Feston and the Dragon Queen

Feston was starting to feel desperate about his future.

His father was the Captain of the King's Guard which meant that he was expected to train and be a great soldier, and in that, at any rate, he was succeeding. He could swing a sword, shoot an arrow, or even fight with his bare fists better than any boy his age. But, for as long as he could remember, it was assumed that he would one day marry, Brendora, the daughter of King Claringtil. After all, she was his age, and no other boy could compare as a suitor. For a long time, it seemed that Brendora understood this arrangement, but lately, she had begun paying an awful lot of attention to Dafyd, the son of the Royal Wizard. This annoyed Feston, no end. After all, Dafyd was a scrawny boy in spectacles who spent most of his time studying things. If there was one thing that Feston thought was a waste of time, it was studying things.

Feston had tried many things to win Brendora over. Once, he had used his bow and arrow to shoot down a bird while Brendora was watching. Far from being impressed, Brendora had felt sorry for the bird. Then, to make matters worse, Dafyd had used magic to heal the bird which had not only impressed, but delighted Brendora. On another day, he happened to be doing exercises in the courtyard when Dafyd and Brendora walked by. He decided that this would be a perfect opportunity.

"Hey Dafyd," he called out. "Can you help me with something?"

Dafyd walked over to Feston nervously. "What's up, Feston?"

"I wanted to practice my fist boxing, but I don't have any sparring partners. Want to try?"

Dafyd became even more nervous. "Well, I really don't think I'm the one for that job."

"Come on," said Feston. "It'll be fun. In fact, we can make it interesting. Winner gets kissed by Brendora."

"What if I don't want to kiss the winner?" said Brendora.

Feston decided to ignore that possibility. "I'm gonna take off my shirt," he announced and made rather a big production of it. Since, Dafyd didn't wear a shirt, but a long robe, Feston figured that this would embarrass his rival even more. He didn't notice that when his shirt came off, a look of disgust passed over Brendora's face.

Well, it was fun. At least for Feston. He alternated between his right and left fists quickly and almost forgot that he was contacting with Dafyd's chin. Dafyd didn't particularly enjoy it, and neither did Brendora who eventually jumped in and shouted at Feston to stop.

"Are you all right?" she asked kneeling by the fallen Dafyd.

"I guess," said Dafyd wiping his bloody nose. "Take me inside."

"Sure," said Brendora helping Dafyd to his feet.

"Well," said Feston, "how about my prize?"

Brendora looked at Feston with fire in her eyes. "If I understand you correctly, you wanted fluid from my mouth on your face."

"Something like that," said Feston.

"No problem," said Brendora. She walked over and spit in his face.

* * *

The next day was market day. Feston was still wondering how he could win Brendora back while he strode through the marketplace looking at this and that.

"Baubles and decorations! Win your lover's heart," called out a voice. Feston strode over to the booth and saw an ancient woman who could cry out in a surprisingly loud voice. "Ah," she said. "Looking for a gift for your sweetheart, would you be?"

"Sure," said Feston.

"Well, then. . .I have so many lovely things. . .look around."

Feston did. The truth was that most of the stuff seemed rather dull to him. He was more interested in swords then jewelry, but in a corner he spied something. It was a gold necklace which had a bright red gem in the center and several smaller red gems on either side. "Are those real rubies?" he asked the woman.

"Perhaps," said the woman, "perhaps. But seeing as I don't know for sure, I'll let you have it for a discounted price."

Feston still wasn't sure he liked the idea.

"You know," said the woman, "there's a story attached to that particular piece."

Feston rolled his eyes at this, because every time a merchant tried to sell you something, it seemed there was a story attached to it.

But the woman continued. "They say it belonged to a maiden who was lovely but poor. Then, a handsome king came from a faraway land and asked her to marry him, and he gave her this necklace as a wedding gift. Well, of course, she said yes, but the king turned out to be a dragon in disguise, so he captured the young maiden and holds her prisoner to this day."

