Sir Gilliam had been riding through the shadowy forest of Shi. He was on his way to the dark kingdom of Harcelot, where the princess Kora had been. Sir Gilliam was dead set on finding her. The fate of the great kingdom of Gervaus in which he proudly served was in danger and finding her was the only way that he could successfully save it. from the imminent doom that was sure to come upon his fair land. He rode his noble steed through the forest, ready for any kind of attack that might come to him. He had his giant lance at the ready. The weapon was brandished with his family's crest. A crest that had seen many battles. He came from a very long line of knights in the king’s army. He himself was still young, but one day, he’d become a general like his forefathers had been.
Gilliam had been riding for days, only stopping for quick rests and to eat. Amethyst, his horse, had been all too happy to have been ridden for so long by her owner. She didn’t exactly see much use these last few months. Gilliam had been too busy with his studies and other scholarly things. A knight was only as good as his brain after all. So he made it his personal goal to learn as much knowledge that he could. Perhaps that would help him in future battles.
All Gilliam knew about the princess was that she was always in a tower that was guarded by a dragon. It was all rather… storybook. At least to Gilliam it was. He’d hear such stories as a child and that’s what drove him to be a great knight. Though in this instance, it was slightly different. He had no intentions of rescuing her from anything. In fact, it was quite the opposite.He would have to kill the girl. Though he didn’t exactly know why he had to, they never really told him why. He was just following the orders of the king. It mattered not to Gilliam why he had to do it. He was doing it out of loyalty to the king.
Gilliam crossed the border into Harcelot on his horse. The land was dead and barren, like a dessert that always had storm clouds over it but never saw any rain. Gilliam could see the tower from where he was. He would be there very soon. He snapped down on the reigns of the horse and it galloped forward. As he approached the tower, he could see the dragon circling over the tower. Gilliam gripped his lance tighter in anticipation. Perhaps he could just try to rush the door and avoid any confrontation with the giant flying beast.
Once he got to the tower, the dragon swooped down and landed between Gilliam and the doorway. So much for avoiding confrontation. It was time to fight a dragon, like in the legends. Gilliam got off of his horse and took hi lance with him over to the dragon. He got into a combative stance, readying himself for the fight with the scaly creature.
“Worry not young mortal, I wish not to quarrel with thee,” the dragon said. The tone of his voice was full of wisdom. As if this dragon was one of the elders back home.
“Y-you speak?” Gilliam asked, he was genuinely curious as to how such a being could speak his language.
“Of course I do,” said the dragon. He then let out the kind of laugh that one would expect from an old man who was watching children do foolish things. “But there is a toll for passing by me, young one. You must answer my riddle. What is seldom touched but often held? If you have wit you’ll use it well.”
Gilliam thought about the riddle, he was still a bit surprised that he had been asked to solve a riddle instead of attacked. But this was still a very interesting tale to tell once he was back home. After about five minutes of thinking, Gillia had the answer. “My tongue,” He said proudly.
“Ho ho. That is correct. You may pass and enter the tower. But beware the woman who lies in wait at the top. There is more to her than meets the eye,” said the dragon. He then flapped his wings and took off.
Gilliam entered the tower and quickly ran up the stairs. His armour had clanked with every movement on the stone stairway. There would be absolutely no element of surprise for the coming battle.
Once he was at the top, he saw the princess, sitting in the windowsill. Just watching over the land. “Welcome, sir knight,” she said in a calm tone.
“Greetings, I am here to-” Gilliam was about to say but was cut off by the princess.
“I know exactly what you’re here for. You’re here to kill me. Or at least make an attempt to kill me,” She said. How could she be so nonchalant about something so serious? “But I want you to know something. From the minute you stepped into this room, you have been breathing in fumes that completely destroy your free will. if you don’t get out of here in the next five seconds, you’ll be my slave forever.”
Gilliam was confused, did magic like that really exist? If so, how could he have been so careless as to not find a way to check if there was any magic like that. When he heard her final words he began to quickly back away. Though her figure dissolved from the window and the next thing he knew, she hand bashed him across the head from behind. This knocked him unconscious.
Gilliam had awoken about an hour later. The princess had been sitting by him with a devilish grin on her face. “You are mine now. Do you understand that my pet?” She asked him.
As if on instinct alone he responded with, “yes master.”
“Good, then you will be my personal knight in shining armour. You will lead my forces against the armies of Gervaus. And you will be the one that brings victory to Hacelot.”
Fin
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