by Gracie Jane

Prompt: A legendary dragon is on its way to capture a princess. Plot twist: the princess kidnaps it, and temporarily locks it away in her tower to teach it a lesson.

*COUGH COUGH*

Soooo this apparently did NOT post two weeks ago. Stupid scheduled posts!! Here you go. Wow, I am so annoyed, ha! Please enjoy!

SO sorry that this came out almost a week later than intended to. I got a bit distracted with news of a coming Keeper of the Lost Cities movie and winning a school writing contest and advancing to the county competition, and just life in particular.

Please enjoy my story, I got a bit carried away. Let me know what you thought, too! Constructive criticism is always my pleasure.

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I take my spyglass telescope out and search the clouds. I see golden clouds, almost as if they’re running ablaze. Yes! A dragon. Everyone knows that gold, fiery clouds mean there’s a dragon.

I’ve been betting on a dragon ever since my parents left for a trip out to sea. Ever since I won the Next Grand Crown princess talents show, where princesses come from all around to compete in tournaments that define good qualities, I knew that I would get a lot more attention than wanted. Some of it is from the press, but I have been secretly hoping that the rest would be a dragon, determined to become a legend himself by capturing a (not to brag) legend.

I told the servants to stay in their quarters, and I’ll let them know when to come up. After all, who needs servants? Not me!

My trap is guaranteed to work. No dragon is gonna be kidnapping me. It’ll be reversed! Dragons really need to learn their etiquette, and if they won’t accept threats and stop their reign of terror, I’ll stop it for them. I’m always up for a challenge, no matter how big. This one is much larger than any other challenge I’ve overtaken, even Next Grand Crown, but I’m up for it.

I grimly smile as the clouds break. Dragon spotted! I do a quick, messy spin that should pass for princess standards, and skip down the stairs. Hopefully, I look like an innocent little beauty pageant contestant to the dragon who expects nothing, with a shallow smile, way too much makeup, and a poofy gown that twirls when I spin in a circle.

As soon as I crawl to the emergency tunnels by the staircase, I run to my activity room of my tower, which is full of gymnastics bars, engineering equipment, royalty textbooks, and all sorts of other junk from the past day. I pull off my gown, revealing a servant uniform. I quickly remove my makeup, faster than winter melts into spring. My nerves are full of jitters as I glance up at my reflection in my light up mirror that screams my name, Zelia, in bold capital letters. Yep, I’m Zelia… And I can do anything.

I grab scissors and cut my extremely long, flowing golden locks of hair. Every week, it grows to about my bottom, and every Friday, I cut off about four feet. I grab my haircut scissors and cut my hair in an odd, zigzag pattern that reaches barely below my chin. I dunk my hair in a prepared bin of charcoal, turning it a dark brown. I sadly can’t get rid of the shiny texture, though, but who cares? At least I look somewhat like a maid now. I’ll just take an extra long shower later tonight, and re-angle my hair afterwards, so the edges don’t look weird.

I run through the side door into my main bedroom where I sleep and get dressed. I grab some supral, a type of dust that grants invincibility until you take a deadly amount of damage, causing the immunity to stop. I open my closet and grab some ropes made out of collected hair dabbled with a strength elixir that I’ve made ever since getting the idea to capture a dragon. It can even stop a dragon from transforming into its other form! The rope is the remaining of my hair that wasn’t made into other personal tools or given to bald, sick children.

I stuff the tight rope into a satchel that should look like cleaning supplies. I peek out with my spyglass once again, this time in the main doorway’s general direction, and hurry back upstairs just in time to hear the bell ring. The sweet, obedient staff are still in their quarters like I asked. I scurry towards to door and give a cautious knock like I’ve practiced doing.

I open the door an inch and say, “Who may this be?”

I hear a gravelly voice, like almost what gold would sound like. “This is Sir Marlaine of the lost treasure city. I am hear to speak with the young Majesty, Princess Zelia herself.”

I hide my gasp. My fast-paced brain puts together that Marlaine is a close anagram of mineral, and a lost treasure city sounds exactly like something the legendary gem dragon, Aloi, would come up with.

Sir Marlaine has gold metallic, pointy hair that looks handsome and dons a royal knight suit.

“I’m sorry, but Miss Zelia is a bit busy right now and does not have the time to court,” I smile sweetly, snickering on the inside.

