The Knight, the Princess, and the Dragon

Princess Marlan was angry. She was angry at so many things lately. Her guards for never letting her do anything on her own. Her mother for berating her, trying to make her a "proper princess that the public would love" whatever the hell that meant. The scores of suitors that took one look at her and decided they wanted her either for her body or her family's money only, and she was furious at her father. Her father, King Killios was a good king on paper and in practise, she had to admit. He was charismatic, loved his people, and strove to better the kingdom as a whole, and spent many years of his life doing so. The downside to this was he tended to either neglect Marlan, or treat her as solely a tool to be used to further his own agendas. She sat on her bed as her father droned on and on about her duties- about how she had to try and give at least one of these suitors a chance. "Marlan, this is getting to be absolutely ridiculous! Fifteen suitors and you couldn't even try continuing a courtship with one of them! What am I, some stinking beggar on the street who won't be given the time of day?" Marlan rolled her eyes as she looked out the castle window. She loved her family, but there were days where she simply wanted to be elsewhere. A place she could be respected for herself first and foremost. It seemed like that was just a fairy tale that could never be though, she thought sadly, as she listened to the courtship arrangements her mother and father came up with.

Rolland was so very tired. He had tried several times to join the knight brigades, but had been rejected continuously. It wasn't as if he couldn't swing a sword or anything! O.K, he couldn't but that wasn't the point. All Rolland had wanted to do for as long as he could remember was to serve his home, and this was the best way he could think of to do so. He looked at the rejection letter that the brigade leader had sent him. "We regret to inform you." Psh! As if, they all knew Rolland personally, and Rolland knew that they just didn't give a damn about him, thought he was a liability all because he didn't jump at the chance to kill somethings. All he wanted was to protect, and to make the world a better place in the end. But that was just a fairy tale that could never be. It would take a miracle for him to ever be a hero, and Rolland just wasn't sure that he'd ever get that chance.

Rastabast was annoyed. All he had wanted to do was fly around freely, and get some fresh air instead of lay about this cave. He never thought it was a bad cave, far from it actually! Rastabast adored his home, and loved coming home to lay and bask in some of his gold, or on the days it snowed terribly to warm himself with his fire. But thanks to those ridiculous rulers in the Kingdom of Miritsia, they were constantly harassing him, not to mention any non human beings who lived close to their precious "perfect" kingdom. Every time he wanted to just explore, he would run into a bunch of nasty knights who would jeer at him, threaten him and try to shoot him with arrows. "That does it!" Rastabast said, making up his mind. "If those arrogant metal heads want to make things difficult, I'll just have to return the favour for them!" And in a moment that would seem incredibly hasty, and made solely in a second of rage and disappointment, Rastabast flew to Miritsia, and made what would end up being the best decision of his life had ever been.

Marlan continued to look out the window, even as her suitor leered at her, making her feel like she wanted to take her guards sword and cut the jerk in two so that she could be left alone. She squinted though as she saw something in the distance get closer and closer. She turned to finally make eye contact at the man (who's name was syril, or Cerel, she wasn't sure and honestly didn't care much) who was speaking about the financial benefits of their engagement. Her mother at least seemed to have a modicum of sympathy for her daughters position, but Killios was dead set on her finding some rich uptight bonehead rather than her being happy on her own merits. As she looked lifelessly into the suitors eyes, she heard gasps of fear and a little bit of curiosity was born inside her. She looked behind her and her eyes widened. Not in fear, but wonder. A dragon roared mightily in the sky as it flapped its wings and lowered itself to where Marlan was standing. Suddenly she felt herself being lifted into the air and she heard its deep and growly voice speak as the suitors all cowered either on the floor or behind furniture. "I have dealt with your obsessive need to control what I and many others do for many months now, but no longer. I am taking the princess, and until you come to my cave, and apologize for your behaviour, she stays with me as my hostage. You have two days before I incinerate her!" Marlan knew she should be scared, but the look of panic on her fathers face filled her with satisfaction, as well as joy that these pathetic suitors were proven to be gutless cowards, incapable of actually worrying for her wellbeing, let alone happiness. She felt herself whisked away into the sky, and for the first time in nearly a year, she smiled.

