There are no words to describe the fear that runs through you at the sight of a 6000-pound dragon charging through a forest at you, but I can assure you it is the most terrifying sight I have ever beheld.

It was the first time I had ever seen a dragon, but I can’t forget a single detail on it. I can’t forget anything.

At first I thought the creature was as black as ink, but the second a puff of fire escaped from its mouth I saw that it was actually a dark green, disguise for when it was flying over treetops I imagined.

Behind it swung its tail, long and coiling like a snake, but the tip was like that of a sharpened spear. How many knights had been skewered on its end?

It was at least four times the size of a large horse, certainly four times larger than Tristan’s horse, and as it crashed through the forest the trees grave way and fell to the earth with a thunderous crash. Even though it had to knock down half the forest to get to us, it still moved faster than any creature I had ever seen before.

My older sister always liked to say that fear was something designed to keep you alive. We didn’t need to worry about staying alive and so we didn’t need to fear anything. I doubt my older sister has ever seen a 6000-pound dragon running at her through the trees.

I couldn’t move. The creature’s mouth opened to reveal teeth as big and as sharp as knives; fire brimmed around the edge of its mouth, big enough to bite my head off in a single snap of its jaw.

At that moment, with its jaw a mere second away from killing me in one fell swoop, I remembered that Tristan was with me. This is because at that moment he jumped in front of me, his sword held out, ready to brace the impact of a dragon.

We had met only a week before. He was to escort me to London. Kings made a big show of protecting Ladies of their court, even when they didn’t need any protection. I normally tried to argue with people about my independence, but it was always nice to have a travelling companion.

Tristan offered his services and I admit that I was instantly taken with him. He looked like he was from the Mediterranean; his skin had a more olive hue to it than other knights of the realm. His hair was black, messy and short. His eyes were dark green, almost as green as the dragon that was about to kill us.

I only had a moment before the dragon was on us, only enough time to grab his shoulder, scream out his name. Then the dragon was there, it tried to snap off Tristan’s head, but Tristan’s sword blocked it.

The dragon’s head bashed against us, throwing us into the air. I landed hard on the ground, completely dazed, not too sure which way was up or down. I heard the horse’s cries of terror and then their galloping hooves as they ran away.

“Tristan!” I called out and as an answer the dragon roared. The sound was deafening, I covered my ears to block it out, but that was futile. Then I saw a burst off light and when I looked I saw a trail of fire a few feet way, trying to disintegrate Tristan.

He was able to avoid the flames, though just barely, and instead 10 trees went up in flames.

If this went on for much longer there wouldn’t be any forest left.

The dragon changed its tactic from fire to running again. Tristan wasn’t fast enough this time and he wasn’t ready to block to dragon’s teeth with his sword. In an instant I knew Tristan would be dead.

I dragged my body to my feet, panic taking over me. I had to do something, but what!?!

I saw a rock lying on the ground and without thinking I grabbed it. It took both hands to lift and after throwing it I was almost winded, but it found its way to the dragon’s head in time to stop the beast.

The dragon went completely still, perhaps it was confused, then slowly it turned its head towards me, its eyes narrowed into slits.

The dragon was actually glaring at me.

Its mouth opened and it roared again as it started towards me. There was nowhere to run. It came up on its hind legs and I saw the claws the beast had, like black swords and ready to slice me into many pieces with one swing.

This was going to hurt.

But before the dragon could dismember me something changed in its disposition. Its back arched even more and it let out a far more high-pitched roar. It was in pain.

It swung around, its claws and tail trying to reach something on its back and I saw Tristan there, his sword stuck halfway into the dragon. With one hand he held on and with the other he took out his knife and began to stab into the near-black scales.

The dragon’s terrifying tail swung at Tristan’s head, but he easily ducked. The dragon didn’t want to get too close to its own back.

It roared again, now more in anger and then it jumped up and its claws dug into a tree. It was climbing the tree.

Suddenly it dawned on me that the dragon was going to take flight, to try and throw Tristan off of its back.

Now there really was nothing I could do but watch, maybe if I had a bow and arrow, but the horses had run off with all our other weapons.

The dragon had reached the treetops and with a final jump in disappeared through the foliage.

Even though I couldn’t see it, I could still hear it, roaring and breathing fire in its rage. I followed the sound. I couldn’t bear the idea of Tristan dying.

I ran until my lungs burned and my heart beat so fast that I thought it would burst through my chest, but finally I came to a clearing over a wide valley and saw the dragon flying above, Tristan still desperately clinging to its back.

