by Ashenden, V.
He chuckled. "I would, but I'm so drunk, I'm sure to step on your feet."
"I promise not to cry out," she said, coming closer, lifting her hand. "May I have this dance, your highness?"
He had a crooked smile. "One dance, Miss Sienna."
He took her hand in his, placing the other on her hip. Hers came to a rest on his shoulder. He moved forward, stepping into her. She stumbled back.
"Pardon me," he said.
"I don't know how to dance like that," she said.
"Right. Well, it's a four step. Watch my right leg. As I step forward, your left is to move back." Sienna stepped back as he came forward. "Good. Now, as I step to the side, you step to the side with me." Sienna stepped to the side. "Excellent, Sienna. Now, it's your turn. I'm going to step back, and you must step toward me." He moved back and Sienna moved with him. "Good. Now, we repeat a step to the other side. See?"
"That's not so hard," she said, smiling up at him.
"Good, good, and we can mix it up. Feel my hand on your hip? If I push you back, you step back. If I pull you in, you step forward. If I nudge you left or right, you slide there. Ready to try?"
"Yes, your highness."
They began dancing, moving around the barn.
"You're a quick study," he said.
"You're a good teacher." Then she took a risk she knew was wrong. "Did you dance like this with the princess at the ball?"
"I'm afraid she's not quite as good as you," he said with a laugh.
"I'm not that good."
"You're all right," he said.
She stopped dancing and he stopped with her. He was about to speak, but she spoke first.
"Court?"
He chuckled. "You're not one to stand on formality, are you?"
"You've been so kind to me while you've been here."
"And you've been kind to me."
She took her hands away from his, placing them both on his collarbone. He glanced down.
"Sienna?"
"And I want you to know, I'll never forget all you've done for me, buying me this dress, cleaning up the eggs, rescuing me from that man, saving my life from the dragon."
"That's quite all right."
"And I think Princess Celeste is the luckiest woman in the world to have her arm around yours."
"That's kind of you to say."
"And, and," Sienna went on, "if I could trade places with her, just for a night, only one night, I would do it, just so I could have a chance to be with you."
"Uh, Sienna, please..."
"Because you're amazing," Sienna continued. "You're so nice, and thoughtful, and you make me feel so good about myself. And when I wake up in my stall, I can't wait to see you in the morning. And when you're gone all day wooing the princess, I'm thinking about when you're going to come home and I can see you again. And I know you're getting married in a week, and I'm counting the time on my hands, how long I have, how many mornings and evenings before you're gone forever, before you're in your castle with Celeste and you're happy and I'm forgotten, not even a memory, just a stable girl you once danced with, and I'll always wonder if you even remember my name, but I'll never forget yours."
"Sienna, please, I didn't mean to lead you—"
And then Sienna kissed him, shutting him up, standing on her tiptoes just to reach, slipping her arms around his neck to hold him in place, locking her wrists together. The kiss took Court completely by surprise. Her lips were sandwiching his, her nose pressing into his nose. He tried to say her name, tried to break the kiss, but her grip was tight, and then her tongue touched his. He grabbed her arms, pulling on them, trying to break her grip. She released and he stepped back, pulling his lips from her lips, a string of saliva breaking between them.
"Sienna! Have you lost your mind?"
"I'm sorry," she said. "I couldn't help it. I had to do it again, just once more."
"I am a man engaged to be married to another woman! How dare you disrespect me like that?"
"I'm sorry," she cried. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"
She ran past him, holding her face as she burst through the barn doors, the wind and rain slamming them shut as she passed.
Court put a hand to his head. He felt terribly guilty for kissing her. He even felt like it was his fault. The poor girl, had he not bought her a dress, danced with her, saved her life? She must have thought he wanted her. He felt like a fool. He had to make it right.
"Wait, Sienna."
Court hurried after her, reaching the barn doors, pushing them open. They exploded, blasting him with fire and rain, throwing him back, smashing into the straw. And then he heard a scream, Sienna's scream.
