As traumatic as their parting had been, Hannah soon acknowledged it had been the right decision.  She now had no trouble keeping herself and her animals fed and comfortable.  It was strange and a little frightening at first, being out in the world without her sister, but Lepa, Fuhsa, Lobo, Ursa and Lea kept her from ever feeling truly alone.   She often thought of the dagger, imagining it shining bright and thus showing her sister healthy and well, but never thought to actually visit it, perhaps lest her comforting assumptions be shattered.

A few months after the separation, Hannah found herself entering the grand town of Blackhill, which surrounded the very castle of the Queen.  Curiously, all the buildings were hung with black cloth, and most passers-by on the street seemed forlorn.  Hannah arranged for a room at an inn with a stable, then negotiated with a farmer for a cow that would satisfy Ursa, Lea and Lobo for at least a day, if not two.

"Why is your town decorated so bleakly?" Hannah asked the farmer as she counted coins and hefted a clump of golden hairs experimentally.

"The Queen's son is to die...he is much beloved, so all are in mourning already," she answered, glumly.

"I'm so sorry to hear that!  Is there a sickness hereabouts?"

"No, no sickness...have you not heard of the Blackhill Dragon?"  Hannah shook her head at this, eyes widening.  "There is a dragon which roosts on the black hill for which our town is named.  Each year, she demands a tribute of a pure virgin in exchange for not laying waste to the entire kingdom with claw and fire.  Even with the Queen's reward, every knight or would-be dragon-slayer who has dared ascend the hill has fallen to the beast!  Now the Prince is the only child both of age and of pure virtue left in the kingdom, and the Queen cannot refuse the duty she has demanded of so many other families in the past."

"That's horrible!"  Hannah wondered why everyone hadn't just left the kingdom to the dragon, rather than keep giving up their sons and daughters as sacrifices.  But she knew how hard it had been to leave Miriam, even when she'd wanted to travel...she supposed leaving might be unthinkable for people who lived in the same home their great-great-grandparents had lived in, no matter the cost.  And she did know from personal experience that there were many ways mothers could be convinced to part with children.  "What is the Queen's reward?" she asked, curious.

"Why, to wed the Prince, and be named heir to the throne!  There was no shortage of brave Lady-Knights and adventurers, for Prince Daniel is handsome indeed, but all were slain.  The Queen even found a Knight or two who don't care to lie with women, and one of them reportedly managed to wound the dragon, but still fell in the end."

Hannah had, since she'd started traveling with Chloe, begun to notice her eyes lingering on fine jaws and well-turned calves here and there.  A few men had even approached her, but she'd always been too shy to make anything of it, and only more so since her sister had left.  Still, the fancy of somehow slaying a dragon and winning a handsome Prince caught in her mind.

She thanked the farmer, and with her animals settled, she contrived to sell a few deerskins in the castle proper, and so catch a glimpse of Prince Daniel.  He was beautiful, his hair almost golden-white, his eyes the color of the clearest sky on the first day of summer, his shoulders strong and broad.

In a heartstrong impulse, the young huntress resolved to bring down the dragon herself, and Daniel would look into her eyes in such gratitude, and they would kiss...

When she realized the Prince was actually looking at her from his balcony, Hannah blushed furiously and fled the castle.  Still, embarrassing as that was, she was determined to follow through on her impulse.  At the very least to climb the black hill and study the dragon.  She'd had such fine luck with animals so far, maybe she could just convince it to leave?  Or accept virgin cows instead of people?

That night, she dreamed of firm arms and sky-blue eyes.

---

In the morning, Hannah set out to climb the hill, which seemed to actually be a couple hills pushed together, one higher than the other, stony and black at the peak.  At the top of the smaller hill, she found a clearing that held a small church.  Despite how her sister seemed to feel, Hannah had never completely lost her faith in God, and went inside to pray.  Maybe He would help her with the dragon.

The church seemed disused, and there was no priest within, but she knelt before the altar and fervently prayed for a way to save Prince Daniel.  She had to try to fix in her mind that she wanted to save him because it was the right thing to do, as the otherwise intrusive images flitting through her head of the Prince without many clothes on did not seem at all appropriate for prayers.  As she raised her head, her hair, still woven with unplucked gold, brushed the altar, and a heretofore hidden inscription in the wood was suddenly revealed.

