The princess's dragon

Chapter 3: A new friend

The boy hadn't moved since they found him in the forest. The doctor banaged up his wounds and gave him medicine to help him heal. Still dispite the doctors best efforts he refused to waje up. The whole time Lilliana stayed by his side. Finally as the sun went down the boy opened his eyes, their eyes met and he screamed.

"Please have mercy!"he begged tears filling his eyes. Lilliana put her hands up.

"I'm not going to hurt you. We saved you from thoes thugs who were trying to hurt you."she explained what had happened in the forest and slowly the boy calmed down.

"Im sorry...I didnt recognize you. For a moment I thought you were part of that den of murderers." as he spoke about his pursuers he filled with anger. Lilliana gently laid her hand on his and smiled at him. He was able to calm himself and laid back down on the cot.

"Why did they want you anyway, did you take something from them or uncovered their secret hideout." Lilliana asked.

The boy hesitated to tell her but something inside him told him that he could trust her. He reached under his shirt and showed her a simlle leather neckless that had a large smooth green stone in the center. It was round in shape, about the size of a baby's fist and in the center of the stone was a long streak of red and orange. It reminded Lilliana of the eyes of the iguana that a diplomat of an eastern country had brought as a gift. "This is a special...protection stone. My dad gave it to me before he died and told me to never let it out of my sight When thoes bastards came and started destoying everything my mother knew they would try to take it away from me so we ran into the forest thinking we could hide there till they left. Turns out there's a camp of them just north of the village and we ran straight into them. They caught sight of my neckless and tried to take it. My mother fought back and they... They killed her." he started crying,"I ran and ran and ran but I got so tired and I fell and...And you rescued me. How did you find me...why did you save me?" He looked up at her with confusion.

Lilliana was taken aback by the question,"What do you mean why? You needed help that is more than enough of a reason!"she said.

The boy was shocked by her kindness and looked down,"Thank you." he said.

Lilliana just smiled at him,"You don't need to thank me. Actually do you want to be friends?" Something about this boy's shy scared demeanor pulled at her heart and she just wanted to protect him.

The boy just stared back at her, "You saved my life so I dont mind being friends but could you tell me your name." he said.

Lilliana blushed in embarrassment, her mother would scold her for an hour if she found out about this lapse of manner. To make up for her rudness Lilliana stood up and gave him a small curtsy,"Hello I am Princess Lilliana of Cigam."

"You're a princess..." the boy sat up quickly,"and you risked your life for a nobody like me! Are you out of your mind!"

Lilliana shushed him then quickly looked around to see if anyone heard him,"You can't tell anyone that. My mother would kill me. Everyone thinks you fought thoes thugs off yourself and then found us."

The confusion finally cleared in the boys mind and left only a vauge sense of disappointment, "Oh I get it now. Dont worry I wont tell anyone what you did. You dont have to pretend tp be my friend to buy my silence."

"That's not why I want to be friends." Lilliana said cocking her head at him.

The boy snorted with disdain,"Oh really then why would a princess want to be friends with a filthy nobody like me." he asked mockingly.

Lilliana reached out and touched his long white hair with a thoughtful smile,"Because I think youre really pretty. Ive never met someone who has such beautiful hair and your eyes are so bright, it makes me want to smile..."suddenly her smile dropped,"Do you not want to be my friend. Was it because I lied to everyone. I can tell then the truth if you want, I dont really like lying either."