"Court!"
"Sienna!"
He ran to the doors, throwing them open, charging outside. The dragon roared, startling him. It snapped its jaws and Court narrowly dodged, jumping aside, slipping on the grass, the rain pouring in his eyes. He stumbled to his feet, backing away.
The dragon swatted with its paw, hitting Court in the side and throwing him down. Court looked up as it came closer. It had him, but it did not bite. It grabbed him and threw him across the ground. He rolled to a stop beside Sienna, finding her covered in mud as she sobbed.
The dragon leapt, its paws nearly crushing them. Its mouth opened and its fangs bore down on Sienna, but then an arrow struck the dragon's neck and it spun toward the attacker, roaring. Court turned to look. Finn was there with his bow, drawing another arrow.
"Your highness!" he shouted.
Court scrambled up, grabbing Sienna's hand, trying to lift her, but the dragon swatted him away. Another arrow flew and struck the dragon's shoulder. It roared in anger, sending out a mouthful of fire. Finn jumped away before it could scorch him. Then the dragon stood up on its hind legs, picking up Sienna in its paws. It let out another roar, leapt straight up into the air, and its long wings began flapping, taking it higher.
"No!" Court said, climbing up. "Sienna!"
Sienna was screaming from the dragon's paws, crying his name, "Court! Please help me! Court!"
"Sienna!" Court shouted, taking a few steps after her, watching in vain as the dragon rose higher.
"Court! Court, please!" she cried, her voice fading as she moved higher. "Court!"
"Sienna..."
"Sir!" Finn said. "Are you all right? When you didn't come back to the tavern—"
"Prepare the horses, Finn!"
"Sir?"
"Hurry! No time to waste!"
Court spun around, sprinting for all his might, slipping on the slick grass beneath his feet and the drunkenness in his head. He slammed into the tavern door, shoving it open. His men were already alarmed, the sound of the dragon's roar reaching their ears.
"Sir?" Wellington said.
"Sienna! The dragon took Sienna!"
"What?" Wellington said, standing up but then slumping to his stool. "The dragon took who?"
"The stable girl!" Court shouted. He charged past them, running up the stairs, breaking into his room. He grabbed his chainmail, pulling it over his head, slapping his breastplate on, clasping it closed. He secured his sword to his waist and picked up his bow. He charged back down the stairs, finding his men still standing around. "Mount up! We ride!"
"Sir," Wellington said, "we cannot fight a dragon in the dead of night."
"We can and we will! We go now!"
"The girl is lost though, surely," Wellington said.
"She will be if we don't hurry! Men, move!"
The knights scrambled up the stairs. Court hurried to the tavern door, pushing through it. The rain had stopped outside. He looked around, finding the storm clouds moving off.
"Sir," Wellington said, catching up, "are you sure we are up for this errand?"
"No, Wellington, I'm not," he said. "Head to the castle. Tell the queen what has happened. Tell her we went into the Tempest Forest. Tell her to send soldiers. We may need the help."
"Sir, please, think of what you're doing. This is foolhardy, with naugh
t a plan but the sword and the men drunk with ale. Might we not wait until morning at least, with the queen's men in our favor?"
"No," Court said, pushing through the barn doors. "She may not have until morning. She may not even have the rest of the night."
"Then, sir, with all regret, might we better avenge her rather than save her?"
Court stopped right in front of the stables. "You would let that poor girl die?"
"She is just a stable girl, sir," Wellington said, glancing at Finn nearby.
"A knight's code is no respecter of class," Court said.
"Of course not, sir, and if we found her so availed on the road, I would agree with you, but to chase down this demon in the dead of night could spell your death. Think of Princess Celeste. Do you wish to make her a widow before ever she has a chance to be a bride?"
"Wellington, I gave you an order. Go to the castle. You're wasting time."
"Sir..."
"Now, Wellington!" Court roared.
"Yes, your highness."
