by Jamie Simo
made his teeth ache and tears spring to his eyes. The monster's leathery wings were barely visible, folded like a bird's tight against its body.
Betain shouted for Hader to get out of the way, then moved forward, shield up and sword at the ready. Hader obeyed as best he could. He ended up scrabbling on all fours across the rocky floor, too terrified to stand and run.
As of yet, the dragon hadn't made a move toward any of them, but when Betain brandished his sword and charged, the monster reached out a claw and swiped at him. It would have taken off the knight's head had he not gotten his shield up to block.
Gorlan swallowed hard. Mastering his fear, he crept over to where Hader crouched against the wall. "Hader, quick! Now, while it's distracted."
His partner gaped at him, wide-eyed, too terrified even to speak. Gorlan swore. Fine. He was going to have to do it himself. Keeping close to the wall, he edged toward the entrance to what was surely the treasure chamber.
"Just keep it distracted, Sir Knight." He flicked a glance sideways to see Betain roll awkwardly out of the way of the dragon's snapping jaws.
A flick of his tongue over dry lips brought him the taste of the salty sweat dripping down his face. He was almost to the entrance to the next room when he heard a sickening crunch and Hader's wordless shout.
Betain lay at a strange angle between the forelegs of the monster, his breastplate bent inward into his chest. Blood was already beginning to pool around him. As Gorlan stared, the dragon bent its long neck down and began to lap it up with great slurping noises.
"Gorlan!" He ripped his eyes from the gruesome spectacle to see that Hader had gotten over his debilitating terror and made it to the tunnel. "I'll get help!"
"Hader, don't you dare leave me here! You get back here!" His voice grew shriller, cracking on the last word, but Hader was already gone, leaving him alone with the monster.
The dragon made a rumbling sound deep in the back of its long throat and Gorlan braced for it to incinerate him, but then he realized, with a start, that it was laughing. It lifted its head to fix him with a yellow, slit-eyed gaze. "Do you really expect he will return?" Its voice sounded like boulders rubbing together.
Gorlan winced at the sound. "Of course. For the treasure if nothing else, and probably with a whole battalion of knights," he said half-heartedly, unable to make the lie convincing.
The dragon laughed again. "Honor among thieves, indeed." Ignoring him, it began to feed on the body of the fallen knight.
Gorlan jammed his eyes shut, but even without sight, the sounds of rending flesh, cracking bones and teeth and claws screeching against metal were enough to make him retch. He wiped his mouth on his sleeve and gripped the hilt of his knife even tighter.
While the dragon was preoccupied, Gorlan slowly began edging along the wall back toward the tunnel. The dragon, sensing his movement, bared its teeth at him, their gleaming ivory stained with blood and gore.
"One more step and I will slay you where you stand."
Gorlan halted. "Why haven't you killed me already?"
"These days, it is rare I get such meals. If you behave, I may let you live until I grow hungry again."
"And how long is that?"
The dragon dipped its head in what appeared to be a shrug. "Perhaps a day or two."
It was clear that there was going to be only one way out of here. He took a deep breath. "You must have amassed quite a bit of treasure in your travels to guard it so fiercely. No doubt you have mounds of gold and silver and priceless gems. Perhaps even fine jewelry: bracelets and pearl necklaces, maybe even a few rings..."
The dragon grunted and its long, forked tongue darted out from its lipless mouth as it considered him. "You are interested in rings?"
He faltered under that unblinking gaze.
"Do not be coy. The last thieves to come here were also interested in rings, one in particular: a plain, golden band with a strange crest. Ah yes, I see from your expression that it is the same as the one you came here for. What is so special about that ring when I have so many others to choose from?"
Gorlan shook his head and let out his breath. The dragon didn't know the power of the ring! He cast about quickly for a lie that would be intriguing enough for a dragon. "If you put the ring on and twist it three times counterclockwise, it has the power to produce gold."
"Truly? No wonder so many people have sought it."
Gorlan smiled, an idea beginning to form. "I could show you how it works. Your claw is too big to wear it, but I could."
"And what would you gain?"