“Foolish servant, I’m obviously here to speak of government problems such undeserving ears could never hear. Let me in… Please,” Marlaine adds angrily as an afterthought.

“And why not with the king and queen themselves?” I ask innocently.

“Well, um… I see their ship has left the harbor, correct?” he ventures.

“Oh, yes. Now can this not wait until they get back?” I tilt my head.

“You nosy, disrespectful scullery! Of course this cannot wait, otherwise I wouldn’t be asking. I’ll be going in now.”

Marlaine walks inside. I was counting on this. All of the books say that dragons are arrogant and despise all humans, especially lower class citizens or servants.

I hurry up. “Sir, her Majesty is doing confidential things of the upmost importance at the moment. It is not anyone’s job, regardless of rank, to interrupt her. You sure may deliver a letter from your leader to schedule a meeting, but you cannot simply walk in. That is a crime and will require charges.”

“Charges scmarges. I have much more riches in the lost city than all of your kingdoms combined,” he states imperiously. More dragonly behavior- Bragging about your loot. Note that he didn’t say ‘we’, instead saying ‘I’. This clearly implies that he’s selfish and there possibly in no ‘we’. I keep my mouth silent.

I glance a few yards ahead. Great, the thin rope is still there. In normal circumstances, it would be very visible as my hair’s usual shine, but this is one of the oldest ropes, and the grand royal family tapestry is hanging up, showing off abnormal glints of gold and silver, making my hair color seem like (excuse me) dung.

I begin to skip-chase after Marlaine, causing him to hurry up. He trips on the rope! I didn’t actually bet on him falling for the first trap. Ha!

He yells a string of words that any good princess, proper or not, should never ever repeat. Sir Marlaine transforms into a large, metallic dragon with shiny, gold scales and features that represent about every part of the rock cycle. “You dare trick the great Aloi, treasure hoarder and princess assassin?” he thunders. I say a silent prayer, hoping the staff don’t come until they hear the code word.

Legend tells that Aloi is the most skillful dragon in the world when it comes to combat. I wasn’t prepared for this at all. I’m going to have to rely on my cleverness.

“S-sir… P-please don’t take me hostage! I didn’t n-know… So sorry! I be-lieve that Miss Zelia has taken a h-hoard in her quarters. Please! L-leave me alone,” I stutter. I nail the fearful tone better than I ever have.

“A hoard?” he asks, raising an eyebrow. It looked like it’s gold and pierced with diamonds of some sort.

“Y-yes… They’re extra funds she was secretly given by Next Grand Crown. Her Majesty also has taxes she’s secretly taken from the citizens! It’s quite a load up there, I’ll tell you that. I’ll be off now.” I scurry down the stairs, taking the emergency tunnel upstairs as soon as Aloi turns back into his human form and is out of sight, presumably taking the upper staircase.

I see my head housekeeper, Karida in the tunnels as well. Yes! Everyone heard my signal, ‘taxes’.

“Karida!” I whisper-shout to her.

“Miss Zelia! The rest of the staff is still awaiting your orders. I’ll be happy to bring your word to them,” Karida says.

“Great, can you all distract him for a bit? While the staff does that, I can come up from behind and bind him with some rope. Dragons aren’t really violent unless there’s a purpose behind it.. So sorry I’m asking to put you and the rest of the staff in danger! You’ll be getting a pay raise for sure. Here, take some supral,” I say, stuffing the entire bag into Karida’s hands.

“A whole bag? Your Majesty, how may I ever repay you?” her eyes grow wide. Did I mention that supral is rare? Oh no, I guess not. Being royalty sometimes makes you forget about expenses.

“Repayment is another word for faithfulness. I’m so grateful for what you do for me and what you’re doing now, how else could you ever repay me later on?” I say, in a voice full of kindness.

“Thank you so much, miss,” Karida says, scurrying off with tears in her eyes.

I smile as she hurries to grab the rest of the staff. I close my eyes, finalizing my plan. I creep up the tunnels and into the air duct system, and get crouched in a ceiling vent above the main only a minute after the commotion.

CLASH! BANG! I hear pots and pans whirring, and a loud grunt. My eyes open up in astonishment. Have the staff apprehended him already? I hear cheers from down below, so I remove the vent, hook up a rope, and go down it, dropping on the ground into the wide, main hall below.

