The Commander and the Dragon (Redwood Dragons Book 3) Read online

  And so, reluctantly, Zeke had agreed to attend the banquet. Zeke looked at his watch and groaned. It was time to get going, and he was already looking forward to the end of this banquet. The day had been busy, between searching for suits and getting a tour of the village. Zeke could hardly believe it had been less than twenty-four hours since he landed in Falcon Cross. He hadn’t had a chance to truly rest, and it didn’t look like he was going to get one for another several hours at least.

  Zeke looked at his reflection in the mirror one last time and realized that he was scowling.

  “Game face, Zeke,” he told himself. “Remember to look happy. Noah is right. You need the wizards.”

  Zeke walked out of the bedroom and out the front door of the small house he was staying in. The wizards had provided a small house for each of the dragons, all of which were within a few blocks of each other. This had been an unexpected surprise for Zeke, who had figured they would be put up in a hotel room, or at the very least that all the dragons would be staying in one big house together. Having his own place was going to make being away from home so much better. Raven had been the one to show him to the house last night, and she had apologized over and over for how tiny it was. Zeke had just laughed and said it would do just fine. The houses might be small, but they were palaces compared to his tiny one-bedroom cabin back in the Redwoods.

  Zeke walked down the street, heading for Noah’s house. All of the dragons had agreed to meet there, and then head to the banquet together. Peter, the leader of the Wizard High Council, wanted to introduce them at the beginning of the banquet, so it was best if they all arrived at the same time.

  When Zeke got to Noah’s place, the rest of the crew was already there, standing around in the front yard waiting for him. A large, black SUV was parked in front of the house, with a driver who was patiently waiting to take them to the banquet. Noah, Owen, and Myles were all dressed just as sharply as Zeke, in well-tailored suits that seemed to gleam in the late afternoon sunlight. What a sight the four of them must make! They all stood taller than the average human or wizard, and they all had large muscles that were evident even through the fabric of their suit jackets. Noah looked up as Zeke approached.

  “Ready?” he asked Zeke.

  Zeke nodded. He resisted the urge to make a comment about how he just wanted to get this over with. Instead, he smiled as convincingly as he could and made his way to the waiting SUV. Noah sat in the front passenger seat next to the driver, and Myles climbed into the third row of the SUV’s seats. That left Owen to sit next to Zeke. Owen was in an obnoxiously good mood, bragging about how much food he was going to eat and how he was going to impress all of the girls with his dance moves.

  Zeke turned away from Owen’s rowdy jabbering to look out the window of the SUV, which was beginning to pick up speed. He watched as the houses slowly gave way to a more business-centered area of town. He noticed a grocery store, a pharmacy, and a few restaurants. One of the restaurants looked like a pub, and Zeke made a mental note to check it out when he got a chance. He was forced to travel a lot for his work, and one of his favorite things to do when he arrived in a new city was to immediately find a local pub to frequent. Somehow, having a place that was “his spot” made him feel more at home.

  Falcon Cross was a charming town. All of the houses and buildings looked like they had come straight out of an old European village. Most were made of stone, and Zeke almost thought they looked like miniature castles. Some of the streets were paved with cobblestones, which added to the old world feel. Zeke’s assessment from the air last night had been correct, too—there was a plenty of open space here. Buildings were spaced generous distances from each other, and there were several green places around the city center, filled with wild flowers or just lush green grass. Even now, on a weekday afternoon, Zeke saw several wizards lying out on the grass enjoying the sunshine. Zeke was a loner by nature, but if he was ever going to live in a city, this was the kind of place he would want to be. Everyone seemed so happy and carefree.

  Zeke frowned. And yet, he knew that this happiness was fragile. No one knew for sure who was behind the plans to attack Falcon Cross, but from the intelligence the dragons had received, there was quite an army being built. An evil army. Zeke knew that Knox would not have sent dragons away from the Redwoods to protect Falcon Cross unless he thought the threat here was serious. After all, the Redwoods were where many ancient dragon artifacts were being stored. It was important to protect the place at all costs, and yet Knox had sent nearly half the clan here, to help the wizards.

