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Thank you @Naomi053 for her interpretation of Sylvia Tiona, Arabelle's mother, in the media section!

EDIT Nov 2018: So, I was doing some comment reading, and further in this chapter there is a little paragraph where I mention something somewhat sexist. Please keep in mind, I am a FEMALE and obviously stand for female rights and empowerment, but I was also trying to stick to the historical accuracy (even though it's fantasy but you know what I mean). Arabelle is reading a HISTORY book, when women weren't considered capable as doing a lot of the same things as men. However, they are also given the honour of performing another task, which depending on your perspective you could see it as even more honourable than what them men do. Again, I did not write it to be sexist, I wrote it for accuracy.

~

Chapter One

"Come on, Arabelle, surely you can do better than that!" Daniel said, sitting casually on his horse Nike, holding his sword in hand. He had the same complexion as me; a head of raven black hair paired with emerald green eyes, something I was very proud of. Yet at the moment, those emerald green eyes he had were filled with amusement and it was irritating me beyond belief. I narrowed my eyes at him and loaded an arrow once again, determined to prove him wrong, then pulled back the string. As I went to fire, my dog Missi jumped up onto Thunder's back and threw me off my target. My arrow flew out of my bow and by some miracle it went straight to the bullseye. I smiled, acting as though I had planned it all along and stuck my tongue out at Daniel.

"See? I can do it."

Crackle, crackle. Startled by the sudden sound of crunching leaves, we turned with our weapons poised to attack, when Rory – my other brother – rounded the corner, arms in the air, but his expression was anything but worried.

"Woah, easy both of you."

I let my arrow go and watched it hit the tree right above his head, "You scared us, Rory! We thought you were a wildling or something."

He pulled the arrow out of the tree and clicked his tongue, then tossed it back to me, "Sis, control that temper...it is as hot as a dragon's breath."

"Dragons don't exist, idiot," I said and shoved the arrow back into the quiver as Missi climbed onto my lap. "I am going to head back now because someone has ruined the mood by giving me a heart attack. Thanks for the session, Daniel."

Daniel smiled and Rory waved as gently urged Missi onto the ground and cantered back through the forest. I loved the feeling of the fresh air blowing past my ears, and the smell of the earth around me. This was truly where I felt most at home. Eventually though, the clearing leading to the castle came into view, ruining my momentary freedom, and I slowed down to a trot. The guards pulled up the gates and I rode Thunder in, then jumped off him next to my family's house at the castle. I put Thunder into the small, fenced paddock made for our horses and stepped inside to find my mother ready and glaring at me from her seat in the drawing room.

"Arabelle, take your boots off this instant, and get into a dress! We don't want you being caught in public wearing your pants and one of your brother's shirts! Do you want to ruin our family's reputation?" She stormed over and took the archery weapons from me. "No more weaponry."

I moaned, chasing after her. She was always so highly strung, "But mum, this isn't fair! You didn't care that I used them back home, but now that I could 'ruin' Evangelina's future with the Prince, it suddenly matters?"

"Yes, and since she is sick, I need you to go and visit her, showing your love and commitment to this family. At least put on an act for her sake," my mother snapped angrily as the King walked grandly into the house – without being welcomed in, I might add – smiling broadly.

"Beautiful Silvia, why can I hear your voice from a mile away?"

My mother smiled bashfully, "I apologise, your ma-"

"Arthur, please, we are practically family already! After all, my son is completely captured by your daughter."

"I apologise, Arthur. I was just telling Arabelle to go and deliver some food to our dearest Evangelina."

The King nodded with understanding. "I do hope the poor girl gets better. She needs to bear us a strong, handsome son," and then he walked out laughing as abruptly as he had entered in the first place. My mother narrowed her eyes and snatched my arm roughly, her voice shaking a little as she spoke,

"Never mention word that Evangelina lost a child. Never, do you understand? If you do, our entire family would be shamed, including you."

