by Lisa Daniels
Unless the love story existed. She bit her lip as she examined Kerric. Her heart reached out to him, enveloping him in affection, and she lifted her hand to stroke his cheek, brushing along the rough hair there.
His eyes fluttered open, and he stared at her fondly, yawning. “Good morning, princess.”
“Morning,” she replied, suddenly shy. He kissed her on the lips, before rolling out of bed, stretching.
“It's time, princess. We will attempt the trial today.”
Excitement pulsed within. Eagerly, Ruelle got dressed, armoring herself and tucking a mithril sword into her sheath. A strong metal, but not enchanted with any spells to make it stronger. Kerric did the same, and once both had slapped on all their armor and ate breakfast together, they left the confines of the cave.
He shifted into his vibrant black dragon form, and she clambered awkwardly onto his back. He ran through a horde of cats and beat his great wings, lifting off and soaring high.
Too late, Ruelle realized one cat had made it onto Kerric's back with them, and the terrified tabby dug claws into her backside, until she prised it off and let the creature sit between her legs.
The Wilderness unravelled beneath them in a myriad of greens, grays and browns, before they approached what looked like a rather ominous and dormant volcano. Kerric dived towards it, and she spotted a gateway in the center of the volcano, with two gargoyles flanking it.
Landing in the volcano, the gargoyles turned their stone heads towards them. Kerric shapeshifted back into his human form, and the tabby cat landed beside them.
“Been a while,” one of the gargoyles said, scratching his head. “Ten years since the last couple attempted the trial.” He sniffed at them, as did the other.
“Good. No enchantments. Alright then. Off you go.” The lead gargoyle smiled, though it looked more like a grimace, and he bowed them through. The gateway sparkled into life, showing a humming blue portal, obscuring the other side.
That's like what the Dark Clan used to transport me a month ago!
Ruelle examined the portal cautiously, though Kerric held no such concerns. He smiled blithely at Ruelle, took her hand, and tugged her towards the portal.
The cat sat outside, tail swishing, and the gargoyles glared at the cat, until it chose to rub itself against one of their legs.
“Awh... kitty,” one of the gargoyles said, picking it up and petting it.
Striding through the portal felt like wading through a bowl of soup. The world around her turned blue and swishy, until they stepped into a large, arena like room, with a golden door on the other side.
The arena glowed with a bright green light, giving an eerie, sickly feel to it.
“Have you been here before?” Ruelle hissed, hand resting on her sword. Kerric kissed her forehead, rubbing her shoulder in comfort, before shaking his head.
“Nope. Be prepared for anything.”
Two figures materialized in the center. Both resembled humans at first glance, though both held soulless, black eyes on their stiff faces. A man and a woman. The woman, clad in black armor, with long, flowing white hair, strode towards Ruelle, before halting in front. A huge claymore hung on the woman’s back, heavier and larger than what any normal woman could wield. She unsheathed it with ease, holding the weapon in one hand.
“I challenge you to a fight, Ruelle of the Hallow Kingdom.”
The male halted in front of Kerric. His chestplate was almost twice as wide as his body, and his muscles bulged impressively. Black eyes stared from his helmeted face, the visor lifted to reveal a squashed nose and pale skin.
“I challenge you to a fight, Kerric of the Lost Brood.”
“How do they even know who we are?” Ruelle hissed.
“They're magical beings, Ruelle. How the fuck would I know?”
She snorted, even as the women bowed, introducing herself as Arlain, and the man as Jacen.
“May the best fighter win.”
Arlain lashed out her claymore. Ruelle dodged to the side, and rolled to avoid another slash. She arrested her movement as Arlain jabbed forward, and jumped over the downward slash.
In the same movement, Arlain closed the gap and slashed one handed with the impossibly huge weapon.
I can't block that! Ruelle backflipped away as the claymore scraped the ground where she'd been standing a second earlier. Kerric tanked Jacen's hit, and she saw his elbow jar from the force. Jacen used a scimitar, rather than the huge monstrosity.
