Trouble in the Land of Dwarves
Chapter 9
The Dragon's Tale
“My story is a sad one that begins
thousands of years ago. I may not look it,
but I am actually a very old dragon;
probably the oldest one still alive. I am as
old as I am small. In fact, I am the smallest
dragon to ever have lived on Darrowold.
Before I was hatched, my mother placed my
egg in the nest with my brothers and sisters
and one of my uncles nearly ate me,
thinking I was a chicken egg that got mixed
in with the wrong nest. It was
pathetic.”
“From the day I was
hatched, my family laughed at me and my
brothers pushed me around. But the worst
thing of all, was that I was the oldest one. I
had been the first one to come out of my
egg and yet I have always been treated like
the baby.”
“Can you imagine the
pain and sorrow I went
through?”
Snagglefang ran his
hand over his face, peeking through his
fingers to see if his words were affecting the
Prince. Nathan’s eyes were covered by his
visor, but if the giant and the jester were
any indication, the dragon had a captive
audience. Seeing his two flunkies with their
mouths wide open and eyes glazed over, he
continued.
“All through my
hundreds of years of growing up, it was like
that. I was never accepted by the other
dragons. I was pushed around or ignored.
They would fly off into the sky to play
cloud tag or chase eagles or whatever else
and I would be left behind with my useless
little wings. Then when they burned down
someones village, guess who got the
blame.”
He paused for effect.
“Me of
course. After all I was the only one who
couldn’t fly away from whatever little
knight came to bother me. Every month
there was another one at my cave entrance
shouting threats at me and jabbing me with
his foul little stick when I tried to talk
nicely with him.”
There was a
loud sniffle as the jester used quattlebaum’s
hat to wipe a tear from his eye. “That’s so
sad, boss. I never knew you had such a sad
childhood.”
Snagglefang ignored
the sentiment, picked up a large sea shell
from his bed and began to play with it as he
spoke, turning it between his
claws.
“Fortunately, I was an
excellent swimmer and found the ocean to
be a place where I could escape from the
cruelty of the world. Oh, it took some
getting used to I assure you. We dragons
prefer fire to water, but given my situation,
I made the best of it. In fact, I actually
found that the seas contained much more
treasure for my cave than did all the castles
on land put together. With all the sunken
ships and ocean pearls, I soon became the
richest of all dragons. Besides all of this, I
must say, water does soothe aging scales
quite nicely after a long hard day of
terrorizing fishing boats.”
He
rolled onto his side and brought his tail
forward. Balancing the shell on it’s spaded
tip he continued. “Yes, I was actually
getting quite comfortable with life under the
sea until...”
He paused and
Nathan found himself holding his breath
wondering what had happened to ruin
everything. “Until what?” he questioned
out loud.
The dragon’s tail
suddenly flipped the shell up in the air and
batted it against the cave wall as it came
back down. The shell shattered as it struck
the stone and Snaggle fang whipped his
head back to face Nathan. The sudden
movement caught him by surprise and he
took a step backward.
“Until I
encountered that BRUTE!” the dragon
finished. Then realizing he had startled his
“guest” he calmed himself with a deep
sigh.
Though Nathan was trying
to keep his mouth shut, he had now become
so curious, he couldn’t help but ask the next
question: “What brute?”
Snagglefang’s eyes seemed to grow
hungry again and narrowed as he explained.
“A two headed sea-monster, the likes of
which have never before been seen on
Darrowold, nor will ever be seen again! It
breathes fire from one head and from the
other extends a long tentacle of a tongue
which it uses to catch it’s prey! It came
from nowhere one fateful day and moved
right in to my underwater cave with all my
beautiful treasure! When I returned home
that evening, it attacked me and drove me
away never to return!”
Again, the
dragon covered his face with his hands and
wept large crocodile tears, careful to watch
for a sign from the prince that the story was
having the desired effect. “There I was,
living in the most spacious cave in the
seven seas, surrounded by gold and silver
beyond imagination and that evil beast took
it all away! I dare not even return to the
waters that have become my home, for fear
that it will find me and attack again!”
The jester was now openly
sobbing and blowing his nose in the puppets
hat. Snagglefang uncovered his face,
wiping his eyes and sniffling pathetically.
“That is why I live here now, in exile far
from the waters, in this pitiful excuse for a
home, sleeping on a pile of cracked and
decaying old shells which Gart has
collected for me.” He stood again and
shook shells from his scaled hide in
emphasis. “They are a poor substitute for
coins, but they are the closest thing
available to a tiny little dragon who hasn’t
the strength to attack a castle or even a royal
coach.”
“So what do you
want me to do? Kill this sea-monster?”
Nathan was confused.
“No, no,
nothing that dangerous.” Snagglefang
moved off of the shells and circled the
prince again with renewed scrutiny. “What
I have in mind, even a boy could
accomplish if he were a boy with a
courageous heart and half a
brain.”
“Like me, right Boss?” the
jester added, his face brightening as he
stuck the slimey hat back on Quattlebaums
wooden head.
The dragon
rolled his eyes in frustration and continued
as he stopped in front of the prince again.
“What I am suggesting for you, my BRAVE
Knight, is a task so daring and noble that
your name would be known everywhere in
Darrowold! When you walked through a
castle gate, crowds would shout the name of
Sir Vanderfluff from the walls and streets
and your enemies would cower in fear at
your coming!”
Nathan felt his
face flush at the thought and stood as tall
and proud as he could, nearly rising up on
his tiptoes.
Snagglefang could
tell that the armored little man in front of
him was excited and finally came to the
point. “What I have discovered is that the
creature can be controlled by a magic
device.” He placed one scaly hand on
Nathan’s shoulder. “The device is a giant
magic pearl set atop a scaled pedestal and it
is hidden within the beast’s sea cave! All
you have to do is sneak in and get it and
bring it to me!”
“But how do I
do that without getting caught and probably
killed by this sea monster?” Nathan was
shocked! How was he going to swim under
water into a giant sea monster’s cave and
escape with a giant ball under his arms
without getting eaten in the process? If this
was the “quest” that the dragon had in
mind, he was starting to wonder if he
wouldn’t be better off just fighting the
dragon and the giant right here instead! But
Snagglefang’s answer surprised
him.
“Simple really...” the
dragon soothed removing his hand from the
prince’s shoulder and backing away slowly.
“You go in through the back
door.”
Chapter 10
Back to Title Page