The Princess and The Dragon

Chapter 15 - Showdown

I went to bed early that night in order to wake up early the following morning, but I had missed almost two full nights’ rest. When I finally woke up, it was much after dawn. I sprung up and ran to the door, not caring about my attire. The two guards were there, as always, but I knew they would not be of much use. I hissed at a maid who was carrying some linen sheets. She approached me.

   “Good morning, princess,” she said politely.

   “Has the king left for the race yet?” I asked, eager not to waste time.

   “Not yet, miss. It’s only three hours after dawn,” she said, bemused.

   “That leaves three hours until the race, which leaves around one hour for me to get ready to catch them before they leave,” I said, more to myself. I snapped my head back up to look at her, and she jumped. “Get another servant and come help me get ready for the race.”

   “But the king said-”

   “Never mind what the king said! Do as I say!” I snapped.

   She hurried from the room and I closed the door behind her. While I waited for the servants to arrive, I did something I had never done before: I bathed myself. Desperate times called for desperate measures, and I did not have any time to lose. By the time the pair of girls arrived, I was in the middle of combing my hair after I had already packed my armour out on the bed.

   “You: comb my hair and tie it into a plait,” I ordered, pointing at the first girl, who hurried to take my brush. I pointed at the other girl, “Dress me in my armour.”

   I counted the seconds until the maids finished. Neither of them had ever worked with either my mother or me, so they took long, especially with the armour. When they had finally finished, I rummaged around the mess underneath my bed and withdrew two of the coins I kept there, and handed one to each of them.

   “This is both payment for your help, and bribery not to tell anyone,” I said, handing it to them. They took the silver with wide eyes, glancing at each other, then looking at me with bemusement.

   “Th-thank you, your majesty,” one said, and the other nodded. I forced a smile and hurried out of the room with the red leather-bound book in hand, down many staircases and up many more corridors until I finally reached the entrance hall.

   It was empty.

   Convinced that I had not been more than an hour, I sat on the bottom stair, waiting for my father to arrive. The minutes ticked by slowly, and my nerves picked up exponentially. I began drumming my fingers on my knees, making noises with my mouth, anything to make time go faster.

   Around fifteen minutes later, I began worrying. Had I missed the king? I got up and went to the double doors, peeking through the large window beside it. The city seemed normal enough: there were no banners and I could not hear cheering. There was not a dragon in sight, either. The barn was unfortunately hidden behind a hill, so I could not be sure as to whether the dragons were there.

   I began pacing around the entrance hall, wondering what I should do: if I had missed the king, dare I risk it to sneak out of the castle and meet him in the city? Where was Araol? If they had left already, why did he not bid me farewell?

   Finally, when I seriously began considering sneaking out, I heard voices approach from the direction of the throne room, hurriedly approaching me.

   “We are already running late. The Dragonking will not be pleased,” I heard my father said.

   “Don’t worry, dear, he will understand,” my mother replied.