The Last Stand of the Dragon

by Hanson, N. J.

  The going on foot was slow, not helped by the hampering storm. Why they didn’t choose another day to make this assault on the dragon’s cave was a mystery to him. But he carried on, following his lord. The thought of all that gold, the sum wealth of everyone in the village, being given away to this dragon slayer still troubled Richard. Was that what most dragon slayers charge? Was Cain some kind of especially expensive one? Or was there something else behind this? And if there was, wouldn’t Ardose know about it?

  His thoughts were interrupted when a massive shadow passed over him. He stopped in his tracks and looked skyward. Thick draggles of ash gray clouds filled the air and blocked most of the sunlight, yet he still thought he saw the shadow of something large fly overhead.

  Richard immediately thought of the dragon. Jade is what everyone called it, they said he named it in his fever induced sleep, but he cared little if it had a name or not. If the dragon had just flown overhead, then that would mean it was headed back to the village. He needed to warn Sir Ardose. With extra determination, he picked up his stride and moved faster up the mountain after the knight.

  “Sir Ardose, my lord!” Richard shouted over the howling winds. “There’s something I must tell you!”

  The knight turned around to address his squire. “Later, boy. Look.” He pointed just a little further up the mountain slopes. “Do you see it?”

  Richard followed his line of sight and saw a place where the bleak white snow fell away to reveal a dark cavern in the mountain side. “The dragon’s lair?”

  “Exactly. Come along.” Ardose patted Richard on the back and hiked up towards the cave. Cain was already waiting for them by the entrance.

  “You took too long. You are both young, you should not be beaten so easily by an old man.” Cain produced an unlit torch from his shoulder bag. The old man took a piece of flint and struck against the edge of his sword. A spark leapt off and ignited the end of the torch. “Come on, we have a job to do.” With the burning torch in one hand, Cain lead the descent into the darkness.

  Sir Ardose drew his sword and followed the dragon slayer. Richard, however, hesitated by the cave entrance. This cavern was the home of a fire breathing dragon, a servant of the Devil himself. He didn’t want to enter, even if it was to slay the beast. “Squire!” Sir Ardose shouted at him from inside the cave. “Come along!”

  “Yes, sir.” Richard gripped the hilt of his sword tightly and followed his lord inside. It was his duty, along with that of a knight, to kill this monster and send it back to its master in Hell.

  A piercing, high pitched shriek came from deeper within the cave. They all froze in place. Richard’s hands wrung tighter around the pommel of his sword. He stared off into the deeper darkness of the cave, watching and waiting for whatever had made that scream. The fire from Cain’s torch danced and cast its light along the rough rocky walls, which faded to black the further into the cave it went. Richard realized he’d been holding his breath when his lungs started to burn. He let the air out, allowing himself to breathe again.

  With his eyes now adjusted to the darkness, he saw a shape move in the inky black void. It moved closer, walking slowly but steadily towards the light. Then it emerged from the dark and they saw it for what it was. Pale green scales, large yellow eyes, a crown of six spiny horns protruding from the back of its skull, and a pair of over-sized wings. A dragon.

  A tiny dragon, not much bigger than a dog. It stood no taller than hip height on any of them, and was shorter than the length of a horse.

  “Is this all, Richard?” Sir Ardose growled under his breath. His irritation was obvious, as well as his anger. “You were terrified of a tiny creature such as this?”

  Richard stuttered in confusion. He was at a loss. The dragon he remembered was an enormous beast of death and destruction, not this tiny, dog-sized lizard.

  “Do not be discouraged, sir knight.” Cain said. “This is but a hatchling, less than a few weeks old. It’s obvious that the creature your squire remembers is the mother.”

  “The mother?” Sir Ardose asked. There was a hint of relief in his voice. Richard picked up on it, and grew more concerned. Why would his lord be relieved that there was a larger dragon around? “Where is the mother, then?” Ardose asked.

  “Perhaps already on her way back to your village. She will return shortly, I presume.” Cain held out the torch to Ardose, who took it from him. “In the mean time, we must still dispose of this.” His long, bony fingers grasped the hilt of his sword, and defying their appearance, pulled the blade smoothly and easily from its sheath. He took up his sword and advanced towards the dragon chick.

