Reddit Stories & Other Fiction: 2021

The Dragon Oath

For centuries, Alamor was a hidden jewel, protected by mountains to the north, a vast ocean to the south, and, of course, the great hunting grounds on the borderlands that belonged exclusively to dragons. Rumors of a mystical kingdom eventually reached the outside world. As years passed and empires rose, Alamor became the envy of greedy kings. They set their armies on the kingdom, but none ever made it past the mighty dragons and so Alamor lived in peace.

Then a great Alamoran king discovered the Dragon Oaths.

The king bound dragons into his service and turned the fierce predators into tools of war. Corrupted by power and spurred by vengeance, the king launched a campaign against his neighbors. Three kingdoms fell before the new Alamor and, if not for a stray arrow, the entire continent would have. The king of the dragons perished. The Oaths were broken.

Many of the dragons fled from the land, retreating to unknown lands, swearing to never be bound again. A few foolishly stayed, believing that the Oaths died with the king.

They were wrong.

The king had passed his knowledge to his son who passed it to his daughter and so forth. The Oaths became a sacred rite. Though none of the great king's lineage succumbed to corruption, each invoked an Oath, swearing in not an army, but a single dragon to service. As generations passed, the dragon's resentment faded and, eventually, the Oath became a tradition and an honor for both monarch and dragon.

Princess Marianne knew she would, one day, invoke her own Dragon Oath. Alamor worked closely with dragons and she knew that none would dare hurt a monarch or heir, if only because the Oath prevented them. She knew that she was perfectly safe.

That did not stop her from screaming when the flying beast scooped her from her bedroom balcony in the middle of the night. She had never seen a dragon up close, but she knew immediately that her captor was not her father's dragon. Scars carved gaps between her dull green scales and a crest ran between her two curved horns. The dragon's mighty talons gripped Marianne loosely, but no matter how she pushed, she could not make a gap wide enough to escape.

"Stop squirming, Princess," the dragon hissed. "You do not want to fall at this height."

Marianne didn't listen and the dragon released a heavy sigh, tightening her grip on the young princess until they reached their destination. Marianne couldn't tell how long she rode in the dragon's hand but she was very sore and tired once released.

The dragon placed her in a courtyard of an abandoned castle. She couldn't see beyond the great walls from the ground, but the cold suggested she was somewhere in the mountains. If that was right, she was too far from her home to walk. Perhaps guessing her intent, the dragon placed one massive claw on either side of the princess, blocking her escape from any direction but back into the great hall.

Marianne glared down the dragon, meeting its yellow eyes with her own. She knew some animals could sense fear. She hoped the dragon could not. "Once my father learns of this, he will have you killed. Just because you're a dragon doesn't mean you're safe. He's a king."

"I am here on your father's orders."

Marianne opened her mouth to retort but confusion replaced anger so rapidly, all that came out was a series of sputtering sounds.

"You're not Rynwyld," she said after a moment.

"I am not."

"Rynwyld is my father's dragon."

"Dragons belong to no one, child." The dragon's tone remained the same, but her frills on her neck rose and she moved her head very close to Marianne, reminding the princess of her many sharp teeth.