The Magick of the Dragon Princess - Chapter 1

⬆️***The Illustration Above IS Mine***⬆️

I came up with this fictional story in my Junior year of highschool. It's still a work in progress so bear with me folks. FYI, please DO NOT copy my work.

Chapter One: Life as a Prisoner

     Let me introduce myself, my name is, well... I really don't have a name. But anyway, I live in the tallest tower of an evil kingdom, where it's freezing and damp. However, it's nice to have a couple of good friends. Even though they might be mice, rats, pigeon's, bats and owls. But they do help me get through the day. Ever since I can remember, I've always had this weird gift where I can talk to these creatures, and they respond to me back. Kind of strange isn't it, talking to animals.
     

     My furry friends and I share secrets, not to mention we keep each other out of trouble. All of us hate living in this tower. For example, the rats, and mice say they don't like the stone walls because they're too narrow. The pigeon's and owls talk about how they don't like the dead trees in the village, because there's no support for their nests. Plus, the bats are always fussing about how afraid they are of the villagers, because they like to hunt them down and kill them just for sport. So yeah...they all live here with me, you get use to the smell and everything else. I guess you can say us all would prefer to be in a warm soft bed, or a birdhouse, a dark cave or may be a nice roomy mouse hole.
     

     These are my friends, and like I've said before, we all look out for each other. I love them, and they love me back. I don't know what I would do without my furry animal buddies. Let me tell you a little more about this dark kingdom. It is ruled by a savage and bloodthirsty king, his name is Scorp. He has black hair, a mustache, and a goatee, you can usually spot him from afar, because he stands out from all his guards. When I mean stands out, I mean he's short, not too short like a little person, but shorter than his queen.
     

     The thing with this terrible ruler is that if you make just one mistake, he will slice you in half. You could be a cook, a bed chamber maid, or even a prisoner like myself, he still will kill you for no reason at all. You can call him a king, but he's simply a vicious jerk and a coward. Scorp's family is no better than himself, ruthless and no mercy whatsoever. Let's start with Queen Ursa. She was named after the constellation Ursa Major. More like a major pain in everyone's butt, especially mine!

     That's not all, Queen Ursa has a giant wart on her face, and it's hard not to stare at the huge growth. Every day I see that thing it gets bigger and more revolting. I feel as if that wart has a life of its own. Ursa goes out of her way to find the most expensive clothes and accessories, not for herself, but for her daughters, Angel and Honey. Unlike their names, they are neither nice nor sweet. Angel is blonde with blue eyes, sort of big-boned with creamy skin. She is very mean and selfish, and doesn't like to share, or is grateful for anything.
She's also kind of dimwitted. There's really no point talking to her about anything. Unless, the question concerns her, cute boys, dresses or money. Honey is more like her father, she does not care about anyone's feelings, or if somebody is in pain. She is also blonde with blue eyes, and likes to eat sweets. But what I've heard, she later purges them up in the chamber pot. I really don't think that's a healthy thing to do.

     Honey is even more thick-headed than her sister, but in different ways. These two princesses are always blaming me for things I didn't do. Half the time I am in my tower, locked away for the last thing I did that wasn't my fault. Those princesses are always causing trouble. They're really starting to be a big pain in my tail. The kingdom of Basiliskah is chock-full of cut-throats, pick pockets, and just plain terrible people. I've always wondered why I don't look like these beings.

     I mean besides the sharp claws, scales, talons for toes, a long tail, large bat like wings and fangs, I guess I would look like them? However, I would never act or do the things they do. When I sneak out in the middle of the night to look at myself in the nearby lake, and ponder, “Why am I here, why do I have to put up with all this stuff why? Maybe my real parents didn't want me? Maybe I wasn't what they expected me to be? Or maybe they were killed by a murderer? Plus, there's definitely no way King Scorp and Queen Ursa conceived me...or could they?”

     Every winter, I get a feeling that it's a special part of the year for me. I don't know why, maybe it's because King Scorp has more of a heart and is less barbaric. Usually around this season, he's kind of nice and sort of generous. He gives me more table scrapes than usual and hand-me-downs from Angel and Honey. Sometimes he has this look on his face, it's hard to describe. He looks as if he fears, me, or maybe he fears something else. I have a weird notion in the pit of my soul, he has a secret that he's hiding.

     I just wish he would tell me. This morning it really felt like winter, it was frigid, but it wasn't snowing, just slitting. I was watching from the broken wall. I call it my window. It's also my escape hole. Looking down at the queen, and her two spoiled daughters, they were all getting out of the carriage from the late autumn ball. The nearby village was filled with lots of people fighting in the streets and the funeral man was taking his annual stroll through the cemetery robbing the graves. 

     

     Yep, that's your usual Basiliskah for you. Usually at noon time, I am let out of my tower. Just for three hours, but after those hours are up, I have to go back inside. At mid-day to three o'clock, I'm trying to find things around the castle that I can craft and turn into beautiful objects for my room. When I go outside and climb down my tower in the middle of the night, everyone is of course asleep. I take this chance to find items in people's garbage. Usually, I will see a coin or two from someone who has accidentally dropped on the ground. In this case, whatever I find in that person's trash, I leave the money there on the backdoor step.

     King Scorp doesn't know I sneak out at night. It's a miracle he hasn't found out yet, hopefully, he never will. It's amazing what people throw away. Winter and summer is the best time that people toss out their belongings that they do not want anymore. Just last summer, the baker threw away so many pastries, I decided to give some of it to the pets that people have abandoned, and to my animal friends in the tower. The winter before, the seamstress tossed away a lot of spools, needles, buttons, and exotic cloth material. I really had a ball decorating my tower and making clothes that week.

     My motto is, 'another person's trash, is another accessory for my room, or me.' Even though my life may seem awful it does have its advantages. Looking at the positive I do have three hours to search the castle, which leaves me plenty of time to do what I want outside at night. All my twelve years in this place have been not the most exciting or thrilling, I guess you could say... “Who am I kidding, I'm a prisoner and I will always be one! Take some deep breaths, and try to be happy."

  

     "Things will get better, and I got a gut feeling they will... I hope that's not starvation.”

©2024 Julianne A.