This is Part VIII of Princess for the Night. Part I of Princess for the Night is here
he looks into her Aunt’s crystal ball, and sees her hero, the one she would some day marry, the one who loved her, the one who would avenge Tonna’s death and free these villages from the curse once and for all, running. Running, with a panicked look on his face, without a sword in hand. Running as fast and as far away from the village as he can.
So much for a hero.
So much for true love.
So much for…
“This may seem crazy, Isabella.”
Isabella stares forward with a blank look on her face.
“Isabella. Pay attention.”
Isabella turns and faces her Aunt.
“This may seem crazy, Isabella, but it’s the only chance we got. Remember the love potion you made?”
“Yes. And no, I’m not going to waste it on that pathetic-”
“No. I hope that coward dies. I got a better idea.”
A little telekinesis
Early the next morning, as planned, Isabella’s aunt slipped the bottle into her dress. Isabella only had to keep her cool under duress. No big deal, right? You only have a ten ton beast that could bite an armored warrior in half with one bite that wants to eat you. Then of course, the potion is made for a human. Will it work on a dragon?
Who knows? It’s all we got.
Avery’s miles away by now and nobody else wants to risk their life and the lives of all the local villages for a single girl. Every year, the same thing. A virgin girl in a white dress sacrificed to the dragon. One life in exchange for thousands.
Cowards. All of them.
No time to judge though. Must focus on the task at hand.
This year as every year, the girl, chained to the same post in front of the dragon’s cave. Cold and damp, her shivering alone made her spell casting even more difficult. Never mind a giant fire breathing flying reptile will soon be expecting a feast.
Oh, I’ve already made that point. Well, I’m going to make it again to really hammer into your head how hard it is to cast this spell.
You cannot lose focus. You cannot lose concentration. Telekinesis is one of the more difficult spells to cast in ideal situations.
You know what makes it even worse? Your hands really make spell casting more simple. Even better than your hands? Something concentrated. Like a wand for instance.
Well, she didn’t have a wand. And her hands were tied above her head in a cold iron chained grip. So she couldn’t exactly use her hands to cast this.
Only her mind. And what makes this even worse? She had to have her eyes open. Isabella couldn’t close her eyes or else she’d have no idea where that bottle would go, even if she somehow managed to cast this spell under these conditions.
The dragon
And so the elders secured her in place. And walked away like the cowards they all are.
Like Tonna’s parents, Isabella’s parents couldn’t come to say goodbye to their daughter. Her mother collapsed in the morning and her father raged with a pitchfork. It took half a dozen men to finally subdue him and knock him out. Knocked out some of his teeth in the process too.
Yes, he loved his daughter. And yes, if he could, he would have stopped this. But now he lays knocked out, bleeding, and missing his front teeth in the barn. Oh, he also shat his pants.
Sorry. I probably should have spared you that detail.
Anyways, the dragon. Yes, maybe it’s due to the timing, but the dragon doesn’t come out until all the elders were out of sight.
Isabella rehearsed the spell many times with her aunt. However, it’s all easy under ideal conditions. When you didn’t have a gigantic fire breathing flying reptile that can bite you in half with one bite slithering towards you.
Yes, Avery described Tonna’s death in brutal detail to Isabella. So Isabella now knows what would happen if she fails to cast this spell.
Or, if she succeeds in casting the spell and the potion simply doesn’t work. Don’t think for a minute that that hasn’t crossed her mind.
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