All characters are over 18. Introduction of potential double ownership. Bit of m/m still included.
***
We stood just outside the castle in the courtyard. A big black horse was being lead over to us.
"Most of them don't mind our smell," the man said as he handed over the reigns. "They seemed to have trained and treated their horses better than most of their people."
Hands landed on my hips and hauled me up into the saddle. Then Malack climbed up behind me. The garment gapped and I showed an obscene amount of leg on either side of the horse. Malack's hands went to my exposed waist. When we heard a commotion, Malack turned the horse to look. I gasped.
People were being lead out into the courtyard. They were all naked and they had boards rectangle boards locked around their necks with their arms trapped on either side of their necks. The king was lead out first and the guards laughed as he stumbled and fell before helping him to his feet. The men looked angry while the women sobbed. I thought that I wouldn't have cared what happened to them.
"Do you feel sorry for them?"
"Yes," I answered honestly.
"Why?" There was nothing but curiosity in his voice.
"Because they are scared and suffering. I know what that feels like."
Malack didn't respond. Instead he barked out an order and the castle gates opened and dragon guards surrounded the nobles and escorted them out of the gates. A few dragon guards on horses waited around the dragon king and I as we watched the people shuffle out. When Malack urged his horse to walk, we swayed with the horse as it started out of the castle.
Outside of the castle gates, the streets were lined with it's citizens. They all stared at the procession. Some cheered but most stayed silent. They're eyes tracked from the naked bodies of their nobles, to the guards, then to the man sitting behind me.
"They're lives are about to get better, they just don't know it yet," Malack said into my ear.
"How?" How could their lives get better?
"Your king took everything they had so he and his kind could live the way he was. My people will help them. They will spread into the country where the farms are barely able to get by and we will help plant food, raise better stock and start to heal this country."
"Why would you care?"
"Your king either forgot or ignored what we are. Dragon's are the stewards of the land. His ancestors signed treaties when they settled here. They slowly disregarded it over time until we decided to reclaim the land. We aren't monsters, Wyn. We'll take care of the people who suffered at the hands of the greedy and cruel."
We rode down the streets in silence after that. We hadn't gotten very far before we heard yelling and laughing at the start. Malack motioned and a man on a horse rode ahead of us to check it out. He returned laughing.
"They brought their rotten food to give back to the king," he stated. I wasn't sure what he meant and why he was laughing. It wasn't until the horses started walking over food in the road before I realized that they were throwing spoiled food at the king and his nobles.
Finally we turned down the road into a wide open space that was usually set up as a market. But the stalls were cleared away. Along one building was a platform with chairs. Tables were set up around the outside of the open area. There were two large dragons in the courtyard and the people avoided them. Malack dismounted and pulled me down after him. The stones were cool and smooth beneath my bare feet as we walked to the platform and Malack guided me to a chair. I sat.
"Behold your king!" Malack yelled. "Behold the man who took everything from you and lived greedily off the backs of its hard working, starving citizens. He is no longer your king. I am."
I tuned Malack out as he spoke about the changes they would make and how they would help them live better lives. I glanced at the faces of the crowd and they all looked scared but also enraptured with the dragon king. When he was done with his speech, he sat in the chair next to me. We watched as dragon guards brought in trays of food and put them all over the open tables.
"Eat!" Malack cried out and people cautiously approached the tables and began eating. The trays were replaced with more food as they emptied.
"Where..." I began.
"I had my men raid all the homes of the nobles and kings stores. They had so much food stored away. It was more than they could eat. So much of it would have gone to waste and they would have let it rot before they gave it to the poor to eat."
As the people got their fill of food, their attention turned to the naked nobles who nervously shifted in their bindings.
"What happens to them?"
"They will endure whatever their people decide today and then they will become slaves. They will live better lives than any of their subjects did, but they will serve others for the rest of their lives."
"Your brother has arrived," one of the dragon guards said when he approached the bottom of the platform.
"You better get out of his seat," Malack said cheerily. He pulled me from the chair and into his lap. He situated my legs to go outside both of his.
More men entered the space. And a man who looked almost like Malack walked up to the platform and took a seat in the newly vacated chair.
"I see you've made quick work of this place," the stranger said.
"It was easier than we thought. They're armies were better trained than the guards, but not by much." I decided it was better if I kept my attention on anything other than what was on the platform. I tried hard to ignore them as they talked what had happened the previous day.
"Was this the best you could do, brother?" The stranger grabbed my chin and forced my head to look at him. "She's too skinny."