The dragon's harem

Baltos growled at Alcott, “What daughter-in-law?! Who is she?”

“This magic, she’s a drakaina, a green one.” Cerilla growled with a stern face, “Alcott, why did you let her in?”

“She is the queen of the Crypt forest of Claug, a distant land from here. An old friend of Arad.” Alcott replied and Claug looked at him, “Calling me a friend is an understatement.”

Thud! Heavy footsteps approached and Claug looked behind the Baltos and Cerilla, “You aren’t the queen here.” A ten-foot tall woman stood face to face with Claug, glaring down at her with burning golden eyes. “Wait till Arad comes or I’ll kick you out,” Meryem growled.

“Hooo, I did sense a powerful aura around, so it was yours, ant.” Claug cracked her neck, “Want to play a bit?”

“Let’s take this outside.” Meryem pointed back with her thumb and Alcott sighed. “Can you two not fight?”

“We’re just playing a bit,” Meryem said with a smile as she and Claug suddenly disappeared, only leaving a puff of dust behind them. The poor woman that Claug dragged with her stood there with her mother, confused.

“That woman was Claug, an ancient green drakaina that Arad knows.” Alcott looked at the poor woman, “What’s your name?”

“Elizabeth…is she really a dragon?” She looked back with a scared face. She might’ve gotten mixed up in a deadly struggle.

“You don’t need to worry. I bet she heard of the preparation to crown Isdis as the queen and Arad as the king so she came here to get a share of him.” Alcott explained and looked at Baltos.

“If this went smoothly for her, you’ll end as a maid serving one of the Emperor Arad’s queens.” Baltos pointed out the door. They could see the growing village and city beneath the castle, then the endless line of people that extended to the horizon, all nobles from this kingdom and foreign lands that came to try their luck of getting a chance to get close to the newly born empire.

“They are fighting for the crumbs yet you and your mother got picked up by Claug and dropped right into the soup.” Baltos turned to leave, “Cerilla, you can take care of the things around here.”

“Leave them to me.” Cerilla approached Elizabeth and her mother. “Mom, what’s your name?” She looked at the mother.

“Hanna…” The old woman replied, “That woman…she wants to marry our Baron?”

“Exactly, that’s the only meaning when a drakaina comes and posts herself in a dragon’s land.” Cerilla started walking deeper into the castle and the two followed her. “As you can see, I’m an elf. Not just a normal one, but the elvish high queen Cerilla.”

She looked back at them with a smug smile. “Myself and the dark elf queen wanted to get a share of Arad for a while and just days ago our goddess gave us an order to ally with the Ruris kingdom.” She giggled. “I asked if we could just marry Arad and merge our kingdoms into a massive empire and she agreed.”

“Wait…” It was just then that Elizabeth realised that a queen was guiding them around. Not a future queen, but a full on current queen. “Don’t worry about it. I came here expecting to lead a future queen, but I don’t mind taking care of her servants while she fights Meryem.”

“Besides…” She turned back, “I’ve got nothing to do now but sit and wait, we can…” She went silent as she saw Dalla approaching.

“Your highness…if you aren’t entertaining a new queen then you should get back to the office, the paper work won’t finish itself.” She glared at her, and quickly shifted her gaze to the two ladies with her.

“You two come with me.” She waved to them.

“Wait, you need me to…” Cerilla gasped but Dalla gave her a sharp glare, “Baltos already informed me of everything.”

Dalla took the two ladies with her and headed toward the servants’ quarter. “If Claug forced you to work for her, you can just tell me. I’ll get her to free you.”

“No, she pays well…” Elizabeth scratched her chin, “We can’t refuse with how much she offered.”

“Offered?” Dalla looked at them and Elizabeth corrected herself, “Paid, she already gave us the money.”

Dalla stopped walking and turned toward a door, “I don’t want to be rude…but first you must take a bath, get measured so we can make uniforms for you, and also give us time to get you a place to live in.”

“But we already have a home.” Hanna looked at Dalla with a worried face.

“I’m not talking about that. You’ll have to live in the castle so we’ll get you some rooms in Claug’s quarter, if you don’t end up sleeping in her room.” She looked at Elizabeth, “Claug doesn’t have any human servants from what I know. That might mean you two will be her personal maids. You’ll sleep in her room, be on call 24/7.”

Dalla looked closely at Elizabeth, “You’ll eat the same food as her, do her hair in the morning, help her wear clothes, clean after her, and even read her bed-time stories if she wants.”

