Maydon Fare and Dragon Gold

by Pam Lynne

the journey was hurried as the wizard wisely wanted to get as far away from the village as quickly as possible. They rode in single file and in silence for Machvell needed to concentrate on keeping them going in the right direction. Their previous trips had been along the most convenient route; now they rode through thick bush and forests. This confused May, but as she was still feeling the effects of the potion laced water, she accepted it. The effects of the drink however did not last long which was not good for with not being able to talk, it left nothing to do but think. The more she thought, the more doubts she had about this adventure and the more doubts she had, the more apprehensive she became.

  Soon though they were far enough away from the village and once again back on an easier route which allowed them to ride side by side. Machvell and Abscon were in the lead followed by May and Timor.

  May took full advantage of this and began asking questions to distract herself as much as to satisfy her own curiosity about the prince. She didn’t ask about the dragon however, wishing to postpone that part as long as possible. Instead she began asking Timor what the life of a prince was like. He of course didn’t really know what to say as he was not a typical prince. “Well, you know,” fumbling with his response “my life is pretty typical I suppose. Um, hunting, feasting, duals with other princes - that sort of thing.”

  “Did you then chose to come on this quest or did your father the King send you?”

  “Well, you see, the King is not my father. What I mean is your King is not my father!” trying to recover from his unintended blunder “My kingdom is actually much further away to the south of this kingdom...where I am a prince there of course.”

  “Oh” she said a bit confused. Being a prince, she naturally assumed he was the King’s son. “Then why are you assisting our King?”

  Machvell and Abscon remained silent while listening to their exchange, quite enjoying hearing Timor try to explain who he was to this obviously confused girl. Timor was not used to being questioned; he told people he was a prince and everyone just accepted it. Maydon clearly was not like everyone else.

  “It is not uncommon for royalty such as myself to visit other kingdoms and when I learned about this expedition to the northern part of your kingdom, I thought it a great opportunity to explore more. I am an adventurer after all!” The others muffled their laughter for they of course knew the truth about Prince Timor. May continued to look confused for this really wasn’t much of an explanation but what did she know? She was after all just a naive girl from a small village that was growing smaller every year.

  Prince Timor urged his horse forward, clearly done with talking for now. He managed to get his horse ahead of Abscon’s which resulted in his now being the closest to May. She then turned her questions to the knight and much like the prince, he fumbled with responses. He told her that it was at the king’s request that he come on this sojourn in order to provide the wizard and the prince adequate guard along the way. Now it was the prince’s turn to be amused.

  “Have you been on a lot of these adventures?” she asked hoping to hear a glorious tale or two.

  “Why don’t you tell her about the great troll?” interrupted Timor. “Yes, please do” added Machvell.

  “You fought a troll!?” she asked excitedly. This was the type of tale she hoped to hear!

  Abscon blushed with embarrassment as much as in anger. He would get them back for this one!

  “I’m afraid there’s not much to tell. A troll was bothering travellers, the king sent me to investigate and I found him and killed him.” he quickly said. Yet again, May looked confused.

  “Oh.” was her only response, disappointment evident in her voice.

  “What modesty!” called the wizard suddenly. “There is certainly more to it than that! After all we are talking about a troll which, next to a dragon, is one of the most difficult creatures to kill!”

  Surprisingly, the wizard slowed his horse allowing Abscon to ride ahead so he himself was now alongside Maydon. Though this might be viewed by others as a noble gesture to rescue his companion from an uncomfortable situation with an overly inquisitive lass; it was not.

  “Forgive Prince Timor and Sir Abscon” he said sweetly to her. “As is common with true heroes, they are not very good story tellers. That is why such tales are best told by someone else.”

  Machvell was, not surprisingly, a very good story teller as most liars tended to be. He began to regale Maydon with tales about Prince Timor’s and Sir Abscon’s amazing adventures that were complete nonsense, but coming from him, completely believable.

