Iron Hearted Violet by Kelly Barnhill

Author:Kelly Barnhill [Barnhill, Kelly]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Juvenile Fiction / Juvenile Fiction / Animals / Dragons, Juvenile Fiction / Fantasy & Magic, Unicorns & Mythical, Juvenile Fiction / Social Issues - Friendship, Juvenile Fiction / Fairy Tales & Folklore - General
ISBN: 9780316215589
Publisher: Hachette Book Group
Published: 2012-10-09T06:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

By the time Demetrius returned home, the world he thought he knew seemed to be shattering to pieces. Violet, first altered and now gone. A nation, once peaceful, gearing up for war. You must understand, my dears, the early millennia of my world were rather similar to your own—tribalism, infighting, wars over land or water or power or beautiful maidens. But that was in the past, you see, and while there were still stories of war and stories of battles, we had not had even the inkling of polished swords and distant drums for five hundred years. And while each nation in the mirrored world kept standing armies and knew well the techniques and theories of warcraft, there is a great difference between the theory of warcraft and war itself.

What Demetrius found was chaos.

In the weeks after the dragon’s arrival—after the brazen capture and then release of the King—the castle and the surrounding city had been a thicket of activity. War was in the air—no matter what the council said—and people from the countryside had been gathering within the castle walls. Militias formed, pantries were stocked, and ad hoc training exercises became common in the city squares and in the yards.

The announcement of the Mountain King’s act of aggression had sent a worrying population into action.

Messengers had been dispatched into the towns and villages throughout the kingdom, announcing the imminent war and calling for all men and women of able body and spirit to come with horse and bow and sword in defense of their country. Demetrius slowly made his way home, jostled by the crush of people.

Once he reached the stable yards, he saw his father calling orders to a group of youths whom Demetrius didn’t know. The horses, susceptible as they were to the fluctuations in emotion of their beloved masters, were in a terrible fright. They reared and whinnied and kicked, and no amount of shushing or pulling on the part of his father or the new helpers could soothe them.

“You, in the green!” his father called. “Lead your mare this way into the run. And what’s your name? Gherta? Girl in the red. The chestnut trusts you, see that? Lead him into the side pasture. Those others will follow once they see him moving. We just need to break up this mob a bit, and they’ll all calm down. Demetrius!” He spied his son, and his face went from gray to pink. “Thank the gods! Come over here and take hold of this fellow here and bring him into the stables. He needs to be rubbed down, but he can’t be when he’s this worked up. Quickly now!”

Demetrius, his head spinning, did as he was told. The horse, a stallion so black he was nearly blue with a sharp white star on his forehead, pulled at the reins. His nostrils flared, and his eyes bulged. With each jerk of the horse’s head, Demetrius slid a few feet forward, his legs flailing out from under him momentarily, before he could whip them forward and right himself.

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