Page 33 of The Ruby Dragon Prince
“It’s the farmers,” Tovey said, grabbing my hand, standing, and pulling me along. “I recognize some of them. This must be their meeting to discuss Father’s new tax.”
Tovey was correct. The meeting was already in session as we made our way back to the narrow courtyard that filled the space between two rows of buildings.
“This new tax proposed by the king will break too many of us,” a middle-aged alpha with a greying beard and a kind face addressed a growing crowd of others. “It penalizes us for doing well. It is a blatant attempt to push us back into those dark ages when a handful of feudal lords controlled the lion’s share of the land’s wealth.”
“We won’t go back again!” another farmer shouted, a female alpha, by the look of her. “We’ve earned our homes and our land the hard way. We’ve made more of ourselves than we were given and the land has been fruitful because of it.”
“If King Freslik has his way,” another, slightly younger female alpha said, “Women like me and Leandra there won’t be allowed to own much land at all.”
“The tax is heavier on anyone who isn’t a male alpha,” a man who looked like a beta shouted from the other end of the courtyard. “It’s clear what sort of land he wants this to be.”
“He’s after money,” the farmer leading the meeting said. “He wants to fill his coffers and those of men like Lord Groswick and the others who follow him like puppies.”
“Aye!” several people called out in agreement.
“He wants to dangle meager coins in front of us so that we’ll turn on each other for the scraps from his table,” the man leading the meeting went on.
“Outrage!” someone shouted.
“You cannot allow this to happen!” Tovey shouted, surprising me and everyone else.
All eyes turned toward him. Several of the farmers must have known who he was. A murmur went through the crowd, and one by one, the farmers dropped to one knee in deference.
Tovey seemed energized by the show of respect. He sent me a quick smile, then faced the crowd again.
“You must band together to resist whatever my wicked father and his followers have planned,” he said. “The only way to save one is if each one of you works together to save all.”
“What do you mean, Your Highness?” the man running the meeting asked.
Tovey was smaller than anyone else in the square, and even with most of them on one knee, I knew he needed to be more visible. So without pausing to ask him about it, I knelt and swept my shoulder under his bum, then stood as he sat on my shoulder. Tovey gasped in surprise, then instinctively steadied himself using my magic.
“The only way to fight back against a tyrant like my father is to pledge to help one another,” Tovey went on, much more visible to everyone in the courtyard. “His methods depend on each of you turning against the other. His taxation scheme is intended to make you all weak enough to grasp at whatever he offers so that he looks like the savior. But you cannot allow him to have that sort of power over you.”
“How can we avoid it?” one of the farmers asked. “Your father might be evil, if you’ll pardon me for saying so, Your Highness, but he is also powerful. If he wishes us to starve, then we will starve.”
“If you starve, he starves,” Tovey said. “If your farms do not produce, then he will not have bread. If you do not have money for the market, those who sell the wares will have no buyers. But I know you are all stronger than the arbitrary rules that bind and restrict you. I know that you can find secret ways to help one another. I have recently come to learn that the world works in a thousand unexpected ways, and what we see on the surface is only a tiny fraction of the reality that we live in.”
“You’re talking about magic,” the man running the meeting said. I noticed that his eyes kept shifting to me, then slightly away, like he knew I was cloaked in some sort of magic.
“If that is what it takes,” Tovey said with a nod. “But kindness is the greatest magic that I have ever known. Steadfastness and loyalty to those near and dear to you is the most powerful magic there is. When we all stand together, not even the strongest force?—”
“Look out!” a young boy shouted from an upper window in one of the houses lining the courtyard. “The king’s guards are coming!”
Chapter
Ten
Tovey
I’d never felt anything as thrilling as standing up and speaking my mind to the farmers of my father’s kingdom and urging them to stand together. For those few, wonderful moments, I wasn’t a pitiful, victimized omega suffering at my father’s whim. I was a man with conviction who wanted to work with the people who deserved it to make a better world.
Better worlds didn’t come without opposition, though, and as soon as the call went out that my father’s guards were on their way to break up the farmers’ meeting, and probably arrest as many of them as possible, since making out that the farmers were criminals would help my father’s plan to crush them, everyone scattered.
“Head for the market,” the wise, older farmer who had been leading the meeting called out to everyone. “Do not try to hide. If you appear suspicious, they will seek out the reason why.”
It was good advice, but even I, with so little experience of the world, knew they would need to run first.
“We need to leave, too,” Rufus said, lifting me down from his shoulder and taking my hand.