Chapter Seventeen
Into the Tempest Forest
Striker thundered across the plains, his hooves tearing through the damp ground, the distant sky dark and rumbling with rain.
"The rain moves," Finn said on his left. "It is a storm of possession."
"Yes," Court said. "I daresay it follows the dragon wherever it goes, corralled by the lightning."
"But what magic could control a dragon?"
"I do not know, but I think this monster was sent on the errand of a man."
"Why do you suppose that, sir?"
"Look at what has become of that poor girl. Her mother perished in the dragon's mouth. And then it came for her. A coincidence hard to swallow, if ever I could believe one, but to seek her out a second time; no, there is more to this than a hungry beast. What's more, the dragon had me, could have killed me, but it stopped."
"Because I attacked it?"
"No, it carried her off because you attacked it. I think it took her so I would follow."
"Dare we suppose why?"
"She has crossed someone," Court said. "Who, is the riddle."
Finn gave a nod of his head. "That poor girl has no luck but bad, certainly for this dragon to come again and again."
Court's eyebrows scrunched up as he rode. "Again and again."
"Sir?"
"She did say again, didn't she?"
"Pardon, your highness?"
"She kissed me, Finn," he said, glancing at his friend. "Stolen against my will, mind you, but she did so."
"What woman would not wish to steal a kiss from a prince?"
"Yes, but she said she had to do it, that she was compelled to kiss me again."
"Again? She has kissed you before?"
"No, she hasn't."
"Then why did she say it?"
"Why indeed. And she calls me Court."
"Sir?"
"She calls me Court, sometimes by accident. It slips from her lips when she is vulnerable."
"She is a peasant, unaccustomed to traditions."
"No, it's not that. If it's one thing a peasant knows, it is how to address a royal. She speaks to me as if she is familiar with me, as if I know her. And I do. Somehow, I do. I cannot shake the feeling I have met her before, somewhere, a place I do not even remember, but I am certain of it."
"I cannot fathom when you came across a peasant girl and so gave her leave to use your name, sir."
"Nor I. But all of this, this mystery, I am missing something here, Finn. I feel it in my stomach. There is a puzzle about me I am blind to, but as I step back foot by foot, so the picture is revealed. What is happening around me?"
They charged on, Court's eyes lifting to the storm, watching as it settled over the distant forest, the lightning's flash calling him.
* * *
"Your highness!" Wellington said, bowing. "I must urgently speak to the queen!"
Celeste was sitting on her throne, just beside her mother's empty throne. "I am afraid, my dear Wellington, my mother has fallen ill this very evening just after the prince departed. She is resting in her room."
"Oh, how terrible. And our need is so pressing!"
"Whatever is the matter?"
"The prince is in dreadful danger! The dragon has attacked again. It has made off with the stable girl at the tavern, and the prince means to enter the forest to slay it and rescue the maiden. We must urgently send a unit of soldiers to his aid!"
"Dear me!" Celeste said. "What a horrific turn of events! That poor, poor child. Betilly, she is the one who served in our kitchens, was she not?"
"The very same, it seems! How distressing! The prince is so valiant to save her soul."
"A kind and brave man, the prince is," Celeste said.
"Indeed!" Wellington said. "Whatever are we to do? May the queen be told in her condition?"
"Yes," Celeste said. "I will tell her, and I will be sure that one hundred of our finest soldiers come to the aid of my dear fiancé. I shall not permit him to perish on so ghastly a mission."
"Thank you, dear princess!"
"Not at all, Wellington. Do report to the castle gates and our soldiers shall meet you there shortly. Escort them to the forest and let us pray all comes to safety."
Wellington bowed firmly at the waist. "The kingdom of Cross shall forever be in your debt for the life of the prince!"
"For the life of Avelot's future king," Celeste corrected. "Betilly?"
"Your highness?" Betilly said, stepping forward.
"Please hurry and escort our friend Wellington to the gates."
"Yes, your highness."
