Lady Fit for a Dragon
__________________ Lady fit for a Dragon, a modern bedtime story - By Kandrel
- * * Once upon a time, there was a lady cat. She was a beautiful lady, the apple of her father's eye, and he dressed her in the most expensive of dresses. The lady wasn't happy, though. The suitors her father brought to her told her stories of how they'd fought dragons, or killed a troll, or how they'd gained their honor on the battlefield. Each time she heard a story, she pictured herself, clad in gleaming armor and holding a glinting sword. And each time, she remembered that she was just a lady, and that with all of her dresses and embroidery and proper manners and things befitting a lady, it would never happen. All her dreams were destined to be nothing but a fancy. Once, she'd told her father that she wanted to be a knight. She'd taken a sword from the barracks, and had put on a helmet so large that her entire head disappeared beneath it. That day, her father had taken the sword and the helmet, then put her in the care of a tutor that made sure she never had time for swords, or helmets, or stories, or fun and adventure. When the day came and she finally became a lady, her father introduced her to a male, and told her that if she wished, she could be his wife and make him prince and future king. She looked at the male and shook her head. She didn't want to be someone's princess, or to go on hobbled by dresses. The male, crestfallen, left the next day, men in tow. Day after week after month, her father brought her males, and told her the same thing every time, that one day, the male she picked would be king. One day, after she'd refused another knight as a suitor, she hid in a corridor as the knight's footmen passed on their way from her father's castle. She smashed a vase, an expensive one, from the far halls of Arabia where her father had once traveled, over his head. While no one was looking, shrugged out of her dress and put on the man at arms' armor, and picked up his pike. Rejoining the line, she followed the knight and his men, smuggling herself from her father's castle in the employ of her would be suitor. As she passed her fathers guards and left the castle, her heart soared, finally free of the dresses and the caligraphy and the flowers and the inane chatter of her ladies in waiting. She marched in time through the town, then out on the trail in the forest, heading to parts unknown. Now, this knight was a capricious weasel, and one given to anger and to rage. As soon as he and his men were out of line of sight from the castle, he took the helmet from is head and dashed it against his squire, yelling at the top of his lungs about the wicked princess and her simpering father. The men (and the princess) stood silently at attention, each one hoping not to get the knight's attention, and waiting for his rage to spend itself. He wailed on for minutes, into hours, and the cat lady felt her feet start to hurt, and the armor rub her in all of the wrong places. The man she'd caught was a size too large, and the metal plates caught her fur and pulled it cruelly. As the lady finally felt as if she'd scream, the knight finished, turned his horse, and led his party down the road, dusk just starting to kiss the sky red. The lady, sure she didn't want to stay near the knight, hopped out of line as they passed through a particularly thickly forested spot, and the other men at arms, hearing blocked by heavy helmets, didn't notice a thing. Well, the lady was free now, and quickly pulled off the armor and greaves and gauntlets, hiding them beneath the lee of a stone since they didn't really fit her anyway. The lady wished she'd brought one of her dresses now, though, since all she could wear were her undergarments, with the man-at-arms' long-knife strapped to her side. A little cold and uncertain, she looked around, then stalked away from the road, trying to stay silent, as she was sure her father would send people looking for her as soon as her absence was noticed. As she traveled away from the road, the trees got closer, and the forest got darker, until at last she could only barely see. Finally, long after the sun had fallen and the moon had crept over the horizon, casting its pale glow down between the thick leaves overhead, she found a clearing. And in this clearing was a cave, large and foreboding. Shivering in the cold night, she figured the cave was better than being out in the woods, so she crept into the cave, peering around with her sensitive feline eyes cautiously. As she ventured deeper, she saw a light, , glowing golden at the rear of the tunnel. She approached it, curious who or what would be hidden so deep her in the woods, hidden in a cave with no trail or road leading to it. As she rounded the corner, her breath caught. Sitting upon a mound of gold, silver, and jewels, was a small dragon, about the size of a large pony. The dragon