  ***

  The hatchling stared with unblinking eyes at the three strange creatures. When it heard them enter it thought its mother had returned already, but instead it found these unusual animals. The chick had never seen anything like them before, and watched them inquisitively. What were they?

  One of them, the one with a bald head and scary face, held a burning stick. He gave it to one of the others and then pulled a long, shiny stick from its side and came toward the baby dragon. Fear filled the heart of the hatchling. It didn’t like these animals, they frightened it. It growled and snarled as the bald man came towards it, but that didn’t stop him.

  The man ran at the hatchling and thrust his sword forward. The sharp point of steel easily sliced through the chick’s scales and stabbed it through the heart. The tiny dragon screamed in unimaginable pain. Its death rattles echoed off the walls of the cave and out into the raging storm outside. Blood sprayed out from its chest and spilled from its mouth. It never knew why, only felt the agony of death as the bald man pushed harder on the sword It hardly knew life, but now the hatchling knew death.

  ***

  Richard watched in horror and disgust as Cain impaled the dragon chick on his sword. Watching it convulse and twitch, hearing its screams of pain and death, Richard thought he was going to be sick. He had to turn away and place and hand across his mouth to stop himself from vomiting.

  “Richard?” Sir Ardose asked, he placed his hand on the younger man’s back. “Are you alright?”

  Richard shook his head. He heaved, but managed to prevent himself from puking. He pressed his forehead against the rough stone of the cave wall. It was cold and soothing. What he had just been forced to witness disturbed him greatly.

  “Is this your first time watching a dragon slaying?” Cain spoke with sadistic glee. That same horrible smile spread across his face and his eyes emanated an icy cold emptiness. His face was stained with the blood splatter of the dead hatchling. “Trust me, young squire, if you’re in the business long enough, you come to enjoy it.”

  Richard couldn’t keep his mouth shut any longer. “You are a terrible, sick man.” He spat. “Why Ardose ever chose to hire you is a mystery to me.”

  Cain’s wicked grin turned into a sneer. He lifted up his blood soaked sword. “You have a discipline problem, boy. I think I might have to teach you a lesson.”

  They were interrupted by the sound of powerful wing beats coming from the cave entrance. Even the howling wind could not compare to the force given off by those wings. Richard’s breath was caught in his throat. He knew what that was.

  “She’s returned.” Cain licked the dragon’s blood from his lips. “Mommy is going to come looking for her baby.”

  Chapter 1 8

  J ade landed right at the mouth of the cave. The scent of blood lingered in the air, even in the harsh wind and hail. It emanated from her cave. She hadn’t even been halfway to the village when she heard the screams and cries of her daughter carried on the wind, and now she returned to her cave to the smell of blood. Something inside the cave was dead or badly wounded, and she feared as to what it might be.

  Hastily, she trotted into the cave. She bellowed a roar, the one to signal her return, but the hatchling did not respond. Inside, now that she was out of the wind, the smell of death was strong. It was accompanied by another scent, the smell of smoke
and burning wood. She knew what that was; a torch. Jade continued down her cave. Her heartbeat raced. She knew what awaited her inside.

  Three figures appeared out of the darkness, one of which was holding the torch. He was a bearded man brown hair whom she did not recognize. The younger human beside him she knew as her twice attacker from her exploits in the village.

  It was the third human who commanded her attention. He was bald with an unsightly face. He held a sword which dripped with blood. At his feet, Jade saw the body of her hatchling laying a pool of its own blood. Its eyes were frozen open in an empty stare of death.

  Jade’s heart seemed to stop. Al her thoughts ceased, time stood still. Shock, outrage, horror, and terrible grief washed over her in waves. Dead. Her first, and only child was slain.

  All of her emotions mixed and turned into white-hot seething rage. A growl rumbled in her throat and her eyes shifted from her daughter to the hatchling’s assassin. The bald human with the sword and her daughter’s blood still warm on his face. An outrage! The rumble in her throat turned into a roar, the loudest and most powerful she’d ever uttered before. Her jaws clamped shut with a snap that would have shattered bone. Her eyes stared with such intensity they could have incinerated men’s souls. Soon, she would incinerate their flesh.

