Hundreds of years ago, the dragons and humans came to an agreement. Since dragons liked to kidnap princess and human knights liked saving princesses. They came to a deal that the Kings and Queens would ask the dragons for help. Certain dragons can sense different parts of a human’s heart. A princess would say what kind of person she wishes to be married to and get sent to a dragon tower to wait for. Dragons are extremely powerful so they would only allow the humans they chose to pass. That way is not always perfect but all of the kingdoms have agreed to it all these years.

“They are planning on making the deal.” Princess Anya told me as I was sweeping the stables.

She was sitting on a bale of hay while swinging her legs back and forth. I gave her a chair before, to keep her dresses cleaned, but she prefers to sit on the hay. At least she chose to wear a yellow dress today so the hay blends in.

“Well that could be a good thing. You have met all of the princes so this gives you a chance with a non-noble.”

“I know Liam; it is just the idea of staying in a tower for who knows how long. What kind of food will I eat?”

“Well, Dragons seem to like meat so it sounds like a meat diet.”

She stopped for a few seconds before replying. She looked like she was thinking about the answer.

“That could be good to have. They never let me eat too much meat because Princesses are supposed to be perfect in shape.”

I heard metal footsteps coming towards us.

“Princess! There you are! Was this stable boy bothering you again?” The knight said as he came up to us.

“I came over here to talk to him, so if anything, I was bothering him.”

“Your mother is looking for you and sent me to find you.” He ignored her words as he spoke.

“Thank you Sir Kane.”

She got up and walked away from us. Then, Kane walked over to me with a smug look on his face. Even though I was shorter than he was, I did my best to look him right in the eyes. He pushed me to the ground and I landed in the pile of dirt that I just finished sweeping up.

“You should stay in the dirt where you belong.”

He walked away as I slowly got up.

“Stupid Kane, always throwing his fame around and bulling others. I hope that he gets flamed by a dragon soon.” I said to myself as I cleaned up the mess.

Sir Kane gained his knighthood by protecting Princess Anya from bandits as she passed by his village. He is only a year older than I am but he thinks that makes him better because he is the youngest knight at the age of twenty. I hope for the day that he falls face first into horse crap.

A few days later, Princess Anya left for the dragon tower. The whole castle was in a frenzy because almost all the young knights left and returned empty handed. Even the local farmers tried their hand at rescuing her. The only one near here that has not tried yet was Sir Kane.

“What do you mean you can’t find a squire for me? I need one to come with me to save the princess!” I could hear Kane yelling from all across the courtyard.

I was brushing Victory, Kane’s horse, the whole time while he was yelling at people. One rule when someone tries to rescue any princess is that they must bring a second person just in case they die. Knights are required to bring their squire with them but Sir Kane never had one.

When I was done brushing her, I gave her an apple. I normally cut out the cores before giving them to the horses. I heard the stomping of metal feet as I prepared to get pushed. As I fell down, I shifted my weight so I would not land on my face.

“Starting today stable boy, you are going to be my squire as I rescue Princess Anya. Your first duty is to clean my horse spotless.” That was when I noticed the bucket of dirt in his hands. “You have two hours to clean and get ready for the journey.”

I glared at him as he dumped the bucket on Victory. Then, he walked away with a smile on his face.

“I will give a sugar cube if you knock him off once.” I told Victory as I started cleaning her.

She just gave me a small neigh at me. Cleaning the dirt was hard because she is a pure white horse so the dirt was more noticeable on her. I gripped the wet cloth harder as I heard metal footsteps walking towards me.

“I swear if you have another bucket of dirt. I will let Victory kick you in the loins.”

“Wow, I just heard that you are going on a quest and this is how you treat people?”

I turned around and saw Sir Leon. He was the only person besides Princess Anya to treat me like a normal person and not just a servant. He is one of the older knights that did not go out on the quest.

“You would act like this if you had to deal with Sir Kane.”

“How long did he give you?”

“Two hours to do everything.”

“Here, I will clean Victory and I will let you borrow one of my spare horses. Go to your room, I set out all the stuff you need for the journey.”

I gave him a hug after giving him the sponge.

“Thank you!”

I ran towards my room, next to the stables, with a smile on my face. Sir Leon was the one that gave me my place at the castle. When I was only six years old, I was living in the streets, as an orphan, and I was begging for food and gold. He was passing through and saw me give all my gold to a beggar woman with a baby. He took all of us in and gave us homes and jobs. She started working in the kitchen and her little boy joined her later. Sir Leon helps me whenever he can and would buy me different trinkets from outside the castle.