I nodded as I snatched an apple from the fruit bowl, hoping she didn't see me rolling my eyes at the mention of my so-called reputation. "I will go and visit our dear sweet Ange to give her the apple," my voice was dripping with sarcasm as I went. As I walked out of the door, I tossed the apple to Thunder – to which he replied with a happy nicker – and pulled my boots back on. I walked the short distance to the doctor's home, which is where Evangelina had been staying since we returned to the castle. Her condition had gotten worse since then, but there was nothing the doctor could find wrong, so we just simply had to wait. I greeted workers as I went past, which would normally surprise them to have a noble greet them, but they all knew me well and simply returned my greetings. I didn't fancy following the usual 'code of conduct' for nobility. So what if they hadn't been born with a certain name and certain family history? They worked harder than many noblemen I knew, and so they earned my respect much more than any man or woman with a fancy title.

I made my way into the doctor's home and the nurse pointed me to Evangelina's room and I walked down the hall to find Harrison was already in there. I froze on the spot, suddenly a little flustered, and bowed awkwardly. We hadn't really spoken properly since we returned. Not only had he not had time spare, but whenever he did he was forced to Evangelina's side as the ever dutiful fiancé.

"Your grace," I said and walked to sit in the seat next to Evangelina, who was soundly asleep for the moment. Harrison smiled at me with one of his usual warm, lopsided grins that made my heart race a little.

"Why are you visiting her?" He asked, somewhat innocently, despite knowing exactly why, "Your mother forced you, right? I could here her yelling from here."

I blushed with embarrassment, "Yeah, she gets angry at me a lot, I guess. I'm not the perfect child she expects of me, not like Evangelina. I never have been, even since we were children."

Harrison sat in a chair on the opposite side of the bed to me, watching me thoughtfully. "Do you ever miss childhood, Arabelle?"

I looked up, confused by the sudden question. "I-I'm sorry? I don't quite understand, Prin-"

"Just Harry is fine," he interrupted kindly, "but don't you miss the days when we would race to the top of the castle and watch the sunrise? Do you ever remember that?" His voice had picked up at the happiness of the memory.

"I try not to, actually," I mumbled, suddenly not in such a good mood, and stood up. "When she wakes up, tell her I gave her apple to my horse," I said briskly and quickly walked out before my emotions went too crazy. Somehow, just seeing him now have me a mixture of feelings I didn't fully understand. He was my sister's fiancé! Everything I was feeling was so, so wrong! I strolled through the streets irritatedly, kicking rocks and pebbles along the way.

"You know, it isn't very lady like to do that," I heard a gruff voice say from beside me and looked up to find Christian, Harrison's younger brother. He was the same age as me, and had black hair and blue eyes – the same eyes that belonged to Harry. He looked so similar, but so different all the same. While Harry was taller, had brown hair and has a built that shows he is ready for a fight with only a moment's notice, Christian had a much slimmer frame – more so than even mine, which was certainly a statement considering my severe lack of curves. His black hair was kept short and he was about my hight, maybe even less. No, he has grown since the last time I noticed. He was definitely taller than me now, which only made him appear even lankier.

"Oh well. I guess I'm not a lady then, am I?"

Christian grabbed my hands and pulled me to face him, "Arabelle, you need to remember that soon you will be part of the royal family! You cannot be caught out like this. I'm telling you this for your own sake, not for mine. I couldn't care less about it. Just be glad it was me and not my mother."

He didn't mean just through Evangelina either, but also through him; mother chose to have us betrothed too. There was nothing wrong with him, but for some reason, I knew us being married wasn't right. "Christian, I am sorry, but it just isn't me to walk about in a dress and smile and be polite. It just doesn't feel right."

He sighed, clearly frustrated with my attitude, and I pulled my hands away with a bit more force than needed. He gave me one final look before he walked off and I went back to the house. I flipped my boots into the corner of the doorway and marched up the stairs, then flopped onto my bed with a loud sigh. I undid my ponytail and let my hair fall loose. It felt better that way. I closed my eyes and pictured myself flying, away from this place and to somewhere peaceful, but more than that – somewhere free. I sat up, suddenly remembering a place I could go, and crawled under my bed to a small hatchway only big enough for one person to fit through. My mother didn't know about it.

