Knight of Passion (Jenlisa)

Chapter 1

Alone in her tower, Princess Jennie could hear the sounds of battle coming from below.

Out of her window, she could see down into the courtyard of her prison, the tall stone spire that had confined her for close to five years now.

Far below, the cobblestones were streaked with scorch marks, long black lines of soot that crisscrossed the ground and spread up the walls. She felt tears welling in her eyes.
That poor knight...

He wasn't the first person who'd come to rescue her. She wasn't sure if she hoped he'd be the last. Many had tried, especially in the first few months, but none had been a match for the dragon that guarded her. Their bodies still dotted the castle, nothing but bones and disfigured armour, turned to ashes by the heat of the dragon's breath.

As she watched, the huge beast thundered past the window, the beating of its wings shaking the glass. She took a step back, afraid.

She heard a deafening roar as the creature circled around, turning down towards the courtyard and unleashing a giant bout of flame, white-hot and blindingly bright even in the mid-morning light.

Shielding her eyes, Jennie couldn't bear to watch, even after the fire was gone. She didn't want to see the body of her would be rescuer, now nothing but charred remains like so many others.

Trying not to cry, she waited for the beast to return, flying back up to its roost triumphantly. It slept above her, curled around the roof of the tower, always alert for intruders.

As she made her way back to her bed, falling down heavily onto the edge, her shoulders slumped as she sat in a fit of melancholy. She felt the hot sting of tears rolling down her cheek and didn't try to stop them. Every time it was the same. Every time someone came to save her, they died, and she was left alone, still trapped.

Quietly, Jennie began to weep, holding her face in her hands as her body shook with wracking sobs. Oh gods, why me?

All she wanted was to be free, to be able to walk around outside again, to see her family, her friends. Anything but these four walls. She missed her parents so badly. It was on her 20th birthday when she'd been kidnapped, whisked away from the royal castle in the middle of the night, and locked up here, in the middle of gods know where.

She still didn't know who had taken her; One of her father's enemies, she imagined, but which one? As the king, he had plenty of them; rivals for the throne, foreign powers, and even a few magical beings as well.

But if they were holding her to ransom, why was she still here five years later?

No matter what they asked, she knew her parents wouldn't leave her to die. No amount of money was worth more to them than her, their only child, and not even in her darkest nightmares did she think for a moment that they'd abandoned her to her fate. But then, what other reason could someone have to kidnap her?

In all the time she'd been confined in the tower, not a single person had come to speak with her. In fact, the only people she'd seen at all were the knights who came to rescue her, and of course the terrifying dragon that lurked amidst the crumbling ruin of the rest of the castle.

Her food appeared as if by magic, along with whatever else she needed to survive, but she had no idea how. It was as though whoever had taken her had done so for no other reason than to keep her locked away because they could.

Jennie felt like a trophy.

Her only solace was the single window looking out over the world below. She'd spent so many hours, sometimes even whole days, just sitting on the windowsill, staring out and dreaming of the day she could finally leave.