Chapter 18: The Heart of the Dragon
****
Loisette was about to go outside with Catherine for archery practice when a man came rushing into the castle. He ran past her, but she called after him, “What’s wrong?”
Surprised to see her, he paused long enough to tell her, “There’s a dragon at the east edge of the city, and it’s flaming mad, Your Highness,” and then he sprinted away, presumably to go and discuss how to handle this colossal problem with the Regent. One day, such news would come directly to Loisette, but for now, she was treated like a child and kept out of the loop.
Loisette looked at her lady-in-waiting with a frown, the gears in her head slowly turning as she considered the situation.
“What is it?” Catherine asked in concern.
“It doesn’t make sense,” mumbled Loisette to herself, taking a few idle steps as she continued to think. Though there had been many stories written about dragons which portrayed them in an evil light, she had read one book which approached them from a more positive perspective. One of the things the book had said was that dragons usually avoided towns, which were too loud and busy for a creature that preferred the dark solitude of a cave. It was much easier for a dragon to feed on deer or sheep than on human flesh, and four-legged creatures thus tended to make up most of a dragon’s meals. The giant flying reptiles were intelligent, the book noted, and preferred to keep a low profile. Though they were stronger than humans, they knew that humans lived in groups and could reign supreme by sheer virtue of numbers, so they stayed away.
There must have been something that upset the dragon if it was willing to start attacking the city. Loisette knew a dragon would be easily upset if it or its offspring were threatened. Having their treasure stolen also riled them. Neither of those two things were the dragon’s fault.
“I have to do something,” she told Catherine, making a decision. Then she began to sprint away.
“Princess, what are you doing?” the other girl called after her. But Loisette didn’t listen. She didn’t have time to explain. She had to get to the dragon before more damage was done. She had to help save the kingdom.
****
When Loisette rushed into the stable, she saw the Stable Master working at the front with a preoccupied expression on his face. “Your Highness,” he said with a bow as he noticed her. “Clarkent just left--”
“I need you to saddle High Flyer,” she told him breathlessly, trying not to think about the fact that he had assumed she was here to see the stableboy.
Seeming to realize her urgency, Dwayne got to work without any questions, putting the sidesaddle on High Flyer as she murmured to the horse, “**We’re going to go do something scary, all right?**”
“**What?**” High Flyer asked her, his suspicion evident.
“**There’s a dragon attacking the city,**” she admitted. “**I need to talk to it--calm it down. That means we have to get close to it.**”
“**That doesn’t sound like a good idea,**” the horse noted, shifting in place nervously as Dwayne tightened the saddle around him.
“**Please--we have to do this. I think I can get it to stop if I just find out what it wants. It’s really important.**”
“**All right,**” the horse said at last. “**I trust you.**”
“**Thank you,**” she replied softly, stroking his nose. She just hoped she could trust herself.
****
A few minutes later, Loisette was racing on High Flyer toward the dragon--and possibly death. She almost lost her nerve, not having realized the creature would be so big in spite of all the books she’d read and pictures she’d seen. Between its teeth and its fiery breath, she feared she would not survive this encounter. She suddenly started to feel a little sick to her stomach at the thought of being roasted alive. Would it hurt? Or would it be over so fast that she wouldn’t even notice?
A glint in the light caught her eye, and she abruptly noticed there was someone else on horseback nearby staring at the dragon. Her countenance darkened as she realized who it must be. That black armor could only mean one thing--it was the Black Knight.
She’d heard stories about him from some Nobles at court. They said he was terrorizing the countryside, attacking and robbing anyone who got into his way. *He* must have been the one who had upset the dragon, and that infuriated her. Others shouldn’t have to pay the price for one man’s foolishness.
Emboldened by her anger, she pushed High Flyer forward. There was little time to give attention to her fear as the dragon turned to look at her.
And then High Flyer was braying, “**I can’t go any closer. I can’t go any closer. I’m sorry. I’m sorry,**” and she slid off the side of him, praying her dress wouldn’t catch on the saddle and ruin everything right then and there.
