Tale of the Silver Dragon
By: Ben

As I awoke in the tent, I looked to the outside and saw my three wyverns: Sasha, Misha, and Logos. They were sound asleep, with their tails dripping with venom. If you have not already guessed, I am a tamer, the strongest in the land of Camelot. I am on my way to the Kuldash Mountains to investigate the rumors of an awe-inspiring silver dragon. I am journeying with my dear friends: Sir Ector and Sir Lancelot. My name is Lord Nulles Turraos, son of Thanos, and this is my tale.

When it was about mid-morning, and I had finished feeding my wyverns their breakfast, boiled snake eggs, we set off to the mountains. Of course, we didn’t walk or ride horses, for that was much too dangerous, for on the way was the living forest, and only those who were truly one with nature could venture out of that place alive. We rode my trusted wyverns to the top. The flight took longer than anticipated for when we reached the mountains, it was already night. We decided to camp in a nearby cave, for yetis and mountain trolls dwelled in these parts. It is quite hard to see a yeti barrel at you in a blizzard, as they are covered in snow and their straggly fur is the color of snow. When we finished sealing the cave, we started to set camp. Much to our dismay, we heard a deafening roar in the distance. It was the dragon.

We immediately took the wyverns inside with us, as it was much too dangerous for them to be out there. Lancelot and Ector did not like this idea, as wyverns “tend to smell”, according to them. I had to think of a way to convince them into letting them sleep with us… suddenly, it came to me.

“Ector, Lancelot?”

“Yes, Nulles?” replied Ector.

“Sash-“

“Oh, for heaven’s sake, call them wyverns!”

“Fine, the “wyverns” need to stay in here for three reasons. One, they are quite warm to sleep against. Two, they are no match for a dragon so they are in great danger to stay out there. Three, if they are killed, we have to way to get off this rock safely. So, what say you?”

“Ugh, fine. Just keep them away from me, I can’t stand the smell of them, and I’m warm enough.”

“I do not mind them,” said Lancelot.

“Good,” I replied, “Just stay away from their tails; you know what that poison can do to humans…”

It was finally morning, and we were all safe. After they pushed the boulder aside, I looked upon a group of monsters that looked hungry. To our great fear, three yetis were right at the entrance, and I was in range of their massive arms. I was tossed aside by one of the mighty, thrashing fists, slamming my head on the boulder we had just pushed aside. My sight become blurry, and my vision and consciousness faded to the deafening roars of my angered wyverns, as they tore apart the insides of the yeti that struck me.

When I came to, I was being carried into a cave on the back of Logos. I had a pounding headache and was quite disorientated as I woke up about four feet off the ground, on the back of my bouncing wyvern. I quickly realized we were heading into the dragon’s cave, as I could sense the distinct smell of its breath. The smell of mercury pervaded throughout the cave.

“Glad to see you are awake friend,” Ector chided.

“Why do I have the feeling that we are being watched?” said Lancelot with a slight quiver of trepidation that I had never heard from him before.

“Don’t you know that dragons have many minions to take care of would-be advent-”

I was rudely interrupted by the deafening screech of my wyverns. The sound was enough to knock me onto the ground.

“Sasha! Misha! Logos! What in the nine hells is wrong?!”

It seems as if a boulder answered me as it was hurled into a wall, nearly missing me by a foot. It was a frost ogre, a monster that kept even yetis in check. These fearsome creatures can kill anything slightly smaller than they with one slam of their gigantic fists. Luckily, I had had some training in the arcane arts and immediately conjured up a whirling dervish of blades to deal with this pest. However, I quickly realized, this was not going to be enough. I was forced to conjure up three more, and with my last gasp of breath, the ogre found itself on the receiving end of a giant ball of fire. Unfortunately, this was not enough, and I lay on the ground, helplessly staring up at the ogre. Suddenly, I saw a glint of steel fly past me and then again. Sir Ector and Sir Lancelot finished off the weakened foe with little effort.

After I had recuperated, we set off deeper into the cave to be greeted by a deafening roar. In an instant, I saw silvery flashes of light fly past me and knock my two companions on their backs. My wyverns… they foolishly charged after the dragon with all of their might. My next sight would be full of future lamentation… the dragon flicked them all of as if they were Arabian Sand Flies. It then… then… stomped them into chunks of mashed, grisly, ground bone. The sight enraged me so deeply, that I immediately set off to injure the beast. I hurled my darts at the horrific beast and injured it a great deal, as these were no ordinary darts. When Lancelot and Ector started to charge at the beast, I told them to run, for I did not want to kill the dragon, or have it kill them. I wanted to tame it… Unfortunately, the dragon had recovered from the wounds I dealt to it; it now looked upon me with an icy glare. I immediately threw a stardust spell to confuse it and having doing so, I took out my magical lyre to soothe the dragon. It did not work to my benefit, as it began to charge through the sparkling, blinding dust. Suddenly, an idea came to mind. I sprinted to a nearby corner and immediately summoned a simulacrum. As my simulacrum came to life, I teleported safely away, behind the dragon, in an opposite corner. It worked. The dragon slammed into the corner with such force that all I could see was ice and snow for two seconds that seemed to last for an eternity.

As it struggled to get up, I stared into the dragon’s eyes and dealt the final blow; the mantra of taming. Shortly thereafter, after I had completed the entire mantra four times over, the dragon blinked. Its eyes now sparkled a friendly gray. It was now mine to command. I gathered the remains of my wyverns and put it in a small jar, as I would have them be resurrected when I gathered enough funds and journeyed back to Camelot. Outside the cave, Ector and Lancelot waited. When they saw the silver dragon venture outside of its cave, they raised their swords in a display of futility. I let them know it was alright, and they backed off. We climbed on Icefang’s back and rode to Camelot. When we started to fly over the forest, we heard a piercing scream inside the woods… it sounded very much like Queen Guinevere.