The Golden Knight and The Dragon - Chapter 1

I’m sure you’ve heard of the ancient tales of old….a time of dragons and princes and daring escapades that once occurred across the lands humans now peacefully inhabit. I say peacefully not because humans have ever, nor will ever be a peaceful kind of folk, but rather because by comparison, these are blessed times. Today, you can walk down the street to a grocery store and take it for granted you aren’t going to be gobbled up by a giant ogre or have your town singed to ash by a flying beast. Aye…today you can be free to make a mess of things all on your own. In ancient days dragons served as a kind of distraction, reminding humankind that you were not alone in the great wide world and therefore needed to offer some manner of cooperation with each other. But there was a time that things were different and people were humbled daily by the workings of the great lands which they otherwise would have used up long before your generation had a chance to walk upon the forest floors, desert sands or explore the oceans. I know. For I was there. I witnessed it all, and in a very special way.

You see Dragons were as ancient as the earth, and for a very good reason. Dragons spoke for the Great Mother as a kind of immune system for her body, keeping the Great Balance in check. Of course your ancestors would not have seen it that way anymore than the old red cells in your body perceive the white blood cells when it is their time to be culled. You, my friend, are a miniature version of the Great Mother in fact, teaming with all kinds of life working together for a consciousness of which they are not aware of and of which you are often even less aware. As above, so below, the ancient saying goes. Want to know proof of this ancient wisdom, why just look at yourself, for you are a walking, talking colony of blood, bacteria and fungi all working every second of every day to help you to grow, to gain some sentience of experience so that your soul can have a temporary biological suit to explore this classroom in. And it is a classroom. There are others. And dragons have always been able to move between them since the universe began. That’s why even in the ancient tales it is always said Dragons are wise ones.

The most ancient of your kind worshiped Dragons as ancient humans still possessed an intuition about the world. They understood that like the serpent, dragons’ stomachs touched the ground, pulling in the mysteries of the earth, while dragons’ great wings expanded to take in the heavens, pulling in the knowledge of the Great Beyond. In some countries, like China and Japan, people still remember the fae who are no less than the consciousness of the great rivers, winds and volcanic fires are dragons. It’s only in the European continent that they are recalled as less than holy. But that is a tale for another day.

I’ve told you all this because you wanted to know more about why you don’t see dragons today. Or rather, why you have been given this time to test yourselves, to learn if you can figure out how to live together without dragons culling the herds. Truth is, you have become your own dragons but without the wisdom the great beasts had. And that my friend, is a dangerous thing indeed. Not just for our Great Mother, but for yourselves.

So I shall tell you a tale of how your species came to have this chance. It was an agreement really, and it began, like any good fairy tale, in an ancient castle of an ancient land. But I won’t tell you it was far, far away in anything other than in time, because it has everything to do with the dirt under your feet.

A great king had died, leaving only his daughter behind, so given the sexist thinking that day in age, the people of the land wanted to see her married off as soon as possible. Oh, it’s nice, my dear, to be able to tell this tale and speak of such concepts so blatantly. The fact that I can tells me this grand experiment is not so lost, and that your species may still yet pass the test that began with not a kiss, but a giggle, that would reshape the world…

You see, the king had your kind of modern sentiment about what women could and couldn’t do. The mother had died in childbirth, so the child had never known her. The king, with all his responsibilities had determined it was better to raise her as a son so that he could keep a personal eye on her. This was because he didn’t trust the household after the death of his wife. His suspicions would later prove to have saved his daughter’s life. But in the meantime, she grew up learning to ride so that she might ride beside him, learning to joust so that she might accompany him, learning to read, write and debate so that she might be a worthy companion to him and his men. The knights all loved the tomboy she became, offering to tutor her in all the knightly skills. Seeing that she was different, the fae took an interest in her as well, and would visit her in dreams, teaching her how to braid her hair or inspiring mischief so that she would sneak out of the castle, climbing down the vines that crawled their way to her tower window, just so she could go dancing in the forests with them. In this way, she shocked the court with her ability to present herself as a lady of the court. The king suspected as much, and asked only that she take with her an iron blade, specially designed for her small hands, so that she might protect herself should the need occur. But no fae would have hurt the darling, for she was beloved by all, and long before she blossomed into a gorgeous woman, she was beloved for her unconventionality which was so seldom seen in those days. So for the ancient ones, her very existence was a breath of fresh air, and a hope that the worlds of fae and men might not be so separate after all.