  Owen let out a particularly loud guffaw, and Zeke looked over at him in annoyance. How could he act so immature, when so many things of actual importance were happening in the world right now? Zeke was loyal to everyone in his clan, and would have protected them all with his life. But he liked Owen significantly less than the rest of the crew. The man was extroverted, ostentatious, and loud—about as different from Zeke’s quiet introversion as you could get.

  The SUV pulled up to the building where the banquet would be held, and Zeke looked up at it through the window in awe. The building was shaped like a large dome, and was decorated with gold and ruby accents. It was different from the rest of the town’s architecture, but it was made of the same stone as the other buildings, which allowed it to still fit in well. A long series of steps led up to the front entrance, and right now those steps were filled with wizards dressed in their finest. A few of the younger wizards, who did not yet have dress robes, were wearing evening gowns or suits. Most of the wizards, though, wore long, flowing dress robes. The robes were thick and often shimmery, and came in every color imaginable. As Zeke climbed out of the SUV, he noticed robes in shades of red, blue, purple, black, green, yellow, and even a few orange. The steps of the domed building looked like a colorful rainbow of wizards. Many of them had pointed wizard hats, too. The shimmering hats bobbed up and down as the wizards made their way into the building.

  To his dismay, Zeke quickly realized that he and the other dragons all stood out unmistakably in the crowd. Not only were they not wearing robes, but they were much taller and more muscular than average. It would be impossible to miss the group of them as they walked together into the hall of the high council. And, indeed, as they started walking up the steps, led by Noah, every wizard stopped and turned to look. Some whispered and pointed. Others cheered. Still others reached out to shake their hands as they passed, offering words of gratitude to them for coming to Falcon Cross. Zeke had never felt so on display in his life, but he reminded himself to keep a pleasant expression on his face.

  “Make way, make way!” yelled out a familiar voice. Zeke looked up to see Raven pushing her way through the crowd. She was wearing a simple but luxurious looking black velvet dress robe. It had a high collar, and the only decoration on it was the Falcon Cross military seal embroidered in gold on the top left. She grinned as she approached them, and Zeke saw Owen puffing out his chest a bit and adjusting his suit jacket. It took all of Zeke’s willpower to keep himself from rolling his eyes.

  “Mac sent me out to see if you guys were here yet,” Raven said. “You’re supposed to come to Peter’s private chambers to meet with him and await the official start of the banquet.”

  Noah nodded, and the group started following Raven, who kept yelling out, “Make way! Make way!” at the top of her lungs. This, of course, drew even more attention to them, but at least the crowd was quickly parting now as Raven marched forward.

  When they walked through the entrance to the High Council Hall, Zeke found himself once again filled with wonder. The floors were all made of gleaming wood, and the walls were made of some sort of stone that seemed to shimmer. Light poured in from outside thanks to large windows lining the domed ceiling. Sunbeams caught the gold embroidery on several banners that were hanging from walls in evenly spaced gaps, making the banners shimmer as well.

  The front entrance was crowded with wizards, but after a few moments of walking they reache
d a large wooden door. Raven pointed her magic ring at the door and said, “Magicae aperio,” and the door swung open by itself with a loud creak. The dragons followed Raven through the door, and when they were all through, Raven turned around and once again pointed her ring at the door. This time, she said “Magicae cludo.” The door swung closed of its own accord, and a loud thud sounded in the hallway.

  After the bustle and noise of the entrance foyer, this hallway seemed almost eerily quiet. The only noise was the soft clicking of everyone’s shoes as they walked. The hallway was decorated similarly to the entrance foyer, but there were many more doors here. Raven confidently moved forward at a brisk pace, then stopped in front of one of the doors and knocked on it.

  “Raven Morey, here, your Honors,” Raven called out. “I have the Redwood Dragons with me.”

