Gerald twisted in his bonds as the bugbears dragged him to the tower.

"Im nom thm princm! Im nom thm princm! ", he protested in vain. his gag was loosened slightly from his struggles but he was still most intelligible.

A particularly thin bugbear with a big bald patch on his head grew tired of Gerald's struggles and punched him in the gut. To Gerald's surprise it didn't hurt that much. Given how flexible his armour was and how it miraculously appeared out of nowhere, Gerald had thought it was an illusion, but it clearly had some real physical ablative properties as well.

"Now, now," screeched the dragon overhead. "You do not want to hurt my bride. That's for me to do."

"Yark, Yark, Yark," laughed the bugbears.

Gerald stopped as he let the statement sink in. His bride?

Gerald's struggles renewed as the bugbears laughed. The bard managed to kick one of them with a sideblow, but all that did was to make the bugbears secure him some more. In the end he had one grab him by the head, while two others grabbed him by the torso and legs.

"Bree yark!" threatened the biggest one with a chuckle as they hauled him up into the tower.

Gerald's mind was in a panic. Did the dragon say he was going to be his bride? Or did he say tide or maybe even ride or how about guide. Yeah, maybe the dragon needed a guide to lead him to the royal treasure. Nevermind that it didn't made sense, but being a dragon's bride seemed too terrible to suffer. Being sacrificed by Tessa to the dragon was one thing, at least it felt like a noble death for the good of the kingdom, but being a bride to a dragon….was just too unthinkable. Like how was that going to be done? Was the dragon going to throw him on the cold floor and sodomize him? Crush him with his ten thousand pound body. Gerald's butt squeezed tightly together at that horrible thought. Was it some form of ultimate punishment one can inflict on his enemy? The ultimate humiliation one can bring on a conquered people? A sign of dominance? To ass rape their much smaller leader?

Gerald began to writhe vigorously again at the thought, but the lead bugbear simply grabbed him by the throat. "Stop yer squirming, or me choke, you Yark?" it threatened as his fingers clenched down on his throat.

Gerald coughed in his gag, but did as he was told. If escape was possible he would have to bide his time. Or perhaps he could kill himself to deny the dragon the pleasure of his grim fate.

Gerald didn't have much time to think about his future when he reached his destination, a barred room at the top of the tower. While the ruined tower wasn't that tall, perhaps four stories, Gerald somehow thought it might be enchanted so that there was more room on the inside than the outside. Sadly that was not the case, it was simply an old guard tower, with a large room a top. The entire area was actually mundane enough save that it was in better repair than a tower that looked so decrepit on the outside.

As they reached the door, the one holding Gerald's legs released him as the other's propped him up. They undid his binds and his gag, before opening the door and pushing him in .

Gerald wasn't sure what to expect, a cold attic, more shackles, a dragon's nest? Instead he found a large bed with a billowing white garment lying of it, a simple table with some bread, wine, and cheese, and a hearth with a cozy fire.

"Ahh, my dear Prince," said a screeching voice from the other side of the now barred door. Gerald looked and saw a slot had opened, revealing a wizened old man with age spots all over his face. He had a thin white beard, and was waving a hand adorned with unnaturally long yellow fingernails. What was most disconcerting was that the man possessed the same screeching voice as the dragon that had taunted him in the forest and outside the tower. He remembered Tig talking about dragons and their alternate forms and was wondering if this crazy geezer could actually be the dragon outside?

"I'm not the Prince!" pleaded Gerald. "Please this has all been a big mistake."

The old man grinned, exposing his jack o lantern style teeth.

"What do you want! You will face the wrath of Prince Aaron and all the fury of Westholding if I am not immediately released! " demanded Gerald imperiously as he switched tactics. Though he was hardly a Prince, the silver armor and his lack of options forced him to try to bluff his way out. He already tried denying he was the Prince, but that didn't work, now he would try intimidation. He didn't think this would work either, but it might provide him with some information to make sense of this madness.

"Hee..hee…I want what is owed to me. I want you to take off your armor, put on the dress, and then we'll get married…hee…he…."

Gerald blanched at the thought. Sex with a giant dragon that would crush me, or sex with a crazy old man with even crazier long fingernails. Neither option sounded particularly pleasant. And it wasn't like he could resist his advances either. Old of those bugbears outside was probably enough to force him into the dress, and he wasn't even going to try to fight a dragon, old man form or not. Gerald glanced around the room and his eyes fell on the fire. He could simply put on the dress and throw himself into the fire place. That would probably be extremely painful, but a lot less humiliating than the other option.

