The White Dragon

Chapter 1

 

The King’s brother and the Dragon

 

In the Kingdom of Erin the country was awaiting the announcement of the birth of the new heir to the throne. When the news broke about Queen January, giving birth to a healthy baby Girl, the townsfolk celebrated for months and it was the happiest of times that the Kingdom of Erin had ever had. The day of her birth was declared a holiday for everyone and so happy was everyone that King Thomas and Queen January received a gift from every citizen for the birth of their Daughter.

 

But there was one who was not happy, the King’s brother, Prince Oray had for many years been casting spells in secret to stop the King and Queen from having a baby Boy, stupidly not thinking that a Girl could become Queen. When Prince Oray heard of the news of a healthy Baby being born, he decided to go to something else for help. The great white Dragon.

 

Now the journey to see the great Dragon was a dangerous one, as he lived in the volonic caves, here a clumsy person could easily fall into a pit full of lava. But Prince Oray was desperate to speak to the evil Dragon and risked his life to do so.

 

The Dragon, did not live there by choice, but had been to by King Thomas and no one had seen it since it had been punished. There had been a lot of rumour around the dragon with some saying it had died, while others claimed they had seen it flying around the kingdom.

 

However, no one had seen the Dragon since the battle between it and the King and this fact made Prince Oray extremely nervous, especially as he was putting his life in peril to have an audience with the creature.

 

The King’s brother had his most expensive treasure in his hand, as a bribe to not get burnt by the dragon. “Great Dragon…great Dragon… where are you, you stupid thing” he walked slowly into the cave, it had lava dripping from the roof and each time he heard it hit the floor, he jumped. “Come out please.”

 

It was now that he was starting to reconsider his plan. Prince Oray already could feel himself dehydrate from the heat in the cave and started calling for the Dragon, with a dry throat. “Dragon, Dragon! I need you great Dragon.”

 

“Where is the lazy brute?” Prince Oray started to walk backwards, when he felt something hard and scally against his sweating back. As he touched it, he started shaking, for despite the heat in the cave, what he was touching was icy cold. He could feel and hear a heavy breathing sound. “What is that?”

 

Shaking and now wanting to run away, the evil Prince looked up and there, above him was the Dragon’s head, Prince Oray then put his hand behind him and realised that the hard material he had felt was the Dragon’s belly.

 

The frightened Prince now turned slowly around and could see that the Dragon had a blood red stomach and he walked slowly away. As he did the Dragon put his tail out and tripped the cowardly Prince over, so now on lying down as if in bed, Prince Oray gazed up at the enormous creature. “What is your business meat?” The evil Man could not speak as the fear of seeing the dragon had now taken hold of him “What is your business meat?”

 

The Dragon did not look what Prince Oray imagined it to look like, he had assumed it would be an ugly Dragon, instead to his surprise the creature had a blood red belly while the rest of the Dragon was milk white, its eyes however, were different colours, the right eye a bright piercing blue and the left eye a dark brown that made it impossible to see the Dragon was looking at. The white Dragon looked beautiful.

 

Prince Oray could not speak. He opened up his mouth and nothing came out, this was a mixture of fear and his throat was now so dry, he knew it would hurt if he even attempted to speak. “Now listen meat, you are boring me, so I will give you two options, you can either leave here but I will kill you before you get out, or you can speak and tell me why you are here.”

 

This time the greedy Prince spook, but he did with such pain in felt like his vocal cords were getting grated on his throat “Oh great Dragon, I am a Prince and Wizard but my spells did not work and now I shall never be King.”

 

The Dragon started to laugh, not a nice laugh but one that made anyone who heard it want to kill themselves, “Stop! Stop with the laughing! Stop it’s driving me crazy! Why won’t it stop! Stop!” He did stop and it was just before the Prince had jumped into a cave of lave.

 

“How can the meat ask for help, when it does not even know my name?” Prince Oray had no response for this and just started almost hypnotised by the Dragon’s beauty, but like Cats, this Dragon also liked to play with his food.

 

“If you can guess my name correctly before the moon is in the sky I shall grant your request, but if you fail to I shall burn you and then eat you meat.”

 

Prince Oray started to think and the first name that came to him was Draco, “Is it Draco?” but the dragon shook his head. The prince frantically said as many names that he knew Dragons were called as he could including Myrita the ice dragon, Anthopsoe the demon fire breather, Icewulf the flying hunter, Scally the killer, Hiyka the powerful and Domorthiul the demon god. But each time the Dragon simply replied with “No.”

 

Prince Oray started to walk around the cave and saying out loud any object that he could see, but again the Dragon just shook his head. As he said names out loud he could not help but notice the light in the cave getting dimmer.

