The Dragon's Diary

An alternative idea from the previous story.

Dear princess,

I've never told anyone why I renounced my title as a 'Sir' that fateful day after returning from my holiday road trip. Because I am so ashamed of myself, and so fed up with the hypocrisy the courts, ever since I was knighted for my 'glorious' deed of rescuing the princess from the 'evil clutches' of the dragon who kidnapped her that decade ago.

No wonder you never smiled when you see my mace on the dragon's head. No wonder you never smiled for the past decade.

After getting frustrated by the merry making tendencies of those useless officials and the endless paperwork that's nothing but a façade for the ineffectiveness of the kingdom policies, I decided to take unpaid overseas leave to de-stress myself. I went to a number of places, seen a lot of things that I've missed out on during previous official diplomatic and military excursions, and I even went back to visit that old tower where that battle of the century took place.

A mysterious force beckoned me to go into that ruins again. I decided to follow it.

In the wreckage of cob webs and dust, I stepped into the very spot where I encountered it. It still looked the same. That broken chandelier that barely missed me when the dragon swung its tail. That mirror I had smashed into pieces when I missed my mark. And that broken chair I've used to throw at it out of desperation. I laughed as picked it up. What on earth was I thinking man? Using a chair to throw at a fire-breathing dragon?

I went in deeper, and found the room you were kept in. Without the traces of age, it was gorgeous. The room was well furnished, as good as our room. It was very similar to our room's layout and design. No wonder you had so much requests in renovating our room prior our wedding day.

I went ahead to visit the dragon's room next door. It was as big as expected, but not the bookshelves. The collection of books was humongous. It ranged from history, philosophy, to even arts of magic and technology. I took out one of them to browse. Intriguing material.

There's a chest sitting quietly at a corner of the writing desk beside the bookshelves. A few gems, crystals, a stack of scrolls and a diary were inside. The dragon's diary. Interesting, I thought. I sat down on the writing desk and began to read. It's written in an official dragon's tongue, which I've studied before in my knight school. Know thy enemy they said, which I thought was absurd then.

I read through its pages carefully, immersing myself into its life as a majestic and feared beast with its beautiful writing. Then I read the final entries, till its final moments before I barged into the tower uninvited.

I was devastated.

The biggest mistake in my life in a moment of rashness and ignorance.

I have translated that portion which I thought you should know of as enclosed. The original diary is in your drawer now.

Words of apology will never be enough. That is why I have to leave. For me to think about things. For me to repent.

But still, I am sorry.

***

Day 1 in The Tower

It is that time of the year again. To move house. I don't understand why we dragons have to move our dwellings every decade as dictated by our culture. What for? It is so troublesome, especially when I have to move my cases of books over.

But nevertheless, I have found a pretty good location as a place of residence. The old tower by the hillside. I did a bit of research on this place, and found that the tower was once resided by a famous orc shaman who was an expert in human magic. An orc practising human sorcery? Interesting indeed. I should be able to find some interesting remains of information about this shaman when I move in later. Maybe I could learn a new spell or two?

Meanwhile, I still have to figure out a way to move my existing inventory of books into this place. Oh well.

Day 5 in The Tower

Almost a week has passed since I've moved into this place, and I am finally done with arranging my books properly. Credits to my mum who taught me a simple spell called 'Dancing books' since she knew my interests in all things textual.

I did a bit of exploring around the area and found a few human settlements. Interesting. It's been a while since I've been in contact with any of them, since few were 'brave' enough to pay me a visit. And among the few who have visited, most of them were after my 'perceived' treasure. I never had anything valuable to those pesky humans, unless they really liked my collection of books so much. Too bad I had to bite their heads off since they were such a pain in the neck. They could have opened their mouths and asked.

As I mentioned, there was an exception though. Years ago at my old residence, there was this human, who called herself a Dragon Mage, dropped by and tried to converse with me in fluent Dragon Tongue. I was pretty impressed, so I let her in and showed her my collection of books and shared with her my signature lamb roast. She parted with one of my books about the history of dragons, a summarised one that is, since she was quite interested in that. I did not tell her that I was a historian, and that book was written by me. She should be honoured. Heh.

Anyway, something interesting happened when I was soaring on top of the plains. I saw a group of humans chasing a carriage with a few horsemen as an escort. I suppose that group were bandits since they were sure dressed like one, while the carriage was of royal background with the emblem on the horses. I never understand why humans like to fight each other so much. Perhaps they were still a young race, as we had a sad history of violence too, though we grew out of it eventually. Time will tell.

