Edgar and the Dragon

by Joseph Davis

  “It pricks me in my greedy dragon heart,” the dragon affirmed. “If I should be content with what I have, I shouldn’t be greedy for what I don’t need. If God will never leave me – and if He is the same God whom Edgar and Cornelius have talked about on our journey – and if I can have Him, then He is everything that I need. All the treasure in the world is worthless in comparison. This bracelet,” she said, removing the gold ring from her tail and laying it on the table,“it just sits on my tail, and in fact it actually hurts a little bit. But think how much good it could do if I sold it and spent the money on something that could help someone in need– fireberry bread for a hungry dragon, for example.”

  “It would appear that we have found our weapon against the shadow dragons,” the magician said.

  The five companions got to work learning their sixth Bible verse. When they had mastered it and made a plan, they climbed the staircase up to the corridor again. Now they were ready to save the kingdom from the shadow dragons.

  Chapter 22

  The five companions split up into two groups: Lucretia and Virgil would head for the dungeon to rescue the Dragon King, while Edgar, Cornelius, and the dragon would return to the throne room to deal with the Shadow King. If both groups succeeded, then they could get the Dragon King back on the throne, which would make the royal guards their allies rather than their enemies.

  Before they parted ways, the magician pressed a little cloth bag into Edgar’s hand. “In case you need them,” he said. “They may not be enough for all the guards, but if you get into trouble, they could help.”

  Edgar opened the cloth bag and nearly threw it away in disgust. It was full of Brussel sprouts! “I cannot use these,” he said. “I came here to rescue the dragons, not turn them to stone!”

  “You’re forgetting,” the magician said, “I know a spell to bring people and dragons back to life when they have turned to stone. You can use the Brussel sprouts to stop any guards that get in the way; I can make sure that they’re all right later.”

  As Virgil said these words, a trio of shadow dragons suddenly appeared around the corner.

  Cornelius was the first to act. “Be content with what you have!” he shouted. “Because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you!’”

  Two of the shadow dragons vanished in puffs of smoke. The magician’s theory held true; the right verse made them disappear!

  The third shadow dragon screeched and ran away.

  Edgar, Cornelius, and the dragon chased it down the corridor toward the throne room while Lucretia and Virgil slipped off to the dungeon to find the rightful king.

  “Be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,” Edgar quoted as they closed in on the third shadow dragon. It also disappeared in a puff of smoke.

  As Edgar, Cornelius, and the dragon charged through the corridors of the palace, toward the throne room, they ran into several shadow dragons. Thankfully, they were able to make them all disappear, most of them with the same verse about contentment.

  Edgar was amazed at how powerful his memory verses from Sunday School were, and he was proud of his friends, who had learned the verses so well.

  They rounded a corner and found themselves face-to-face with two royal guards. Edgar grudgingly used the Brussel sprouts. “Virgil can turn them back once we’ve gotten this whole Shadow King mess sorted out,” he told himself as they charged past the two new dragon statues.

  They soon arrived at the double doors leading into the throne room, only to find a familiar figure in a blue robe standing outside as if waiting for them.

  “Virgil!” said Edgar. “Did you rescue the King already? Where’s Lucretia? And why –”

  His questions were cut off as the magician dug a Brussel sprout out of his pocket and hurled it at Edgar’s dragon, turning her to stone.

  Chapter 23

  Edgar realized that the magician who stood before him was not Virgil, who had been so helpful, but rather his wicked twin brother, Homer. As he realized this, his shock over seeing his friend the dragon turned into a statue began to give way to a deep, burning anger.

  Edgar clenched his fists and prepared to hurl himself at the evil magician, but suddenly, a memory verse from Sunday school came to him and stopped him in his tracks: “Be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.” The verse cooled his burning anger, and he found himself calm and able to think clearly.

  The dragon would be all right; Virgil could turn her back later. Attacking Homer would not accomplish anything; Edgar’s fists were no match for his magic, and his memory verses probably could not make the magician disappear. But maybe if he tried listening to Homer, he could stall him until Virgil came back to the throne room with the Dragon King.

  “Homer,” Edgar said slowly. “The Shadow King said that you wanted to send me on another quest.”

  “Yes,” said the evil magician. His voice sounded exactly like Virgil’s. “And if you are not willing to help me,” he continued, “I have ways of persuading you.” He lifted his hands menacingly, blue lightning crackling around his fingertips.

  “I am willing to listen,” said Edgar, thinking of his Bible verse. “Tell me about your quest.”

  And so Homer told him.

  Far away, on the other side of the Flower Mountains, lay the Great Desert, a sandy wasteland full of abandoned pyramids. Hidden somewhere in one of these pyramids was a great treasure: a golden goblet full of gold coins. This cup could never be emptied; if one were to pour out all the coins, more would appear, and so whoever possessed the cup could have an endless supply.

