The Dragon's Bride

"We're running out of virgins, and that's a fact." Osmo frowned down at the toe of his soft boot, which was coming unstitched. He needed a new pair, but wasn't ready to make the trip into the city just yet. "What are we to do when they're all gone? You know the pronouncement well -- they must be a minimum of seventeen."

The other men at the table nodded in morose agreement. "All the girls know how to avoid becoming sacrifices, and are certain to take the necessary steps before their seventeenth birthdays. Many earlier," one very old man put in. "When I was young, it was an honor to be sacrificed. Of course, until the present one arrived, there hadn't been a dragon in these parts for a very long time. This younger generation has no sense of tradition or respect."

"No sense of wanting to be eaten for a dragon's dinner, either," the youngest man at the table snapped irritably. If Seth was going to start reminiscing about the 'good old days', this meeting was doomed. "We've already established no one can kill it -- all the brave warriors who went out to face it just disappeared, armor and all. You'd think even a dragon would leave the armor."

"He doesn't eat the warriors, you silly git!" Old Seth put in querulously. "He melts them and turns them into ashes. You younguns don't know nuthin anymore."

"Shut up, Seth." This was from the man who appeared to nominally be the leader of the group. "We know we can't kill it, and we don't have any more suitable virgins. Or even unsuitable ones. The yearly sacrifice time approaches. We will be forced to make an agreement with the city."

"They'll bleed us dry, take all our crops and our goods!" Osmo whined. "There must be another way!"

"Well, there isn't!" The head man snapped. "None of us or our good wives have been successful in keeping our daughters virgin, and I suspect we are guilty of not wanting to. Who wants his daughter eaten, after all?" Before he could continue, the leather flap over the tavern doorway lifted, and a woman ducked underneath. She was of early middle age, with light brown hair touched with grey in a braided coronet around her head. She looked around the tavern and spotted the head man.

"Husband!" She hissed, attempting to get his attention. All the men at the table turned to look at her.

"'Tis your wife, Cuth," Seth said unnecessarily. "In my day wives knew better than to interrupt the council at meeting."

"Shut up, Seth!" Several of the other men chimed in unison.

Cuth hurried to the door and held a whispered conference with his wife. When he returned to the table he was grinning, and he lifted his tankard of ale in salute to his companions and the world in general, which suddenly looked a lot better to him. "It would appear we have the solution to our problem, my friends. A trader's wagon just rolled into town, laden to the roof with merchandise ready to unload on us poor yokels."

"How can you think of buying gewgaws at a time like this?" Osmo asked irritably. "We should know if a woman thinks a matter to be important, it has to do with hair ribbons and lace."

"You mistake the matter, gentlemen, and you mistake my wife." His tone was colder, and flatter -- every man there knew the esteem Cuth had for his wife. They considered it unseemly in their mayor, but none dared challenge him. He was the smartest and strongest man in the village; rumor had it that when he was younger, he had served the Lord in battle and won the mayorship of the village for his lifetime. And they all remembered the previous mayor, who had been gluttonous, lazy and cruel. No, none cared to challenge Cuth's rulership. "Yon merchant traveler has four daughters -- all of marriageable age. All unmarried..."

Now they understood him.

***

"You cannot take one of my daughters, sir!"

"You will be recompensed for the loss of her. You have three others." Cuth had long since learned to steel himself against the pleas of distraught parents. If he hadn't, they all would've been burnt toast long ago. "I regret the necessity, but you must understand these are desperate times."

"And to think, when I kept my daughters pure and never allowed them to wander away with the lads who clustered round, that this would happen!" The trader ran his hands through his thinning hair, which made it stand up on end as if it, too, was in distress.

"You're certain they're all virgins?"

"Of course they are!"

"They must be tested," Cuth's wife Marjorie stated.

"Tested? How?"

"The Dragon's Eye." When the trader looked even more distraught, she explained. "The Dragon's Eye is a ruby pendant, given to us by our lord in the city of Versach. When it is hung upon the breast of a girl who has never known a man, it glows. When any other woman attempts to wear it, she receives a burn which will leave a scar for life."

The man stared at her in disbelief. "Do all the women in this village have such a scar?"

