When Dragons Rise

The Dire Forest is cursed, or so they say. I never found out who they were, just voices to be heard among the people. My sisters often brought me stories that are more fiction than fact, twisting tales into horror stories to make the youngest of them too scared to sleep alone at night.

When you see them for the first time, it’s almost impossible not to believe the stories. The trees are dark, monstrous things, far taller and thicker than any others on the entire continent. Their branches block any sunlight, making it look almost midnight within their reach.

They are at my back now as I stand on the raised platform. The church bells ring somewhere to my right, but all I can see is the dark wood of the coffin being carried by the carriage. Her old, frail fiancee was paraded through his kingdom, a procession of his followers taking up the streets. Now, they wait outside the doors of the church.

“Madam,” my handmaiden, Potts, says from behind me. “It is time.”

I nod, letting out a breath as I turn back toward the door leading back inside the massive congregation inside. She hooks my arm, leading me down the stairs and toward the main hall where the pipe organ has already started to play.

We enter the room quietly, hunching over just a bit before I take my place beside the queen of my homeland, my sister. She glances over at me with a frown just as the doors open. She stands and I follow, letting out a sigh of relief.

She won’t have time to scold me now.

I fiddle with the sleeves of the heavy black dress that weighs me down, cranning my head to see the lineup of men carrying the coffin. They are to bring him downstairs where he will be sealed away with all of the other royal kings of their kingdom.

A part of me tells me I should be a better actress. I should be crying; I should be devastated. This was my husband to be, but I feel nothing for the old man in the coffin. All I feel is a new weight on my shoulders of what his death means for me.

A princess of a dying kingdom with no man to connect herself to. Surely, my sister will find someone to marry me off to. Sure, I’m eighteen anymore, but, at twenty-one, I can’t be out of options, can I?

“It will be okay,” my sister whispers, wrapping an arm around me. I realize then that I am actually crying, though more out of fear than anything else. I force myself not to wipe the tears away, hoping that it might give me some time if I actually play the part of a mourning woman.

What follows I can’t remember. People go up in front of the coffin, and their mouths move, but their sound never makes it to my ears. The organ plays again, and I turn toward Potts, who nods her head, offering me her arm. I hook mine through it, letting her lead me through one of the side doors. No one stops us, some even giving a few knowing nods.

We stumble outside, and I tear my arm from her grasp. My feet are moving before I can think to stop them. Potts keeps up with me easily, staying a solid four feet behind me. I make it to the wall that surrounds the castle town, my palm moving against it as I follow it.

It’s too much, all of it. Everywhere I look is a flag of remembrance for the old man I was promised to before I was even born, my safety net. Every villager I pass by is dressed in black, bowing their heads to me as I hurry by.

I have to get out of here.

I make it to the gate, the two guards watching curiously as I stumble past them. I hear Potts tell them something, but I don’t pause to hear what.

I stumble out onto the road, walking down the side and into the grass. I fall to my knees, falling forward and burying my hands in the green. Potts doesn’t follow, instead staying on the road.

“What will happen to me now?” I ask her, closing my eyes. My father had promised me to him because he had no need for me. No need to produce heirs, to rule, to do much of anything. He was a widower that already had five grown sons, who he had already passed leadership onto. He was a safety net, keeping me away from whoever the Emperor wanted to send me off to.

Potts has no answer for me.

I let out a shudder, forcing myself to lean back on my heels. Looking up, the dark trees take up all of my view. The few trees standing outside their expanse are splattered with the colors of autumn with brilliant reds, oranges, and yellows, a sharp contrast to the ones now towering over me that seem to stay a deep, almost suffocating green all year long.

“Princess?” Potts’s voice sounds from behind me. Turning back, I sigh when I see my sister standing beside her, tall and proud. With a huff, I force myself to my feet, stepping up the incline. Potts’s hand stretches out immediately, helping me back onto the road.

“The Emperor is on his way,” The Queen says, her eyes hard. This isn’t my sister, not right now.

“Already?” I scoff out. “He isn’t even in the ground yet.”

“We will not sit here and pretend you’re mourning him,” she says, folding her arms. “We were alerted he was on his way before we left the castle. We already have garments waiting for you.”

“Before we left?” I fold my own arms, though I’m far less intimidating. “You knew this the whole time, and you didn’t think to tell me?”

“What would you have me do, sister?” The queen’s voice drops, and I can see the fear in her eyes. “Tell you and have that be what’s on your mind? I couldn’t bear it. I wanted to see you as you’re…”

My sister’s bottom lip quivers as she looks down. I sigh, stepping forward and wrapping my arms around her. She lets out a surprised laugh before wrapping her own arms around me. I tell her, “next time, tell me.”

“I will,” she nods, pulling away. She gestures back to the church, “let’s get you ready.”

I’m led into the back room of the church where there is already a bath waiting. My sister nods her head and leaves me be, Potts stepping forward to fetch the soaps. I step up to the bath, waiting for her to undo my corset. I close my eyes, forcing my breathing to calm down. Potts pats my shoulder affectionally before she starts to undo the corset. I finish getting undressed and climb into the water. I sink in, closing my eyes as a sigh leaves my lips.

Is this it? Is this the last time I'll be with my family? My home?