AN: Hey everyone! I wanted to say a big thank you for all the reviews-I really wasn't expecting to get as many as I did for the lame first chapters! The story really picks up after this chapter, and then things get very...well, Prussia. xD Prussia aside, even though I don't respond to reviews, I don't want you guys to think I don't appreciate you. I really do! ^^ Please keep the reviews coming so I can see what you guys think of my humble fic.

Oh and this chapter requires a translation:

Sveriges och Götes Konung = King of Sweden, of the Goths and of the Wends. Title used by Swedish king until 1560

Credit for the translation goes to Wikipedia :D I love that site. The day it went down was horrid, because of course THAT had to be the day I thought of a bajillion things to search. -endrant-

Okay, enjoy!

Alfred snapped the reins to make his horse go faster. Already its body was a warm, straining chestnut blur beneath him. The forest streaked by in a green-brown smear, and the wind was cold as it whipped through his dirty blond hair and made his ocean-blue eyes water.

This was what Alfred loved. The hot gush of adrenaline, when you could feel your blood burning through your veins and for a lingering, triumphant moment, you were truly, gloriously alive.

He needed that today. Today he was riding to escape the disappointment of yet another prospective wife that fell through.

What could be the problem? he wondered. It certainly could not be me. I am a handsome, valiant, heroic prince! What woman would not give a limb for a chance to marry me?

Apparently…many.

Alfred forced himself to quit goading the horse when he realized the poor animal was dripping lather and foaming slightly at the mouth. "Sorry about that," he murmured to it, patting its muscular, sweat-soaked neck. He slowed the horse to a walk and dismounted to let it rest.

It took him a moment to realize that he was beyond the castle grounds, past anywhere he'd ever ridden before. Here the forest was thicker, untouched by the hands of lumberjacks and untamed by hunters or gardeners. The trees grew gnarled and stout, wrinkled and bent like old men under the weight of years and hardship.

The sight made Alfred nervous. He—not retreated, Sveriges och Götes Konung Alfred never retreated—withdrew to put his horse in between him and the forbidding forest.

Brother?

Alfred knuckled his ear. He could've sworn someone had said something…but at the same time, he was sure he hadn't heard anything. Someone had spoken, but yet he'd heard nothing.

Brother. This time the sound he couldn't hear was surer, but with more surprise.

"Hello?" he called.

Hello.

He jumped. He hadn't actually expected a response. But now he understood—the strange not-sound was coming from his mind. Some outside force was impressing words into his brain. The feeling of an alien consciousness brushing against his own, exerting subtle pressure on a hidden realm inside him that had only ever known solitude, made him shudder.

"What is going on? Who is addressing me?" he asked, searching around for a source of the strange mind-voice.

My name is Matthew. Now that Alfred was getting more used to the mind-voice, he could detect a tinge of shyness in its tone. Yours is Alfred, right?

"Yes, that is me. Sveriges och Götes Konung Alfred," he said proudly.

King already? I was not aware. Congratulations.

"Oh, well…" Alfred shifted uncomfortably. "I am not exactly crowned, yet. Mother wants me to wed first and…that is not coming along so well." Then a strange thought crossed his mind. "How did you know my name? And that I am a prince?" His former mistrust flooded back. "And I still do not know who you are! Show yourself!" His hands instinctively found the hilt of the sword he carried at his hip.

No need for swords, Matthew said. I will show myself if that is what you wish… But you may not wish it.

"Let me see your face!" Alfred spun in a circle, but he still saw no one.

If you insist…

The forest rustled, a soft growling in the throat of the deep. Fallen branches cracked. An amber gleam appeared between the leaves.

Eyes, Alfred realized with a wash of dread. Massive amber eyes.

The face of a nightmarish creature advanced into the open. First came a scaly green snout set with enough dagger-like teeth to make Alfred take a step back. The gleaming amber eyes followed, set far apart, on either side of a head that resembled a mixture of a snake and a greyhound. Then came a long length of sinuous neck covered in dull green scales, with razor-sharp spires mounted along the spine starting at the base of the neck. The neck flowed into a long snakelike body, so it was hard to tell where the creature's neck ended and where its body began. The only distinguishing feature of its seamless long form were a pair of stocky, muscular legs that resembled those of an Egyptian crocodile Alfred had once seen in the menagerie of the king of France, each of their four toes tipped with a huge curved ivory claw.