 

“Meat, look the moon is up but you have failed to answer my name and now you know your fate” the greedy prince however, decided to trick the beautiful Dragon “But Dragon, you just said when the moon is in the sky, you did not say what night.”

 

This made the Dragon angry and although Prince Oray could see this he continued, “So I think you should grant my request as I shall make you my second in command” This made the dragon extremely angry.

 

The beautiful creature was quiet and then after what seemed an age spoke “Let me guess, you want me to make you King?” It has here that the Dragon paused “you have a deal, but I will not kill the child.”

 

And with that the great Dragon made a deal to help the evil Prince. But one important thing the greedy Prince had forgotten was that Dragons hate being tricked and more than anything else have a desire for revenge and treasure.

 

The White Dragon then like a Cat hunting a mouse, pounced on top of Prince Oray and started to maul at his neck, the Prince Screamed, but his voice was now horst and nothing came out, he started to run his hand over the Dragon’s body as he tried to push it off, but the dragon would not budge.

 

The only thing the evil Human could see was the sharp teeth of the Dragon pull away from him and then he witnessed the Dragons tongue turn black before returning to his neck. “Stop, stop… you’re killing me! Stop! Stop! It hurts, get off me you big lump!” the Prince started to shake and then he fainted.

 

Briar

 

In Erin, it was tradition to name the first born seven years after birth (although no one could quite understand the reasoning for this) and so it was announced that the name the King and Queen had decided to call their daughter was Briar. She had bright blue eyes and hair as black as a raven, her skin was pale white and her lips where dark red. She was described by all who saw her as beautiful.

 

It was on the day of the announcement of her name that the happy and mostly peaceful country of Erin changed forever.

 

It was on this particular day that the little Princess had to go to the highest tower and make a speech to the citizens that would be made up of one sentence “My name is Princess Briar.”

 

As she finished her short speech, King Thomas went to hug his only child while Prince Oray approached Queen January. “I am glad the weather stayed nice for her speech” The queen turned round smiling but before she could reply to him, something made her trip, it felt like a rock but there was no rock there and the Queen fell off the tower, killing her instantly, blood started to run from her head down onto the streets, where now the once joyful people were screaming and panicking.

 

The Queen was dead.

 

King Thomas pulled his daughter closer to him and looked over the tower where a crowd had gathered around the Queen’s lifeless body. He wept, while in the shadows his brother, Prince Oray smiled before going towards his brother and offering his sympathy.

 

The changing of the King

 

The death of his beloved wife, had hit King Thomas hard, a man who was once known for having wild parties that would last months, now just sat his bedroom where his wife was lying in a glass coffin. His brother entered the room, “How are you brother?” The King turned around, tears running down his eyes.

 

“I loved her, I loved her so much” But his brother was not listening nor did not care about what his elder Brother  was crying about and without King Thomas noticing, Prince Oray slipped a drug into his wine, “Here Brother, have a sip of this, you look awful and need something for energy.” Not thinking there was anything suspicious in getting offered a drink, the unhappy King took it from his Brother and began to drank, but before he managed to finish he fell to the floor.

 

It was now that the evil Prince had to act fast, he got out his sharp knife and cut into the floorboards around the King in the shape of a circle, he then hacked his brother’s hand off.

 

To his horror however, the King opened his eyes during the spell casting. He started up at his brother and what King Thomas saw scared him so much he turned a deathly white. Prince Oray started to laugh at his drugged and wounded brother. His laugh reminded the King of a Dragons laugh.

 

“I did it, I actually did it, and it is mine! It’s mine” He looked down and saw that his Brother was trying to crawl out of the circle. Upon seeing this, the evil Prince leaped towards him and so excited was he that he danced around his brother. “What’s the matter Brother? You look ill here this should help” and with that he kicked the King in his face, but he did not stop he continued to kick him until he noticed the King was no longer breathing.

 

King Thomas was dead.

 

Prince Oray had never been so happy. However, in his joy he had not noticed something important. The day that he had planned to do this was the first Wednesday in the month and it so happened that this was the day Princess Briar would visit her Mother’s coffin with her Father.

 

However, on this particular day, the little Princess was late and upon opening the door she froze with fear, her Uncle was bending over her Daddy and was using his knife on him. But like most Children her curiosity got the most of her and she tiptoed into her Father’s bedroom. She hid behind the curtain.

 

Her hiding space however, was not the best as Oray, spotted her red shoes behind the curtain and stood looking at them, considering if he should kill her or not. It was here that he decided to tell her lies and so he ran over and pulled her out from behind the curtain. “What are you doing here Briar?” She closed her eyes and did not speak, “What are you doing here?” but she still would not speak.

