Look at me! I made it before midnight on the 28th! Just in time for the February @mlwritersguild event!! This is a gift fic for @eat0crow I hope you enjoy it!!!
Marinette hated armor. It was heavy and noisy and not good for sneaking around. She’d been a knight of the realm now for nearly a quarter of her twenty-four years, and in training for ten years prior to that. Female knights were rare, and those of her size even rarer, but Marinette got by on her brains rather than brute strength, and that frequently required being sneaky, which she could not do while wearing plate armor. And since she was now tasked with ridding the kingdom of a weyr of dragons, sneaky was more important than “well-protected”. She’d cook just as quickly with the armor as without it if the dragon decided it was going to breathe fire on her. Wearing the armor was simpler than arguing, however, and Marinette rode away from the village, fully encased until the road curved into the forest and she was hidden from sight.
As soon as she was out of sight, she dismounted and shimmied out of her armor. Not wanting to even bother carrying it, she hid it in the woods, a fair way off the beaten path, rubbing it with dirt and covering it with leaves and branches, so that it didn’t glint in the sun. She kept the chainmail on over the padded jerkin, planning to ditch it once she got closer. The chainmail she was attached to, and would leave it with her horse, Tikki, as she entered into the final leg of the journey, but until then, she’d keep it on until she had to actually climb the mountain. It was two days ride through the forest, and the first day and a half passed without incident.
Swinging back into the saddle, Marinette checked her unslung bow and quiver of arrows to make sure that they were still in place. As a knight, she was expected to use a sword, but Marinette had always preferred the power and reach of the other weapon, so had kept up her training in both. She sighed as she settled back onto the roan mare, clicking her tongue to get Tikki to trot forward once again.
Humming to herself, Marinette appeared completely at ease as she traveled, when in reality, she was hyperfocused on all that was going on around her. Her eyes darted around, peeking out from under lowered lashes, smiling up whenever sunlight dappled her face. The sun was just starting to sink past the horizon when Marinette stopped to make camp for the night, close to the far edge of the forest.
Electing not to build a fire, Marinette pulled some rations from her saddlebags and picketed Tikki in a clearing where there was plenty for her to eat. The chainmail came off, as well, and Marinette wrapped herself into a warm blanket and lay back to sleep. Dreams swirled through her head that night; dreams of dragons and of the Crown Prince Luka, who had been killed by dragons over 20 years ago. Marinette had been three at the time and did not remember the incident, but she remembered the fear and the mourning, although the story had been told to her many times during training.
Prince Luka had only been a few years older than Marinette, a quiet five-year-old with kind blue eyes. She’d seen him once, and those eyes had stayed with her through the years. He’d slipped away from his tutors that afternoon, tired of reading and numbers, and ready to run and play, but being a responsible child, even at five, had chosen to make the rounds with the gamekeeper. Old Henri had let Luka walk a snare line by himself, checking three traps for rabbits, while he’d gone on the bigger circuit.
Henri had taken off at a run when he’d heard Luka’s screams, but he’d been at the far point of the circuit and when he’d arrived, bursting out of the undergrowth where the young prince had been, there was nothing but a few scorch marks, a lot of blood, Luka’s silver bracelet he never took off, and a lone tree on fire. Henry had screamed for help, and, as they’d heard the scuffle, people had started arriving in the clearing less than a minute after Henri. They’d quickly doused the flames and searched for Prince Luka, but he was gone. A few years later, half a mile away, they’d found the bones of a small child, and the crown prince’s remains had been laid to rest. It was then, at the funeral, as tears coursed down the face of the fiery queen and ever jovial king that Marinette resolved to become a night, and to kill all the dragons in the land, and to keep the people from being sad.
Over the years, Marinette’s reasons for becoming a knight had changed, but her ambition had never wavered. She wanted to protect Princess Juleka, whom she’d become friends with during her time training at the palace, but when the chance to hunt down the dragon that had been circling over the forest came up, Marinette had not hesitated; she’d been the first to volunteer, and offered the best plan for actually capturing the dragon, she planned to go alone, and she was given two weeks. If she had not returned home in that time, she would be presumed dead and have another knight (or group of knights) sent in her place.
Marinette knew that she would not fail. As she lay on her back, peering up at the stars that still peaked through the trees, even as the glow of the sun could be seen upon the horizon, Marinette steeled herself for the day to come. Throwing off her blankets, she packed it and her chainmail on Tikki, unpicketing the mare, knowing that she would stay close, at least until the food in the clearing ran out, and she wandered away, foraging for more. With one last stroke of the horse’s shaggy head, Marinette slipped a padded leather jerkin over her simple green cotton tunic and leggings.
Tying a belt around her waist, she fastened her bow and quiver at her left hip and her seax knife at her right, while her sword nestled snuggly in its scabbard on her back. Setting off up the path that wound out of the forest and to the cliffs where the dragon had been spotted landing. She’d rubbed dirt into her naturally pale skin, but her dark hair and clothing helped her blend into her surroundings. She flitted from one hiding spot to another, making sure she stayed downwind, even though she’d covered herself with the scent of horse, just to be sure. She was about ten meters below a large cave in the cliff, when a roar split the air; an angry sound that made the scrubby trees around her vibrate, but not as loud as she had expected. It was followed by another roar, obviously from a different dragon, and this one was louder, loosening a few rocks around her feet, and sending them bouncing back down the path.