    A blade lies buried beneath the threshold
    Too weighty by far for any to carry
    Yet when wielded, it cannot be resisted

    Three blessed cups wait on this altar
    If a worthy soul fills them from the font and drinks each in turn
    They will gain Sampson's strength therein

    Should the sword thus be swung
    Mark well to re-bury it thereafter
    Lest its weight and o'erweening Pride bury thee instead

Hannah was tempted to fill the cups immediately, but she heard Chloe's voice in her head, asking how she knew she could trust this message.  After a moment's thought, she decided to return to the threshold and bade the animals, who'd waited outside, to dig for her.  Though the larger animals grumbled at scuffing in the dirt, they made quick work of the task and sure enough exposed a sword, as bright and shining as the dagger Chloe had left at the fork in the road, but much more splendid and impressive.  Hannah tried to take it from the hole and couldn't budge it a bit, just as the altar had said.  She crossed herself and thanked the Lord profusely.  Had she been able to observe herself from a distance, she'd have been strongly reminded of her mother.

But as she filled the cups, she faltered.  Was she a "worthy soul"?  She thought of herself as a good person, but what if that's not what it meant?  Suppose there was some horrible unspecified fate awaiting some unworthy person who dared to drink from the holy cups.  Besides, she vaguely recalled reading about Sampson doing quite a few awful things like killing people and lions and setting fire to foxes, none of which appealed at all.  Hannah's doubt had pushed her so far as to return the cups to the altar, when she paused once more.  If she didn't try, poor Prince Daniel would surely be eaten by the dragon, and she'd never get to feel what it was like to kiss him, to breathe in his rich scent while their embrace stretched into eternity...

Also, he'd be dead, which would be sad in a general sense, she reminded herself, fanning her face briskly with one hand to cool her cheeks.

Her moral fortitude thus bolstered, the young huntress drank, and waited.

She didn't feel any different...  Hannah moved over to one of the church pews and tried to lift it.  She was able to get one end a few feet off the ground, but not the whole thing, and it still felt quite heavy.  Maybe it was only things Sampson had specifically done?  But she didn't want to do most of those things.  And hadn't he killed people with a bone or something, not a sword?  Filled with uncertainty, she left the church and tried once again to lift the sword from the hole.

It came up easily, and flashed in the sunlight.

That was certainly promising, at least.  Hannah looked around for something to test it on, and found a fallen tree behind the church.  It hadn't really started to rot, and the trunk still seemed quite sturdy when she kicked it.  Raising the sword above her head with both hands, she brought it down firmly.  With only the slightest feeling of resistance, the sword cut straight through the two-foot-thick wood and buried itself a foot into the earth for good measure.  Hannah laughed, delighted.

Meanwhile, the Queen, her Marshal, the courtiers and Prince Daniel had come to the edge of town in a somber procession to await the dragon.  Seeing a bright flash of sunlight at the peak of the smaller hill, they thought it a glint from the dragon's eye or perhaps a glistening fang.  Prince Daniel, who was outfitted in a gleaming breastplate and helm, gave a grim salute to the party and began to trudge heavily up the hill.  While resigned to his fate, and his duty, he'd seen no reason to make things easy for the beast...perhaps he'd get in a lucky blow before it ate him.

The royal court quickly withdrew, unwilling to watch what would happen, with the exception of the Lady Marshal, who made it her business to observe every encounter with the dragon against the slim hope it would one day reveal some crucial weakness.

When the Prince reached the church and saw a lovely young woman waving a bright sword wildly, obviously fending off a bizarrely varied group of wild animals, he realized they'd been mistaken about the arrival of the dragon.  He rushed forward and pushed himself between her and them, drawing his own sword, a bit clumsily.

"Back, lady!  Get into the church, and I will guard your retreat!" he called out, swinging his sword in warning as the animals' hackles raised.  Though the presence and attitude of the hare confused him mightily...did they even have hackles?  Off-guard, he did not even resist at first when the huntress moved around him and gently pushed his sword arm down.

"Don't be silly.  I mean, you're not silly," she corrected herself hastily, "it's a terribly heroic gesture and all, but these animals are my friends, they won't hurt us."  Daniel stared at her, then back at the animals, who looked slightly less aggressive, though they still eyed him warily.

"You...have the gift of speaking to beasts?"

"Sort of," Hannah said, with a shrug.  "These ones, anyway."  She fully noticed his armor, which was impressive, though it did disappointingly hide the more interesting parts of his usual shape.  "Oh.  Were you going to try to fight the dragon?"

