The Last Stand of the Dragon

by Hanson, N. J.

  “I know that.” The tears now flowed fully down her face. She seemed to cry so easily these days. “But it doesn’t change the fact that my brother is dead. My mother and I depended on him. We may not survive without him.” Rachel wept, her face buried in her arms at the edge of the bed.

  Richard’s heart ached for her. Her grief was true and he was partly responsible for it. If he had told someone what he knew, then it was very possible Dennis might still be alive and the dragon dead.

  He pulled his hand free of the blankets and pressed it gently on Rachel’s shoulder. “I am sorry.” Richard said. “and I promise I will avenge your brother’s death. I will slay that dragon”

  Chapter 1 3

  S ir Ardose stepped through the door of Cain’s shop. The room was still low lit with only the single candle to illuminate it. Cain sat behind his desk with his fingers laced together in front of his face. “You’re back, I see.” His chilling voice called out. “Any news from your sheep?”

  “Funny you should ask that.” Ardose held up a folded sheet of paper between his thumb and forefinger. “A rider came with a message. It seems the dragon has made itself known. It came down to the village and killed one of my sheep, my actual sheep, and flew off with it.”

  A wicked smirk slithered across Cain’s face. “As I said, we only needed wait.” Cain took the paper and read it to himself. “Your squire was injured in the attack, I see. Any feelings about that?”

  “None. He was doing his job as the protector of the village in my stead.” Ardose replied.

  “And you still have no mixed feelings about letting the dragon destroy that village?” Cain folded the paper back up and returned it to Ardose. “From what I read, those people seem to trust you wholeheartedly. And you would let them die?”

  “To get what I want, yes I would.” Ardose tucked the note away. “They are only peasants, after all.”

  “Good.” Cain said in a slimy tone. “Get everything prepared tonight. We leave first thing in the morning. It’s a two day ride back to your village at this time of year. We need to reap the crops while they’re ripe, and then torch the field.”

  ***

  Richard tossed and turned in his sleep. The pillow was soaked from his sweat. His dreams were strong and terrible. He struggled against them, but could not escape the images that raced through his fever induced mind.

  In his dream, the dragon stood over it. It slashed him with its claws and gouged him in the back. Every time he tried to stand up, it slashed him again. And every time it did, the claws stung like new. He heard its roars, felt the heat of its flames. Over and over the dragon killed him, but each time he stood up and grabbed his sword to keep fighting.

  Richard’s sleep was finally broken when the door to his room creaked open. His eyelids slowly lifted. They felt crusted and heavy, like he’d gotten no sleep at all. He turned to the door and saw Rachel as she stepped inside.

  “Richard,” she said, “there’s trouble in the village.”

  He groaned a response. “Is it the dragon? Has it come back?”

  “No. It’s not Jade.” Rachel said. “It’s Phillip.”

  “The drunken farmer?” Richard pushed himself up and rested on his elbows. “What is he doing?”

  “He’s been talking with a few of the others, principally William and Kenneth, about trying to scale the mountain and slay the dragon themselves.”

  “What!?” Richard almost jumped out of bed, an action that sent another jolt of pain coursing through his body. He clutched his shoulder more fiercely. “Are they really stupid enough to try that?” He said through gritted teeth.

  “That or drunk enough.” Rachel moved over to his bedside and grasped his hand in hers. “Richard, you have to talk some sense into them. They won’t listen to anyone else, not even Abel or Father Josef. Please, try to convince them not to do it.”

  Richard shoved the blankets off and kicked his legs off the bed. “Help me stand.” He said as he placed hiss hand on Rachel’s shoulder. She took his arm behind her head and lifted him up. His legs still felt weak and watery, but with her help Richard was able to stand again. “Were are they now?”

  “At The Roaring Lion.” Rachel answered.

  “Then take me there.”

