There is No Dragon part 2
They were about a hundred feet away from the village, very newr the spot where the man had fed himself to the monster the night before, when they saw two children standing in their way on the road. It was a boy about 12 years old and his younger sister. They seemed scared and even a little ashamed to be out there, but they looked at the two travelers as evil-ridden villagers should look at dragon slayers, with hope.
"There is a dragon," the boy said quietly, after a long moment.
"We know," Jared said.
"They don’t care," the little girl said, pointing at the village.
"They used to care, but they don’t any more. They used to try to fight him, but not anymore." The boy continued.
"Why not?" Zede asked.
" The Dragon would have killed us all, but the elders made a deal with hi8m. Whenever he comes down from the mountains, one of the villagers goes out to him and gets eaten. If he doesn’t get his meal, the dragon will burn the whole village and kill us all."
"That’s horrible!" Zede said. "Why don’t they want us to kill the dragon?"
"I told you," the boy said, beginning to sound desperate. "They don’t care. They’re used to him. They pretend he’s not there. Most of the people are scared, but they don’t think anything can be done."
"And, why have you come here?" Jared asked.
"Because we don’t want to be eaten," said the little girl. "Can you really kill it?"
"Yes, "Jared told him. Zede was grinning eagerly. "Show us to the dragon’s lair."
While the children took the dragon slayers to the cave that was the dragon’s lair, they told them all about the creature and the horrible arrangement that the villagers had made with him. The village had been built for a thousand, and as few as five years ago, there had been a thousand people there. Then the dragon came and in the first attacks, dozens were lost at a time. The boy, Edrickson, was only seven at the time, but he remembered it clearly. Some wanted to call for a dragon slayer right away, but most of the villagers to too proud to call for outside help and sent out their own men to kill it. A houndred men were lost before the elders somehow convinced the dragon to accept their deal. At first it was only sheep that were sacrificed. But the dragon tired of them after a few months, and demanded human flesh. No one wanted to agree to those gruesome demands, but after the dragon killed thirty more people and burned several buildings on the outskirts of the village, they accepted. They cast lots to decide who would go be the first, and have been casting lots ever since.
The dragon never announced his visits. At midnight, the chosen "sacrifice" emerged at the sound of the bell. He or she was required to signal the monster with the torch, and if the dragon happened to be hungry, as he was the night before, he ate. It used to be that only one villager would be taken per month. Then as the dragon grew larger and hungrier, once a week. Lately, the beast had grown so hungry that nearly every villager that went out was eaten. The man who had been the dragon’s meal last night was the father of these frightened children.
As they reached the cave’s entrance, Jared said to Zede, "I think I’ve finally figured out what I’ve been feeling from the village. It’s complacency. The villagers have accepted the dragon and their own death."
The cave was nothing unusual. As large, and foreboding , as any dragon’s lair. And it had the familiar smell of sulfur and burnt flesh. They suspected that this dragon would be, like most dragons are in the middle of the day, sleeping soundly. But it would surely smell their approach and wake up to face them, before too long. They had never lost a battle, but they had yet to fight an easy one.
Jared told Edricson and his sister to go back to the village and wait. If the two dragon slayers were successful, they would return to inform the villagers that, like it or not, their dreadful dragon was dead.
The mouth of the cave led to a long tunnel and the slayers went silently down into it. It was dark, but warm, and they could hear the beast ahead of them, breathing slowly in his sleep. Bones, both animal and human, lined the tunnels, as did bits and pieces of the dragon’s treasure, including gold, diamonds, and other precious jewels. It was not unusual for dragons to acquire a massive fortune.
Then they were in his chamber. The walls glowed red in the heat of the dragons breath and in the dull glow they could see the beast. He was the largest dragon that they had ever seen, probably because it was so well fed. His treasure was immense and once the dragon was killed, the treasure would belong to the towns people. That was the way of things with dragon’s treasure, a sort of compensation for the months and years of suffering that the monster caused. Usually, newly liberated villagers chose to pay the dragon slayers out of the riches they inherited, but Jared doubted that he and Zede would ever receive any of this treasure.
Zede drew his sword and Jared grabbed his large battle ax with a blade stained black with the blood of countless evil monsters. They split up and flanked the sleeping monster. Jared on the right and Zede on the left. They were poised to strike, when just as they expected, the dragon’s eyes, both over a foot in diameter, popped open. His head reared up and he roared in surprised rage.
