Leia put on the disguise she wore over her fighting leathers, to make her look like Marion, as she left her chambers. They both had dark brown hair, and no one would look closely at a servant.
Once Leia reached the stables, she took off her disguise, mounted her chestnut-colored horse, and rode towards Tutela’s border. The lake was near the edge of Mathayus’s kingdom, and it took about a half day’s journey to reach. That was why Leia and Mathayus had to secret away to meet with each other; each time, they would be gone more than one day. Their parents wouldn’t think it was proper for them to spend the night together – it wasn’t fitting behavior for a prince or princess until after they were married. Marion usually covered for her, after waking up embarrassed on Leia’s bed, wondering why she fell asleep there. The nights Leia spent with Mathayus were completely innocent, but they assumed convincing their parents of that fact was impossible. They gazed up at the stars, lying on top of a blanket, while they talked the whole night. It gave them a connection like none she had ever had before meeting the prince. They shared all of their secrets with each other – their bond was deep. When they weren’t meeting halfway between their kingdoms, he would come and fight the dragons with her whenever the beasts raided her people. When Mathayus became king, he promised Leia that he would take his whole army to rid Terradraco of the dragons permanently. She loved him for this as much as his many other wonderful traits.
Leia reached the lake in the afternoon. She immediately saw the scorched earth and knew what had caused it. Toppled onto the ground were clothes that looked like the ones Mathayus would wear.
Leia bent down to examine the soil where the grass had been burned away. She didn’t see a huge amount of ash, like there was when a person was incinerated by a dragon, but there was a large, clawed, dragon footprint on top of the scorched mark. It appeared the beast was putting the fire out, which made no sense. She saw the prints of a horse’s hooves and assumed the dragon had scared off Mathayus’s stallion, but what happened to her prince?
She couldn’t imagine a dragon would kidnap, rather than kill, the prince. She talked out loud to herself, which helped her think and process through her investigation.
“Maybe he escaped on his horse and was forced to go the opposite way to evade the dragon. The dark forest beyond here is the best place to hide from a flying creature – unless they burn it down. Another idea is that rumors of the magical fae are true; perhaps they took him once he entered their territory.”
Leia found a set of footprints leading to the forest, but the horse went the opposite direction. The print was the outline of a bare foot, rather than a shoe, and it could have been Mathayus’s print since he didn’t have his clothes or shoes with him. But upon further examination, she realized they were too small for his large feet. The prince towered over her and had feet double the size of hers. Leia took one of her shoes off and placed her own bare foot next to the print, and they were almost identical in size.
“This must be a female’s print. It seems to have come from the forest and then backed up into it. Maybe the dragon scared the fairy away, but aren’t they supposed to be magical and immortal?” She paused and looked around, and then added, “Even in stories, magic has its limits. It’s like he just disappeared into thin air.”
Before she could examine the area any longer, a loud screech she knew too well pierced the quiet.
She dashed towards her horse, and grabbed a specially-made bow and arrows that were sharp and big enough to pierce a dragon’s tough scales. The monsters could never be killed with a simple arrow, so Leia had designed a spear-type arrowhead with a strong metal that could penetrate the outer skin of a dragon. She also procured a unique poison that she used on the tip of the arrows. The liquid temporarily paralyzed the dragon – which would give her time to chop off the head before the beast could blast her with its flames. Sometimes, the beasts would fall to their death from being unable to control their wings, but if they remained alive after they landed on the ground from the potion, they would try to immediately incinerate anyone nearby. Leia created special armor and shields that were fireproof to guard against these attacks. Her inventions had saved many of her people, but there were still times someone didn’t shield themselves fast enough, or the dragon pretended to be unconscious and then blasted the human who tried to get near enough to decapitate the monster. Too many people continued to die because of the dragons’ attacks, no matter what Leia created to hinder them.