Rolland was perplexed. Yesterday he had gotten a rejection letter saying that he wasn't fit to be a knight, and today he had gotten a summons from the king himself that said he was desperately needed. His mood changed from excited to disappointed when he reached the castle to find hundreds of men in the throne room listening to King Killios speak about the importance of keeping the kingdom safe. That his daughter was stolen right in front of him and he was calling upon the best and brightest that Miritsia had to offer. Rolland watched the room and noted all of the conflicting emotions that swirled around the room. Many were excited and boastful that they would get to show off their skills, while many were frightened but desperate for money and standing. One by one people left to prepare to slay the dragon and save the princess from her demise. Rolland took one last look at the king, and was un nerved to see that his face and eyes were hollow. The range of emotions when he addressed everyone was gone, replaced by what he could only describe as a soulless husk. There was simply nothing there, no hate, fear, love, anger, anything. Rolland knew he couldn't kill a dragon, for he had no skills with weapons, but he would do his best. Maybe this creature could be talked to, and it would willingly let the princess go. He could only hope as he grabbed a short sword and began his long walk to the cave the dragon resided at.

Rastabast was laughing harder than he had for a long time. He should have flown to pick up Marian years ago. All he had meant to do was intimidate the kingdom so that they would take him seriously, but this girl was fascinating. She wasn't scared of him for one, and when he asked her what her problem was, she just looked up and asked if he could fly any faster, before letting out some excited screams while he sped up. When he arrived at the cave, Marian looked around in joy, and got to her knees and begged to stay for longer than two days. For her, this was the most amazing place she had ever seen. Rastabast's heart began to grow, and was quickly becoming fond of the princess. It had been about seven hours since Marian was taken, and he finally saw the first group of knights show up. All of them were clearly scared, but raised their swords and taunted the dragon, who looked at them all exasperatedly. It wasn't as if he was expecting anything different, but his expectations had been exceeded by the princess herself, so he had a brief moment where he hoped these knights would be willing to be more than mindless hired goons. He lamented this fact as he blew fire on all of them, incinerating them instantly. He expected the fun would be over now. Princess Marian would want to leave and he would be stuck with a girl who thought less of him for protecting himself. But he looked at his (hostage) companion, and saw her look at him with a supportive half smile. For the first time in years, Rastabast smiled.

Marian was ecstatic. Turns out being kidnapped by a dragon was way more cool and less dangerous than she expected! O.K., it was still really dangerous, but simply by talking to the beast- no, Rastabast was his name, she found that he was extremly witty, with a sense of humour that she sorely lacked from the many lifeless drones in her kingdom. She found herself wishing that she and Rastaban could start over somewhere, that somehow with her status and his power, they could create a new life, where they could both show their strengths! Then perhaps an hour or two later, they heard one more set of footprints heading their way. Only it wasn't sounding like a march, no it was the walking of a confident but curious person.

Rolland was very overwhelemed. He had never seen a dragon before, not once, but the mighty creature before him was... simply beautiful. There was no other way to put it. Not to mention the gorgeous princess who stood beside the dragon. Rolland wasn't super strong, nor was he super smart. But he was honest, and caring. So he bowed to the two, and told them that he came because he thought he was helping his kingdom. He told them about how he applied many times to be in the knights brigade, but nothing ever came from it. So he decided he would come to see the dragon. And with this he wanted to ask him if they could create something new together. All three people who had their lives chosen for them by someone else, all people who merely wanted to live their way... They finally decided they would. And so they set off. Miritzia never heard from them again, but nearly twenty years later their legacy had been secured. They created a new kingdom, named Jaggerbon- a place where nearly anyone could do as they pleased- gave their own free will. And the three unlikely allies and friends smiled at each other, now glad that they were no longer angry as they had once been.