lifted his head (for it was a male dragon) and looked at the lady, sniffling the air and glaring at her curiously. "You're no knight, but you come here wearing a sword? What manner of creature are you?" The dragon rumbled, causing gold to jingle down the pile he was reclined on. "I'm just lost, and running away from my father and a knight." The girl squeaked, her voice breaking as she gazed at the dragon. The dragon was lithe and graceful, moving like a cat as it stood from the pile. It wasn't anything like the fat, ungainly, and evil-looking dragons she'd seen on the tapestries at home. "Oh? So a princess (and yes, I know you're a princess, I can smell it, walks into my lair,)" the dragon remarked, "claiming she's run away from home, and that a Knight is following her? This sounds like a trap." Stated the dragon, walking right up to her on all fours, back arched like a cats and wings spread, the membranes webbed like a bats. "It's no trick, sir." She wasn't sure if dragons should be called sir, but she figured there was no reason not to act respectful. "Can you tell me where I might go to escape them? I just want to live my own life and have my own adventures." The dragon smiled, then passed the lady cat, walking up towards the entrance of his cave. "If it's not a trick, then why is the knight waiting outside right now?" The lady cat, surprised and worried, followed the dragon to the entrance, wishing she'd kept the armor. At the entrance to the cave, the knight stood mounted on his horse, his men at arms lined up behind him. "Dragon! Unhand the princess now!" The weasel knight stopped, looking at the lady cat. "And hide that common filth. I'll not have peasants on my field of battle." The dragon, now confused, reared onto its hind legs, clawing at the air and flapping. "Speak truth, knight, if that's what you are. This lady came to me of her own free will, and she is the princess, though even were she common, she'd still deserve your respect and honor. Have you forgotten your own code of chivalry?" The knight, taken aback, dismounted and pulled his sword. "Lies and trickery. What would a dragon know of chivarly. If this be the princess, then her hand is the reward of her safe return. I will not be spurned again!" The knight ran towards the dragon, sword held high, and the lady cat was thrown to the ground as the dragon lept, a wing catching her side. The dragon and the knight fought mightily, the sword turned by the dragon's scales, but the dragon's fire turned by the knight's glittering cape, the dragon's claws and bite turned by the thick breastplate. "Think I'm not prepared to deal with your kind? I am impervious to your weapons." With a cruel twist, the dragon yowled, going down as the knight's sword caught a foreclaw, leaving a bloody gash. "Now die, and give me my reward; this kingdom." The knight held his sword high, the dragon dazed below him. Before the sword fell, though, the knight stopped, mouth open in pain and muscled locked. Behind him stood the princess. She held the long knife buried in the knight's back, wicked blade straight through his heart. "I am no prize. I am free!" She told the knight. The knight dropped his sword, then collapsed. The men at arms, faced with their knight dead at the feet of a dragon and a lady with a bloodied dagger, lost heart and ran, scattering into the forest. "My lady" rumbled the dragon, "Forgive me for doubting you. You have saved my life." "You are beautiful, sir dragon. I could not let him kill you." responded the lady cat, wiping her dagger on the dead knight's robe. "Then let me reward you with freedom, my lady. I owe you a great boon, and here is my offer. Stay here and be my lady, and I will never put you in fetters. You will be free to follow whatever path you wish, and I will bring you all over the world to see its wonders. In return, I just ask you to stay with me, so that I might return the favor that you've given me." The lady cat may have been shrewd, but she knew an offer from the heart when she saw it. "And you say I can be whatever I wish, and that you won't ever treat me as inferior because of my sex, or my species, or my class?" "This I promise, my lady. Now quick, get on my back, this cave is no longer safe. We will go somewhere where your face is not known, and you may be truly free." The lady cat climbed on between his wings, hanging around his neck, as the dragon flapped, taking the sky and flying them both on to a new life. The end. _________________________________________________________________ (Fin! All characters in this story are copyright J. Fox Rosenberg and any other resemblance to other characters is only incedental and unintentional. Reposting is permissable, however, all reposts must be in original form, and must contain the author's name unaltered.) Send Kandrel mail! fox at foxyonline dot com Comments and suggestions are welcome, flames can go to hell!