Arlain wielded, though it clearly remained hard going to dodge the blows, since both opponents fought with deadly skill and impossible strength.
Ruelle fought tooth and nail, trying to use her speed advantage, since even with Arlain's speed, the weapon created drag as she swung it, giving Ruelle the time needed to avoid.
Ruelle watched Arlain like a predator waiting for when the drag became too much, or she made an error in her movement. Ruell spotted it when Arlain stepped in too close, too fast. Ruelle leaped on her advantage, closing in on Arlain with a body tackle that sent the woman clasing to the ground. Ruelle got two blows to Arlain's wrist, forcing her to let go of the heavy weapon, and a few more in the fighter's face, before placing her blade near Arlain's throat.
The woman coughed, smirking through bloody teeth. “I yield.”
The fight had taken two minutes for Ruelle, which was about average fight time, since people tired, people made mistakes. It went on longer for Kerric and Jacen.
“Can I assist Kerric?”
“No. If you do, the door will remain shut,” Arlain said, coughing as she sat up. Her black eyes scoured Ruelle's sleek form. “A worthy fighter. It's not often you get a princess well trained in combat.”
“Yeah, I was forced into it,” Ruelle said, shrugging. They continued making light conversation, until Jacen tripped up Kerric. However, the shapeshifter dragged Jacen down with him and slammed his sword into Jacen’s neck, impaling him. Kerric instantly jumped back, and Jacen pulled himself off the sword, the bloody wound healing up instantly. Jacen held up a finger, patting his throat with the other hand.
“Sorry. I needed to let my voicebox heal. You win.”
Ruelle’s jaw dropped. “Are you guys immortal?”
“We are Guardians. Comes with the territory,” Jacen said, rubbing his throat. “Doesn't mean it feels nice, though. Ugh. Well. Off you two go. Through the door.”
Ruelle blinked. “What? This is all the Trial of Lovers is? A fight?”
“Nope.” Arlain said. “Now go.”
Kerric and Ruelle glanced at each other, confounded. Both of them went through the door. A woman with a serpent tail and snakes in her hair waited behind it, with gleaming yellow eyes.
“Right. Second part,” she said, as if she’d been listening to the conversation outside.
“There's a second?” Kerric scratched at his stubble. The serpent lady smiled, her hissing snake hairs twisting up.
“Yes. Right, you two need to go and kiss one another now. Show me that your love is genuine and heartfelt, and you get to pass to the next door.” She pointed to the golden door behind them. “Go on, then. Smooch.”
Ruelle narrowed her eyes. Kerric shrugged, giving a boyish, oh well smile. “Come here, darling. Pucker up your lips for a 'smooch.'”
Sniggering, Ruelle embraced Kerric and placed her lips to his. Her heart pounded fast, and although some faint memories of the night they shared stirred in her heart, it was hard to get into the mood with the serpent lady glaring at them.
Really forcing the act, Kerric and Ruelle grabbed at one another harder, crushing their bodies together and suctioning their lips to the point where neither of them had air left in their lungs. Ruelle ruffled his hair, before pulling away, gasping, and Kerric looked slightly dazed, possibly because of oxygen deprivation.
“Well?” he demanded, out of breath.
The serpent lady folded her arms as the snake hairs hissed at one another. “Eh, that was good enough. Off you go, then.”
Both out of it, Kerric and Ruelle headed to the door, feeling more and more confused by the minute.
The Trial of Lovers was nothing like either had expected.
Through the third door, they saw a room full of stone statues. A trough of glistening water lay ahead, with a number of bejewelled artefacts, ranging from diamond studded chalices to manky, dirty wooden mugs.
They passed the statues cautiously. Ruelle half expected them to spring to life and start attacking. Most statues looked human shaped, though their forms were indistinguishable from male or female.
They halted at the water, and a small mouse sat on his rear legs to look at them.
“Congratulations,” the mouse said. “Your reward is here. If you drink from the Water of Life, you will retain your youth forever more. If you have power, it will be enhanced. All you need to do is drink.” The mouse twitched his tiny whiskers. Displaying a smug grin.
