If you would remember my love, your father spoke about his gift and said he had only two left, isn't that right? Well, this is where his selfless use of said gift began, where his legend as the undying king began.
"What on earth are Finobians doing here?" Dominic growled with a frown.
"Oiii!" Peter exclaimed, pointing his sword at us. "State your business here, you filthy animals."
"Did he just call us filthy animals?" I asked, looking at Amanda.
Amanda huffed, pointing her sword towards the duke immediately.
"Mystonians have no right in this part of Edlewud This is Finobian land, return to your refuse of a kingdom."
"I'm afraid we cannot do that Finobian rat," Peter replied, pushing his sword back into its sheath.
"He is right," Dominic supported, also pushing his sword back into its sheath. "We have come to slay the dragon, and this is no place for little girls to play. Return to your home immediately!"
"Did you just say, you've come to slay the dragon?" I asked, lowering my sword.
"Indeed I did," Dominic replied.
A shocking turn of events. Who would have predicted that the Mystonians would want to slay the dragon at the same as the Finobians.
"That can't be possible," I replied, walking closer and keeping my sword safe in the sheath. "We came for the head of the beast, and we'll be damned if we let a couple of Mystonian jesters interfere."
Dominic scoffed, walking over to me in order to close the gap between us. His smell was like that of a bed of anitpse flowers, the ones you love so much. Amanda immediately moved closer to me with her sword on her shoulder, and Peter did likewise.
"What business does a little girl have with hunting?" Dominic asked, his voice stoic and manly, yet gentle.
"What business does a jester have with the head of a dragon?" I replied, raising a brow up. "Are you searching for good jokes?"
The tension in the air could be cut with a butter knife. Suddenly it got interrupted by a growl coming from far within the cave, somewhere beyond the chasm.
"Come Amanda," I said, walking away from the boys. "We have no time to waste with these imbeciles."
We walked closer to the chasm, and they followed.
"What do we do Dominic?" Peter asked, glaring as he watched us go.
"We let them be, and if they get in our way, we tie them up until the deed is done."
Simple enough. We found a bridge not so far off. It was a couple of fallen logs that took you from one side of the chasm to the other side, probably created by the soldiers that had come before us, in an attempt to slay the beast. I lit up a touch, using a stick and a torn out part of my cloak, just like Dominic had done. Amanda and I followed him and the duke Peter at a safe distance, wandering deep into the dark, and scaring away the batoiles.
Soon we came across a part of the cave where there were stalactites and stalagmites. Water dripped from the stalactites down on the heads of the stalagmites, and a small body of water laid before a gathering of large rocks that appeared to have been scorched…they had ash stains on them.
"We're here," Peter said looking up at the stalactites.
"The den of the beast," Dominic nodded, looking around cautiously.
"Okay, we have to be cautious about how to go about this," Peter said to Dominic. "We don't want—"
Before he could say anything else, Amanda ran past them with a battle scream, pulling her sword out. Honestly, that was not the plan we had discussed. But as you know, Amanda gets carried away sometimes.
"Show yourself, beast!" She shouted.
"What the hell is she doing?" Peter asked, surprised as well as Dominic.
Even I did not know what she was doing, but that did not stop me from playing along. Dominic and Peter watched as I walked towards them with a smirk on my face. Then she stopped five feet before them and said:
"Dalany's rule."
I said that with a shrug and then jumped down from where I stood, running towards the body of water where Amanda stood on guard, looking around, her sword tight in her hands.
"Are they mad?" Peter asked, looking at Dominic. "There's no way dalany's rule would work in this situation, is there?"
Dominic exhaled.
"I'm afraid we have no choice but to accept the challenge. When dalany's rule is called, no soldier shall refuse."
"Yes, soldiers, Dominic," Peter replied. "We're not soldiers!"
"They don't know that!" He replied in a whisper. "Come on, let's go before the dragon shows itself."
If you would remember Veronica, Dalany's rule is a traditional challenge between our soldiers. It states that whoever draws first blood claims ownership of whatever is being fought over. But in this case, whosoever killed the dragon would claim its head.
"This is some nasty trick if you asked me," Peter grumbled, approaching the girls with Dominic by his side. "Stupid Finobian soldiers."
He glared looking at Amanda. She glared back, giving a scoff, and then she took her eyes back to the scorched rocks not so far off. Everywhere had suddenly become quiet, a little too quiet.
"I don't get it," Amanda said, looking around. "Could this perhaps not be the resting place of the beast?"
"Something isn't right here," Dominic replied, looking around.
We became quieter than usual, so quiet that the only thing you could hear at the moment were the drops of water falling down from the stalactites. Suddenly, we felt a quick chill run down our spine from a quiet but firm growl, like that of a wild Wagul. The growl was followed by the excessive breathing out of hot steam. The creature was right above our heads, about to spit out fire.
"Look out!" I screamed, pulling Amanda out of the way.
Dominic and Peter swiftly dodged the fire, standing back and watching the dragon shoot more fire at where they stood. The creature landed on the ground, standing before them. It was huge and defying. Its body was scaly and long like that of a serpent. Its limbs were short but thick. Its green wings were wide enough, and it had a design of black spots shaped like eyes.
It turned around, looking for who to devour first, but we were smart, fast and cunning. We hid behind its hind, close to its tail, following each turn that it made. The creature was as intimidating as ever, and seemed to be as clever too. Then, quite abruptly, Amanda jumped on the tail of the creature, much to the surprise of every one of us, and she began climbing up towards its head.
"This girl is crazy!" Dominic whispered.
I was impressed and surprised at the same time. Peter could not tolerate it. He also jumped on the tail of the dragon, climbing upwards in an attempt to pass Amanda and strike the head of the beast. But the beast was not one to be fooled. The moment it noticed that they were on its back, it roared. Then it spat fire out uncontrollably, flapping its wings as it did, violently in order to throw off Peter and Amanda.
The breeze its wings produced was too much for Dominic and I. In our attempt to remain steadfast behind it, we got hit by the tail of the beast, Dominic blocked the tail with his sword, standing his ground. He cut into the dragon's tail in the process, and the sword got stuck there. Meanwhile, I had been knocked down to the ground by the tail and quickly found my way back up.
The dragon felt the sword piercing inside its tail. An unbearable feeling it could not ignore. It roared so loud that it could be heard far and wide in both kingdoms. Then it turned around, spitting fire at Dominic while he ran for shelter behind a rock. The creature spat fire at the rock, frustrated that the fire could not get to Dominic. At that moment, its eyes fell on me. I was distracted by the injury given to me by the tail of the beast.
And so, the dragon turned towards me. Noticing this, Amanda did her best to scream and warn me while trying to distract the creature. But the creature ignored her, coming at me with predatory eyes. It opened its mouth and blasted a sun's measure of fire at me. Amanda screamed at the top of her lungs;
"Watch out Harriet!"
I tried to flee, but it appeared I was not going to make it in time. Then, suddenly, Dominic pushed me out of the dragon's way. Standing in my place as the fire of the dragon bathed him and turned him into a roasted corpse. A noble sacrifice but an abhorring sight.