"If I give you the gold it makes, you will let me go. It's more than a fair trade. You'd stand to gain a hundred times more riches than you have now and I'd walk away with my life. All you'd get if you ate me, on the other hand, would be indigestion, and you'd be hungry again shortly after."
The dragon cocked its head to the side on its sinuous neck. "Show me."
Gorlan fought back a smile. "Shall we then?" Purposely, he turned his back on the dragon and headed for the farthest wall of the cave. Every muscle in his body cried out for him to run as he heard the tremendous footfalls that proclaimed the monster was following him, but he resisted the urge, fearing that if he gave in to it, he would surely die. At least this way he might have a chance.
The light was dim in the treasure room. The ceiling was solid rock far overhead and what little light there was came from the previous chamber. The smell of metal and that other peculiar odor, which he realized now was lizard, was stronger here. Gorlan decided this must be where the dragon slept.
Not knowing if it could see better in the dark than he could and unwilling to bet his life on that, he stepped to the side of the doorway out of the monster's path and dug in his pack for a torch. In his eagerness, his hand passed over the torch several times before he was able to grab it. Then he had to waste more precious time coaxing a spark from his flint and tinder. Finally, the torch began to burn, and he gasped.
A mountain of gold and silver coins lay heaped in the center of the room, winking at him seductively in the flickering light of the torch. Here and there, gold bricks and gem-encrusted swords and chalices made to fit the hands of kings long since dead were scattered haphazardly, partially sunken in the giant dune. Scintillant, rainbow-colored jewels dazzled his eyes.
"It is impressive, is it not?"
Gorlan licked his lips and gave a rueful laugh, suddenly grasping the flaw in his plan that now doomed him. He blinked back tears. "Yes, but how will I ever find the ring in all that?"
It chuckled, setting his teeth on edge. "That is up to you. You have until I get hungry again to do so. If you succeed, I may decide you can keep your life, however if you do not, I will certainly devour you."
"I thought we had a deal!"
"You were mistaken. You suggested a deal. I never agreed to one." It lumbered back out into the main chamber.
Gorlan cursed the monster in every language he knew. When he was all out of curses, he jabbed the torch into the side of the treasure dune to free his hands and set to work. Since the dragon guarded the only way out, he was just going to have to find the ring.
Dawn came and went and more and more light gradually seeped in from the next chamber. The torch had burned out hours ago, but Gorlan didn't notice. He knuckled his eyes, vision swimming, and scooped up another handful of treasure. It was delicate, tedious work to make sure he didn't discard anything before he'd fully looked at it, and he hadn't gotten through even a tenth of the pile.
Realizing this, he clenched his fists, sending gold and silver pieces tumbling through his hands. He grabbed up another handful. How could he have been so stupid? He'd let his greed and trust in others override his natural caution and now he was going to pay the ultimate price.
"God," he prayed, "if you get me out of this, I promise I'll be kinder to others. If you strike Hader dead, I'll even donate some money to the church." He waited a
second then, with a snarl, drew back his hand to pitch the fistful of treasure. Just before he did so though, he stopped. Slowly, he opened the curled fingers of his right hand. There, glittering on his palm atop a cluster of diamonds, sat a gold band. Engraved into the metal were interlocking triangles in the shape of King Altmeir's crest. He began to laugh. He laughed so hard he began to cry.
He lifted his eyes toward the ceiling in silent thanks then cried, "Dragon! Dragon, come see your ring!"
He waited a moment and when there was no indication the monster would come to him, he scowled and slipped the ring on his finger. "All right then monster, I'll come to you."
When he reentered the other chamber, he found the dragon curled up in the center of the room. It opened one eye to peer at him.
"Let's see you eat me now!" He didn't wait for it to get up before he twisted the ring counterclockwise. As he did so, he concentrated hard on becoming the first thing he could think of.
For a split second, he felt oddly weightless. His stomach fell out of him with a sudden jolt. Then he felt flesh and bone close about him once more. Curled up on the cavern floor, he gaped at his own short, scrawny body standing across the room.
Now he understood what the drunk had meant by "if you can see it, you can be it." Just by fixing the image in his mind of a dragon he'd switched bodies with the only dragon he could literally "see." After he got over his initial shock, he chuckled.