Dragons in Disguise

Originally posted in r/WritingPrompts, inspired by this prompt: https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/1dgmucs/wp_a_knight_just_strutted_into_your_court_with/

"Why do you hold my daughter against her will?" I asked, barely containing my anger at the news. I must keep our nature a secret, for all of our safety. I must choose my words carefully.

"I rescued her from that foul beast!" The knight was indignant. "I deserve a reward for my service!"

"And you think that her hand in marriage is a suitable reward?" My words dripped like venom as I spoke. "Yet you do not even consider what she has to say on the matter? Have you no respect for the autonomy of your Crown Princess?"

"She should--"

"It's not for you to decide what she should or should not do," I said, narrowing my eyes. "You will unhand my daughter at once."

"I deserve--"

"I gave you an order," I said, rising from my throne. "You will obey my order or you will face my wrath."

"Your daughter was under the dragon's spell. Give it time for it to--"

"Did you hear what I said?" My veins grew icy as I drew near. "Release your hold on my daughter. Now."

"I rescued her. I deserve--"

I seized his arm, twisting it until he cried out. Claudia seized the opportunity to break free of his grip, hiding behind me in fear.

"Let that be a lesson to you," I said, my eyes locking on his in fury. "When your Queen gives you an order, you obey. Is that clear?"

"I--"

"Yes or no?"

"Yes, your Majesty," the knight bowed low to the ground.

"Good. Now let me explain to you what a terrible mistake you just made," I said. "You broke into my brother's estate."

"Your brother--"

"I'm not finished."

The knight grew quiet.

"As I was saying. You broke into my brother's estate, uninvited. You killed his greatest source of protection. You whisked my twelve-year-old daughter away without even consulting her opinion. And you have the audacity to demand her hand in marriage."

"You mean the dragon--"

"Do you seriously not understand the difference between a dragon and a guard drake?" I asked, choosing my words carefully.

The other nobles in the room started chuckling.

"Guard drakes don't have wings."

"So you're saying you were so inebriated that you saw wings where there were none," I said. "I honestly don't know which is more pathetic for a person of your station."

The chuckling grew even louder as even the servants joined in.

"I swear to you, it was a dragon!" The knight's face turned red.

"A dragon would have attacked you on sight," I said, deliberately using the exaggerated folklore to my advantage. "Is that what happened?"

"You don't under--"

"Is a yes or no question so difficult to answer?" It was becoming harder and harder to keep my composure. "Did it or did it not attack you immediately upon seeing you?"

"Well, no, but--"

"Then it wasn't a dragon. It was a guard drake. Guard drakes are trained to only attack as a last resort. They will growl. They will roar. They will puff up their frills to appear more threatening. But they will only attack if you give it reasonable belief that you are a threat to them or the one they guard."

The knight's face grew pale.

"I see now that you understand the gravity of your crime," I said, staring him directly in the eyes. "Your actions have left my brother vulnerable to attack. Now I must go there myself to make sure nothing bad has happened to him. You'd best hope that I don't find his corpse when I get there. Because if I do, his death will be on your head."

The knight lowered his head in shame.

"Guards, take him away," I said. "He will wait in prison while I determine his sentence."

"Yes, your Majesty," the guards said before seizing him by the arms and dragging him away.

Claudia hugged me tightly, tears falling down her cheeks.

"It's alright, Claudia," I said, holding her close. "He can't hurt you anymore."

"He did things to me," she said, sniffling.

"Why don't you and I go on a horseback ride together, and you can tell me all about it," I said, rocking her in my arms. "Does that sound okay to you?"

She nodded.

"Alright," I said, giving her a gentle squeeze before rising to my feet. "I apologize that this gathering has to be cut short, but there are some pressing matters that my daughter and I must attend to."

All of the nobility bowed respectfully as they filed out of the throne room.

"Servants, you're all excused for the rest of the evening," I said. "Go be with your families. And feel free to take home the extra food so it doesn't go to waste."

The servants bowed gratefully towards me.

"Let's go," I said, wrapping a gentle arm around my daughter's shoulders. "You can tell me everything about it on the way."

-----

"So you're telling me that the reason why Eric attacked him was because he tried to force himself upon you?" My eyes grew wide in disbelief as we rode together to my brother's estate.

Claudia nodded tearfully.

"And then he actually forced himself upon you on the way back to the palace?"

Claudia nodded again, trembling.

"I'm so sorry this happened to you, sweetheart," I said, my gaze saddening. "That man is going to pay for what he did to you."

We arrived at Eric's estate after a few hours of riding. The remains of the drawbridge were floating in the moat below.

"He sure did a good job making sure you two weren't followed," I said, shaking my head as I dismounted my horse. I tied the reins around the tree. "Luckily for us, I know the secret entrance."

"Why don't you just fly us across?" Claudia asked.

"We'd risk exposure," I said as I silently counted my paces towards the correct tree. "You can never be too careful."

"I guess you're right," Claudia said. She hesitated. "When will I get my wings?"

"I don't know," I said as I pressed a knob on the tree. "I was sixteen years old when I got mine, but Uncle Eric didn't get his until he was almost thirty."

"I hope I take after you," Claudia said as a hidden door in the tree opened into a dark passageway. "I'm sick of being helpless."

"I know you are," I said as I lit a torch. "But tell you what. Once we get this situation sorted out, I'll start giving you some lessons in swordfighting. Would you like that?"

Claudia nodded.

"Alright. We'll start those up as soon as we can."

Claudia took my hand as we descended into the dark passage, the torch in my other hand to light the way forward.

We arrived at a metal gate barring the way forward.

"What do we do now?" Claudia asked.

"This gate is magically enchanted," I said. "It will only open when the right combination of notes are played on the right instrument."