A small jet of flames shot out of the cave, and Marinette dropped to her belly, covering the next couple of meters at a painstakingly slow crawl. She froze when she heard a voice, one that could only have belonged to a human male, deep and soothing, speaking as if to calm frayed nerves, although the words themselves were indistinct. Tilting her head to locate the source of the voice, she gasped when she realized the voice was coming from inside the cave. One of the dragons grumbled, and Marinette had a wave of fear for the man, but his voice was calm and unhurried, and eventually he broke into a song.
The man’s voice was deep and rich, and even Marinette found herself relaxing as she heard it. As the song continued, it became clearer, and Marinette caught a glimpse of the man at the edge of the cave. He had jet black hair and a sharp blade of a nose. He wore richly woven clothes, well made, but many years out of date, and they appeared to be in tatters, and even singed in some places. His beard was as dark as his hair and thick on his face, hiding the shape of his jawline as well as his mouth. She must have made a sound, for he turned to look at her, and Marinette’s mouth dropped open.
She would know those eyes anywhere. Marinette was certain that she was staring into the face of Crown Prince Luka, the same one who had died two decades ago. His name slipped from between her lips, barely more than a whisper, but even with all the distance between them he must have heard, because his eyes grew huge and round.
“How…” He broke off, his brows furrowed in confusion. “How did you know my name?”
Her voice was steadier now, but still barely above a whisper as she answered him. “I saw you. When we were just children.” She pushed herself up, and stood before him, taking a tentative step towards him, hands out to the side, away from her weapons. “Why are you here?”
Luka leaned down, reaching for Marinette’s arm, clasping it, and easily hauling her the last few feet up the cliff face to sit on the ledge with him. When Marinette was settled, he leaned back against the rocks behind him, one leg bent, arms loosely clasped around them, his chin resting on his knee. He looked past her, over towards the treetops of the forest, as if he could see to the village beyond. He looked back at her, his brow furrowing once again. “You make me think of cakes. And that’s a food I haven’t thought of in many years. They’re hard to come by out here.” He gave a self-deprecating little laugh and shrugged a single shoulder.
Marinette beamed at him. “My parents ran a bakery. You and your tutor stopped by to pick up a birthday cake for your sister.” She paused and her smile softened. “I’m Marinette.”
“Luka.” The man in front of her smiled, ruefully. “But you already knew that. Why have you come? I haven’t seen another human in years.”
This time it was Marinette’s brow that furrowed. “I heard there were dragons out here, and I came to rid the kingdom of the menace. Your parents haven’t been tolerant of dragons, since… well, since you disappeared.”
Luka looked genuinely shocked. “But the dragon saved me from the wolves!”
“What wolves?” Marinette asked, confused.
I’d been checking the snares with Henri. The last one had a rabbit in it, but there was a wolf approaching it. I yelled at it, and swung at it with a stick, just like I’d been taught.” Luka’s chest swelled with childish pride. “But then four others slunk out of the trees. One of them lunged and grabbed me by the leg. It was the scariest thing ever, but then Sass flew down and saved me! He ate the wolves, too, but he accidentally burned some trees when he sneezed.”
Marinette listened with a growing sense of disbelief. “Sass? Who’s that?”
“Sass is…” Luka’s face fell. “Sass was the dragon who saved me.” He fixed my leg up, even though I don’t walk so good now.” He indicated a crutch that was just inside the entrance to the cave. “Lady Rose made that for me. She’s a fae healer who lives in the forest, although I’m not sure where. She stops by every time the moon is bright and full. She brought me books and taught me to read. She’s taught me all about plants and animals, too. She’s helped me take care of Sass’s horde, but it’s kinda hard without him.”
She cocked her head to one side. “A dragon horde? You look after it?” At the man’s nod, she asked, “could you show me?”
Luka nodded eagerly. “You’ll have to be quiet though.”
Puzzled, Marinette agreed.
Soon they were standing at the entrance to a chamber just off the main cave. Marinette tried counting all the bodies in the pile. “That’s… not exactly what I was expecting,” she admitted with a grin. “It’s awfully cute, though.”
Luka’s grin matched hers, his voice also a whisper, so as not to wake the pile sleeping baby dragons. “I know. It’s Sass’s dragon horde. The eldest is about twelve, and the youngest is two. He started with one but just kept collecting strays. Now it’s my turn, I guess.” He shrugged his one-shouldered shrug, leaning his weight on the crutch.
Marinette grinned up at him. “So… how can I help?”
The smile that broke across Luka’s face rivaled the warmth of the sun. “Make me a cake?”
Laughing, Marinette offered to take him back home, promising to do what she could for the dragon pups, already making plans to appeal to the King and Queen to create a dragon sanctuary on their lands.
With a grin, Luka agreed, and while Marinette promised him that her parents would bake him as many cakes as he liked.
