“lonely and desolate as the place is, some trace of civilization must remain?”
zucky stared up at the “lone rider”.
finally she said, “you can come down and sit by the fire in the kitchen. but you have to let us go out and get the meat off your horse.”
the rider laughed. “that does not sound too hard a bargain. but who is this ‘us’ you refer to?”
“my sister and myself.”
“ah - a sister! you are an ugly little thing. is your sister as ugly as you?”
“oh no, master, she is as beautiful as i am ugly,” zucky replied, looking straight into the rider’s eyes.
“ha, ha! you do not say so. then perhaps this adventure may not end so badly after all. and does this splendid establishment house any other inhabitants?”
“only the dragon upstairs, the one who has kidnapped us, and requires us to wait on him night and day,”
“oh ho!” the rider seemed at first put out, and then amused by this. “then he must be the master of the house! i presume he does not spend his days sitting by a kitchen fire. present me to him if you please.”
zucky shrugged. “i will ‘present you to him’ as you put it, if you insist. but he spends his days in a sickbed, having been greatly weakened by a curse put on him, and is barely coherent at the best of times.”
“but in that case,” the rider began - “but - who is this?”
alexa, curious as to why zucky had not joined her in the kitchen, had reascended the stairs and now stood behind her facing the traveler.
“you must be the beautiful sister!” exclaimed the rider, with a gallant flourishing bow. “in my travels, i am often promised the sight of wonders, but never have i seen the promise so happily kept. you are indeed the most ravishing creature i have ever met!”
“that is all very well,” replied alexa, “but who are you and what are you doing here?”
“he is a vagabond, no doubt some sort of brigand,” zucky said, “and he rode his horse to death in the storm.”
the rider ignored zucky and addressed alexa. “i beg your pardon, but i am prince rabon, lawful heir to the lost kingdom of abazon, and besides being a weary traveler seeking shelter from the storm, i am also an experienced swordsman willing to slay a dragon, one of which, i am told, inconveniences your uniquely lovely self.”
“he didn’t say anything to me about slaying the dragon,” said zucky.
“the dragon can’t be killed,” alexa told the rider. “if he could, we would have tried it ourselves.”
“and why, if i may ask, can he not be killed.”
“because if you try to kill a dragon , the world will disappear. everybody knows that.”
“i did not know that,” replied the rider. “in any event, i am willing to make the attempt, for this world is not worth living in, my lady, if i can not serve you.”
“you wish to serve me, do you?” asked alexa, with the hint of a not very warm smile.
“i do indeed!”
“and who did you say you were ?”
“i am prince rabon, lawful heir of the lost kingdom of abazon, at your service.”
“and is anybody going to find the lost kingdom any time soon?” alexa asked.
“at least he said the same thing twice,” said zucky. “look here, why don’t you come down to the kitchen with us, take off your wet cloak and hat, and have some soup. and we can continue this interesting discussion.”
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