The Dragon’s Bride

Chapter 4

Before I could think of anything else, a pair of arms quickly snatched me from the inside and I came face to face with Myrrah, who’s face was painted in worry. Her hands shake as she holds me in the warmth of her arms. A ferocious roaring sound came after that was emitted outside the castle grounds when a series of explosions were felt.

“Y-your majesty! Here, let’s walk here quickly!” She said as she opened a passage frantically behind the wall in the room with her shaking hands, where a tapestry covers the hidden door for unknown people. Inside, the mysterious door reveals a spiral staircase leading from the bottom of the castle to an unidentified place.

“Myrrah, what’s going on? Why is everybody frightened of that creature?” I asked, unsure of everything that was going on.

The image of the dragon I saw, burned in my mind. As we hurriedly went in and shut the door behind us.

Myrrah took a glance at me nervously, with a panic in her eyes while leading the way down the staircase, holding a candelabra with a candle lit in her other hand.

“Everything started in the past…….” She said, her words emitting with sadness as if she was pained by retelling the memories she badly wanted to burry. Her gaze wandered far away as she tried to reminisce it.

Looking at her face, I could see, from the distance between us, the mourning in her eyes of someone she had always longed for for years.

‘Maybe it’s not good to butt in over somebody’s business, Kassy’ I said to myself, as the urge of curiosity was deprived of the guiltiness I felt right now. Her pair of white eyes turned its gaze towards me with the tears that were slowly building up and ready to cry.

“Since from the time of our first ancestors, the species of dragons had already long existed, they said that those dragons are just like you humans and the other normal beings here in the village, but could transform themselves into ferocious monsters. Some say it was a curse, and some say they were just born to be that way. All was well from that time, not until many young women had gone missing throughout the kingdom and a dragon was caught in the act of doing that. Some of them said that the women they abducted were used to prolong their existence here in this world, but we don’t know how and in what way they did it”, Myrrah said as we continued to walk ourselves down the stairs.

The tunnel of the staircase that we are walking is full of cobwebs, spiders and the squeaking rats that are scattered all around. Pitch black darkness surrounds the corridors of the room and only the sound of our footsteps echoes loudly.

“To avoid provoking chaos in the kingdom, the king who was first throned made up his mind, deciding to make a pact with the dragon. They had come to an agreement with each side, in order to maintain peace within both factions. In every generation, a girl will be born one day to meet her fate in the hands of the cursed creature, whether she likes it or not, when she comes at the right age. This agreement went over a thousand centuries and the last thing that happened was the moment we realized and realized my elder sister was the next one to s-sacrifice…”

I gasped momentarily, processing the words of what she told me. The cruelties of this world are so inhumane. What kind of king would sacrifice his own people just for peace?

“I-I’m so sorry to hear that….I-I didn’t mean to——” I said to her.

“No…..don’t be, it’s all in the past. We don’t have anything to do about it” she interrupted, as she looked at me with teary eyes.

“You can stop if you don’t want to talk about it“ I said while embracing her tightly, giving her some comfort.

“No…it’s okay, I’m fine.” She said, brushing her fingers on her face, wiping the tears that fell down on her cheek.

At the moment she finished her last word, we saw a light shining from the exit not far away from where we were standing. We continued to walk until the last step of the stairs and a bright light from the sun welcomed us as we exited the never ending darkness of the underpass. The passage we ventured on was a route that led us outside the castle. It was built in order to protect the royal family from any misfortunes. The cliff was the first thing you'd see when you went outside. There were grass and flowers blooming, and butterflies fluttering all around. On the near cliff, there stood a big oak tree, standing tall and sturdy for what seemed like years.

Myrrah took my hand and led us on the way to the tree. The shade from the leaves of the oak tree was enough to cover us from the blazing heat of the sun. As soon as we sat down on one of the roots of the tree, Myrrah took a deep breath and sighed. She closed her eyes like feeling the sounds of nature around her. That scene didn’t take that long when she turned her gaze and looked at me with intensity.

“My eyes are special. You see your highness, these pair of eyes are not a gift but a curse to me. I am blind but I can see what others can’t.” My heart began to beat fast for some reason with every word Myrrah is saying, it’s like my heart knows there is something dreadful I’m about to learn. And these instincts and guts are confirmed when Myrrah’s next words scared my whole pathetic human existence. “I can see the m-mark on your forehead, your highness….the mark that I’m dreading to see after seeing that on my dead sister’s forehead and the reason she was killed because of me——you have the m—mark of the chosen bride, your highness the mark of the Dragon’s Bride.”