  “and now for your plan, Ardose. I believe the dragon is enraged enough.” The bald human said.

  The bearded human trembled in her presence. “I do believe you’re right.” He turned to the younger human. “Richard, run!” He threw his torch at Jade. She flinched in shock and swatted at it in the air. Her claws struck the torch and sent it careening aside. In that brief moment, all three of the humans made a run past her and towards the exit.

  Two of them managed to get away, the third, the one with blood still on his sword and face, did not. As he ran past her, She threw open her wings and smacked him in the face. He fell to the cave floor, the sword slipped from his hands and he fumbled around looking for it in the dark.

  Jade’s eyes adjusted quickly to the low light. She found him patting his hands around on the ground stupidly feeling for his weapon. She growled and he stopped moving. While he could not see her, he obviously could hear. He backed away from her, crawling on his hands and knees until he came to the cave wall. He pressed himself up against the rocks, shivering and whimpered in fear. A pathetic creature. First behaving arrogant and proud, now cowering from her like a frightened rat. Jade advanced towards her prey, her foot stomped down on the sword and it shattered under her pressure.

  The dragon unleashed an inferno, a huge stream of fire erupted from her jaws like a fiery volcano and engulfed the defenseless human. His terrible screams echoed through the cave. His clothes burned away, along with his skin and flesh.

  Only after his screaming finally ceased did Jade stop. The charred remains of the human lay before her, fire still danced across his burnt form. What little remained was mostly bone, scorched back. An empty skull lay on the floor with its mouth hung open in a silent scream of horror.

  In all her anger, Jade had forgotten the other two that escaped her. But she did not care. Her attention turned away from the still burning human corpse to the lifeless remains of her daughter. She pressed her snout against it, nuzzled the baby as she had done before. Already, it had become cold in the mountain cave. Jade let out a sorrowful howl of grief and despair.

  ***

  Richard’s legs ached as he sprinted down the mountain slope. Ardose ran ahead of him. Panting and gasping for breath, he felt as if his chest would explode. His heart pumped rapidly in his chest, harder than he ever thought it could.

  “Quickly, boy!” Ardose shouted over his shoulder. “To the horses!”

  “Sir!” Richard gasped as he ran. “Wait!” Sir Ardose’s speed slowed until he came to a full stop. The knight placed his hands on he knees and panted, wisps of vapor from his breath floated up around his face. Richard reached his lord’s side and stopped to catch his breath as well. Once he had managed to steady himself, he asked, “What about Cain?”

  A terrible scream answered him. It echoed down from the cave above them, accompanied by the roar of fire. Richard found himself frozen in place with terror. He listened for a great while before the terrible sound finally stopped.

  “It’s over. There’s nothing to do for him.” Ardose said. “Come on,” he turned away and continued down the mountain. “We need to get to the horses.”

  “You’re right.” Richard said. His voice trembled more than he thought it would, and he hated himself for it. Try as he might, once again he had failed. “We have to warn the villagers.”

  “Warn them? No, it’s far too late for that.” Ardose said. “We need to get away from here as fast as we can. Soon that dragon will return to the village and burn it down. There’s no hope for them, anymore.”

  “What!?” Richard stammered. He raced after Ardose and grabbed the knight by his arm. “No hope? If they’re in mortal danger then we have to go back!”

  “We can’t, boy!” Ardose shouted. He pulled away roughly. “By the time we get there it will already be on fire. Half of it will be ash and the rest in flames. The only thing we can do is get ourselves to safety.”

  “But they’re depending on us! We’re supposed to protect them, we cant just abandon them to their fate like this!” Richard’s voice grew steadily louder.

  Ardose struck his squire across the face, sending Richard sprawling to the ground. “Be quiet! I am your lord and you will address me as such!”