"No!" barked a short gruff voice. "No Princess…until town is Dool's. That what Dool say. I obey Dool. Deal was Princess for town! "

While Gerald didn't recognize the voice, nor could he see who was saying it, he thought it sounded like Greeneyes, the goblin shaman that he had run into in the forest and outside the tower.

"I just want a little taste first," cackled the old man who appeared to be looking down at something.

"No town, no deal!" barked the goblin voice again. "Deal with Dool if you break your word."

" Oh alright," sighed the old man. "I'll save my Princess for later. I've waited twenty years I can wait a day more."

"Err guys…I'm a guy, not a girl," corrected Gerald. "I'm Prince Aaron, not Princess Arron. Actually I'm not even an Aaron or nobility, but the bottom line is I'm a man."

"Nor for long," cackled Greeneyes as his voice trailed off.

"Things will change my sweet," screeched the old man before he left as well.

Gerald gulped hard as he considered their threat. Castration? He was going to get castrated? This was getting worse and worse. Why go to all the trouble to marry the Prince, if you are simply going to make him a eunuch by cutting his balls off. He wanted to tell them they had the real Princess and could have saved themselves the trouble, but they had already gone.

Gerald peaked out the slot on the door and could only see shadows. He wasn't convinced he was alone though, since those bugbears seemed to have an affinity of popping in and out of them, and he doubt they would leave the Prince unguarded.

He wasn't sure how long it would take for them to conqueror the 'town', which he assumed was Daggerhall, the old man said a day but he gave himself a few hours at least. With few options left to him, he simply sat at the table and ate his bread and cheese and drank his wine.

"Psssstt…."

Gerald stopped and looked about. He couldn't see anything in the room that wasn't there before.

"Pssssstt…over here…"

Gerald glanced about and saw nothing unusual except a small glowing ball near the barred window. He stared at it and noticed small flames flickering from the ball. It somehow looked familiar.

"Gerard…..over here!"

"Gerard? I'm Gerald," he said as he made his way to the window. The glowing ball bobbed a bit before it darted down out of sight. Gerald wasn't sure what was going on but looked down the window anyways.

"Mina! Is that you?" he gasped as he saw the short cloaked woman balancing on a ledge outside his barred window.

"Shhh…you'll alert the guard…and yes its me….and sorry I called you Gerard. Which is funny because that's what I've thought your name was for the last few hours. "

"Now I'm hurt. I clearly remembered your name was Mina," sniffed Gerald. " So err am I supposed to offer you a hand or something. These bars prevent me from pulling you through."

Mina shook her head. "No, just stand back. I just wanted to make sure that was really you."

Gerald did as he was told, as a viscous liquid was sprayed on the bars. Gerald watched as the bars began to hiss and boil. It wasn't a quick process, but a after a minute one of the bars weakened enough to fall apart.

"Help me up!"

Gerald reached down and grabbed the small woman's hand and pulled her up through the bar. While the gap was still too small for him, it was the perfect size for little Mina.

"Whew thanks….whoa….look at you! All silver armour and everything. You had scruffy good looks before, but the armour really makes you something to behold," teased Mina as she checked out Gerald's new armor. "Someone might think you were a Prince or something, and we wouldn't want that," she chuckled.

"Ha, ha, very funny," frowned Gerald as he guessed she heard some or all of the conversation."Can you melt the other bars? If you get rid of a few more then I think I can escape. "

"Jump out a four story tower?" smiled Mina.

"It's better than staying here and become some dragon's love slave," shuddered Gerald.

Mina chuckled and began working on the other bars. Small streams of what Gerald guessed was acid shot from her fingers and slowly began dissolving the bars.

"So I guessed you didn't exactly find what you were looking for?" asked Gerald, recalling he led her into the forest so she can attempt to attract the attention of the Prince, who proved not to be a Prince.

"No," said Mina. "What I found was disappointing, but I should have expected it. I mean it was foolish for me to think that it would work. I…I'm so bad at this….I don't know what to do. I mean all I want is…." Mina's voice trailed off.

"To be loved. To be accepted. I understand, I'm a bard remember, I know these things," said Gerald in a comforting voice. "If it makes you feel better, it's not easy for anyone, everyone struggles with it."

"I suppose you are right, but the loneliness. I can't stand it anymore. You can see through my illusion, you know what it must be for me. Not being able to hold anyone is one thing, but I can't even talk to anyone," sighed Mina. The small fiery ball that followed her bobbed next to her head and seemed to grow red at her sadness.

