Story the First

  Violet And The Dragon

  Present

  Once upon a time, there was a princess named Violet who lived in a tall tower. Of course, she didn’t live there by choice (who would?) but was kept there by a humongous dragon. She had lived there for years until she gave up trying to keep track of time and didn’t even know how old she was. (I have special privileges, so I can tell you she was almost 18 years old.)

  Being secluded in a tower with no one to talk to would’ve driven Princess Violet crazy if she didn’t have the dragon to talk to. (Yes, the dragon can talk. Deal with it.) He was actually quite sociable, and his name was Hugh. Hugh the dragon.

  One day, Hugh said, “I’m going on a break for a few days. You must stay here until I get back.”

  Violet sighed. “Where would I go?”

  Sadly, Hugh had already flown away and never heard her words. But that’s alright! Violet’s snappy comeback doesn’t exactly change the outcome of this story.

  The next day, Violet did her normal routine of brushing her hair (which was surprisingly short thanks to a magical pair of scissors), eating food from her infinite pantry, reading one of her well-worn books, and chatting with Hugh – except Violet couldn’t do the last one, now that the dragon was gone.

  After a week had gone by, Violet got quite bored. She had already read all of her books and had no one to talk to. She realized how much she missed Hugh, and wished he would come back already. During the week, her 18th birthday had inconspicuously passed her by.

  Violet’s loneliness and bored-ness and annoyed-ness mixed together so her irritableness was at its peak when a carriage rolled to a stop at the bottom of her tower.

  “Go away!” she yelled, without even seeing who was there. (Like I said, her irritableness was at its peak.)

  “Violet, my love! I am here to rescue you!” cried a shrill voice.

  What on earth? Violet thought, and peeped out of her window. Standing right beneath the window was a man dressed in silly-looking clothes that clashed horribly with their red and green stripes.

  “I don’t need rescuing!” she replied, for she could tell the man was an eccentric person and did not want to be rescued by him. “My dragon told me to stay right here, and I’m sure he’ll be back anytime soon.”

  The man smirked. “I don’t think he’ll be coming back anytime soon.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Let’s just say I have a new trophy in my trophy hall.”

  Filled with rage, Violet picked up a heavy loaf of bread and chucked it at the man. Surprisingly, it hit him head-on.

  “Ow!” he said, rubbing his head. “What was that for? I did you a favor!”

  “I hate you!” she screamed, obviously furious. “You murdered my only friend in this entire world!”

  “So… you don’t want to be rescued?”

  “Get out of my sight,” she spat.

  “Okay, okay. But if you’re ever in need of a savior, remember that my name is Sir Benjamin.”

  “I don’t care!”

  Sir Benjamin climbed back into his carriage, and the driver turned around and drove away.

  Violet sank to the floor and sobbed. Her best friend – gone. No matter that he was a dragon; he seemed more human than Sir Benjamin.

  With Hugh gone, Violet was doomed to spend the rest of her life locked in the tower, all alone.

  Suddenly, a plan began forming in her mind. A plan for escape – and revenge.

  The first thing Violet did was to make a pack out of an old sheet and fill it with food from her infinite pantry, as well as a book about edible plants and a random kitchen knife. Then she tied the rest of her plentiful sheets together to make a rope. Violet tied her rope to her extremely heavy bed, grabbed her make-shift pack, and climbed out of the tower

  It normally would’ve been very hard to climb down a slippery rope made of sheets, but Violet had thoughtfully tied knots in her rope giving her something to hold on to. She was accidentally banged against the tower a few times as the wind blustered about, but otherwise, the climb was easy and uneventful.

  Violet sat down, needing a break after so much climbing. She marveled at the softness of the grass underneath her, for it had been so long, she had forgotten what grass felt like. (Give her a break, she’s been in the tower since she was 4.) She brushed the grass with grand sweeps of her arms, then pushed her pack to one side and rolled around in the grass.

  But Violet quickly realized that she must be practical to get her revenge, so she stood up, brushed herself off, and headed out, pack hung over one shoulder. She found two parallel tracks in the dirt that had to be from Benjamin’s wagon, and she followed them into the forest. She planned to follow him back to his house and steal his “trophy.” She wasn’t exactly sure how she would steal it, but figured that the details could be sorted out later.

  At first, it was quite easy to follow the tracks in the soft mud, but then the tracks merged onto what seemed to be a main road, judging by the number of wheel tracks, and Violet lost the tracks of Prince Benjemin’s carriage in the chaos.

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  Violet sighed. Time for Plan B. She didn’t want to do it (hence why it was Plan B, not Plan A), but she would have to risk it for the biscuit if she wanted her revenge.

  Reluctantly, Violet strode into the Inn and Tavern next to the road and sat down at one of the tables. (Yes, it was actually called the Inn and Tavern. Imaginative, isn’t it?) She needed to find someone she could get information from, but who wouldn’t cheat her or lie to her. In short, she needed to scout out the place.

  Meanwhile, a certain gentleman went to a certain tower and called, “Violet! I’m here to save you!” Puzzled by the silence that followed, the gentleman noticed the sheet rope that came out of the window of the tower. “Oh no,” he muttered. Fearing the worst, he hurried back the way he had come.

  Multitudes of people came and went into the Inn and Tavern, but Violet still couldn’t find a suitable guide. They were all too poor (and therefore desperate), too strong (and therefore able to rob her), or too shifty (and therefore would probably scam her).

  Eventually, Violet got tired and had to give up the search for now. She went up to one of the bartenders and asked, “Can I sleep here tonight?”

