Avis glared at the young woman in the tower and put on her most menacing face.  The princess continued to wail and whine, oblivious to the smoke coming from Avis' nostrils.  If she let out a flame would the woman be silenced or would she only screech louder? Not willing to risk her hearing anymore than she already had, Avis stretched her wings and took to the sky, surveying her little kingdom. Towers of gray stone pierced the sky and rubbled steps circled the twin towers. A crumbling bridge connected the structures.  The castle consisted of two, half-broken walls; mounds of stone and slate, surrounded by acres and acres of unoccupied, barren land.  Only around her small tear-filled lake did vegetation grow.

The only person in her little kingdom was the spoiled, whiny princess. Dumped in the crumbling tower by the old crone who had cursed Avis herself so many years ago she had lost count.  What she did know, was that she had been eighteen when the crone took her from her family, brought her to this wretched place, and turned her into a dragon.

She was not born a princess, nor was she born to a poor family in need.. Avis' father sold milk and cheese in the village and her mother made beautiful quilts.  Neither was she a spoiled child, nor neglected. She cared for the cows and calves, rode horses with her friends, and had a normal childhood; going to the village celebrations with her family and rejoicing with the people when a prince or princess was born to one of the hundred royal families in the realm.

Avis shook the memories away as she landed beside her lake. She peered into the clear water, not looking at herself, knowing just what she would see, but instead looking further down at the colorful fish swimming without a care in the world.  That is how she used to be.

Mama told her tales when Avis was a babe in arms. The normal ones: beautiful princess taken by a mean, wicked witch, trapped in a tower, guarded by a ruthless, hideous dragon. Knight after handsome knight comes to slay the dragon and save the princess.  Avis fell asleep each night hearing the story, pretending to be the princess and finding happily-ever-after with her knight in shining armor.  

Pretty dream, but nothing like the reality of it.  That reality had crashed down on Avis the moment the crone whisked her away from her family.  They had appeared by the lake, a small little pond at that time and words were spoken in a language Avis didn't know.  

She closed her eyes as the memory rushed back: a flash of light and she had flung her hands up to protect her eyes - then the pain started.  Her body had twisted, her bones had broken, and her form had changed.  The crone continued to speak and Avis had screamed, only to have the sound change to a great roar that drowned out the crone's words.  

Silence.

What have you done to me? Avis remembered asking. Though no words came out, sound rumbled out of her mouth ending in a puff of smoke.

The crone spoke again, her words rapid, her look wild. Avis crouched down on her front legs so they were at eye level. Her numbed mind refused to acknowledge what the crone had done. Then something snapped around her neck, cold, heavy, and metal. A chain.

Avis let out a great roar now to shake the land, angered at how easily she had been caught, ensnared, and cursed.   The crone's parting words were hardest to accept, and Avis remembered them as if they'd been spoken just that afternoon: "There now, that's better. You will remain here, my pet, guarding the princess from would-be rescuers. Any knight who comes to take her away, you must attack."

Avis had rose to her full height - an imposing sight if she remembered right - and made to lunge at the crone.  Some invisible force snapped her back. The crone laughed and explained.

"You cannot harm me, ‘tis part of the curse. Only I know what you were, to all others you are nothing more than a fierce dragon."

And her reasoning? Avis hung her head in sadness, for the crone's answer was no answer

at all.

"You have a pure heart," she had said before vanishing..

Avis now turned her gaze to herself.  Her mother's tales always told of beautiful princesses guarded by an ugly dragon.  At least she had that part right.  Avis was hideous. Black as night with a long, large face, eyes like coal, sharp teeth and claws; her tail had spikes..  In her mother's tales the princesses had all been beautiful.. Petite, little dolls with corn silk, or raven hair, summer-sky, or deep chocolate eyes, and always-peachy skin that glowed.

All captive princesses were supposed to be good-natured, kind-hearted, seeing the beauty under the ugly.  None of the stories spoke of the spoiled princess who whined.  While Avis had had her share of the kind-hearted ones, the latest princess she wished to swallow in one gulp - if only the blasted curse would let her.   Not only did she whine, but also she cried, no, wailed like a banshee and threw temper tantrums.  

