A friend's limits
Chapter one
Asking of a favor
The year was 1541,
And that's when the world ended.
A seventeen year old girl walked out of one of the castles many doors and into the street. Her long bright red hair was straightened by the use of hot coals and metals and tied in a quick bun.
Jane was not wearing her usual yellow female soldier outfit, but a scarlet one. The top had a V like cut that ended above her bosoms, revealing her collar bone. The skirt was short but was held by a thick black leather belt. It was not made of armor but of the same material as her shirt. Underneath it were black tights and at her feet were her new black knee high boots.
Her mother had insisted on getting her new clothes on her sixteenth birthday and had continued ever since.
Jane wasn't bothered by her actions anymore.
She liked the change of clothes and how each had their own effect on her.
Her favorite was her green one. It was used for battle and the color made her seem fiercer. She had worn it in front of her mirror, but never in battle. The neighboring wars seemed to be at an end.
She walked out of the castle's entrance and headed down the dirt path towards the woods.
Some of the male villagers had taking a liking to Jane in the past year, now that her hips and breast had developed. Jane also began to wear some of the "make up" Princess Lavinia had given her, which made her look all the more beautiful.
The men weren't the only ones who began to notice.
Dragon had noticed these changes in his best friend and knew them all too well. He had lived three hundred years more than Jane and knew what men think and do when women become fully developed. The large reptile began to become much more overprotective when some villagers approached her. Jane on the other hand was oblivious.
Jane walked towards the mountains when a large gust of wind blew strands of hair from her bun and in her face. She looked above to see an old friend.
"Dragon!" Jane said merrily as he landed.
"Jane, you should know better than to walk about these woods alone."
Jane rolled her green eyes and smiled.
"Dragon, I've walked among these woods hundreds of times. There is nothing here that can hurt me."
'None that you know of Jane.' Dragon thought as she climbed onto his back.
"Come dragon. I'm in the mood for a flight." She said in her sweet voice. Dragon nodded and flapped his large wings, his feet no longer touching the ground. They soared above the tall pine trees and through the sky. The wind was whipping her face, but she relished the feeling. Dragon did a belly roll and a loop-de-loop, making Jane laugh.
After a half an hour of flying, Dragon landed near the castle's front gates.
Theodore came running to the newly titled knight, anxiety in his gray eyes.
"Jane, the King wishes to see you right away."
"On what subject?" She asked sliding off of Dragon's back.
"I'm not sure, but he asked to meet with all of the head knights. The king from the Western lands arrived late last night. We are about to have a conference on a subject I know not of, but I fear my assumption may be correct."
Jane looked at her old teacher and at Dragon.
"I'll be back." She whispered to him as she walked off with Theodore.
Dragon lowered his head.
He knew what the King of the western lands would say. He hand seen, heard and smelt all too much on his long and far recent flights.
Jane walked into the throne room.
On the center throne sat King Caradoc, his face still young. To his right side, his beautiful queen. On his other side, the preteen crowned prince. And beside the queen, their daughter. A man wearing dark blue outfit resembling her king's with a long black bear fur cloak around his shoulders stood before the steps to the throne. He turned to them, a golden crown with diamonds on his head.
Gunther and some other knights bowed as Jane and Theodore bowed with them slowly making there way aside them.
King Caradoc stood from his wooden throne, sadness in his eyes.
"My knights, King Denith from the Western lands has come to our castle with a proposition I wished to decide upon with your witnessing eyes." He said, sitting back down. The other king, who might be in his early thirties walked up a few steps.
"Knights, as you know the northern lands were in battle with the eastern. You may recall how King Cuthbert gained his title back in 1535 when he and other fellow knights rebelled against their former king William and took the crown into his own possession, his army growing from what was twenty knights to over two hundred. His greed made him want more power so he attacked the Northern lands, killing King Bradley but not his crowned daughter Ruth. The war lasted many years and ended in 1539 when the new Queen and the King both signed a treaty proclaiming that there could be no war between the two lands for the next fifty years. The loss of villagers and the cost of repairs would destroy both lands if the two rulers did not end the war.
