Each shelf was bursting with 'dark' and 'light' outlawed items from ages and wars long since past, protected by the most powerful of mantras, so much so that even the king, should he have wished to, would not have been able to retrieve said items. This cold corner was always avoided by each one of the dragons, well... by almost every one. On very rare occasions, Councillor Rosebloom would casually stroll this way, deep in thought about some council motion or another. He was the only one that ever ventured near that cold, dark and dangerous part of the room.
With a cold rush of air and a shudder, the large, silver, double doors slowly opened to reveal a solemn looking line of dragons. Slowly, with the king at its head, the line made its way into the cavernous room and once the doors shut firmly behind them, the dragons broke off to make their way to the seats they normally occupied, with the king giving one powerful flap of his wings to land perfectly upon his raised throne.
With the sounds of crackling fires, the sizzling fat from the spit roasted meat dripping onto the floor and the lava leaping off the pillars for company, the king stood and cleared his throat, before uttering words that have been used to get dragon council meetings started for centuries...
"Before we talk, argue, discuss and chat,
First we must consume, eat and get fat.
Once full to the brim with food,
Our minds and bodies will have attained the right mood.
Thinking and decision making will be right,
And can go on well into the night.
Let the feast begin..."
Well over four hours, that's how long the feast lasted, with just about everything being consumed. By the end, only a few solitary crumbs of charcoal lay scattered across the floor. As well as eating and drinking, a few of the dragons, mainly the younger ones (still hundreds of years old) wing wrestled each other, faced off in a fire breathing contest and nearly all had tried to outdo each other with the latest grooming ideas. Some had intricate tattoos carefully inscribed on a few of their scales, others had scales painted different colours to form a much bigger and brighter pattern. Rosebloom tried to show off his 'hair', but most of the other councillors just poked fun, thinking this a step too far on the grooming scale. This was the informal part of the process, designed so that those attending could let off steam before they all got down to the business of governing.
Of course, the king was above all this... frivolity. Well, mostly. A small part of him would like to have taken part and he could remember a time when not only would he have joined in, but would almost certainly have been the ringleader... organising crazy competitions, egging on other dragons in stupid stunts... The wildest thing he could remember doing was getting nearly all the other councillors at the time to agree to play a game of... chase! Instead of the chaser having to touch the other dragons to catch them, all he had to do was hit them with a blast of fire from his mouth. The king at the time and a few of the more mature councillors had looked on in disbelief, right in this very room, as dragons circled and spiralled, crouched behind the table, hid amongst the tapestries and blew fire across the room. Of course the whole thing had ended in disaster, pretty much as the dragons who hadn't taken part had predicted. In an effort to get away from a dragon chasing him, one councillor had dropped down from the roof, as fast as he dared, turned sharply and sped behind the mosaic of scales, glancing over his shoulder to check if his pursuer was still there. He was, and the dragon in front, watching the jet of flame close in on him, panicked, attempted a really tight turn, too tight in fact, and... BAM!... he ended up crashing into the mantra protected, ice covered bookshelf. The noise had been earth shattering, not just the sound of the collision, but the blood curdling scream the councillor let out. Try as he might, he would never forget that sound. He and a lot of the other councillors learnt a valuable lesson that day, one of the reasons that he sat back now and let the others get on with things. Plus, council protocol dictated that he should remain aloof and keep his distance, something that as time had gone by, he was happier to do.
But now the feast had come to an end, it was time to get down to the serious business of running the planet. Picking up two of the silver plates in front of him, the king used the full force of his massive limbs to crash them together. Deafening, the noise bounced off the walls inside the chamber for much longer than its occupants were comfortable with. When all the dragons had stopped stock still, the king spoke with all the authority that befitted his position.
"The time for merriment is over. Please be seated."
Instantly the atmosphere changed to one of seriousness, as each councillor took his place at the trident shaped table, all alert, focused and ready to begin. Slowly at first, the matters at hand came and went, as was the dragon norm, starting with the smaller issues of the day, with the much more important topics being saved until last, the theory being that the council would sit until everything was sorted, however long that might be. By having the small matters first, it meant that things wouldn't be rushed. The record for a council sitting currently stood at six days, nine and a half hours, a meeting that had taken place during World War Two.
Slowly and diligently, the councillors discussed subjects such as the quality of charcoal being provided to under five dragonlings in the nursery rings; whether or not to grant a licence to a dragon entrepreneur for blanket mobile phone coverage below ground, encompassing the entire dragon domain; the enterprise to drill for oil in the Gulf of Mexico which had punctured the subterranean membrane that separates the human/dragon world; and, the most bizarre so far, the problems of charcoal bubblegum! The king, up to now, had barely said a word. It was of course his right, being king, to let the others get on with it, but to interrupt and offer his opinion when and where he thought needed. Biding his time, he was saving his influence and energy for the right battles, in the hope that he could win the most important ones. Listening to how the latest craze amongst young dragons freshly out of the nursery rings was gum, not just any gum, but charcoal bubble gum, you wouldn't have thought this was a subject that would appear before the council, but you see... there were problems. The first was the young dragons chewing while at the same time superheating the gum with their breath. It was all well and good until a bubble was blown, and then the gum exploded across their entire jaw and face, turning into a sort of glue, setting almost immediately, hospitalising many dragons because the gum blocked their nostrils and jaws simultaneously. Not only that, but dragons had been blowing bubbles with the gum and then opening their mouths. Filled with superheated air, the gum acted in the same way as a balloon and drifted up into the air. Huge swathes of some dragon cities were dotted with large blobs of sticky gum. There were a lot of unhappy dragons, calling it a disgrace and saying that something like this wouldn't have happened in their day.
Sitting and pretending to listen, the king's mind was on other matters... primarily Antarctica. Try as he might, he found it hard to piece things together from all he knew, from what Flash had told him, and his other sources. If everything that he had heard was true, and he had no reason to suspect it wasn't, the one thing which was blatantly obvious was that a traitor, or traitors, existed somewhere close to him, either in the council or one of the other related departments, maybe even in the King's or Crimson Guards... heaven forbid! So, for now, he was isolated. Having no idea who to trust, he felt lonely, tired and racked with guilt... guilt about his friend, the dragon he loved like a brother, being trapped in what could only be described as dragon hell, and for all this time too. All he wished to do was call the dragon world to arms and mount a rescue for his friend and the others who were incarcerated there. But it just wasn't possible... not at the moment.