  Richard lay on the ground, his hand pressed lightly against the red spot on his face. Never before had Sir Ardose ever lain a hand on him, and certainly not in such a way as this. He choked back a sob in his throat. “My lord,” he said as he stood, “I am loyal to you, but I am also loyal to my duty as a squire and future knight of the realm. If those people are in danger, it is my job, and your job, to protect them.”

  Ardose scoffed at Richard’s words. “Future knight? Don't make me laugh. You were never going to be a knight. You're just a lowly peasant born orphan. What you have now is as good as it could ever get for someone like you in this world. Duty. Honor. Titles. None of that every gets you anything, boy. I had hoped you’d come with me.”

  “What do you mean?” Richard asked.

  “This was all a part of the plan.” Ardose said. “The fact of the matter is, Richard, that I am tired of this place. Tired of being a knight and having to answer to the peasants of this land.” He let out a small chuckle. “I wanted to get away so badly, but if I abandon the village I would be christened a coward and be forced to live with that shame my whole life. Not shame for myself, mind you, but the shame everyone would heap on me. But when you told me about the dragon, I saw my chance.”

  Richard could hardly believe what he was hearing, but he wanted to know. “Chance for what?”

  Ardose continued. “I knew that if the dragon attacked the village and everyone in it died, then I could walk away a free man. I would be assumed dead like the rest of the villagers, possibly even a hero who died valiantly. But before that could happen I would need money, enough gold to live off of comfortably as I reestablished myself as a mercenary sword-for-hire. And for that I would need Cain.”

  “But, why?”

  “Cain was a professional dragon slayer. If I hired him and he charged a fee, then I could split the proceeds from him after we enraged the dragon enough to force it to attack. And now that he’s dead, I don’t have to share the gold with anyone.” Ardose turned away from Richard and gazed back down the mountain side. “I had hoped you’d come with me, I rather fancied you as a squire. But it seems you’ve made up your mind. I’m leaving now, do what you will.”

  “Is that why you wanted me to keep it a secret?” Richard asked before Ardose could walk too far. “You didn’t want anyone to find out so you’d have enough time? And to force them to pay any price?”

  “You catch on well.” Ardose said. “Yes. And I had a close call, too. A hunter boy ca
me up to me on the day I was to leave and also informed me of the dragon. he was even so kind as to lead me to where he saw it. I had to keep him silent, however. A knife in his back was sufficient.”

  “A hunter boy?” Richard’s knew of whom Ardose spoke, and it made his blood boil. “You mean Dennis?” His teeth clenched.

  “Was that his name? I keep forgetting. It hardly matters now, anyways.”

  “It mattered to his family. It mattered to his sister, Rachel!” In a blind fury, Richard fumbled and grasped his sword. He pulled it from the sheath and it glistened in the light. “You murdered him! He trusted you, and you stabbed him in the back!”

  “He was only a peasant.” Ardose said with disinterest.

  This was the last straw for Richard. He shouted a battle cry and charged at the older knight, the sword Lion’s Fang in hand. He swung at Ardose’s head with all his strength, fully prepared to kill him.

  Only Ardose quick reaction saved his life. He drew his own sword and stopped Richard’s attack with a quick block. “What do you think you’re doing, boy?” Ardose said as he shoved Richard back. “You would dare to attack me? Attack your lord?”

  “You’re not my lord anymore.” Richard hissed through gritted teeth. “You’re a murderer, and a coward who would run away and leave the people that trust you to die! You are not the man I swore service to. You are no longer my lord.”

  “That’s unfortunate. You did make a decent squire.” He lifted his sword and took a stance. “Make your move then.”

  Chapter 1 9

  T he two of them faced off, Richard gripped Lion’s Fang tightly, waiting for Ardose to make the first move. The wind howled around them, capes flapped in the air. Finally, Richard charged at his former master. He pulled his sword back over his shoulder and swung with all his might. Ardose parried the attack with his own sword.

  Metal clanked together with a deafening ring. Sparks flew from the blades as they struck. Again and again Richard brought his sword to bare down on the knight, and each time Ardose deflected it. “Come on, boy. I taught you better than this.” As Richard moved to attack again, Ardose grabbed him by the arm and yanked him close.