Claiming the City

Zyle changed into his dragon form his tail twining under the troop and ministers picking them all up

carrying them flying upon his back as Vanessa flew upon his head once more they flew over the city catching the attention

of the citizens who began to cheer from below the news had already gotten out that the black dragon was no longer

and King Zyle and Zehan were back and were their new kings there would be justice for the people, at last, crowds started to follow the dragon in the streets below until they reached the cities gold reserve

where the clan's money was kept in large buildings under lock and key and being guarded by his uncle's troops as

Zyle and Vanessa landed with their own troops they were immediately under fire

Vanessa whip swept through the air the blades singing Zyle's sword unleashing waves of energy

as they cut men down from the gates walls and roof Zyle blasted the building door open with power

and their troops charged in and the people outside cheered it didn't take long to overwhelm the small forces

inside finding accounting crab men hard at work at their desk counting money

"stop everything immediately" Zyle ordered striding inside

"who is the head accountant here?" a crab man stepped forward

"do you know who I am?" Zyle asked him

"you are his Majesty Prince Zyle" he replied bowing his head

"I am King Zyle" he corrected him "and this is Queen Vanessa understand?"

the crab man blinked looking at them carefully and began to click his claws together

"We are but humble servants your Majesty," the crab man said "we only do the work that is given whatever king is here, we work to count the coins,

in exchange, we get food, shelter, and work to raise our families, the coins do not belong to us, the coins belong to the kingdom,

we will not be of any hindrance to your Majesty as long as this remains the same, how may we continue to be of service under you?" he asked

"I want the records of all the excess taxes taken from the people," Zyle said

"I want to know exactly how much money was taken and I want every penny

returned back to the people to poor families who need it, and I want to know exactly how much we have left in reserve when you are done with that,

I want all current taxes that you are aware of that are illegally enforced to be stopped immediately, and I want all records of any money taken from the kingdom by the black dragon, and I want all assets hidden or otherwise owned by the dragon to be turned over to us immediately can you do that for me?"

the crab man bowed "we have been keeping careful records as we are required to do we can

have it all done shortly we will also call in all tax collectors immediately and turn over all financial records to the royal palace immediately"

"thank you," Zyle said

"I need guards stationed here," Zyle said immediately a team of soldiers presented themselves from the troop

"very good," Zyle said smiling "you all will be well rewarded for your work once we get things such as your salaries sorted out "

the crab men and soldiers all thankfully bowed to him

"We are going to reopen the markets next," he said as they left the hall while vanessa cast a spell around the building it and their people inside safe

they left with the remaining troops flying into the heart of the city

where some large buildings used as a public market place once filled with merchants and goods it was a lively bustling place now sat in silence

"This place had been sealed by the black dragon" Minster Maia explained

"he prevented the people from being able to purchase food and goods instead everyone was put on rations while he hoarded the best food for his people and made a profit selling our food supplies and goods outside to his allies"

"he starved our people for a profit well it will happen no more," Zyle said as he broke the seals on the buildings

and entered the buildings discovering the black dragon had used the buildings as storehouses to horde goods

vanessa claimed all the goods storing them away in her pearl they would be distributed back to the people later

when the doors of th market were thrown open numerous people who had gathered to watch cheered noisily

and once they had cleared the building and it was safe to enter they let the people outside to come flooding in

the next spot they hit was the port, ships were being packed to leave the city to take food supplies and other things to the other three cities

the port was immdiately closed by Zyles orders the ships were searched and their goods reclaimed the crews

grounded no one was going out, all trade outside was stopped for the time being

any incoming ships were to be ceased immedately upon arrival in port

the goods from the ships were also ceased vanessa had so much stored

in her pearl now it was glowing and had grown a bit bigger as it hung at her throat

they marched through out the city and secured every corner of it the soldiers were

set on regular patrols and shifts to manage things vanessa sent

clones to accompany them and also keep her up to date on what

was happening at the various places they were now holding

they was some small troops of clones on the streets going around and helping the

ordinary citizens stopping small crimes and keeping the peace

it seemed queen vanessa was everywhere at once

it took only a few hours before order was restored to the city and they secured it completely

more and more people were gathering at the royal palace

they had not failed to notice everything that was being done in a short time

the presence of the military on the streets as well as the activity of the clones many criminals were caught and carried off to jail

at the same time, there were many people who were unjustly jailed to be released the ministers were all employed to quickly straighten out their cases as soon as possible

the sound of music and gathering of large groups of people could soon be heard outside the palace

"We must address the people they will want to know what is happening," Zyle said

"then lets take care of it," vanessa said

cast open a nearby palace window with one graceful wing she flew out to the window

the below below cheered when she appeared

"Hello all people of Draconia" she greeted them "today I greet you all for the first time as your new queen i am Queen Vanessa it is my greatest honor to serve you by the side of your new King Zyle"

"together with us Your king Zehan and your Queen Vivian"

Zehan said loudly as the pair flew above the garrison

"Today we could not greet you all in the proper manner as is customary," Zehan continued

"however you can all see we have been busy, hard at work restoring that which was taken from you by the black dragon

we have closed the ports and ceased all goods, but we have reopened the local markets shortly we will be releasing goods to all our local merchants"

a cheer went up from the people

"We have reclaimed our kingdoms gold reserves" Zehan continued

"and soon we will distribute money to everyone in the city,

all the excess taxes that were taken from you all will be returned to the people in full and there will not be any more

enforced tax collection, we will also restore all salaries to all our workers in the kingdom"

the people were cheering even louder

"we will restore food to our people so we all eat well there will be no more rations the dragon clan will be restored into the thriving utopia it once was

it will be better than ever before we wish to leave the sad days of suffering behind for our people we want days and peace and

happiness ushering in a new era for Draconia as your new kings and queens

so our children will thrive in the future and we will begin by becoming one once more

we will route out all the wicked supressors of our people and set everyone free we will rule fairly and justly

as it was before there shall be a court for the people to be reopened soon as well"

the people cheered elated

"Many things will return to as it was with the old dynasty and by the same hand many things will also not return, it will be for the better for our clan as we move into the future, we shall a pave a new path for our people

fear not for the soldiers you see around on the streets, they are only there to enforce the law and round up any troublesome people who may have been plaguing the streets

we wish to make our city safe for our people once more the black dragon is gone and our people are to be free

anything that was done during the time of the black dragon that wrongs and harms our people must end immediately

do not let our soldiers have to find you or the punishment will be severe

all those of you here who know you are secretly allies of the black dragon I give you this last message

you have this last chance to turn yourself in quietly tell us everything you know and we will consider how lenient we can be

if you somehow flee our city we will hunt you down and catch you the punishment will befit the crimes which caused harm to our people there will be no mercy

Zehan finished witl finality the cheers that lit up the air was a roar of support and approval from the people