"How dare ;you attack me? We have a deal!"
"I’m not from the village," Jared shouted , "You have no deal with me!"
He dove at the beast, driving his ax deep into it’s leg. Zede plunged his sword into the monster’s other leg. The dragon roared, spitting white fire, and swinging his spiked tail wildly.
"Many will die for this outrage!" the dragon roared.
"The only one who will die today is you!! Zede roared back, "you overgrown firefly!"
they continued their assault, knowing that their little weapons would do little more than enrage the dragon. In fact that was the plan. In this tight space, the dragon couldn’t get at them. He would have to leave his lair to get away from the painful pricks and nicks of the dragon slayers’ weapons. Then as they had done so many times before, Jared and Zede could deliver the death blow.
It took a little longer than usual, but the dragon did shoot down the tunnel and out into the air. Jared and Zede were right on his tail. When they emerged from the dragon’s lair, they saw him flying straight into the air, large and black and spitting fire furiously. Then as the dragons always did, he turned and flew back at them intending to fry them or eat them or both.
They were ready. In addition to the ax and the sword, Jared and Zede each had a bow and arrow. Their bows ere perfectly normal, but their arrows had been given to them by a good wizard and they had a power that no evil force could withstand. The wizard had recognized Jared’s gifts and Zede’s ferocity and gave them this special gift. If two of the arrows hit the dragon, one in each eye, the thing would die almost instantly no matter what its size. Knowing that with this dragon’s size, the magic arrows were their only chance at defeating him., they took aim.
They fired. Their aim was perfect and the arrows struck the dragon in both of his eyes. Ordinary arrow may have irritated him or even blinded him, but these arrows shot pure and white light into the beast, a light which flashed from his eyes, nostrils, mouth and every hole in his body caused by Jared’s and Zede’s weapons, and the dragon flailed violently for a moment and then fluttered to the mountain side with a kind of bizarre grace. It was dead.
From where they stood, triumphantly, Jared could see the village. With the dragon dead, the sense of evil was gone, but the complacency from the village remained. Jared had the feeling that they might not welcome the news of their liberation. He had a strange idea that some may even mourn the monster. He shook the unbelievable thought from his mind. It was time to deliver the good news, whether they wanted it or not.
"The dragon is dead!" Jared announced as he and Zede entered the village for the second time that day. This time nobody gathered around them. Only Edrikson and his sister were waiting and they were overjoyed. The other villagers, on the street, ignored the dragon slayers. One or two gave them an annoyed look.
"The dragon is dead!" he repeated more empathically.
This brought the four leaders out to meet them. Still only the two children were interested enough to take notice of the meeting.
"We told you, dragon slayer, there is no dragon."
You’re right about that," Zede said. "We killed him!"
"There never was a dragon!" the four leaders said in unison.
"Yes there was!" the young girl cried out. "There was, there was, there was! He killed my papa, he killed my mother. But now he’s dead, and we’re safe!"
"Quiet child!" one of the leaders scolded. "We don’t talk of such things."
"Like it or not sir," Jared said, " accept it or not, your dragon is dead. You know where his lair is. Go there and you will find his treasure. We have taken none of it. It is your to do with as you please."
"since there was no dragon, " the youngest of the leaders said, "there is no treasure. Now please go.
So these people wouldn’t admit that there was a dragon. They wouldn’t rejoice in their freedom. They wouldn’t even claim the treasure that was not rightfully theirs. Jared couldn’t believe these fools. He turned to face the two children who had so bravely come out to ask their help.
"You, at least are free," he told them. "and since they don’t seem to want any of it, the dragon’s treasure is yours as well. Enjoy it. Share it with any villager who chooses to acknowledge the dragon and its death"
The little girl hugged Jared and gave Zede a kiss on one hairy cheek. He blushed and looked away embarrassed. "Thank you" she whispered.
The two dragon slayers left the village, whose name they never cared to learn, and when they reached the road out of town they bent and wiped the dust of the village off of their boots.
In the end, the children could convince only 3 other people to go to the dragon’s lair and collect the treasure. They took as much of it as they could carry and left the village behind them forever. Although they left much of the massive treasure for any of the others who might want it, the story goes that no one ever came to claim the rest of it.
"There is a dragon," the boy said quietly, after a long moment.
"We know," Jared said.
"They don’t care," the little girl said, pointing at the village.
