The Dragon King's Bride

Arriving at Rykiss

It was early in the morning and the bright warmth of the sun had already begun to beat down upon the lands below, bringing about the promise of new growth and rejuvenated life.

A grand procession had just arrived at Castle Woodsend after a long journey up from the South.

A royal meeting had been arranged between the Kingdom of Rykiss’ ruler King Greggory, and the powerful Warlord King Draxus.

King Draxus ruled over majority of the Southern lands, including the far wealthier Kingdom of Westoria.

And of course, Draxus was no ordinary man. In fact, he had become quite infamous over the past ten years or so of his reign as ruler.

Many who knew of the mighty Dragon King were wise enough to fear him as well.

No one would dare challenge his rule and a rare few had managed to survive his wrath. King Greggory was one of those who knew and feared Draxus’ power.

And over the past couple of years the two rulers had corresponded with one another in a mutually beneficial agreement focusing on soldiers and trades.

Standing high above his large castle on his very own private balcony, King Greggory watched as around fifty or so black horses and large black and gold-plated carriage rolled up to stop at the base of the staircase, leading up towards the castle’s main entrance.

As he stood watching over the movement below him, a sudden warmth began to surround him, along with a familiar scent.

This was followed shortly afterwards by a pair of two loving arms wrapping themselves around his waist from behind.

He smiled happily.

It was his beautiful wife, Queen Katherine.

“You don’t have to do this, you know.” her gentle voice spoke to him from where she stood just behind him.

Greggory let out a long and exaggerated sigh in response.

“Yes, I do, love. You know that times have been extremely hard for our people of late. The last thing they need right now is a possible war added to their current list of troubles. Especially one we cannot possibly think to win.” he explained calmly.

Releasing her grip from him, the Queen moved around to stand at his side.

And at the same time turning around to face her, the King met his wife’s gaze with his own. Her warm smile was somewhat comforting to him.

“You and I both know the type of man we are choosing to invite into our home. The possible dangers that this meeting could cause us should something go terribly wrong.” the Queen reminded.

“Is this really necessary, Greggory?”

Lifting his hand to cup the side of her face, ever so gently, King Greggory forced a smile for his Queen to see, and to mask his inner worries.

“Katherine, how many times do we have to discuss this? You know how powerful this man is, the forces at his command. We cannot risk him becoming our enemy. This meeting is to negotiate a peaceful solution... for us all.” he tried reasoning with her.

But she would have none of it!

“You mean for us to kneel before a tyrant!” she snapped.

“I still don’t agree with it.”

Rolling her eyes and pulling away from his hand she glanced out at the arriving carriage surrounded by a mass of black stallions and their riders as she spoke again.

“I’ve seen his army and all of his so-called power. We have nothing to fear from him.”

His voice was a whisper now intended solely for his ears alone, “My love, if only you know the half of it...”

“And what of Lillian” Katherine interrogated.

“Have the necessary arrangements been made to ensure her safety for the duration of these negotiations of yours? I won’t allow her to become involved in all of this. No matter what happens.”

Greggory frowned at such an absurd suggestion.

“Of course not my dear. My men will ensure that she remains hidden inside the castle the entire time they are visiting. She will be nowhere near any of this. I promise, you have nothing to worry about my love.”

Pulling her in for another hug, he added more to try and reassure her.

“I take it you still wish to remain here in our chambers until their departure?”

“Yes. I want nothing to do with this madness of yours, Greggory.”

He nodded his head and then kissed her tenderly on the top of her head.

“I’ll ensure that things run as smoothly as possible. He and his forces will soon be gone from here...” he assured her with another smile.

“You have my word.”

“And don’t think that I won’t hold you to it!” Katherine taunted with a deviant smile.

“Don’t think that you being the King gives you some sort of immunity to being punished, my lord.”

Greggory chuckled at her sarcasm, especially during such trying times for them as rulers.

