Loria: Princess of Dragons

he moon was full on the cold night she left. Silvery moonlight shone down on the marble courtyard underneath her bedchamber window seat. Water rained down over the gray stone fountain like molten pewter, refracting light from the disc that reflected completely in the pool at the bottom. How beautiful she thought it was. Then, lifting her eyes from her courtyard, Loria, Third Princess of the House of Moorhaven surveyed the village that lay in a little valley just beyond the inner walls of her father’s castle. She watched as one by one, the few yellow lights that still shone in chamber and sitting-room windows began to wink out. As the last one disappeared, Loria let her gaze wander to the great mountain range that bordered her kingdom to the west. She felt a strange thing, staring at those dark peaks, silhouetted against the star filled sky. They seemed to beckon to her: a silent, longing call that misted at the edges of her awareness. She knew she should have, by all rights, been afraid of what dwelt among those peaks, for they were the territory of dragons: the mortal enemies of her people.

But the princess had a plan. In order to get her father, her subjects to notice her, to even realize that she existed, she was going to go among those mountains and do something no one had ever been able to do before.

She was going to kill a dragon.

The thought of it brought a smirk to her lips. Gone were the days of being forgotten, of not being recognized. She was a princess after all, daughter of the king. Was it right that she should have to remind the housekeepers of her name on a weekly basis? Or that she have to display her signet ring for a guard’s inspection every time she wanted to enter her father’s private rooms….or his throne room….or even the castle gates after dark?

There had even been one incident where a very green officer, just out of training that looked no older even than she, had accused her of forgery of the royal seal!

Hmm.. She thought. I wonder how THAT particular guard is enjoying his latest career move… spending the rest of it sanitizing the palace’s privy closets.

But soon, she saw the constellation N’Karan: the prancing unicorn alight on the western mountain peaks, and decided that the time was right to begin putting her plan into motion. Sliding off of her window seat, she hissed when her bare feet touched the cold stone floor. With that extra bit of incentive, she padded quickly from bed chamber to dressing chamber: to her wardrobe to clothe herself for her journey.

First, she riffled through the drawers for a pair of undyed woolen chausses. She pulled each leg on, and tying them (with one buttonhole in the top of each) to her linen shorts. Aahh. Much better. Much warmer, she thought, wiggling her toes. After securing a leather garter-strap under each knee (with the right one holding a small knife), she could go through and find other appropriate items at a more leisurely pace. Unfortunately, nothing she found was suitable, except perhaps her suede riding boots. She didn’t even own a belt that would stand up to any length of time on the open road. The rest she would have to flitch. And the only male in her family that was even remotely her size was Martin, her next oldest brother. He was also conveniently gone on a diplomatic errand to a neighboring kingdom.