  Homer had an old map that showed the way to the treasure, but he did not dare to go and look for it himself. The desert was full of dangers, the pyramids were full of traps, and the whole region was under a powerful enchantment so that no magician’s spells could work there. Homer had heard of Edgar, of his bravery and cleverness and all the times he had helped the dragons, and he believed that Edgar was the perfect person to retrieve the magic goblet.

  When the magician had finished talking, Edgar found himself unsure of what to do. He did not want to leave the Dragon Kingdom to its fate and go looking for the magic goblet to make the evil magician rich. But lying and saying that he would did not seem like a good option, either. The lie could quite possibly come out as a Shadow Edgar. He needed to stall for more time, but he did not know what more he could say. He looked at Cornelius, but the hunter just looked back at him helplessly.

  Then Edgar suddenly remembered another memory verse: “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God.” Edgar prayed a silent prayer to God, asking for wisdom. Suddenly, he found himself asking Homer, “Why did you curse the Dragon Kingdom with the shadow dragons? Was it just a way to get them to bring me here so that I could help you find the goblet?”

  “No,” said Homer, his eyes flashing with sudden anger. “Not only that. The dragons deserved to be punished for stealing gold from my mine!”

  “How many of them took gold from your mine?” Edgar asked calmly.

  “Three of them,” said the magician. “But the others are all just as bad! Dragons love treasure, they lust for it, they are greedy for it! You see how easily their disgusting greed creates shadow dragons! And it creates other problems – thievery, envy, anger, hatred – the dragons deserve to be punished for their sickening greed!”

  As Homer spoke, Edgar realized that the magician was very similar to the dragons that he hated. He was greedy for gold, and so he lusted after the enchanted goblet and became furious with the dragons who had taken a little bit of his gold, even though he owned a whole gold mine.

  “I agree that the dragons’ greed is not good,” Edgar said carefully. “And I understand that you are angry that some of them took some of your gold. I am curious, though – how great are your magical powers? Your brother could make tea; can you make food and drink? Can you make clothing? Shelter?”

  “I can make all of these things and more,” the magician
said proudly.

  “So why do you need gold?” Edgar asked.

  The wicked magician opened his mouth to speak, then closed it again. He looked suddenly quite flabbergasted.

  “Or how much gold do you need?” Edgar went on. “Let’s say I find the goblet for you. You pour out a cupful of gold. And then you do it again. When will it be enough? When will you be satisfied?”

  The Magician stood speechless, as if deep in thought.

  “How much did the dragons hurt you by taking your gold?” Edgar went on. “Did you have as much as you needed? And then, when they had taken some, did you have less than you needed?” When Homer still had nothing to say, Edgar continued with another memory verse that suddenly came to him: “Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied.”

  “Yes,” Cornelius suddenly chimed in. “Be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘I will never leave you; I will never forsake you.’” And then Cornelius began to tell the evil magician about God, the greatest of all treasures that he had found, the only eternal treasure, the only one that could truly satisfy.

  Chapter 24

  By the time Virgil and Lucretia arrived with the Dragon King, Homer had already realized the error of his ways. In tears over his own greed, he waved his hand and lifted his curse. In that moment, every shadow dragon in the kingdom vanished. “Gold is not enough,” he said in tears. “It will never be enough. I want the greatest treasure; I want God.”

  Homer begged the Dragon King to forgive him for all the evil that he had done. “I wish that there was something that I could do to make up for it,” he said. “I have removed my enchantment from your kingdom, but I cannot undo all the suffering that I have caused. Please, allow me at least to escort you back to your throne, and to be the first to honor you as King.” With these words, Homer waved his hand again, and the great double doors to the throne room swung open. The magician took a step toward the threshold – and froze. “Impossible!” he whispered.

  The Shadow King’s mighty, jet-black form filled the golden throne. Six dragons from the royal guard stood around him.

  “But I revoked my curse!” cried Homer. “You cannot be here! You cannot. . .” He muttered some magical words and gestured wildly at the living shadow.

  The Shadow King laughed. “Did you really think that it would be so simple?” he demanded. “Magician! I am born of a power far greater than you: the wickedness of your heart!” He raised his dark claws, and Homer suddenly collapsed with a cry. Black coils of smoke rose from his blue robe, whirled through the air above him and took shape: an exact copy of the magician, but completely black.

  Virgil shouted an incantation and hurled a crackling blue thunderbolt at the shadow wizard. The shadow blocked the attack with a black thunderbolt.

  With this, the battle had begun. The Shadow King made signs to his guards, who charged Edgar and his friends. Edgar opened his mouth to say a Bible verse, but he was interrupted by a guard who pounced on him and knocked him over. He fell, crushed against the hard tiles of the floor by the dragon’s weight, and managed to narrowly avoid at slash from the creature’s silver claws.