I can't remember exactly how I discovered it in the first place. After all, it was such a strange place for it to be, and I still didn't understand how it even connected to the dungeons below. Since my room was on the very edge of the house, I guessed that there must be some section of the house that was closed off so that the little passageway could fit into it all. No matter what, whoever had made it clearly had a reason for putting it there, and over the years I had lived in this house, I had explored it more times than I could remember. Whenever I wanted to get away, I went down there. My mother believed I snuck out the window.

I opened it and crawled down the ladder into the tight tunnel that went straight down. If I had a fear of heights or small spaces, this would have been a living hell to get down. Not only that, but once the hatch was shut it was pitch black until I reached the large expanse of passage ways below. I grabbed one of the torches lining the wall and walked through the thin layer of murky water. I had been down here many times and knew these maze-like passages back to front. Of course, I had also had my fair share of getting completely lost and wondering if I would make it out again. Where is it, I wondered to myself, but not too long after, I found it: The gates to a secret archive. Well, maybe it wasn't so secret, but it was certainly ancient and never used anymore. All it held was old history books, but I enjoyed reading them. I squeezed through the worn gates and found my favourite book.

I took the dust-coated book over to my makeshift table and chair and put it down, then brushed the dust off. I turned the cover to reveal the title: The Dragons. The first page was a giant map of what was the original eight lands, each with its own ruler and dragon – well, so the legend says anyway. In the centre was Gold, the most powerful King and his dragon, which was a Gold dragon. Surrounding them was Air on the left, Ice on the bottom, Fire on the right and Storm on the top. They were the most loyal to the crown. Then the ones who would rather someone else were near them; Water was near Ice and Storm, Poison was near Air and Earth was near Fire. It was an intricate map that I always admired before reading the rest of the book. Somehow the fables of the dragon's had always spoken out to me, and made me believe that maybe – maybe – there was a pinch of truth in them. I turned the page and it read;

The Kingdoms of the Dragons united once and for all. They made peace with their enemies and have restored balance. All is well once more...

And so on. I skipped the next few chapters because they always bored me. It was all politics of their peace treaties and agreements and things that only kings and queens had to worry about. It also had a lot about some King and his dragon, Arifion. I suddenly stopped at a part of the book that I didn't remember seeing before. I had read this book a hundred times before and it surprised me to see something new. Maybe I just skipped past it before, I thought to myself curiously. I did skip a lot of the book that I just assumed was boring nonsense. It was titled 'The Legacy'. I turned to the first of the writings and read bits of it to myself, deciding whether it was interesting or not.

"To whom it may concern...no matter how long, dragons will remain..." I scrolled down the page to a marking. It looks like a dragon curled around a sword. Ah, something interesting. "The marking of a dragon heir."

I turned the page to see lots of detailed sketches of dragons and riders, famous for their bravery or courage or other things. King Salvidor and Arifion of Gold - for making peace with all the Kingdoms. Lord Marlo and Kastar of Fire - for winning one of the great wars for peace. Lord Sanso and Muro of Earth - for sacrificing himself for the King. Prince Alistair and Hunter of Storm - for being the first to tame and ride a Storm, and the list goes on, with Gold and Fire dragons being the most common, and only men riders. Many of the sketches also came without names. I recalled reading only the men were allowed to ride dragons back in the days of dragon riding. Woman cared for them and fed them, but the men rode them.

I heard the sounds of movement further down the maze, but it echoed up to me, and I quickly blew out my torch when I saw light in the tunnel. I quickly pushed the book back into it's spot and crawled into a shadowed corner of the room where whoever it was shouldn't be able to find me. I held in a slight gasp and shuffled further into the darkness when I saw who was coming. It was the King's advisor and King Arthur himself. He never came down into these tunnels! What could be so important or interesting that he would be compelled to come down here?

