Chosen By The Dragon Kings novel Chapter 76

Elora’s POV

I organised with Dragus and Matitus to distract Silas so, I could go see if people would be interested in donating blood for a blood bank. I knew with Silas loitering around they would feel obligated to do as I ask and I really wanted to build trust with our people, let them decide for themselves without the pressures of the three dragon kings standing over them and intimidating them.

We went door to door knocking and stopped in at all the shops we walked by. The store owners said they would let people know and send them to the castle. Aldrin also thought it was a good idea and spoke to a few people he knew to help move fridges and freezes to one of the greenhouses. Not Ideal but would do until we had a proper facility. Victor and two apprentices were on hand to take the blood donations if anyone was willing to help provide blood.

We asked everyone who was above 16 years old and able, excluding the elderly seeing as most of them were in poor health or just not suitable without risk to themselves. Walking through the streets though I could sense things had changed, people weren’t running scared or had their heads hung anymore, people were actually enjoying the sunlight and had come out of their homes to enjoy the nice weather for once. When we finished walking around the main streets and the closest streets to the centre, we decided to check on the kids in the orphanage.

Walking up to the brick building, I found people willingly helping and volunteering their time. A few kids in their late teens were painting the outside of the building. A few elderly people were actually helping in the gardens with some of the children, pulling weeds out and cleaning off the concrete stairs.

“Do all these people work here?” I ask turning to Marian. She shakes her head.

“No, a lot are volunteers that wanted to help, a lot of people didn’t know how to help them but now that the dragon kings have organised food and shelter, they want to make it homely for them, a safe place for them to be kids” Marian answers.

“They have been fixing up the two homeless centres too” Dakari added behind me. A lot of people who noticed him recognised him as dragon, yet they didn’t fear him like they did the dragon kings, probably to do with his charismatic nature and happy go lucky attitude. I also noticed he was willing to pitch in not afraid of hard work back at the castle I caught him yesterday helping haul firewood in with the stable hand.

“As I stepped inside the orphanage the first person, I noticed was Lilith, she was playing checkers on the step with another girl. She beamed up at me, her blonde locks had been cut and she had bob cut which actually suited her made her look like a porcelain doll.

“Hey Lilith” I say as she jumps off the step and runs toward me and wraps her arms around me. The little girl with her had, red hair and freckles, she looked delicate and a little scared but happy to see new faces.

“This is Millie, my friend and this is Elora” She tells Millie.

“Hi Millie” I tell her giving her wave, she shyly hides behind Lilith though, I could see the curious look in her eyes as she stared between Dakari and myself.

“Do you know where Patricia is Lilith?” Marian asks her. Lilith points to the stairs and Marian leads the way as I follow her, curious to meet the woman who has been watching over the children. What I wasn’t prepared for was, how young she was. Walking into one of the bedrooms, there are 8 bunk beds lined against the walls each separated by a chest of draws for the children to share.

A girl about the age of 17 with dark curly hair to her shoulders was sitting on the end of one of the beds with three little boys no older then three and a little girl. She looks up when we enter a smile lighting up her face as her brown eyes scanned over us.

“Abbie didn’t come?” She asks looking behind us. Marian shakes her head. “Not today she isn’t feeling well” Marian answers making me look to Dakari who had found a spot on the ceiling that became suddenly fascinating, nudging him.

“My lips are sealed” He states.

“You knocked her up didn’t you” I whisper to him so no one could hear. He places his fingers to his lips pretending to lock them and throw away the key. I roll my eyes at him before turning to Patricia who was talking to Marian.

“We could really use some more fabric; a lot of the kids clothes are too small, and we haven’t got enough towels and blankets” I overhear her telling Marian.

“Anything you need just tell us, don’t ask. Tell us” I tell her trying to encourage her to say what they really need and not pick what they can and can’t go without.

“Write out a list, I will send Dakari back to pick it up later, anything you need, that the kids need. No request is to big okay, we will make it work. Do you look after all these children by yourself?’ I ask.

She shakes her head. “No, there are five of us and we take shifts but I am here all the time” She answers.

“I will find more people and I will speak to the kings about organising an income for those working here. You can’t be expected to do all this for free”

“Really we don’t mind, we are just happy to have somewhere warm to sleep and food to eat” She says, but I wave her off.

“No, its not good enough. I will speak to them and we will organise some form of payment or allowances. How is the food situation?” I ask her.

“Fine now that we have Fae and Abigail growing crops constantly, the castle cooks have been bringing meals down every day mainly soups and stews because there are so many mouths to feed, the main issue is formula we have had some babies come in over the last couple of days, their parents dropping them off, knowing there is food here, a lot of them using this place as a last resort” She answers. The thought of parents feeling there is no hope but to give their kids over to strangers for the sake of them not being able to provide for them saddened me.

“Do you know their parents?” She nods.

“Yes they stop by every day, there simply isn’t enough beds or enough work for them to provide for their kids” She says.

“Find them, make room for them. I will organise something we need workers in the greenhouses, when you see them send them to the castle, assure them they are not in trouble. I will find work for them so they can keep their children. We will also have to organise some sort of childcare arrangements for those parents who are working” I tell Marian who nods her head in agreeance.

“There is an old school down the end of the street hasn’t been used in well forever, but could make a good childcare centre and school it just needs a clean-up, the building is solid and has working plumbing” Patricia answers. This girl was smart incredibly so, the sort of smarts you only get from living the way we have, with experience on finding ways to survive and learning the City of the back of your hand.

“Okay, I wonder if some of the older generation would be willing to help teach” I say allowed but to myself.

“We have a heap of elderly people who stop by, they mainly help with cleaning, but most are trained in different areas and have skills that could be helpful to learn and to teach us. I will ask around” Patricia says blowing me away yet again with how willing to help she is.

“You should start a committee you seem to know what your doing more so then me and know a lot of people” I tell her. She blushes.