The Princess Who Woke The Dragon

Ahi – The Dragon

In the great valley of Ashaval, where the wind blew mercilessly almost all year round, and the mountains loomed like slumbering titans, there lived a dragon named Ahi.

 Now, slow down if you’re imagining a terrifying, fire-breathing tyrant who hoarded gold and roasted villagers for fun. Ahi was a dragon of a different sort. He did have the gold, but mostly because dragons were supposed to. And sure, he could breathe fire, but he found it much more efficient for lighting his cave on cold mornings than incinerating knights.

His scales, once a burnished black, had dulled to the colour of storm clouds, and his left wing bore a ragged tear—an old injury from a disagreement with another dragon who had extreme opinions about roasted sheep. (Ahi had said medium-rare. The other had insisted on well-done. Fangs were bared.. Claws were flung.. The hillside was mildly singed..)

All in all, Ahi preferred peace. A nap on a sun-warmed boulder, a leisurely debate about the superior breed of goat, or the occasional lazy dream about endless cattle fields. Life was, in a word, comfortable.

Until one afternoon

Until one very rude afternoon.

Ahi was in the middle of a particularly excellent dream involving a floating cheese wheel and an audience of applauding cows when he felt a tug at his tail.

He snorted smoke and tried to ignore it. The tug came again, sharper this time. Grumbling, he cracked open one glowing eye—and nearly blinked in confusion. There, at the mouth of his cavern, stood a human. But not just any human. A young woman in a scuffed travelling cloak, her brown hair braided over one shoulder and her hands planted on her hips with all the authority of someone who was used to getting things done.

“You took forever to wake up,” she said as if chastising a lazy butler. “Seriously. I was starting to think dragons were a myth.”

Ahi blinked again. “You… pulled my tail?”

She rolled her eyes. “You were snoring.”

“I like snoring.”

Princess Nila of Ranipura

“Well, I don’t.” She crossed her arms. “Look, I’m Princess Nila of Ranipura, and I need your help.”

“Princesses usually bring knights and tearful pleas. You brought attitude,” Ahi muttered, dragging himself upright with the speed of an avalanche in reverse. “What sort of help?”

The Curse

“My fiancé’s been turned into a toad,” she said flatly. “A very annoying toad. It’s a curse. And apparently, dragon’s blood is the only way to reverse it.”

Ahi stared at her, unsure whether he was more shocked by her request or the sheer nerve it took to make it.

“You want my blood?” he asked slowly. “That’s a bit personal, don’t you think?”

“You’re the closest dragon. The others are either asleep, mad, or allergic to humans.”

“How do you even know dragon blood cures curses?”

“I read it in Grimoire for the Slightly Desperate,” she said, pulling a worn book from her satchel and waving it at him. “Chapter seven, subsection three: ‘On Toads and the Mighty Haemoglobin of Beasts.’”

Ahi groaned. “That author owes me an apology. And probably a cut of royalties.”

Still, he studied her. No trembling, no stammering. Just straight-backed stubbornness and a glint in her eye that said she wouldn’t leave. Something about her reminded him of a thunderstorm—beautiful, loud, and not going away.

With a long sigh and a reluctant stretch of his wings, he said, “Fine.”

“You’ll help?”

“I’ll consider not turning you into charcoal. Let’s call it a start.”

They set off the next morning. Nila tried to climb onto Ahi’s back at first, but after a short argument (and one slightly crisped tree) later, they agreed she would walk, and Ahi would fly overhead like a disinterested weather system.

The journey wound through meadows and over ravines, past ancient stones that whispered old songs to the wind. Ahi offered “advice” from above, but none was helpful.

“Don’t step on that moss. It smells like wet socks when disturbed.”

“That squirrel is looking at you funny. Better run.”

Ser Gadin

Eventually, they met Ser Gadin—a knight in shining armour with no common sense.

“Stand back, princess!” he shouted dramatically, drawing a sword that gleamed like it had never touched battle. “I shall slay the beast and return you to your castle!”

“Put that down before you hurt yourself,” Nila sighed. “Honestly, do you practice being this dense, or does it come naturally?”

Ser Gadin faltered, looking from the unimpressed princess to the dragon now watching the exchange with popcorn-level interest.

“I… I was sent to rescue you.”

“Well, the mission failed. Go home.”

He muttered something about “ungrateful royalty” and trotted off, his armour clanking like a kitchen cupboard in an earthquake.

Ahi chuckled. “I like you, Princess.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Is that supposed to be a compliment?”

I’m not sure yet.”

Kingdom of Avisi

Their destination was the cursed kingdom of Avisi—a land where the sky was always grey, and the grass looked like it had given up trying to be green. The fortress at its heart loomed like a rotting tooth, and waiting within was the sorcerer responsible for the amphibian transformation.

He was everything you’d expect from someone who specialised in dark magic: pale, sunken-eyed, and smelling faintly of mushrooms and regret.

“Well, well,” he said, stepping onto his crumbling balcony. “The princess and the pet.”

“Give me my fiancé,” Nila said, “and we won’t torch your face.”

The sorcerer grinned. “I like your spirit. Shame you’ll be feeding my pet shadows.”

With a clap, a group of black-cloaked assassins stepped from the gloom. Their blades shimmered with poison, and their footsteps made no sound.

Ahi bared his teeth. “Fire time?”

“Wait,” Nila said, tying back her hair. “I’ve got this.”

What followed would’ve left most bards speechless—and possibly unemployed. Nila moved like wind through wheat, dodging blades and disarming opponents with terrifying ease. Ahi watched with something between admiration and horror.

Within minutes, the assassins were down, groaning in various stages of regret. The sorcerer turned pale as cream.

“What… what are you?!”

“I told you,” Nila said, cracking her knuckles. “I’m a princess.”

Then she punched him square in the jaw.

They found the toad—formerly Prince Dev—sulking in a golden birdcage. He croaked moodily, and Ahi, with more gentleness than expected, picked it up with a claw.

“This’s your fiancé?” he asked.

Nila looked at the toad. “Unfortunately.”

That night, with the mountains at their backs and the fire crackling nearby, Nila held the vial of Ahi’s blood up to the moonlight, thinking about how she’d use it to cure her fiancé when she reached home.

“Do you ever wonder if you’re wasting your life? What do you dream about?” she asked, watching the flames dance.

“I dream about livestock,” Ahi said.

“I meant something deeper.”

“Oh.” He looked at the stars, then at her. “Sometimes. But it’s easier not to.”

She stood and stretched. “Come to Ranipura. You’d like it. We’ve got a lot of mountains and a lot of livestock.”

“I’m a dragon,” he said, amused. “We don’t do ‘settling down’. At least not by cosying up to humans.”

“You don’t have to. Just drop by. Terrify a few nobles. Shake things up.”

Ahi gave a smoky snort. “I’ll think about it.”

As the princess walked off, the grumpy toad prince tucked under her arm like a very royal potato, Ahi lay back on the grass and looked up at the sky. The stars, as always, twinkled like a million coins tossed across the heavens.

Maybe he would follow. 

 

***

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