The dragon in air was even more terrifying than on land. Now I finally saw just how large it was. Yes, its body was at least four times larger than a horse, but its tail was even longer than its body length and its wingspan twice as much. It looked bigger than a castle as it flew through the air and Tristan looked like nothing more than a bug on the back on a god.

Suddenly the dragon turned, heading back towards the forest. It began to descend, its wings folding behind its back to pick up speed. It was going to crash through the trees to rip Tristan from its back.

I ran back towards them, hearing the sounds of branches and entire trees breaking in half and falling to the earth.

They fell right in my path, their impact throwing up dirt and wind. I covered my eyes as the chaos flew around me. The dragon had been overzealous in trying to get Tristan off his back, he had hit the earth far faster than he should have.

When I could finally open my eyes the air was filled with dirt, but I could still make out the figure of the dragon. It lay on its side, one wing folded on its back, the other crumpled underneath its figure.

It had broken its right wing.

“Tristan!” I called out. He was nowhere to be seen, even his sword was longer sticking into the dragon.

I heard a moan and ran towards the sound. Lying on top of one of the fallen trees was Tristan. For a moment I thought his back was broken, but he slowly began to sit up. He held his right arm close to his body. Broken.

The two combatants were like mirror images of each other.

“Are you all right? Can you stand?” I knelt down, putting my hands on his face.

He nodded, but he wasn’t looking at me, his eyes were focused on the dragon.

I turned and saw the dragon rising to its own feet. Its wing hanging lifeless to its side, tangled in the fallen brush.

It roared, but no fire came, perhaps it had broken whatever created that as well, or maybe it had simply run out.

Tristan gently pushed me aside. This fight wasn’t over yet.

His sword lay in between the two, there was no question that the dragon was faster. It was futile to go for the sword.

“We can run, we might make it,” I whispered, but I don’t think he even heard me.

He took a step forward.

The two stared at each other for the longest time until, as though someone had given the signal, they both lunged forward.

The dragon stopped short, it screeched in pain. Its wing was stuck, to move any farther would rip it clean off.

But its head was still only a foot away from Tristan’s sword.

He wasn’t deterred. He rolled to the ground, careful not to fall on his right arm, and grabbed his sword as the dragon’s jaw snapped just above him.

Tristan got back to his feet, to the left of the dragon. The dragon screeched again as its head lunged. Tristan jumped into the air and his sword came down hard on the dragon.

The sword found its way to the dragon’s eye and it slid in with ease, penetrating through the dragon’s brain and coming out at the back on its head.

The dragon went completely limp, collapsing to the ground and dragging Tristan down with it.

Everything went still and silent.

I held my breath, unsure whether either of them were still alive.

Then I saw movement and slowly but surely Tristan rose to his feet.

I was running towards him before I even remembered to take a breath again. My arms wrapped around him in an embrace. He stood there completely still, still shocked from the battle with the dragon.

I pulled away, tears flooding my eyes. He was bloody and dirty and in complete shock, but no one had ever looked more beautiful in my eyes.

“You just killed a dragon,” stating the obvious seemed like the only thing I could muster.

His left hand slowly reached up, brushing some of the long black hair out of my face. I hadn’t even noticed that my hair had come undone in all of that.

“For you,” was all he said.

I kissed him. I held him close and I never wanted to let him go. He held me tightly with his one good arm and kissed me back just as passionately.

We only pulled away because we needed air.

I looked into his eyes and I knew then that I loved him and would always love him, even after he was dead and gone I would always remember my knight.

And as he looked back at me I knew he would love me just as much.

He would always be my knight.

Once we reached London and regaled the courts with Tristan’s heroism against the dragon, we were married.

It was a time in my life that I dearly cherish and in a way it was all thanks to a dragon.

Well, actually it wasn’t a dragon that attacked us, it was a group of bandits.

But doesn’t a dragon just sound better?

(This short story has been in my head for as long as the idea for the immortals has. I love knights and stuff like that, so of course I had to write one of those stories. At the very beginning I decided to be as realistic as possible, because it’s already hard enough to swallow that they’re immortals who can’t die – NO MATTER WHAT. For this reason I thought it would be funny to write this whole chapter about a dragon fight that never actually happened. Isis just likes to tell cool stories. So, for newcomers to this story, the girl in this story is Isis. Her and her older sister Osis are immortals. This short story is actually a chapter in a novel about them that I haven’t uploaded and never will. However I have posted other stories about them, like The Immortal of Heort Hall and Sacrifice. So if you like this, then go check those out. Thanks for reading!)