"Two years have passed since that treaty and I'm afraid the worst of possibilities has happened. What was hatred and loathing became into an alliance. The northern and Eastern lands have made a new deal and chose to join armies and attack the Western lands, my land, and then probably end with here, the Southern lands. That is, if they defeat us both.
"My proposition is that to avoid the two allied lands to take over our lands, we do the same. Join our two armies into one. My lands carry about one hundred and twenty knights. Added to your one hundred it only puts us at half their army but I understand that you have a weapon that could make up for that missing two hundred knights…" King Denith paused, Jane's eyes wide with curiosity.
"What would that weapon be your highness?" Jane asked in a soft tone.
The neighboring King walked closer to her with a smile.
"A weapon that you own, my dear."
"Me?" Jane asked.
Gunther and the others looked at the king and female knight.
"Yes, rumor has it that you've become quite the companion of a certain large and strong reptile?" He said, Jane frowning at him.
"Dragon?"
"If that is what you call it. None of the other lands know of this creature living among the castle. If we could use it, we c-…"
"Use him!" Jane interrupted, making both kings stare at her unmannered gesture. The Western king frowned. "Yes, if we can use it, joined with you and your fellow knights, we could win and end this war."
"Dragon is not an it, he is a he and he's name is Dragon. Further more, he is not a weapon or an object that you can use to your own will. He is my friend and a very close one and I will not allow him to be titled as an object!" Jane spat, her king rising.
"Jane, restrain your tongue from any more outbursts."
Jane opened her mouth but Theodore lightly elbowed her in the stomach to not respond.
Jane closed her mouth as King Caradoc began to speak.
"My knights, I have decided that I will join our army with King Denith's in order to protect our lands and our neighbor's. Jane, I ask you to think about trying to convince dragon to help out our situation. Some of the outer villages in the west lands have already been destroyed by the enormous army. I cannot allow my castle be overtaken by King Cuthbert."
Jane made a small nod before bowing and leaving the room, Theodore doing the same. The aging knight caught up to Jane and sighed. "I understand that you do not want King Denith to use Dragon for his own pleasures, but you must open your eyes to the fact that we do need his help."
"But Theodore, our army is probably stronger and more agile than two-thirds of Cuthbert's army. We don't…I don't want to guilt Dragon with my friendship into this position…we can beat them without him."
Theodore smiled.
"You're sword fighting skills have improved greatly. You and Gunther are the best knights we have. Your hand-on skills are phenomenal and your archery is impossible to compare, but Jane, they have over four hundred knights in that army. Even if we had fifty knights like you or Gunther, we would still lose."
Jane clenched her fists.
"Theodore, he is my best friend. If he were to die in battle, I could not live with myself…" She finished, turning her back to him, closing her eyes.
Theodore began to walk away from the young adult when he stopped and turned towards her.
"And what if you were the one to die in the battle and Dragon was not there to protect you… do you think he could live with himself?" He whispered but loud enough for her to hear. Her green eyes opened as she looked at the exiting knight.
Her heart sank when she realized he was right. Dragon would come not matter what she said or did. His stubbornness made her smile.
'Has it been four years already?' Jane thought as she walked towards the main gates to meet with Dragon. She saw him lying curled up in a ball, his eyes closed. His head shot up when he caught scent of her and looked at her, his face expressionless.
Jan stroked his scaly back that was surprisingly smooth and soft.
Dragon closed his eyes. When Jane would stroke his back silently, he knew something was wrong. "Do you want to talk about it?" He asked as she lowered her head, sighing. "Take me on a flight, Dragon. Take me to the mountains." She said, her voice pleading.
Dragon nodded as he felt her limp body climb on.
He flew high up in the sky but avoided any tricks, fearing her distracted mind would forget to hang on.
He brought her to his cave. She slid off and walked in his large home. She sat on a rock and held her face in her hands, elbows on her knees. Dragon walked in, lying in front of her. "Jane, what is it?"