  “You may enter,” a voice boomed from behind the door. Raven stepped forward and opened the door, this time using her hand instead of magic. She stepped aside to allow the dragons to enter the room, and then closed the door behind them.

  The room was set up like a large office. A desk of deep, rich wood stood in one corner, along with a high-backed velvet red chair. Two wooden chairs stood across from the desk chair, presumably for visitors. Across the large room, though, a large wooden table stood. It was ornately carved and had eight similarly carved chairs surrounding it. Peter was sitting at one of these chairs, a smile on his face as he greeted his visitors. Zeke had never met him before, but he looked exactly as Zeke had pictured him. His dress robes were a deep sapphire blue, interwoven with threads of shimmering silver. He wore a tall, pointed wizard hat of the same hue, and he had several golden cords and tassels draped around his neck. His long, white beard reached down to his stomach, reaching nearly as low as his hat reached high. His magic ring was the largest Zeke had seen yet, and it was made of a dark blue sapphire.

  His magnificent, imposing appearance was softened somewhat, however, by the twinkle in his eyes and the broad smile of his lips.

  “Welcome, welcome,” Peter said, rising to shake their hands. “Thank you so much for agreeing to come to this banquet tonight. I know you’re tired from your travels, and I know you have a lot of official business you want to get done, but this celebration serves an important purpose, too.”

  Peter looked at Zeke while he said this, and Zeke wondered whether Noah had mentioned how he had complained about the banquet. Zeke suddenly felt ashamed of himself for complaining that someone else wanted to throw a party in his honor. That really had been poor manners. But Peter looked away just as quickly as he had looked at Zeke, and Zeke let out the breath he hadn’t even realized he’d been holding.

  “As you can see, most of the wizards in Falcon Cross are excited that you’re here,” Peter continued. “They are all eager for a chance to meet you, and seeing you in person at this banquet will solidify their trust in you. It’s important that they trust you, since you are going to be working closely with our military. There are also, however, wizards who still do not trust shifters. These are mostly the older generation of wizards, who have been told for decades and decades that shifters are not to be trusted. It’s hard for them to switch allegiances so quickly, which is understandable. Seeing you here tonight is a small but significant step. When they see you interacting with the High Council and other wizards in a peaceable manner, it will help them to learn to trust you. It’s a slow process, but a necessary one.”

  “You boys all be on your best behavior,” Noah said, with a pointed glance at Owen. “Don’t screw up this opportunity to make a good impression.”

  Owen said nothing, but the annoyance on his face was impossible to hide. Zeke took a strange satisfaction in watching Noah reign in Owen a bit. Somebody had to keep a handle on that wild child.

  “Just be yourselves, and I’m sure everyone will love you,” Peter said diplomatically. Zeke managed to catch himself before he snorted out loud. He was pretty sure the older generation of wizards would not be amused if Owen acted the way he normally did at a party. Zeke looked up and caught Myles’ eye, and he saw a hint of amusement there, too. He had to look away from Myles before they both started laughing.

  “The order of events for the evening is fairly simple,” Peter said, seemingly oblivious to Zeke’s and Myles’ barely contained laughter. “In a few minutes, we’ll head to the Great Hall, which has been converted to a giant dining room for the event. There is a raised platform at the front of the room, where the VIPs will sit. The entire Wizard High Council will be there, as well as the heads of major organizations. Among others, you’ll see the head of the Advocacy Bureau, the head of the Society for the Preservation of Magical History, and, of course, Mac, our military Commander-in-Chief. You will all sit up there with us as our guests of honor. I will kick off the evening’s festivities by introducing you and toasting to shifter-wizard relations. We will have dinner, and then, there will be live music and dancing. Noah, if you would like to make a speech at some point, that would be great. Don’t feel obligated if you don’t want to, but I do think the wizards would like to hear from you.”

  “I’d love to say a few words,” Noah said.

  Peter’s smile broadened, and he glanced at his watch. “Alright, then, I think that’s it. Unless anyone has questions, I think we can go ahead and head to the Great Hall.”