"They used to care, but they don’t any more. They used to try to fight him, but not anymore." The boy continued.
"Why not?" Zede asked.
" The Dragon would have killed us all, but the elders made a deal with hi8m. Whenever he comes down from the mountains, one of the villagers goes out to him and gets eaten. If he doesn’t get his meal, the dragon will burn the whole village and kill us all."
"That’s horrible!" Zede said. "Why don’t they want us to kill the dragon?"
"I told you," the boy said, beginning to sound desperate. "They don’t care. They’re used to him. They pretend he’s not there. Most of the people are scared, but they don’t think anything can be done."
"And, why have you come here?" Jared asked.
"Because we don’t want to be eaten," said the little girl. "Can you really kill it?"
"Yes, "Jared told him. Zede was grinning eagerly. "Show us to the dragon’s lair."
While the children took the dragon slayers to the cave that was the dragon’s lair, they told them all about the creature and the horrible arrangement that the villagers had made with him. The village had been built for a thousand, and as few as five years ago, there had been a thousand people there. Then the dragon came and in the first attacks, dozens were lost at a time. The boy, Edrickson, was only seven at the time, but he remembered it clearly. Some wanted to call for a dragon slayer right away, but most of the villagers to too proud to call for outside help and sent out their own men to kill it. A houndred men were lost before the elders somehow convinced the dragon to accept their deal. At first it was only sheep that were sacrificed. But the dragon tired of them after a few months, and demanded human flesh. No one wanted to agree to those gruesome demands, but after the dragon killed thirty more people and burned several buildings on the outskirts of the village, they accepted. They cast lots to decide who would go be the first, and have been casting lots ever since.
The dragon never announced his visits. At midnight, the chosen "sacrifice" emerged at the sound of the bell. He or she was required to signal the monster with the torch, and if the dragon happened to be hungry, as he was the night before, he ate. It used to be that only one villager would be taken per month. Then as the dragon grew larger and hungrier, once a week. Lately, the beast had grown so hungry that nearly every villager that went out was eaten. The man who had been the dragon’s meal last night was the father of these frightened children.
As they reached the cave’s entrance, Jared said to Zede, "I think I’ve finally figured out what I’ve been feeling from the village. It’s complacency. The villagers have accepted the dragon and their own death."
The cave was nothing unusual. As large, and foreboding , as any dragon’s lair. And it had the familiar smell of sulfur and burnt flesh. They suspected that this dragon would be, like most dragons are in the middle of the day, sleeping soundly. But it would surely smell their approach and wake up to face them, before too long. They had never lost a battle, but they had yet to fight an easy one.
Jared told Edricson and his sister to go back to the village and wait. If the two dragon slayers were successful, they would return to inform the villagers that, like it or not, their dreadful dragon was dead.
The mouth of the cave led to a long tunnel and the slayers went silently down into it. It was dark, but warm, and they could hear the beast ahead of them, breathing slowly in his sleep. Bones, both animal and human, lined the tunnels, as did bits and pieces of the dragon’s treasure, including gold, diamonds, and other precious jewels. It was not unusual for dragons to acquire a massive fortune.
Then they were in his chamber. The walls glowed red in the heat of the dragons breath and in the dull glow they could see the beast. He was the largest dragon that they had ever seen, probably because it was so well fed. His treasure was immense and once the dragon was killed, the treasure would belong to the towns people. That was the way of things with dragon’s treasure, a sort of compensation for the months and years of suffering that the monster caused. Usually, newly liberated villagers chose to pay the dragon slayers out of the riches they inherited, but Jared doubted that he and Zede would ever receive any of this treasure.
Zede drew his sword and Jared grabbed his large battle ax with a blade stained black with the blood of countless evil monsters. They split up and flanked the sleeping monster. Jared on the right and Zede on the left. They were poised to strike, when just as they expected, the dragon’s eyes, both over a foot in diameter, popped open. His head reared up and he roared in surprised rage.
"How dare ;you attack me? We have a deal!"
"I’m not from the village," Jared shouted , "You have no deal with me!"
He dove at the beast, driving his ax deep into it’s leg. Zede plunged his sword into the monster’s other leg. The dragon roared, spitting white fire, and swinging his spiked tail wildly.
"Many will die for this outrage!" the dragon roared.
