The Dragon's Flame Queen

Chapter 28 - The Magical Stones

The long fields stretched till the horizon with the colorful vegetables filling the green plants and the golden rice swaying with the breeze. It was almost time for the harvest season and soon the Harvest Festival would come up as well– Seraphina halted in her thoughts as she remembered the old days which she spent with her guild members and family. The Harvest Festival was always filled with lots of games and a fair which she never missed. Now, being here she would only have to suffice with the memories she made with her friends.

The mining areas were located at the outskirts ot the town and many people along with a lot of equipment were present there. The land was completely barren around the area with a pile of large black rocks in one side. The miners were wearing the safety armors which protected their heads and body. Seraphina felt her curiosity rising as the place seemed strangely familiar, it wasn't that she had visited it before but she wanted to know why she was feeling the warmth in her belly.

"Oh, if it isn't Gorof!" A miner dwarf called out and then bowed quickly as he noticed Seraphina, "Welcome Princess!"

The rest miners bowed as well and greeted her while she stood there watching the hole at the base of the mountain.

"From there the miners go in?" She asked and Gorof nodded.

"Can I go inside?" She asked.

"No, it's extremely dangerous, a lot of accidents occur down there along with the earthquakes and if anything happens to you the Dragon Prince will bring hell upon us." Gorof said rather curtly.

"All right." Her enthusiasm deflated a little, "but I can see the shiny stones, right?

"Sure. Derek can show you the gems that they found today." Gorof pointed at the dwarf who had greeted him earlier.

Derek gestured Seraphina over towards the small building which was at a distance from the mine and she followed him along with the dragons guards and dwarf guards.

"These are the stones we found today." Derek said as he pointed at the stones on the table. An old dwarf was sitting there on a chair with a lens fixed on his eye focusing on the gems.

"What's he doing?" Seraphina asked.

"That's Ferro, he's checking if the gems have some other properties except for their beauty." Derek said and Seraphina frowned.

"Some other property? Like what?" Derek went quiet for a moment, no one else spoke as well it was just the sound of the footsteps hurrying from behind which made Seraphina slightly conscious about some trouble she was about to get in.

The intense aura came crashing on her as she turned around and found Demian. Well, an angry Demian.

The twitch on his brow was hard to ignore as he rushed toward them with the other two guards.

"Princess Seraphina..." Demian said through his gritted teeth, "would you mind telling me, what are you doing out here?" His voice sent a chill to her core.

"Err... Just—" Then she recalled, he shouldn't be here, "and what are you doing here? I suppose you need to rest properly."

"Don't avoid my question!" A vein bulged in his forehead, "it's very dangerous to stay out here and we barely have enough guards to protect us and I'm sure they are very tired."

"No, your highness. We shall protect our Prince and Princess even though we have to tire ourselves." One of them said, which made Seraphina give a smug look at Demian.

"And, since Your Highness and Princess are in this town it is our duty as well to protect you with our lives." Gorof said in a dutiful voice.

"Don't worry. Everything is fine and besides, we should take our chances when we get it to check everything. I'm sure everyone in the dwarf town would be glad that their prince is acknowledging them." She grinned as Demian had no choice but to consider her point.

"Besides, we were having an interesting conversation. What about the different properties you said about Derek?" Seraphina asked and Derek looked at Ferro instead.

The old dwarf put down the blue gem in his hands and pulled the lens off his eye as he slowly stood up and walked towards the small closet which was in the corner. Seraphina watched as he opened it and pulled out a black bag and returned before her.

"These stones that we find aren't only the shiny ones which are used to enhance the beauty of the person. Some stones like these are different and possess the strength to change the fate of any person." Ferro said in a deep voice. He opened the bag and pulled out a handful of stones which shone brightly. Two of them were bright red and seemed as if they were on fire, two or them were blue stones and one was bright green. Seraphina couldn't ignore the vibes that the stones were giving off, it was as if the stones were magical. Her head spun as she realised that these were the precious magic stones that she had only heard about.

She reached out and picked one of them and her heart pounded in her chest as she felt the magic power once again flowing within her veins. These were fire stones and some of them were water stones which wizards had been using or in some cases humans used it to protect themselves from other negative powers. These were quite valuable stones. This could be worth a ton of gold coins.

"These are magic stones..." Seraphina said, taking both Demian's and Gorof's attention.

"What?" Demian asked.

"Look at its glow..." She pointed at the stone where under the dump layer of stone, an orange light was shining. "This is a fire stone."