  ***

  They sat at the same table as usual. Phillip, William, and Kenneth, three local farmers and common patrons of Abel’s tavern, The Roaring Lion. A jug of foam topped beer rested on the table before each of them. Phillip clutched the handle of his mug tightly. “Listen, boys,” he said, “I’ve dealt with this before. I’ve had wolves come down to my farm and kill my animals, and I’ll tell you right now, once an animal starts going like that it doesn’t stop until its dead. We have to kill this thing.”

  Kenneth fidgeted in his chair. “Are you so sure? Maybe it’ll just go away if we ignore it.”

  “No, it won’t.” William interjected. “Once it’s done with out sheep, the dragon will start coming after our women and children. It’ll come after them at night, burn the village down and swallow us one by one!” He slammed his fists heavily against the table, which shook from the force. “It’s not an animal, but a monster from the Devil himself, and it must be stopped!”

  “But it was huge!” Kenneth’s voice cracked with fear. “Bigger than anything I’ve ever seen before. We can’t hope to fight something like that.”

  Phillip stood up and smashed his fists against the table. “Listen, you coward! It’s going to come back, that’s a certainty. We’re not safe until it’s head it mounted on the walls of this very tavern!” He grabbed his beer and downed it in three hearty gulps. After wiping the foam from his lips, he sat back down. “Look, Sir Ardose is still at least a day’s ride from here and Richard is in no condition to do anything. It’s up to us now.”

  The tavern door swung wide open. Richard, with one arm draped over Rachel’s shoulders, stood in the doorway. Snow flakes danced around him in the wind. The room instantly fell silent as everyone stared at him.

  The quiet was broken when Phillip jumped to his feet. “Richard! You’re standing again!”

  “Yes, I am.” Richard staggered into the tavern. He lifted his weight off Rachel and supported himself as best he could “and I’m here to talk to you. I hear you’ve been making plans.”

  Phillip slumped back down on the bench. “News travels fast around here. Yes. We’re going to slay the dragon ourselves.”

  “That’s suicidal. What weapons are you planning to use? Pitchforks?” Richard scoffed. “I tried with a sword and barely escaped with my life.”

  “If you’d let us into Sir Ardose’s armory then we could get true weapons. Swords, axes, everything we’d need.” William retorted.

  “You don’t have the training to use a sword properly.” Richard said. “It’d just be more of a hindrance. Our best option is to wait for Sir Ardose to return and let him deal with the dragon.”

  “The longer we wait, the more the dragon will keep attacking us. Soon we won’t have a village anymore. It must be stopped now.” Phillip said.

  Richard turned to the bartender behind the counter. “Abel, help me talk some sense into these men.”

  “I have tried.” The large man said. “They don’t listen to reason.”

  “Won’t listen? It’s all of you who aren’t listening!” Phillip shouted and threw his arms up in the air. “We are under siege! A flying, fire-breathing, hell beast has descended on us and has begun killing our livelihood! and all you fools can do is sit around and wait for someone to come rescue us! We need to stand up for ourselves now, because no one else will.”

  The tavern filled with silence. No one spoke or moved. Richard sighed and shook his head with despair. “Fine.” He said. “I didn’t want to do this, but you’ve left me no choice.” Richard pushed himself away from Rachel and walked slowly, with much pain, over to Phillip’s table.

  He propped himself up with one hand on the flat wooden surface. His other hand reached across to his inju
red shoulder and his face twisted in a grimace. “In the absence of Sir Ardose, all rights and authority pass down to his squire, which is myself. So that means you have to take orders from me if I give them,” He straightened himself up as best he could, “and I am giving you the direct order not to go anywhere near that mountain. Is that understood?”

  Phillip frowned. “Yes, sir.” He sat back down in a huff, his arms folded over his chest.

  “Good.” Richard said. He turned to address the whole tavern. “That goes for everyone else, too!” He projected. “Until Sir Ardose returns and the dragon problem is dealt with, no one in this village is to venture into that forest or scale that mountain.” Richard then walked back to the door of the tavern and stepped out into the cold.