"Indeed...it shall have its due, but not without what cost I can extract, milady," the Prince intoned, bravely.  Hannah resisted the urge to fan her cheeks.

"My...that is so brave."  Daniel simply nodded, modestly.  "Have you killed many dragons?"  The Prince coughed.

"Well, no...that is, not as such...I have had a fighting-master since I was a child, but I am the Queen's only child, and she has...well, for the good of the kingdom, I have refrained from actual combat."  He looked discomfited by the admission, but continued, determined.  "But in any case, the dragon is to arrive at any moment, milady...please, withdraw, or take shelter in the church.  I would not have you harmed in what are likely my last moments."  Now it was Hannah's turn to cough in embarrassment.

"Actually, if you could hide in the church, that would likely be better?  I really don't want you to get killed, like all the knights before, and I suppose they had armor too?  Whereas with any luck I should be able to kill the dragon now, and then we can, you know...talk some more?" she lowered her eyes shyly, thus entirely missing the Prince's incredulous expression.

"I would not disparage your, ah, confidence, milady huntress...but the kingdom's best have gone against this beast and all have fallen.  I cannot allow one more person to die on my account, in combat or in sacrifice...by all rights I should have been the first to scale the hill, but my mother the Queen refused to permit it until there was no alternative."  His expression became dark, and Hannah nearly swooned at how troubled and complicated it made him look.

"Oh, no, I'm a fine huntress, but it's this magic sword, you see," she explained, swinging the sword back and forth, "or maybe it's just a tremendously heavy sword and I'm very strong now?  But I'm pretty sure the Lord is helping me, so, really, I have a much better chance than you do."  Daniel stared at her, and Hannah was mercifully unable to interpret his expression as he cautiously weighed her sanity.  Before he could come to any firm conclusion on that subject, the animals gave a cry of warning, and he could've sworn they used words, but he had no time to think on this oddity as the dragon was flapping down from the sky, to land in their midst.  The animals circled protectively around Hannah, though they were filled with fear...they knew they were no match for the beast that had arrived.

"What's this?" rumbled the dragon, in a voice like distant thunder, but at the same time smooth and dangerously feminine.  She was green, and enormous, more than half the size of the church building.  Her seven heads hovered before her constantly, like threatening snakes.  One each of her heads lowered near Hannah and Daniel and inhaled sharply, and the animals tensed, but then the scaled faces pulled back without incident.  "Two virgins?  More than I demand, but I shan't argue.  Who wants to go first?"

"I do!" said Hannah and Daniel in unison.  They turned to each other with similarly vexed expressions.

"How touching," purred the dragon.  "Well, I suppose if you stand an appropriate distance apart, I can try to swallow you each at the same time?  You'll need to have off with that nasty armor first, though," she warned, nodding a pair of her heads towards Daniel.  "Takes a lot longer to work down so tough a nut."

"No, I am to fight you!" the huntress and the Prince said, again nearly as one, and again shared a look.  "Your Highness, please," Hannah quickly added.

"Your Highness?" asked the dragon, raising at least half of her eyebrows.  "Has the local Queen finally sent up one of her own clutch?   Well, well...I must admit, I'm surprised.  I'd half expected her to spoil you in a brothel first, or start importing virgin slaves...she's always seemed a practical ruler."  While Hannah blushed at the mention of a brothel, the Prince rushed forward, sword high.

"How dare you!  Die, evil thing!" he roared, and swung at the dragon's closest neck.  His blow connected, but the edge of the blade only skittered off the beast's hard scales without biting in.  The dragon swept her mighty claws at him and he was bowled back several yards, the straps of his breastplate tearing from the force of the blow, sending the armor clattering to the ground around him.  Hannah squeezed between Lea and Ursa, who had closed ranks to guard her, and hurried to put herself between the Prince and the dragon, raising her own blade uncertainly.

"Oh, well...smoked it is, I suppose..." mused the dragon casually.  She inhaled through all her mouths, then each one sprayed bright fire into the clearing and over the two humans.  Hannah and the Prince screamed, though after a terrifying moment they realized the dragon's flame was not like a forge-fire, as some tales had said, but more like a brief lick from a freshly-fed campfire.  Hot to be sure, even mildly painful and alarming, but not instantly scorching.  Still, it had set the grasses of the clearing alight, and the thick smoke threatened to suffocate them both.

Hannah remembered her father and Miriam's overlapping training regarding forest fires...run for water, if you can't get to water, find a depression or just the lowest spot where there's not much to burn and breathe through your sleeves.  There were flames all around them, so she dropped and pushed down the Prince as well, who was just struggling to his feet.

