The Dragon's Slave

A Mysterious Hero

The next few days were probably the busiest of my whole life. I was expected to do all of Jezebel’s chores, along with my own, and I had to serve Princess Vicious as well. I don’t really mind serving the Dragon King more. He was always nice to me and said that was his new favorite pet and none of the other servants worked as hard as me. But serving Princess Vicious was a nightmare! She was angry with everything I did and always found an excuse to punish me. I had to go to the doctor several times because of the beatings she gave me, and I had to use so much make up to cover all of my cuts and bruises.

Not only that, but I also had to make my own dress for the ball that was being held in the princess’s honor. I had never been to a ball before, so I didn’t have any ball gowns of my own, so I had to stay up late every night sewing and decorating my new dress.

It would all be worth it in the end though. The dress was really starting to take shape and it was absolutely beautiful. It was a green dress, with a dark green corset top made of velvet, with some purple and turquoise embroidery that looked sort of like purple flowers with pretty turquoise vines all around them. The bottom of the dress was a much lighter shade of green, the color of grass in spring. It was long and flowy with lots of pleats and it also had purple flowers and turquoise vines embroidered into it. There was also gold ribbon around the top of the dress and around the middle where the top and the bottom of the dress met. The dress also had turquoise sleeves, the same color as the vines, but they were short, thin sleeves, so that they hung just below my shoulders and didn’t cover up very much of my arms. I was so proud of my creation.

“Greetings, m’lady,” Richard greeted me politely as he came into my room, tipping his hat politely to me. I was allowed to have my cell door unlocked down, since I had behaved well and had never tried to run away. “My, that dress looks wonderful. I’m sure you will look absolutely stunning in it. Though you would probably look even more stunning out of it,” he joked.

“Oh Richard, stop teasing me!” I scolded him, giving a playful shove and giggling at his joke.

“As m’lady commands,” Richard replied with a bow. “But only if you promise to save a dance for me. I should think you owe me that much, after everything I’ve done for you.”

“I’d love to Richard,” I told him sadly. “But I’m afraid I won’t be able to save a dance for anyone if I don’t learn how to dance. I really want to learn, but the King and Princess Vicious have kept me so busy that I don’t even have time to sleep, let alone practice dancing.”

“What fiends they are, to keep a beautiful creature like you away from the dance floor where she belongs,” Richard said kindly. “Seriously, beautiful women like you shouldn’t be held back slaving away in the kitchens. You should be put on a pedestal where all can admire your beauty, and worship you like the Goddess that you are!”

“Oh Richard, you say such silly things. I’m not beautiful, not at all. I’m plain and I’m clumsy and awkward. I’ll never be a real beauty like Princess Vicious, with all her fancy dresses and her beautiful purple hair. But thank you for saying all those lovely things,” I told him sweetly. “It really is kind of you to take pity on me like that.”

“Well I do try my best to be a gentleman,” Richard explained to me. “Other men might not shower you with compliments or treat you with the respect that you deserve, but I promise I always will, Arabella. I know how to treat a beautiful lady like yourself.”

“Thank you, Richard,” I told him gratefully. “You know, I actually have a bit of free time now. Do you think that maybe you could teach me how to dance?”

“Oh, if only I could, m’lady,” Richard said regretfully. “But alas, I’ve actually sent here to give you more work to do. Princess Vicious has a craving for a rare, special fruit called the sun-fruit. It’s a big, orange fruit with a yellow lining that glows and looks just like a sun. She’s asked the slaves to get her some, but we don’t have any here in the palace. The only place they grow is in the dark forest, and so she wants you to go into the dark forest to fetch her some of the sun-fruits. I’m very sorry Arabella, I would offer to go with you, but I’m afraid I need to watch the cattle and help move them into a different field. You will have to go alone.”

“The dark forest?” I asked, worriedly. “But isn’t the dark forest supposed to be really dangerous?”

“Only at night,” Richard replied. It won’t be dark for another half an hour, so if you hurry, you should be able to find the sun-fruit and make it back before nightfall. Just don’t stray away from the path and you’ll be fine. But please be careful, m’lady,” Richard begged. “I could never forgive myself if something happened to you.”

“Don’t worry, Richard,” I told him. “I’ll be careful, I promise. I’ll find the fruits and quick as I can and be back before it gets dark.”

I found a large, wicker basket and headed into the dark forest as quickly as I could. I didn’t bother taking a lantern with me because I planned on getting back before it got dark, but the further into the forest I went, the more I realized that the sun-fruits were going to be a lot harder to find than I thought. I searched everywhere for them, and looked in every single tree, but the orange and yellow fruits were just nowhere to be seen.

Finally, after hours of searching for hours, I finally noticed a strange, glowing light somewhere in the distance. “That must be the fruit!” I thought to myself, and pushed my way through the trees and the bushes to get a closer look. When I finally reached the tree that the glow was coming from, I realized that these definitely were the sun-fruits that Richard had described to me, but there was one problem. They were right at the top of the tree! And the tree was really, really tall. Almost as high as a redwood tree. If I wanted to reach the fruits, I would have to climb.

Luckily though, I was a tomboy when I was younger, and I had plenty of experience climbing trees. I tied my skirt up in a knot so that it wouldn’t get in the way, took off my high-heeled shoes and hoisted myself up onto the lowest branch. It was really hard climbing the tree at first, where the branches were so far apart that I had to jump up in order to reach them. But the higher up I got in the tree, the closer the branches were to each other, and the easier the tree was to climb.