The people of the villages and towns her father ruled nicknamed the girl, “Clíona”, after the fairy queen of the hills who ruled over the Sidheog. Some in honor of her feisty spirit and others out of befuddlement with seeing such a beautiful woman riding at great speeds across the land hunting beside the knights. For her part, the fairy queen, Clíona of Carrigcleena, had come to love the girl as a mortal reflection of her own warrior spirit, so encouraged the nickname among fae and humans alike. It is said she visited the father to advise him in all matters of state and rearing and the two were often seen laughing in the gardens over the most recent antics of his daughter. Out of genuine affection between fae and mortals, the king officially renamed his daughter Clíona and the fairy queen, Clíona of Carrigcleena participated in the renaming ceremony in front of all the subjects, not just the royal court, heralding in a new era of relationships between fae and mortals.

So it is with this background that no one in the land was that surprised when after a period of mourning the king, and the court advisors began pressuring princess Clíona to marry, she was horrified at the prospect. In those days it would be only natural not to expect the new king to allow her to do anything she loved. A marriage would mean she would have to spend her days needlepointing and speaking in soft hushed tones. No king would want his bride to be hunting by his side, but rather waiting with baited breath at the doorway of the castle to sing him praises for catching a stag. Truth was, Clíona was an excellent cook, having learned to prepare the meat for the knights when she’d traveled with her father on their escapades. But she was not eager to make her life about it and would rather be hunting the stag herself.

Thankfully, she was still only a few years past marrying age, as her father had not had the heart to see her go to another land, as would have been typical for those days.

Too proud for allowing others to see her tears, Clíona took off for the forests to a place she knew the fae haunted at midnight but wherein she assumed they wouldn’t be in daylight hours. No humans would venture to that part of the forest, but Clíona had known only friends among the fae and so assuming she would be safely by herself, lay out on top of a rock that rose so high, it came to just below the treetops, remaining unseen by those outside the forest, but still receiving the full light of day. She let her body take in the warmth of the sun and thought about how wonderful it had been to be free of any demand for marriage. She felt close to her father on the land, and worried about what would happen should a new king take her hand and force her to live in his kingdom where there were no familiar faces, rocks, trees or fae, without even memories hidden in the cracks of the land to keep her company. She worried even more about what kind of person such a king would send back to her land to oversee it. It would be someone from the new king’s original court no doubt, and therefore would only view the land and people she loved with an eye for business, without a heart for the people and rivers and mountains. It was at that moment she finally cried.

The Fairy Queen, Clíona of Carrigcleena, had of course, been keeping an eye on the girl. Having even killed a couple of would-be highway men who had pursued her, along the way. Clíona of Carrigcleena felt just as protective over the princess’ heart as she was over her life, and felt moved as she read the girl’s mind. Taking her time to climb up the rock so as not the startle the princess by appearing out of nowhere, she let her steps be heard. Then sitting beside the girl, Clíona of Carrigcleena put an arm around her and pulled her close, remarking, “Don’t hide your tears. You cried for the right reason. For an unselfish reason. And because of that, I’m going to help you.”

Clíona immediately assumed the queen was going to offer her the chance to ride with her female knights and protested, “You are too kind! My heart would love to ride with you! But I must make my decisions based on the welfare of the kingdom.”

Chuckling, Clíona of Carrigcleena, shook her head, “While you are certainly a worthy rider, that is not what I said. I said I’m going to help you. Of course the decision must be in the best interests of your kingdom. But that doesn’t mean you can’t find a great love who will care for it and defend it as passionately as you and who won’t hold your spirit back.”

The princess had heard many in the kingdom make the same argument, and couldn’t help but to feel let down at the fairy queen’s words. “Marriage!”, She thought, “Is that all I am good for in the eyes of all these people?”, but being too polite to speak her thoughts out loud, forced a sweet smile to her lips and kissed the fairy queen on the cheek, saying, “Thank you, my queen, for having such consideration in my behalf.”

Clíona of Carrigcleena blinked a couple of times at the contrast between the girl’s words and her true inner thoughts, then laughed out loud, turning to hold the girl down and smirked at her, “Do not dare to offer me formality, we have known each other far too long for that.”, then began tickling her along her sides and stomach, making the princess giggle as she struggled to get out from under her grasp. Only those who’d been part of helping the princess to learn warrior arts knew about this endearing weakness, the fairy queen among them. They had often trained her in evasive techniques by using it as playful inducement to keep her agile. The queen took full advantage now as she dug her nails deeper into the girl’s armpits, leaning even closer,“and do not dare to hide your true feelings. I can read you like a book. Of course you are more than a marriageable pawn for the kingdom. With you at the throne, the kingdoms of fae and man would get along better than ever before. That serves my purpose. And I am always selfish when it comes to the wellbeing of fae.”

