Disclaimer: I own nothing, except for Emer and the plot. Everything else is owned by Universal Studios, ILM, and anyone else who I don't know about.
And now, the story.
DragonHeart - A Love Story
"What is it, milady? Why you look so sad?" A pair of teary sapphire eyes looked at the chambermaid with sadness. "Have you ever fallen in love with someone you could never have?" "Yes, indeed I have milady", responded the maid. The princess looked at her chambermaid in astonishment. She knew that her maid was no ordinary girl, this girl was of noble blood and had been bred as one. 'This might be the reason why she poses as a maid now' the princess thought. "Do you mind if you tell me about him?" she asked, knowing that even in the year she has served as her maid, they developed a bond so strong that they treated each other as sisters, instead of mistress and servant.
The chambermaid looked to see if there were any other servants around, because she knew that she would be severely punished if she was caught talking to the princess as an equal. The princess noted this and whispered "Maybe we should have this conversation in my chambers." The maid gratefully nodded, and the princess said aloud, "Come, Emer, I need your help with a new dress I want to wear today." "Yes, Lady Katherine" was Emer's response, a smile on her lips.
Once they made their way to the princess bedchambers, Katherine locked the doors, making sure that no one would interrupt their conversation, and said "One of this days we are going to be in so much trouble", making both of them giggle. "Now that we are alone, tell me the whole story" said Katherine, sitting on the bed, and making a motion to her friend to sit down next to her. "Where should I start?" asked Emer. Curiosity took over Katherine, "Start from the beginning. How did you meet?"
"My father was a very powerful lord. Because of this, he had a lot of enemies. One day, our land was invaded, and my father sent me away to my uncle's kingdom, were he knew I would be safe, while he fought to keep his lands. He knew that if his enemies got hold of me, anyone of them could marry me and take over my father's lands. I went to my uncle's kingdom, but in my way there I could feel that something was wrong. That's when I made my chambermaid switch places with me. I told her that if anything comes to worse, she would be married to a nobleman, and have maids of her own. This convinced her, and for the last half of our trip, I was posing as a servant, and my maid was posing as myself. Since my uncle hasn't seen me since I was one year old, it was not difficult to pull it off." "So you've been a troublemaker for a long time, have you?" Emer threw a pillow at Katherine while saying "You want me to tell you or not?" "You win, I'll be quiet, please continue" begged Katherine.
"When we arrived to my uncle's castle, we were received by my uncle's Chief Advisor, Lord Osric. We were told that my uncle had been acting strange for a while. To make the story short, Lord Osric turned out to be a dragon in human guise, who wanted to take over the human race, but another dragon defeated him. After this happened, my uncle came back to normal, looked like he had been drugged to do whatever Lord Osric wanted. I decided to remain anonymous, I had more freedom being a maid than a lady. I was assigned to tend the quarters of a warrior that had served under the dragon wars, as it was later called. You can tell when a bachelor lives by himself. The first time I went to clean, the place was a mess. I spent the whole day tiding up the place, and was finishing dusting the library, when I noticed that the lord had a poetry book open, and had some notes analyzing some of the poems in the opened pages. I disagreed with some of the analysis, so I let him know by leaving a note in a clean piece of parchment.
Since I was always told to only clean when he was outside his quarters, I was very surprised when I found a note for me. He wanted to further discuss my point of view, and left me parchment and quill to write him back. This became frequent, discussing not only about poetry, but it evolved to painting, literature, and music. This went on for three months, and it was fun, having someone to share ideas with. One day, I came late to clean up, because I was detained with some other chores, when I reached the parchment that was waiting for me in the library. I read his note, and was in the middle of writing back an answer, when I heard a deep voice behind me "You are more beautiful than I imagined."
