Chapter 6 Lupus Smokeborn: Prophecies and Cookies

Note to reader. Apologies but this is mostly an info dump chapter. I promise things will start moving after this!

Lupus Smokeborn

Prophecies & Cookies

8/24/508

War. The word echoed in the prince’s head. We officially were in a war. The Kingdom of Goldenspire has declared war against the Kingdom of Eboncrest. Well, what is left of that kingdom. The castle was destroyed and burned to the ground. 

Now Eboncrest was hoping that the Warriors wouldn’t become involved in the war. They would almost certainly side with Goldenspire. They couldn’t afford that due to Anwar Junaid and Keahi Koa. The real problem here. Two prophesied Warriors that only caused King Donovan and Prince Lupus pain and anguish.

Prince Lupus only ever saw them once. They had visited Eboncrest’s castle two lunar cycles ago to “Relieve tension so nobody would try to kill them any time soon.”

King Donovan asked a lot of questions about the prophecy, how they felt about the prophecy, whether they enjoyed being a part of it. They both avoided questions about the prophecy and their answers were fairly short. What they did say was that they both weren’t thrilled about being a part of the prophecy but they felt it was necessary for the continent. 

Although Koa wasn’t above keeping her opinions to herself. She had some things to say about the situation in the desert. Prince Lupus still could remember how things went down. 

“King Donovan, there’s been some, well, rumors going around lately of Eboncrest’s soldiers attacking villages and killing everyone in the village. The Warriors are rather concerned about it,” Koa told him. She was testing the water. She didn’t quite know how far she could push the kind. 

When King Donovan answered her his voice was calm and he looked Koa right in the eyes. “I see. Well, there have been rebel cells popping up in desert lately and my soldiers were already in the area. So we took care of the problem before it got out of hand.” 

She maintained eye contact as her voice dropped to a whisper. “And what, pray tell, were your soldiers doing in Goldenspire’s land?” she asked.

“Simply maintaining the peace and helping my fellow rulers,” he told her. 

Then Koa completely dropped the king’s title. “Donovan. Massacring everyone in a village does not keep the damn peace,” she hissed. “If this continues the Council will get involved. And I can guarantee you that Eboncrest will not come out of this well. Remove your soldiers from the desert or the Warriors will get involved.”

Prince Lupus remembered stopping at that and just waiting for his father to give her a piece of his mind. Yet he didn’t.

“I see, Koa, you are just like your ancestors.” 

Ancestors? Prince Lupus had wondered. The dragonkin? What does he mean by that?

Koa hissed angrily at that and King Donovan continued. “Threatening such a powerful kingdom as Eboncrest will not end well for you. No matter how powerful the Warriors may be.” 

“Your Majesty, I believe you are mistaken. Eboncrest does not stand a chance against the Warriors. You couldn’t even defend yourselves against some measly rainforest dragons last year.” 

Lupus flinched. That was too far and Koa knew it. 

Junaid’s hand clamped down on Koa’s shoulder and he pulled her away from King Donovan father. Either he cared about her or he didn’t want to deal with the murder of King Donovan. Prince Lupus saw a flash of fear on Koa’s face then it was gone as quickly as it had come. 

It wasn’t right. Junaid’s touch triggered that fear. Although, sometimes I wonder if I had imagined it. The prince thought. 

He had watched as Koa and Junaid exchanged heated whispers. Prince Lupus strained to hear but couldn’t hear anything. When they had rejoined the king and prince, Junaid spoke. Koa stood by him but kept her mouth shut. 

“Your Majesty, I believe what Keahi is trying to say is that Eboncrest should think their decisions through before attacking another village. The Warriors will get involved and they are not above starting a war because of this. Please remove your soldiers from the desert.” 

King Donovan smiled at him. “I see someone can be reasonable.” Then he turned and walked away. Koa growled and Junaid held her back. She really does have anger issues. The prince realized as he had walked away with King Donovan. 

Prince Lupus felt his foot start tingling and stood up. He began to walk to the door of his bedroom and opened the door. The prince started to walk down to the kitchen. He had a feeling that Anne, their cook, was making cookies. Specifically chocolate with mint chips. She made the best chocolate and mint cookies.