The Story of the Dragon Princess

It is known that zduhaci only come about when the world is in greatest need of a hero. They are born to lead and will fight in both their human and dragon forms to seek justice for their people. One such zduhaci, it is known, was the only child of the king and queen of Karanya. Though the king was new to his job, he was no knew to the waiting and trying for a child along with his wife, a scholar's daughter who was belittled by the court for being lowborn. They finally got a child - a daughter, who was immediately named future King, for in Karanya the gender of the monarch doesn't matter as long as they have the title of King. The young King, named Jadwiga after the benevolent witch of old and an ancient Slavic queen, was born with a caul on her head and little stubby wings and a spiky spine down her back. Turned out the wings were retractable. The monarchs were overjoyed. Even the court was happy about it and gave the queen a break for a minute. However, the midwife had other plans, for she was a wicked witch who'd grown up alongside the king. She'd been banished from the kingdom for treason long ago, but here she had come back with a disguise. She disappeared with the child into the night, her mother wailing as soon as she realized what had occurred. For months after, the queen could be found wandering the forests as if in a daze, searching for her baby. Search parties were in abundance, but to no avail. The wandering stopped shortly after the queen's breast milk dried up mysteriously. As her birthday lay during the old feast of Vesta, now the feast of Saint Hestia, a memorial of bonfires now occurs every year on the anniversary of her disappearance.