"Stay down!" she hissed, then, as loud as she could, "Help!"  The animals had the same natural fear of fire that all beasts do, but their devotion to Hannah was sufficient to overcome it, and they rushed to aid.

"Stomp and dig!" cried the fox, and demonstrated, trying to quell the flames in a path towards Hannah.  The larger animals got the message and followed suit, quickly clearing a safe path, and let Hannah and Daniel lean on them as they staggered out.  The Prince, who apparently hadn't been trained on this point, and whose sleeves were too well-fitted to breathe through in any case, was suffering more from the smoke.  He coughed roughly and could barely stand, even with nearly all the weight of his armor gone.

"Get him into the church," Hannah whispered, and the animals did as she asked.  She thought faster than she ever had before.  The dragon's view was blocked for the moment by the smoke, but soon it would clear and she'd see that they had escaped.  Hannah had the sword, but the dragon breathed fire, so it was probably safe against her own flames...she could just burn everything around herself and Hannah would succumb before doing enough damage to kill her.  The huntress peered desperately into the smoke, and began to see seven red spots waving behind it...ready flame in the dragon's mouths.

Hannah dropped the sword, pulled her bow and an arrow from her back and fired in one smooth motion.  Before that arrow was halfway to its target, she'd knocked and loosed another, and another.  She'd seen the heads before, so if the fire was in the mouths, it was easy enough to aim for where the eyes ought to be.

The dragon began to roar in pain and anger as arrows sank into its eyes.  It rushed forward through the smoke and Hannah took out three more eyes before she had to dive to avoid a vicious bite.  She rolled and came up running, dodging back through the burning grass to put more smoke between her and the monster, then zagging to the right.

More arrows flew, and more eyes were struck.  At the same instant Hannah reached for another arrow and felt her heart skip as she only clutched at an empty quiver, the dragon leaped into the air and began circling.  She prayed that it had had enough, that it would leave to lick its wounds, or even die in its lair.  But it began blasting down gouts of flame, mostly unaimed, but in such quantity that the huntress was forced to criss-cross the clearing wildly to avoid the smoke and burning grass.  Fortunately the church roof was tiled and hadn't ignited, but it was only a matter of time.

She managed to find the sword where she'd dropped it and discarded her bow to take it back up, then yelled into the sky.

"I know your weakness now!  Leave and never come back!  If you keep burning, I will simply run, and tell everyone far and wide how to defeat you, until you have no rest!"  Again Hannah prayed that the dragon would give up and go.

Instead, the dragon landed in the clearing again.  Much of the smoke had dispersed, and Hannah could see only three of the dragon's eyes did not have an arrow sticking out of them, but they were shut tightly behind eyelids of scales that looked as tough as the others.

"I suppose I won't let you escape, then," growled the dragon, her voice trembling with pain and terrible menace.  "Fortunately, I don't need to see to tear you apart, little archer."  The dragon raised all its heads in a peculiar pattern, tilting them, then dove straight for Hannah, three sets of jaws wide.

The huntress swung wildly and dropped to the ground in the same motion...one of the dragon's heads tumbled away, the neck spraying blood, and the other two sets of jaws bit only air, bare inches above Hannah's chest.  She rolled to the side and scampered away, but a glance behind her showed that the dragon had once again raised all its heads in that same pattern...less the one now missing...then turned directly towards her and lunged again.  Hannah realized it was tracking her by the sound of her movements, maybe even her breathing!

She dodged wildly, under the dragon's body, taking off another head in passing as she dove, but she knew she could not keep this up, there were too many heads to dodge all at once!  She called again to her animals for help, and they began to circle the dragon, leaping and yelping to make as much noise as possible.  The beast began to snap this way and that, and Hannah took advantage of its confusion to strike off three more heads in quick succession, though she was panting from exhaustion by this point, and despite whatever the cups had done for her, her arms ached from the unfamiliar exertion of her desperate swordplay.

"Grab its legs, it's almost done for!" she yelled, as she saw the dragon spread its wings.  The wolf, lion and bear each wrestled with a thick leg, and the dragon only hopped slightly, unable to take flight with their added weight.  The hare and fox leapt recklessly onto the last, but they were easily shaken off, and the dragon stomped down at them.  The hare managed to wiggle into a fortuitous burrow, but the fox had no such refuge and vanished underneath the great clawed foot with a pitiful yelp.