"You know about these, I see." Ferro said as he picked up a water stone and inspected it.

"Yes. But I had only heard about them, I never got to see one." Seraphina's eyes twinkled as she felt the blood in her veins rushing.

"We mostly sell these stones to the Human nobles who pay the proper price and, some Dragon nobles have bought some of these too." Derek said.

"They're very powerful." Seraphina said.

"Why don't you sell them to the wizards? They use these and there are some healing stones which are can heal any injury."

Gorof's eyes widened and he looked between Demian and Seraphina as a coat of sweat appeared on his forehead. "Erm... Princess, we don't trade anything with the wizards..."

Seraphina's brows raised as she looked at Demian and Demian answered, "After the war, trading with them had been abolished. The way they had betrayed us, I don't think we should give them these powerful stones."

Seraphina bit her tongue as she had no recollection of that and she had forgotten about the inner turmoil between the wizards and the dragons. If the wizards wouldn't get these then the stones had no use of them as only wizards and sorcerers can tame the true powers of these magic objects. Other than wizards there were very few races who could use it; however, they went into hiding after the war.

"Then why don't you start trading again?" Seraphina asked out of the blue and she mentally slapped her face about speaking without thinking again. Celia would be so damn angry!

Demian gave her a look as if she had grown another head and said, "It is impossible. No one in the country is allowed to trade with them."

"But that can be added to your wealth if you trade..."

"Seraphina!" Demian growled, "This conversation is over. It's pointless to keep digging these mines. I'll have my men close it so no one would know about it. If the word got out, I'm certain wizards would try to come here for these and it would be dangerous for the dwarves."

"But look at them! They are working day and night in these mines and now you want to close all of it? Wouldn't they even get their fair payment?"

"Enough!" Demian's voice raised and his face hardened that Gorof cowered behind Seraphina, shaking in fear. "It was the wizards who had destroyed the whole dwarf villages. I don't want history to repeat itself. Let's go."

And Demian turned on his heels.

Demian had warned Gorof about not to tell anyone about the magic stones and he obeyed without a thought and said after he went back to the castle he would have a discussion on this with Master Valentine and his brother about how they would close the mines without a ruckus. However, it was certain that Seraphina wasn't happy with this decision and was giving him a cold shoulder for quite a while as they were going back to the town.

Demian released a sigh as he had enough. Her not talking about anything was far more annoying than her usual chatty self.

"What is it?" He hissed.

"Nothing," she pouted.

Demian halted and held her hands in his tight grip before jolting her to face him.

"Just say it out loud..." He said, his face was deadly serious and eyes boring into hers.

"I was thinking if we could—"

"Not a word about those stones," he said and Seraphina's face reddened with anger.

"Then what's there to talk about? I'd rather stay quiet for the whole time." She said frustratedly.

"That's better. That way I wouldn't have to hear all of your useless talk." He remarked coolly which made Seraphina grind her teeth as she started to walk toward the town leaving him behind.

The corners of his lips twitched as Demian found it adorable whenever she got angry but he knew she wouldn't let the subject rest aside.

He headed behind her and said, "If the dwarves go there to trade, the wizards could trick them. As you've already seen, they are very simple people and when simplicity is best a man could offer, it can also invite more trouble."

Seraphina didn't reply and Demian added, "There wouldn't be anything which would make me happy if I could help them with their work but it's the wizards we have to rely on and you have already seen a few of them how notorious they are."

Seraphina stopped and Demian followed her as he came beside her.

It was true not every wizard was bad but because Demian and the dwarves had only seen the bad wizards their impression on them had changed about them. It was a sad truth for Seraphina as she herself had to fight with one of their kind.

"Okay," she mumbled weakly as there was nothing to defend the wizards in front of Demian's strong perspective. He was right. If only she could tell him that she was a wizard herself and she never wanted to harm them then maybe they would have believed but if she told him that now, Celia and the human nation would be in trouble. If only she could reach out to Merlene, maybe she could have helped her out.

And suddenly, she found a plan. A grin slowly crawled on her lips and she reminded herself to talk with Master Valentine about it.

She looked at Demian as he raised a brow. "Alright! I suppose you have to discuss it with Master Valentine."

Demian nodded suspiciously as Seraphina said, "then let's go to the school." Sera went ahead.

"What?" He asked, "but why?"

"Well, to see if they are giving them proper knowledge or not."

"I'm sure they are and no! We are going straight to the town hall then depart from here."

