Chance Bride Of The Dragon Prince

Preface

In that old, untouched English forest, there is a pathway. A pathway that warps your senses. A pathway that leads to an old timey way of living. A pathway that leads to a little village, oppressed by the iron fist of whoever lives in the hard looking castle on the hill. A little civilisation hidden in the forest. A little civilisation that believe in fairy tales.

When you look at it, you would never know that for hundreds of years, there has been a village of people living there. You wouldn't see the signs. That's because you can't see where the world shifts. It's like you've stepped into another dimension. Maybe that is what you do.
When you walk through the forest, you'll find it, you'll find the world that lurks within a heavily polluted England. You'll find the world from which you cannot escape. You'll find bliss, heaven on earth. Also known as The Willow

~
The light spring breeze dances through the lush green forest, spreading the seeds of dandelions throughout The Willow. The whole area is silent, letting nature enhance the splendid landscapes, setting the tone for the next year.

The whole area gives off a refreshing vibe. The air smells like the fresh new flowers are in bloom. There are blossoms here and there. The whole place looks enchanted.

The seeds from the dandelion clocks drift toward a small clearing. That's where the village is situated. There are little cottages situated throughout the clearing. In the centre is a constantly large pile of firewood that the children usually contribute to. It's serene here. Nobody is yet stirring, except the occasional early birds, who will be foraging and hunting further away from the clearing. Not long from now, the children will be allowed to go out and play.

The door to one of the cottages opens. The village elders; Vivian Hunt and Justin Hunt, her husband are surveying the area, as if there is something that is about to happen.

"Something tells me that there's been a disturbance, my dear? Do you feel it too?" Justin asks his wife of fifty years.

"I was just about to say the same." Vivian forces a smile but it's sickly and sinister; clearly false, of course Justin had worked out that it was a fake smile. He brushes off his wife's facial expression and looks around.

The elders are seen to be extra aware but those who are at the age in which they doubt the sincerity of the legends that this village was built upon, would simply deem them as delusional. These adolescents are the ones who are yet to face the wrath of the inhabitants of the stone castle you can barely see from the village.

"Justin my dear...is today...?"

"Oh Vivian! You're right!" her spouse gasps, his cornflower blue eyes, hard with age are wide in fear.

CRASH!

The two elders spin on their heels, causing dirt to rise and fall. Which cottage did that crashing sound come from? The pair watch in fear as the door to the Eldridge household swings open.

The Eldridge household looks like any other cottage in the huge ring of homes; the roof is thatched and there are wooden shutters, blocking the sunlight from the windows. Each windowsill is decorated with a flowerbed and ivy is hesitantly using the home as a hoist to reach sunlight, from all directions.
Like the majority of the homes here; the Eldridge household is home to a nuclear family. Mrs Eldridge and her husband have three children at home, a fourth son recently married the blacksmith's daughter.

In the doorway of the Eldridge household stands Mrs Eldridge. She is a strong woman, stable and one of the matriarchs of this village. Marriage is power in this lonely village in the Willow; as one of the women in a happy, long marriage of twenty five years, Mrs Eldridge is well respected.

Vivian makes her way toward the seemingly frantic Mrs Eldridge.

The mother of the Eldridge family looks a state, her hair is matted and her eyes bloodshot. Is she not fully awake yet? Usually she would not present herself in this way; particularly to the village elders. Is her fatigue why there was a crash? Did Mrs Eldridge drop something in her dazed state?

"She's gone." Mrs Eldridge's voice is shaky and worn. Was she crying? Is that why her eyes are red?
Vivian and Justin tilt their heads; Mrs Eldridge has two daughters, Angelica and Cardelia. Clearly, from Mrs Eldridge's statement, one of her daughters has gone missing.

"I'm sure she's fine." Vivian puts a wrinkled hand on Mrs Eldridge's shoulder. The mousey haired woman continues to project a morose ora. Vivian takes a step back.

"Which of your daughters has wandered off?" Justin enquires. Justin is renowned for his soothing euphemisms. By simply stating that one of Mrs Eldridge's daughters had "wandered off", Justin calms one of the village's matriarch's down.

"Cardelia." Mrs Eldridge says with a hiccup. Cardelia is Mrs Eldridge's youngest daughter, only six years old.

"Vivian." Justin says, white brows furrowed.

"Oh NO!" the village elder is aghast.

"Please don't tell me..." Mrs Eldridge's face crumples as the elders hang their heads as if they are expressing their condolences.

"Today is in fact the dawn of the fifth sun." Justin says, hating to break the news to Mrs Eldridge. There's no way to soften that blow.

The elders move away to let Mrs Eldridge work out what to do. However, in one spontaneous action, the matriarch seizes the elders by their bony wrists. "Please...please...Cardelia's just a child, look for her...she doesn't deserve this!"

"It's almost time that the fifth sun will break dawn over the stone castle." Vivian says.

"PLEASE! YOU HAVE TO FIND HER! SHE'S JUST A CHILD!" Mrs Eldridge is yelling now, her usually stoic and silent husband is hushing her as well as holding his wife's flailing arms.

"Let us just keep Angelica and Tobias safe, have faith in the elders and have faith in Cardelia."Mr Eldridge murmurs into his wife's matted hair.

How a man can be so stoic while his daughter may have unwittingly sealed her fate by going for an early morning stroll, is beyond Vivian. She feels a fresh wave of reverence wash over her.

"Vivian, we need to find Cardelia Eldridge or else she may cross paths with the dragon prince." Justin presses.

Usually, the village's adolescents would roll their eyes disdainfully and make snarky remarks of malice 'Prince! Dragon Prince! There's no Prince! Nor are there dragons! Ha! Nothing lives in that stone castle, it's just an old wives tale. The elders are simply mad!'

Too bad it isn't a fairy story to strike fear into the cores of the village children. If only. The village truly is oppressed. Oppressed by a force that looms around you. You cannot always see the Dragon King and Dragon Queen watching over the village, enjoying the ability to observe the daily lives of the people as if they are animals in a menagerie.

It is on the dawn of the fifth sun, in other words, the fifth day of the fifth and tenth months of the year, that the Dragon Prince is free to prowl. It is said that on the dawn of the fifth sun, the Dragon Prince will stumble upon his chance bride. He is to know that it is to be true if both are hit by the rising sun.

Vivian and Justin wander over the footpaths. Cardelia isn't a stupid child, she would not wander to a place in which she was unfamiliar. There is a clearing about half a mile westward of the Eldridge house. Lanterns guide the way though they are not lit.

It's nearing the time.

They break through the shrubbery as the first rays of the rising sun.

There is Cardelia, laying, curled in a ball, sleeping on a boulder. Beside her lay a boy; no older than eight years old. The boy is clearly strange. He has scales! The boys' cherubic face is stained with faint greyish scales that are climbing his face.

The elders step back.

They were too late.

The sun is on the child.

Cardelia Eldridge is the chance bride of the Dragon Prince.