"Your grace, this tunnel has been abandoned by our staff for centuries. No one knows about it anymore aside from the King's advisors. It's a little secret right of passage between us all. Not even your father knew about it."

The King huffed to express his boredom and put a key into the lock on the rusted gate. He wouldn't have fit through the little hole I normally slipped through. "Then why bring me down here?"

"Because we need to check if Silvia is right; if there is something different about Arabelle. The way she acts, the way she behaves, none of it is the way a lady should." I almost laughed at how he was speaking. They acted as though it was a mutation for a girl to act like this! Prejudiced freaks, I thought to myself as I watched them. The advisor walked down an isle in the little room and pulled out two books; one a book on family archives and one... a book on dragons? What would he need that one for? They sat at my table and flipped through the pages of the family ancestory book.

"Here it is, Tiona," the advisor scrolled his finger down the page. "The last one entered is Maxwell Tiona, and Arabelle is just above him."

The King nodded and they opened the dragon book, "Gold dragons normally have a royal rider, so no for her." Why were they comparing me to the personality types common for dragon riders? "Fire, aggressive riders: yes. Water, beautiful riders: quite plausible. Earth, messy and careless riders: yes. Poison, cunning and deceptive riders... I don't think so. Air, calm and peaceful riders: no. Storm, fierce and brave: yes. Ice...no description?" The King sounded surprised and raised a brow at his advisor. "Ice has no description."

The advisor seemed flustered and grabbed numerous other books on dragons, trying to find the answer for the King, yet every single one was lacking a description on ice dragons. Even more was that there was very little information on past riders or appearances of ice dragon eggs as well. He scowled as he flicked through them. "That's very odd," was all he said, though it was clear he was also getting frustrated. He found one last book, hidden at the very top of the shelves. It was titled 'Ice Dragon Myth'. The advisor seemed to slump a little in relief and opened it, smiling a little giddily. I don't like that smile, I thought to myself, shivering a little.

"Here we are, your majesty. It says that ice dragons are very rare, far rarer than Gold dragons. This is because ice dragons will only be ridden by those pure of heart. Who never lie, speak the truth, follow their heart and their dreams, and et cetera." The advisor seemed to rush his ending as he turned to the King. "She fills this, sire."

Arthur frowned, clearly thinking hard about something. "And you are sure that you are the only one who knows about these archives? What kind of books are down here? Anything that might reveal anything we don't want out?"

The advisor laughed nervously, "No, no, of course not. Only advisors have ever written anything that comes into these archives, so nothing in here could offend the royal family. No one but you and I know about this room, I am sure of it, your majesty."

The King nodded and closed the book, storming out of the caged library with his torch and turned left, going down a set of stairs I had never noticed before. I'm discovering I missed a lot of things today, I thought. Once the advisor finished putting the books away and followed after him, I slowly creapt after them, curious as to where they were going. Something told me that I shouldn't, but I couldn't help myself. Down the stairs, I could hear the King talking.

"These old bones will crumble if we so much as touch them. We need to keep them safe down here. Lock this area off and have a guard permernantly. I do not want someone walking astray and touching it. They need to be kept solid. He was my great-great-great grandfather's gold dragon...or something like that. Arifion, I believe his name was."

I nearly gasped, but I quickly put my hands against my mouth to silence myself. Arifion was the first Gold dragon and ruled along side the first King. His bones were still in the castle! The mere idea that I had often been reading right next to the bones of something so amazing gave me a thrill. I rushed back and hid again as the King and his advisor walked out and back down the tunnel. I heard a gate being closed and locked further up, but I knew I could still get to my room through the hatch. Quietly, I snuck down the stairs and around the corner. It seemed too eerie to move much louder than that for now. At first, I didn't see anything, but once I took a step back, I realised I just couldn't see all of it. The dragon's head was extremely large, it had to be at least the size of a pig, maybe even larger. It's teeth still looked sharp and solid, and when I dared to touch them I had to pull my hand away, seeing a little dot of blood forming where I had cut myself. I walked down along side the dragon remains until I saw his wings. How could a dragon be so big? Somewhere I remembered reading that gold dragons were an abnormally big species of dragon, which is why they looked so impressive. I walked over to the wings and ever so gently touched the stretched fabric, shivering at its coolness. I continued down to the tail, having to weave in and out of the dragon because his remains filled up the entire cavern. It's tail at the very end had a spike on it, most likely a weapon for in combat. I didn't dare touch it; the thousands of needles on it would definitely cut my hand open. I looked up on the wall and saw something scribed in;