I actually had a lot of fun climbing the tree. I swung from the branches like a child, and got a really beautiful view of the sun set from high up in the tree. At one point, I cam across a baby squirrel that had fallen out of it’s nest, so I picked up the adorable little guy and searched the tree until I found the nest with it’s parents. At first, they were really defensive when they saw me. I think the squirrels thought I was attacking them and one of them even bit my finger, but when I opened my hand and showed them that I was holding their little baby, they immediately left me alone and both of them went to comfort the little baby squirrel when I put him back in the nest. It was so adorable to see, and made the effort totally worth it, even if all I got was a bite on the finger for my troubles.

Eventually I reached the top of the tree, and I filled my wicker basket to the brim with sun-fruit. Feeling especially brave now that I was in a place where no one could see me, I even ate one of the sun-fruit myself. As much as I hated Princess Vicious, I could see why she loved sun-fruit so much. They were absolutely delicious! Eating one was like a cross between an orange, a mango, a passion-fruit and a pineapple, only it was even sweeter! Once I had gathered as much fruit as I possibly could, I started to climb back down to the bottom of the tree.

But there was a problem. I had taken too long finding the fruit. It had gotten dark. I didn’t have a light to find my way back and what’s even worse, I had lost the path! Luckily the sun-fruits still glowed a little bit, like fireflies, so I used their light to try and find my way. Unfortunately, no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t find the path again. I was completely lost!

Suddenly, I heard a terrifying low pitched growl behind me. I stopped walking and froze on the spot. I thought that it must be a wolf, so I decided to be very careful. Wolves could be dangerous, but they could also be completely harmless and rather sweet if you knew how to handle them. I took a deep breath and turned around very slowly, sure that I would be able to deal with a wolf.

Unfortunately, I was wrong. This wasn’t just a wolf I was looking at. What I saw was something larger and much more dangerous. It was a werewolf! Not just a werewolf, but an entire pack of werewolves! Wolves weren’t always dangerous animals. Sometimes they could even be friendly, but a werewolf on a full moon was the most dangerous creature in the world. They were bloodthirsty and completely out of control, and humans were their only prey. Now there was a whole group of them, and they were all staring at me!

I froze in fear, and the largest of the werewolves stood up on it’s hind legs. The beast let out a loud and piecing howl that echoed throughout the whole forest. And then, at their alpha’s command, the entire pack started chasing me. I couldn’t breath. I couldn’t think. I just turned around and I ran!

I have never felt so much panic in my entire life. I ran through the dark forest as fast as my legs could carry me. I ran through thorns and bushes and got completely covered in scratches from head to toe. I had no shoes on, so my bare feet were getting completely destroyed by all the twigs and nettles and bushes that I had to run through, but I didn’t care. I was running for my life.

Eventually I reached a field, so it was easier for me to run without crashing into anything. I was running faster than I had before, but the werewolves were so fast that they were catching up with me. Suddenly, the alpha pounced on me, causing me to fall to the ground as it pinned me down. I rolled around, but the werewolf used one of it’s huge claws to leave a scratch right across my face. I was bleeding so hard I could barely see. “Please! Please, someone, help me!” I screamed, but I knew that it was useless. This was the end. I was going to die.

But by some miracle, something actually heard me! Out of nowhere, an enormous monster creature came flying through the sky and grabbed the werewolf in it’s claws, sending it flying. I sat up and I could see the creature flying through the sky, and all of the werewolves were staring at it and howling. The creature flew back down, and one of the werewolves jumped in the air to attack the creature, trying to tear at it’s wings, but the creature just grabbed the werewolf in it’s teeth and snapped the beast in half!

All of there werewolves were trying to fight off the enormous flying monster, trying to get revenge for attacking their pack. They jumped and clawed and scratched at this poor animal that was trying to save me, but no matter how badly they hurt it, the creature kept fighting. It kept flying back down and scratching and clawing and biting the werewolves until every single one of them was dead.

When all of the werewolves were dead, the creature finally collapsed in the field, landing on the grass, covered in injuries from head to toe. The werewolves had attacked the poor beast so badly, and it was absolutely covered in blood. I stood up and moved towards the poor creature so that I could help it. Then, when I held up the basked of sun-fruit, I got a better look at the creature and I realized what it was. It was the black dragon that had kidnapped me and taken me away from my village!

But this time it was different. The last time I had seen this dragon, it had ruined my life. It had stolen me away from my home and my family and friends and everything I had ever known and loved. But this time the dragon had saved my life! How could a monster that had done something so evil do something so kind and wonderful?

“Who are you?” I asked the dragon, reaching to gently stroke it’s head as I looked into it’s glowing red eyes. “Why did you save me?” But the dragon didn’t answer. It pulled it’s head away from me before I could touch it. Then it got back to it’s feet and ran away for me before flapping it’s wings and flying back to the palace.

I was completely in shock. Nothing made sense any more. Why would the dragon kidnap me one day and then save my life the next? It didn’t make any sense. I wondered who this mysterious black dragon was, and why I never seemed to see him in the palace. It didn’t make any sense, but I was determined to find out. Taking a deep breath, I picked up my wicker basket and continued my long journey back to the palace.