“Am tewwin’ ‘ou Enoch, ‘ou nee’ to bweak dah twuff nao ow bewy soon. If ‘ou howd on to dis an’ dey entah an’ see that Changewing’ Queen, who knows what wiww happen…”
[A excerpt from a conversation between Enoch and Tethius. Tethius telling Enoch about telling the Chicago leadership of the Changelings]
A few day’s had passed since the Ruk incident, when we finally entered the DragonLands. Instantly being taken away by how beautiful the mountains of this place were, as green as a field of grass and taller than anything I had ever seen before. Others were taken aback to, me seeing Dar and Charles with massive grins, with Charles speaking as he slowly looked up at the mountain.
“Weww wook at that! A thing’ of beauty…”
After that we kept going, passing many more mountains of the way until we finally saw some civilization. It being a small farm with a few tiny homes and barn, there were about a dozen Dragons working when they saw us. And when they did they started to run up, pointing us out. Dar speaks, him looking at me.
“Y’know Emiwy, dis am pwobabwy dah fiwst time dey ebah saw peopwe wike us. It’s cwazy.”
I respond.
“Yeah it’s wike that moment at dah hibes, when we wewe on dah wibah. Dey pwobabwy nu did eben know we existed.”
With that we continued looking at the farming Dragons, us encountering many more of these small farms until finally getting to the capital, by than it was sunset.
At first I couldn’t tell we had made it there, only seeing the guide going back and fourth, saying we had arrived at the city of Ardor. all I saw was a large mountain, it slightly bigger than the others but not by much. And as we get closer to it, I speak.
“Am dah city next to dah mountain an’ we just nu can see it?”
I could see no smoke coming from anywhere, me now getting confused and wanting answers. After a few moments were had gotten even closer to the mountain, it being so close it blocked our entire view. The wagon had also come to a stop, me not being able to see anything as the caravan was making a turn. Than as we waited I saw two travelers coming through, both of them Dragons in nothing more than a light brown rags, them looking rather unfed. As they passed slightly in a rush, I spoke out to one of them.
“Hey am dis Awdow?”
One of the Dragons stopped and looked at me, him seeming shocked that someone would ever say this. He spoke, not hiding any condescension or rudeness/
“I don’t know if you’re head is messed up pony lady but how could Sssomeone not miss it, of course it is Ardor! Got to get in before the door closes!”
With that the Dragon leaves, me both a bit mad but mostly intrigued by the “Door” comment. Was the city inside of the mountain, how was that possible!? As I was thinking, the wagon began moving again, me prepared to see this “Gate”
Turning the corner and facing the mountain itself, the shadow it casted was almost horrifying. This “Gate” or more accurately large stone door had to be one of the largest doors in the world. Almost as tall as the Shield of Chicago, the door had multiple engravings, most of them being of Dragons and symbols (I assumed them being important religious, cultural, and historical figures) Beside the door stood two large stone Dragon soldier statues, the dirt road replaced by paved stone as we made it closer. Dar spoke, shaking his head in disbelief.
“Ain’t anyone back home goin’ to bewiebe us, how does one eben make a gate wike dis!? what makes it open?”
Than with a heavy sound I couldn’t describe, the door slowly started opening. The Chicago and Royal Cartridge’s being the first to enter, than the Talon carriage, than us. As we entered it was very dark, with mechanical sounds being the only things I could hear, and turning to look behind the door, I saw what looked to be hundreds of moving gears. Turning back we had now officially entered Ardor, and the fact we were on the hill the sight I got was breathtaking. An entire metropolis located inside a hollowed out mountain, the top of which was carved out to let sunlight in. All around I could see hundreds of square shaped stone buildings and thousands of small specs of people going about their day.
We go down the hill and reach a small area of mostly clear land, there only being a few piles of garbage when we come down. The wagons begin finding a place to park, and once they do we get off (The relief of finally not getting back on a wagon felt greater than actually getting to the city…) One of the Dragon guides speaks, addressing everyone.
“We’ll have GrimDal come to meet you Ssshortly, an personal escort to the meeting.”
I, Dar and Charles spent the next few minutes chatting away, waiting for the time GRimDal would show up. As we waited Enoch and Tethius were having a quiet conversation, passing us by as they did.
“‘Ou nee’ to teww them am majesty, if 'ou nu Tethius am pwetty suwe GwimDaw wiww!”
I hear Enoch speak, him sounding exhausted, like he and Tethius were having this conversation all day.
“Fine Tethius! I’ww twy to get dah attention of Bissawman, an’ teww him stwaite. who knows he’s stiww pwetty apowogetic about what happened wiff dah wuk’s an’ that guawd of ouws. Maybeh not be that bad…”
Before Enoch even had the chance to leave, I heard a voice I had almost forgotten. GrimDal had arrived on raccoon, escorted by a dozen heavily armored Dragon guards.
“I Welcome all of you to Ardor my allies, it is I GrimDal, Dragon Lord of this fine domain!”
Instantly The leaders of Chicago went up and introduce themselves to the Dragon lord, leaving Enoch no possibility to speak. As we started being escorted by GrimDal, we entered the city proper, The corridors of the city being to tight and with there being so many soldiers, it was sometimes hard to walk. The citizens of Ardor looked at us with both a certain amount of wonder, and a bit of fear, I couldn’t blame them though. Throughout most of their lives they probably never even heard of another civilization with a completely different species of people, but now things are changing. As we continued to walk I feared that some of the people might begin talking about the changelings, and I was right to an extent, I heard a few speaking of “The Others” but nothing specific. GrimDal stopped and spoke, us coming to a tunnel.
“Down this tunnel is my Manor, we will hold the congress there.”
We begin to go down the tunnel, and GrimDal continues.
“There will also be places for you’re Sssoldiers, I hope they don’t mind Sssleeping on the floor though. It’s a bit crowded with last week’s arrivals, Ssshe brought a lot more than I thought, Sssaid it was for “protection” from Sssomething…”
The confusion and shock of Vissarman’s face was instant. Enoch looked even worse, him looking as though he was as cold as ice. Enoch speaks, only able to get out a few words before GrimDal interrupted him.
“Bissawman Enoch needs to teww-”
“A Ssstrange bunch they were, saying Ssshe needed protection from Sssome… How did Ssshe Sssay it? Oh right! “Those bigoted assholes from the north” Ssshe was quite the “charming” If you get my drift… But we Ssshouldn’t be starting fights with our allies now, where all on the Sssame team. And look at that where here!”
Vissarman, SourBeak and Fellie all looked beyond speechless, this couldn’t be a worse time. Meanwhile Madanak and the Bat Pony heads looked more confused than anything. And poor Enoch, poor, poor Enoch, he looked as though he was going to pass out at any moment. GrimDal opens the door and somehow by some horrible curse, it got worse… We were greeted by a large circular room, lit by torches. And in this room was a large circular wooden table, looking large enough to seat at least 100. And facing us from the other side of the table sat the Changeling Queen Vela, with about 30 bodyguards next to her. Vela who was skinny and lengthy (She looked a lot like Chrysalis from how she was described in my book, before she started to lay eggs) Had a smug expression on her face, and used a tentacle to hold a glass of wine. Everyone was frozen in shock while she spoke, her voice low and equaled the smugness of her expression.
“Ready to begin negotiations.” Fin
Thank you for reading my story! I hope to have the next part done in a few day’s to a week, and of course constructive criticism is appreciated. May you have a good day!