She ran to the very brink of the escarpment, frantically waving her arms. "O Prince Dragon!" she screamed, though it was not considered truly princessly to scream. "Do not land! There is an ambush!"

The Dragon Prince heard her and shied off. He made a loop above the landing field, evidently in doubt how to proceed. He would not be able to complete his rite of passage if he did not land, yet it seemed distinctly awkward to do so.

"Curses!" the leader of the mercenaries cursed. "The tart (if you will excuse the term) has given us away! There'll be Lucifer to pay if the dragon gets away."

"Well, at least we can have our sport with the woman," a mercenary remarked with a certain enthusiasm.

The mercenaries marched toward the Princess. Alarmed, she retreated, but they cut her off. They looked hungry, though they surely had eaten well before the ambush.

The nearest one reached for her. The Princess screamed and fell helplessly to the ground.

The Dragon Prince, evidently disturbed by this spectacle, abruptly made up his mind. He wheeled and came directly in on a strafing run. He sent out a blast of flame that singed the Princess's lovely tresses as it passed over her, but bathed the standing mercenaries in fire. In a moment they were roasted, as it were, in the shells of their armor.

The Princess, perturbed by the smell, got up and tried to leave the scene. But the smoking bodies were all around her. So she leaped off the escarpment. "Catch me, O my beloved!" she cried as she fell toward the churning sea below. "My hair is burnt, but my flesh is not; I remain excellent eating, I'm sure, and if not, then you can drop me in the heaving sea and seek another princess."

The dragon maneuvered expertly and swooped down to catch her in his great jaws. But he did not crunch her in half, perhaps because at least one of the pieces would have fallen into the water. He carried her unharmed into the sky. There was a small dark cloud present, but the wind was wrong and the storm was unable to present any difficulties. The cloud seemed oddly perturbed at that. He bore her away to a distant isle, and there he landed and set her gently down.

"I am glad they did not get you," she said. "For I love you, whatever your form, and would not have you suffer."

"I cannot eat you now," the Dragon Prince said with a certain regret.

"But why not, O my love?" she inquired.

"Because you have lost your innocence. I must consume an innocent maiden princess to complete my rite of passage."

"But what did I do?" she cried, distraught.

"You betrayed your father's ambush."

"But they would have hurt you!" she protested.

"Undoubtedly. But a true innocent would not have betrayed them to an enemy."

She hung her head, ashamed. "You must be right, for I feel dirtied. Yet I fear I would do it again, given opportunity, for my love for you will not be denied. I am sorry I failed you in this; I had wanted so much to be pristine for you."