“You will not be ready,” Rok said, dismissing Nya’s question the moment she posed it to him. They were sitting in his office, the attack in the hallway pushed out of her mind for the time being. She wanted to argue with him, to tell him that she would find a way to be ready, but he was shaking his head. “For that matter, I’m not certain you will ever be ready.”
Those words made the statement she had forming in her mouth catch in her throat. “What do you mean you don’t know if I’ll ever be ready?” she asked, shocked, her mouth hanging open even after she’d finished the sentence.
Rok shrugged, nonchalantly. “When you asked me to train you to defeat the dragon, I said I’d train you, but I’ve never made you any promises, Princess. You are a much better warrior now than you were when you first began, arguably the best in the entire kingdom, possibly the best there has ever been. Your work ethic, natural talent, and ability to learn have come together to create one deadly warrior, that is for certain. But battling man and battling a beast such as the dragon are not the same thing. You have to know, at least in the logical part of your brain, assuming that it is still working, that the chances of you facing off against the dragon and living to tell the tale are slim to none.”
By the time he’d finished speaking, Nya had closed her mouth, but she had no idea what to say in response. Never, in all of the months she’d spent training with Rok, had she thought she’d fail. Not once. She assumed, by the time he was done with her, she’d be ready to take on the dragon, and anyone or anything else that got in her way. Now, he was telling her he didn’t think it would happen--ever.
After a few moments of reflection, the only thing she could think to ask was, “Then why did you agree to train me?”
He shrugged his broad shoulders. “I like a challenge. That’s why I did it to begin with. I thought you’d fail quickly enough, give up and go home. But when I saw that I was wrong and that you intended to stick with it, I decided to see just how far I could take you. You have exceeded every expectation I have ever had for any soldier I have ever trained. But, Princess, you are not ready to take on that dragon. You will not be ready to take him on by the next Dragon Moon--or the one after that. I caution you. Think long and hard about any choices you make regarding challenging the dragon. You are too young to die. Besides, now that you have the responsibility of the entire kingdom on your shoulders, you must think of your other duties.”
He knew, then, that her father had chosen her as the next ruler of Frindom. Nya sat staring at Rok for a long moment, trying to digest everything that he had said. He was wrong. If she didn’t find a way to defeat the dragon, all of her training would be for nothing. Gavin’s sacrifice, and the sacrifice of so many others, would be for nothing. She wasn’t prepared to give up. Not after all of the effort she’d poured into preparing herself.
“Think of it this way,” Rok said with a shrug. “Would you rather find a way to negotiate with the dragon, perhaps unite with the other kingdoms to face him, or six months or a year from now, would you like to be the one someone is thinking of while he or she is training, their purpose in taking on the dragon to avenge the lost princess?”
She was listening, but his words were not changing her mind. They were only making her mad. In her mind, the visions she’d had of herself triumphantly killing the dragons, imaginary stories she’d been telling herself since Gavin was taken, began to morph. Instead of her sword sinking through the soft part of his throat, bringing him down in a bloody mass of scales and smoke, she saw the dragon lifting her off of the ground with his talons, her sword and shield nothing against his sharp talons and breaths of fire.
Was it a vision, or was it simply a change in her narrative, based on the bad news Rok had given her?
Nya stood, her chair screeching against the floor with her anger. “You’re wrong!” she shouted at him. Rok didn’t move, only stared at her. She took a few steps toward the door but then turned back and faced him again. “And I never asked you to train me! You volunteered! You were not my first choice, remember?” Still, he said nothing, and when he didn’t take her bait and argue, she grew even more frustrated. Before he could see her angry tears, she decided to leave, heading for the door, pulling it shut so hard behind her that when it slammed, the wall shook.
Nya headed back toward the palace, to her rooms, seething. Rok didn’t know what he was talking about. She would find a way to avenge Gavin and the others, whether he wanted to keep training her or not. She passed a group of soldiers in the hallway. This time, they were wise enough to read her expression and step out of the way. Nya glared at them, suddenly hating everything that had to do with the military and Rok. When she was queen, there would be no more sacrifices. She’d raise a military that was strong enough to stand up to any force, whether it be a mob of unhappy citizens, an outside force, or a fire breathing dragon.
But that last threat would be gone before she even put on the crown. Nya would slay the dragon at the next Dragon Moon, whether or not Rok thought it was a good idea. She’d show him--and everyone else.