The tug started in Avis' belly, like a hunger, only she wasn't hungry just having eaten that morning a nice, crunchy knight.  But the compulsion was always the same. A knight approached the tower to rescue the princess and while Avis would have readily handed any of the princess's she had had to watch over time to the knights, the curse forbade it.

She took to the sky and circled overhead as the knight rode forth on his white steed.  The horse's ears came up as it scented her, but the fool knight was oblivious.  His armor shone in the sun and she had to squint to see past the glare.

As he rode across the ruined bridge, Avis found herself cheering for him. Please take the princess! she wanted to call out, but the cursed dragon that she had become let out a mighty fire-laced roar and swooped down on the knight. She picked him up in her claws and instead of crushing the life out of him she flew around the castle. She had learned long ago that once the knights were no longer a threat, the desire to kill them vanished. So she placed him in the second tower where he joined a number of fellow knights who also thought to kill the dragon.

Time passed slowly in her little kingdom and Avis wondered when the old crone would return to take the princess from her.  Unlike the tales from her youth, no knight ever rescued a princess from her; instead the crone came and took the princess back to her family after a ransom had been paid.  Avis thought that was cheating.  

When the crone finally appeared, she looked at the two towers and shook her head. "Why you will not kill them, I cannot understand. They will be your death, Dragon. I've come to take the princess home," she said. "The ransom has been paid. Off with you, now."

Sometimes Avis tried to fight, but she would be glad to be rid of this cranky princess, and so she took to the skies.  As she flew, the crone said, "By the way, your parents are dead. Died of grief, not knowing why you ran off."

Avis let out an angry, agonizing roar and flew to the far end of the estate.  Tears dropped into her lake, adding to the many she had shed before.  This was not the first time the crone had left her parting, scathing words.

"Your betrothed has married today, Dragon."

"Your best friend married a prince and has a daughter, she didn't name it after your memory."

"Your village burned to the ground, Dragon, few survived."

Avis had steeled her heart against the cruel words, but she wept by the pond and it grew to a lake.  

She knew the moment the crone left, but waited a few days knowing she would return to an empty castle.  She wasn't surprised to find the knights gone as well when she finally did return.

It was an endless pattern: twice every decade or so the crone would bring a princess between sixteen and twenty years old.  Some were friendly, portraying what all the tales told of how a princess should be, others were like the wailing princess and Avis looked forward to the day they left..  

She also saw many of the same knights over and over; a surprise since she had believed the crone killed the knights. Some she liked to think of as friends. They would greet her as such:  "Well met, Dragon, try not to dent the suit this time, if you please."  After a half-hearted attempt at rescue, Avis would pick them up and lock them in the tower.

There were a few knights she never wished to see again.  One such knight she met while watching her sixth princess. She was a sweet one and liked to poke fun at the knights - though always with a smile, and she didn't fear Avis, a fact she was grateful for.

But this knight, a young one on his first quest no doubt, came at Avis with sword held high, a war cry in his throat and eyes that sparked with malice. She had barbeque that night. She was, after all, a dragon, and while the crone provided food three times a day for the princess and the knights - once she realized what Avis was doing with them - she failed to provide for her dragon. Avis had to eat sometime and once she embraced her dragon nature, it wasn't so terrible.

Time ran together for Avis and after she had guarded her eleventh princess, she spent decades alone. Her reputation had grown, however, and even though there was no princess to guard, knights still came, as if by facing her they proved something.  Some days to entertain herself, she gave them the fight they wanted and even allowed them to take a few scales.  Other times she ate them before they hefted their sword.

Then, one day, the old crone appeared. In her arms she held a small bundle.

"Come, Dragon," she called and Avis had no choice but to obey. She placed the newborn in Avis' care and vanished with no instructions.

Avis looked down at the infant, so tiny in her clawed hand, and knew she wouldn't be captive long. Her ransom would be paid and she would be returned home where she belonged.

To Avis' surprise a year passed, then two, then ten and still no one came for the child. Not even the knights.  Something was wrong; this child was different. It was only after the first knight arrived, when the child had been captive twelve years, that Avis learned the truth. A young man, barely into his whiskers, explained who the child was after he had been locked him away.  He didn't seem too put out by that either.

