Dragon's Curse

Dragons curse part one

"Ouch! Stop pulling my hair!" I scream and begins to massage my scalp. My nursemaid continues to try to run a brush through my tangled mat of red-brown hair.
"It would hurt less if you stopped squirming, and you wouldn't be in this mess if you hadn't tried to go catch a boar, like your brother!" The old woman snapped back at me. Putting her hands on her hips and frowning.
"No, I'm in this mess because my father refused to let me learn how to hunt properly. Why does a prince get taught how to hunt and ride and play with swords and all I learn to do is weave on a loom and socialize with all the boring ladies and lords?" I complain knowing the answer.
"You're a princess, you ought to act like one," she snaps at me.
"Fine Mari, I'll try," I sigh with no intention of actually trying. Mari gives me the knowing look she has. Her eyes say I know you won't listen just don't wreck that dress.
I jump up and pull on the pair of light blue shoes Mari laid out for me. My hair is pinned up in a fancy braid. The folds of the light blue fabric of my dress rustling as I rush towards the door.
I make my way to the throne room. Pushing through the clusters of people on the way there I leave my guards far behind. It had always been easy for me to slip through crowds, but I started getting taller. Now that I'm eighteen I can barely slide through the chattering groups of people anymore. I quietly entered the throne room and take a seat next to the queen. A minstrel plays a jaunty tune in the middle of the room and ladies gossip in groups along the walls.
My mother speaks to me without turning her head,"you are late," each word is clipped. I groan. I hate sitting here. The mundane gossip and the women who introduce me to their sons, most of them at least a few years older than me.
I catch myself slouching and try to fix it but slip back in less than five minutes. Finally I see a mop of bright red hair. My brother, the prince struts towards the three thrones and I slip out of mine. My mother won't really notice until my brother leaves, but I'll be long gone by then. Fayer was always the favorite of may parents. He was the crown prince and heir to Garion. When he was younger Fayer had not wanted to be king. He wanted to travel. He had hated the cramped halls as much as I did. He would run around terrorizing servants just like me, but he had an accomplice. His best friend was everything to him. They couldn't be separated, but one day Fayer couldn't find him. He and his family had used Fayer to get out of Garion. He had left Fayer alone. It broke Fayer's rebellious spirit. He became the obedient, prodigy prince. Fayer stopped caring he turned into a clueless royal. Eventually the palace ladies became infatuated with Fayer.  And Fayer became a stuck up royal prick. He did what he wanted. Overindulged on wine and held outrageous parties. But he was still my brother.
I sprint down the halls back to my chambers. My enormousness of my closet feels diminished by the amount of dresses crammed into it. I shove my way into the back and open a hidden compartment. A click sounds and I pull out a pair of brown pants a white shirt and a brown pair of boots. I grab a satchel and fill it with a stolen dagger and the remains of my breakfast. I quickly change and slip back out of my rooms. Hurrying down the numerous stairs to the tower I stop. There are two voices.
"Your majesty, the rumors are true the palace a Cintia is gone, it was burned to the ground!" it's a man who speaks.
My father replies,"Are you sure? What of the king and queen?"
The other man responds,"They escaped with most of the other inhabitants of the castle and are now staying in Meazoda, but the whereabouts of prince Luciel are still unknown!"
"Keep this information to yourself. We don't want the castle going into a panic," my father demands.
I hide in a dark alcove as the two men walk by. Luciel is missing. I frown. My parents were planing on marrying me off to ally our kingdom with another and Luciel was the only decent option for a husband, he was the one true friend I'd ever had and he would treat me like an actual human. Not to mention he wasn't hard on the eyes. Most of the others were stuffy princes with overlarge egos. Luciel is a bit of a handful for the king and queen of Cintia, but all of the guards and servants speak well of him. Or at least they did.
I continue down the stairs. At the bottom I pull back an old tapestry. I shove my shoulder into the stone behind the weaving. It moves slightly and I push my way through the small space. The dark tunnel reeks of mold. I pick up one of the torches I had stashed two months ago and light it. The walls of the tunnel were lined with cobwebs. As far as I knew Luciel and I were the only ones who knew about the tunnel. As children we had been playing in the hall. He was being a dragon and I was a knight. I pretended to stab him with a fake sword and he pretended to die. He fell over into the wall and it had moved. The labyrinth of tunnels had provided us with a distraction for a few weeks and given me a secret way around the castle.
I make my way down the hall, my footsteps echoing down the abandoned passageways. Light shines ahead of me at the end of the tunnel. My feet splash in the small trickle of water that flows over the stone floor of the passage. I remove the old rusted grate from over the exit. The warm sun shines through the green leaves of the trees in front of me. I step into the woods. Soaking in the sunlight I stroll through the forest following game trails. I had set three little traps yesterday after being shown by my favorite guard how to catch a rabbit. The first trap sits empty in a small clearing by a creek. I jog to the next one, which is also empty. I destroy it like I did the first one, not wanting to catch something and not be able to check on it. The song of birds lifts my spirits as I walk through the trees. Something up ahead moves in the bushes. I reach for my knife and step out of the trees. A little rabbit is stuck in my trap. I slowly walk towards it. I pull out a few grapes from my breakfast and lay them in front of the trapped animal. After a few minutes it moves forward and starts to nibble on the grapes. I reach around an release it from the trap. The rabbit pulls back as I set it in my lap. I stroke is soft brown fur. Something of in the distance sounds like drum beats. Birds stop chirping. The rabbit leaps out of my hands. It frantically runs for shelter just as something huge flys low over the canopy, casting an enormous shadow on the forest. I sit still hoping whatever it was didn't recognize I was there. It was going towards the castle. My family is there. I need to get home to warn them. How am I going to explain this.