"The only one who will die today is you!! Zede roared back, "you overgrown firefly!"
they continued their assault, knowing that their little weapons would do little more than enrage the dragon. In fact that was the plan. In this tight space, the dragon couldn’t get at them. He would have to leave his lair to get away from the painful pricks and nicks of the dragon slayers’ weapons. Then as they had done so many times before, Jared and Zede could deliver the death blow.
It took a little longer than usual, but the dragon did shoot down the tunnel and out into the air. Jared and Zede were right on his tail. When they emerged from the dragon’s lair, they saw him flying straight into the air, large and black and spitting fire furiously. Then as the dragons always did, he turned and flew back at them intending to fry them or eat them or both.
They were ready. In addition to the ax and the sword, Jared and Zede each had a bow and arrow. Their bows ere perfectly normal, but their arrows had been given to them by a good wizard and they had a power that no evil force could withstand. The wizard had recognized Jared’s gifts and Zede’s ferocity and gave them this special gift. If two of the arrows hit the dragon, one in each eye, the thing would die almost instantly no matter what its size. Knowing that with this dragon’s size, the magic arrows were their only chance at defeating him., they took aim.
They fired. Their aim was perfect and the arrows struck the dragon in both of his eyes. Ordinary arrow may have irritated him or even blinded him, but these arrows shot pure and white light into the beast, a light which flashed from his eyes, nostrils, mouth and every hole in his body caused by Jared’s and Zede’s weapons, and the dragon flailed violently for a moment and then fluttered to the mountain side with a kind of bizarre grace. It was dead.
From where they stood, triumphantly, Jared could see the village. With the dragon dead, the sense of evil was gone, but the complacency from the village remained. Jared had the feeling that they might not welcome the news of their liberation. He had a strange idea that some may even mourn the monster. He shook the unbelievable thought from his mind. It was time to deliver the good news, whether they wanted it or not.
"The dragon is dead!" Jared announced as he and Zede entered the village for the second time that day. This time nobody gathered around them. Only Edrikson and his sister were waiting and they were overjoyed. The other villagers, on the street, ignored the dragon slayers. One or two gave them an annoyed look.
"The dragon is dead!" he repeated more empathically.
This brought the four leaders out to meet them. Still only the two children were interested enough to take notice of the meeting.
"We told you, dragon slayer, there is no dragon."
You’re right about that," Zede said. "We killed him!"
"There never was a dragon!" the four leaders said in unison.
"Yes there was!" the young girl cried out. "There was, there was, there was! He killed my papa, he killed my mother. But now he’s dead, and we’re safe!"
"Quiet child!" one of the leaders scolded. "We don’t talk of such things."
"Like it or not sir," Jared said, " accept it or not, your dragon is dead. You know where his lair is. Go there and you will find his treasure. We have taken none of it. It is your to do with as you please."
"since there was no dragon, " the youngest of the leaders said, "there is no treasure. Now please go.
So these people wouldn’t admit that there was a dragon. They wouldn’t rejoice in their freedom. They wouldn’t even claim the treasure that was not rightfully theirs. Jared couldn’t believe these fools. He turned to face the two children who had so bravely come out to ask their help.
"You, at least are free," he told them. "and since they don’t seem to want any of it, the dragon’s treasure is yours as well. Enjoy it. Share it with any villager who chooses to acknowledge the dragon and its death"
The little girl hugged Jared and gave Zede a kiss on one hairy cheek. He blushed and looked away embarrassed. "Thank you" she whispered.
The two dragon slayers left the village, whose name they never cared to learn, and when they reached the road out of town they bent and wiped the dust of the village off of their boots.
In the end, the children could convince only 3 other people to go to the dragon’s lair and collect the treasure. They took as much of it as they could carry and left the village behind them forever. Although they left much of the massive treasure for any of the others who might want it, the story goes that no one ever came to claim the rest of it.
posted by Arthur Brokop II at 8:37 PM
1 Comments:
I was re-reading this again and something struck me:
"You, at least are free," he told them. "and since they don’t seem to want any of it, the dragon’s treasure is yours as well. Enjoy it. Share it with any villager who chooses to acknowledge the dragon and its death"
Shouldn't this metaphorical hero suggest that the treasure be brought to those who don't believe, so that they might know the dragon had been and that it was dead? In keeping with a "Go forth into the village and tell the good news" concept? Or perhaps not the village, for they refused to believe, but then should they not share the story and wealth with other villages so they might know the truth and know who to call upon?
Just a couple of thoughts.
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