Three things Theo hated in this world.

1.) A strategy gone wrong

2.) Being made a fool of

3.) Losing

Princess Marinette and her dragon had successfully done all three. And Theo swore he would not allow her to do it again.

After Theo had returned to his kingdom, with the wedding in limbo due to her disappearance, his father had given him up until the harvest to bring back Princess Marinette and marry her, with half of their army at Prince Theo's disposal. But that time came and went, with no sign of the princess.

The wedding was called off, the two kingdoms agreeing to remain at peace for the time being and Theo's forces dwindled down to half a dozen men.

Theo did not handle this information well.

He was a prince, and a prince always got what he wanted. That summer he would have wanted Princess Marinette. She was beautiful and a good listener.

But now he wanted justice to her and her dragon.

While searching after harvest, he and his men journeyed up the mountains and found a winter wyvern, the beasts closely related to dragons but able to withstand freezing cold temperatures, unlike their cousins. He brought the purplish wyvern back to the castle, torturing the beast to discover where the princess and the dragon may have gone.

As winter began the wyvern, gave Theo the location of a winter hideaway for dragons, wyverns of his kind hiding in the valley's snowy mountains.

With an ever dark intent in his heart, Theo made preparations, having a cloak made from the wyvern's greyish-purple scales that had fallen during its torture. He had restraints made for the wyvern in order to ride the beast. He searched the archives, learning of a sword capable of killing a dragon, ordering the royal blacksmith to make one.

Mid winter he was ready to take down a dragon.

With minimal words to his father about his plan, he left for the valley as the sun left the sky. The wyvern remained quiet the whole trip leaving Theo time to brood over the circumstances.

Killing the dragon was one thing, but what about the princess? Her parents had never requested a dragon protection, so the whole ordeal was probably her fault. Killing her and overtaking her kingdom later was a valuable option, but surely there could be other ways to make her suffer.

"Sire, we're here," called out the wyvern, Theo pulling back on the reins to take in the view. A head of them were unforgiving boulders building up to mountains that disappeared into the clouds, snow leaking out of the edge of the clouds.

Similar to how he would handle a horse, Theo snapped at the reins, the wyvern flying forward into a small entrance in the mountains beneath the clouds. Theo huddled himself close the wyvern as it easily navigated the mountains, as if Theo wasn't on it's back. He would tighten his legs around the wyvern to remind it he was still there after barely passing through.

They exited the maze of mountains, an explosion of snow trailing after them as they entered the valley. With the exception of the mountains, the land was green, the lake an icy blue. The sun was already in the sky, the moon already gone as the wyvern landed on the grass.

Theo dismounted, still keeping his hands on the reins as he examined the area. Alongside the mountains were entrances to several caves, any one of them capable of housing the black dragon and the princess. The sun was warm, so using the wyvern's ice breath to trap the dragons would be improbable. Plus they could fire breathe their way out too. He could have the wyvern cause an avalanche, caving the dragons in, but what was to say the dragons caves weren't connected to other holes he couldn't see. And the probability of barricading all the holes was too small.

If Theo could recall from his reading, dragons lived in groups called prides. Based on the fact this dragon was alone when they first met, the beast probably had no allies in this valley. Maybe even ostracized for bringing a princess to such a sacred place.

"Listen Dragons of the Valley, I am Prince Theo of the House of Barbeau, soon to be King of Normain," he called out into the valley, his voice echoing amongst the mountains. "I mean you no harm. I come to retrieve what was rightfully stolen from me from a black dragon. If you hand him and what he stole over, I shall leave you and your valley in peace. I will give you a full day and night to make your choice."

He scanned the mountains searching for any movement, seeing none.

"Master, the dragons are probably asleep at this time and didn't even hear you," commented the timid wyvern, watching the mountains.

Out of the corner of Theo's eye, he noticed a piece of fabric flitter before disappearing into a cave. He could feel distrustful eyes upon him from the darkened shadows.

"Oh, I think they heard me."

Theo climbed on the wyvern's back, directing him towards one of the icier areas to stay for the time being.

After all, a good strategy required lots of planning and plenty of patience.