Princess Bride

Not the story we all know and love

Created on Midjourney

“What are we going to do, Tatsu?” Miriona asked her dragon as they sat amidst the ruin of the castle in which both had grown up.

Tatsu held his counsel. The choice had to be Miriona’s. He would follow her in whatever she decided, but it was not for a dragon to instruct his princess. There were three choices, none of them palatable. Miriona would have to choose for both of them.

A tear fell onto Miriona’s once-fine dress, the salted drop darkening the fabric where it landed. Once, she would have been scolded for that. Today, she might have welcomed that scolding.

A crash came from deep within the castle, undoubtedly Imran’s soldiers smashing more of her mother’s precious statues. Miriona had broken one accidentally while playing once. Mother had cried for days. Miriona had been more careful after that, not wanting to see her cry.

Now, too many of the statues—too much of everything in the castle—lay in ruins, destroyed for sport by the invaders who had murdered the queen and king and even now continued to sack the city.

Three choices. Miriona and Tatsu had discussed each at length. Marry the tyrant who had murdered her family and laid waste to her kingdom, flee on Tatsu to seek sanctuary in a neighboring kingdom, or die at her own hand.

Imran, even if he weren’t a monster, was nearly thirty years older than Miriona who, at nine years of age, was too young to marry. He insisted he would marry her anyway to cement his claim to his usurped throne. The very thought of marriage to him, even if it wouldn’t be consummated until she turned sixteen, was unbearable.

She would have tried to find a way to escape life, but then Tatsu would be left alone, and though the dragon was willing to share her fate, she could bear to neither abandon him nor see him die at her side.

So that left only one option. “We flee.”

Tatsu’s head lifted from his paws to regard her with keen eyes. “It will be a difficult flight, Miriona. We might not survive.”

“We will certainly not survive if we remain in this castle,” she retorted, a bit sharply, though she knew he was not trying to dissuade her. “I will not marry that monster, and I will not give him the satisfaction of seeing us dead.”

Tatsu huffed out a warm breath of satisfaction, enveloping her in his love and approval of her choice. He shifted lower and she climbed onto his back. As he launched himself from the tower window, he said, “We fly, my princess. Your people will aid us. We will survive.”

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I created a series of images of potential Mirionas with her dragon. I think the purple in this one’s boots is part of what sold the one I used. Tatsu is a Japanese word for dragon. Miriona I pulled out of my head. I don’t know if it’s a real name or not.

Here are a few other of the images I created:

Some of these have deep flaws, such as too many fingers or bizarre anatomy. (Look at the leg on the last picture.) Some of the girls are way too young for the story, as are some of the dragons.

Forced marriage at a young age was a terrible reality many girls, especially those of noble or royal birth, often faced in earlier times. In some parts of the world this still happens. What do you think you would have done in Miriona’s position?