Dragon Slave Read online

“Would you like anything, Your Royal Highness?” a lady in waiting asked the adolescent in her chambers.

  Princess Theora slumped in the castle window. “No,” she groaned insipidly, cheek slipping from her hand. She ran her fingers through her long hair, watching commoners going about their lives down below.

  How is it that the common people always have something to work towards? Theo wondered. I don’t have to strive for anything.

  She knew she should be grateful for her easy life- that so many people envied her for it. And yet, she could think of no life duller than her own. Now that I’ve grown out of playing, what is there left for me to do? Chadwick gets to practice sword-play and go hunting…Neither of those are proper for a lady.

  “Ma’am, would you like me to have your horse readied for you?” the woman suggested.

  Theo sighed. “I suppose…” she answered. The maid backed out with a curtsy.

  A wingless, cat-sized dragon slinked along the roofs of villagers’ houses and Theo distastefully turned her gaze away. Horrible little things.

  After a moment, she stood up, checking her dress as she did so. Leaving her chambers, she ventured through the castle, passing cleaning servants through the Main Hall. In the courtyard, Theo straightened her posture as she saw the queen, her prim, orderly mother, nearby.

  At last, she reached the castle stables, where a stable boy awaited her with her steed.

  “Your horse, Your Highness,” the boy addressed her with a hasty bow.

  Theo smiled, pleased to see her horse. When Theo was a young child, she had heard of a newborn foal that had just barely survived birth. Curious, she had asked to see it. At the moment she first gazed upon the weak, grey horse she decided it was hers. Her mother tried to convince her against it. Wouldn’t you like a nice, pretty, white one instead? she had asked.

  Her father also criticized her choice, saying that a princess should ride a strong, noble horse fit for royalty. But despite her parents’ disapproval, Theo would not consent to any other steed. Theo named her Nigh, in remembrance of the horse’s near death experience. Nigh had grown up to be a beautiful, elegant horse. Her soft coat was dappled grey. The hair of her mane was light and silky, soothing to the touch.

  Nigh stood as the only animal Theo truly liked, the only one that Theo enjoyed to be around. She was gentle and quiet. She was not a show of brute force and bulk in muscle like so many other horses Theo had seen.

  “Chadwick,” Theo would often say when she saw his horse bothering hers. “Please take that nuisance of yours away.”

  But at this, Chadwick would only grin and so Theo would irritably ask a servant to retie her horse somewhere else.

  Presently, Theo was helped into Nigh’s saddle. Accompanied by two guards and two maids, also mounted, Theo set out through the village to expansive fields. She followed paths, enjoying the fresh, abundant air that cooled her face and smoothed her hair.

  Suddenly, Theo noticed a change in Nigh’s behavior. The horse pulled to a halt as they came across the white dung of a dragon. Nigh began traipsing nervously in place and Theo stroked her neck to assuage her. Her horse had always been especially afraid of dragons. Theo did not care for them either.

  She’d actually been hearing stories about them from the rich for years. Stories about cat and dog sized dragons sneaking in and stealing away with valuable items. The first person to complain was jeered at, but when more and more people came to the towns with similar tales, everyone reconsidered.

  Such stories reminded Theo of the wyvern in the tree that talked to her. There was a time when even she thought she had imagined it, but with thieving dragons appearing out of nowhere and disappearing with personal property, she wasn’t so sure.

  It confused her. All the dragons she’d ever seen gave her little to no impression that they were at all intelligent- not that she’d studied them too closely.

  Perhaps they’re like magpies, she contemplated, snatching anything that shines. Or perhaps they’ve been trained by criminals.

  But then, she thought, that still doesn’t explain the wyvern speaking.

  As she thought about this, she carefully eased Nigh around the dung and they continued on their way.

  Passing through the large trading town, Swaineford, the sound of clopping hooves cluttered the air as they rode over a big stone bridge. Swaine River ran fluently underneath, bending towards the castle to provide the kingdom of Wystil with the water they needed.