"She is not your ordinary princess," Gavin said. "She is daughter to the king and queen of all the realm."

The daughter of the rulers of the 100 Kingdoms? How was that possible? Surely her parents wanted her back? But since Avis could not ask any of these questions, the knight didn't answer them.  As she collected knights who came for the child princess, more of the story surrounding the child was revealed.

The crone had stolen the child from the birthing room. She had been payment for some trickery the crone employed on behalf of the queen. But now, the king and queen wanted her back and were sending as many knights as were available to come for her.

For the next six years, Avis ate well and often. It seemed the pompous, arrogant knight was in style now.

None of this fazed the young princess. At night she would sing of places and people neither of them had seen. Her sweet voice floated over the air like a fairy, and lulled Avis to sleep as she curled up on top of the princess's tower.  Avis felt torn. She was cursed to protect the princess and yet thought of the child as a friend. The first one she had had since the crone tricked her.

"Dragon," the princess called one evening. "Please, Dragon."  

Avis huffed a stream of smoke. She disliked being bothered once she had coiled up for the night.  But she found she couldn't deny the child anything.  Avis clutched the tower roof and lowered her head to look in the window.

She held the ugly face in her soft hands. "You've been my only family and friend for my whole life.  I know you are cursed and I will do what I can to help you break it."  She pet Avis' face and looked into her black eyes.  Avis narrowed her gaze..  She would not allow the princess to risk her life, not when she was beginning to like being a dragon. Besides, it would only draw the crone to her more and Avis couldn't allow that. So she puffed in the girl's face and returned to her perch.

"Yes, Dragon," Gavin added. "If there is a way to break your curse, tell us."

Avis shook her head and sent a puff of smoke at him. He could be a friend too if she let him.

She was the only princess Avis let ride her. They would take long flights in the early morning, sometimes late at night, to the confusion of the knights who had no idea what to make of the pair. It was not normal behavior for princess or dragon - at least not one with Avis' reputation.

It was on one of these evening flights that a knight arrived and the curse pulled Avis toward home. Once the princess was locked away, she headed out to meet the knight.

"Don't kill him if you don't have to, Dragon," the princess called as she did each time a knight came.  For her sake alone Avis tried to obey, but some knights just deserved to be barbequed.

This knight she found older, experienced. Handsome she supposed, though what does a dragon know of human beauty? He said nothing, but upon seeing the dragon, drew his sword, and advanced on his steed. She knocked the horse off his feet with a swipe of her tail.  The knight fell, and Avis wasted no time with play, she picked him up in her claws, and pulled the sword from his hands. She never understood why the knights thought they could kill her with something so small.  Avis took him back and dropped him with the other knights, trying to fight the impulse to rip him apart.  His scathing words assaulted her ears, only stopping when he laid eyes on the princess.

The princess stared at him and he at her. They smiled at one another and then his eyes traveled up to the top of her tower where Avis had landed.  An outspoken man, this one cursed and called her vile names. The princess glared at him and defended Avis. "You know nothing of us, sir knight! Do not speak cross to my dragon for I will not forgive it."

Love at first sight it was not.

By the time the princess turned nineteen, Avis had captured or killed nearly every knight in the realm. The crone was pleased and had begun to come more often to see the princess and taunt the knights.  When she left, she never forgot her parting shot.

"You have been forgotten, Dragon, nothing but an absent memory in time."

"You evil, vile creature! How could you cause it such pain?" This from the princess to the crone.  

Avis refused to let anyone see how simple words could hurt her still and climbed to the top of the tower. She curled into a ball as the crone vanished in a cackle of laughter.

"Dragon? Oh, Dragon, listen to her not.  I will always remember you. Please, Dragon."

But even the princess's words could not comfort her.  If anything it made the pain worse. Avis wasn't worthy of the princess's care. Tears fell like a silent rainstorm.

"What is it doing?" the newest knight, Jaxon, asked.

"The dragon cries," said Gavin, in a hushed voice with sympathy in his tone.

"That heartless beast?"

"It is not heartless or else we all would be dead now. Legend says the dragon was once a brave knight, cursed by the crone for freeing a princess.  Now it can only protect its princess against knights like it once was."