“Bed-time stories…hoo, I got some good ones.” Hanna smiled, “Would we meet the Baron? I have always wanted to speak to him since the time he brought us from Riverside.”

“So you came from Riverside, my condolences.” Dalla looked at her but the old woman shook her head, “It was a tragedy, to most…but to be honest, to me and my daughter…it was a blessing.”

Hanna looked around, “We were poor, far too poor. I used to bake bread and sell it at the local market, but as the years caught up with me, my hands started shaking, I could bake no more…” She looked at Elizabeth, “She started baking in my place, but with the growing city, we started getting driven out of business, spent countless nights starving.”

“Right now I work as a baker for the local tavern, the iron axe.” Elizabeth added, “But I’ve only got paid three coppers per loaf. I barely end a month with more than fifty silver coins.”

“We lived a better life traveling with Baron Arad here than we did in Riverside, and in the village below we had a better life than any one that we ever lived.” Hanna looked at Dalla, “We found warmth and safety beneath his wings… I can’t pass this without at least thanking him.”

“Then let’s start by getting you two cleaned.” Dalla opened the bath’s door, “I’m sure you two also consider messy hair hard on the eyes, especially when standing before a king…especially hair riddled with lice.”

****

Outside in the massive training ground behind the castle, a large battle started. Meryem and Claug swung fists at each other, moving so fast that the human eye couldn’t track them.

“Two fists but sixteen strikes at once, you’re a fast one, ant.” Claug said with a large grin on her face as she stood in the middle of the training ground.

The two had fought only using their humanoid bodies, clashing while limiting their strength and speed to not destroy the castle.

Meryem sighed, “You pass.”

“What? We barely started.” Claugh approached her, “Are you scared?”

“I’m not.” Meryem replied with a calm face, “I only wanted to make sure you’re conscious enough to not damage the area. I won’t let anyone stay here if they can’t control their power.”

“So that’s why you wanted to fight me?” Claug said with a smile, resting her fists on her hips.

“But…” Meryem approached her, “You didn’t cause damage…but you’ve been spreading your magic around since you came close to the area. What are you doing?”

“You’re smarter than you look.” Claug smiled as she approached Meryem and wrapped her arm around her shoulder, “Can you help me do something here?”

“You’re asking me? I will kill you if you dare plot against Arad.”

“No, I’m not plotting against him. I’m actually here to clean after him.” She licked her lips, “Of course, I also came to see if he’s suitable for me to take as a mate.”

“What do you want?” Meryem sighed and Claug smiled, “I knew I could count on you. Can you show me where all of the areas’ sewers dump the waste?”

“Why the hell would you want to see that place?” Meryem lifted an eyebrow and Claug grabbed her, “Sorry, we’ll talk away from here.” Claug could feel someone’s gaze on her. Alcott was still keeping an eye on her to make sure she didn’t cause trouble.

Before Meryem could realise it, she was standing with Claug over five hundred kilometres away from Arad’s territory. She gasped, “What!?” She could believe what had happened.

“Sorry, we can’t talk there. It might cause a panic.” Claug waved her hands but Meryem wasn’t going to listen now. She immediately swung a fist at her full strength.

But in the blink of an eye, Claug flipped her to the ground and sat on her back, pushing her face to the ground with her heel. “I’m not going to harm anyone, listen to me before you attack. I’m an ancient green drakaina and I’m almost becoming a wyrm.”

“What the hell would that mean to me?” Meryem growled and Claug sighed, “Too many people gathering in Arad’s land in a short time… I’m seeing the signs of a plague starting so I came to deal with it.”

“What? A plague?”

“News shouldn’t spread out as it might taint the reputation of Arad’s land. I’ll act on my own to solve the problem, but I want you to ignore anything that I do which might be against your laws.” Claug moved away from Meryem and sat on a massive rock.

“Against the law? Killing people?” Meryem growled.

“I’ll do my best to heal the infected, but those who can’t be healed…I’ll kill them peacefully with my poison and burn their corpses so the plague doesn’t spread. If I end up being found out, then so be it, blame the deaths on me, but make sure no one knows that a plague almost started in Arad’s land.”

Meryem sighed, “Fine…I’ll help you. But I must inform some people, like the queens.”

“A secret meeting, don’t let the news spread out.” Claug started thinking, “If the news about the plague leaked out, blame it on me. Say that the green drakaina Claug came to the city and started a plague like she always does.”

“Wait…so the tales about you starting plagues are fake?” Meryem gasped and Claug shook her head, “Half are fake, half are real.”