A/N Wrote this entire thing during fourth block, simply because I didn’t feel like dealing with a substitute teacher and my orchestra teacher was nice enough to fill out the Media Center pass two days in advance. Actually, I had three substitute teachers today—and I only have four classes!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this!

Never Poke a Sleeping Dragon…

by Tiggermyk

The edge of the sun had just fallen below the horizon when a group of two dozen knights made their stately way along a path through an ominously silent forest. In single file, they wore cold iron armor from their helmets to their boots, and had dark red tabards with frayed hems and uneven seams, as though they were made in a hurry. Each knight carried a sword or a spear forged of cold iron, and curved shields that were dark green and glittered, despite the absence of any light.

Eerily though, they walked in complete silence. There was not a clink of armor to be heard, the thump of a footstep, or a whispered question. The knights looked straight ahead as they walked, their faces grim and determined. Surely there was some magic about them, for they never looked to the treacherous ground and easily maneuvered around trees.

The forest they were walking through, with its close branches and slightly dank smell, abruptly ended not too far from the base of a rather small mountain, or perhaps it was a large hill. Whatever it was, the path was even more treacherous here, as it was all stony ground and loose rock. The lead knight halted and held his fist in the air, and the column halted behind him. He stared up at the mountain, nodded to himself, and started off again.

Now the knights broke from their orderly march, forced to watch their step. As they began to climb the stars began to reveal themselves, making the shields glimmer even more. Small avalanches were started by every other knight, but there was still no sound to be heard. Rocks and feet slipped and slid, and sweat began to bead on the foreheads and upper lips of some of the knights, when at last the lead knight reached a small plateau nearer the top of the mountain than the foot. The dark, yawning maw of a cave stood in front of them, just large enough for three men abreast, and a small giant to walk under while upright.

The knights gathered on the plateau, nearly too many to comfortably fit. The lead knight nodded to six others, the youngest, and they nodded back, although they did not seem happy about it. Then the knight shifted his shield, rolled his shoulders, and entered the cave. The others, except for the six youngest, followed him in. Those six carried lances at least nine feet long, with a wickedly barbed iron tip. They went about setting them at an angle in the plateau, the points toward the cave mouth and at different heights. Obviously they were there to keep whatever was in from coming out.

The rest of the knights were making their stealthy way down the tunnel, swords and spears drawn and ready. It meandered back and forth for a little while, pitch black—then the lead knight noticed a faint glow. Around a few more corners, and he stopped at his first glimpse of the cavern…and the dragon that inhabited it. He couldn’t see much of the dragon—it was curled up around a massive pile of treasure: gold and silver, copper and bronze, coins and goblets, crowns, scepters, diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and sapphires. There were suits of armor, golden plates and utensils, gilded mirrors, necklaces of priceless precious gems, rings for a royal baby’s fingers, and clothing made of some material that shimmered and shone like molded water. Strategically placed torches around the circumference of the cavern caused the entire room to glitter and shine, including the purple-black scales of the sleeping dragon.

It took the knights a moment to calm their awe, and then they spread out and moved forward. Now that the time was here, the lead knight found his palms sweaty in his gauntlets and his heart racing. He approached the head of the dragon, his spear held in his right hand, and stared down at the closed eye, one of the few vulnerable places on a dragon. The rest of the dragon was covered in scales harder than diamond, none bigger than the palm of a man’s hand, some as small as a fingernail. He could see some of the strange clothing, near its nose, flutter in the breeze of its breath.

He took a deep breath of his own and glanced at his men. Several were positioned at its flanks, more where the wing met the body, and others at its feet. They all looked back at him, spears and swords at the ready to hack at scales and then flesh.

He nodded, then thrust his spear forward—just as the eye flickered open.

For a moment while his spear descended he could have sworn he saw a look of shock on the dragon’s face. Then, in the split second before his spear would have hit its mark, the head whipped away and his spear scratched the top of its nose. The entire body lurched, upsetting the pile of treasures, and the dragon let out a roar of mingled surprise and pain. His mouth open in his own silent yell, the lead knight raised his spear and shield, getting only a glimpse of a sword dark blood dripping from the monster’s back leg before it turned to face them fully.

With another roar from the dragon, the two sides lunged for each other, the knights still silent. The lead knight flung himself at the face again, knowing that if they could blind it then they would have a huge advantage. He stabbed at the eyebrows with his spear, and the scales, invulnerable to other mortal weapons, chipped under the assault of the iron. It shook its head, snarling, tossing the knight several feet into the air to land against a black marble throne. He lay stunned for a moment, then struggled upright. Pain lanced through his sides and back; perhaps he had ripped something. He turned toward the fight in time to see a knight picked up and crushed by carnivorous teeth, then spat back out as the iron armor singed the inside of the dragon’s mouth.

It pulled its head back and into the air, apparently deciding it was not worth the pain. Knights scrambled over coins and jewelry, thrusting and stabbing wildly at the legs and membranes. The dragon snarled again and whipped its tail at them, shifting and striking out at the knights.

But there were too many of them. Several knights already lay dead, and the lead knight was incapacitated, but the dragon was hurt as well. Black blood dripped and turned the treasure, already treacherous footing, into a dangerous, slippery place.

The knights were, astonishingly enough, winning. The lead knight knew the moment the dragon realized this, because its movements became defensive, no longer seeking to attack the men with the burning iron, but merely flee from them. The great body moved with surprising grace and agility, moving ever away from them. It kept its wings folded tight to its body—the thin membrane would tear very easily under the cold iron, and it was obviously not willing to give up one of its greatest assets.

The lead knight expected the dragon to head for the tunnel. After all, that was one of the reasons why he kept the three youngest outside guarding it.

However, the dragon didn’t head for the tunnel. Instead, it lunged up, and began raking the ceiling with its claws. Stone broke easily and began to fall, and the lead knight struggled to get to his feet. A knight desperately flung his spear, and the dragon let out a roar of pain as it pierced the chipped scales of its hip and sank into the flesh below. The head turned and brilliant blue eyes fastened on the knight, but it didn’t stop digging.

“No!” the lead knight tried to cry out in denial, forgetting the magic of the tabards that kept them all silent.

Then the ceiling began to cave in, exposing the stars above. The dragon hauled itself up, its extra weight sending the rest of the ceiling down, and launched itself into the sky.

They had failed.

A/N Like my other two short stories, something may or may not come of this. I’d really like to have a story just about the dragon, who is a somewhat favorite character of mine. Oh, and I hope you appreciate the title, ’cause it took me forever to think of it. I hate coming up with titles!