Page 1 of Eliza's Cursed Dragon

Eliza

Once upon a time...

Once upon a time, I lived in a kingdom in Fable Forest with my mother, father, and my eleven brothers. We were a happy family until one fateful day misfortune struck and my mother died in a tragic incident with a giant.

Two years later, on my twenty-first birthday, my father remarried with a woman named Constancia.

The night before the wedding, my frenzied childhood governess, Nan, shook me awake. “Get up, Princess! Get up and for God’s sake, hurry!”

I had never seen her in such a state. Overwrought, upset, and anxious, she pulled me by my arm out of the bed. Only instinct made me put my feet down, otherwise I believe she would have dragged me across the floor.

“Hurry, Princess, please”—she threw an unfamiliar dress at me—“put this on child.”

She hadn’t called me “child” in many years, but enough times when I was young to heed her words now. Turning my back to her, I pulled my nightdress off and the one thrusted at me, made for a servant, over my head. “What is happening, Nan? You’re scaring me.”

She buttoned my dress, then took my hands in hers. Her eyes brimmed with tears. “Oh, princess. I’m so sorry. I fear something evil has befallen our kingdom and you and your brothers must leave.”

“Leave?” I asked aghast. “But why?”

“Constancia is not who you think she is. As we speak, guards are arming themselves to kill you and your brothers at her bidding.”

Horrified, I stared at my old governess. Had she lost her mind? That was the only explanation, and frankly, the most desirable in this situation, short of her being part of a bad joke, something she would never do. Her eyes though, oh, her eyes were filled with so much sadness and fear, projecting her horror and worry.

“What about my brothers?” I cried, still hoping this was just a bad dream or Nan going crazy, but keeping enough semblance of wit about me to worry about my siblings.

“Karl and Olaf are getting them. Here, take this.” She pushed a leather pouch into my hands.

“What is this?” The pouch was heavy and its contents spread unevenly inside.

“Your mother’s jewelry. The evil witch will not get them, and they’ll help you escape.”

“But where will we go?” I nearly sobbed as reality began to permeate my addled mind.

“You have to leave Fable Forest and hide in the Outside.”

“The Outside?” Tears ran down my face in earnest now. The Outside scared me even more than what Nan had already told me. I grew up in Fable Forest, I knew nothing of the people who weren’t enchanted like us. But I had seen some and they had stared at us as if we were circus animals. I knew that most outsiders didn’t like us, regarded us as freaks.

“It’s the only safe place. Now hush, child.” Nan pressed me against her generous bosom, a place I had always found soothing, but not today.

“Why do we have to leave? Can’t we just tell Father? Surely—”

The pitying look on Nan’s face broke my speech off. “Constancia is a witch. She has put your father under a spell making him believe you and your brothers are evil rebels come to kill his beloved.”

“A witch?” I swallowed. “But how do you know all this?”

“Karl overheard Constancia order Marcus—the captain of the guards. He too has fallen under her spell.” Nan pulled on my hand. “We have to go, sweet child.”

She handed me a pair of boots, the kind the servants wore, and pushed me along without giving me the time to put them on.

“What will we do?” I asked when we entered the courtyard, where a large carriage was filling with my brothers.

“I will not run away. I will fight,” Caspian, the eldest of my brothers at twenty, shouted.

“Hush now, Prince, or you will get all of you killed,” Karl tried to pacify him.

But Caspian wasn’t having any of it. He pulled his sword and waved it threateningly through the air. “I will take care of the guards.”

“Caspian!” Nan stepped in front of him, grabbing him by the ear like she had always done. “You need to be reasonable now. There is a time to fight and there is a time to lay low. Right now, you need to run and protect your siblings. There is no honor in getting them and yourself killed, do you hear me?”

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