Immediately, Kerric reached for a platinum chalice.
“No! Wait!” Ruelle slapped his hand before he seized one. “Don't be reckless. You think it's a coincidence that all the statues are human shaped?”
Kerric clenched his fingers, eyes wide. “Oh.”
“Yes. I bet you my socks they've been cursed from the water. Don't touch anything.”
Ruelle picked up the mouse by his tail, though he merely glared at Ruelle for her treatment.
“Are you lying to us, mouse?”
“No,” the mouse squeaked, twirling in her hand. “You do have to use one of the containers to drink from. But only one of them's good enough.”
Ruelle dropped the mouse. “There's hundreds!”
The mouse did an approximation of a shrug. “Yes, well. Good luck.” He vanished into a hole before they could ask any more questions.
“May as well pick one, then,” Kerric said.
“If we touch the wrong one, I'm pretty sure we'll be turned to stone,” Ruelle said, before adding, “I've heard of a trial like this before. It's always the most unassuming container that's the good one.”
Kerric stared at a diamond chalice. His eyes filled with longing. “Are you sure...?”
“You're like millions of years older than me. You should be the one telling me this.”
Kerric laughed, but followed Ruelle's lead as she sifted through the collection of chalices. They continued scouring through the containers, with Ruelle trying to oust out the most insignificant and grimiest one possible. She debated between a stone one, a wooden mug, and something that looked suspiciously like a chipped wooden egg timer – and decided to go for the egg timer.
It wasn't the smallest by any means, but it was the smallest and least appealing object she saw. Squeezing her eyes shut, she grabbed it, waiting to be turned to stone. When nothing happened, she dipped the tiny cup in the water and drank it.
Warm affection flooded through her as the water trickled into her body. Kerric waited a moment to see if she was about to turn, and when she didn't, he took the cup as well and drank.
“Congratulations!” The mouse squeaked, now poking out of his hole. “You've completed the Trial of Lovers. You can go home now.”
Kerric glared. “Wait. Isn't there supposed to be a legendary artefact here?”
“You used a legendary artefact to drink from a legendary water source. Is that not enough?”
“I'm nearly immortal anyway! What a useless gift!”
“But she isn't,” the mouse pointed out, twitching his whiskers towards Ruelle, before he disappeared back into his hole.
Kerric flushed at that statement, abashed. They stood in silence, before he muttered, “I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking about... that. What the reward meant for both of us.”
“Don't worry.”
The Trial of Lovers completed, both of them stood there. The Water of Life invigorated them, igniting a new future in Ruelle's brain. She held Kerric's hand, gazing into his green eyes, inhaling his scent and ruffling his hair with her other palm.
“Thank you for giving me this opportunity, Kerric,” Ruelle said softly. “Rather than having me be sold to some other dragon, who probably wouldn't have put my skills to use.”
“No worries.” He leaned to kiss her hand, eyes still fixed on hers. The noble bow he gave made her smile. “If you want, we can go on more Quests after this. If you're up for it. If you want to stay.”
Ruelle bit her lip, heart fluttering fast, creatures wriggling in her stomach. “If I stay, I want the potion gone from my system. I don't want to stay because I'm forced to. I want to stay because my heart wishes it.”
Her words struck a chord in him. He swallowed and nodded. “I'll take it out of you. I'm sorry I... made you drink it.”
“I understand. Just don't do it again.” She leaned to his ear and whispered, “and I might just grow to like you a whole lot more.”
His answering grin was radiant, as he walked with her past the gargoyles, who waited impassively. “Let's go home, then,” he said, giving her one last hug.
“Let's,” she agreed.
More fame and glory awaited them. More Quests. More time together. And more opportunities for Ruelle to put her skills to use.