"No! We're not leaving today since you have to take proper rest and," she tilted her head over her shoulder and asked, "have you eaten your breakfast?"

"No!" He said with a straight face which made Seraphina get furious again.

"Why? You do know you have to take your meals properly otherwise we have to stay here for more than a week."

"No! We are not going to stay here for a week. I have work!" He growled behind her as they entered the town.

"Then go eat!"

Demian's fists twitched and he said, "Now, when have I given you the power to order me around?"

As their fighting went on Gorof and the guards managed a little distance from them. Gorof had heard that the young prince was merciless but now he was witnessing a different prince who wasn't even doing anything to the human princess. He somehow adored them and out of curiosity he asked one of the guards in a low voice, "do they always fight like this?"

The four guards nodded and said, "Always."

"Must be hard on you," he whispered.

****

As Seraphina entered the school, she was overwhelmed by the adorable kids who were little minions of the dwarves. They were equally excited as the princess and the prince came to see them.

Their school was small just like their small houses and Seraphina could not stop her grin.

"Welcome, Princess Seraphina!" They greeted and circled around her forgetting all about the Prince as Seraphina asked each of their names. Their eyes glinted with excitement and they started to say all about their own little tales and Seraphina could not resist herself to listen to everything they had to offer.

"Princess, princess? Do you live in a castle?" One of them asked.

"Yes, I do."

"Do you wear long gowns that make you look like a flower?" Another one asked as their curiosity increased tenfold.

"Yes, but I don't like it." Seraphina said remembering how hard it is to breathe in them and sometimes to bend and there was a fat chance she would trip because of their lengths— which she always did.

"But why?" The same girl asked.

"Because I love these clothes. It's more comfortable and you can run in these." Seraphina answered.

"But why do you need to run?"

"Err—" She paused as she possibly couldn't say about how she liked to wander outside of the castle walls without the guards and that would also lower their morals.

"Why don't you answer them, princess Seraphina?" Demian asked from behind her as a playful grin played on his lips.

Seraphina felt an urge to smack on his head because she was unable to find an excuse. "Well, sometimes you have to fight with big monsters so you can't do that in those clothes."

All of them squeaked with fear and asked, "monsters come to the castle?"

"Yes! Very big monsters," Seraphina imitated as a monster and swung her hands in the air as their eyes sparkled with joy for a new story. She laughed seeing how their innocent hearts believed her without a question and she said, "let's go. I'll teach you some moves so when the monsters come, you all will be able to fight them like me."

They cheered with joy and she asked them to collect some wooden sticks. All of them scattered around to find wooden sticks and soon every one of them had one stick. They even found six sticks for Seraphina, Demian and the guards.

They went to give the guards and Demian the sticks when they stood with their wide opened mouths.

"Why do I have to play with them?" Demian growled.

"Just take it and teach some easy moves." Seraphina ordered them as Demian sighed and took the stick but the guards who were still confused as they had always fought with enemies and trained under a harsh environment that the easy task was becoming harder for them.

"Princess, what if we hurt them while teaching?" One of the guards asked.

"Then don't hurt them. Just teach small moves, that's all." Seraphina started to show them how to grab a sword and how to swing it while not cutting yourself in the process.

But it was becoming harder for the guards as whenever the kids were to strike them, unconsciously their sticks went to the small kids' necks or abdomen. However, they were careful not to touch them with it and soon the children started to surround them as they thought their moves were much better than Seraphina and Demian. They became the centre attraction and they could not understand when all four of the guards started to like it as big smiles spread across their lips.

Demian had to rub his eyes as he found it amusing to watch the guards enjoying themselves. He had never seen any of his dragon guards smile before and the kids had managed to do that.

He looked at Seraphina who was laughing as one of the kids fell while jabbing her from behind and now there was an adorable anger playing on his face. Demian chuckled and felt this would be one of the happiest day of his life where everyone would be smiling, laughing without a worry in their mind and without any enemies lurking around them.

Soon, all the children got tired and their teachers took them back to their classes. Seraphina, Demian and the guards went for the town's Hall as it was already noon. While playing with the kids, they had forgotten about time.

As they reached Demian said, "You know, Seraphina..."

Sera looked at him and asked, "What?"

His blue glazing eyes met with her green jades as he added, "I will find a way to use those magic stones so the dwarves will get their rightful wages through it."

And at this moment, Seraphina was certain that her heart skipped a beat and thumped in a twisted way.