Out of boredom and curiosity, I've decided to play a trick on them. I landed some distance away in the carriage's path, and waited. However, I didn't know that the equestrian skills of the horsemen and the carriage were so bad, that they crashed into me. Ouch. The bandits who caught up later, did what I've expected though, by running away hysterically upon sight. I laughed.

I looked at what was left of the carriage. It was unsightly even by my standards. None from the convoy seemed to have survived the crash, until I heard a faint gasp. A lady pulled herself out of the wreckage, looked at me for a while, before knocking out. Somehow, I've decided to bring her back to treat her wounds. Now she is lying in that room beside mine sleeping soundly.

Time to concoct her medicine before she wakes up.

Day 10 in The Tower

She is one active princess I would say. Her energy seems to be inexhaustible. She's been out exploring the whole tower all day without rest, and every time she finds something interesting, she would drag me along to check it out. So far she has found three energy gems, five magic crystals and ten scrolls of spells. I wanted to give her one, but she refused, saying that she found it in my house, so it's mine. Such a cute lady.

In case you are wondering, dear diary, I understand and know how to speak human. Heh.

Her wounds were almost done healing, but when I suggested her leaving in a few days' time, she threw tantrums around. She kept complaining about how she disliked living alone in her room with no freedom in doing the things she likes, how she disliked the etiquettes a princess has to adhere to which she deemed redundant, how she disliked the monotonous tasting food, and the list goes on. I got a little fed up with her ramblings, so I made a compromise by telling her that she could stay up to a month only, treating it as a holiday resort before I escort her back home to her worried parents. She reluctantly agreed. Later she told me that she might be bored of this place in a month's time anyway.

I was quite amused by that comment.

Meanwhile, I will be teaching her how to prepare my other signature dish 'beef grill' later so that she could suggest to her chefs when she returns.

Day 30 in The Tower

I was quite disappointed from my trip to the Witch's.

“You want to WHAT?? Am I hard on hearing or something? You said you want to become a human???”

“Erm... Yes.”

“All because of that silly girl?? Are you out of your mind?? This is the most absurd request I have ever heard!”

“I... I... Does that mean that we have the same kind of heart as humans do?”

“...”

“Come back to me in a week's time. It should be prepared by then.”

“A week? Is there any way to hasten the process?”

“Unfortunately, no. Any compromise to the process will only endanger yourself and those around you.”

“...”

“Okay, I will be back in a week.”

A week. By then, she would already have left.

Day 32 in The Tower

A few days more before the end of princess' holiday. I am feeling more lost then ever.

“Hey “Your Royal Highness” (as I always liked to call her in a mocking tone), how do you feel about your holiday so far?”

“Pretty cool. It's even more fascinating to have a dragon as a 'tour guide' for this holiday. Haha. I had a lot of fun! This would be the best holiday I had so far, or perhaps ever!”

“I am glad you had enjoyed your stay here. It's fun to have you around too.”

“...”

“Hey draggie, don't cry! I have never heard of ferocious dragons cry before, much less see one. This wouldn't look good on you right? Haha... yeah I know... I will miss you too. I promise I would come by and visit you often, alright?”

“Oh hold on while I go and get a bottle. It's quite rare to acquire a bottle of dragon tears right? Hahaha. I can bring it back as a souvenir.”

On a bright side, there are still a few days more to count my blessings.

Day 33 in The Tower

I should have known.

The human king has sent someone after me for the princess. I heard that he's a knight who has graduated as the top student from the Knight School. He also has a nickname of 'One-Man Army'. Is he really that powerful? I wonder.

I could smell him a few hours away. I could also smell a huge lump of mithril steel, possibly a huge mace as his weapon of choice. And I once thought that all knights carry swords or claymores to battle.

Nevertheless, no one is going to deprive me of the last few days with her.

And I mean no one.

Time to stretch myself a little, and warm up my fire lungs.

***


She found the knight standing by himself in the dragon's room at the old tower, staring out to the pitch black sky.

“...”

“I knew I would be able to find you here.”
“I am grateful for your love and kindness for the past decade. I really am.”
“Everything is okay now. Really.”

“Please come back with me.”

And the moonlight shines into the tower with their hands held tight, reflecting her tears and smile.