For part one click here
Before the sun rose on that dreadful morning the princess found herself pacing the floors of her chamber wiping tears from her sleepless eyes. She walked up to the window as she had done so many times before however this time with a heavy heart and a troubled mind. As she watched the sun rising she thought to herself “there must be another way, there just has to be” for the first time in her life as she was looking downward toward the town square she noticed how sheer the drop down was from her highly elevated chambers knowing that there was no way out of the room that held so many cherished memories for her that had now become no more than a glorified prison cell for her.
She saw men walking into the town square below carrying sturdy pieces of wood that had been readied for the construction of the gallows; no doubt the one that her father would be hung from and at that moment her excruciating sadness was replaced with a deep seated hatred and frustration.
Just then for a brief second the light of the rising sun flickered as if for a fraction of a second it had been interrupted by a shadow, she immediately diverted her attention to the horizon “could it be?” she thought to herself. She felt her briefly acquired new found hope sink to the bottom of the soles of her feet making them too heavy to even turn away from the window that kept her captive within her captivity.
Her eyes remained focused on the rising sun until the piercing light of the sun rendered her vision a blurry mass. Suddenly her attention was drawn by an unexpected commotion that had come in unison from the towns people as well as the field hands, she tried to see what it was about but her blurry vision failed her, she squeezed her eyes tightly and rubbed them roughly then opened them again and saw the people pointing towards the sky as the all scurried to get a better view. She looked towards were the people were pointing and could see the profile of a huge flying beast turning in mid-air towards the village. She wandered for a moment if it could be him, not that dragons had been sighted in many years in fact dragons had been thought to be extinct but she knew better, she had known for many years now of at least one dragon; her dear friend Abraxus.
Then as the dragon swooped down low towards the villagers and at one glance she knew for sure that it was him.
The villagers all scurried for shelter in the immediate chaos, the dragon flew over the village then made another turn and headed towards the village again, he glanced at the princess briefly then slowed down ever so slightly. The princess climbed on to the windowsill and waited for him to get close enough before jumping, timing was absolutely everything. As soon as he got close enough she leapt pushing away from the ledge with her legs forcefully, with her heart in her throat and her eyes shut tightly for what had felt like forever then with a jolt she opened her eyes wide as her hands and shortly after her body made contact with the scales on the dragons’ neck. Against the force of the wind and lack of footing she struggled but managed to get her one leg over the dragons neck while holding on to its roughly forged scales, once she was in a seated position she flung her arms around the sides of the dragon’s neck, then looked back over her shoulder towards the village, she could see the villagers reduce to the size of mere ants as they flew off into the distance, then she turned her head back and placed it firmly on the dragons neck squeezing her entire body as tightly as she could against the dragon as she said:
“Abraxus, I can’t believe you came for me!”
The landing was all but perfect it has been so many years since his last flight, his feet stumbled the first few steps and the princess was flung from his back and landed firmly with her back in some nearby shrubs as the dragon plowed onward through some rough terrain before coming to a full stop just before mountains edge.
Back in the village the people had all resumed their normal duties including the ones building the yard arm with Lord Gramshmere; the hand of the recently deceased king at full command of instructions. Once that Lord Gramshmere was certain that everything was in place for matters of the hanging to presume he set forth towards the chamber where the princess was held, he ushered the guards to one side and entered the princess’ chambers unannounced and it did not take him long before he realized that she was no longer there. “Guards” he called, “where is she… you let her get away? You fools! Summons the Dark Night at once” And the lords wait was not extended as the dark night entered the room almost immediately, and almost instinctively closed the door behind him.
Lord Gramshmere made his frustration clear about the disappearance of the princess “rally the best guards and find her, she must be with that beast, make sure that there is no breath left in her to relay the truth or it will be the two of us hanging in the town square and bring me the dragons head, it will be a great addition to my throne room.” there was absolutely no grey areas left in his instructions.
As the army was about to leave the majestic dragon appeared over the horizon heading straight towards the village, this time however the dragon managed a near perfect landing on the edge of the city, the army of guards furiously stormed towards the beast with the dark knight at their lead, but was stopped in their tracks by the fiery breath of the dragon, a few tried to approach the dragon from the side but was swiftly flung back by one flick of the dragons tail, then the people of the village all forced onlookers now, watched as the princess dismounted the dragons neck.
The princess walked towards the dark knight as she drew a sword from one of the unconscious palace guards, the dark knight stood ready for the battle with his sword still in hand the rest of his man had since backed away for fear of the huge dragon, as the princess approached the dark night drew the first strike towards the princess, a few knights tried to make their way towards the princess but was interrupted by the dragon yet again.
Two swords clashed and sparked in this untimed combat displaying the impeccable timing and skill of the hands that they had found themselves in, the dark knight drove the princess backward with sheer force and the princess lost her footing on the rocky terrain that she found herself in and as she did the dark knight stuck his blade to her left side rendering a painful gash that had the princess on her knees, the dark knight drew back his sword readying to deliver the final strike. The princess gathered her strength and blocked the blow that set the dark knight back a pace giving the princess just enough time to get back to her feet. This was the tuning point of the battle and the princess fought with vigor and precision, then with one sure blow the princess stuck one blow close to the base of the dark knights sword that disarmed him and sent his sword flying through the air, the princess held her sword to his neck pushing backward into the mans retreat, step for step she paced him in a backward withdrawal as she started milking his confession out of him, this time it was him that lost his footing and stumbled over a rock in the uneven terrain, the princess placed one knee on top of the knights chest and forcefully held the blade to the knights neck. “why did you do it? Why did you kill my father?” she asked.
The mans dreaded reply came slowly “1000 gold pieces of course”
“And who promised you these said tokens?” the princess enquired
The man turned his head in reluctance to answer, then his eyes met those of the dragon and he could feel his body shudder in fear, he faced the princess again then replied:
“Lord Gramshmere me Lady”
The princess gazed up through the crowd in search of the assassins master, then saw him making his way to the edge of the crowd in a cowardly fashion, once he reached the edge of the people he started running towards the forest on the outskirts of the village as fast as his legs could carry him, the princess stood back and the guards took the dark knight in hands as Abraxus leapt effortlessly into the air, he flew towards Lord Gramshmere landing solidly in front of him, the force of the wind from the dragons wings brought Lord Gramshmere to a steady fall, he tried to scurry away but Abraxus gave one insinuated grunt that defused a puff of smoke from his nostrils and Lord Gramshmere realized that there was no where to run, the dragon took one step forward and placed his right foot over Lord Gramshmere encasing him with his claws.