And you, Rorvik, how shall you defeat the evil ones? How shall we, who are few, defeat Raiken of War, Veltus of Plagues, Horen of the Sea and Aerean of the Shadows? How shall we defeat Rycus of Calamity, Hesterides of Misfortunes, Dordaros of Greed, Galganis of Desire and Phelaukos the Scholar? What of Olostris, Verinea, Granlain, Asteridas, Felantris, Marsach and Lortus? And how, in your mind, will we defeat the most powerful of them all, Vastramach, the Lord of Doom himself? My brother, do you wish to sacrifice our lives for such childish arrogance? Excerpt from 'The Book of Justice, Chapter 4, The Lord of Crafts' Crown or Tiara Chapter 6 By Shinieris

And you, Rorvik, how shall you defeat the evil ones? How shall we, who are few, defeat Raiken of War, Veltus of Plagues, Horen of the Sea and Aerean of the Shadows? How shall we defeat Rycus of Calamity, Hesterides of Misfortunes, Dordaros of Greed, Galganis of Desire and Phelaukos the Scholar? What of Olostris, Verinea, Granlain, Asteridas, Felantris, Marsach and Lortus? And how, in your mind, will we defeat the most powerful of them all, Vastramach, the Lord of Doom himself? My brother, do you wish to sacrifice our lives for such childish arrogance?

Excerpt from 'The Book of Justice, Chapter 4, The Lord of Crafts'

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A hand flew out from the crowds, took the princess's hand pulled her away from the throng of nobles. Surprisinglyn for the princess, none of them actually came after them.

The man pulling her hand stopped as they reached an isolated corner of the Great Hall. "You looked like you were about to faint there, princess," he said as he turned around.

He was a dashing man, with rugged hair and a tiny spot of beard that screamed 'wild'. His body was tough and muscly, but not overly so. He looked young, probably about the same age as the crown prince. His eyes were sharp and penetrating, making look rather dangerous. The shape of his eyebrows though, soft and lightly curved made him appear gentle, like the look the princess' own father used to give her. Although she didn't know this man, she immediately relaxed.

"Thank you for your timely rescue, good sir," she nodded briefly, as royalties don't bow to anyone other than royalty, "I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage, unfortunately. Would you perhaps tell me how you are called and where do you come from, good sir?"

The man grinned. "Melthis, at your service, princess," he kissed the back of the princess' hand he was holding. I hail from the craggy lands of Veggida in the west. Though I must admit that I kind of missed being called 'good sir'. I haven't been called that since I left my adventuring days behind."

"Melthis? From Veggida. Where have I heard that before?" the princess wondered aloud.

"I was the one who dealt the killing blow on the dragon lord Asteros Three-horns," he said helpfully, before laughing discreetly.

"Asteros Three-horns? Wasn't that the dragon that terrorized Lower Veggida?" she asked.

"That is correct."

"The one who dealt the killing blow..." she pondered, before her eyes opened wide, "AH!!!" she was glad that the Great Hall was too noisy for anyone to hear her.

"You're Prince Melthis Dragonslayer," she whispered, "Crown Prince of Veggida and the second son of King Vorik Strongblade!"

"Yes," he whispered back, before speaking again in his normal voice, "But everyone knows that already, so you don't have to whisper, Princess Nefeskaya," he chuckled as he spoke.

The princess looked at the hand that was till holding hers. Prince Melthis noticed and quickly withdrew his hands for fear of offending the delicate princess. Princess Feska instead grabbed the hand and pulled it up to her face with both her hands.

"So this is the hand that kills dragons..." she looked at it in awe.

"Well, actually anyone can do it. They just need practice. Anyway, why are you here ahead of your brothers?"

"No reason, why do you ask?" she said as she looked up at his face.

The prince, wary of anyone thinking he was taking liberties with Granvayl's only princess, tried to extricate his hands from the princess' hands without being too rough, with no luck. He noticed that the princess' grasp was firmer than any eastern princess' he had met before. "Isn't it customary in Granvayl and Orin that princesses will always walk behind their brothers?"

She looked up, her golden amber eyes penetrated his pair of ocean blue ones. "Well if you must know, this princess is very unaccustomed to customs."

They exchanged uncomfortable looks before the princess looked away. Gazing into the foreign prince's eyes made her heart flutter and she wasn't sure what to make of it. She had never felt something like that before and found that she didn't hate the feeling.

This foreign prince made her heart go funny and she did not know why. She briefly wondered if this was the power of one who slays dragons on a regular basis. She wondered how it would feel like to be on those kind of adventures, how he must have bragged about how he slew dragons to his brothers and probably sisters as well. Suddently something entered her line of thought and clapped her hands briefly.

"You can help me!" she said, almost too loudly.

"Eh? What is this about?" Prince Melthis asked, while looking at Princess Feska's excited face.

"You'll be my brother!" said Princess Feska in reply.

Princess Melthis' face fell. "But this is very irregular, princess. In Veggida, it is the men's side to propose something like this."

"What? Why? Are you saying that ladies in Veggida never even thought of it?" the princess crossed her arms under her padded breasts.

"No, it's not that. It's just that normally the women would rather have the men make the first move, if you'd understand."

"That's just stupid! If we do something like that here, we'd be friendless. Most of the men here are either obnoxious or shy," she said with distaste.

"Oh, alright. If you wish it, I'll arrange for it to happen. But for the record, I proposed this," he said pointedly.

"Sure, whatever you say. Thank you, I owe you one!"

"Heh, don't mention it. This is actually a good thing, even if it isn't exactly what I came here to accomplish," the prince said, before looking at the floor and muttering under his breath, "That lucky bastard."

"What?" the princess bowed slightly, as she looked up at the prince's face, "Did you say something, Prince Melthis?"

"No, nevermind. I'll be honored to be your brother, Princess Nefeskaya," the prince said as he got on one knee and kissed the princess' hands.

"Heehee, you're much nicer than some of the supposedly gentlemen around here. Oh by the way, it's Feska."

"I beg your pardon?"

"Call me Feska."

"That is very inappropriate, Princess-"

"Feska!" she said.

"Feska," the prince said while feeling he had crossed a line.

It was at this time that the princess' brothers arrived.

"Oh goody!" she said as she pulled Prince Melthis onto his feet and hooked arms with him, "Now let's go fool my brother!"

*As always, comments and feedbacks are appreciated. I'm sorry that it's taking much longer this time for somewhat less length in this chapter. New responsibilities at work's been cutting more and more of my time writing.