Pretty story, but so untrue.  

"I like to think it was a princess once," the princess said. "Cursed to that form until she finds her true love."

"Nothing could love that," Jaxon scoffed.

Avis buried her head for he was right and while the princess's story was as untrue as Gavin's, Avis knew the only way to break the curse was death: hers or the crone's.

Time again passed, though Avis wasn't sure if it was days or perhaps weeks, but the crone returned for a lock of the princess's hair. Avis feared what she would do with it, but could not stop her.  The princess cried as the crone cut the amber locks. The curse that demanded she protect the princess had Avis lunge for the crone, but the curse that protected the crone from Avis, snapped her back.  Avis roared and belched fire to the sky; she took to the air the moment the crone left.  She landed by the lake, angry at her situation and remained there until the curse pulled her back to the ruins.  The crone had arrived again and this time Avis swore she would not allow the princess to be harmed. To her surprised, the crone wasn't bothering with the princess but had started up the steps to the knight's tower.  Avis narrowed her eyes and puffed smoke in her direction.

"You should rejoice, Dragon, the princess's parents have finally agreed to my ransom. She will go home tomorrow. The knights however will die at sunrise."

Why? You've never killed them before? Avis growled, not knowing if the crone could understand her words.

"I have decided to live out my time here, now that all my demands have been met. With you guarding me, and knowing your inability to kill a knight, I will not allow any of these to come after me.  So death it is."

Avis lunged but the curse pulled her back. If she could not harm her, at least she could protect the knights. Avis stood to block the crone's path.  It may seem strange that she worried over so many experienced knights against one old crone, but Avis knew the crone was a powerful witch and suspected she would easily dispose of the brave knights.  She couldn't allow it, and planted herself in the crone's way.  The crone cursed her, which Avis laughed off. She threatened her, which Avis ignored. She tried to plead and cajole her, Avis puffed in her face.  When the crone finally left in a tirade of rage, the princess looked out her window.

"That was brave of you, Dragon, for I know you must obey her at all cost."

Not completely true, but Avis didn't try to change her mind.

"What will happen now, Dragon?" Gavin asked. "She will return to kill us and we don't know that she will take the princess to her family."

The knight was right, with the crone nothing was set in stone.  What to do? What to do?  Avis knew there was only one option.  She climbed to the top of the princess's tower to think. Was she strong enough to follow through? As night fell, Avis made her decision. After all, what did she have left to lose?

She lumbered to the pile of swords, bows and daggers she had taken over the years and brought them out. Avis tossed them on the floor of the tower in with the knights.

They stared at the weapons, not daring to touch them.

"We must take the princess with us, Dragon." Gavin said, gravely.

She nodded. She knew that.

"To do so we must kill you." He seemed sad about it.

Again she nodded.

"No, you cannot kill it!" the princess shouted. "Please, it is my only friend. Can't you see it is cursed?"

Gavin nodded and reached down for a sword. His Avis assumed. "Yes, princess, we know. Killing it will break the curse and don't you think it deserves some peace?"

Tears glistened in her pretty brown eyes.  "Let us go for one last ride then."

Avis agreed and they took to the air. The princess cried into the dark scales the whole way and when they returned the knights were waiting. The curse forced Avis to put the princess back into the tower and face the knights.

Looking at the mass, Avis hadn't realized she had collected so many knights. Gavin and Jaxon stood in front.  Yes, it would be fitting for them to kill her: her first knight and her last.

The curse only said she had to protect the princess. Most of her fighting came from protecting herself. This time Avis vowed not to, for as long as they left the princess alone, she had no reason to fight. And she was tired. Death would be a nice relief from doing the crone's work.

They advanced, the whole mass at once, cutting, striking, stabbing, slashing. Avis roared in pain at each attack, but refrained from defending herself until one knight snuck behind her and headed up the stairs to the princess. Avis struck out with her spiked tail, sending him flying.

With her attention diverted, Gavin slid his sword into her side. Avis reached down a clawed hand to the wound and Gavin backed away, his eyes wide as if uncertain what he had done.  Avis managed to pull the blade just before she toppled over.

Jaxon raced up the stairs to retrieve his princess and together they came to Avis' side.