But her feet met the ground without any difficulty, and after impulsively taking the golden coronet off her head, she ran toward the dragon as High Flyer raced away from it. “**Don’t hurt me!**” she yelled at the dragon, waving the small crown in the air. “**I’m here in peace! I don’t have any weapons! I just want to know what is wrong!**”
Loisette’s breath caught in her throat as the dragon stared at her with its wide yellow eyes. The rage in its expression was unmistakable. But then those two yellow orbs lifted to stare at the coronet she was holding up, and something in that face shifted.
Praying that dragons really were as noble as the book she had read had made them out to be, she prostrated herself on the ground.
“**I want to help you,**” she told the dragon, coughing a little because of the smoke that hung thickly in the air. “**I promise it’s true. Take my coronet as a peace offering--please, just listen to what I have to say.**”
There were a few seconds of silence as Loisette closed her eyes and waited for the flames of death to wash over her. But rather than the roar of fiery breath, she heard a crunching noise in the grass as the dragon stepped toward her.
****
Clarkent’s eyes almost blurred in horror and fear as he saw Princess Loisette putting herself on the ground before the dragon, as if offering herself up as a sacrifice. What was she doing? Was she suicidal? Was she under a spell?
He wanted to charge forward immediately, and he kicked Phantom’s sides, *hard*. But the horse backed up rather than moving forward. He continued kicking, but Phantom still refused to obey his commands.
He was on the verge of tears as he begged, “Phantom, *please* go. We *have* to help her!” In fury, Clarkent dug his heels in further, but the horse wouldn’t budge.
Finally, he dropped to the ground, ready to run to the princess even though it was probably too late. He had taken several steps forward--Loisette still seemed so far away--when he saw the dragon reach out toward her.
“*No,*” he whispered, about to charge ahead, only to pause as he realized something crucial about what the dragon had done. The dragon wasn’t bringing her up to its mouth. Instead, the dragon was taking something from her.
****
Loisette slowly lifted her eyes, raising the coronet a little higher as the winged green serpent approached. It reached forward with a giant arm and hooked the small crown on a claw. It stared down at the item, as if trying to ascertain its value, and then it looked down at her. She had other coronets at home, so giving up this one would be no big loss, but it was her favorite. Still, she would relinquish any of her crowns in a heartbeat to save lives.
“**I am listening, tiny one,**” the dragon told her, his voice booming in her head. Though he sounded somewhat appeased by her gift, she could somehow sense a hint of anger bubbling beneath the surface. She had to be careful.
Biting back a protest that she was *not* that small, Loisette said to him as calmly as she could, “**I would like to know what has upset you. Tell me what happened, and maybe I can help you.**”
His golden eyes stared unblinkingly at her. Then, he lowered his head a few degrees, his countenance almost human in its sadness. “**I left my home to hunt some food. When I returned, I found most of my treasure gone. I flew over the city . . . and I saw a knight with one of my silver cups. But I lost him in a crowd of people. The smells and noises were too much, and I could not find him again. I did not wish to attack the city, but treasure is a matter of honor with dragons. An adult dragon without treasure is no more respected than one newly hatched.**”
Loisette looked down at the ground, her forehead wrinkled in puzzlement. She hadn’t realized dragons had any sort of society. But they were ancient creatures, so perhaps she should have expected it. Their society must be especially important to them now that their numbers had dwindled so much.
She lifted her head and stared at the dragon in front of her. “**We will either find the treasure that was taken from you or replace it with new treasure equivalent to the amount you lost,**” she promised him. “**I am the princess of Metropolita. I will talk to the Regent about it. I am sure he will agree with me. We will make this right.**”
The dragon seemed uneasy and a little surprised. “**You could do that for me?**”
****
Clarkent waited nearby on Phantom, both of them as antsy as colts tied up near a sleeping viper. Somehow, in his haze of fear and worry, Clarkent had realized that Princess Loisette and the dragon were *communicating* with each other. There was something in the way they were looking at each other which made that obvious. The dragon had taken the crown from her not with force . . . but with a strange gentleness.