The dragon appeared quickly, and it was the largest one she had seen. Her speared tips would not have much effect on the beast, so she would have to be smart. Leia aimed her first arrow into the softest part of the dragon – its chest.
The creature acted as if it knew what she was going to do. This made no sense to Leia; she assumed dragons were dumb animals that lived by instincts and killed humans as part of their built-in programming that was dictated from birth. Her people would have left the dragon colonies alone, if they never had to fear for their lives, but it was the way it had always been since the beginning of time – it was never going to change.
The gigantic beast made serpentine movements, as if it was trying to dodge her arrows before they ever left the bow. She was having difficulty taking aim.
“Why is that creature flying so spastically?”
The monster screeched out, and it almost sounded like words, but Leia knew that was just her imagination being irrational. She shot the first spear-like arrow, but the dragon caught it in its talons and threw it back at her. This caused Leia to overcompensate her position and fall backwards into the lake. Leia gasped in panic because she couldn’t swim. She had never confessed that to anyone because day dreaming about frolicking in the water with Mathayus made her want to forget the fact.
The gigantic, pearlescent, green dragon dove quickly into the water – Leia was horrified as she flailed and then sunk below the water’s surface. She didn’t know what to think of the beast and its strange behavior. Was it going to kill her in the water? Leia rarely felt helpless, but at this moment, she was out of options. She was going to die before she got to be married and there was nothing left for her to do.
Mathayus
Mathayus had spied Leia from his cave hideout as soon as she rode up to the lake. He knew he had to try to talk to her – to get her to love the thing he had become, and then to kiss him.
Mathayus was aware of the new ways Leia had developed for killing the dragons, and he had been proud of her; but currently, he felt a mixture of emotions. He was now one of those creatures, and he knew that they weren’t just wild animals without intelligence. A part of him was feeling connected to them and protective of the beasts – yet a part of him wanted to be back with Leia, ready to guard her from the dragon he had become.
As Mathayus approached the lake, he screeched at her, temporarily forgetting how to speak human. His dragon instincts became as natural as breathing, the longer he was in that form. Of course, his cry alerted Leia to his presence, and she went into attack mode immediately. He knew what Leia would attempt to do, and he knew how to avoid her hurting him. As he dodged and dashed to evade her arrow, he tried to talk to her, but only growls and screeches came out of his mouth.
Once the speared weapon left its bow, Mathayus decided to show her his intelligence by catching it and throwing it back to the ground. He wouldn’t hurt Leia – just get her to see that he wasn’t a mere dumb animal, but a creature with a thought process beyond instincts. The arrow ended up in the water, but his actions frightened Leia so much, she fell into the lake as well.
He tried to yell at Leia, but she was already sinking into the water – and that was when he realized that she couldn’t swim. Worrying Leia was going to die, Mathayus decided to dive into the lake to rescue her. His eyes adjusted easily to the darkness below the water’s surface, because of his new night vision. He found Leia sinking downwards, with her heavy leathers and armor acting as an anchor. Mathayus gently looped one of his talons into her sword belt and pulled her up
ward out of the water. He then dropped her smoothly onto the shore.
She wasn’t breathing, and he knew it would be difficult to give her breath in his current form. Mathayus tried to push on her chest lightly with his nose, managing to use enough pressure to get her to cough up water and gasp. Leia gawked at him in disbelief and began to cough some more.
Mathayus dropped his body low, in a non-confrontational gesture, and Leia just looked at him with a bewildered expression. He tried to speak to her again, but only a screech came out, and he wondered if the longer he was this beast, the more he wasn’t human.
“Please don’t hurt me,” Leia begged.
She wasn’t strong enough to fight the beast, but she must have sensed that he wasn’t automatically going to kill her, since she was pleading with him.
“Did you save me from drowning or was that my imagination? Do you even understand what I’m saying?”
Instead of trying to speak again, he nodded his head.
“I don’t understand why you would save me, but I’m grateful.”