Needless to say, I was scared to death of that voice behind me. I turned around, and I saw the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen. I looked straight through them, and I saw, wisdom, courage, and loneliness. After staring at him for what seemed ages, I found my voice and said "You scared me, milord. If I'm bothering you, I will return later." I turned to leave, when I heard him say "Please don't go. Is not every day that I'm gifted with such a beautiful visitor." I turned around to see him leaning towards the desk, and he looked at me and said "I see you read the note I left for you. I thought it would be more interesting if our discussions could be done in person, than on paper." I smiled and said "I would like that, milord, but I need to finish my chores first." He gave me a questioning look, and I said "Haven't you realized that I'm just your maid? Cleaning your quarters is just part of my daily duties."
He looked at me through half-closed, scrutinizing eyes, and said "But clearly you are not a maid. Your notes and thoughts clearly define you as a lady. Also, for what I've seen, your posture and demeanor betray you as well. Who are you, really?" I tore my gaze away from his, and biting my lip, and with true sadness, I said "I cannot tell you, milord. That is for me to know, and for you to wonder. If you excuse me, I have to go." I turned again, and when I was close to the doorway, he called back "Would you please forgive me? I have not talked to anyone in such an intellectual level in a long time, will you come tonight?" I looked at him, guilt and loneliness written all over his face, and I felt a pang of pain in my heart. The only thing that occurred to me was "Would you like me to bring you dinner tonight, milord?" He looked at me in acknowledgement, and nodded "I would like that very much. I will see you tonight, then?" I nodded, and left, a smile in my lips.
Nighttime came, and I was taking the dinner to his chambers, when I was stopped. "Where do you think you are going?" I was asked by one of the castle's guards. I looked at him coldly, responded with an icy tone, "I am taking dinner to Lord Drake, per his orders. I do not think you want him mad because he is hungry, would you?" The guard's face paled and let me pass, without a problem. Once I got into his quarters, I rapped on the door to announce my presence. I heard his deep voice from the inside "Come in." I opened the door and peeked inside nervously, seeing his face smiling at me, and I smiled back, knowing my face was blushing furiously.
As I was setting the dining table, he said to me, "Could you please put 2 places on the table? I'm expecting company for dinner." As soon as I heard this, my heart sank with sadness. My mind was rambling with millions of thoughts as I realized that I was actually sad that I could not spend time with him, 'Why do I feel this way? I've only known him for a day. That's not true, I've known him for 3 months, and fell in love with him without even knowing what he looks like.' I must say, that I was very startled by this revelation. Me in love with him? Impossible. He would never fall in love with someone like me. This and other millions of thoughts crossed my mind while I finished setting the table. Once I finished, I said "The table is ready milord, I will leave now." I tried to leave so he would not see the tears that I was fighting to keep inside my eyes, when he said "Aren't you going to keep me company for dinner?"
I was most surprised by his question. My mind was numb, and the only thing I could ramble was "But I thought that you were expecting company." He gave a small chuckle, and said "My dear, of course I was talking about you. I promised that we would talk tonight, and I never break a promise." He then greeted me with a great smile, making me smile as well. During dinner we talked about everything, his childhood, my childhood, but never revealing who I was. After dinner, we stepped to the music room, where he sang for me. He has a very melodious, captivating voice. After that, we sat in front of the fireplace, and read poetry. That was the same pattern for the next two months, and I was looking forward to see him every night.
Then one day, it happened. He went with a group of soldiers to aid a neighboring kingdom, and when he came back, he was deathly ill. He had been hurt I one of his sides, and had lost considerable amounts of blood. As soon as I knew they arrived to the kingdom, I hurried to his side, my face full with tears, but no one would let me go through. His best friend Lord Geoff, saw me, and asked me my name. I told him, and he motioned me to come. "He's been asking for you" said Lord Geoff. I hurriedly went to his side, he looked deathly pale, but opened his eyes, and smiled, saying very weakly, "You came." I just ran to his side crying, stroking his cheeks, wiping the tears that were falling in his face. He then looked to his friend, and asked "Geoff, could you please leave us alone?" Lord Geoff frowned for a moment, nodded, and left the room.
