The Dragon's Fire

In the dark ages, the time of knights, wizards, and dragons, a tale long since forgotten shall be told… Once upon a time in a far and distant land, two castles stood at opposite ends of a cave, the cavern is known as "The Dragon's Den". The reason for the name is, that a fire breathing dragon dwells deep within this large cave, the dragon has not been seen for nearly fifty years, some doubt if it even exists, probably because no one can enter without the king's permission. According to legend, a wizard was said to have placed a magic seal around the dragons neck putting it into a deep sleep, if for some reason the seal was broken, the dragon would awake and wreak havoc across the land. The two kingdoms constantly fight each other yearly over the dragon, although, little blood is ever shed, maybe a few casualties now and then, but that is expected of a war. The knights of the Grand Castle always come out victorious, but the knights of the Black Castle always admit defeat, but this time it would be different, a sinister plot is underway in the Black Castle. King Solomon Dracon is developing a plan, to send a child to break the seal and set the dragon free, but what child was the question? He sent for all the children in the town of Dracon, only children between the ages of ten and thirty were allowed to enter the palace. When the children arrived he greeted them with a smile, they knelt before him in respect, and then he began the questioning. He asked many of them, but could not find one that could tell a lie, until a small blonde haired boy steps up to his throne. The king clears his throat and then asks the child, "what is your name", the boy replies, "My name is King Solomon Dracon of the city of Dracon". He repeats the question, the boys answer is the same. "what is it like outside right now" he asks, "It is rainy and dark" answers the boy, how the boys says it and how his expression stays the same makes you almost believe him. The king has found the child that he will use to gain passage to the Dragons Den, hopefully the boy will succeed. The king tells the boy to go home and rest, for he has a big day ahead of him tomorrow. Morning comes quick, he had all his supplies packed up the night before, and he tells his mother that he will return in three days time at the most. He begins his adventure toward the Dragon's Den, which is only a short distance from the two castles, roughly fifteen to twenty miles between each castle, and about ten miles from each castle. He heads through the western marshland, Watchers Woods, and across Mangoria Plains, stopping ever three hours to rest and eat. Finally he reaches the Dragon's Den; two guards stand guard by the entrance of the cavern. The boy walks up to the guards and says "what art thous't doing", the large knight replies, "We are guarding thy cave, none may enter". "Can I goeth in" asks the boy. "Do you not have ears boy, I said none may enter. Why" asks the guard. "I wanted to see for myself if the dragon of legend really exists as I hath heard" exclaims the boy. "None shall enter, now be gone, before ye get thrown into the dungeon" announces the skinny knight. He begins to walk away in disappointment, then stops and turns quickly and says, "I just remembered the other reason why I was sent here, my king sent me to give word that a fierce behemoth was approaching castle". "You are a funny kid" says the fat knight with a big hearty chuckle. The boy tells them to assemble their army and ready for the behemoth's attack. "Do ye lie" asks the skinny guard, "Nay; I do not lie, if you do not believe me then look. There is the behemoth now" he exclaims, trees quiver in the distance. The knights hop onto their horses and tell the boy to go home, and then gallop of into the distance toward the Grand castle; he waits till they are out of sight, and then enters the caves entrance. Its both warm and damp, smells of sulphur linger about in the corridors making his stomach hurt, he just ignores it, he has something important to do before he leaves. Silently he creeps into a chamber, followed by a tunnel; he notices a bright light around the next bend. He reaches the end, he enters a vast chamber filled of riches beyond your wildest imagination, gold, silver, rubies, diamonds, and many other rare treasures rest along the floors and in a large pile at the center, but what catches his eye the most is a large boulder-like figure curled around the riches. He steps back in fear at what the object really is, it's the dragon, it's twice as big a house, nearly thirty feet long from snot to tail, and its scales shimmer in the light thrown from the many torches along the walls. The creature breathes loudly; sulfurous fumes escape its slightly opened jaws, filling the room with its stench. He takes a few more steps back to get a better of the large creature. Out of the corner of his eye he notices something that glitters around the dragon's neck. He tiptoes up to the massive neck and examines the object. It's a large golden medallion; a large red ruby is set into the center encircled by two jade snakes, the wizards seal. He closes in on the medallion and reaches for it; he grabs a hold and begins to lift, its heavier than it looks as he struggles to pick it up off the dragons neck. The thing weights more than it looks to weight, finally the medallion falls to the floor with a loud thud. He looks over to the dragons head, nothing, not even a small twitch…it does not move, just sleeps on. In disappointment he turns around, he ahs failed his king, he'll probably be thrown in the dungeon or worse, hanged or even stoned to death by the town's folk. All of a sudden there is a loud noise; the sound reverberates off the cavern walls back to his. He turns around to face the beast eye to eye, large fire red eye stares back at him; the beast lifts its head up and lets out a deafening roar, almost knocking the boy over. He turns and stumbles, then climbs back to his feet as quick as possible and runs for his life, the dragon reacts by getting up and walking slow at first then begins to charge after him, luckily he got a head start or he would have been trampled by the beast. He dashes through the semi-dark rank corridor of the cave not looking back, knowing that the dragon is directly behind him a few feet away, until he reaches the entrance. When he reaches it he looks to his right…nothing, and then to his left…nothing, then straight ahead, yes he exclaims, bunches of bushes lie only a few feet away from where he stands. He decides to take a chance; he hops into the bushes and squirms down through them to the bottom and waits. The shaking is intense, his stomach starts to hurt from the fissure of the dragons footfalls, it charges out into broad daylight. It has been ages since the beast has left its cave, it looks around taking in the scenery it notices the Black Castle to its right, the beast pays no mind to the boy and charges off toward the castle. About ten minutes later there is a loud cracking noise and booming coming from beyond the castle walls, the guards are unprepared for the attack; they stand no chance against a dragon. Five minutes later the dragon returns and heads to the Grand Castle not interested in the boy any longer only interested in destroying the two kingdoms. Once again the best goes forth to burn down the town and kill all of its denizens under its flame. An hour goes by as the boy awaits the dragon to return, but the dragon does not show its ugly head again, it must be safe to go out now he thinks. He grabs his stuff and begins his journey home to see what was left of his town. After two days of traveling, and barely any food, he arrives at the charred remains of the town of Dracon. The gates are twisted like pipe cleaners, buildings lay in ruin, ash covers the ground, while smoke seems to flood out of the burnt down homes, off in the distance the castle is collapsed, the towers collapsed into the building, there is no sign of life, that must mean everyone was killed, the boy is all alone. He pledges from that day forth to never tell a lie ever again as long as he shall live. He ravages the remaining houses for scraps of food that might have been spared, he finds the things he needs, and also a horse in the field to carry them all on. He leaves a place that he once called home never to return again, in search of a new refuge. He turns his head around to take one last look at his home, "Goodbye mother, people of Dracon, and my king" he says as a single tear rolls down his cheek, he wipes it away, he must be a man, men do not cry. He kicks the horse, the horse jumps then begins to gallop as they ride off into the setting sun to see what may lie in store for them in another land.