  Chapter 1 4

  R ichard didn’t make it very far outside before his strength waned. He stumbled and tripped, and almost fell to the ground when Rachel caught him. “Don’t worry, I’ve got you.” She said as she slipped his arm over her shoulders again.

  With a choke in his throat, Richard placed and hand over his eyes. The tears were coming now, and he needed to make sure she didn’t see them. “I’m sorry. I haven’t been able to do anything right so far.”

  “What do you mean?” She asked. They walked together, Rachel supporting most of his weight, back to Helga’s house.

  “If I’d warned people about the dragon and ignored Ardose’s orders then your brother might still be alive and we’d have been more prepared for its eventual attack.” Richard said with a weak voice. “If I were better with a sword, I might have killed the dragon myself when it finally did attack and the problem would be solved. But none of that happened. I’ve failed. I can‘t even keep peace in the village without having to pull rank.”

  “You’re trying to protect us.” Rachel said. “You’ve already shown the qualities of a great knight.” She paused to open the door of Helga’s home. “Come on. Once you’re healed, and back on your feet again, then we can worry about the dragon and Sir Ardose.” She took him inside and helped him back into bed.

  As the blankets were pulled up to his chin, Richard asked, “Where’s my sword?”

  “The sword?” Rachel scanned around the room, but found nothing. “Oh.” She said as she remembered. “We put it in the other room.”

  “Can you get it for me?” Richard said, he reached out from the side of the bed. “I want to hold it again.”

  Rachel left the room and stepped out into the hallway. A few minutes later she returned with the sword, back in its leather scabbard. Richard grasped it by the hilt and pulled it beside him. He laid it on the bed next to him, the roaring lion’s head shimmered at the end of the pommel. “I know what to name this sword.”

  “What?” Rachel asked.

  “Lion’s Fang.” As he whispered this, his eyes closed and he drifted off. Sleep overcame him.

  Richard awoke with a start several hours later by the frightening roar of the dragon and the terrified screams of the villagers. He jolted up out of bed and shoved the shutters of the window open. Cold air rushed in from outside.

  A flash of green blurred overhead. Richard watched as the dragon circled over the village, its huge wings flapped up and down. Villagers ran into their homes. They locked themselves inside, hoping the dragon wouldn’t come for them.

  Richard grabbed the sword next to him and jumped to his feet. A wave of dizziness struck him, he staggered and fell to the floor, landing hard on his injured shoulder. Pain tore through his body. He cried out in agony, “Aargh!”

  ***

  Outside, Jade the dragon soared over the village. Her chest muscles flexed with each down stroke of her massive wings. The humans below her screamed and ran in fear. But Jade had little to no interest in them, she was after their animals. She flew over a farm, a small flock of fenced in sheep took off running as she descended over them.

  The sheep sprinted on their spindly legs, but no creature could run faster than a flying dragon. Jade flew in low, her front claws extended out to grab the first sheep she could. Just as she closed in, she heard a distinctive twang that she recognized all too well. She quickly tilted her wings and veered out of the way just as an arrow shot past her. She circled back around and turned to face her would be attacker.

  ***

  Richard lowered the bow. He cursed silently under his breath, a grimace of pain on his face. His shoulder muscles were still too stiff to pull the bowstring all the way back, so the arrow was fired at half strength. And at the last moment his injury flared up again and he winced, which caused him to miss.

  The dragon flew back around and came towards him. The piercing yellow eyes of the great reptile caused Richard’s heart to skip a beat. That creature, the dragon, hardly seemed to recognize it had almost been killed. It charged him from the sky and unleashed a torrent of fire.

  For a second, which felt like an eternity, Richard could only watch in awe and fear as the flames erupted towards him. He had heard of dragon’s breathing fire, but had never witnessed it for himself until this moment. Now that he saw it, the only thought that came to mind was the fires of Hell. This beast was clearly a servant of the Devil.

  Richard snapped out of his trance and threw himself to the ground. He curled up with his legs tucked under his body and hands clasped over his head. As he fell face first in the snow, the flames rushed by overhead. He felt the heat on his back and heard the roar of fire as it scorched the air.