Princess Clíona was rolling about on the rock, laughing louder now and struggling to evade the queen’s insistent strokes, when she realized with a start that marriage would probably mean she would never again have any playful moments like this, and her tears of laughter began mingling with tears of sadness.

Immediately seeing this, the fairy queen pulled her into her arms and holding her close whispered, “Will you trust me?”

Sobbing, the princess nodded.

“Will you trust me enough to slay dragons?”

The princess jerked back with a start, “But I’ve always loved them. They seem so beautiful…”

Clíona of Carrigcleena held her face in her hands shaking her head, “Why you are more fae in your heart than some of the fae I know. Most human knights would be terrified and protesting to spare their lives, while you don’t doubt that you could, but rather protest in behalf of the beauty you see in the great beasts!”

Then pulling the princess into her lap, the queen began tickling her stomach, her arms wrapped tightly and comfortingly around the girl’s waist, drinking in the hysterical laughter in great greedy gulps before explaining further, “There are good dragons and bad dragons, just as there are good people and bad people. You will slay five bad dragons, and that will make the dragon king take notice.”

The princess was shaking, tears of laughter falling down her cheeks, so she barely managed to squeal out her protest, “But why will I want to invoke the Dragon King’s ire?”

Digging her finger devilishly into her bellybutton, the queen smirked, “So he will come to respect you.”, then laughing along as princess’ laughter reached a new pitch of desperation, disappeared, leaving behind a sword, shield, and armor perfectly crafted for the princess’ body. They shone like gold, but were soft to the touch. Yet, when the princess picked up a rock to scratch the surface, it held against it, impervious, whereas human armor could be scratched.

The princess reached out and touched the armor’s shoulders and instantly found herself inside it. She could feel a chainmail cool and light against her skin, not stifling like regular armor, and beneath it, she found herself clothed in fairy silk. Moving to stand, she realized she could move with great agility and picked up the sword and shield. Both seemed remarkably light in her hands. Then jumping from rock to rock, she raced down the boulder squealing with delight just as a boy barely having reached the age of a young man, ran out of the trees into the clearing.

His face was covered in ash, his clothes singed in so many places she found herself amazed it hadn’t already fallen to pieces. His hands trembled as he ran up to her, grasping at her hands, his eyes wide with terror, “Sir Knight! Oh thank the gods for leading me to one such as you! You must come! Our village has been attacked! There is a fearsome dragon that has already killed many of our people! Help! Please help us!”

At that moment, the princess’ horse strode out to the woods, wearing matching armor to her own. The princess nodded, “Very well. Show me.”, and was surprised when she heard her voice sound like a man’s. But she didn’t have time to dwell upon it as he was already running ahead, waving for her to follow. Jumping on her horse, she snatched up the little man as easily as she would have a child and together they raced to the village.

A lump in her throat formed as the princess realized the village was one of her own.

“There!”, the man pointed frantically towards a billowing cloud of black smoke that seemed to black out part of the sky.

The princess nodded, then helped him off her horse, “Go back to the rock and wait for me there.”

Agreeing, the young man ran back to woods as she raced down towards the black cloud which parted only a few seconds to reveal a pair of giant red glowing eyes flashing with fire inside. A deep reverberating voice rolled out from the clouds, “You dare to test your mettle with me!”, and a single claw came crashing down upon the ground, inches from her and her horse in warning, “Go away little knight. No man can kill me!”

The princess laughed at the irony and the brilliance of the craft Clíona of Carrigcleena. She shouted out, “Then prove it. Or are you content to hide in your pillar of smoke like the coward you are?”

Enraged, the dragon walked out to meet her, glowering down, his red scales shimmering with the same fire as his eyes. He wore a mane of black hair and his wings flapped once, sending a wind that pushed her horse backwards, forcing her to hold onto the saddle to not fall off. The dragon sneered, “Look whose cowering now, little mortal!”, and lept forward, mouth open wide enough to swallow her and her horse whole. But Clíona saw a pulsing orb on either side of the dragon’s throat and realizing it was where the fire was made in his body, reached out with her sword, cutting it open just before the dragon’s lips touched her helmet.

Shocked, it reared up and reached for its own throat, coughing and sputtering, falling down on the ground, his eyes rolling in panic.

Clíona walked up to him and touched his cheek with her hand, “I do not want to kill you. You are gorgeous to behold. You will not be able to make fire for a long, long time. So fly away and I will ask the fae to heal you. They share a good relationship with me and my people.”

The dragon sputtered, “You lie! This land is ruled by a princess, not by a man.”