 

Briar’s uncle started to shake her until she started to cry and then wailing she said, “What’s wrong with my Daddy?” and with that kicked him in his shin, stepped on his foot and wriggled out of his grasp and ran towards her dead Father.

 

As she fell down next to him, she started hitting and shaking him “Wake up, please wake up.” But no matter how much she plead, he did not get up.  As this was happening, Prince Oray came behind her with the handle of his knife, whacked the Girl, knocking her out on to the bloody floor.

Awake

 

Prince Oray knew he had to do something with the child, but because he had not expected to see the child there he started to panic. He started to pace around the room and then walked over to his where they both lay.

 

This made the clogs in Oray’s head turn and he ran to the door, swung it open and shouted as loudly as he could “Help! Help! Somebody please Help!” and it was not long until guards ran towards his shouting to offer their aid. Upon seeing the scene behind him the first guard was sick and refused to go in, while the second guard walked in but he had to hold down his vomit “What happened sire?”

 

“I don’t know, I was talking to my brother when Briar ran in and well you can see what she did…I think…I think she needs help. She killed my brother and I cannot have her doing that again. She needs help” He then cried in front of the guard, but his tears were those of happiness not of sorrow.

 

The guard went to the young Princess and picked her up. “What should we do with her Sir?” still pretending to cry the evil Man replied “Put her in the tower asylum, then I shall decide and do not tell anyone of this.”

 

The Guard did as he was told and placed the Princess in the asylum and kept his promise of not telling anyone. However, this was not by choice, but more that as soon as the night came the great Dragon paid him a visit and gobbled him up and then the other guard.

 

Prince Oray slept well that night, he had managed to kill his brother’s wife and no one suspected, he had used witchcraft to get rid of his brother without anyone realising, got rid of his annoying niece and more importantly was King. King Oray slept well that night.

 

But the great Dragon slept even better.

 

The Orphan Princess

As the new King and Dragon slept, Princess Briar could not sleep. She could hear screams, wailing and saw Rats running in and out of where she was now being held. What shocked her most was how no one recognised her, as just earlier that day the Citizens had been rejoicing her name announcement.

“Excuse me” She whispered not expecting to be heard when a woman came dragging her legs on the floor towards the Princess, but instead of greeting her, she spat in the young girl’s face.

“I would like a mirror and how dare you spit at me” the problem with saying this and not being royalty is that people will assume you are a brat and that was exactly what the woman assumed and opened her jail and dragged her out. “How dare you! You brat, you want a murrour! Here’s your murrour!” And she pushed Briar down into the water bowl.

Instead of seeing herself, Briar saw a boy. He had short black hair and was staring back at her. Briar blinked and the boy blinked. It did not take the seven year old Princess to realise that it was not a boy looking at her, but her reflection. Her long curly black hair was gone and her red lips were now a pale pink.

The woman then threw her back into her jail where the Princess stayed for four more years until she was able to escape the asylum.

The Sky

Millions of feet in the air was the Kingdom of Firmament, the kingdom had its foundations set on a large cloud and on that particular day, King Torngarsuk was doing a check of his pets with his seven daughters.

These pets included many different types, but the King’s favourite was his brown bear Ursa. Now the female Bear had recently given birth to a Bub, whom the King had named Dipper. King Torngarsuk was planning on giving the Bear Cub to his youngest and favourite Daughter for her birthday present.

Although the King had seven daughters, his favourite was his youngest, who unlike the others had golden hair and reminded him of his dead wife. The seven daughters were called Pleiades, Heliacal, Ihed, Talmud, Lakota, Orioion and the King’s favourite and youngest Child Kya.

Unlike the other sisters, Kya had her Mothers golden hair and her Father’s dark olive skin, her eyes were green and everyone described her as having a sweet soul, for the princess found goodness in everyone and everything.

“Come Kya, I want to give you a present” “Oh Papa!” she ran towards him and hugged him. The King presented to her a box and watched with glee as his daughter unwrapped it and as she lifted the lip of the box, her face lit up. For inside the box was the little Bear.

“His name is Dipper and he is yours to own” “Oh thank you” She pulled the Cub out of the box and started to dance with it. As she danced away, the Mother Bear walked towards the King and he petted her and fed her fish.

The problem with giving a Bear Cub to a small Child is that the Cub, is stronger than the child and when the Bear struggled to get out of her arms, she ran after it like a game. The King was not watching when his Daughter and her new pet ran towards the gate of the Kingdom, nor was he watching when both crawled through the bars.

But he heard a scream and saw them both on the other side of the gate and so He and the Mother Bear ran towards the gate, but it was too late. For the Little Bear and the sky Princess fell through the cloud. King Torngarsuk and the female Bear ran towards the edge of the kingdom, but there was no sight of their Children.