"The current dragon only arrived a year ago. Let us say that all the women of a certain age have the scar. It is unfortunate, but many will lie about not being virgins, just to escape the dragon."

"No, surely not! You shock me, good woman -- why in the name of the Goddess would any girl wish to avoid such an honour? Can't someone kill this monster?" The man's voice was going up in volume, as he felt himself hemmed in from all sides. Now that he remembered, it was someone in the city of Versach who recommended he come to the village. Some twisted sense of humor, no doubt, upon discovering his daughters weren't there for anyone's pleasure.

"Your oldest daughter is nearly twenty years of age," Marjorie continued. "Why have you found her no husband?"

"She prefers to find her own. I discovered my wife when I was nineteen, she eighteen. We fell in love at first sight, and never parted until she died during the birth of Aria, my youngest daughter.

"How old is Aria?"

"Seventeen. And before you figure out that means one baby a year, the oldest are triplets."

"Triplets! I have never heard of such a phenomenon. Do you mean your wife survived the birth of three babies at once, but died at the birth of one?" Cuth couldn't seem to understand the logic of this.

"They don't all come at once, and there is no explaining it."

***

Rhon's three older daughters were tall and slender, like their mother had been, with bright auburn hair and green eyes. They were all pretty, and well-spoken, and he hoped they would find husbands to their liking -- though he doubted it would be in a little village like this one. But it was his younger daughter Rhon loved best; this was a strange thing, he thought, since he had dearly loved Aleene, his wife, and it was the birth of this last daughter that took her life. But Aria was so beautiful, so sweet, and so intelligent, that it was impossible not to love her. Her Rhon worried about -- she certainly wouldn't be happy married to some lout of a farmer or craftsman. Yet what else was there, for the daughter of a traveling pedlar? Rhon didn't have any illusions about his station in life, for all he managed to give his daughters nice clothes and good food -- Aleene had taught them to read, and they passed their knowledge along to Aria. Rhon couldn't read himself, but had learned over the years the value of having educated daughters, even if most men didn't acknowledge it. "Take one of my daughters! Never, sir! You will have to kill me, first! They are everything to me -- you shall not do it!"

"I hope you won't make it come to that -- you must see how desperate we are."

"How often does this happen -- with the dragon, I mean?"

"Every quarter, for two years now. We have no maidens left, I fear, for our village lasses aren't stupid.. If the dragon is not appeased, he will eat everyone in the village -- including you, good sir."

"Not me, he won't -- nor my daughters, either! We'll pack up and be gone from this bedlam tonight."

"I fear that will not be possible." The mayor gestured around the village square, where every exit was guarded by armed yeomen and villagers. "We have sacrificed eight maidens to the dragon's hunger -- now you must sacrifice one."

"Then you'll let us go? You won't keep us prisoner here until next quarter-day?"

The mayor looked as if he would like to do that very thing, but he reluctantly shook his head. "You have my word on the soul of Lord Egbert, our beloved lord in the city of Versach. One daughter, then the rest of you may leave."

"Father!" Rhonette screamed in disbelief. Rhon's three eldest daughters were pretty individually, and striking when seen together. "Surely you won't let them sacrifice one of us to a big, ugly, slavering reptile! You're all a lot of cowards, or you would've killed the beast by now, rather than let him eat your daughters!"

One of the younger men flushed, but sneered as if to cover up his discomfiture. "If you consider it such an easy task to kill a dragon larger than this square, I suggest you try it yourself. Perhaps you would like to volunteer to be his next victim?"

"What, chained to a post so I can't run away? Much good I'd be able to do."

"It's not a post, actually, the mayor replied apologetically. "It's...a sofa."

Rhonette blinked. "A what?"

"A sofa. A satin sofa...looks like something out of the palace of our lord."

"Why would you put a satin sofa out for the dragon's victim if she's going to be eaten soon? Isn't it all splashed with blood and gore?"

"Well, no, actually. Seems as if it should be, but there you are. And we didn't put it out. We don't even know how it came to be there -- one day it just appeared. The dragon must take his victims back to his cave to devour them at leisure."

"Well, how very assuring! A dragon with civilized eating habits -- how it must set your minds at ease. Well, what is your selection process? I doubt me any one of us is going to volunteer."