Clíona walked up to one of his ears and pulling the visor of her helmet up so that it no longer enchanted her voice to sound like a man’s whispered, “And you said you could be killed by no man. So now you know I could kill you now. But I would rather you leave my land so I might live with the knowledge there are not fewer beautiful beasts like you in the wide world due to my hand.”, and kissed the dragon’s cheek, before pulling the visor back down.

The dragon’s eyes grew wide with realization then, and a smile grew across his face. His body began to shimmer golden for a brief moment and while the town’s people couldn’t see the pair due to the cloud of black smoke that had long before engulfed them, he turned into the form of a man with dragon-like scales descending from his hair down the back of his neck and back. His eyes still lit with flame, he turned to her and smirked, his fangs razor sharp, his nails just as long, “We cannot turn into our human form unless kissed by a female mortal, so you can guess this is a first for me.”, he stated in the same deep rumbling tone while his hand held onto his bleeding throat.

Clíona nodded, “Go to the forest. Tell the fae I sent you and they will heal your bleeding. But come here again and I will kill you.”

The dragon’s eye brows lifted with amusement, “Bested by a mortal girl. My kind will never let me live this down.”, he took a step forward, but was greeted by the tip of her sword at his chest.

“I imagine you are even easier to kill in your mortal form.”, she sneered at him.

Raising his hands in surrender, he grinned, “You would be correct.”

“Why are you here? I thought your kind kept the balance. This town has never left the old ways and lives in balance with the earth.”

The dragon laughed, then winced holding his throat, “Oh that hurts!”, then turning to her, smiled, “I’m a rogue. I’m not supposed to be here. My king would have killed me if you hadn’t stopped me.” He shrugged, “I just got hungry.”

Clíona slapped him hard across the face leaving a deep bruise.

“Ow!”, the dragon winced, his other hand moving to his cheek, “Now you are acting like a woman. But you shouldn’t slap others when wearing your armor, my princess.”

Clíona laughed, “Consider it something to remember me by. Now off with you!”

The dragon looked down at himself and for the first time she realized he was nude. He smirked up at her, “Uh…I’ll probably attract attention like this.”

Clíona kicked the ground, sending charred soot at his feet, “Cover up in the cinders you made of my town and people will think you just another person whose clothes you seared off.”, she kicked him hard then, sending him into a pile of charred ash and kicked more over his body, “There. You’ll pass. And it’s only appropriate you wear the results of your destruction as you walk out of this land.”

The dragon looked up at her, dumbfounded, then began laughing, “You’re not at all interested then?”, shaking his hips up towards her.

Appalled, Clíona kicked him hard in the head, knocking him out, “You had your chance!”

Then dragging him out, called to the townspeople to bring rope. They did, tying the dragon up, marveling at his scales.

“But he can turn at any moment!”, one woman cried.

The princess shook her head reassuringly, “No my lady, he is knocked out in his human form. And he cannot make fire. He will go into the castle dungeon.”, then took off back towards the rock.

Once there, she spied the young man who had first run to her for aid and asked, “What is your name?”

He answered, “Brian.”

“Do you have any family?”

When he shook his head “no”, she asked him, “Do you have employment?”

When he again shook his head, she nodded, “You do now. You will be my page. Come to the castle wall and we will get started.”

Then taking off, she carried the dragon back to her castle on the back of her horse, taking the hidden route of the knights, and met them at the entrance to the dungeons, “Princess Clíona asked that I bring this dragon to her dungeons. He is in his mortal form, so take advantage of this moment to bind his wrists and ankles with iron, but see to it that it is covered so it doesn’t harm his skin. Those are the orders of the princess.” She then followed by adding the secret words only known by the royals and knights so they would believe the order.

The knights nodded upon hearing the secret confirmation of the order and marveled at the armor of this unknown knight. The princess took off and met Brian, pulling him onto the back of her horse, and rode to the stables. Once there, she removed her helmet, letting her hair come down freely in great tumbling waves. Shocked, Brian fell down, but had barely recovered when she tossed the helmet at him, “hold that, please.”

Nodding, he continued to stare in awe as she removed a glove and touched her armor with her bare hand. The minute her fingertips touched its surface, it lay on the ground next to him, along with her horse’s armor, and she stood in her dress, looking every inch the princess. She looked down at his wide eyes and laughed, “This will be out secret, okay?”

Brian nodded quickly, and asked, “Where shall I put this?”

She merely motioned for him to pick up the items, “Follow me.”

Together they climbed a hidden staircase that led to the top floor of the castle and the princess walked into a hidden closet within her father’s old room, “Place them in here, beside his.”, she instructed.