The two leaned in together to share one last kiss and embrace before the King then stepped away and straightened his robes for his meeting with the infamous rival King.

“Well, wish me luck.”

“Good luck, my love.” Katherine replied.

“You may very well need it.”

With those somewhat assuring words, Greggory smiled as he began to make his way down to meet and greet his arriving guests.

Queen Katherine was left standing on her own to watch the entire procession down below their shared balcony.

It was clear that this morning was going to be a difficult one.

And unfortunately, they had no idea of just how difficult things would soon turn out to be...

In the meantime, great efforts had been made by King Greggory to ensure that his heir and only daughter Princess Lillian was kept as far away from the visiting soldiers as possible.

At that very moment the young beauty was sitting at her desk, brushing her long golden hair before the mirror positioned in front of her.

Several guards had been posted by her door earlier on that morning, which at the time she had found to be quite unusual.

Though she had chosen to push her worries of this aside quite easily and move on with the rest of her day.

Besides, this wasn’t the first time that something like this had happened before.

Men trading with her father had come to visit the castle many times in the past couple of years, so this was nothing out of the ordinary.

However, Lillian had no interest whatsoever in her father’s apparently boring trades or business politics.

She instead was eager to get out of her chambers and head down to her large flower garden.

There she would begin another day’s work of careful pruning and sampling in the smells and surrounds of such a magical place.

It was one of her few escapes from her dull and at times depressing life of being a future ruler.

After finishing grooming herself for the morning, the princess then stood up from her chair and headed across the length of her chamber to reach the large oak door.

She intended on heading down to her garden and getting straight to work.

Reaching out she grasped the handle of her bedroom door and went to turn it...

But she immediately paused in concern when she realised that it had been locked!

“What the...”

She had been locked in her own room!

Who in the entire Kingdom would be brave enough to do such a foolish thing to her?

Suddenly it clicked and she huffed angrily at the answer to her question... her father, the King.

Lifting her clenched fist up she angrily slammed it down hard against the surface of the wooden door several times, banging on the door as she simultaneously shouted in obvious outrage for someone on the other side.

“I demand to know why this door is locked!”

She paused for a moment, awaiting a reply from whoever was on the other side of her door.

And only seconds later a timid voice spoke in reply.

“My apologies, princess. We’ve been given strict orders from the King himself. He's asked us to ensure that you remain in your chambers until nightfall. It’s for your own safety.” the faceless voice explained.

And this only infuriated the princess even more as her emerald-green eyes widened in fury.

“How dare he! My safety, that's ridiculous!” she shouted out angrily.

“Now you will open the door at once, do you hear me!”

But this time there was no reply to her, and the infuriated princess pursed her lips tightly together, hitting the door one last time with her fist for good measure.

She growled loudly and spun around.

Desperate to find a way out of there, Lillian's emerald-green eyes began to scan the length of her room until she finally caught sight of her balcony doors.

It was a possible escape route!

Luckily for her, this was not the first time that Lillian had been locked in her room over the past twenty-one years of her life.

She knew exactly how she would sneak out of her room as soon as the coast was clear and the soldiers had locked her inside. Then they wouldn't come looking for her either!

The truth was that her balcony was the easiest way for her to climb down to her garden.

And after a careful climb down the nearby oak tree, Lillian finally placed both her two delicate feet down onto the soft strands of grass below.

She was free once more.

Neatening her long golden locks with both her hands, the princess then checked to make sure that no one had sighted her.

After all, she had just broken one of the King’s commands. That alone held with it a harsh punishment.

Finally, when the coast was clear she quickly stepped across towards the nearby corridor and began making her way down toward her intended spot for the remainder of the day.

Her favourite place in the whole world...

Her flower garden.

However, Lillian had no idea of what was going on around her right now.

She had no idea of who it was that had come to visit her father that day, with a small army of darkly dressed soldiers accompanying him on his journey.

And unfortunately for her, the ignorant princess would soon unintentionally find out...

Perhaps in one of the worst ways possible.