Dracul woke up and uncurled himself from his mattress stuffed with straw a few yards away from the massive black dragon he had learned not to wake up at this time of morning as he was awake a good hour before any of the servants in the castile.
The stone walls were covered with a smelly moss from the huge fogs that hung over the city during this time of year. He scratched at it for several minutes and quickly became determined to get all the moss off the wall. He didn't use magic as Shruikan would have smelled the magic and woken up, not only that but he would first have to change back into his weak, wimpy human form to cast any spells.
He sneezed as he managed to dislodge a particularly large bit of moss that then got stuck on his nose.
The creaking of a door alerted him that someone else was awake in the castile. He soon noticed his father with a key who quickly opened the door to a storage closet with his eldunari, his ancestors souls who he had been told lost their mind when the riders turned against the king.
He rumbled as fire was called into his throat, he quietly baked the stones, searing all the moss until none was left.
Soon his father discovered he was awake. "Morning father." He piped as Galbatorix passed his room.
The king stopped and glanced inside, he gave him a quick smile and nodded.
Dracul allowed his body to change into his naked human form as he knew his father was more keen on seeing the boy in the morning.
He didn't enjoy the feeling of being inside a human's body, it was tight and his brain was the most painful part of the transformation, leaving him feeling dull and innocent when it was over because he had no scales to show and no visible physical strength.
He knew that his father wanted it this way. People he had been sent to kill were always kind to a small child bawling his eyes out, but when he changed and left a dead body none believed that a child who had been the only one in the room could have done such a thing. And so he went undetected.
He carefully put on his robes of stiff wool and tromped down the stairs into the banquet hall. Smells wafted from the kitchen as servants set out great steaming plates of food and lords and ladies who had spent last night partying joined them at the table.
Laughter from happy couples washed over him as more and more people joined them, Galbatorix smiled charmingly at all of them.
He enjoyed knowing every little detail of their lives so that he could find their true name.
Dracul was grateful that the fact that he was a human and dragon ment that his name was so jumbled that none would possibly have a chance of guessing it or learning it and it had greatly angered his father for a number of years before he finally gave up.
His true name was so elusive that even he through all his father's lessons he couldn't even glimpse what his name was. Nothing was right, no matter how close he got it was as if it didn't even exist in the first place.
He was jerked out of his deep thoughts by one of the lord's saying to him. "-Eh?"
He looked at him and said, "Sorry sir," he said almost in a whisper-like innocent voice, "What did you say?"
"I said it must be nice having a father to look up to who is like that." he said gesturing to Galbatorix who was simultaneously engaged in three conversations.
"Of course! He is so kind to everyone!" Dracul said brightly, almost wincing as he said 'to everyone' as a server swept in almost dropping a scroll as he hastily ran up the steps shouting, "Sir! Sir! A message!"
The man bowed low and placed the scroll in Galbatorix's outstretched hand.
He looked down at the scroll and Dracul felt Galbatorix's vast consciousness touch his own.
There is another dragon and rider, I need you to bring them back here to me.
With a swift movement Galbatorix dismissed the server and stood, eyes followed him as he placed his hand on Dracul's shoulder and whispered in his ear, "You need to get ready."
This chapter is thanks to the reviewer! Thanks for the review, it really gave me some inspiration.