  ***

  Jade closed her mouth and the fire ceased. She flew past the human without much thought. He was of little consequence to her now, her target was still the sheep. She dove over the flock, still panicking in their pen, and clutched one in her front talons. It bleated and screamed, kicked and thrashed, all in a vain attempt to escape. While still flying, Jade tossed it in the air and caught it in her mouth. There was a sickening crunch, and the screaming sheep fell silent.

  With one in her mouth already, she turned back to the pen and lunged at a second sheep. This time, she brought her whole weight to bare on the smaller animal, crushing it against the ground.

  With her prey caught, Jade reopened her wings and thrust them down. A cloud of powdered snow kicked up around her as she slowly ascended into the air. She tilted her wings and pushed herself forward, flying off with her kill.

  ***

  As the wing beats faded off, Richard lifted himself from the snow and watched as the dragon flew away. It had taken two sheep this time, one in its mouth and another carried in its claws. He balled his fists and punched at the ground in frustration. “Grah!” He shouted.

  A crunching of snow alerted him to the approach of the three farmers; Phillip, William, and Kenneth. Richard pushed himself up and brushed the snow off his body. He only glanced back to meet their gaze occasionally. “Do you have something to say?”

  “You are no substitute for our lord.” Phillip said in a harsh tone. “Sir Ardose would have dealt with this problem long ago. Instead all you’ve done is ineffectually play hero.” He folded his arms over his chest and furled his brows. “You’re no dragon slayer, and you’re no knight.”

  “And you think you are?” Richard retorted. “I am a squire, a knight in training, and I’m doing my very best to protect this village. And since you’ve obviously come here to gloat at my most recent failure, just let me say one thing.” Richard spun around with incredible speed and grasped Phillip by the throat. The farmer’s eyes shot wide open and his hands reached up to his neck, gripping and clawing at Richard’s fingers. “I am in charge until our lord returns. That means you are still under my orders and you are still forbidden from ascending that mountain. Now, have I made myself clear yet, or do you need a better reminder?”

  Phillip coughed and sputtered. His breath grew short and vision blurred. He managed to vomit up a quiet and strained, “No,” for which Richard released his hold. Phillip pulled away, his hand rubbed the soreness around his neck, and he gasped for air.

  “Good. Now go home.” The
three farmers retreated, but Richard was already regretting what he did. He just attacked a man, almost choked the life out of him, all for saying a few words he didn’t like. What kind of person would do that? What kind of person was he turning in to?

  ***

  Jade struggled to stay aloft. He journey back to the cave was longer and more difficult than the previous one. This was partially due to having two prey animals with her instead of only one, but more than that was the fire she used to fend off that human attacker of hers. The more fire she used, the harder it was to fly. If she used it all, then she’d be stuck on the ground until her supply replenished.

  It was the same human who attacked her with the sword the first time she stole from that village. Usually, humans had little distinctiveness one from the next and she cared not how they looked, but she always took special care to remember those that attempt to harm her.

  Why was this one so interested in her? She had no desire to harm him, so did he attack her twice now? She even made sure to take prey from a different field than before so as to avoid him, but he was still there. She thought temporarily of leaving again like she had from her last home, but that was out of the question now with another mouth to feed.

  As she flew over the cave entrance, she dropped both seep from her mouth and claws. They landed with a thump in the snow. Once they hit the ground, Jade let out a bellowing roar to signal her return. A chirping growl echoed in response from the cave.

  The hatchling scampered out of the cavern to greet its mother. It nuzzled up against Jade’s foreleg as once she landed. Its large eyes gazed up at her and it squeaked for food. Although only a few days old, it was already growing quickly.

  This was the reason Jade had taken two sheep instead of only one like before. While her chick couldn’t eat a whole animal by itself at once, it did need food more frequently than its mother and Jade did not have the energy or desire to make constant trips down the mountain.