The Escape

As this was happening, a now eleven year old Briar was sitting in her new home while the inmates sat in a circle, some talking and some staring at each other. Her hair had not grown and instead of being called Briar, she was now referred to as S.F which rather unkindly stood for Strange Freak. The reason for this was that after being adamant for years that she was a Girl and the Princess of Erin, still no one believed her and would call her words like it, Him or Boy.

The circle was made up of ten different people, two were identical twins called Rose and Rosa, there was a troll who although was in the circle was hiding in the shadows enough not to be clearly seen. Briar did not know if the troll was male of female or its name.

Then there was the tall silent wizard and his dummy Mr Fantastic. These two scared the Princess more than any other, as the man did not speak but as soon as he’d look at her, she got an uneasy feeling as if someone was in her head and going through her memories. As this happened Mr Fantastic would tell jokes and the dummy told so many that he would often repeat them in a day.

The other five in the circle was made up of humans and Briar assumed they were from the same family. One was an old grey haired woman who shook her head and wailed constantly, two were adult Dwarfs one had a beard but the other did not. Then the final two were two Children that looked like skeletons who would start fights with each other which would always result in them biting each other.

The last in the circle was Princess Briar.

It was during this circle that Rose and Rosa unintentionally helped the princess escape. “Buttercup Muttercup” Rosa slapped her sister “Shh, they crazy think you yes?” “Hmm hmm yut yut but muttercup darling.” Again Rosa slapped her and they started slapping each other.

Rose however, being slightly stronger that Rosa pushed her down onto the hay by the trolls feet and started strangling her twin. The problem with this was that the troll when very excited would get extermly angry and as it saw the two sisters fighting so violence, it got very excited and jumped up and tossed the two on to the tall wizard, crushing his dummy.

What happened then was the Wizard fell on to the ground and started kicking around like a donkey and making an unhuman noise. As the tall Wizard began casting a spell the Troll fell down and as it came out of the shadows the troll’s body got hit by the sunlight entering the asylum windows and he turned into stone. The problem with this was that it was falling and so shattered in to many pieces one of which hit the wall and for the first time Briar could smell fresh air.

But to her surprise the little hole got bigger and something from the outside came crashing through the wall of the asylum.

The fall

The Bear Cub had been falling from the sky, when it got caught in a heavy breeze and smashed into to the walls of the asylum that the Princess had been prisoner in for four years.

 

The escape

The fresh air was like nothing the Princess had smelt before and she knew that would be her only chance to escape. But as her Father and Mother had taught her to be kind to all she decided she had to see what her saviour had been and between the fighting the crawled until she saw what it was.

Lying on the hay was a brown Bear Cub that could not be any bigger than a small Dog, it was breathing slowly and heavily, while scraping its legs trying to get up. Upon seeing this sight, Briar did what she had not done in years, she cried for something besides herself.

It was then she decided that she had to help her saviour as he had opened the small gap in the wall more for her to escape. So quickly the Princess picked up the Cub and put him up her shirt and then quickly pulling off her trousers, tied tightly along her chest so the Cub would stay put. Once this was done she walked to where the escape hole was and without saying goodbye to the fighting inmates, she started her escape.

She jumped down and landed on the hard gritty ground and then ran although she was not sure where she was running to, she just ran. Ran and for the first time smiled.

The unhappy King and the hungry Dragon

“Your Majesty” a guard came running into the Kings Banquette hall, “Sire there has been trouble in the asylum” The King who was stuffing his face with Donkey stood up from his seat and strolled quickly to the knelling guard.  “What happened?” “There was a fight and many of the inmates are now dead but some escaped Sir” Upon hearing this the fake King froze with fear, for in Erin, he was the only one who knew what had really happened to the princess. “Fetch my fastest horse” and with the both the guard and the King left the banquette hall.

The great Dragon got there first. The King arrived and he could see the Dragon feeding on the bodies “What are you doing here meat?” The king bowed before the white beast “Great Dragon, she has escaped! She has escaped.”

The Dragon started picking at his teeth with his long claws “So?” “So if she has escaped she will surly want revenge!” The Dragon pulled an arm out of its teeth “How do you know she escaped?” “Because I know!” The Dragon swallowed the arm again.

“Well if she has escaped why don’t you let her find you and then you can kill her?” This pleased the Evil King to hear “Go on great Dragon” “If I were you I would host a games and then say that the prize is that the winner gets to face you in battle. “Why would I do that?” The Dragon chuckled “Because great King, you have no Heir to your throne and have no choice”

The White Dragon snatched the Kings Horse and flew off with it. King Oray was forced to walk home in the pouring rain.

