18
Lana
“I spoke with Gareth Markonian, the king of one of the two dragon shifter clans. He is sending soldiers to take these prisoners back with them. They will face trial and their punishment on dragon shifter lands. That way, there will be no dissention between shifter groups. There has been enough division and bloodshed lately, as it is,” the king said.
“That is very wise of you,” Clarence said.
The king, Clarence, Nick, and a few of the guards went out to ready the prisoners and to interrogate them.
“Are there any other rogue dragon shifters?” the king asked.
All of the prisoners were silent.
“Where are the other dragon shifters that were a part of your group?” the king continued.
Again, there was silence. All of the prisoners stared straight ahead. Their lips were pressed tightly together, and they didn’t even flinch to indicate that they had heard the king asking them questions.
The Markonian soldiers arrived to take the prisoners into custody. Only then did one of them yell out, “Vardok will be revenged.”
Clarence sighed. “Either he just answered your question, Sire, or he thinks he is in some kind of hero epic.”
The king chuckled. “Perhaps both. I think all of the dragon shifters in Vardok’s group were completely deranged. That’s the only way that they could have committed the atrocities that they did.”
“We’ll have to send out regular patrols to monitor any activity that might be attributed to Vardok’s group. They might lay low for a while, and then attack when we let our guards down, so we will have to be vigilant for a long time,” Clarence said.
The king nodded his agreement. “I’ll send messengers to the kings of other kingdoms and tell them what we heard and fear. We’ll encourage them to look for any signs of the dragons and share any information they may come across. We will do the same.”
“That will be the only way to completely defeat them if there are more. Look at this situation; we had lions, bears, and wolves working together to fight the dragons,” Clarence said.
“Don’t forget the bat who led us to the rest of the prisoners,” Nick spoke up.
“I really think that after this, the way different shifters worked together to defeat the dragons and to save shifters from several different kingdoms, everyone will see the benefit of working together and living together in peace,” the king said.
“Here’s to peace,” Nick said, holding up a mock glass for a toast.
The king and Clarence smiled, and joined him in his toast. Laughing, they headed back inside together.
The rest of the afternoon was spent preparing for a grand feast to honor the king and queen, the rescue of Lucy, Sara, and Clarence, and Lana and Nick’s bravery.
Additional tables were brought into the dining hall to accommodate the wolf and bear shifters who had fought alongside the lions and had not yet returned home. All of the warriors would be honored, as they had fought bravely, and several of them had suffered from some nasty injuries.
Sara, Lucy, and Lana helped decorate the banquet hall while the servants prepared the meal and took care of the other arrangements that needed to be done.
Clarence, Nick, and the king surveyed the inside of the castle and the grounds to determine what supplies and household items would be needed to make repairs. In the short amount of time the dragons had visited Clarence’s home, they had caused so much damage.
“We’ll take this list back to the capitol when we leave in the morning. We’ll gather what you need and send them to you. We’ll also send some workers to help yours take care of all of the repairs and rebuilding. Luckily, they seemed to only hit your home and grounds, and left the majority of the other people in your area alone,” the king said.
“Thank you, Sire,” Clarence said, bowing to him.
Later in the afternoon, before the feast was to begin, the soldiers that had been sent back for those who had valiantly given their life in the battle arrived with their grim cargo.
Everyone stopped what they were doing to gather and honor them.
The king spoke, “We are here to honor you who fought and died to protect your loved ones and those you didn’t know. You valiantly fought for your friends, comrades, and country. Your sacrifice will live on forever in our hearts and the stories we tell of your bravery. You will enter your new lives as heroes and champions of the people.”
He had spoken movingly. There wasn’t a dry eye in the crowd.
The orders were given to take the heroes to the funeral grounds of the pride land. Word would be taken to the rulers of the homelands of the fallen so they know that their shifters had been honorable in life and death.
After the formalities were done, it was time for the feast. The servants had really outdone themselves. Everything was incredibly delicious, mead flowed freely, and it was a true celebration of life.
Toward the end of the banquet, Clarence looked at Lana and Nick. With a twinkle in his eye, he said, “Lana, you have not provided a formal introduction of your companion.”
She blushed and said, “Father, you know him.”
“I do, but it is only proper that you provide a formal introduction and perhaps a short story of how you met,” her father countered.
Lana heaved a huge sigh, but knew exactly where her father was going. Taking a deep breath, she said, “This is Nick. He is a detective for the police department in the human world. As you know, he is also a lion shifter. Brady Markonian introduced us when I went through the portal to find my rebellious sister. He helped me figure out who Brian really was, and crossed through the portal again to rescue my mischievous father and beautiful mother.”
Then, Clarence looked at his daughter pointedly and asked, “Is this Nick character, who has been so helpful to you, your mate?”
Lana’s face flushed pink again.