Gerald looked at the small dark hair girl with the large saucer eyes, and studied her face. It was her nose. It had to be her nose, it was too perfect. She must have used her magic to change her nose, and was too embarrassed about it to go around in public. It must be pretty long or maybe covered in warts for that to be the case. Still it was just a nose and she was making a bigger deal than it already was.

"You know, a lot of people have big snouts as well. My uncle Jan for instance, he had a really big schnauser, everyone made fun of him, but he still got married. I mean married for love and to a good looking girl as well, not some girl he accidentally shagged and had to take responsibility for. Your nose doesn't define you , you know."

Mina stared at him confused. "Eh, what are you talking about. What's wrong with my nose?" she said while touching her nose. "You mean my real nose? You can see it? Oh that's right you can see through illusions. Sure its big, but I never thought of it as unusual, but I've never really had a baseline to measure it against save my siblings."

Gerald shook his head. Mina was trying to deny her problems. It was brave of her, but would only lead to more heartache for the girl. "I think you sell yourself short. You are a very lovely girl, and you have a good personality. And I mean that in a " that girl is easy to talk to" kind of way, not the "that girl is fat and all she can do is talk" kind of way."

Mina giggled. "I'm not sure if you are talking about me or the real me, or if you are simply trying to earn a gold, but I don't care keep with the flattery."

"If you need to talk, you can always come to me. I won't even charge my going rate of a gold. I mean if you want to talk about loneliness and disappointment. Well I'm your guy. I'm a bard, but I admit it, I'm not a good one, or at least by the standard measurement. Everyone expects you to sing, but I'm better at story telling. It's not fair that's how they rate you, on your weakness and not your strength. To be called a failure before you even started as you go from patron to patron, inn to inn, scratching some coins for a living," sighed Gerald. When he realized he had focused the attention from her to him, he grew red. "I'm sorry , I didn't mean to unload that on you."

"It's alright. In a way it helps. I guess misery likes misery," said Mina with a wink.

"Anyways, it doesn't matter if you didn't meet your Prince. He's not the person you wanted."

"Prince? What are you talking about?" asked Mina as she blinked in confusion. "I was looking for the dragon."

"Eh? I thought you were after the Prince. Well, anyways he's not the person you thought he was. I mean really not the person," said Gerald. "You are better off without him."

Mina nodded thought she still had the look of confusion about her. "Thank you. I needed that. I've only just met you, but I'm glad I did. It's not everyday you meet someone who can see the real you , and not run shrieking into the night. I've met others but you, they were like mages, priests, and even some knights. They all regarded me with suspicion. You on the other hand, you treat me like a person, and I thank you for that. You know, I thought you were dead, or at least had the smarts enough to run away after the goblins attacked. I stuck around to make sure you were okay, but saw no sign of you at the mines though one of the goblins did mention a tower. When I came here I didn't expect to find you here looking like a knight."

Gerald shrugged. "Well, funny enough, after the wolves attacked I thought the same happened to you. I thought you had gotten yourself killed or captured in your quest for love. I came here in a more round about way. It involved gnomes, half orcs, giants, and a crazy woman that smelled of lilacs."

"Ooohh that sounds exciting. I'm flattered you went to all this trouble but you didn't have to. I can take care of myself."

"I can take care of myself too."

"Oh? So I can leave now? "

"No, no, no. I'm more suited for different situations. Like urban combat, or courtly affairs, " he lied. However when he saw Mina grin widely he relented. "Okay, maybe I really can't take care of myself. I mean, stop teasing me, just get me out of here."

Mina smiled, she had won this round. "So what's up with the armour? You aren't really a knight are you? I would assume you just found it off a dead knight. They seem to be running around the woods tonight. You might scavenged it, and then wore it, but it fits you too perfectly, it was as if it was made for you."

"It's hard to explain, but let's just say I found a big secret when I was searching for you."

"Oh…I found a secret as well. A disappointing one, but I bet it's bigger than yours."

"Okay, you first," they both said simultaneously.

"After you, " they repeated after each other.

"Prince Aaron is actually Princess Aaron."

"The dragon is actually a wizard."

"Whoa, what?" the pair said again in unison. Gerald would have laughed, but this was all getting too strange and bizarre.

Gerald pointed to himself and when Mina nodded, he began his story. "Prince Aaron is actually Princess Aaron. The Mad King Gustav made a deal several decades ago with a wizard that he could have his first daughter, but when the time came he concealed his daughter's gender."