The Forest

Briar had ran so fast, she did not notice that her chains were off her feet of that she feet were bleeding. Then she stopped running and looked at her unchained feet, but instead of questioning it, the happy girl started skipping down the road.

She stopped skipping for in front of her was the forest she had heard her Mother warn her about “Briar, you must never go into that forest, it is full of wild Men and unexplored by us.” As she heard her Mother say this she sat down at the edge of the Forest and started at it and then back towards the castle which loomed over her.

Had it not been for the little Bear, Briar would have turned round and walked towards the castle, knocked on the wooden doors but before getting close to the King, would have been shot by a crossbow.

But that did not happen, for she looked down her top and saw the dying Cub and decided to go into the forest to find if the wild men would be able to help her. After all, it would be better to get killed by strangers than a family member. So the Princess stood up and walked into the forest, carrying the Bear Cub.

Kya

It was with a mighty bang that Kya fell to Earth. Had she fallen a bit to the left of a bit to the right she would have died, but as luck would have it, she fell onto a soft landing.

The first thing she noticed was that she was burning up and so she started to roll on the soft grass to cool herself down. But this did not help and as the Sky Princess got up, she fell down. Again she tried to get up but could not, so Kya dragged herself and again tried to get up, then it occurred to her “I hope I haven’t broken my legs.”

King Torngarsuk begins looking for his Daughter

As he saw his Child fall, the Sky King jumped onto Ursa and along with others, started looking for the missing Princess. The six remaining daughters went with their own pets to search for their missing sister, Pleiades went to the East with her Lion, Heliacal to the West with her Goat, Ihed to the South with her Ram, Talmud to the North with her Bull, while Lakota and Orioion kept watch by the gates with their Crab and Scorpion.

When night fell each returned, but no one brought good news with them. That night when people looked up to the sky that night, they would notice that there were no stars in it.

That night, the family tried to console each other and plan a way for Kya to return home. Many ideas were suggested, but it was the eldest, Pleiades that thought up the best idea. “I have an idea, we could do what Moloch once did?” Hearing the name Moloch made the family go very quiet, as he was the one thing they all feared.

She continued “He managed to reach us by using the Watterfall down there, so if he could do it, then surly so could Kya? And by doing that she does not need a necklace.”

Although King Torngarsuk did not like this idea, it was the best that anyone had come up with and so the royal Family would wait for the return of the Princess.

The Forbidden Forest

That night Briar slept on a tree with the Cub tucked under her top, when she woke up the Cub was still asleep and for a moment, she feared the Animal had died, but was relieved to see it breathing.

“Don’t worry, I’ll find some water for you” and as she started to climb down the tree, her foot touched a branch would made a door appear in the tree and so she fell through it. Falling through it was much like going down a slide and at the bottom of the slide was a heap of duck down and sheep wool that she landed in.

What was inside the tree, amazed Briar, for around her was gold, diamonds and jewels of every colour. In front of her wearing top hats, waistcoats, high wasted trousers, pocket watches and wearing ascots (The only thing that was different between them) stood two Imps. One was wearing a purple ascot, while the other was wearing a yellow ascot.

Briar had read stories about Imps, but had never seen them in real life and so was speechless.

“You fell into our trap” said the one wearing the yellow ascot, “Bumble, it was my trap, not your trap and she did not fall into the trap.” Hearing the Imps call her a she made Briar rejoice inside.

The purple ascot Imp informed her, “You haven’t introduced yourself, how about we all guess each other’s names?” So Briar decided to let the Imps go first, as it would be polite to do so.

The purple ascot wearing Imp went first, “do you have a vowel in your name?” “I think so, it has two e’s in it” “How many letters does it have?” The other Imp paused and started counting on his fingers and counting out loud “one, two, three, four. No three, it has three letters!”

Then the purple wearing Imp jumped up and down “I know it! Do you girl” “Of course you know it, you clearly know each other. But I am going to guess Bee?” The Imp wearing yellow shock his head and looked at the other Imp. “It’s Stephen of course!”

Hearing this annoyed Briar and so she questioned them on it, “But you said it had three letters, Stephen is made up of three letters.” “No” Jumped the Imp “I said three letters, I am S-t-e-PHD-en. I got that recently, so I do have three letters.”

At least I know the one wearing Yellow is Stephen, though Briar. “Now guess my name” said the other Imp gleefully. “Is it Sterling?” asked Stephen and very soon the expression in the Imps face changed and Briar knew that was his name.

“Now I know your name, but what is mine?” she asked, for although she knew it was a silly game, it was the most fun she had had in years.