Cuth was holding a box of carved monkeywood. He put it on the open shelf of the caravan and removed a velvet pouch. Inside the pouch was an enormous, pear-shaped ruby, set in gold and hung on a gold chain. The daughters of the traveling merchant stared at it in awe. He held it up so everyone in the square could see it. "This is the Dragon's Eye. Only a virgin may wear the Dragon's Eye -- if a man or woman who is not virginal should attempt to wear the Eye, he or she suffers a burn which leaves a scar for life. So tell me, merchant, which of your daughters may wear the Eye without suffering harm?"

"All of them! Do not impugn the virtue of my daughters, dirt-grubber!"

"Then let us begin with the eldest."

Rhonane swallowed convulsively and stepped forward. The mayor started to drape the chain over her head, when Aria dashed forward and snatched it out of his hand. Aria was smaller than her sisters, with a cloud of golden-blond hair that flowed down her back and tried to escape from the scarf she wore over her head. Her eyes were large and misty-blue, and all the young men in the village had been torn between her fragile beauty and the more substantial good looks of her sisters. Aria was rather intimidating, actually; what they assumed a princess would look like.

Dropping the chain over her head, she allowed it to settle in place between her breasts. "I regret to say I am the only one of my sisters who can wear the Eye. Much as I would like to give the honor of being eaten by the dragon to another, I see no reason why they should suffer burns when I will still be the one chosen, in the end."

Rhon's face began to darken when he realized the implications of this speech. Rhonane gave a sigh of relief, and Rhonette and Rhona exchanged a glance that held chagrin and not a little commiseration for their still-pure sister. "Whores!" He bellowed. "Whores, every one of 'em -- only my little angel left to be devoured by the dragon. I cast you off, all three of you -- go and ply your trade in the city. You can walk in the filth of the gutters and rut with any man to come along and offer ye enough coin." He began to weep. "Begone from my sight, faithless ones!"

"Do be quiet, father," Aria admonished him. "What is done cannot be undone, and you will not cast my sisters off. Who would care for you in your cantankerous old age, which is obviously not far off?"

There were giggles around the square, and the merchant glared at his youngest daughter though he didn't speak. "Who will help you with the business? You must promise me, father, you will not attempt to abuse my sisters when I am gone."

Then the triplets began to cry, and all fell upon Aria to hug and kiss her. The Dragon's Eye winked on her breast, as if enjoying its' own little joke at their expense.

***

The committee came in sight of the satin couch, set incongruously in the middle of a glade in the forest. Attached to a pole beside the couch were chains that ended in padded handcuffs. Aria, clad in a white gown finer than any she'd ever had before, and wearing the Dragon's Eye pendant on her breast, frowned when she saw this bizarre arrangement. "There's no blood anywhere. Or scorched earth or trees. I thought -- why isn't there any blood?"

Cuth shrugged. "We think perhaps he takes his victims back to his lair." When Aria started to lift the Dragon's Eye over her head, he shook his head. "You must wear the ruby until the dragon comes for you."

"Then how will you have it for your next victim?" She sounded scornful.

"He will leave it on the sofa."

"A remarkably neat and dexterous dragon, can he do that. I begin to suspect there is no dragon at all."

Two men caught hold of her arms and pulled her towards the sofa and the gyves. "You will know soon enough, my dear," one old man told her in a sad voice. "May your passing be mercifully swift."

"I don't hope the same for you, you lot of cowardly knaves," Aria retorted. "Begone from this place, and leave me to my fate." When her sisters would have gone to her, she waved them back, chains clanking. "No, my dears -- we have already said our farewells. Now you must go on with your lives, and care for our father." She sat on the couch and watched them leave the glade.

She sat there for two hours before she fell asleep.

She was roused by the sound of someone clearing his throat. "Excuse me, beautiful one," the deep male voice said, "am I late for the festivities?"

Aria uncurled herself and stretched, pulling the chains to their limit. This reminded her of exactly where she was, and she glanced around the glade. Most of it was taken up by an enormous dragon. She blinked. No one had mentioned how truly beautiful it was. True, the head was reptilian in nature and therefore not exactly aesthetically pleasing, but the scales resembled chips of emerald, that glinted with different colors as the sun hit them. Aria frowned. "Oh, there you are. I've been waiting for hours. If you want your dinner, you could at least have been on time for it." She yawned again. "I thought I heard someone speak."

