First chapter of a story

This is a story I wrote a while ago.

Chapter One
The countryside raced by, bucking and rolling with every twist and turn. With the wind as the only adornment in Princess Cassandra’s hair, this was the only time in the day when she was not thinking about her appearance. One of the few smiles of the week lingered on her face during the ride, but it flew away with the wind when they stopped.
“You were going too fast again, Snoozy woozy,” she scolded. The horse remained calm, but his ears stiffened at the undignified name.
“I dropped my Mouse Fillet,” Princess Cream Puff whined.
“Oh you poor thing, I’ll have another one cooked as soon as we get home.” Cassandra took the cat out of its litter, and began stroking it between the ears, even taking out a small brush to fix its lustrous long white hair.
“Your royal highness,” a guard began tentatively.
“What?” she snapped sharply, her intense blue eyes fixing him with a hawks glare.
“We should be getting back,” said an older guard, filling in for his petrified comrade. Cassandra sniffed daintily, and turned the horse around.
“Are you going to put me back?” Princess Cream Puff said while yawning.
“Of course, dear,” Cassandra said. The cat’s fat body was extremely hard to lift, and she was only half way to the litter when a flash of silver came charging past her.
“Aaaaaaaah,” Princess Cream Puff squealed as she fell two inches through the air.
“How dare you!” Cassandra screamed to the guard, once she had the cat safely in her arms again. “If I hadn’t been so quick my darling Princess Cream Puff would have fallen! And maybe broken something! What right have you to come charging past me anyways--”
Her rant was interrupted by a bellow of surprise and rage. Looking up from her traumatized cat, Princess Cassandra froze. Not five yards away lay a huge dragon, smoke pouring from its nostrils. The older guard stood triumphantly a few feet away from its stomach, looking proudly at the fatal wound. As the dragons eyes slid closed for the last time, it roared once again. Cassandra shuddered as the earth shook, pebbles sliding down the hill and trees waving violently.
Her voice trembled as she said weakly, “You should have warned me first.”

Heads lifted when the first roar came, and everyone quaked with fear at the last. It was heard far and wide, but only the people working in fields near the scene of action saw the dragon.
“Huge, as big as a mountain!” rumors spread through the village like fire on hay. “A knight in shining armor defeated it after a long and bloody battle!” The only reason to place the guard in the category of ‘knight in shining armor’ was because between the dragon’s roars, the sun glinted on the guards shield, and silver beam of light reflected from the spot.
Dragons were an old race even then, and they did not venture down from their mountains and city much, and when they did they rarely had peaceful missions. So it was when the Princess Cassandra reached her castle home, the whole courtyard was abuzz with the exciting news.
The guard would have immediately set everybody right in the truth of the tale, but Cassandra sent him to the kitchens straightway to fetch a mouse fillet for Princess Cream Puff.
She took special care of her cat all afternoon, brushing it while it napped and letting it eat all afternoon. She herself was rather shaken, and so retired early after dinner.
“Goodnight dear,” her father the king said, his long beard wagging as he smiled at her.
Cassandra sniffed disdainfully as she turned away. She hadn’t been speaking to her father since the incident where he gave her a dress that fit her awfully! She had looked like a fool before the whole court when she wore it on her birthday.
“Don’t forget to put on face cream,” her mother said rather snappishly. The Haddock hadn’t agreed with her, and she was rather put out because she did not like indigestion. She had it every night, and she ate the Haddock every night too.
“Good night mother. I don’t need any beauty sleep.” and with an uplifted turn of her nose, as if to dare anyone to suggest that she did, Cassandra left.

The whole next morning the king sat on his throne, and thought. Very deep thinking it was, and he couldn’t be interrupted for anything. So after lunch he thought some more. He still looked rather puzzled during tea, and after that he shut himself in his study. A great deal of scratching on his head was said to follow.
But during dinner he looked very pleased, and went into his study. A few minutes later he came out chuckling, and holding some papers which he proceeded to blow on, to dry the ink.
“I call a council meeting,” he announced, standing on his throne so as to be heard above the murmurs of his courtiers. More murmuring followed that, and at 8:oo exact he went into his council room, after all his councilors, still grinning.
“If you haven’t heard yet, I shall tell you.” He said, suddenly very serious. He had to think very hard how to say his propositions, and nearly always got them muddled up, but the councilors were used to this and nearly always got them decoded sooner or later.
“There has been a recent attack of a dragon. I myself saw the smoke. A knight was said to have exterminated him. This is a brave thing to do, you might have guessed. Any ways, we haven’t had a dragon killer knight in a long time. I thought it would be nice if he could be introduced to the court, so if we ever get any dragon problems we can just ask him to pop by. All clear?”
The councilors murmured a general yes. He really had thought this one out!
“So, I am planning to lock my daughter up.”
“What?” came from all directions. His brow furrowed in concentration, the king said,
“I want him to marry my daughter. So I would hire a dragon, and lock my daughter up, and say whoever killed the dragon before, has to fight this one. And when they kill it, they could marry my daughter. Jolly good plan, eh?”
“How would you hire a dragon? Don’t you think their rather hard to reach? Why would one come here just to be killed?” Questions rained in from the confused counselors. Already beaming, the king laid his freshly written papers down.
“I’ve already written a letter!” he said proudly. “I’m asking them to have a dragon come down here, and have a contest between a human and him. I’ll say I’m awfully sorry when the dragon gets killed. What do you say, eh?”
“This might actually work!” The words made the king quite blush.

Though it was supposed to be a secret, the word got around the castle in a few days. As soon as Cassandra heard it, she marched straight to the guards head quarters. They ran bump bang! Into each other, as the guard was coming to talk to her too. As soon as Cassandra saw who it was, she burst out,
“This is all your fault! Why did you kill that stupid dragon anyway?” The guard cowered against the wall, but managed to put a word in, bravely saying,
“Your royal highness! Forgive me if I did something that did not please you. But I feared the dragon would attack!”
“You cant fight this next dragon. I would have to marry you! You! A commoner! I order you to be out of the castle the day it arrives!” She stood her very tallest, and looking her very sternest, adjusted her crown so it could not escape his notice that she was royal, and her word was to be followed.
“I would if I could,” The guard said, standing straighter, “But your father the king has also given an order. That whoever killed the last dragon has to at least fight this one. I plan to follow his word above any one else’s. Because he rules my kingdom. He is my king.” And with that, the guard walked very stiffly and proudly back to his headquarters.
“I’ll tell him you are the one who killed the dragon! He’ll take back his word. He wouldn’t let me marry you!” Cassandra yelled after the guard. And feeling triumphant even though the guard had disobeyed her, she went back to her room.
She was petting Princess Cream Puff when the terrible fact hit her. She still wasn’t speaking to her father!
Groaning, she hit the floor in frustration. She was awfully proud she knew, but she would not speak to her father, which implied that she had forgiven him! Deep down she knew she had, but she wished he had at least said sorry. By now he had probably forgotten why she wasn’t speaking to him.
So now she had no way out of her dilemma. She could either SPEAK TO HER FATHER! Or marry a commoner! She knew which one she would choose, but she wished she could get out of both.
Then a light bulb went off in her head. Aha! She knew how she would do it! She would simply go to the dragon the night before the fight, and tell him to fly away. It would work, and she wouldn’t have to speak to her father, or marry a commoner.
At least that’s what she planned.

KrazyKelia