  Then Edgar’s dragon was there, dragging the guard away by the tail. She was still a little stiff from her time as a statue, but she was strong, and she fought wildly to protect her friend.

  Meanwhile, two more dragons chased Lucretia and Cornelius, who tried to maneuver their way toward the jewel-encrusted weapons that hung on the walls.

  The other three guards circled the Dragon King nervously. He reminded them of who he was, but at the moment, with the Shadow King on the throne, the information was not particularly relevant.

  The Shadow King sat and watched the whole spectacle.

  One of the guards trapped Lucretia in a corner, but then Cornelius charged to her defense and took hold of the dragon’s tail. The guard cracked his tail like a whip, throwing the man against the wall. Lucretia scrambled out of the corner, leaped and pulled a silver sword from a golden peg on the wall. The two guards’ full attention was on Cornelius, who was climbing unsteadily to his feet, and Lucretia attacked them from behind.

  The silver blade rebounded from stone and Lucretia dropped the sword with a clatter. Edgar had gotten there first with his Brussel sprouts, and both guards were now frozen in mid-attack. Cornelius squirmed in the statue’s grip, but was unable to free himself. At least he seemed to be relatively unhurt. “Leave me!” he said. “Help the others!”

  Edgar turned and saw that the other four guards had caught the King and Edgar’s dragon, who thrashed and struggled as the guards chained them. Virgil and the shadow wizard stood trading thunderbolts and flashes of fire, and Homer lay motionless on the ground to one side.

  Edgar and Lucretia exchanged a brief glance and sprang into action.

  Two of the guards were turned to stone by Edgar’s Brussel sprouts before they had time to react. His next throw struck the King by mistake. “Oops!” said Edgar as he saw the King of the Dragons transformed into a stone statue. “How embarrassing!”

  His next two throws were on target, and the remaining two guards were turned to stone.

  Meanwhile, Lucretia came to her friend Virgil’s defense with the Bible verse that she guessed would work best against the shadow wizard: “Be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’”

  It worked; the living shadow trembled violently and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

  Virgil rushed to his fallen brother’s side and checked for signs of life.

  Edgar turned to confront the Shadow King. Now he had come upon the perfect Bible verse, one that would strike at the very heart of the pride that had created the dark king!

  But the throne was empty. The Shadow King was nowhere to be found.

  Chapter 25

  The Dragon King was still a bit stiff in the tail from his brief time as a statue, and he winced as he sat on his golden throne again. His first official act as king was to call for a thicker cushion. Then he ordered a search for the Shadow King.

  The guards, who Virgil and the wounded Homer had restored with their magic, leaped into action. They mobilized the entire royal guard, who searched every dark corner of the palace and the city.

  They found no trace of the Shadow King. Virgil and Homer tried to track him down with their magic, without success. “Perhaps he disappeared like my shadow twin,” said Homer. “Perhaps they were defeated by the same Bible verse, in the same instant.” But he knew that the living shadows had their own ways of disappearing. And the Shadow King, who had received so much of Homer’s own magical power – no one knew what he was capable of.

  The King of the Dragons had much work to do. Aside from the hunt for the Shadow King, he had a prison full of dragons to be released, and a whole city of frightened dragons who needed comfort and encouragement.

  And of course, there were heroes to thank. Edgar, his dragon, Lucretia, Cornelius, and Virgil received gold medals for saving the kingdom. Homer was also offered a medal for his help in lifting the curse, but he refused. He did not feel worthy, and he did not want any more gold.

  Edgar gave his medal away to a young dragonlet, who was overjoyed to receive it. It would have just disappeared anyway when he returned to his world.

  In the middle of all the decisions, speeches, and ceremonies, the King ordered that a special building be set aside to serve as Draconia’s Sunday School, where dragons and others could learn about God. “For,” he said, “this plague of shadow dragons has opened my eyes to our deep need for God; we dragons are full of greed and anger, jealousy and pride. We need God’s Word to defeat the shadow dragons in our hearts.”

  Edgar stayed in Draconia for the rest of the month, teaching in the new Sunday School. The Bible that the Shadow King had torn up was actually still quite readable, and with that wonderful book and all the verses he had memorized, he had plenty to teach. Cornelius and Homer were his best and most
eager students. When the next full moon came and it was time for Edgar to return to his own world, he left them in charge of the Sunday School.

  Edgar’s friend the dragon flew him back to his bedroom just in time for him to get a little more sleep before his math test. This was one of the peculiarities of the portal between worlds; though Edgar had been in the dragon’s world for a whole month, only about an hour had passed in ours.

  As Edgar settled into his comfortable bed again, he found to his surprise that he was not at all worried about tomorrow’s math test; rather, he was excited about Sunday. When Sunday came, he would have another chance to go to Sunday School. There, he could learn more of God’s Word to share with his friends the next time he saw them.

  THE END