It wasn't a bad story, at least as that type of story went, but Feston was more interested in the necklace itself. There was something about it which seemed to almost call to him. After a few minutes, he decided to buy it.

* * *

The first thing that he did was to find Brendora. It turned out that she was in a corner of the castle with Dafyd and apparently in a bad mood. "I can't believe anyone would do that," she screamed.

"What's wrong?" asked Feston.

"We just happened to be in the kitchen," explained Dafyd. "Brendora saw the cook disciplining one of the serving girls."

"So?" said Feston.

"So," said Brendora with disgust. "This was a tiny little girl, maybe seven years old, and the cook was hitting her with a long wooden stick. I'm reporting this to my father."

"Your father? What's he going to do?" asked Feston, "He's the king and this is just a serving girl."

"No, this is just a citizen of my father's kingdom. It's his job to protect her."

Leave it to Brendora to come up with a tortured argument like that. Feston decided to change the subject. "Look, Brendora, I have a present for you." He pulled out the necklace. "I think it's real rubies."

Brendora took the necklace and examined it critically. Dafyd seemed to be interested too. He's probably jealous, thought Feston with satisfaction.

Then, Brendora made an odd face. "Feston," she said, "you do realize that I'm a princess?"

"Er. . .yes, but what does that have to do with-"

"As a princess, I already have plenty of nice jewelry. I don't need this." She was about to nonchalantly toss it away, but Dafyd grabbed it before it hit the floor.

"Careful, Brendora," said Dafyd. Feston was puzzled and Brendora looked the same. Dafyd held the necklace up to the light and examined it carefully. "Feston, where did you get this? I think there's magic in it."

"Magic?" Brendora's ears went up. She may not have been interested in jewelry, but magic had always been something of a weakness for her.

"For one thing," said Dafyd. "These are not rubies. They're Algravian firestones." To demonstrate, he pulled one of the small ones off the chain and tossed it down the corridor. Instantly, there was a loud blast and a puff of smoke as the stone hit the floor.

"Nice going, Feston," said Brendora. "You could have killed me."

"There's more to it then that," said Dafyd still looking at the necklace. "The whole necklace has some kind of power about it. I've seen some strange things in my magic studies, but never anything quite like this."

"Maybe we should take it to your father," suggested Brendora.

"Maybe," admitted Dafyd, "but he'd probably just give us one of his cryptic answers." Dafyd's father was a powerful wizard, and while he was a kind person, he had a habit of not giving straight answers. "The thing is," said Dafyd. "magic items like this have a way of finding certain people. I don't know how exactly, but I have a strange feeling that this one was meant to find Feston." He laughed a little. "Now, I'm starting to talk like my father. Here Feston, I think you should take it back. If you're really adventurous, you can try putting it on, yourself."

* * *

That night, as Feston got ready for bed, he thought about how his day had not gone the way he wanted it to. Brendora still seemed more interested in Dafyd then she was in him. She hadn't even wanted the necklace.

The necklace. It was still sitting on the table by his bed, and he couldn't stop thinking about it. The gems or firestones or whatever they were seemed to be calling his name especially the large one which was the centerpiece.

He tossed around in bed for a while trying to sleep. Then, with a yawn, he got out of bed, picked up the necklace, and put it on. . .

* * *

He was standing in a huge cave which was filled with mounds of gold, gems, and other precious items. As he looked around the room, he thought the place felt unnaturally warm. Based on what usually lived in caves filled with treasure, Feston thought he could guess the reason.

"What are you doing here?" asked a voice.

Feston looked up and saw that on top of the highest mound of gold, there was a sort of throne and sitting in the throne was a woman.

"Er. . . hello," he said wading through the treasure up to the woman. "Who are you?"

The woman had a haughty expression on her face. She was a relatively young woman maybe a few years older then Feston. Her hair was bright red and fell around her peach-colored face in long ringlets. Her entire body seemed to be covered with jewels from a pair of diamonds on her sandals to three bright green emeralds in the crown on her forehead. "I," said the woman, "am Queen Alicia." Her tone implied that Feston shouldn't have had to ask.