"Fuhsa!" Hannah screamed, and charged forward, mad with grief.  The dragon was unable to maneuver, and tried to lift its two remaining necks high, but the huntress leaped, burying the sword up to the hilt into one of the necks, then riding it down as the combined weight of the sword and her body opened a gruesome lengthwise tear.

Her animals were likewise stirred into a rage by the loss of their little companion and savaged the dragon, digging under scales with tooth and claw, though the sharp edges cut them fiercely.  In moments, the great beast's cries of pain and anger cut off as she was torn limb from limb.

Hannah let the sword drop from her fingers and fell to her knees, clutching herself and shaking.  She could scarcely believe she was still alive, and her heart didn't seem to realize the danger was passed from its racing.  The Prince was stumbling out of the church where the animals had left him, and she was relieved to see he was all right, but there was a burning ache in her chest.

People hunted animals for food all the time, it was her profession, for pity's sake.  So obviously it was right that an animal should die before a person, or people would starve more often than they did already.  But Fuhsa was special...it wasn't just that she could talk, or that she was clever...it was that she...was a friend.  A courageous, devoted friend.

By the time the Prince reached her, the huntress was openly weeping.

"Are you well, milady?  I am shamed that I could not account better for myself, but I see your confidence was well-founded...  But did you take injury?"

"N-no...Fuhsa...the f-fox..."  The other animals gathered around and lay down.  They did not cry for grief in the same way, but bowed their heads respectfully.

"She was fierce, for a morsel," purred Lea affectionately.  Ursa nodded.

"No vixen could ask for a nobler death," added the bear.  Daniel, with noble courtesy drilled into him since birth, managed to restrain his surprise at discovering the animals could indeed speak.  He knelt beside Hannah and embraced her.

"I thank her, and you, for my very life," he said, speaking slowly to suppress his cough.  "As well as the safety of our kingdom."  Hannah hugged him back, and felt a surge of affection and gratitude.  He was so thoughtful and sweet, and she supposed they would marry now, since she'd actually killed the dragon.  But Fuhsa's sacrifice had taken a measure of her innocence, and it was hard to feel the joy she'd imagined.

Yet, when they'd gone to bury the fox, they found no sign of her body, not even a tuft of red fur.  It was quite mysterious.  Though Hannah had encountered the expression "stomped into nothing", she had never heard of it actually happening.

The mystery lasted until Hannah began to harvest the dragon's tongues.  She had heard an alchemist once say he could work miracles with a dragon's tongue, so it seemed prudent to collect them in case she ever ran into him again.  It was upon wrenching open the jaws of the third head that a small fox came tumbling out, quite damp and shivering with fear, but otherwise unharmed.

Everyone was profoundly relieved, and there was good-natured laughter when Fuhsa explained how she'd only just narrowly avoided being crushed, and in terror, she'd hidden inside the mouth of one of the already-severed heads.  She might have come out earlier, but couldn't hear properly from inside, and wasn't sure if it was safe.

The discovery of the vixen's survival brightened the mood considerably.  So much so that Prince Daniel, who had until then refrained as a matter of manners and timing, went to one knee and formally proposed marriage.  Hannah was delighted, but she wanted this feeling to last as long as possible, nor for anyone to be left out, so she did not immediately accept.

"What about my animals?  You must ask their permission for my hand as well!" she demanded, playfully.  The Prince seemed mildly dubious, but he was determined, and presented each animal with tokens of honor taken from his discarded breastplate.

"I was given these by right of lineage, but you have truly earned them," he pronounced, contriving to fasten one into the fur of each animal in turn.  They were dutifully impressed by the honor and respect he showed, and each deemed him a worthy suitor.  Hannah found herself even further smitten with the Prince and longed to leap onto him right there and never let go, but somehow found a hidden well of reserve.

"Well done!  But my foster-mother taught me that a decision made in haste is a decision oft regretted, so I suppose I must sleep on your proposal..."  It was still well before noon, and the Prince showed a hint of dismay on his face at the delay, but Hannah continued.  "Though I admit I'm rather exhausted from all of this!  I suppose we could take a short nap here and count that as sufficient?" she offered, with a small mischievous smile.

The Prince thought this an odd suggestion, but still suffering slightly from the effects of the smoke, he could see the benefit in it and agreed readily enough.  Hannah asked Lea to wake them should any approach, and they lay down on some soft grass near the church, miraculously unburnt through all the dragon's rages.  To both their surprise, they quickly dropped off to sleep, though not before the huntress' hand stole into the Prince's beside her.