  Theo and her servants journeyed farther and farther from the castle, spotting a herd of deer which sprang away. The path led them into a thickening forest, only ever clearing to reveal a sandy bank.

  “Whoa,” Theo slowed Nigh to a stop as they neared the stream, Iron Creek. Never before had a Wystilian crossed this creek to the other side, for along it grew what the commoners referred to as the iron bond plants.

  Everything about these plants was dense and impenetrable- roots, core, and all. They grew tall and close to each other, reaching out with their branches to meet and lock around their neighbors’, forming a thick wall that no human could climb over, dig under, or pass through. Wystilians had even tried burning the plants down, but with no success. To build something over it would cost too much time, money, and effort considering there was such little promise of what lay beyond.

  Right beyond the wall of plants was a range of mountains. It was thought that the iron bond plants relied heavily on both water and the nutrients that washed down from the mountains. This would explain why the plants grew for miles, only between the mountains and creek, and never further outward.

  Beyond the mountain range was land completely unknown to the Wystilians.

  Theo looked down the creek. She had heard that farther downstream, well out of Wystil territory, the creek eventually departed from the mountains and the wall of iron bonds ceased. This left a small unblocked stretch, yet there was something else that kept people away. Many stories were told of the legendary dragon that destroyed the castle of Wystil’s enemy, Crageria. This dragon was said to be of terrible size, with a hide the colors of rusted metal.

  Stray survivors had come to Wystil begging for refuge, but a famine was upon them and Theo’s father was firm in sending them away. And so, with nowhere else to go, it was believed that all the Cragerians died away.

  The terrible dragon lived on, dwelling in the castle ruins, feasting on whatever animals entered its domain. In admiration of the beast’s power, the king, Theo’s father, called it Zeus. He ordered his people never to go near Crageria, in hopes that the beast would not be lured into Wystil. As far as Theo knew, no one ever dared go against his warning.

  Zeus…There were rumors that he was getting ready to migrate to more populated areas, where food for a dragon is plenty. Theo bit her lip thinking about it. Oh, how her brother used to taunt her with stories of Zeus, of the lumbering beast burning down villages and swallowing pretty girls. Especially princesses, he’d add mischievously.

  At least there’s no evidence of Zeus ever breathing fire, she comforted herself. Surely that idea is simply for children.

  A summer storm gathered far upstream. In the distance, heavy, grey clouds were smeared across the sky and she could feel the nearing rain in the warm air. Her guards and servants shifted uneasily.

  “It looks like there’s a storm on its way, Ma’am,” one of them spoke up. “May I suggest we be heading back now?”

  “In a moment,” Theo responded, eyeing the creek. “One drink of the stream and then we’ll be on our way to the castle.” She slipped out of the saddle to descend the escarpment. Her feet dislodged pebbles and they tumbled down the slope. Precariously, she knelt down to dip her hands in the smoothly running water. Both her guards also dismounted, drawing closer to her in their overly protective manner.

  They turned their heads as the sound of rumbling thunder throbbed throughout the sky. “Princess?” said a guard, offering his hand to help her up. But in that moment the roaring of raging water rose and Th
eo saw the swelling of a huge wave rushing down the creek towards them.

  Flash flood.

  The maids screamed. The horses reared. Theo’s guards yelled and tried to grab her, but they were too late- the wave hit. Theo and her men were caught up off their feet, turned in nauseating cycles and battered by objects. Something hit Theo in the head and her senses scattered.

  Then, as though in a dream, she felt herself caught up in someone’s grasp and lifted high into the air, the violent rapids left far below. Mysteriously, she was taken, gliding along to be set safely down on the ground. Her vision was weak. From the earth she saw a large, green beast with bat-like wings, and a man kneeling over her, trying to give her something. She smiled at the hallucinations, then coughed up water and lost herself to darkness.

  Chapter 2