"Odd place for a queen," said Feston looking around.

The queen didn't respond. Instead, she looked at Feston's neck. "Where did you that necklace? It is mine."

"Umm," said Feston growing uncomfortable. "I bought it."

The queen looked downright furious now. "It was given to me when I first became queen. Then it disappeared. You must have stolen it."

"You know," said Feston, "you jump to conclusions too much."

"Indeed, she might," said a loud deeply inhuman voice. Feston looked up and saw what he had feared. There was huge green dragon stomping its way towards him. "Unfortunately, we jump to conclusions quite a bit where thieves and intruders are concerned. In the interests of mercy, I will give you a choice about how we conclude your life. I can slow-roast you." He let loose a blast of fire to demonstrate. "Or I can use my claws," he displayed one of his claws which definitely looked sharp, "to make a Kabob."

Feston didn't want to admit it, but this scared him a little. "I don't like either of those choices very much," he said trying to stall the dragon. "My understanding is that this fair lady is the queen. Therefor, should not my fate be her decision?"

"Hmmph!" said the dragon. "It is not her Majesty's responsibility to decide such things."

Feston decided to try anyway. "Your Royal Highness, Majesty, whatever you are," he cried dropping to one knee, "I throw myself at your royal mercy."

"That's pretty pathetic," said the queen thoughtfully. She turned to the dragon. "He may live for the time being."

"But," said the dragon, "he is an intruder and-"

"I am the queen," said Alicia. "You are the subject. You must obey me."

The dragon appeared somewhat miffed at this reminder, but he said, "Very well," and strode away to another part of the cave.

"Thank you," said Feston dropping a bow again, "Queen Alicia."

"Don't thank me," said the queen, "I'd prefer it if you didn't address me by name."

Feston decided it was time to change the subject again. After all, now that he wasn't in immediate danger, he needed to know more about his circumstances. "If you don't mind my saying--"

"I'm sure I do," interrupted the queen.

"Well, if you don't mind my saying. . .For a human woman to be queen over a dragon seems a little. . .unusual."

"What do I care if it is?" said the queen. "It makes me very fortunate."

"Does it?"

"Quite," said the queen. "Whenever, I want anything whether it be food, drink, clothes, jewels this dragon brings it to me."

Feston shrugged. "What if you want to go somewhere?"

"Somewhere?"

"Yes, like anywhere outside of this cave."

The queen laughed. "Why would I want that? I already told you that I have everything I could possibly want in here."

"Well, maybe for fresh air." The queen looked unconvinced. "Well, then maybe so that other people could see how beautiful you look in all those clothes and jewels."

Did the queen's gaze flicker a little bit? "I have no need to do that," she said.

"But would that dragon let you?"

The queen didn't answer.

Then Feston did something which surprised himself. He started laughing.

"I do not see anything amusing," said the queen.

"Alicia," said Feston. "You called me 'pathetic' before, but I think you're worse. You think that you're a queen, but you're just that dragon's prisoner. . .and you don't even know it."

At first, Feston thought she would fly into a rage, but she smiled coldly and said, "Dragon!"

"Yes, Your Majesty." The dragon came forward.

"You have my permission to consume the intruder now."

"Excellent, your majesty," said the dragon.

That would have been alarming by itself, but Feston noticed something else. The gems on the necklace were glowing brighter. Not only that, he could feel them becoming hotter around his neck. He was almost burning.

Later, Feston couldn't remember exactly what made him do what he did next, but somehow, it seemed like the best option. He ran up to the queen, grabbed her and pressed his lips against hers.

For a minute, he saw nothing. But he heard the dragon letting out an angry roar, and he felt the gems on the necklace growing hotter until it seemed that his neck was encircled with a white hot flame. . .

* * *

Was he dead?

No, Feston decided that he wasn't dead, but he was wet. In fact, he was underwater. Fortunately, he was a good swimmer, so he found his way to the surface, filled his lungs with air and swam to a nearby shore.