"Your highness!" Wellington said, bowing again and hurrying away with Betilly.
Celeste stood up, motioning for the steward. He stepped forward, coming to her.
"Your highness?"
"Inform the captain of the guard to mount one hundred soldiers to enter the Tempest Forest."
"Ah, pardon, your highness, but only the queen may command the castle guard."
"Of course," she said with a sigh. "Where were my thoughts? Do follow me."
The steward followed her as she led the way out of the throne room, passing through the castle. He waited outside the queen's quarters as Celeste entered, the door closing behind her. Inside, Celeste found Vrine sitting beside the queen, holding a cup of tea. The queen was coughing heavily before she took a sip, waving it away.
"Come, your majesty," Vrine said. "You must drink. It will keep up you're strength."
"My strength wanes like never before," the queen said. "Celeste? You've come to visit me, my child. I do so hate for you to see me in such a condition."
"Mother, there has been a turn of events," Celeste said. "The dragon has attacked again."
The queen coughed. "Again? How dreadful. Has there been a death?"
"That stable girl who impersonated me has been carried off."
"What?" the queen said, sitting up. "Was she not the same girl who was attacked the first time?"
"She was," Celeste said.
"What a terrible coincidence."
"Yes, terrible. I need you to send the guard out to assist the prince."
"It will be done at once," she said, coughing. "Bring the steward."
* * *
Court knew he was close. The rain was smashing into him again, coating the trees all around. And the distant roaring, he could hear that too.
"Men, dismount. It may hear the horses."
The knights surrendered their horses, moving deeper into the forest, their torches flickering as the drops of water splashed against them. One knight swayed into another and they both stumbled. Then they began arguing.
"Shh!" Court hissed.
"Sir, they've been drinking," Finn reminded him. "Perhaps if we wait an hour..."
"No, we have no time. Let's move."
Court pushed on, his men following him, all slow on their feet, their heads hanging, their shoulders slumping, their footfalls heavy. Then there was a
nother roar. Everyone's eyes turned in its direction. They followed the sound, coming upon a great rock face, towering as high as the trees, the rain running over it as if it were a waterfall, for even the ground had been scooped out from the abuse. Behind the waterfall was a great cavern, stretching so very far above. Even in the dark, the stone glittered with jewels.
"Do you think that could be its lair?" Finn whispered.
"Yes, I do," Court whispered. "He's calling us. Come."
"Sir!" Finn grabbed Court's shoulder. "Do not rush in."
"But Sienna could be in there."
"Yes, and we are dealing with a dragon, not a man in costume. This beast possesses intelligence, and as you said, your footsteps may be so called. Do not, I pray, walk into a trap."
Court closed his eyes. "There's only one way in. Trap or not, I have to go. You wait here."
"No, sir, absolutely not."
"Finn, listen. If it is a trap, you can come in and rescue me. If it's not, you can come in and...and rescue me anyway."
"Then let me walk into the trap and you can rescue me."
"No. Sienna's my responsibility. I am yours. Keep your ears sharp."
Court broke away from his men, keeping low as he moved. When he came to the mouth of the cavern, his legs sank into the muddy pond. He passed under the waterfall, drawing his sword from his waist, holding it at his side as he pulled his feet from the water.
The cave's roof stretched far above, great enough, perhaps, even for a dragon to take flight. There were dark corners all around, his torch doing its best merely to lay the floor open before his eyes, his sword trembling in his hand. And then he saw human bones on the ground. Someone was feeding this monster, keeping it here as a pet to be beckoned when needed.
Court edged in deeper, his head on a swivel. The dark cave was littered with rocks and boulders and stalagmites. And then he froze in place, tilting his head, holding his breath. He could hear someone crying, a whimper echoing against the walls. Or was he imagining it? He breathed again.
Dare he call out? He had to risk it. He put his back up against a great boulder there in the midst of the cave, his sword at the ready, expecting the dragon to jump out the moment he spoke up. His eyes were darting around, his heart pounding.