This will be a novelization of the Russian movie about a woman kidnapped by a dragon on her wedding day. The film is described as a romantic fantasy adventure film. If you wish to see the movie, I suggest you watch it in the original language with s...
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This is the ritual song in its original language.
Where the light burns the heart...
Where my secret lies hidden...
Where shadows seek after people...
That is where my story begins.
In the land, people knew no happiness. They had tears where their eyes should have been. They had fear where their hearts should have been. They had death where the sky should have been. And they gave to the sky what was most precious to them: their daughters.
Every decade, four young women who had reached puberty were chosen as offerings. The maidens were dressed in white to signify their purity. The vedmas, dressed in black, cried as they prepared for the ritual. They fed the maidens a bloodberry nectar and embellished them with red necklaces as a symbol of their sacrifice. They smeared ashes on the maidens faces and patted them with snow to mark them. For the dragon.
The vedmas started chanting.
Before,
there was no time, no earth, no dust, nothing.
All was forgotten.
What was falsity became verity.
The river froze into nothingness.
The whimpering maidens walked barefoot on ice with carefully laid bloodberries showing them the way to the dugout canoes, and they laid on it as the townsfolk showered them with treasures... for the dragon. Then they released the canoes on the water and waited for the dragon to come and choose which maiden will be taken away and which ones will be spared. The townsfolk joined them in the ritual song.
Time is a fast-flowing river.
It spares no one.
The bride awaits her bridegroom
as she awaits her destiny.
A young knight watched as his love was sent to the water. He was held by four men so he couldn't interfered with the rite.
She is clad in white,
as if dressed in a shroud.
Eternal peace will come for her...
The wedding bell tolls.
He tried to rescue her, he wanted to save her from this barbaric ritual, but all he could do now was watch and pray for another maiden to be taken instead.
Take her away!
Take her away!
Come!
Come for her!
The young maiden
is yours for eternity.
When they finished the song, the town fell silent and only the wind could be heard. Flapping sounds came from afar and felt stronger and nearer with every second it passed. A roar came from above and the dragon appeared. Its huge wings brought forth a snowstorm pushing down everything and everyone in its wake. The black dragon encircled the maidens as if deciding which one to chose, then, planed down toward the water below and not even the roaring wind could dampen the maidens screams.
The dragon chose his maiden and a knight lost his love. All his dreams of a future life with his maiden came to a halt right there and then. The knight lost his balance as the dragon took her away. But his love was stronger than his fear. His people didn't let him shield his love from the dragon, but the brave knight vowed to find and rescue his lover. He traveled for a very long time across land and water. When he finally found the dragon's lair, it was too late. His beloved had perished. Fueled by revenge, the knight then lunged at the monster. His grief and his fury merged into one mighty blow, killing the dragon.
The knight freed his people from fear, and they called him the dragonslayer.
Years passed, all past woes were forgotten, and the dreadful dragon ritual was transformed into a wedding rite.
Then, the day came for the dragonslayer's grandson Igor to marry the Duke's youngest daughter, Miroslava.