“We did it, Your Majesty!” Karida shouts, joy in her eyes. Metal kitchen tools, mops, and brooms lay around the hall. Sir Marlaine lays conked out in the middle of the mess.

“Great job!.. But could it really have been that easy?” I ask in a gentle tone.

Then I remember.

Dragons in their human form stay knocked unconscious for only a few minutes.

“Bond him!!” I yelp, throwing ropes everywhere, in every direction. Servants quickly grab them, tying Marlaine by the hands and feet.

“Are you sure that this will keep him from not transforming?” Karida questions.

“Yes, I’m sure. I used an elixir on this,” I tell them all. The servants sigh of relief.

As Marlaine regains conscious he says, “You thought you could get me, you idiots.”

Then he lets the fire blow, scorching the tapestry. It is extremely rare for dragons to be gifted enough to create flames in their human form! I gape as my parents disappear into ashes, but he leaves my portrait in it.

“This little girl is nothing, and is not capable of stopping me. I am Aloi, the greatest legend of all legends,” he roars, struggling against the bonds, but not giving away that he’s stuck.

“Yes, yes, we already know that. Mr. Aloi, let’s list all of the crimes you’ve committed…” I say, reciting the list from the top of my head. “…And finally, you’ve tried to kidnap Princess Zelia, the winner of Next Crown Princess, and you attempted this by ignoring the protests of the castle staff and went inside a princess’s tower with absolutely no permission. In fact, the princess herself denied your audience, but you barged in anyway.”

He quirks his eyebrow, probably wondering when he was in audience with the princess.

“Don’t be foolish, I’m Zelia,” I smirk very unladylike.

He suddenly breathes fire in my direction! I scream and tackle some servants behind me, jumping out of the line of fire with them.

“Satan’s bloodbath,” I curse under my breath. “Karida, can you fetch some fire-proofer from my quarters? It’s with the rest of my elixirs.” I quickly knock Aloi unconscious again with a frying pan on the ground as he struggles against his bonds.

“Of course, miss,” Karida takes off running.

After knocking him unconscious four times in a row, Karida returns. She quickly hands me the fire-proofer without a word, and I sprinkle it over Aloi’s senseless body, practically showering his mouth in it.

He soon wakes up, except this time no flames escape his mouth. The next days are a hustle. The press is all over me once again, the dragon almost-slayer, the princess who held a dragon captive but never killed him. My parents come home to celebrate the locked-up legendary dragon with me. By the end of the week, we release Aloi under strict surveillance, and his fire-breath gone. I’ve proven myself!

20 years later

I’m now 35 as I run through the tower dodging obstacles with my husband, Alexander, and my children, Sandra (8), and Owen (12). As the royal family of the kingdom my parents left me in charge of, Alexander and I rule courteously and take education and athleticism importantly while leaving looks and beauty behind.

Sandra gulps as we face down the Bubble Pit, a ruthless pit full of balls. You must jump from diagonal platform to diagonal platform in order to continue on. This is Sandra’s most feared obstacle of the house course and she tends to fall in.

“You can do it, Sandra!” I cheer. Alexander is already describing what he would do and what she should try. Owen squeezes his younger sister’s hand, probably remembering the days when he would have trouble on this obstacle also.

Sandra takes a deep breath, and jumps from each platform to platform perfectly, though leaning a bit on the last one. We all clap and take after her, landing in a room with a favorite painting of mine- It depicts ‘Young Princess Zelia’ capturing a Aloi, the legendary gold dragon. The painting is painted perfectly, every detail marvelous. It shows a 15 year old girl, dressed as a maid, dragging a knight up the stairs with some servants, the rest of the castle staff cheering behind her. Sandra traces the border of the art with her pinky finger, eyes open in awe.

“Mama, is this you?” she asks in wonder.

Owen answers for me. “Yes, this is how she slayed the dragon! But she let him go instead of actually slaying him.”

Alexander pipes up. “That’s why I love your mother so much. She’s brave, but she has some respect for everyone and can see the decency inside of anybody, including a mean, princess kidnapping dragon.”

“Haha, you all speak too kindly of me. I believe that everyone has some good inside of them, even Aloi. That’s why I take my job as queen so seriously; Some people don’t like to see that goodness, and it’s my job to protect my people from judgement and put an end to the hatred.”