I walked into my room and saw some armor and a few saddlebags, full of supplies. He even set aside a bag of gold for me. It was tricky for me to put on the armor. After I was done, I grabbed everything and walked back to the stables.

“Sir Leon! Thank you!”

He was smiling as he was petting a new horse. I could tell that this was one of his horses from his home because I have never seen him before.

“Come over here so you can meet Paladin and so I could fix your armor.”

I walked over to the horse slowly and I reached my hand out. He stayed still for a minute before he leaned his head against my hand.

“I think he likes me.”

“Good, now could you lift up your arm? I cannot figure out how you are both twisted and backwards.”

I was petting Paladin as he worked on fixing my mess-ups with the armor.

“Good job on the armor. You had them all in the right places even though you didn’t put them on right.”

“Thank you again.”

“Don’t worry, just come back home alive. Just to let you know, there is 200 gold in the pouch.”

I hugged him and he patted my head.

“Thank you so much! I will pay you back for all of your kindness!”

“I told you how, just come back alive.”

Everyone knows the risks with fighting dragons. Humans can die easily just from pissing of the guardian dragons but we cannot kill the dragons because they are rare from the knights of old.

“Squire! Where are you? You are going to be late!” I started to get angry as soon as I heard Kane’s voice.

“I am tempted to push him into the dragon’s mouth.” I told him and he started to laugh.

“Everyone had that thought at least once. Just don’t let him know about the gold.”

I thanked him again before getting the two horses to follow me. He was waiting for me at the gate. He did not say anything as he climbed onto Victory’s back, but then she bucked him off. I quickly gave her a sugar cube before helping him up.

“I don’t think she likes you for dumping dirt on her earlier.”

“Shut up Squire, Victory is just a beast.”

“I have a name and it is Liam.”

“No, you will never have any tales written about you, so you don’t have a name.”

I had the urge to push him into the dirt but I wanted to save Princess Anya and this is the only way. He got on the horse and rode off before I had a chance to get on Paladin. It was a good thing that Paladin was fast so I could catch up to him.

“You know the rules; two people must be at the tower for the quest!”

“I only needed you to get out of the castle. I could just pay a random peasant in the nearest village to come to the tower with me.”

“I hope the dragon eats you.” I mumbled quietly under my breath.

“What was that?”

“I was saying that you need me because everyone will think you lied and ran off if I go back by myself.”

“You have a good point, Squire.”

“Thank you, knight.” He gave a look. “You gave me a title as a name so I am doing the same to you.”

“Be a good squire and don’t talk.”

“No, I am not taking orders from someone like you.” He glared at me and rode ahead quietly. “If that was all it took to get him to shut up, I would have said it a long time ago.”

Paladin just neighed and shook his head as we continued on our quest. He almost got lost a few times until I pointed out the giant tower. It was a good thing that the tower was only three villages away from the castle otherwise Kane would never find it. I saw that the sun was setting as we reached the village right next to the tower.

“We should rest for tonight for the horses.” I told him.

“But we can rescue the princess and be back by morning.”

“You are more likely be dead by dawn by the dragon if you rush in.”

“Fine, we will rest your tiny little legs and fight the dragon tomorrow.”

He rode off ahead of me towards the inn. I got off Paladin and we walked towards the many shops. I was hoping to find something for Sir Leon as a ‘thank you’ for the gifts.

“What do you mean sixty gold? Last week, it was only thirty for the same amount of food!” I heard someone shout.

There was someone yelling at a nearby shopkeeper and I was amazed by how calm the shopkeeper was. She was relaxed even though the customer is a taller male.

“I’m sorry sir, but the rise in taxes made me raise the price. I could have you pay thirty gold for half of what you want.” The shopkeeper told him as I walked over to the pair.

“I need the full amount but I only brought thirty with me.”

“How about I pay for the rest? That way everyone is happy.” I said as I handed the shopkeeper the gold.

She took the gold from the two of us and wrapped the items for him. I carried half of the items as we walked away. I finally had a chance to look at the stranger. He had long, wavy auburn hair that was tied back into a ponytail. He was wearing a shirt that showed off scars on his arms. They were long and jagged in a way that looked like a giant beast attacked him before.

“Thank you for the help earlier.” He shifted the items around as he spoke. “I have not seen you around here before. Are you a traveler going after the tower?”

“Yes, I was dragged with a knight but I know that the princess would not marry him.”

I looked him in the eyes as I spoke and I was amazed by their color. They were the colors of rubies still buried in mud. They were the most perfect mixture of red and brown that I have ever seen.

“I would be careful then, I heard that the one guarding this tower is a fierce fire dragon that is not afraid to eat humans.”

He gave me a smirk that showed off small fangs.