Imps, Stephen and Sterling took turn guessing her name and it went on for so long, that Briar decided to tell them as they probably would have never heard of her anyway and even if they had, they would not believe her anyway.”

“You’re wrong, I am Princess Briar of Erin.” To her shock the two Imps bowed as soon as they heard this “Why are you bowing? Are you mocking me? Please do not mock me, it is cruel.”

Together the Imps looked up at her and spoke in unison “We have waited for your return since the prophecy” “What?” still speaking in unison they went on “It was written that a royal would fall from the sky and lead us to victory against our enemy.” This made the princess curious “Who is your enemy?” “He is the snow fire breather and has destroyed our homes.”

Princess Briar looked at the two bowing Imps and for the first time in years, she felt like a royal and so vowed to help them. During this, she had forgotten about the Cub and it was not until she mistook the bear growling for her tummy that she remembered.

“Please will you help me, my Mother died and my Uncle has tricked everyone into believing he is my father and he sent me to jail where I have been since I was Seven and I don’t know what to do….and I have this Bear Cub” Briar began to cry and her two new friends came over and began to comfort her.

Briar and the Bear Cub

A few days had passed and because of the care that the Imps and Princess had given the Cub, it was now a healthy Cub. But although it was healthier, they could all see that the Cub was not normal, for when it was washed and combed during night a small unearthly light was seen, but if the Cub was washed during day, the light would not be seen.

It was because of this Briar named the Cub Ori, which means my Light. For the Princess had taken the Bear to be Her Bear.

Finding Kya

It so happened one day that while hunting for food, Stephen and Sterling came across what looked like a dead dog, but on further inspection saw it was a child. Stephen stayed with the child while Sterling ran home for help.

Briar was throwing a stick for Ori, when she saw Sterling running towards them “Help! Help” he called and so Briar picked up the Cub and ran towards the Imp, instead of explaining what had happened, Sterling simply pulled the girl along until they reached where Stephen was sitting by the wounded child.

The Child was Princess Kya, although the out of the four only the bear cub knew this and jumped from Briar’s arms and ran to the wounded Princess and started to lick her. This made the Girl cough. Seeing this Sterling and Stephen made a throne with their arms and Briar propped the child onto the throne and held her up. They all walked home, the Bear Cub at their feet.

The trouble with Oray

When King Oray returned to the Kingdom, he went to his secret room. This room was decorated with spells carved into the walls and the floor painted with goats blood, with a circle with a five edged star in the centre of the circle.

He started to cast an evil spell while standing in the circle. The evil Man thought he was alone, but he wasn’t. The white Dragon with the blood red belly was watching and what he saw pleased him.

The Announcement

The next day the subjects of Erin gathered around the largest tower, where the fake King was standing. There were rumours that the King had gone mad after the death of his wife, while others remarked how strange it was that King Thomas would want to be called King Oray, as no one knew the brothers were close and so some thought that he was a wizard. But now no one suggested that, as those that did would quickly disappear without any trace.

“People of Erin, as you are all aware, this has been a tough many years we have faced. You also know that since the death of my beloved daughter, I now have no heir, and I don’t expect to get one now. I invite each of you to face me in combat and whichever of you finishes the final test, will be crowned the new King of Queen of Erin when I die. That is all”

The people were silent.

The Help

Princess Kya was running, she was running in thick darkness and smog when she started to fall. Then she woke up. She was lying in a small bed next to her in a sleeping bag was another girl and on the floor was two creatures she had never seen before.

Kya got out of the bed and was going to sneak out, but her legs had not recovered yet and she fell over, the three of them. “What’s happenin’?” said the two Imps, but then quickly fell asleep again.

“Who are you?” “My name is Briar, I was a princess but my uncle has taken my throne and so I am an outcast” Kya went back and sat on the bed, “I can aid you, if you aid me on my journey home, my dynasty will help you to reclaim back your throne”

The way that this strange girl spoke intrigued Briar and so she asked “You aren’t from here, are you? And you look my age, but something seems older.” “You are correct, I come from the Kingdom of Firmament and I do not know my age, but I am the youngest of my sisters.”

“What is your name?” “Princess Kya of Firmament.” “I’m called Briar.”

The Bear Cub

The little dipper had been outside, running around the forest as the night air made him feel alive.

That night the white Dragon was looking for food other than Humans, as he flew he saw many livestock, but he left them all along, for he fancied something different that night. During his flight something caught his eye, it was a shining light and this caught his curiosity, for the Dragon thought he had found some treasure.

As he flew closer to the moving light he looked down and saw the shining light was not any treasure but a Bear Cub. The white Dragon landed in front of the Cub, the Cub looked up and saw a blood red belly and then the Dragon’s white body.

