the sky. She opens her eyes to see a silhouette of a dragon flying overhead. Lara lets out a giant yawn, “Blau is awake really late.”

Dedrick chuckles to himself, “Or maybe he’s up really early, it’ll be dawn in less than an hour. Let’s get up, we need to get to Haustier before the Wespen.”

Lara sits up, taking a drink of water from her waterskin. She grabs her bow and arrows as she picks up a sleeping Mr. Turtle. She stands up and looks around, Dedrick signals to her that they need to get moving. Lara walks over to Dedrick and Meerkeks slowly. She reaches the horse, and Sir Dedrick helps her up on to the horse before jumping up himself, and they begin to trot through the woods.

“Be on the lookout for Wespen scouts,” Dedrick says to Lara as they continue to move through the dense woodland. “Be prepared to fight, we need to get to Haustier quickly, we can’t afford to be as stealthy as earlier.” 

“I understand,” Lara says before asking, “Are we going to get on the main road? I feel it would be faster.” 

Dedrick replies, “That’s the plan unless there are too many enemy scouts.” 

A few more minutes pass as Lara and Dedrick reach the edge of the forest. As they peak out of the woodlands, they see a man riding a horse approaching in the distance. Wearing leather armor with red and yellow accents. Dedrick Notes it’s most likely a scout and leads Meerkeks back into the forest. He jumps down from the horse and grabs the bow and quiver of arrows from Lara. He peeks out from the woods drawing the bolt back. He gets the scout in his sight, about forty yards away and releases the arrow. The arrow flies through the air striking the scout directly in his chest, and he falls backward on the ground. The horse he was riding gets spooked and begins to run off. 

Dedrick begins lightly jogging to the scout as Lara takes the reigns and directs the horse to follow him. Dedrick gets to the body of the scout and starts to search his body. The only thing he finds useful is the scout’s steel arrows. He grabs them and places them in his own quiver. Dedrick jumps back on Meerkeks, and they begin to race down the road as fast as possible towards Haustier. 

After many hours of riding down the road and seeing no one, the sun has risen, and they reach the small town of Haustier. Two Drachen knights dressed in full plate armor, notice Lara dawning chain mail and are immediately concerned.

As Lara and Dedrick get to the town, one of the knights walk up and ask, “Is everything okay, Princess Lara?”

Lara lowers her head, clutching Mr. Turtle in her arms tightly, as Dedrick speaks up, “The Drachen Castle was attacked by the Wespen. It has fallen, luckily Lara and I were able to escape the destruction.”

One knight looks to the other. “Round up all of the knights in town and have them meet in the inn.”

The second knight takes off to fetch the other warriors. The first helps Lara down from the horse, and Dedrick jumps down afterward. 

“My name is Sir Roger,” The knight says. “Please allow me to escort you to the inn, there is food and water, and we can discuss what needs to be done.”

Dedrick and Lara follow Sir Roger to the inn. As they walk, Dedrick leans down to Mr. Turtle and whispers, “Do not speak.”

Lara clutches her turtle friend tightly as they walk through the small town. Many townsfolk look on with worried faces. Lara looks all around at all the animals. She sees chickens wandering around freely along with many small dinosaurs being trained. Lara has been to Haustier many times and is always happy to play with the animals, but this time the animals make her feel empty as she worries for Emma.

The small town has no more than 15 buildings, all made of wood and cobblestone and well kept. Most of the buildings are small family homes with a few stables on the outskirts of the town full of dinosaurs and animals alike. In the center is a large two-story lodge with a sign that reads, “Tierkind Inn.”

Lara and Dedrick enter the Tierkind Inn, Lara looks around at the comfortable atmosphere. In the center of the inn is a large rectangular table made of wood and seats twelve people. Five on each of the long sides and one on the ends. To the right of the front door is a bard playing smooth music on a harp. To the left is a bar with 8 bar stools everyone looks at Lara with soft eyes as they already have been told about the fall of the castle. 

A young woman with fair skin, brown eyes, and short dark brown hair slowly approaches Lara. “Hello, Princess Lara, my name is Joan. I’m the innkeeper here. Your clothes are quite dirty and torn, I have clothing in the basement, they should fit you. They are not clothes meant for a princess, but they are better than torn clothing.”

“Thank you,” Lara says happily. “I appreciate it, I’ll look at them after the meeting is done. I want to stay and be a part of it.”

Joan smiles and nods her head. Lara makes her way and sits down at the table, placing Mr. Turtle in front of her. Dedrick sits down next to her as knights begin pouring into the inn and taking a seat at the large table. 

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Elizabeth Howard