The Forgotten Princess

A week later, I had managed to stay ahead of Jonathan and any of the girls he had managed to gather in the villages. According to word that had been received from the villages I visited, he had added two more girls to the group. It didn't matter, they were all fakes. I would reach Corothortis is a weeks' time, I had made good progress. I had started at the southern tip of Atra, and Corothortis was in the center of the kingdom Esan, in the Large Wood. (Simple name, suits it well, though.) I had just crossed the border of the kingdoms yesterday, but since Esan is larger than Atra, it would still take a week to get there. As I thought about this, I vaguely remembered that the castle, the one the King and Queen of Esan lived in, was on the other side of the forest. That meant Jonathan would be heading this way. That just caused more unwanted problems!
I pat Firefly's head, and searched through my memories, trying to distract myself. I remembered the first and only dragon I had ever met.
It had been four years ago, when I was thirteen. I had changed into human form and was walking along the shore. I had told my adopted family that I was going for a swim, but I was actually looking for a birthday present for Tulip. Perhaps a shell she didn't have yet for her collection, or a nice piece of jewelry for her, something simple. She didn't like flashy things. A simple silver chain with a small pendant, perhaps?
I scanned the shoreline. If I was going to buy jewelry, I needed money. To get that, I would have to sell shells in a town or village somewhere. I was digging a cone out of the sand, when a loud bellowing roar filled my ears. I stood bolt right, looking around me to see what it had been. Smoke curled over the tree tops around the bend further down shore. The roar sounded again, and I could hear that the creature, whatever it may be, was in pain. I was not one to let a creature in pain suffer.
I ran down the shore, stopped when I got around the bend. There, lying on the beach, sand sticking to it's wet form, was an adult dragon. It's breathe was coming in ragged gasps, and the source of it's pain was obvious. There was a deep wound on it's underside, the only place where hard scales did not cover it's body. The tear was long and went in deep enough to tear some of the muscle.
"Sir dragon?" I asked, approaching cautiously. "Do you require assistance? Would you like help?"
The dragon's purple, cat-like eyes flicked over to stare at me. It's scales were the deepest blue, the color of the sea farther out. The dragon shifted position a bit, and the resulting flash of sunlight glinting off the wet scales was bright enough to make me see spots for a few seconds.
"Why do you wish to help me, human?" the dragon, who I could tell was male by his rough and ragged voice, asked, his purple eyes wary. "Shouldn't you be running, not offering to help one who could kill you?"
I walked forward and crouched down so I could look him straight in the eyes.
"I would never leave a creature in pain, no matter what race or species. Human or not, I am going to help you." I moved to where the wound was on his underbelly. "Now hold still, I can't do this if you are moving."
I could see the muscle that was torn wasn't so bad that it couldn't be fixed. I looked in deeper, and found that there was only one thin layer of muscle left until the wound reached the dragon's heart. Embedded in that layer was a small metal chip. When I pulled it out, I discovered it was the sharp point of a sword, left behind when the dragon had managed to pull it out, or the blade had fallen out. There was no doubt, the person who did this had been aiming for the heart, and nearly succeeded.
"Willa!" I called.
The dryad appeared next to me.
"Yes, highness?" Willa asked.
I rolled my eyes, I had no intention of fighting with her about my title right now.
"Willa, I need you to get me a basin of clean water, and some strips of clean clothe." I looked at her. "Please, be quick."
Willa nodded and disappeared. I walked to the water side, and knelt in the water. I made a series of clicks, and called the dolphin, Squirt, to me. She bobbed out of the water, and I told her to find the sea herb for cleansing wounds and numbing pain. The dolphin clicked in response and dove beneath the waves. When I returned to the dragon's side, he looked at me curiously.
"Who are you, she who commands the sea and trees?" the dragon asked. "I have never seen a human like you in all my years."
I smiled. "You may call me Annia, I am the adopted daughter of the mermaid queen, Tulip."
I kissed the dragon's wound and spoke the Elvin trigger word 'lilas', picturing someplace calm and quiet. A warm tingling rose to my lips. This spell would cause him to remain calm and serene while I fixed his wound. At the same time, Willa appeared and I began to clean his wound with the clothe and water. Whispering apologies when he winced.
The dragon visibly relaxed, but he continued to gaze at me. "You say you are the adopted daughter of queen Tulip, and yet you know Elvin magic. How is this so, Annia?"
