Fiction LNE
Fiction Friday


Castles, The Princes That Fought (Chapter 5)

Chefelf
by: Chefelf

High above Mount Tarkoon it was rumored there lived a dark dragon. A dragon whose scales were armored with the skulls of the humans that the dragon had conquered. It was spake, in a tongue so old that time has since forgotten it, that this dragon was "a harbinger of great evil". It was then explained, in a subsequent footnote, that "harbinger is just a two dollar word for 'bringer' and that means that he brings evil".

The dragon terrorized the people of the land for many many years. Sometimes he would swoop down and burn innocent people. Sometimes he would attack caravans as they tried to transport precious shipments of barley to and from the kingdom castles. Other times he would set up buckets with paint over doors so that when they were opened by people the people would get covered in paint and their clothes would be ruined.

After many many more years of this the people got sick of his crap and they organized a squad of the most elite knights ever formed. The knights were as follows:

Sir Kristophe was picked because he was said to have the fastest sword in the land. Many a knave perished after insulting this knight because the knight would dispatch of insult-givers. Quickly!

Sir Lungaclese was a breeder of fine horses. Though not much of an equestrian, and sort of a sniveling coward, he was invaluable to the group as he could get them high quality horses at a very reasonable price.

Sir Lester of Trombley was a cunning strategist. His razor-sharp smartness was able to get the group of knights out of many a sticky situation. In the event that his razor-sharp smartness wasn't clever enough he was pretty okay with his daggers as well.

Sir Tremendous could fix anything and was a wizard with repairing armor and such. Not an actual spell-casting wizard, I just mean that he was good at fixing stuff.

So these knights galloped off to face the dragon and defeat him once and for all. In a climactic battle the knights tricked the dragon out of his cave. The dragon knew he had been bested by the greatest knights in the land, however, he used his magicks to create a shield around himself but before he could create the shield all the way, Sir Lester threw a dagger that crippled the dragon's right wing.

The dragon was surrounded but it seemed as if they were at an impasse. The dragon was protected from the knights but the knights could not penetrate the dragon's shield. So the dragon offered the knights a deal. He would fly away and leave the people alone but the good Emperor's Wizard, Boss Saturday, would have to surrender his recently born twin sons to the custody of the dragon.

"How can we trust you?" Asked Sir Tremendous.

"We can trust him!" shouted a voice from over the hill.

An aged, old man in a robe limped out from being the rock. In one hand he held a mighty staff with a jewel on the top of it.

"Boss Saturday!" exclaimed the knights in unison.

The wizard raised a craggy brow and planted his staff firmly in the soil at his feet. He looked up at the dragon scornfully. "I would normally not trust you, dragon, but I am good at reading people and I can tell that you will honor your word."

"I will," the dragon promised. "But the children will be raised under my supervision at an undisclosed location."

The wizard approached the dragon cautiously, each footstep echoing in the gravel across the rocky ravine that they were in. The wizard reached into the satchel at his side. From the satchel he removed a baby and placed it gingerly on the rocky ground. He then reached into the bag and removed another baby and placed it at the other baby's side. The dragon looked down on the babies and observed the matching birthmarks on their necks. It was a swirly red birthmark that looked like a symbol or something.

"Very well," the dragon said. He disabled his shield spell then he picked up the babies with his dragon hands, being careful not to slice the babies to ribbons with his sharp talons. The dragon then walked off into the horizon, holding the babies.

"That's it," Sir Lungaclese remarked. "We won't have to face the power of the dragon anymore."

Boss Saturday peered off into the horizon, the wind flapping his robe around like some fabric on a pole on a windy day. "Not from the dragon any way but the power of the dragon will return."

The knights exchanged confused glances.

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