One Good Knight by Mercedes Lackey Page A

she needed to research with a lot more urgency than any of Solon’s requests.
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    The Queen and her advisers stared at one another. Cassiopeia was on her throne, with Andie on a low stool beside her. The advisers had been granted the unusual concession of low chairs, since this was going to be a very long meeting. All six of them faced the Commander of the Guards to hear his latest information.
    â€œThere are reports coming in from all over the countryside, Majesty.” The weary Guard Commander looked as if he had personally collected every one of those reports himself.
    Andie felt terribly sorry for him. He looked as if he was taking the failure of the Guard to protect people from the monster as his own responsibility. There were dark rings under his eyes. His curly black hair had been flattened under a helmet for hours, and his face and uniform-tunic were slightly charcoal-smudged.
    â€œThe creature can’t be stopped. It doesn’t even notice arrows, and doesn’t come down to the ground long enough to be attacked with spears or swords. It seems to have an insatiable appetite. Everywhere it goes, it’s been seizing livestock and devouring it. So far, it hasn’t set fire to any occupied buildings, but that may just be luck.”
    â€œIt is difficult to imagine the word luck in connection with that monster,” Solon said dryly. “Precisely how bad are things, do you know?”
    â€œBad enough.” The Guard Commander shook his head. “The people are terrified. Those people in the city are fleeing into the country, the ones in the country are trying to get into the city. It’s a madhouse out there, especially at the gates. No one seems to know what to do, but they’re all trying to do something, and if the monster wasn’t so horrible, I’d say that the mere effect of his presence is far worse than the actual damage he’s caused. So far he’s burned a couple of high ornaments and eaten some livestock—but everywhere he goes, people trample market stalls, foodstuffs, and each other. There’s been some looting in the chaos, fighting has broken out, and when people catch sight of him, they just go mad with terror.”
    â€œBut if he starts burning crops and devouring entire herds,” Solon pointed out, “I doubt that you’ll be able to say that for much longer.”
    â€œNot to mention the sheer chaos that’s being caused,” the Queen put in. “Nothing is getting done while people are milling about, trying to find a way to flee from the beast. Businesses, crafts, farms—it may be a race between all of us starving to death or being killed by the dragon!”
    â€œI wish I could argue with that assessment, Majesty,” Solon replied. “As our good Commander has explained, our usual weapons don’t seem to be affecting the beast. We must find a way to kill it, or at least drive it away—and I hope Princess Andromeda has some information for us on that score.”
    All heads in the Audience Chamber turned, and all eyes stared at Andie.
    She swallowed hard, and surreptitiously rubbed her sweaty palms against her gown. Yes, she had gleaned every bit of information on dragons that there was in the Great Library. Not that there was much. And none of it was very comforting. Still—
    â€œIf everything I’ve found in the Library is correct, there is a way to be rid of it. First, we need a Champion,” she said carefully. “Every single document is quite clear on that. Only a Champion will have the weaponry and the magic to defeat a creature like a dragon. Champions generally belong to Orders, and each Order has a Chapter-House. The nearest is—” she consulted her notes “—the Kingdom of Fleurberg, the Chapter-House of the Order of the Glass Mountain.”
    Cassiopeia turned her gaze upon the Guard Commander, who looked happier than he had since this meeting started, and