"Oh, my dragon," she cried. Jaxon raised his sword, ready to take Avis' head, but Gavin stopped him.

"Look, the curse flees."

Avis lay dying and knew it, but she felt light and free. The chain around her neck fell off with a soft clang and her vision grew disorientated. She closed my eyes, fighting against the growing darkness. Air whispered around her and the heavy form melted away.

"By all that's holy, look!"

"It's a girl!"

The astonished cries from the knights filtered into Avis' head..  The scales fell off, lying on the ground, mixing with the shale and rock. She shivered as the air brushed her skin.

"Quickly, find me something to bind her wounds," Gavin said, and his hand was at her side, trying to stop the rapid blood flow.  "Forgive us, we did not know."  He brushed a length of hair from her face and Avis forced her eyes open.  He was quite handsome for a human, she decided.

"I still say we kill her," Jaxon said. He stood with sword at her throat. "She is in league with the crone and shouldn't be allowed to live."

"You are a fool boy and not worthy of the princess," Gavin said.

Avis could have told him not to bother; didn't he know how these stories went? It was always the brave, handsome knight who got the princess. Nothing was ever said about him being kind, caring or compassionate.

"D-dragon?" The princess knelt beside her and took Avis' small, thin hand in hers.

"You must go," Avis managed to whisper. "She'll know and come. Go, hurry."

"We cannot leave you," she insisted. The faces blurred as Avis' vision twined.

"No time. Jaxon, take the princess and a dozen guards. The rest of you, off you go to track the crone," Gavin directed.

They disappeared to their tasks, as if they'd never been there.. Gavin wrapped Avis' wounds and his was the last face she saw before darkness took her.

Avis stretched, flexing her claws and paused.  Where were her claws? She became aware that she did not lie on the shingled roof of the tower.. Instead she found soft satin pillows, a large warm quilt and silken sheets so smooth against her rough skin.  She ran a hand over the fine linens, even in her father's house, she had never slept on anything go grand.

Avis gazed around the room, which was done in pinks and whites. She wrinkled her nose, realizing she had come to like the desolate grays and blacks of her dragon nature.

Avis sat up and examined her hands in front of her. How long had it been since she had been human? Twelve princesses ago.  A couple of lifetimes in the past and yet her hands looked no different than the day the crone tricked her.  Avis rose and crossed the frilly room to the standing mirror.  She stared at her face.  No lines, no wrinkles. She was exactly as she had been before her dragon existence. How was that possible?

A chair held some clothes and Avis dressed in a simple blue skirt and white shirt, under things, and soft slippers, then headed out of the room and come upon the princess.

"Oh, you're awake!" she squealed and ran to hug her. "Mother, Father, hurry."

Avis was forced to sit though a long tedious dinner and answer questions of how she ended up as a dragon. None would accept her simple explanation of "I don't know".  Perhaps they felt she had done something awful to deserve her fate, or perhaps they had heard plenty of Jaxon's tales, or tales from other knights. Whatever their reasons Avis could not shake off the dragon, and her answers were short, her manners gruff.  The princess took no notice, but Jaxon, her parents, and their guests all did.  Their disapproval lay heavy on Avis.

That evening, after saying good night to the princess, Avis snuck out of the castle, stealing a set of Jaxon's clothing. Relieved to be out of the confines of the house and feeling much freer in the clothes than she had the dress, she made her way south.

As morning dawned, she snatched an orange from a tree and meandered down the road.

 Avis stopped as she came upon the crossways and stared at the figure there.

"Knight," she greeted, cautious. He had slain her once, after all.

Gavin rose and inclined his head. "Lady."

Untrue, but who was she to complain?

"Where do you travel?" he asked.

"Where ever the road leads," she said, especially if it led to finding the crone. Revenge drove Avis. She feared she would never be free of the dragon that demanded she kill the crone for what she put them through. Avis found she was not put off by the idea.

Gavin handed her the reins of one of the horses with him.  "Come on then, we'll travel faster this way."

So she followed her knight, willingly going where he led, and they traveled the land, seeing places and people Avis had never dreamed of. And all the while, they watched for the crone, the dragon in Avis roaring for vengeance, and her knight ready to lend his sword.