Today's #flashfiction Princesses And Princes

  “Let's meet in the middle.”

King Solomon* #quote

Had fun hangin' with CJ today. I'm glad our hanging out never involves nooses. Anyway onto the flash fiction!

Princesses And Princes

         Princess Katrina of the Silver Kingdom didn't take well to suitors, like many princesses of the magical lands. But like many princesses her destiny would be to fall in love with a prince from another kingdom that saved her from a great peril that befell her. It happened like clockwork. That's why princes from all the kingdoms became knights, to fend off the monsters that whisked away the princesses.

         However Princess Katrina did something that most princesses did not. She didn't use magic to get around, she climbed about ever since she was a little girl. This was a special detail since when people sneak with magic it can be detected, but when you're careful enough with natural movement you can sneak along normal. So Katrina could eavesdrop when she pleased. However she didn't gossip. For someone who spied she was oddly moral. And by not gossiping nobody ever caught on she was learning anything secret at all.

          So she managed to learn one of the biggest secrets of them all.

From a tiny crack in the wall Princess Katrina watched her father and one of her potential suitors talking to a crystal ball. Usually this meant discussion with diplomats. But here the voice coming from the ball was deep, and inhuman. The face that Katrina could see was covered in scales. They were speaking to a dragon.

          “Two hundred cattle to be paid over five years,” the king said. “That's final or I'm getting another dragon.”

          The dragon then replied, “It's worth it. I'll scare her good. I'll kidnap her next Tuesday as agreed. Last battle rehearsal is this Saturday.”

           Katrina didn't say anything, as she always had when she heard something shocking when listening in. She wasn't sure whether to be grateful or not that'd she seen the truth. She went off to bed with thoughts swirling in her mind. Did all the princesses in the magical land fall in true love because of these scripted kidnappings?

            At least she knew that she'd be able to make sure that she'd find true love and not be fooled by the charade. Though she'd always have to wonder if it would have been better if she never knew.