“A freakin dragon?” Brent asked. Eyes wide as saucers. “You have to kill a dragon? Like Smaug?”
“More like a giant anaconda. An anaconda with really strong scales that happens to come from another world.” Chris looked over at Nicole who had not said a word since he’d told them quietly about what his first trial entailed. She smiled at him now.
“Well. I guess you’re in it now. What young knight doesn’t want to slay a dragon! Most kids our age would be playing video games or just be getting into JV sports but we’re special. We get to go try and kill invincible giant snakes. Omasa said you just have to stab it through the brain right? Maybe try chucking the spear at it instead of standing so close to its mouth?”
“I’m going to try and be as far away from its mouth as I can be and still get the job done. Don’t worry. I’ll see you guys back here early next week depending on how long it takes me to find the thing.”
“Maybe dress like a princess or carry around a bunch of gold.” Brent joked. Nicole hit him in the arm and gave him her best you better get serious look.
Chris finished lunch and after some awkward goodbyes he left Nicole and Brent and walked over to the tarmac to meet up with Omasa. Omasa was there waiting for him. The armorer and one of his assistants were busy loading the spears and the armor into the plane. Omasa and Chris both went to look over the chainmail and the weapons and make sure nothing was missing. It would not be fun to fly halfway around the world to fight a dragon and realize you’d forgot to bring your helmet.
Once they were sure they had everything Chris thanked the armorer and his assistant for staying up all night to work on the spears and the armor for him. The armorer wished him good luck and left the plane with his assistant. Before Chris knew it the door was being closed and the plane was taxiing down the runway. The lack of sleep from the night before caught up with him and Chris fell asleep sitting up. Omasa got up and put his seat down for him and threw a blanket over the drooling young king. His normally stern face crinkled up into an expression Chris and others who knew Omasa would have been confused by. It was not an expression that seemed to fit the knight. It was concern tinged with fear. Omasa had not admitted it but he’d really wished the young king had not set out on the trials so early. This dragon looked like something you’d want a squad of knights and maybe some explosives to attack. A teenager armed with a couple of heavy duty steel spears was going to have a tough go at it. If Chris wasn’t the royal that he was with the crazy skills he had as his birthright then Omasa would have objected very strongly to him going as it would have been suicide.
It was still going to be a fight only a royal could hope to come out of victorious. Omasa had men on the island making sure that the dragon was still there and ensuring no horde assassins snuck in. They had let Omasa know the dragon was at least thirty five feet long and stood at least ten feet tall. The thing was enormous. They were keeping it in the area by bringing in fifty goats a week to set loose on the island for the dragon to hunt. They didn’t know how many it actually caught and ate but so far it had done the job of keeping the dragon on the island. They had been paranoid it would slip into the ocean and pop up on some inhabited shore somewhere.
Chris woke up when the plane set down. He felt refreshed. He’d needed the sleep.
“We’ll be landing here your highness. We’ll take a couple of cars over to the bay from here and head out to the island. I have men waiting for us on a couple of local fishing boats we bought.”
Chris nodded at Omasa. On waking he’d actually been a bit disoriented and momentarily forgotten about the dragon he was expected to slay. All of that came crashing back on him now. He grabbed the heavy canvas bag holding his armor and started going down the stairs to get in the car waiting below. Two knights got out of the dark black town car and helped get the rest of his gear unloaded. A third knight got out of a second car and sauntered over.
“How you feeling your majesty?” Niko asked him.
“Feeling great. This can’t be much harder than you making me attack trees and rocks and water. If I can bring mother nature to its knees I should be able to handle an overgrown space worm.” Chris answered with a level of outward bravado that was not reflected on the inside.
“Good to hear. Try and kill it fast. The food here is pretty much cooked in norovirus. I’ve been sick for like a week. I need to get back and get some real food.” Niko turned to Omasa. “I assume you’ve filled him in on everything. Nothing new to report sir.”
Armor and weapons loaded into the cars they all climbed in and headed towards the wharf. Once at the wharf Omasa pointed out a couple of large open skiffs tied up near the end of the dock. There were a lot of men standing around the area. As the knights started unloading the equipment even more of the locals showed up. Chris asked Omasa if he noticed and Omasa shook his head for yes.
“They’re pirates your majesty. There’s a ton of them around these parts. We actually bought the boats off of them. My guess is they saw us treating you like a VIP and they started thinking you’d get them a nice ransom. Which you would. Unfortunately for them they’d need a few hundred more men to stand a chance against us. If something does happen I want you out of the way. You need to save every scrap of energy you have for that dragon.”
All of the weapons and armor had been loaded on the boats. Two of the knights were waiting patiently beside the boats. Niko and Chris started walking that direction as well with Omasa. Several of the pirates pushed themselves off the walls and began gathering in a large circle around them. Chris threw a shield over himself without even thinking about it. He felt something hit the back of the shield and turned around to see one of the pirates staring down at the crowbar he’d tried to knock Chris out with. Chris focused.