"You did. Me." It was incongruous to hear the voice coming from the dragon, but Aria wasn't really surprised. After all, a dragon was a mythical creature and there was no telling what unusual talents he might have. "You don't seem terrified or even scared."

"Oh, well -- if you're going to eat me, what good does being terrified do me? Just get it over with quickly, would you? What shall I do with the Dragon's Eye?"

"Just slip it off and leave it next to the sofa. You're different than the rest. They screamed and leapt about, and tried to pull the chains out of the post, or the post out of the ground. It was all very silly, really."

"I suppose being eaten could do that to some girls," Aria remarked acidly.

"I don't eat people. Excuse me, while I change into something more comfortable."

To Aria's amazement, the dragon actually did begin to change -- into what, it was difficult at first to determine. But suddenly, a man was standing in front of her. A young, tall, very handsome man with black hair and green eyes. Black hair that glinted slightly green, gold and red when the sun hit it from different directions. He was clad in court dress -- black and green silk and velvet. He crossed to the sofa and grinned down at her. "There -- that's better. Much easier to have a conversation, don't you agree?"

"You're a shapechanger? And you don't eat people? Then what exactly is your lay, so to speak? What do you do with the girls the villagers have been sacrificing to you?"

"Take them to whatever court they desire and leave them there. They were all quite beautiful, even if they left a little to be desired in the brains department. You're the only one who wasn't afraid -- will you be my bride?"

"You mean all this is so you could find a bride? Surely there must be a more conventional way."

He shrugged. "We dragons have our traditions, too. It has always been done this way -- that's probably where we got the reputation for eating people. People taste rather ghastly, I've been told. Anyway, I've been looking for five years now -- you're the only one I've wanted for a bride."

"Well, I'm flattered, of course -- and there's no denying that as a man, and even as a dragon, you're a terrific specimen. But would I have to live in a cave?"

The dragon laughed, and there was nothing chilling about it. "You will like my palace, I assure you. My name is Andronicus; Andro for short. And you, my dearest one?"

Aria giggled. He had asked her to marry him without them knowing the other's name! "Aria. Would you mind undoing the restraints? We can go and meet my father and sisters."

"Later, my dear -- we'll invite them to the wedding. And the gyves will only open when you are no longer a virgin."

Aria frowned. "But...oh!" She flushed when she understood his meaning. "Then how...oh! You raped all those other girls?"

"Certainly not!" He was indignant. "I asked them if they would rather I de-virginized them or left them alone, so they could be picked up when the village people came for the Dragon's Eye. The mayor has the only key to the handcuffs."

"But none of the girls was ever found here...that's why everyone thinks you ate them. Oh, I see. Well, I don't think I'll marry you after all, not if you've been spending your time de-virginizing so many girls."

He moved closer to her. "Would you rather be the first, or the last?"

"You wouldn't do it any more?"

"Certainly not! To be honest, virgins are over-rated. But none of them wanted to remain here, where they'd have to marry some village lout, have a lot of children and lose their looks before the age of thirty. Since only the most beautiful girls were left for me...they all wanted to go to some nobleman's court and take their chances. I have very good connections. I'm actually Duke Andronicus, you see."

Aria was developing a headache. "No, I don't see...not really. But you're certainly the handsomest man I've ever seen. You don't like to beat women, do you?"

"Of course not! Where do you get these ideas?"

"My father is a travelling pedlar. Believe me, I've seen everything. But I haven't experienced it. What about these handcuffs?"

With a smile, Andronicus leaned over to kiss Aria.

***

Naturally, they lived happily ever after. Aria met her relatives on her husband's side, and discovered that they lived pretty much like most people, except that their castles and houses always had huge courtyards and they were always rich. Andronicus put this down to the draconian ability to attract wealth, and used her as an example. She thought about all the other girls he'd tried out before her, and kept a pretty close eye on him. He found husbands for all her sisters, and her father became an established feature at their courts, moving from one to another as the seasons changed. And the people of the village never learned the true nature of dragons, but felt relief about not losing any more maidens. If one of them made a trip into the city or to neighboring provinces and spotted a woman who closely resembled his second cousin or friend's daughter, well...it happened sometimes, that people looked alike.