The last of the Dragons-Set 2

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        "We welcome you home, my Queen. We were greatly saddened by the death of your dragon and friend, as well as your disappearance." Sir Ivan said as he knelt before me-Magar swooping over us. 

"You may rise." I said bluntly.

Sir Ivan rose, while those backing him hesitated a moment-then rose to their feet as well. Doron's enormous wings broke the relative silence as he beat them against their air circling over us-many of those on the ground watching as he and the others circled around us.

"He is still injured. Can the golden one still fly steady in a fight?" Sir Ivan asked as he pointed up at Veracon.

Amy stepped forward.

"He can still fly better than ships and horses. I would like to believe that that's all he will need to do in battle." She said.

Sir Ivan chuckled, before he began to approach.

"They look to have grown. Especially the black one." He said as he came to my side.

I turned to walk with him, my children holding my hands, and Amy and Bailey both following us.

"Tell the people to resume their daily tasks. I must have words with the Queen." Sir Ivan said as he looked to one of the guards.

The guards nodded, before turning and starting back towards the crowd that had gathered. As we walked, we could hear the crowd dispersing.

"We're quite pleased to have you back my Queen. I apologize if you were made to feel unwelcome or distrusted. You and your dragons are always welcome in our lands so long as your dragons spit flames opposite our people." Sir Ivan said.

I smiled, and looked up as Veracon passed over us-his wings still slightly wobbled with each flap from the rips in the membrane.

"Why do they call you Sir Ivan anyways?" Bailey asked.

"When I was a youngster, I had no name. Parents never gave me one. So everyone just called me Sir. As I aged however a woman I'd been fucking mistakenly called me Ivan. The last mans she was with went by that name. Since then, I've called myself Ivan, but everyone else called me Sir. Hence the odd name." He replied.

Bailey shoulders, when Amy spoke up.

"Are we just going to leave the two prisoners tied up like that?" She asked Bailey.

Bailey scoffed.

"They're lucky that I didn't kill them when I killed the others." She replied.

Sir Ivan gave her a confused look.

"Care to explain where you came across them?" Sir Ivan asked.

Amy and I both looked to Bailey, anger strewn across our faces. Shaking her head at us, she looked to Sir Ivan.

"Came across a group who'd survived a previous attack. Me and my dragon slaughtered them all, but we took those two prisoner. They revealed some rather troubling information." Bailey replied.

Thrown off by Bailey's statement, Sir Ivan looked back to me-silently asking me to explain with his eyes.

I sighed.

"One of the Prisoners revealed that the remaining clans have banded together briefly, with a common goal of slaying my dragons, and driving you and your people from the world. I can't confirm this, but it must be taken seriously." I said.

Surprisingly, Sir Ivan showed little surprise. Only a light shoulder shrug. Looking up at the mostly clear sky, he sighed.

"Perhaps that will play to our advantage. Having all of our enemies in one place may prove to make it easier to slaughter them." He said.

I laughed in shock, aggravated by his seeming lack of logic.

"Are you mad? They out number us by a ludicrous amount, they have better weapons, and many of their soldiers are far better trained, and fitted with much better armor. Not to mention the fact that the monster army could easily sneak up on us from under the cover of dark at any time. We have women and children here. We can't just allow them to attack us." I said in frustration.

"Very well my Queen, I'll have guards swarming our borders to warn us of a possible attack." Sir Ivan replied.

"No! We need to go to them and burn their lands to the ground!" I shouted back.

"They have women and children just the same as we do. Burning every mile of their lands to the ground would yield far to many innocent lives lost. Two armies will fight the final battles, not millions of innocent people." Sir Ivan snapped.

I threw my hands up, again in frustration.

"Then what the hell do we do? Wait for them to attack us? We'll be cornered on one side by the sea, and the other by the armies. We have a very small number of ships compared to them, and far less guns. We have largely bows and arrows, as well as swords and spears, but not nearly as many guns. What advantage do we have on them no matter the battle field?!" I pleaded.

He stopped, paused a moment, then turned to me.

"We have you and your four dragons." He said.