  The bartender gave her a look. “You can rent one of the rooms if you pay five silvestra.” (Silvestra are silver coins)

  Violet frowned, as she did not have even one silvestra. “Would you accept food as payment?”

  “Nope. Only silvestra.”

  A stranger came up to the bar. “Dave! My man!”

  Dave, the bartender, rolled his eyes. “What do you want?”

  “I can pay for this little lady.” The stranger put his hand on Violet’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep her out of trouble.”

  “Very well.” Dave put out his hand, and the stranger put five silver coins into it. “Room seven.”

  “This way,” whispered the stranger as he led Violet upstairs to the inn part of the Inn and Tavern. “And don’t make a scene.”

  Violet should’ve been distressed, but she felt oddly comforted around the stranger, and his hand was also gripping her shoulder tightly, preventing escape.

  Once they had gone through a door with the number seven on it, Violet pulled away from the stranger and turned to face him. “What do you want with me? I don’t have any money.”

  The stranger sighed. “I know. Violet, you might want to sit down for this part.”

  “How do you know my name?” Violet breathed.

  “Just sit down.”

  She complied and settled onto the slightly comfy bed.

  The stranger paced the room silently, then said, “Violet, my name is Hugh.”

  “Impossible. Hugh is dead. Prince Benjamin killed him.” Violet looked away, blinking back tears. “And you’re human.”

  The stranger let out a laugh.

  “It’s not funny!” She glared at him.

  “You seriously think Prince Benjamin killed a dragon?!” said the stranger, still chuckling. “That man faints at the sight of blood! It was probably just an attempt to make you fall for him, which obviously didn’t work.”

  “Obviously. I hit him on the head with a loaf of bread.”

  The stranger stared at her. “Wow. I was not expecting that turn of events.”

  “And now I’ll be leaving.” Violet picked up her pack and walked out of Room Seven.

  “Wait! Violet! Come back!” The stranger scrambled after her.

  “No! I don’t want to be played, to have my hopes raised and then have them dashed against a rock when I realize you’re just a good-for-nothing trickster!”

  “Violet! Seriously, you can’t go down there!” The stranger was almost pleading now.

  “Too bad! I’m going.” She stomped down the stairs, only to be stopped in her tracks when she noticed a particular group of thuggish-looking people, with a certain green-cloaked figure in their midst. “The Green Hunter,” Violet squeaked.

  (The Green Hunter was the most notorious thug/bounty hunter alive. Violet read about him in one of the books that Hugh the dragon had occasionally brought her.)

  Now she realized why the stranger told her not to go downstairs. She could almost slap herself. I should’ve listened to him! she thought.

  “Well, well. Look what we have here.” The green-cloaked thug stepped toward Violet. “Little missy must’ve lost her way home, eh?”

  “Leave her alone, Hunter,” warned the stranger.

  “Boys?” The other thugs circled Violet and the stranger. “No one tells me what to do.” The Green Hunter punched the stranger square in the face, and the stranger crumpled to the floor. Violet couldn’t stop herself from rushing over to make sure he was okay. A bruise was blossoming on his cheek, but the stranger smiled and said, “It’s gonna be alright.”

  There was a loud clanking sound, like armor rattling. Violet looked up – and saw the thugs surrounded by soldiers dressed in blue.

  “Who dares to punch King Hugh, ruler of all Samyia?” asked one of the soldiers.

  All of the thugs pointed to the Green Hunter.

  The stranger – King Hugh – whatever he was called – stood up. “Looks like we have a reason to finally put you in prison. Hunter, you are under arrest for assaulting the king!”

  The soldiers quickly tied up the Green Hunter and led him out of the Inn and Tavern. King Hugh turned to Violet. “Are you okay?” he asked softly.

  “Yes.” She rubbed one arm. “Are you really Hugh? My Hugh?”

  “Yes, I am.” He paused. “Your favorite fruit is mango. When the infinite pantry didn’t have any for some reason, I flew for an hour straight just to get you some.”

  “Okay, I believe you.” Violet sighed. “It’s just… How? You were clearly a dragon.”

  “Don’t worry, everything will be explained in time. I only have one question for you.”

  She tilted her head. “What is it?”

  King Hugh bent down on one knee and took out a small box. “Ever since I was ordered to guard you in that tower, I have been slowly falling in love with you. I admire your kindness, your patience, and your undying loyalty. A girl who will venture out from the only place she’s known for fourteen years just to get revenge for her captor’s death clearly has steel in her spine. So, Violet, I want to know if you will marry me.”

  She put her hands over her mouth. That was definitely not the kind of question she was expecting. King Hugh might not look the same as Hugh the dragon, but even from her short time with him, she could see that he had the same fierce gentleness to him, and the same sense of humor. She had never expected to marry a dragon, but things had changed now. “Yes,” she said. “Yes, King Hugh, I will marry you.”

  Hugh stood up and gave her a smile. “Good, because my knees were getting sore from waiting so long.”

  Violet giggled at the joke as he put a silver ring onto one of her fingers. She twisted her hand and admired the way that the light bounced off of the ring. I’m engaged! The thought was shocking. “So what do we do now?” she asked.

  “Now we go home. I have a large castle that I think you will like.” As they started to leave, King Hugh paused. “I have one more thing to say.”

  “Yes?” Violet prompted.

  “From now on, you can call me Hugh. No more of that ‘King’ business from here on out.”

  “Okay, Hugh.” Hugh grabbed her hand, and then the pair got in a fancy carriage and drove off into the sunset.