Forest Kingdom Trilogy 1 - Blue Moon Rising

and turned her round to face him. 'Julia, I didn't save you from the demons just to lose you to my brother. Now let's get out of here. I'm tired, and I've got to be up early tomorrow.'
    Julia studied him a moment, and then smiled reluctantly. 'It has been a long day, hasn't it? Let's go.'
    'Excuse me,' said Harald, moving elegantly forward to block their way, 'but if anyone is to escort the Princess Julia to her chambers, it should be me. I mean to say, dammit, she is my fiancee.'
    'Harald,' said Rupert calmly, 'I am not in the mood for this kind of nonsense. I rarely am in the mood, and take it from me, right now I am less in the mood than ever before, if that's possible. So get out of my way or I'll feed you a knuckle sandwich. Even worse, I might let Julia do it.'
    Harald looked at Julia thoughtfully. She smiled sweetly at him, and let her hand rest casually on the pommel of her sword. Harald bowed to her, and then smiled politely at Rupert.
    'How brave you've grown, Rupert, now you've a dragon to back you up. Assuming you survive your journey to the Dark Tower, do hurry back; I want you to be best man at my wedding.' He grinned as Rupert flushed angrily. 'I thought you'd like that, Rupert. I'll see you tomorrow, Julia; we have so much to
    ... discuss.'
    He stepped back, bowed to them both, and swept majestically out of the Court. Rupert and Julia watched him go.
    'Nice brother you've got there,' said Julia. 'Really knows how to twist the knife.'
    'Yes,' said Rupert. 'Still, we mustn't be too hard on him. He hasn't got long to live.'
    'Why not?'
    'Because one of these days I'm going to kill him.'
    Julia chuckled earthily. 'Can I help?'
    They laughed together, and then went to awaken the sleeping dragon. Rupert called to him, yelled in his ear, and even rapped on the creature's bony forehead with his fist, but the two thin plumes of smoke rising from the dragon's nostrils didn't even waver. Rupert sighed, walked round to the rear of the dragon, took careful aim, and delivered a mighty kick. The dragon slowly opened his eyes, and Rupert jumped up and down for a while holding his foot in both hands. The dragon rose grumpily to his feet and peered blearily around him.
    'Julia, where is everybody?'
    'They've all left.'
    'Pity, I was just starting to feel a little peckish. Why is Rupert hopping up and down and muttering to himself?'
    'I think it's some kind of folk dance,' said Julia solemnly.
    'Oh,' said the dragon doubtfully. He studied Rupert carefully, and then looked away. 'Where's the unicorn?'
    'Hiding,' said a melancholy voice from behind a hanging arras. 'Every time Rupert has to speak to his family he ends up in a foul temper, and he takes it out on me.'
    'Get out of there, unicorn,' snapped Rupert, hobbling over to lean on Julia.
    'See what I mean?' said the unicorn, emerging cautiously from behind the tapestry. 'If you've run out of people to upset, Sire, could we perhaps go now? In case it slipped your attention, we haven't eaten since
    first thing this morning, and my stomach thinks my throat's been cut.'
    'Of course,' said Rupert. 'I'll get you all the grass you can eat.'
    'Oh, whoopee,' said the unicorn.
    They headed for the shattered doorway, Rupert still leaning companionably on Julia.
    'Just my luck,' muttered the unicorn.
    'What?' asked Rupert.
    'All that effort I put into practising my limp, and nobody even mentioned it.'
    Rupert and Julia looked at each other, spluttered with laughter, and led the dragon and the no-longer-limping unicorn out of the Court.
    King John watched the last of the dragon's tail slither out of the doorway, and then he sighed wearily and sank back in his throne. Thomas Grey lowered himself cautiously on to the steps leading up to the throne.
    His knees cracked loudly as he sat down. Both King and Astrologer looked suddenly older.
    'Doesn't the Court seem larger without Rupert's friends in it,' said the King.
    Grey laughed. 'Not to mention quieter.'
    'I like Julia,' said the King. 'She's got spirit. And Rupert seems to have developed a powerful right hand.'
    'At least he got that idiot Darius off our backs for a while.'
    'Quite,' growled the King. 'That's what you get for making Ministerships hereditary.'
    'Not one of my better ideas,' Grey admitted. He yawned widely.
    'Don't,' said the King. 'You'll start me off, and there's work to be done yet. At least, I assume there is.'
    'I'm afraid so,' said Grey. 'To start with, we've got to change all the arrangements for Harald's