The Dragon went on all fours and like a Cat, started to move his tail from left to right, he was getting ready to play with his food and treasure. The Cub ran, but unlike most, it ran towards the Dragon. This took the Dragon by surprise, for the Cub charged towards him and jumped on his face, burying his claws deep into the creatures face and sliding down the scaly body until reaching the tail and releasing his grip from the Dragons body and then he ran.

The Dragon howled, for it had not felt pain like that in years. It turned and ran after the Cub, but there was no sign of it. The wounded Dragon flew off, but he would be back.

The Cub had ran to the near bye tree, where it had jumped to touch the branch and quickly fell through the tree door to the Imps home. He ran through the different Imp homes, until reaching the one he knew.

The two Imps were still asleep, while briar and Kya were on the bed talking, when the Cub jumped onto their bed. “Hello Ori” said Briar as she picked up the Cub. “That name is wrong, he was named Dipper” Briar started to stroke the Cub, “But I saved him, can’t I name him?” Kya shook her head, then smiled “You cannot, but we can name him Dipperori or Oridipper, if you would like?” But the Cub changed and went to Kya and started licking her face, “No” said Briar, “It’s okay, Dipper suits more.”

He was no longer Her Ori.

The News

It was not long until the news of the King’s speech reached the Forest and then Sterling. As soon as he heard the news, he dropped his crumpet on his waistcoat and ran to where the other three were. Before stopping to speak he shouted to them, as he thought this was save time.

“You gotta do ‘at!” he said panting, but Briar shook her head “I can’t I’m only eleven” still panting “So, there is no closing date and we’d train you up, right Stephen?” “Yeah we would.”

Although the pair of Imps did not look like they could, they actually had trained successful Imps. It was Sterling’s job to teach how to do the three different stages of magic, these were wand, hand and finally mind magic. While Stephen would teach how to use weapons and make traps.

But the Princess, still shook her head, “I promised to help Kya return home and I won’t break that promise to her” Kya took her hands, “No you get the training you need, I can help you also, for I can teach you to ride any animal. Then you can help me return home.”

But Kya was not use to the time difference and did not realise that training an eleven year old would take longer than she thought. It would take six years.

Night Training

Kya it was soon discovered, was nocturnal and so had to train Briar during the night time. Now this had been happening for a years now, and she no longer looked like a boy who had escaped from the asylum. Instead how her skin was healthy and her black hair was long again and for a seventeen year old, who had been living in the forest, she was still beautiful.

On that night, Kya was planning to teach her friend how to ride Dipper. This was because the Imps had pointed out “What could be more amazing and scary than riding a Bear in to battle?” For now the little Bear Cub had now grown into an adult Bear, he could no longer be described as little, for he was the biggest Bear in the Kingdom.

Dipper was standing on his four feet, when Kya started to teach Princess Briar what she would need to do, “It is the same to riding a horse” She put her hands on the fur at the Bear’s neck and pulled herself up on to his back, “Understand?” She jumped down. “Now you attempt it”

Now Briar had been horse riding before and was managing well with getting on the Bear, until it came to swinging her leg around. That she could not do.

“Allow me to do it again and I shall help you from that higher angle” and so Kya jumped on to her pet and reached her hand down and this time Briar was able to get on Dippers fur back behind her friend.

The stars

Now during this time, Dipper would look up at the stars in the sky. He did this, as it meant he could see his old friends and family in the sky. He could see the Goat, Ram, Crab, Lion, Bull and Scorpion in the sky and the biggest of all that he saw that night was Ursa Major.

He had done this every night since training had begun, but something this night was different. He wanted to return home.

When watching the stars, he noticed a shooting start. Now this was not unusual, as there had been many. But this shooting star glowed like fire and attracted the Bear to it like a magnet.

Dipper charged to where the star had landed.

The two Princesses screamed, and clung on to the bear for their lives. They yelled for him to stop, but he just ran on and on.

Azov

After the King had made his announcement, many people came to challenge him, but none were his missing niece and none beat him.

In one of the farms live an old Farming Family called the Narku, the head of the family was Dillum, his Wife Karen and their Son Azov. Now Dillum was old and this meant he was no longer able to care for the farm and although his Wife and Son also did the share, the crops were not growing. This meant the Narku Family had to sell some of their livestock.

One day, when Azov was walking into Erin market with the purpose of trying to sell the Family’s sheep, He saw lying on the side of the road a large long chalk white rock.

Now the Farmer’s Son did not take any notice of this at first and walked passed, then something hit him. He turned round, but as nothing was there he walked on. Then some else hit him, he was sure it was a pebble, but as he turned round again he saw nothing.