Mathayus tried to smile, but it seemed his expression just frightened her; before Leia said anything else, she fainted. She may have been weak from her near death experience – or the fact that a dragon was close enough to burn her to death could have been too much for her to handle.
He stayed by her side all night, hoping to keep her warm with his body heat as the cooler night temperatures crept in, but he was afraid to get too close. He didn’t want to frighten her again if she woke up. How was he going to gain her trust? Just thinking about trying was frustrating.
Isla
Isla went back to the lake to see if Mathayus would return. The longer she stewed over his rejection, the more she wanted to make his payment worse. She would make his humanity permanently go away, so he could never even talk to his precious princess again. If he was able to get near the stupid girl, he would have no way of telling her who he was. If humans feared dragons as much as fae folk did, then they would try to kill him. That would force the stubborn man to leave his land and people forever – or die. The idea of this delighted Isla.
She came into the edge of the clearing just in time to see Leia fall into the lake and Mathayus go in after the girl. Isla hated Leia as she witnessed how gentle Mathayus was with her, even in his beastly form. He even managed to get Leia to breathe again without crushing her in the process.
She whispered to herself, “What a wretched weakling – fainting over a dragon saving her life. Why would he want her over me?” This gave Isla an idea. All she had to do was wait impatiently for Leia to wake up, and then she could have her fun.
Leia
As the sun began to rise, Leia found herself waking up in a confused state. It didn’t take long for her to realize that she was still a little wet from the previous day’s ordeal. She sat up quickly, trying to find her weapons to fight off the dragon, but as soon as she did, she saw the creature staring at her. She gasped.
“You’re still here, and you kept me alive. Why? I know you can’t answer that, but all my life your kind have only attacked my people. I just don’t understand why you’re different. I wish we could communicate.”
The dragon began to scrawl in the dirt with his one of his claws. It was almost unreadable, but she thought she could make out the letters M – A – T – H – A – Y – U – S.
“Are you trying to write Mathayus?”
The dragon nodded.
“Do you know where Mathayus is?”
The beast began to scrawl again into the dirt I – T – S – M – E.
Leia mouthed the letters and tried to understand what “itsme” meant. Then the dragon slashed a line between the “S” and “M”, and it dawned on Leia that it was two words. Before her mind could absorb what they meant, a beautiful woman appeared from the forest.
“Hello, Leia.” Her voice was smooth, but it had an edge to it.
“How do you know my name? Who are you?”
“I’m Isla, the fairy who turned your lovely Mathayus into a dragon. Yes, you are looking at your betrothed.”
The dragon growled at the woman, but he didn’t attack her. Now that Leia thought about it, his eyes were an unusual color for a dragon. All the ones she had beheaded had golden eyes with black slits for pupils, but this creature had blue irises, and his pupils were less narrow than other dragons that she had beheaded in the past.
“Is it true? Are you Mathayus?”
He nodded again, but glared at the fae – if dragons can actually glare.
“Why did you turn Mathayus into a dragon?” Leia asked Isla.
“He wouldn’t mate with me. I even showed him how beautiful I am underneath my dress, and he told me to get my clothes back on, which was highly insulting. Where I come from, we are allowed to have multiple partners. I saw no reason why Mathayus couldn’t marry you and mate with me. It’s too late now, because only true love’s kiss will turn him back into a man. Honestly, I thought by now he or you would be dead. I was probably a little hasty with my anger after his rejection, but I can’t break the spell once it’s cast.”
Leia was furious. If everything this fae creature was telling her was true, it was a revolting thing Isla did – and just because she didn’t get what she wanted. It was also infuriating that Isla wanted Mathayus to be unfaithful to her, no matter what the fae culture allowed. Leia was thankful that Mathayus remained true to her even with the temptation of someone as beautiful as Isla throwing herself at him. When she sought to find Mathayus, Leia didn’t know what to expect, but this definitely wasn’t it. Did Isla think by telling Leia the truth, that she would redeem herself for her hateful act? Or did she just want to rub it into Leia’s face, assuming Leia would never kiss a dragon? Leia would gladly kiss this creature if it meant her true love would return to her. That was just it – could she trust Isla or the dragon?