Wherever he was, it was a much nicer place then the dragon's cave had been. It was a lake of some kind, and the shore led to a lovely forest with tall green trees.

"Ooh!" Feston turned and saw someone pulling herself out of the lake behind him. It was a woman with no clothes on. It took Feston a moment to realize that it was the dragon queen. She looked very different without her clothes or her jewels. Not to mention that her hair was soaked, but she was still quite beautiful. "What happened?" she asked.

"Alicia?" asked Feston tentatively. When she didn't object to being called that, he said, "You're naked."

She looked at herself and shrugged. "So are you."

It was true, he realized. All of his clothes were gone, although there was still something around his neck. Immediately, he put his hands over his private area.

"Oh stop that," said Alicia laughing for the first time and coming towards him. She threw her arms around his neck. "Thank you," she said.

"What did I do?"

Alicia sighed as if this were a difficult question. "I guess you freed me, but I'm not sure how."

For a long time, neither one said anything. They just stood there in silence holding each other's bodies and Feston thinking that this was the most content moment of his life.

Alicia spoke first. "You know," she said. "I think this place may be where I was meant to stay."

That was a strange thought. "Don't you want to go home?" asked Feston.

"Not really," said Alicia, "I was just a poor scullery maid back home. I admit that becoming a dragon queen was a mistake, but I don't want to go back to being a servant."

"Well," said Feston, "What if you came home with me? You wouldn't have to be a maid."

Alicia paused. "I think," she said, "that I would not belong there, though. They say that when you spend a certain amount of time in a magical world, you can't go back to the normal world." She looked at him sadly. "You could stay here."

Well, that almost seemed like a no brainer. Why go back to Castle Clarington when you could remain in a happy place like this? But somehow, Feston knew that he wanted to go back to his home. "How do I get back, anyway?"

"You're still wearing that necklace," Alicia pointed out. Indeed, it was something like the necklace. The gems had all disappeared, so there was nothing left but a plain silver chain. "Maybe, if you took off the necklace, you would go home."

That made as much sense as any idea. Feston put his hand on the necklace as if to remove it. "Will I ever see you again?"

Instead of answering, she planted a kiss on his mouth. After she withdrew, she said, "I think that I can always be with you, if you want me to be."

Feston nodded and removed the necklace.

* * *

The next day Feston went down to the hall outside the kitchen where he saw Brendora fuming. "I can't stand it!" she said.

"What's wrong, now?" asked Feston.

"My parents won't do anything about that cook," said Brendora angrily. "Listen," she said holding up her hand. "I think he's beating that girl right now."

Feston listened and indeed heard the sound of someone, probably the cook, shouting, "Stupid worthless girl! Can't do anything right." This was punctuated by the sound of a small girl sobbing.

"Well," said Feston, "maybe we should take care of this ourselves."

"What do you mean?" asked Brendora, but Feston was already striding into the kitchen, so she followed behind.

"What are you doing?" asked Feston as he approached the cook.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" asked the cook. "I'm running my kitchen." And he tried to go back to beating the child with his rod.

"Really? I don't see you cooking anything."

The cook looked very irritated. "Who are you, anyway? Do you have a problem?"

"I'll answer your questions," said Feston. "I am Feston, the son of the Captain of the royal guard. And I do have a very big problem with people who beat up little girls." Without waiting for a response, he punched the cook directly across the chin. The cook fell over backwards into a stack of pots and pans. For a minute, Feston worried that he had acted rashly, but then he saw the entire kitchen staff was applauding. Apparently, none of them cared much for the cook.

Meanwhile, Brendora looked pleasantly surprised,"Nice work, Feston," she stammered out. Then she rushed over to help the serving girl to her feet. "There," she said, "nobody's going to do this to you anymore." she promised.

"Thank you," said the girl giving Brendora a hug. Then she surprised Feston by throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him on the cheek.

Feston looked at the little girl and noticed that she had red hair and a creamy complexion. She almost looked familiar. "What's your name?" he asked the girl.

"Alicia," said the girl.