The lion herself was tired from the exertions of the fight and opted to lie down for a nap as well, asking Ursa to wake her if anyone should approach.  The bear found herself jealous and did likewise, calling upon Lobo to stand watch, and he in turn imitated and tasked the fox, who then passed the duty onto the hare.

Lepa, who had somehow refrained from fainting in terror throughout the ordeal with the dragon, and lacking anyone else to watch on her behalf, struggled mightily to stay alert and awake.  But the soft breathing and snores of her adopted family worked a gentle magic on her, and soon the sounds of her sleep joined the rest.

Thus when the Lady Marshal mounted her charger and rode up the hill, having seen the fight had ended, she found herself the only one there standing.  Unlike Prince Daniel, the Marshal had been in combat.  She'd fought many battles, defending the kingdom against all threats.  Yet the Queen would let her useless son take the throne, or some luck-blessed dragon-hunter?  To her surprise, only the dragon was dead, the others merely sleeping.

She moved beside the sleeping pair and as she stared down at them, her blood rose in a righteous fury.  She'd watched all these years for a weakness so she could be the one to take the prize she'd long-since earned...and now all her patience was dashed to as many pieces as the dragon had been!  This little chit had crept in with her trained animals and no-doubt devilish magic and stolen her dreams.

The Marshal silently drew her sword, then brought it down in one merciless stroke, severing the huntress' head neatly from her neck.  So clean was the blow, none of the others even stirred.

For a moment, she stared, taken aback at what she'd done, but quickly shook the doubt from her mind.  The woman cleaned the blood from her blade on her victim's sleeve, then shook the Prince's shoulder, but could not rouse him, such was his condition.  All the better, she decided.  She managed to heft him up onto her charger, then dragged the huntress' body into the trees beyond the church, tossing the head nearby.

The Marshal rode back down the hill with the Prince and took him covertly to an empty cottage on the edge of town, unused since the old weaver had died a month past.  She obtained a remedy from the herbalist and brought the Prince back to wakefulness.

"What...Lady Marshal?  Where is Hannah?" he asked, confused.

"Somewhere she's not likely to return from," said the Marshal grimly.  "Given that, let's decide what exactly you're going to say about how I killed the dragon."  Daniel sat up from the weaver's bed, his face flushed with anger.

"Why would I speak such a lie?  The huntress slew the beast.  You have served my mother well, Lady Anna, but she has earned the reward truly, and my admiration as well...I have already asked her to wed."  In a flash quicker than sight, the Marshal's sword was in her hand and at the Prince's throat.  He froze.

"She is gone," the woman said with finality.  "Swear upon God that you will support my story and marry me, or I swear in return that I'll have your head from your shoulders before I leave the door, and your mother the Queen's within an hour after.  One way or another, this kingdom is mine by right."

The Prince saw from the terrible heat in her eyes that she meant every word.  And he knew she had the skill to do it.  The loyalty of the Queen's army as well, from leading them to so many victories...even if he denounced her, she might well get her way.  If it were just him, he might resist, let his death be a warning...but he could not risk his mother and Queen.  His shoulders slumped.

"Very well.  I swear before the Lord that I will hide the truth of the dragon from those who have not heard it, and marry as my duty requires and my mother commands."  His voice was strained, and the last words came out as whisper.  The Marshal put up her sword, knowing that for piety and honor the Prince would never break this oath, and escorted him directly to the Queen.

When the Lady Marshal announced that she had killed the dragon, thereby saving the Prince and the kingdom, the court was shocked.  The Queen herself asked the Prince to confirm this account, and he would not lie outright, but said only that he could not deny the Marshal's words.  This distinction was lost upon the Queen, who was overwhelmed with relief that the menace of the dragon was gone, and immediately agreed that the Lady Marshal should have the Prince's hand and become heir.

The Prince said that he would loathe to delay a true champion's reward, but requested the traditional waiting period of a year and a day before the marriage, to revel in the joy of their new existence free from the shadow of the dragon...and also in the hopes that the huntress would somehow return and throw the Marshal's scheme into disarray, though he did not say this last aloud.  Though it brought a brief scowl from the Marshal, the Queen pronounced Daniel's request proper, and so the date of the marriage was set.

That night, the Prince prayed with more fervor than he had in years for the safety of his mother, and his love, and for deliverance from the twisted trap in which he'd been caught.