Clarkent had slowed his steps to a stop. He had known suddenly that if he went charging in, then whatever negotiations of peace the princess was somehow making would be all for naught. And it was possible the dragon might kill Princess Loisette in the confusion of trying to attack its sudden opponent.
And so he had gotten back up on Phantom, where he was unhappily waiting to see what the dragon would do. He wanted to be at the princess’s side, protecting her. But though he was ill at ease with the situation, he couldn’t help but feel something akin to admiration as he watched the princess communicate with the great beast.
Clarkent didn’t know if the dragon was telepathic--or if there were some other explanation for why the two could talk with each other--but he was impressed by Princess Loisette’s courage. He hadn’t realized she was this brave. It took a lot of guts to walk up to a fully grown dragon without any kind of weapon.
But even while Clarkent was admiring her, he was a little upset with and terrified for her. The princess’s life could be ended by the dragon in a second, and he would be powerless to stop it. She shouldn’t be facing it alone.
He ached to go to her, to meet the maw of doom at her side, but if he tried anything, the winged creature might hurt her. And--he admitted grudgingly to himself--she *did* seem to have it under control, even if that seemed almost impossible, given the situation.
All he could do was watch in trepidation, his heart jumping wildly at the dragon’s every movement.
****
Loisette’s fear had quickly turned to pity for the creature in front of her. He was a victim of mankind’s greed, and she wanted to fix the problem by restoring what was taken from him.
They came to an uneasy truce of sorts. The treasure would be returned or replaced within three days, or the assault on the city would begin anew. The dragon gave her directions to his lair, and she promised him she would ensure their bargain was upheld.
She watched as the dragon’s great green wings beat and lifted him into the air, carrying him away as easily as if he had merely been the weight of a leaf. She turned in relief and called High Flyer to her.
As the horse came trotting forward obediently, she saw that the Black Knight was watching her.
Her mood darkened. *He* must have been the one who stole the dragon’s treasure. It hadn’t been enough for him to take wealth from the rich, had it? He had to go and endanger an entire kingdom by invoking a dragon’s wrath!
As he saw her looking at him, he lowered his head--guiltily, she thought with annoyance--and kicked his horse, spurring him into action.
She watched the black horse gallop away and shook her head, aggravated that she had put her life at risk to fix the Black Knight’s mess. Alexander was right. The Black Knight *was* a menace.
****
“Of course I will replace the dragon’s treasure, Your Highness,” Alexander told Loisette, throwing a look at his brother, who would have understood that it was meant to be a veiled glare. “The kingdom’s safety is of the utmost importance to me. I am only sorry that you had to put yourself at risk.” He was beginning to grow attached to the idea of having her as his bride, and he would have been absolutely furious if she had been killed. No one took away from Alexander what was his.
She gave him a very grateful look. “Thank you so much.” She curtseyed slightly. “Thank you, Your Majesty, Sir Tempos.”
Both brothers smiled at her as she left, though the younger brother’s expression was more properly labeled a “smirk.”
“At least you got lemonade out of your lemons,” Tempos commented when the princess was gone. “She was very thankful for your immense ‘kindness,’ O Generous Brother.”
“Well, we wouldn’t be in this situation if not for you,” Alexander growled. “Now, I want you to track down every piece of that treasure and put it back. There had better not be a single gold *ring* missing, or it will be your head!”
“Calm down, brother,” Tempos said, rolling his eyes. “I’ll put my toys back where they belong. I guess next time we’ll just have to find an *abandoned* dragon cave . . . . Unless you happen to know any dragon slayers?”
Alexander shook his head in barely contained rage, his lips mashed together and his brows pulling his eyelids down over his eyes so that they were mere slits.
Tempos laughed. “It’s just too bad the dragon didn’t kill the Black Knight. At least the princess thinks it was him who stole the little lizard’s playthings rather than me.”
“You are going to be the death of us all,” muttered Alexander.
“Oh, I’d just settle for one or two special people,” Tempos commented vaguely.
Alexander just glared at him. People like his brother were the reason he always insisted on someone else tasting his food before he did.