The End
Captured by Mokkan
Dragons Take a Princess
(Book 4)
Chapter One
Xanthia didn't appreciate the whole “being a prisoner” thing. Being inside a locked tower without the luxuries of her former life did no wonders for her temperament. Her younger sister could probably cope with the whole situation because, hey, Ruelle was a freak. She knew how to do that martial arts stuff, so she probably escaped long ago, after they both got captured at the same time by Dark Clan slavers. Xanthia, however, was a proper princess. She swallowed up the rulebook and made sure she knew everything. How to curtsy five different ways. How each kingdom liked to eat their food, and which princes were considered the hottest of today's youth. She knew the names of all the prominent Questers, and the names of the most fearsome dragons to have ever ravaged the kingdoms.
Everything a good princess needed to know.
Then, thanks to her stupid younger sister's curse, she'd been swept up in the whole momentum, sold in some undignified way to a dragon who liked to hoard princesses, and was now forced to share a tower with fourteen other lost princesses, all of them dressed up in scrubbing clothes.
As usual with princesses, they established an instant pecking order, which was actually sorted by “who had the blondest hair and bluest eyes.”
Unfortunately, since Xanthia had mousy blonde hair and dirty blue eyes, she ranked low on the list.
Which meant she got assigned the worst chores out of all of them.
Quietly, as she scrubbed inside the toilet, a nose peg pinching her nose, she seriously considered stabbing the head princess, Vanessa. Vanessa was such a bitchy princess name too, the kind you expected to hear from the particularly whiny and superfluous type. Vanessa had such shining golden hair that Xanthia wasn't particularly convinced Vanessa didn't cheat with it in some way. She also hosted such jaw-dropping blue eyes, glimmering like sapphire teardrops, that they ignited flames of envy within.
Just a shame her beauty got marred by the constant uppity attitude she wore, and the absolute belief that she was the most beautiful princess on the planet.
Her second- and third-in-command, princesses Andrea and Belle, helped to enforce her will and alpha status. With the addition of Xanthia, all the princesses relished the opportunity to put someone else down.
The dragon that owned them all had built a reinforced glass viewing area in their tower so he could show off his fifteen princesses to all the other dragons that came. Xanthia, as the newest addition with the darkest blonde hair color, stood out. It made the other dragon visitors take notice of her. This infuriated Vanessa, who wanted everyone to be looking her way all the time.
Xanthia finished scrubbing the toilet and massaged her knees, examining the purpling bruises from all the times she kept bashing into t
hings.
She stretched and pushed a hand against her back for a moment, before hearing an insistent rap from outside the bathroom.
“Are you finished in there yet, Xanthia? I need to attend to my lady things, and if you're not done this moment, then you'll be assigned dishwasher duty as well today!”
“I'm done!” Xanthia screamed back at Vanessa, not wanting to do those stupid dishes. Cleaning dishes from fourteen picky eaters was a constant living nightmare. No one wanted to do it. Which was precisely why Xanthia got assigned it the most.
Vanessa burst in as Xanthia finished washing her hands. The super bitch imperiously clicked her fingers.
“Out! Out! I don't want your dirt infecting me. Out you go!”
“Yes, Princess Vanessa,” Xanthia replied, whilst imagining flicking the scrubbing stick all over Vanessa's gleaming hair, just to hear her shriek with shock and rage. Instead, Xanthia did nothing and stepped outside the bathroom, only to be almost tripped by Belle, who giggled in a cute and affectionate way that made Xanthia want to strangle the living daylights out of her.
“You ought to be careful where you step!” Belle said, as Andrea nodded, smiling with her pearly white teeth and giggling in tandem with Belle.
Just you wait. I'll have my revenge, and you're so going to regret treating me like this. I'm a princess from the central kingdoms! The audacity of you bitches!
Full of righteous fury, Xanthia headed to the seeing room at the bottom of their vast princess tower, hoping to catch a glimpse of any Questers.
She'd seen a few make their way to the inner cavern, possibly for show by her dragon captor, Mokkan. She never got to see much of him in his human form – he preferred wearing his green dragon form, and showing off, not just in front of dragons, but in front of his princesses, too.