Once we were alone the first words out of his mouth were "Before I leave, I wanted to let you know that I love you. I don't know how this happened, but I do. With all my heart." As soon as I heard his words, I know he was preparing himself to die, and between sobs I said "You cannot die. Please don't leave me. I love you. I can't leave without you." I started crying next to his bed, and I felt him stroking my hair, and kissing my head. I looked up, and saw his beautiful eyes, and his beautiful smile, while he said "You have saved me, my love. Now I have a reason to live for." As soon as he said that, he fell asleep, but his color started returning to normal, and a smile was crossing his lips. As soon as he fell asleep, I called Lord Geoff and gave him the good news.
The news of Lord Drake's miraculous recovery spread through the whole kingdom. Lord Drake was still in a sleeping spell when some men from the village took me away, saying that I was a witch, and they did not want any witches in the kingdom. That's how I got sold to a servant trader, and from the servant trader came to your service. You know the rest of my story from that moment on."
Katherine was amazed at the story told by her friend, and said "Why you didn't told me that before? He is probably looking for you right now." Emer smiled sadly, and said, "You don't understand. Even if we love each other, our love was never meant to be. If you knew him, you would know why."
The princess was going to respond to her friend's comments when they heard a commotion outside the bedchambers. Emer opened the door, and asked to one of the servants that was running in the hallway "What is all the commotion about?" "A dragon! A dragon is flying outside the castle!" at the sound of this news, Princess Katherine hurried to the throne room, to be at her father's side. As soon as she arrived, a soldier came to the throne room, and after bowing, announced, "The lord riding the dragon requests an audience with His Majesty." Katherine went ahead, and said, "Please tell them that we would like to speak to both of them." The soldier bowed again and left.
Emer was looking at the scene in the throne room, hiding behind one of the enormous columns at the far left side. Katherine looked at the room to see if her friend was in the usual hiding spot, and smiled inwardly when she saw her, fretting nervously. The king turned to his daughter and said, "You wanted an audience with this visitors, you get to ask the questions. It will serve as practice for you when you become queen." Katherine only nodded as a response. At that moment, a very handsome man approached them. He had blonde hair, and built muscles, he was used to fighting, probably a knight. The dragon, on the other hand, was magnificent. He had the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen, and his color was something between green and gold.
Both knight and dragon bowed reverently to the king and princess, and she asked "Please rise. What is the reason of your visit, noble knight?" The man answered, "We are looking for a young woman, who was abducted from our kingdom. Have you had any newcomers to your kingdom form the past year? It is very important for us to find her." "Why is so important about this woman that you need to find her?" asked the princess, with curiosity. The knight looked at the dragon, as if asking for permission, and when the dragon nodded, the knight looked back at her and answered, "The reason is very simple, Your majesty. Love."
At that point Princess Katherine had a very smug smile on her face and said, "So you must be the famous Lord Drake that I have heard so much about." The knight's face paled and he said "I am not Lord Drake. I am Lord Geoff." At that moment, Katherine's expression went form smugness to worry, and asked "Then, who is Lord Drake?" At that moment the dragon advanced and said "I am Lord Drake, Your Majesty." The look on Katherine's face was of astonishment, while thinking 'The dragon can talk. That is what she meant, I'll know if I meet him.'
Pulling herself together, she said out loud "Emer, you can come out of our hiding place. From this moment I set you free to follow your heart. Everyone should be as lucky to be loved as he loves you, my dear." Emer came out of her hiding place and ran to Drake, putting her arms around his neck, she said "My love, will you ever forgive me? I asked you not to leave me, and I was the one who left you." He caressed her hair gently, and placed a kiss on her head. He said "There is nothing to forgive, it was not your fault. We are together now, and that is what is important."
Someone else was looking in the shadows. His thoughts while looking at the happy couple were 'So the Lady Emer found the last of the dragons, as it was predicted when she was a child.' That means that if the legend is true, there is another dragon in disguise, and it will be his job to bring the true dragon out of its shell….
TO BE CONTINUED……
A/N: Here is where I need your reviews people. They will help me determine if I should continue this story or not. I still can't believe I did this in 3 hours. Please review, and let me know if I should continue or not. Thanks!!!!! =-)