All of the pirates were just pirates. He’d half expected some of them to be disguised horde members. He almost felt sorry for them until he noticed one had made the mistake of pulling a knife on Niko. Now he definitely felt sorry for them. Pulling a knife on Niko was not a good idea. They’d also just attacked a royal in the presence of the high protectors. Chris almost missed what happened next since he was watching to see how Niko dealt with the man pointing the knife at her.
The two knights by the boats started methodically working their way towards where the pirates had their king encircled. They had not drawn any weapons and were simply hammering away with fists and feet that moved too quickly for the pirates to even be able to follow. They left a trail behind them of pirates with broken arms, ribs and legs. None would die though. Not this time. The ones in the circle turned to see what was going on with their brethren who’d been watching the boats. One close to us pulled a pistol and was in the process of aiming at the oncoming knights when Niko grabbed the gun from him with one hand and ripped the guys ear off with her other hand. He went down screaming and holding the side of his bloodied head. Niko quickly and carefully shot every other pirate who had a gun. She shot each one in the head.
It happened so quickly that half the pirates were still trying to figure out if the fight had started yet or not. They couldn’t quite figure out how a handful of unarmed, soft looking men had put so many of them on the ground. Niko tossed the pistol in the bay and started breaking the arms of the pirates around her. Omasa had not moved. He held up his hand now and in a loud voice addressed the pirates.
“We’ll bury your dead at sea. Anyone who isn’t out of our sight in the next minute will be joining them.” The pirates disappeared so quickly they might as well have had magic. Omasa sighed. He didn’t enjoy hurting people and these people weren’t necessarily evil. They just happened to be dirt poor. The knights gathered the dead and lay them in the back of one of the boats to be thrown overboard once they were out at sea. They got on board and waved for the drivers to get out of there.
Chris stood near the bow as the open wooden vessel skimmed the choppy seas headed for the island and his fight with a mythical creature. A creature it normally took an army or a knight of leg
end to kill. A creature who could destroy a city by itself. A creature that his own mentors were obviously fearful of. They talked enthusiastically but their eyes told him they didn’t have a ton of faith in him killing it. They beat through the rough surf for an hour before Omasa gave the order to start slinging the bodies over the side. Chris wasn’t too sure that the heroes of old would have left a trail of floating corpses behind them on their quests to do right.
Another hour and Chris saw land on the horizon. He looked over at Niko and pointed and she acknowledged that it was the island they were headed for. The island looked like it was a few miles long and at least a mile wide. As they got closer Chris could see that most of the island was covered in rock and dirt with sporadic growths of trees covered in moss. The middle of the island was taken up by a large shrub covered mountain. They ran both boats up onto the beach and everyone got out and started working on getting Chris suited up.
“The dragon will be in the middle of the island somewhere. It’s been moving around to get at the sheep but normally disappears into the caves during the day. We’ll be waiting here on the beach for you. Once you’ve killed the beast come get us and we’ll confirm it’s dead and then we’re out of here. Be careful your hiughness, the same wormhole this thing crawled out of could have been spewing other creatures out as well. We’ve seen some weird stuff on this island already. Trust in your training and your gut. Good luck.” Omasa finished talking and all of the knights bowed then saluted their king. Niko finished lining up the spears in the pack on his back and helped him get his armor and everything adjusted correctly. Then he took one last look back at the boat and the knights standing around and turned and walked resolutely towards the mountain in the middle of the island.
It was hot and arid on the island. Chris was thankful for the battle magic that was wrapped around all of his equipment to keep it attached to him. The magic kept his armor and weapons from rattling to keep him quiet and also made the armor feel much lighter than it really was. There was more charms and magic woven into the armor to provide for protection for him and to help amplify his own battle magic. He had a brace of five of the heavy eight foot steel lined and tipped spears in the pack on his back. They must look a little ridiculous but thanks to the magic they were easy to lug around. He had a sword on his belt and several knives as well. If he had to pull out the sword or the knives against a forty foot armor covered dragon he was probably screwed.
He hadn’t seen any signs of anything odd yet except for a smashed sheep. Something had gone over it like a steam roller making all the insides end up on the outside. The carcass had been there a little while based on the sickening smell coming off it. Chris walked past it and continued on. He began to see more evidence of dead sheep. He walked forward more cautiously now and as the brush got thicker he realized he had navigated towards a well cleared path through the brush. He stopped and had a big gulp of water from the camelbak he had strapped into his backpack. The only thing he could think of that would leave a nice wide path through this thick brush was a large dragon.
He pulled out two spears to have them ready. Carrying one in each hand he began to move forward again. The path led up the mountain until the brush had cleared out and he was just walking up the trail left by the dragon slithering through the rocks and dirt. He continued walking stealthily up the mountain carrying the spears until he came to a large crevasse that extended from the side of the mountain down alongside the trail he was on. The path ended at the crevasse. Chris walked over and carefully peeked down into the large crack. It angled away and disappeared into a blanket of impenetrable darkness.
