Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Maya, who was in the middle of beating William at chess, again, looked out of the nearest window and saw her younger brother approaching. He looked dirty and tired, and not in the least triumphant. In that instant, she knew what had happened. Soren, like Nathaniel, had failed to slay the dragon. The quest was over. But this wasn’t just about who would be the next King. Nathaniel had mentioned something about a maiden. The girl would die if nothing more was done to save her.

That’s it!” said Maya out loud.

“What’s it?” said William. “Thought of another way to beat me, you lily-livered hussy?”

“Quiet,” snapped Maya. “I’m thinking.” What had her father said about Nottingham? It lay a mile west of the palace. She could do that. She was a good rider, and had ridden farther than that before.

“Right,” said Maya. “I’m off.”

“You mean I win?” said William, amazed.

“No,” said Maya. “I’ll be back to win later.” She leapt out of her chair and ran all the way through the corridors, down the marble stairs, through the great hall, and out of the palace. She raced into the stables, saddled the nearest horse, and, clad in some of Soren’s armor and carrying one of his swords, rode away down the road to save the peasant girl.

When she got to Nottingham, she looked for the washerwoman Nathaniel had told her about. Immediately she saw her. Maya rode over to the woman and said,

“Hello. I’m Maya, the King’s daughter. I’m here-”

“I know what you’re here for,” the woman interrupted. Maya was astonished. Where she came from, no one ever interrupted her, not even William. If some common woman had interrupted her father, he’d punish her somehow-by making her pay a fine, maybe? But Maya wasn’t like that. She liked that someone was finally showing some assertiveness other than her.

“You’re here to slay a dragon,” said the woman. “Your brothers have been here, but neither of them managed to do it. I was wondering who the old King would send next, but I never expected a woman. Whose armor and weapons have you stolen? Or has the King decided to have female soldiers all of a sudden?”

Maya sighed. “They’re my brother’s.”

“I assume you want to know where the dragon is,” said the woman. “It’s up there on that hill. Hopefully you’ll do better than those two princes.”

Maya was about to turn away when she thought of something. “Why do you feed the dragon young girls?”

“He’ll eat all our sheep if we don’t,” said the woman. “You know the stories.”

“So you value sheep more than girls,” Maya thought out loud.

“Aye,” said the woman. “I never thought of it like that. We women do all the work. They say we’re the fairer sex? We do all the washing, all the cleaning, and all the child-bearing. We’re more useful than the men think.”

Maya nodded. “You’d think they’d be feeding the thing sheep so it doesn’t eat their young girls.”

The woman laughed. “I like you. For the first time today I feel like someone’s got a chance to beat the dragon. Good luck, Princess.”

Maya nodded and rode away, up the hill toward the dragon.

When Maya reached the dragon’s cave, she immediately noticed two things-one, that the maiden looked bored rather than terrified, and two, that the dragon still hadn’t eaten her.

Maya dismounted and went over to the girl. “Hello,” she said. “Have my brothers been here?”

“If you mean those two idiots who didn’t manage to poke the dragon in the eye, let alone slay it, then yes, they were here. Why are you here? Have you been sacrificed too?”

“No,” said Maya. “I’m here to save you.” She looked over at the dragon. “This is going to sound like a rather rude question, but why aren’t you dead yet? That dragon doesn’t seem too interested in killing me, either.”

“I don’t think it wants to eat me,” said the girl. “It’s been lying there all day, and once in a while it looks over at me like it can’t bring itself to eat me. It’s been terribly boring.”

Suddenly Maya got an idea. If Nathaniel and Soren hadn’t managed to kill the beast using violence, why would she be any more likely to succeed? Unladylike or no, she still wasn’t as physically strong as the boys. She would have to use different skills.

Maya walked up to the dragon, cupped her hands around her mouth, and yelled, “Hello, dragon. Are you going to kill me?”

The peasant girl looked at her like she was insane. Then, to their mutual astonishment, the dragon said, “I don’t want to, but if you’re going to stick pins in me like that other human, I might have to.”

“So you can talk, then,” said Maya.

“Obviously,” yawned the dragon.

“Well then, I’ve got a few questions to ask you. Why do you eat these girls?”

“Because they’re the only food I get,” wailed the dragon. “I don’t like eating people, but I’ve lived in this cave all my life. I don’t have any wings, so I can’t fly to greener pastures. One time I walked down to the village and ate some sheep because I was so hungry, and from then on the humans just assumed I liked eating virginal girls.”

It was obvious the dragon needed someone to complain to.

“So then I just ate the girls,” said the dragon, “but I always waited until I was starving because I don’t like eating people. I hate it when they scream. I’d be happy with a tuna sandwich, but the humans just assume I want girls!”

“A tuna sandwich,” said Maya, shaking her head. Dragons really were a misunderstood species.

“I suppose we could make you a tuna sandwich…” said the maiden doubtfully.

“Yes!” said Maya. “That’s it! A tuna sandwich! Every year, the best cooks in Nottingham can make you a huge tuna sandwich. My brother Soren’s a great cook, he can help you.”

“That would be lovely,” said the dragon, and rested its head on its claws once more.

“Wow,” said Maya, looking at the peasant girl. “That was easy. Everyone’s been assuming the only solution would be to kill the dragon, and all we had to do was make it a tuna sandwich. This is why there should be more women knights.”

When the two girls went back down to the village, they told the washerwoman about their plan. The washerwoman told one of the cooks, who told the others, and they told the fishermen, who promised to catch enough tuna for a dragon-sized sandwich.

When Maya rode away from the village, most of the villagers waved and cheered as she left. Maya grinned. Her father wouldn’t know what to think when he learned that his daughter had solved the problem without killing anything.

The King was indeed very surprised. “Obviously the quest was not hard enough,” he said when his children gathered in his bedchamber that evening.

Nathaniel was astonished. “But, Father, neither Soren nor I could do it!”

“Yes, it was plenty hard enough,” grumbled Soren, who was still sore after his bout with the dragon.

“I will devise another test,” said the King. “The three of you will climb the tallest mountain in Bellicia. On the top of this mountain is the Cup of Life. Whoever reaches the top first and gets the cup will be Bellicia’s new King…or queen.”

Nathaniel, Maya, and Soren looked at each other nervously. This time they were being asked to directly compete with one another. This was going to be interesting.