"Like a secret password?"

"Essentially, yes," I said. I handed her the torch. "Hold this. And be careful with it. I'd rather not be set on fire, if it's all the same to you."

Claudia gingerly took the torch from my hand as I retrieved a small flute from the inside pocket of my jacket. I pressed it to my lips, and began to play a simple melody.

"That's the tune to the lullaby you sang to me when I was little," Claudia said, a small smile on her face.

"I thought you might recognize it," I said with a gentle smile as the gate opened with a creak.

"So how much longer before we get inside the keep?"

"Not long," I said as I took the torch again. "Just stay close. There's one more obstacle in our path, and not treading carefully could end...poorly."

"Okay," Claudia said, taking my hand as we continued forward.

A few minutes later, a stone door with a dragon's head carved into the center. I knocked on the door three times.

The eyes of the carving began to glow blue.

Three riddles I have to guard thy path. Answer correctly or feel my wrath.

"Very well," I said. "Ask away."

For my first riddle, I'll start off light. What has many teeth, but cannot bite?

This one was easy. I'd heard it a dozen times. "A comb."

The eyes turned green momentarily, before returning to their original color.

Legs I have four, but feet only one. One head as well, but bodies I have none.

This was a bit more difficult. I knew I'd heard this one before, but for the life of me I couldn't remember the answer.

Claudia handed me a slip of paper. It was a crude sketch of a bed. She'd drawn arrows to mark the four legs, head, and foot of the bed.

I smiled at her in thanks before responding: "A bed".

Just like the first time, the eyes turned green momentarily.

I run, but don't walk. Murmur but don't talk. I have a bed but never sleep. I have a mouth but never eat.

I hadn't heard this one before now. I racked my brain, pacing back and forth.

Claudia looked anxiously at me. She could tell I had no clue what it could possibly be.

I traced the scar on my arm to give my hands something to do as I thought. It was jagged. No particular pattern. It branched off in some places. Like a river.

I smacked my forehead. How had it taken me this long to figure that out?

"A river!" I shouted in jubilation.

The eyes turned green a final time as the door slid open.

"What would've happened if you'd gotten that wrong?" Claudia asked.

"It would've closed the door at the entrance of the tunnel before filling it completely with thick smoke. We would have suffocated to death."

"Then why on earth did we take this route?" She punched my shoulder.

"To be honest I didn't think it could invent new riddles," I said. "But the important thing is, we made it in."

We climbed a set of stairs before arriving into the keep's dungeon. An illusory wall appeared to hide the path where we came from.

"I've never been down here," Claudia said as she surveyed the empty cells.

"Nobody goes down here anymore," I said. "The locks are so old and rusted that not even their keys will open them."

We walked up another spiral set of stairs to the main floor of the keep, then through a set of double doors into the ballroom.

There he was, curled up on the floor. Several wounds and burns covered his body. A long spear was lodged in his chest, and several arrows pierced his legs and tail. His wings were torn. Crippled beyond repair. His eyes were closed, but he seemed to still be breathing. Barely.

"Eric?" I reached out to touch his snout. "You still in there?"

"I'm sorry," Eric wheezed, his eyes still closed. "I couldn't protect her."

"I'm safe now," Claudia said with tears in her eyes. "Mother arrested him."

"Did he..."

"He did. But he'll pay for what he did to me."

"I'm so sorry. I failed you, Claudia."

"You tried your best," Claudia said, trying desperately not to cry.

"You certainly did," I said, my eyes beginning to water.

"Now that you're here," Eric said, "do you think you could get all these arrows out of me? Make me a bit more comfortable?"

"Of course," I said with a sad smile. "Anything for you, little brother."

With the aid of my frost breath, I numbed the area around each arrow before gently removing it.

"Thank you," he wheezed as the last arrow was removed. "That feels much better."

"I'm glad," I said. "Do you want me to try to take that spear out of you as well?"

"Once that spear is out, I'll likely bleed to death within a minute or less," he said, coughing. "I don't think there's anything you can do to save me at this point, but I want to at least give you both the opportunity to say goodbye before I go."

"I don't want you to die," Claudia said, sobbing.

"I know you don't," he said. "But at this point I'm afraid it's inevitable. The spear is lodged in my heart."

"But we have a torch! We can cauterize it!"

"That won't help. It will only prolong my suffering. Without the aid of a cleric, there's no way I'm surviving this. And no cleric would ever agree to heal a dragon."

Claudia broke down in tears, crumpling on the ground in front of him.

Eric gently cradled her close to him with one of his front paws.

I looked around to ensure that no one was watching, then transformed into my draconic form, cradling them both with my body.

"Thank you, Alyssa," Eric said. "I needed that."

"Of course," I said, my wings covering him like a blanket. "I'll stay right like this until you pass on."

"I love you, Uncle Eric," Claudia whimpered.

"I love you too, Claudia," Eric said. "You are going to make for a magnificent Queen one day. Just like your mother."

Eric broke into a coughing fit, ice covering the floor around us.

"Easy," I said. "Just breathe. Nice and slow."

Eric's breathing started to relax again.

"That's it. Just focus on your breathing. It'll be over soon."

Eric's every breath grew weaker than the last. It sounded more and more labored with every second that passed by.

I nuzzled my face next to his, softly humming the lullaby our mother used to sing to us.

Claudia began humming along with me, her voice trembling with every note.

Though my eyes were closed, I knew my little brother was smiling, ever so slightly. I could feel his body begin to relax.

"I love you, little brother," I whispered in his ear.

He tried to speak in reply, but his voice failed him.

"Don't worry," I said. "You don't need to say a thing. I already know what you're trying to say."

Eric relaxed once more, his breathing becoming slower and slower.

Then it stopped.