Here lies Arifion, first Gold dragon, whose rider was King Salvidor. He died only weeks after King Salvidor, having been too old to continue. He was left in this chamber to be a reminder of the power of the first King and his dragon. To remember history. Generations from now, this may or may not be found. Arifion was a proud and strong Gold dragon, and will be forever remembered. His head will be the symbol of royalty, as decided by King Salvidor a few hours before his death.

Arifion left six eggs behind that will go to the sons of King Salvidor, and any left over will go to their children. It is assumed that a Gold dragon will produce Gold dragons. Prince Lucarius will succeed as rightful king now, and Arifion gave him his blessing. A King and his dragon will be replaced by their eldest son and their dragon.

Signed by King Salvidor's personal advisor,
Rufis L. Tiona

Tiona! I was amazed to see my family's surname. The first King's advisor was my ancestor? No wonder our family had always been so closely bound with the royal family. I looked back to Arifion and bowed respectfully, suddenly awed by the presence, even long deceased. I could only imagine how people felt seeing him living and breathing.

"I will respect you, Arifion. The world has forgotten you, but I will not. How could I? I read about how you rescued Salvidor and created the first human and dragon alliance, joining the kingdoms and creating peace. You're the first Gold dragon, the most powerful, and the first dragon to ever be risen. You are no longer the face of the royal family, though. Many, many years of neglect has left you like this," I looked around to where the ruins of torch holders, chairs and other things lay, but a stone box still rested intact by the far wall. I walked over to it curiously and crouched down, reading the engraved writing.

Box of Offerings to Arifion.

Any who leave an offering may also ask for a wish to be granted.

I put my hands in my pockets and found I had only one thing to offer; a small flower I picked to give to Christian, as a sign of my 'love', but I had forgotten all about it. I placed the flower gently in the stone box, ignoring the stench of whatever long since deceased animal was left in there, yet the pungent smell remained. I was actually rather impressed.

"My only wish is that the dragons come back. The kingdom needs your wisdom again, Arifion, please help us. Help me."

I stood up and heard a small crack. I thought I was the only person down here? I turned around with fear and saw the King standing at the stairs, having heard everything. He didn't look impressed in the slightest.

"I knew we weren't alone down here. I could just feel it. What are you doing down here, Arabelle?"

I narrowed my eyes. "It's Lady Arabelle, your grace, and I was down here giving my respects to Arifion. It seems I am the only person who has done so in a very long time." I quickly covered my mouth, realising how disrespectful I sounded. I was already in a bad position: talking smart would only make things worse.

"This area is hidden well. How did you discover it?" The King took a step forward and I moved backwards the same distance.

"That is for my knowledge only. Read what is engraved back there, your grace. It will enlighten you to your families wrong doings."

The King strolled over to the wall and read it, turning back to me, "So what if we don't use the dragon's head as our symbol anymore? It's just a dragon."

I raised my eyebrows in shock. Screw being nice, "Just a dragon! Arifion was the conqueror in terms of dragons. He was the first of the Gold dragons, and the first to show kindness to humans. Once he saved King Salvidor's life, he was protected by the old royal code; Thou whom saves the King shalt be eternally safe. We do not go by that anymore, do we, your grace? Arifion was safe under that word, and Salvidor took Arifion into his castle and made a deal. Arifion would be known and respected – treated like a god, if I might say – and in return, he would allow Salvidor to ride him. Arifion agreed to it, but didn't ask to be treated like a god in return. He did it because he wanted the safety that a human could give him. Dragons we hunted for a long time, did you know?"

