Psychic Appeal- Urban Fantasy

Psychic Appeal Chapter 10

The first thing I noticed when we were ushered into the throne room for our audience with the king, was the simple decoration. A throne constructed of roughly hewed wood sat on a dais, also constructed of wood. On its seat lay a crown made out of a smooth, polished wood that gleamed like gold in the sunlight coming in from the narrow windows lining the throne room. Everything was made of wood, there was no metal that I could see.

Between the windows, hung tapestries depicting dragons in daily life. One tapestry appeared overly modern for a Sidhe with a scene full of beakers, test tubes, and boiling distillations. In short, a chemistry lab, but I knew it wasn't chemistry the dragons were interested in. They wanted gold, lots of gold and they had been trying for centuries to perfect the alchemy formulas for turning base metal into gold. They had been unsuccessful so far, but managed to create a tarnish resistant brass now used widely throughout the human world. I had a pair of brass candlesticks that, thanks to the dragon's alchemy, I hadn't had to polish for more than six years.

Next to the alchemy tapestry, hung another showing two dragons soaring vertical from the ground, side by side, tails intertwined and fire shooting from their mouths. The other tapestries around the room seemed to deal with a dragon's life from birth through adolescence. There were scenes of an egg hatching, a small dragon walking and flying as well as a young dragon receiving a piece of gold.

While certainly beautiful, the throne and tapestries decorating the walls lacked the attention to ostentatious detail I would've expected from royalty. Recalling the dragon's legendary avaricious nature, though, I could see why avoiding metal might be wise. A dragon in the throes of gold lust might make off with a throne adorned with gold.

Jacob and I sat on the stools placed at the foot of the throne dais and waited. I fidgeted with the embroidered ribbon on the sleeve of the pale blue robe I wore, wondering how it was the dragon's had adopted what amounted to nothing more than an elaborate muumuu as their preferred form of dress.

I was just beginning to try and picture what lay under a dragon's robe that would make such billowy attire utilitarian, when, with no fanfare, a door opened and a dragon stepped into the room. Like all dragons, he was tall with a long face and wore a robe dyed a deep purple. The skin of his face and hands was a silvery gray, light enough that it almost seemed to reflect the sun filling the room. With a nod to us, he walked up the dais, put the crown on his head, and settled into the throne to address us. "Welcome to Wyvrndell. I am Wyllven, King of the dragons."

Unsure of the protocol, I started to stand thinking I should curtsey or bow, but he held up a hand. "No need for formalities. Please sit."

I sat. "Thank you, your majesty."

"I hear you've already had quite the adventure. Please accept my apologies for the Eros goblin. He will be punished and I have also talked to your guide, Jocyllen about his appalling disregard for your safety. Your skills are too important to the dragons to be risked so cavalierly." Wyllven's lips thinned in anger. "To think all could've been lost if you had been taken by the Eros goblin."

"Taken? I thought it was more like being bitten by a mosquito." A really horny one, but still just a mosquito.

The king shook his head. "No. The Eros goblins hunt pleasure and there is not much left of their prey when they are done. Without your friend's help and Jocyllen's late rescue you would've been dragged off to the Wastelands never to be seen again."

I shivered at my narrow miss and wondered why Jocyllen had trivialized the whole thing. A few hours to wear off indeed. "Well, then I am grateful for the help, late or not."