The Princess's Escape

Chapter 2

POV: Princess Bliss

I was in my room, on the left wing of the castle, when I saw something flit across the window out of the corner of my eye. Turning my head right, toward the window, I quickly glanced over but didn't see anything. I ignored it, not thinking that it was very important, and went back to my Royal Lineage homework.

Knock, knock. Came a knock on my door.

"Come in!" I cried.

"Princess?" said my maid, Trianna, as she stuck her head in the door. "Are you almost done with that? The King and Queen are asking for you. You are to join them in the Great Hall for supper tonight at six-o'clock-pm sharp. And they told me that you're to wear your nicest gown, as you have important guests."

"Yes, I am almost done," I replied. "Thank you, Trianna. You may go now."

Trianna turned around to leave and looked back at me with a knowing and sympathetic smile as she walked out the door.

Sighing, I turned back to face the window.  I knew what they were going to talk to me about, and I was not very happy about it. My parents needed an alliance with another kingdom nearby,  and that would mean marrying me off to a king or prince that I wouldn't necessarily like or even know. 

Opening my window, I again saw something flit across it. I knew I saw something this time, so, bending my head closer, I tried to look for whatever it was. This time it came from the bottom right corner of my window, and I watched it fly from there to the top left corner. 

As it flew by again, I strained my eyes to see it. I leaned even further out my window when I couldn't see it anymore, and as I did a huge gust of wind blew right over me, knocking me off balance and out of the window.

Hurtling towards the ground, I saw my life flash before my eyes. At least, I saw something flash before them.

I was halfway down the castle, screaming and flailing my arms and legs in a futile attempt to slow myself down or stop, when I was suddenly caught in the strong grip of the talons of some large animal. I closed my eyes and screamed even louder.

When we finally reached the ground, it felt like an eternity had gone by. I looked up to see who had caught me and caught a glimpse of gleaming dark purple scales. The more I looked up, the more confused I became. What I was seeing looked to me like a dragon, which I had heard of but never seen. They were supposed to be extinct.

Shocked, I continued to look up. As I got to the giant creature's head, I had to look up so far that I fell down right onto my rear end. After I fell, I just sat and stared at the incredible, shining monstrosity that was before me.

"Uh... Wha... How..." I stuttered. "Dragons are supposed to be extinct! But... You're right in front of me! How can this be?"

A young man jumped down off the back of the dragon, startling me as he landed right in front of my face. He looked down at me with warm brown eyes and asked me, "Are you okay? What happened? How did you fall out of that window?"

"I-I'm fine," I stuttered in reply. "I just leaned out too far, I guess. I was trying to see...well...you and your dragon better."

"Ah. I suppose that makes sense," he said with a smile. "We are a rarity! One of the only - maybe the only - dragons and his rider in all the kingdom of Starlace. And Alcragon is a pretty striking dragon!"

"Alcragon?" I asked, confused.

The dragon looked down at me with giant, shining, dark-purple eyes, as if he knew what I had said.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Let me properly introduce us: I am Caenum, dragon rider of Starlace, and this is Alcragon, Protector of Kingdoms. And let me tell you now before he gives me a stern talking-to: He chose me, I didn't choose him."

I looked at Caenum, confused, and asked, "He chose you? How did he do that? He's just a..."

"Don't say it! Don't say dragon!" Caenum exclaimed. "Alcragon is not just a dragon. He is a dragon, and he thinks just like you and I do."

"Uh... Ok. Can he talk, too?" I asked, slightly concerned for the sanity of the young man before me.

Caenum sighed, looking upwards, and said, "You don't believe me, do you? I suppose that's fair, but I am telling you the truth. And no, Alcragon doesn't talk. He communicates through me. We know each other's thoughts; except, he mostly thinks in pictures and actions rather than words."

"Wow..." I said distractedly as I looked past him into the woods. Ever since my "escapade" the other day, I've seen them as more and more interesting than before. You might think that's really strange, seeing as I was almost lost, but I saw things there that I want to see more of.

Caenum followed my gaze and asked, "Have you ever been in those woods before?"

Still distracted, I responded, "Yeah. Once..." and started walking towards them. "I ran away. I was scared. I was only partially listening to something my parents were talking about, and I didn't like what they were saying."

"What were they saying?" Caenum asked.

Looking over my shoulder, I saw that he looked genuinely concerned, and he put a hand on my shoulder. I looked back at the trees and kept walking.

"Nothing," I said quietly. "It's not important."

We walked on in silence, with Alcragon following, until we reached the beginning of the woods.