When it happened a third time Azov shouted “who did that?” but instead of an answer, he saw what he had assumed to be a rock move and slither off the road. Azov ran after it.

When he saw the moving white rock again, he jumped on it and to his horror (for he was scared of heights) the rock raised itself and so Azov had to hold on for his life. If he had not been scared of heights, he would have had his eyes open to see moving object had actually been a Dragon’s tail and he was now sitting on the Animal’s tail and facing its head.

What Azov finally opened his eyes, He saw the great Dragon and fell off, but the Dragon picked him up again. “I need you meat, you are going to help me and in return I shall grant all your wishes.”

Azov was twenty four years old, blonde hair and green eyes and this was the first time he had seen a Dragon. However, as he had never been schooled outside the farming life, he did not realise that Dragons are able to breathe fire. He did not even realise that it was a Dragon.

“Why will I help you?” “Because, if you do. You and your Family will never have to work or worry about anything again.” Now this made Azov curious, for his Father and Mother were both in their eighties and He had always wanted to repay them for being as he described “the best parents.”

“What do you want me to do?” “First do we have a deal meat?” Azov did not like how the creature was calling him meat, but the idea of getting all he wanted by just wishing, was now in the young man’s head and he was imaging eating chocolate. A food he had only had once and required a taste for it.

And so four years and eleven months after making a deal with Prince Oray to become King, the great white Dragon made a deal with a Farmer’s Son.

The find

Dipper had now ran out of the forest and had now reached the sandy beach, where he stood on his hind legs and growled louder than any other animal around. As he did this, the two Princesses went to put their hands over their ears and in doing so, fell off the Bear.

The Bear continued to growl and then roar, it almost sounded like he was trying to sing. The he leaped up and put his massive face in the sand and started to dig. It was starting to get light when he retrieved a wooden bracelet buried in the sand.

Kya cried and danced for she knew what it was.

Ursa Major

Since the disappearance of his daughter, King Torngarsuk, had thought of many ways to get his daughter back. The best of these ideas, had been purposed by his eldest Child, but it was dangerous.

King Torngarsuk found himself talking and confiding with his pet Bear more “If I do that, Moloch may see it and return to our kingdom” Ursa Major put her paw on the sad King’s knee “but if I don’t, I shall surly never see Kya again.” He throw his head into the Bear’s neck and cried.

But Bear moved her paw and started to write on the clouds. What she wrote, made the King stop crying for he knew what to do to get his Princess back.

Three

Home

“What does this mean Kya? I don’t understand what any of this means” Kya stopped dancing, but the Bear continued to sing.

“It means I can go home Briar, I can go home. This Bracelet will get me there, it works four times and then won’t. This is the fourth time! We can go home!” She then explained.

“Our enemy used this to get into my Kingdom, but we managed to defeat it in battle and as we chased it, it lost this bracelet. Now that was used once and then this solo journey for it is twice and me returning is three times.”

This saddened Briar, for the sky Princess had become her best friend. But Briar swallowed her own feelings and congratulated her friend.

“Will I ever see you again?” was what Princess Briar, was planning to ask when the sound of a horn was heard.

The Dragon

During one of the tournaments that King Oray had arrange, he had been using his magic to get rid of anyone who challenged him. One of these was the farmer Azov, who unlike the others, challenged the king whilst riding a Dragon.

“Dragon, what are you doing?” The white Dragon slammed his paw down onto King Oray and with one fire breathing breath, burnt him on the spot. Azov did nothing.

The News

It was the sound of the horn being blown that alerted the people to the news.

King Oray was dead.

Azov the farmer was King.

As Briar heard the horn, she turned round to her friend, “I have to get my throne back, it was taken from me by my Uncle…I won’t let a stranger take it from me now.”

Kya hugged her friend, “No we can go home anytime” She put the bracelet around her ankle. And so the three walked form the beach. Princess Briar was going to get her throne and crown back.

Fern Castle

Fern Castle stood proudly in the picturesque Erin, the Castle, it was believed dated back to 733, and although some believed it was even older than that. Being so old, meant that still some of the castle walls were made from timber and earth, which had simply been covered up by stones and rocks, instead of being removed and the stones and rocks put in their place.

The defences of Fern castle were the best for miles around, for it had the tallest towers and arrow slits around different places of the castle, which would mean if an attack happened, the enemy would have no change of taking the castle.

Of course, the castle had a backup for if in any change, the siege on the castle got pass the first defence, this was made up of a flanking fire, which would not miss.

Fern castle then had a moat surrounding it, making it the hardest to get into as it was well defended.

But now it had something more dangerous inside than anything that would be coming to attack Fern castle from the outside.

A dragon.