Wozo the wicked wizard continued to cackle as he flicked his wand, causing Lili to float into the air and drift behind the wizard as he marched to the far side of the foreboding tower they had arrived at just seconds ago. If Wozo’s spell had not been stopping her from making a sound, Lili would have let out the shrillest scream in the land.
Because curled around the base of the tower, quietly slumbering, was a dragon.
Its head alone, which rested on its front legs not one meter away from her, was easily larger than her entire body, and puffs of smoke escaped its nostrils with each breath. The great red beast had a frilled ruff around its neck and spines along its back with scaly skin that looked tougher than the toughest leather on earth. Well, this wasn’t Earth, so things would be different. But this different? A dragon?! Lili took deep breaths to keep from freaking out. She didn’t stand a chance of escaping unless she kept control over her emotions.
Not until Wozo drifted her past the dragon’s forked tail did she notice the chain anchoring its tail to the tower. Her heart went out to the poor creature, for it was trapped here, just like she was about to be.
Halting so close to the tower that Lili’s hair brushed against the stone wall, Wozo faced his captive, clapping his hands together. “Now, although you are my hostage, my darling damsel in distress, there is no need for me to be uncourteous. Later on I’ll send some chocolate cake up to your room. After all, everyone needs a good slice of cake now and then! I’m sure you will find your room quite adequate for your needs.
“The royals will pay quite a ransom for you, so you needn’t worry about never going home. I doubt you’ll be staying here for more than a century. Ta-ta for now!” And with an explosion of white sparks, Lili’s surroundings vanished.
A split-second later, she found herself in a circular room lit by a lone window facing east–the direction of the hill where she had arrived mere hours before. The furnishing was sparse: beneath the window was a cushioned chair, with a full bookshelf next to it. A bed lay at the end farthest from the window. The girl had hardly taken it all in, however, when her legs gave way and she collapsed on the wooden floor. Without the wizard’s magic confining her anymore, her limbs could finally give in to the terror that left her hands trembling. Deep breaths, Lili, she told herself, deep breaths.
Once she had proper control of herself, Lili moved to the window, leaning out as far as was safe. After all, there would be no happily ever after if she went splat. And it was a long way to splat.
“That’s it,” she whispered suddenly, eyes widening. “Not the splatting, but the happily ever after. Every princess gets one.” She was talking aloud by now in her excitement. “I mean, I’m not a princess, but being a ‘damsel in distress,’ I should be close enough.”
Of course, there were certain things every princess needed. Besides having dead parents (which Lili thankfully did not have) and evil stepmothers (her mom was awesome) and being locked up in towers (finally, a princess point), those girls were constantly singing. That wouldn’t be much of a challenge, as she was always singing around the house. So Lili spent the evening singing whatever popped into her head from my God’s not dead he’s surely alive to we don’t talk about Bruno, no, no, no.
As the moon rose higher in the sky, Lili felt her eyes growing sleepy as she knelt by the window, resting her chin on her hands. She was just wishing for some of Wozo’s promised cake when she saw a white dot in the distance, forming the shape of a horse and rider as it approached. Elated, she leaped to her feet and had almost called out when she stopped herself. Princesses didn’t yell. They sang.
In that moment, she realized another thing. Princesses sang from their heart. All this time, she had been singing other people’s songs, not her own. Turning her face toward the moon, Lili opened her mouth and began to sing a song she had made up nearly a year ago, a song she loved.
Out on a moonlit night, under a starry sky.
Out on a moonlit night, watching the stars go by.
The haunting melody drifted through the still night air to the ears of the rider.
Under that bright night sky, we dance and sing and play.
Under that bright night sky, all fear is driven… away…
“What a lovely song, fair maiden!”
Caught up in the tune, Lili hadn’t noticed his arrival, but astride a gleaming white stallion that pranced back and forth before the tower was a boy, 15 years old at most, with black hair and blue eyes. He was dressed in a knight’s armor but held his helmet in one arm.
“Thank you!” Lili replied.
He smiled. “My name is Phineas Charming, second cousin of King Charming’s nephew, and I am here to rescue you!”
About time, Lili thought, but aloud she answered: “I am most grateful.”
“Now let down your hair so that I may climb up to save you!”
“Um, that might be a bit of a problem. My hair’s this long.” She held out a lock of shoulder-length hair.
Phineas’s face fell. “Are there perhaps any rose bushes I could climb?”
“You can’t climb rose bushes! They’d shred your hands! And no.”
“Do you perchance have a coffin in your room?”
“What? No!”
“Oh. Well, perhaps—” But she never learned what he was going to say because at that moment a giant red head appeared, letting loose a mighty roar right in the boy’s face.
Lili cringed. “Maybe I should have told him about the dragon.”