He had rope in his pack for this eventuality but he didn’t think that jumping into a hole to fight a giant armored snake creature was the soundest strategic decision he could make. If he could lure it out then maybe he could hit it where he had the advantage. At least as much of an advantage as he was ever going to have. He thought of another use for the rope. Using battle magic he loped down the mountain and started searching for sheep.
A couple of hours later he had three sheep tied up between two large rocks close to the crevasse. He stood in the shadows behind the sheep and waited. He had taken out the rest of the spears and positioned them around him. He settled in to wait.
The ground rumbled. The sheep started bleating in primal terror. Chris looked past the sheep towards the crevasse. His insides had gone cold with fear. He watched as a slime covered monstrosity emerged from the pit. Impossibly large to have fit into the crevasse the dragon just kept pouring itself out into the light of day. The obscenity was obviously not of this world. Chris felt his knees shaking at the sheer size of the creature he was supposed to kill. The spears he had with him had looked large and menacing when the armorer presented them to him. Now they seemed like pathetic toothpicks to be hurled at this enormous demon.
The dragon stopped pouring out of the crevasse. It looked like a solid wall of armor coated in slime from the vantage point Chris had. The dragon moved unnaturally fast for something so immense. It coiled around and the head whipped into view. It looked like a horned dinosaur head plopped on top of an anaconda the size of a school bus. A forked tongue shot in and out as the dragon moved closer to the bleating snack it had come up for. The slotted eyes glanced around the sheep and passed over Chris. The eyes were black with red pupils and shone with pure evil.
The head snapped forward impossibly fast and snatched the three sheep into its mouth. Chris had been busy gaping at the monster and had missed the prime opportunity to attack. The dragon had its mouth partially open still as it swallowed the sheep whole. Pushing his fear to the side Chris jumped thirty feet into the air and angled to come down on the dragons open mouth. The dragon saw him jump and reacted by slithering backwards to stare at him as he landed in a roll and sprang back to his feet. The dragon rocked back and forth staring at him and flicking its tongue anxiously.
Chris focused. He let the fear slip away and be replaced by calm. His body relaxed as he matched the giant dragon’s steely stare with his own. He hefted the spear in his right hand and held on to the one in his left hand in an underhand grip. The dragon struck. The head moved impossibly fast towards Chris as he stepped forward and hurled the spear with all the force of his battle magic behind it. The spear shattered on the chin of the dragon with enough force to rock the dragons neck backwards. It roared and struck for Chris again. Chris stepped in again and with all his might swung his spear underhand straight towards the brain of the dragon as it wrapped its mouth around him.
The spear pierced the dragons brain and it died instantly. Leaving Chris standing in its mouth. Chris worked his way out of the mouth and started jogging for the beach. He was eager to tell Omasa and Niko what had transpired. He really wanted to get the kill witnessed and get off this island. He didn’t have a good feeling about staying here too long.
Chapter 25: Next
Glenda washed her face off in the sink and carefully reapplied her makeup. She was doing her best to look like she hadn’t been crying earlier. She had heard the news this morning that Chris had survived his first trial. She didn’t know what the trial had been but she’d known it was going to be dangerous and that Chris had three of them to complete. It had been lonely for her here. She missed Chuck. She missed the life she had left behind. She saw her boy becoming a man and fulfilling his destiny but she missed the innocent kisses of the young boy he had been. She missed the lighthouse.
It had gotten better for a little bit when Brent’s parents had been moved in right across the hall from her. She assumed that was due to the kings wishes. She knew he felt guilty about not spending more time with her but she saw his schedule and how busy he was. Once she’d found out about the trials she felt guilty about any time she spent with him. She was worried spending time away from his studies to have dinner with her may make him miss out on the one spell or the one sword trick that could have saved him.
Shelly and Ryan, Brent’s parents, had been great to have acro
ss the hall but they had fallen into their new roles here and were busy most times now as well. She didn’t want Chris wasting any time worrying about her when he had the final two trials to complete. She finished fixing her face and pulled on a dress and went to wait for him in the parlor. She’d received word this morning that Chris would be meeting her for dinner this evening. A soft rapping on the door sent her maid scurrying to let in the king. The chef was in the dining room setting out the meal.
Chris walked in wearing a purple robe and gave his mother a huge hug. She started crying. Instantly irritated at herself and her lack of control she told Chris to go sit down for dinner and she went back in the bathroom again to freshen her makeup. When she walked to the table Chris was regarding her with concern. Before he could ask her what was wrong she smiled and asked him how the trial had gone. He knew it was going to freak her out but since they’d probably be mounting the head of the beast somewhere around campus where Glenda would see it at some point he went ahold and told her what the first trial had consisted of.
“A dragon?” Glenda stared at Chris as she motioned for more wine to be added to her glass. “Like out of the books you used to love so much?”
“More like a giant, slimy snake with really hard scales and horns. It pretty much walked right into my trap and I was able to kill it pretty easy when it started chomping on the sheep.”
Son of the Keeper: Book 1: Principles of Magic Page 21