Dragon Pond
Name: Kaine Nightingale
Age: 17
- The whole kingdom had been in an uproar for weeks, ever since the dragon first began attacking the small villages surrounding the castle walls. Dozens at first, and soon hundreds, came to plea with her father. Something had to be done. The king called forth every knight seeking glory, revenge, whatever. He didn't care what their motive was, as long as it was to slay the dragon. Five long years have passed and no knight had successfully located the dragon's cave. Or, if they had, they disappeared, never returning to the king. All had failed.
Kaine was secretly jealous, she had never seen the Dragon. She was always asleep or out of the country on meetings of courtship. She was quite old to still be a princess in her father's castle and he was ready to get her married and somewhere safe away from the dragons terror. Kaine imagined the dragon had to be as terrible as it was majestic. The way people had described it, she could not imagine a creature so big. Being royalty had a funny way about it. If people couldn't find you, they assumed you had already taken cover somewhere unknown. The castle is large and full of secrets.
No secret was so large as that of the Dragon. No body knew, not even princess Kaine herself, that the princess and the dragon were one and the same. On one of her very first courtship meetings to another prince in another land, Kaine had encountered a witch who she thought was quite rude. Apparently, the witch thought the same of Kaine and cursed her in her sleep. Every night when a half moon would rise, Kaine would turn into the winged beast, and she would remain a dragon for one week of every month. And she would rain destruction down upon her land and her people, and she would never remember.
Today was like any other day, she sat at her father's side in the courtroom and listened to the pleas and the cries of the townspeople as they begged to find salvation. Today was the day that the knight would come that would finally end their suffering. But how would he end hers?
She sat straight, properly, her hands folded on her lap as she listened. She wore a fine blue satin dress with the stars embroidered over her shoulder and down her breast. Her white hair was pinned up in a rather elaborate mess. Her father would promise the same aid to every man who stood before him. It was all he could do.
Tonight was the night of the half moon, and after five years of terror, the people had noticed the pattern.
imsin han namja