Isla was definitely not of the human realm, and the beast could just be trying to trick her. Would her death make it easier for her people to become completely destroyed by the dragons? She wasn’t sure, but she knew her strategies and weapon development had helped her kingdom succeed in defending themselves against the monsters in most of their recent battles. Were the dragons even capable of knowing who was the leader and strategist of the humans? What was the end game for the dragon or Isla?
“I see by your odd facial expressions that you’re skeptical that I’m telling the truth. I’m sure coming from your boring land would make it hard to believe anything I say. But go ahead and kiss him; he will become a man again – that is, if you truly love him. You will have your prince back, and my guilty conscience will be washed clean. I have been feeling horrible over reacting like I did, and I was hoping I could find you and tell you what I had done.” Isla’s smile seemed insincere and devious to Leia, but she didn’t know what other options she had.
The dragon growled at Isla again, but then turned longing eyes to Leia. She thought about it and decided that if she was going to die, she probably already would have when she fell into the lake. The beast Isla called Mathayus had multiple opportunities to kill her, and it didn’t make sense to wait until now to do it.
Leia cautiously approached the enormous creature and said, “Please bring your head down to me so I can kiss you.”
The dragon struggled to flatten itself on the ground enough so that its head would be reachable to Leia. She got near its nose and tried to find a place to kiss that wasn’t sharp or rough – there wasn’t one, so she just picked a random spot. Just before her lips made contact, she scrunched up her eyes and nose, trying to picture Mathayus and his smooth lips as she made contact with the beast.
Nothing happened at first, but then suddenly, Leia felt her clothes tear and her body morph. Her skin felt like it was burning and getting ripped apart. Before she had a chance to scream in pain, wings sprouted from her back and her arms turned into purple pearlescent appendages with large claws coming out at the ends.
Suddenly she heard Matha
yus voice scream, “Leia, Leia! What did that witch do to you?”
Just below her feet stood Mathayus – with no clothes, and a scared but angry expression on his face. Leia knew that now she had become the dragon.
Isla
Isla laughed boisterously. She was delighted at her creativity.
“What did you do to my Leia?”
“I cursed her so she would become the next thing or person that she kissed. I also made it irreversible. So if you want to still marry her, you’re not going to have any fun on your wedding night.” She giggled.
“Why did you do that?” Mathayus was enraged.
“Because I wanted you, and now you have no reason to refuse me. Your betrothed is not going to be able to marry you after all.”
Leia screeched loudly, and Mathayus moved out of her way. Before Isla could process what was happening, a blaze of fire came out of the creature’s mouth and aimed towards the fairy. Isla finally believed her mother’s warnings about entering the human realm – because the one creature that could kill fae folk was about to kill her. Just before the flame hit her skin, Isla felt true regret for her actions. Her remorse had been too little and too late as she faced her final demise.
Leia
Leia immediately felt her body shrink and morph as Isla became a heap of ash on the ground. Soon, she was standing naked in front of Mathayus, since her clothes were torn to shreds. Mathayus’s face turned a little red, and he grabbed the clothes he had left behind when Isla had changed him into a dragon. He gave Leia his shirt while he quickly put on his britches, and then the two faced each other, mostly clothed.
“You’re my hero!” Mathayus exclaimed.
“I guessed that killing the fae would break the spell. I’m glad I was right; I wasn’t going to let becoming a dragon stop me from getting married.” She smiled up at him and went in for a kiss.
Their kiss was one for the books as it sparked its own kind of flame – figuratively, not literally.
When it was over, Mathayus exclaimed, “Now, that’s what I call a happy ending.”
Twisted Ever After Page 11