Alfred took a step back. Two. He fell on his bottom and scuttled backwards, away from the beast advancing on him from the depths of the forest. Had he been on a quest to vanquish one, Alfred would not have been so shocked—but to encounter a lindorm out of the blue, a few scant miles away from what he had considered the impenetrable safety of his castle…

A sigh emanated through his mind. Yes, I know.

"A lindorm!" Alfred struggled to his feet and had his sword out in a flash.

I said, no need for swords. The lindorm blinked at Alfred. I have many skins, and it would take a mighty blow indeed to rend them all.

Alfred suddenly felt very silly. The monster didn't look aggressive, sharp teeth and massive claws aside. In fact the thing practically…cowered. Despite its brave words, the thing seemed genuinely frightened of him. "What…what do you want? Why did you speak to me?"

I recognized you. And once I had I could not help myself. I had to introduce myself. Matthew ducked his head as if shy. It looked strange for such a terrible monster to seem submissive. And to answer your other questions, I know of you and that you are a prince…because you are my brother. Amber eyes met ocean blue.

"Brother? Do not spout such nonsense," scoffed Alfred. How could the monster even make such claims? It was beyond ridiculous.

It sounds outlandish, I know. But I am your brother, the lindorm…Matthew…said. And there is something else… Another reason I had for revealing myself to you.

"What other ridiculous claims do you have?" Alfred said with a roll of his eyes. But then something caught his eye. The sinuous shape of the lindorm… The single long thick cord of muscle broken only by two equally muscular legs… It was so familiar somehow. It stirred memories beyond remembering, in a part of him where he knew that he must eat and drink to survive, where he knew the drive for companionship and competitiveness with other men for the right to dominate. He could imagine perfectly how it felt to nestle together with the foreign body of a dragon.

In the nest of a mother's womb, perhaps?

While Alfred was still trying to digest the new familiarity he felt with the lindorm, Matthew spoke again. You are looking for a wife, are you not?

"Yes," Alfred responded, not even bothering to ask how Matthew knew what he knew. "I have been looking everywhere. I've met princesses from Castile and Aragon, Britain, France, the Netherlands, and all sorts of noblewomen. But none of them…fit. It never worked out."

I am sorry. The lindorm's hissing mind-voice sounded remorseful. It is my fault. For existing like this… You cannot find a wife, brother, until I have one first.

Shock bloomed through Alfred's mind. "A…a wife? You?" He was aghast, not even realizing that he believed the lindorm despite every logical argument that he should not. "How can you know this?"

Our mother received a prediction from a soothsayer that foretold our birth. She had to eat onions, if I am not mistaken, to conceive us. Shockwaves radiated through Alfred's chest. This was proof—he had to be his brother. No one knew about their mother's visit to the soothsayer. It was her most closely guarded secret. Except for the secret that her other son was a lindorm, it seemed. The same soothsayer told me this.

The shock gave way to despair. He would never wed until this…this monster had a bride? Any sane woman would hang herself before marry this scaly, toothy, clawed thing. But he had to find someone, sane or otherwise. "I will find you one. Whatever I have to pay."

You cannot buy it. I must have a wife who truly loves me, a willing bride. Matthew hung his head. I am sorry, Brother.

For a second, Alfred had a vision of himself hacking away at scales and bones and flesh until the beast lay broken and dead before him, spilling its toxic life-blood into the earth along with the curse that kept him from finding a bride.

You cannot kill me either, Matthew added, as though reading his mind. If I die, you shall die as the bachelor you are now.

A wife for a monster. They had to find a wife for a monster.

God help her, whoever she was. Wife to a monster.

AN: I apologize for any OOCness... But there's only so much Alfred-izing you can do when the man has to talk formally!

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