"I am also part elf," I answered. "I have received much training with the elves, mermaids, dwarves, and I know all the dryads and mystical creatures in the area by name." I looked at him as I said this next part. "You are the first dragon I have ever met, though." I whistled in the air, and Firefly, my phoenix, soared through the air to land next to me. The dragon noticed her.
The dragon's lips curved into what looked like a smile. "Annia, you are friend of the dryads, trees. Friend of the mermaids, water. Friend of the phoenix and dwarves, fire and earth. Friend of the elves, nature's beauty and grace. And now you are friend of the dragons, for you are my friend now, which is air. You are Annia of the Elements."
I smiled. "You flatter me."
"Ah, but you are." He was completely serious as he said this.
I stole a quick glance at him as I cleaned. "May I know your name, Great Dragon of the Air?"
If dragon's could blush, he probably would have done so then.
"My name is Firease," he said quietly. "Or in dragon-tongue," he made an odd grumbling sound in his throat.
I smiled, and tried to mimic the sound. It took several tries, but eventually I got it. Firease liked this. I got the numbing sea herb from the dolphin, and after cleaning applied it to the inside of the wound. Now the dragon would not feel pain as I put stinging, salty tears on it. Firefly cried into my palm, and I sprinkled the tears on the muscle, which immediately began to fix itself. Then, I was sure to get every bit of sea herb out before using magic to close up the wound.
When I was finished, Firease was able to move quite easily. As he moved, stretching his limbs, he told me what had happened. He had be flying, and was shot down by a knight. He had been loaded onto a ship, and he had been unconscious the whole trip, as he had hit his head on a rock when he fell. The ship's men had thought him dead, and when he awakened they tried to kill him. They had managed to give him his wound before he could scramble off the ship and into the water, where he was washed ashore. That was when I had found him.
I was so enrapt in his story I didn't realize the sun setting. Only when the sound of her sister's singing came to my ears did I look around and realize how late it was.
"Oh no!" I said, jumping up from the position I had taken on a boulder by the tree line.
"What is it?" Firease asked.
"It's already sunset, and I haven't got a present for my mother!" I began searching frantically along the shoreline, maybe I could find something before it was too late.
"A present for your mother, you mean Tulip?"
I nodded. "Tomorrow's her birthday, and I planned on finding shells and selling them to buy her a necklace."
"What kind of necklace?"
"A simple one, like a silver chain with a pendant or something."
Firease smiled, and I realized what he was thinking.
"No!" I shook my head. "I will not take from your hoard!"
"Please, it's the least I can do for your kindness."
I didn't have time to answer. He took off, and was back in an hour, during which my sister's cries had become more frantic. He dropped a necklace and bracelet at my feet. I examined the necklace, a silver chain with a glass pendant that was in the shape of a cone sea shell. It was beautiful, Tulip would love it!
"Thank you!" I smiled, then looked at the bracelet, which was a silver band that could clasp and unclasp, and had five indents all around it. "But what's the bracelet for?"
"That is for you," Firease said. Then he pulled off five loose scales "Put these scales in the indents, it shows that you are a friend of dragons, not to be harmed."
I picked up the scales and put them on the bracelet before putting it on my wrist. It slipped right into place.
I looked at him and smiled. "Thank you!"
"No thanks is necessary, Annia. You probably saved my life today, who knows if I would have made it without you while I had those wounds." He did that odd dragon smile. "Now I want to teach you something."
Firease taught me a low grumbling sound that meant 'friend' in dragon. He told me that by using it as the trigger word in a spell on a dragon, and by picturing the bracelet, it would instantly relay to the dragon that I was a friend of the dragons and how I came by the bracelet. This would undoubtedly keep any dragons from harming me. He did add that hopefully, I would never have need of it.
As my sister's cries grew even more frantic, I quickly hugged Firease's large head, and ran back to the way I'd come.
"Goodbye, Annia of the Elements!" Firease called.
"Goodbye, Firease of the Wind!" I called back.
"May we meet again someday!"
I gave the necklace to Tulip, and she loved it. I never told anyone else of this event, but I got odd looks when I was caught making the low sound for 'Firease' and 'friend'. I never forgot him.
I pulled back to the present, and rolled my sleeve up to see the glimmering silver and deep blue of the scales. Some might call what happened next fate, or destiny. I, on the other hand, came to discover later that it was all a matter of luck.