Chapter 10 - Elder's conclusion

Chapter 10 – Elder’s conclusion

Thomas arrived at the king’s palace after some minutes of trekking. He immediately made his way into the gigantic throne room.

When he opened the huge door, his eyes collided with the heavy eyes of the other elders.

“Oh! We’ve been waiting for your arrival. Now you’re here, will you please sit down and recap to them what you told me!” The king who sat on his throne looked amazed as he stared at the latter who had a terrified expression on his face.

“Look at his face your majesty, he definitely wants to apologize for that woeful lie.” One of the middle-aged elders jumped up from his seat while pointing his fingers at Thomas with a furious face. The middle-aged man is the elder of the Wisteria village which was in the southeast region of the Redia village as a whole.

“I traveled hundreds of miles just to arrive here and hear this vivid lie.”

The kingdom of Redia was divided into four major villages and two sub-part. Fortunately, Nonius was the capital of the other villages being in the northern part and the village that habituated the royal household.

Thomas immediately stood from his seat still keeping his terrified look. He slowly walked towards the man and only stopped when he stood directly in front of him.

“You will not tell me I’m saying vagabond when over a dozen of the villagers are littered in the streets of Nonius.”

“How dare you challenge me. Only your father’s early death and that of your elder brother put you in this position, else you’d never had a…”

“Enough!” The king stood up from his seat with a frown while staring at both Thomas and the elder who stared at each other with killing intent.

“You all aren’t here to make conflicts, we should simply agree with the motion or ignore it.”

“This will definitely be ignored!” The middle-aged man who looked pissed shouted in approval, “None of us should believe this blunt lie. I’m still curious why our highness did not throw him into the dungeon immediately after his report.”

The other elder nodded in agreement after his statement with a couple of whispering here and there. The king swiped his arm into the air some seconds later, and the room turned silent.

“Then it is decided. Thomas, the elder of Nonius village, your complaint will be ignored, should I say disapproved…”

“But I’m serious, even if I was to come up with a lie it wouldn’t be one associated with a dragon. Please, your royal majesty, the village needs help and support.”

“Then will you risk allowing me to place a bounty on the dragon, and send my guards to search for the creature in all nine forests?” The king’s voice was thick and firm as he said his words that created a tension of fear in Thomas’s head.

Thomas stood on the ground, frozen with fear of the penalty that may come if the dragon is not found. And worst of all, if he was to get executed, he’ll leave his wife and newborn son alone in the harsh world. He heaved a sigh and turned to the king with a sudden sad gaze.

“Unfortunately, I will not risk that because a dragon will hide…”

“A dragon!” One of the other elders gave a mocking laugh with his fingers pointing toward Thomas whose face immediately flushed red, “We all knew you’ll never take that risk. You’ve made several insolent reports that were all proven false. It’s about time you step down from your title or rather get persecuted…”

“Silence!” The king halted the elder’s speech and turned to Thomas with a faded smile, “Thomas, for your punishment, the coronation of your youngling will be postponed, and you have been suspended from your duty as an elder until further notice. The Wisteria elder, Klaus will be in charge of the village. Now you may exit the palace.”

Thomas looked dumb for six continuous minutes until he was snapped into reality by the grumbling of the elders. He glared at the elders, to the king with a frown and immediately ran out.

“They’ll definitely hear from me.” He muttered.

****

In front of a fine cottage, stood over a dozen of guards who stood according to Thomas’s command. He was standing in front of them with a face coated with anger and disappointment, even avoiding eye contact with a fairly young maiden who stood beside him.

“You will all explore the Acred forest and make details about whatever cave is in there. You all must had seen the creature, so therefore, you will all be making a move to find its lair and then report to me.” His voice boomed in the air, but the guards in return looked dumbfounded as they threw glances at each other. One of the bold guards summoned enough courage and stood out from the assemble with a straight face.

“No attempts to disrespect you elder Thomas, but the size of the dragon we saw would most definitely not be able to live in this forest. Its size was despicable, and moreover, if it lived here, we’d have noticed it a long time ago!” The guards stepped into the assembly once he finished with his statement, and the air turned silent some minutes later.

“Emm... It’s a drag… you know what, just make attempts to find it. You may live now.”

Even Thomas found sense in the question, and somehow he began to suspect his eyes. He turned around and immediately dismissed the guards with a flinch of his palms.

“Dear!” A thin voice slowly penetrated Thomas’s ears, followed by a gentle and flawless palm that fell on his shoulders,

“Even though I didn’t see the dragon, I believe you and you should never think of yourself as crazy... But, the impersonator, is he really your brother, or at least do a..”

“Don’t ask such malevolent questions. We both know Leo is dead. And he’s not our current problem, we just lost over twenty villagers. That dra… dragon is really going rampage!” They complained and ran into the house some minutes later, with teary eyes that left the lady’s emotions shattering into a thousand pieces.