Crystal Lily

There weren't always dragons in the valley. Dragons were tales of other places. Exotic places. Places that everyone talked about but have never been. Of course, they always seemed to know someone's brothers cousin or some such person that's been there. People liked to talk and rumor is all dragons have been.

Now though the dragons were in the valley, well to be honest only one had been seen so far and he was sticking close to the temple ruins.

The temple stood at the center of the valley, all that could be seen of it was the tower. It was surrounded by thick trees and even thicker underbrush. Rumor has it that it still holds magic. Magic that allows the lily that grows in the valley to turn to crystal. The crystal lily is then supposed to be able to cure anything. Many desperate people have tried to get to it but give up long before even getting close. Those that have been thought to have made it are never seen again.

The young woman named Lucy considered herself among the desperate. She stood, machete in hand staring at the tower visible through the trees. The sun shone brightly off the red scales of the very large dragon perched on top of it.

With a deep sigh she started in on the brush with the machete. The blade barely making a dent. Her need was great enough that she refused to let despair claim her.

Swinging the blade she soon fell into a rhythm of slash and hack. The work left her with plenty of time with her thoughts, which only fueled her determination.

She thought about her father, whom had lost their estate to gambling debts last night. Her mother, sick in bed with headaches for most of the day. Then there was her brother, older than her by a few years that told everyone to have a good life on his way out the door this morning.

Most of all Lucy thought about the Prince. A proclamation had been put out by the King yesterday that stated anyone able to break the curse on the prince would marry him. Of course being cursed to eternal slumber was a thing of fairy tales and like all good tales everyone believed that only the kiss of true love would wake him.

Lucy snorted. No, the crystal lily would awaken him. She'd then become princess with nothing to worry over ever again.

"What are you doing?"

Lucy squealed, spinning around. Before her stood the most stunning man she'd ever seen. Her heart raced in what she couldn't blame entirely on fear.

"Who are you?" she stammered.

With a smirk the man looked past her to the brush. Nodding at them he repeated in a deep rumbly voice, "What are you doing?"

"Trying to get to the temple." Lucy raised her chin defiantly. She felt wasn't doing anything wrong.

"Really? Don't think it's working." He stated.

"What do you mean?" She asked turning to look at the progress she'd made. To Lucys utter dismay the bushes looked like she hadn't been hacking at them for the past hour. She sniffed, fighting the tears forming. Of course it was magic. She was silly to think otherwise.

"Why do you need to get to the temple?" the man asked.

Lucy turned back to face the man. "It doesn't matter now," she said, "I'll never make it through that."

"There's always a way if the need is great enough," he told her.

"You think?" Lucy looked at him hopefully. "You see my mother is ill and we have nowhere to go so I need the crystal lily to marry the prince. Well he's cursed and the lily will cure him. I'm sure of it." she rambled breathlessly.

"So you want to marry this prince then?" he asked raising an eyebrow at her.

"Well no, not really. He's rude and mean but being a princess will solve everything." Lucy trailed off. Surely it would work out that way.

"I see." The man stood watching her for a few moments.

It took all of Lucys training as a lady to not fidget under his intense stare. Her heart fluttered with hope. He looked well build enough that perhaps he could chop through the underbrush quickly.

"I will take you to the temple," he said finally. "But you should know that the lily will only bloom for those with the purest of intentions."

Lucy couldn't stop her grin. She raised the machete to him. Of course her intentions were pure. What could be more noble than saving a prince. She firmly stamped down any doubts wiggling through her mind.

With a flash the man disappeared to be replaced with a very large red dragon. Lucy froze. All thoughts of princes and lilys gone.

The dragon roared before he reached forward with giant claws to snatch her off the ground. The machete fell to the ground forgotten as Lucy did the one thing she'd never thought she'd do. She fainted.