  Machvell had been enjoying the awkwardness that his two companions were suffering at the hands of this young maiden but quickly realized that they were also losing credibility with her. She needed to be assured that they were as brave as they cast themselves to be otherwise she might not be encouraged by their ability to protect her from the dragon and at this point, Machvell did not want anything to go wrong!

  Machvell was correct; she had been having serious doubts about this adventure shortly after leaving with them and wondering if she had agreed to a very foolish thing.

  To begin with, she did not lie and that alone made her extremely uncomfortable. Her parents taught her that if you needed to lie about what you were doing then chances are it was something you shouldn’t be doing. She also knew that they were very protective of her and was certain they wouldn’t have agreed to let her go on this adventure; kings men or not. She also didn’t like that everything happened so quickly without adequate time to think it over. Again she was taught that when undertaking a serious matter, take the time to think it through and plan carefully. Everything involving these gentlemen appeared to be going against all the things she was taught.

  But Machvell’s tales in the end provided (albeit false) assurances that despite the sense of wrongness she felt, coming along with them was the right thing to do and all would end well.

  They were not quite in site of the dragons den when Machvell made them stop one last time for they needed to prepare for the final part. After dismounting from the horses, the first thing he did was offer Maydon another drink of water which she at first refused. She was much too nervous now to consume anything but Machvell insisted and she relented, drinking the last of it. He spoke quickly so they could be on their way as soon as possible. This served a dual purpose; it didn’t allow anyone sufficient time to question him and more importantly they needed to have this done before nightfall to ensure they had adequate time to make their escape.

  The drink had only slightly begun taking effect on her again but not wanting to appear uncooperative, asked in a voice that sounded more confident then she felt “What must I do?”

  “Your role is quite simple my dear.” responded the wizard as he pulled out a golden amulet encrusted with emeralds, diamonds, and rubies and placed it around her neck. May was mesmerized; she had never seen anything so beautiful in her entire life! It sparkled so much in the light that it nearly blinded her. It must be worth a fortune she thought. Being naive, she mistakenly believed the gems to be real.

  The others smiled watching her. There was no turning back now and it would appear that there would be little argument from her.

  "Dragons, as you know, love treasure and sight of such will momentarily catch their attention away from all else. This amulet is enchanted with a magic spell so powerful that upon seeing it the dragon's attention will be held even longer, effectively putting him into a trance. Once that happens, Abscon will be able to get close enough to the dragon and with one skillfully placed thrust of his sword, kill the beast. But first the dragon's attention needs to be on the amulet and that is what we need you to do my dear." explained Machvell. She looked at him with absolute terror.

  "Fear not!" he said trying to sound reassuring. "You are perfectly safe. I told you previously that the only person that can ever safely approach a dragon is a fair maiden such as yourself and be assured you will not be alone. Though we must be in s
uch a position that the dragon cannot see us, we will none the less be close by you at all times. I will know when the dragon has succumbed to the full effect of the amulet and will give the signal at which time Prince Timor will whisk you away to safety and Sir Abscon will slay the dragon! All that you must do is stand there and hold up the amulet."

  She still was not sure about this; what if it didn't work? She would be the one directly in front of the dragon. Sensing the uncertainty Machvell quickly added "You do want to help your parents and the village, don't you?" Reluctantly she nodded yes and Machvell, with a nod of his head signalled to Prince Timor who quickly stepped over to her and grasping her hands in his said with feigned passion, “I swear on my life, no harm will come to you.” She did not have time to respond for he quickly lifted her back on the pack horse and then mounted his own.

  One final warning from Machvell prevented any further responses or conversation. "From here on in no one must speak. We will soon be in sight of the dragon's den and at risk of being heard by him. Everyone must be absolutely silent!" he ordered.

  With the exception of Machvell, it was with great apprehension that the group travelled the last part in silence.

  All too soon they arrived at the bottom of the hill where the