Dragon Heart

Chapter 3

"There is nothing I can do to bring back your friend." Prince Putrid of the Eastern Nation said as the princess curled into a ball on the soft dewy grass. "But I can give him a proper burial."

The prince started gathering sticks. The princess should have paid attention to what the prince was doing but she was trapped in her own loss and pain. Her chest hurt and she couldn't catch her breath. Her face was dirty and streaked with tears. There were more to come.

"Do you want to say a few words?" Nicholas said squatting on the ground where the princess eventually cried herself to sleep. He had built a pyre around the dragon while she slept.

Olympia stood and made her way towards the dragon. "I wish that I could have broken your curse." She cried. "I loved you enough to give you my heart." She burst into tears again. Giving her heart was not enough. She had to win the dragon's heart too. Maybe if she wasn't such a brat the first few months, they could have fallen in love sooner and the dragon would have turned into the man he was before the witch's curse. "All I can give you now is vengeance. I swear I will make those who hurt you suffer." She said the last part looking at Prince Nicholas.

The prince lit the dragon on fire and Olympia watched as her love went up in flames.

"Don't worry about your honor princess. We'll be married within a fortnight." The prince said after a while breaking the silence as they sat on the grass and watched the fire burn low over the dragon.

"I'd rather marry a troll!" Olympia said through gritted teeth.

"Well you aren't a prize yourself." Nicholas said. "Crying over a beast."

"That beast was my friend, Prince Putrid and you're going to die by my hand for what you did." She said yanking some grass from the ground.

"I don't want to marry you either. But if we don't it will start a war between our nations and if you kill me it will start a war between our nations. Surely princess, you don't want that."

"Oh, now you try to consult me on what I want and don't want?" The princess said. "It would have been nice if you tried that before you murdered the only man I loved!"

Prince Nicholas stood and walked over to the smoldering debris. He wrapped his arm in his cloak and reached into the pile of ashes, pulling out a crystal heart. "Does this look like the heart of a man to you?" He said forcefully.

The crystal reflected the moon light and shined vibrantly over the grass. Olympia could just make out the reflection of three diamond triangles. "His heart is more beautiful than any man's heart that I have ever met." The princess said.

Prince Nicholas grabbed his knapsack and thrust the crystal inside. He brought out a small piece of rope. "I'm tired and I need to get some sleep." He said. "Unfortunately, I can't trust you not to kill me in my sleep, Princess." He grabbed her hands and yanked her towards an oak tree.

"My apologies." He said pulling Olympia's arms behind her hard. "This is not how I intended to spend the evening."

Olympia spit in Nicholas's face. This was not how she intended to spend the evening either. She thought that she would spend it reading to the dragon not mourning his death and being tied to a tree by his murderer.

A flash of white lit Nicholas's eyes and he breathed hard. He wiped spittle from his face but turned away from Olympia. Instead he staggered a few feet and fell to the ground where he began snoring less than a minute later.

Olympia fought with her ropes. How dare he just fall asleep with a clear conscious. She seethed, finally getting out of the ropes. He hadn't tied them well, too distracted by a little spit in the face she supposed.

Quietly, Princess Olympia crawled over to Nicholas's sword. She fingered the grip. She preferred to look the bastard in the eye when she killed him but he had proved that she was no match for him, so she would settle for killing him in his sleep. She didn't care about the war, Prince Nicholas foretold of, if she sought revenge. She didn't care if everyone in the four nations died because of her revenge. She couldn't give him her heart so she would give her dragon vengeance instead.

Olympia...

She heard a whisper.

Olympia...

She heard it again coming from the knapsack. Olympia crawled to the bag and opened it. The crystal heart glowed red inside.

My love, you must go to the middle kingdom. Leave now. The heart whispered before once again turning clear.

Olympia put the heart into the pocket of her apron and did as it requested. She flew with the dragon to the middle kingdom enough to be able to pick her way there but it would be an arduous journey. She stepped over the sleeping prince on her way. She would have to wait for her revenge.