The King rolled his eyes and strolled over, grabbing my wrist. "No, I did not, and you just wasted thirty seconds of my life telling me some useless information about fairytales. I am taking you to your mother. Be glad I do not call you for treason."

I pulled my wrist away, "Treason! Whatever for!"

"For entering castle grounds without permission, for entering sacred grounds without permission, and for nearly destroying part of our sacred history," the King growled and went to grab my wrist again, but I pulled away in time.

"No, your majesty. I did not 'nearly destroy it'. I was giving Arifion the respect he needed. After all, he was meant to be treated like a god. Didn't you just say I wasted your time telling you about fairytales anyway? If it's all fairytales, then this shouldn't matter!" I then ran off before he had time to react, up the stairs and up the ladder while the King still hadn't gotten up around his big belly. I rushed up the ladder as fast as I could, opened the hatch quietly and snuck back into my room, then locked it behind me, panting and out of breath. I had been terrified of what would happen if I was caught. He could still easily tell my mother about it! What would I do? I should have never gone exploring in places that were clearly not meant to be explored. I opened my door and walked down the stairs to get some fresh air and preferably get away from this place for a while – maybe Rory and Daniel were still in the woods – but knowing my ever terrible timing, Prince Harrison was carrying Evangelina into the house.

"The doctor says she is well enough to stay at home, but needs constant care," he placed her on a soft chair. If she needs constant care, I am certainly not volunteering for that, I thought, glaring at her. He smiled at me, despite seeing my deadly glare and spoke.

"Come with me for a bit, Arabelle. I need help moving Evangelina's belongings back."

I skipped down the stairs and out of the door before my mother – who was still in her drawing room – could speak a word and walked to the doctor's home in silence beside Harrison. It wasn't exactly an awkward silence, but I did notice that he looked like he had something to say. I stayed silent, wondering if he planned on telling me what it was he wanted to say, but he never spoke up. When we got to the doctor's home, I grabbed an armful of items and Harrison did the same, so we had of all her belongings. It was when we were walking back that Harrison finally spoke to me.

"My father is getting very worried about marrying you to Christian. My brother came home earlier very distressed and said you were kicking rocks at him or something? I'm guessing he doesn't particular want to marry you either."

I scowled with irritation. Lying little brat, I thought to myself, recalling how Christian had said he didn't care about that. Any excuse to get out of marrying me would do for him. "No, I was kicking rocks around in boredom when Christian came over and got up me for it, then I just went back home."

Harrison laughed light heartedly like he always did, "I didn't believe him for a second, if it helps. He is always making stuff up."

We walked a bit more in silence before I decided to ask. "Do you believe in the legend of Arifion and Salvidor?"

"Arifion and Salvidor? Isn't that the bedtime story about the kingdoms and dragons?"

I nodded, glad he at least knew who they were, "But do you believe in it?"

He laughed again, "Not for a second, Arabelle, sorry."

I smiled and laughed as well, "I know, I was just asking." Inside, I knew I had to find away to show him, but I could guarantee the King was already locking that place down like it was a hundred million gold coins and not the remains of a dragon. For some reason I just wanted to make sure that Harrison believed me, even if no one else would listen to me. I knew for a fact that no one in my family would listen. My mother and sister would call me crazy, while my brothers would just laugh. We dropped the items off in Evangelina's room and as we went to leave, Harrison grabbed my arm. It seemed like he was really nervous about whatever he was going to ask next.

"Race to the roof tomorrow? Just like when we were kids, for old time's sake, hm?"

I smiled, just happy that he had offered for us to do something alone, like old times. "Why ever not?"

He smiled with relief and left looking a lot more relaxed, while I rushed up to my room. After realising I wanted someone to believe me, I would have to find more evidence. I opened my cupboard and pulled out an old leather bound book. One I took with me from the library when I first found it. I'm sure it was one of the ones that made the King so anxious about people finding it: The Manual of Legends.