"Wait, wouldn't a wizard know. Divination magic isn't simple, but it's not hard either."

"He's an evoker. A specialist mage that is forbidden from that school of magic," said Gerald knowingly though he still wasn't too sure of the concept." Anyways, the dragon somehow caught the real Prince or Princess, but did not know about it so Lady Tessa, a knight I rescued from a cave, clobbered me and passed me off as him in exchange for the real one."

"Ohh, so that's how you got here. Well, when I was searching for you I found the dragon, but it wasn't really a dragon. Sure it looked like a dragon but it could not see me when I went invisible. You see…"

"Dragons can see invisibility, I know that," said Gerald knowingly, aping the knowledge Tig taught him.

"Yes…besides that, I saw him transform into a wizard. "

"Are you sure it wasn't his alternate form. Dragons can do that depending on species and age. Some can even maintain it indefinitely. Also, the dragonstone said there was a dragon in the area, so I think it really is a dragon."

"A dragon stone? What's that. I've never heard of it."

"It's a strange rock, some people I met in the woods had, it indicates the type, power, and even mental disposition of any nearby dragons, but it's hard to read. "

Mina stopped and stared at Gerald. "You really know a lot about dragons. Maybe even more than I do, I am surprised. "

"I am an endless font of information," bragged Gerald.

"Aye, it seems so. When we get out of here, I want to pick your brain about it, maybe over a mead or two."

Though Gerald had practically recited everything he knew about dragons already, the prospect of sharing a drink with Mina seemed very agreeable to him. She was pretty enough, and though she acted love sick she was not doing so in a crazy sort of way, which was a big plus. Also she seemed to really need to talk, which he was happy to oblige. Besides the both of them seem to get along, and it touched him to find out she was looking for him even as he was looking for her.

"Hey, do you think my wizard is the same as your wizard?" asked Mina as her already large saucer eyes grew larger.

Gerald stroked his chin. "Possibly. Oh was his name Zerd? I think that's the one that's owed a Princess." That does fit the narrative, but why would he want a Prince instead of a Princess? He's supposedly owed a Princess why capture a Prince.

"That name sounds familiar. Anyways, many wizards are bound by their word. Considering how often they deal with supernatural forces and how many deals they have to broker with eldritch powers, it's not that surprising. Maybe since he's owed a Princess he wants to …ummm….make you into a Princess.."

"Aye, I suspect castration," shuddered Gerald.

"There are other, more magical ways. He could simply polymorph you into a woman. He has the ability to change himself into a dragon so it wouldn't surprise me if he had a spell to swap genders, thought that would not be a permanent effect. The first dispel or antimagic aura you encounter would you change you back. There's also the cursed girdle."

"Cursed girdle?"

"Yes, a minor artifact that could irreversibly change one's gender if you but put it on. It could only be used once though so you can continually swap sexes. "

Gerald shook his head. He wasn't sure what method the wizard was going to employ , but he sounded more and more insane.

As Gerald considered the metal stability of his captor, Mina had succeeded in melting the bars. Instead of escaping immediately, she began to walk about the room, and looting.

"Hey, can I have this dress? It's really nice," said Mina as she ran her fingers through it.

"Sure, it's all yours," replied Gerald. Inspired by his companion's actions he began taking anything valuable as well, though she seemed able to carry more in that satchel of hers, versus the make shift sack he made with the bed sheets.

He grabbed the silver plates, the cutlery, and even the picture over the fireplace, as Mina began to unscrew the brass knobs.

"This guy is pretty loaded, are you sure you don't want to marry him," teased Mina.

"Rich, powerful, the perfect man. Too bad I'm not a big creepy old man with long finger nail kind of guy," sighed Gerald to the laughter of Mina even as she took the remaining bread, cheese, and wine.

"Bree Yark, BREE Yark. Yark. Yark!"

Gerald and Mina stopped their looting as angry shouts and the sounds of battle could be heard coming up through the tower. Mina's small fiery ball darted about, and eventually flew through the barred door, supposedly to scout.

"We should get out of here. Sounds like the wizard wants his bride early," said Gerald. "Err, how are we going to get out of here anyways. I assume you used your magic to get up here, but how am I supposed to get down."

"I could carry you, but I'm not that big, and not that strong. I have rope somewhere in my satchel," said Mina as she began rooting through her side pouch, before she could retrieve it though the cell door slammed open as a troop of goblins and bugbears filed in.