  No one had questions, so the group left Peter’s office and started heading toward the middle of the building, where the Great Hall was located. Raven went ahead of them, and started rounding up all the wizards and telling them to find their seats in the Great Hall.

  The Great Hall was more impressive than anything Zeke had seen so far in Falcon Cross, which was saying something. The large, circular room was located in the center of the building and let in an enormous amount of sunlight—almost the whole ceiling here was made of windows. It had the same shimmery walls that the rest of the building had, and even more banners than the hallways. Each banner bore a fanciful insignia, but Zeke only recognized one: the Falcon Cross Military Insignia.

  The large open space of the room had been filled with dozens of circular tables covered in dazzling white tablecloths. Silver place settings were arranged in front of each cushioned chair, and large carafes of water and wine were positioned at the center of each table next to colorful floral arrangements. At one side of the room, there was a raised platform, just as Peter had said. Here, there was one long table with somewhere between fifteen and twenty chairs and place settings. Floral arrangements and carafes of wine and water were spaced evenly across the length of the table, and Zeke could see that several members of the High Council had already taken their seats and were already indulging in a glass of wine.

  Peter led them toward the table, and when they got closer Zeke saw that there were place cards at each setting. He found the one that read Zeke Pars in elegant script and sat down, reaching immediately for one of the water carafes. This crowded room and the prospect of being introduced to everyone in it had made his mouth go dry. He hadn’t come to Falcon Cross to be treated like a celebrity. He’d come to work with the military here to protect from attacks. From what he understood, there was a lot of work to do. The military here had been trained as guards to watch out for humans who might accidentally discover Falcon Cross and the existence of wizards. They were mainly trained to deal with minor threats from oblivious humans, not with major threats from angry shifter or wizard armies.

  As Zeke looked around, though, he saw that he was the only one who seemed concerned about the fact that everyone was partying instead of watching out for enemies. Noah and Myles were talking and laughing with a few of the other High Council Members. Owen was laughing with a pretty blonde, of course. The woman was wearing, of all things, a sparkly, hot pink dress robe. Zeke had seen quite a few showy robes since arriving at the Great Hall, but this one was on a level of its own. The woman who was wearing it seemed to have a personality as bright as her robe, too. She kept throwing back her head to let out a loud laugh
, which caused her long blonde curls to bounce around her shoulders. Her skin glowed in the sunlight that was streaming through the windows above, and she was objectively the most beautiful woman Zeke had ever seen. Zeke felt an unmistakable twinge of jealousy as he watched Owen reach over to lightly touch the woman’s arm. Zeke frowned and quickly looked away. It shouldn’t matter to him whom Owen was flirting with. Of course, in Zeke’s opinion Owen should be focusing on the work they had come here to do, not on flirting. But if Owen was going to insist on acting like a flirting buffoon, what did it matter to Zeke who his girl of choice was?

  Still, Zeke couldn’t help stealing one more glance in the direction of the girl and Owen. A fresh wave of jealousy washed over him, but before he could even look away again, Peter was loudly calling for order, using a magic spell instead of a microphone to magnify his voice. The room began to quiet and people began to find their seats. Zeke watched Owen look around for his nametag, and he felt a small measure of satisfaction that the girl in the hot pink robes would have to go take her seat on the main floor. For a little while, at least, Owen would be prevented from flirting with her.

  But then, to Zeke’s horror and amazement, Miss Hot Pink Robes did not find her way to the main floor. Instead, she sat down at one of the seats in the head table and reached for a carafe of wine to fill her goblet. Zeke was dumbfounded. She was the leader of one of the big wizard organizations? What kind of organization would possibly thrive with a giggly, flirty girl at its head? Zeke strained to see her place card, but she was too many seats away and he couldn’t see it very well from this angle, anyway.

  Just then, Myles took his seat next to Zeke. Zeke glanced at him, and, trying to appear as nonchalant as possible, he pointed at the woman in the hot pink robe.