The Honorable Ones

There I was, minding my own business, when suddenly I felt this sharp shooting pain in my back. I whipped my head around to see this puny child, no more than four-and-ten years of age, standing there clutching a sword in both of his hands.

“Did you just stab me?”

His mouth fell open and his legs started shaking.

“Are you deaf, boy? I asked if you just stabbed me.” I didn’t really need an answer. I saw the blood gushing out of my back where he landed the blow. 

“I-I-I-I,” he stuttered.

“You-you-you-you,” I mocked. “Spit it out! You can’t just stab someone and then have no answers to their questions!” At this point, I was fairly certain he’d wet his britches. The dark spot was seeping down both legs. 

“I didn’t mean to-”

“You didn’t mean to stab me?”

“It was the prophecy.”

“The prophecy told you to stab me. I see. And pray tell, what exactly did this prophecy say?”

“A boy born of common folk will rise and slay the largest dragon of the lands.”

It was my turn to stare at him with my mouth agape. “That’s it?”

“Yes?”

My tail thrashed out, slamming against his chest. He hit the ground with a soft thump. There didn’t seem to be any resistance left in him. His sword flung out of his hands and hit the ground a few feet away from where he lay. He was even more pathetic than the cattle his parents presumably raised. 

It felt like a waste of time and effort to show him my full majestic being, but I had to give him some credit. He managed to make it up the mountain, and he had landed a blow against me, even if it was in my back when I was busy breaking my fast. So I turned to face him, man to dragon, stretching out my ever-imposing wings.

He shuffled back, kicking up dirt as he went. My right eye twitched seeing him make ruin of my home. Was that all humans were good for? Pillaging houses and threatening lives?

“Who told you of this prophecy you are attempting to fulfill?”

He gulped hard and cleared his throat. “The royal knights. They came to the village and said the king’s personal priest saw a vision of angels on high. They spoke of the prophecy. It is God’s will.”

“Does this ‘personal priest’ partake in wine or those weird little mushrooms that everyone seems so excited to go hunting for?”

“I don’t know.”

“Of course not. Of course not. You are clearly just a humble young man attempting to bring good fortune for your people.”

He nodded to this, aggressively. “That’s right. My father passed from the sickness last winter. My mother has attempted to feed all of us children, but there are five of us. She cannot make enough by herself. I do not know how else to help, but I must. I have a responsibility as the eldest.”

I considered telling him of the dragon’s way, but it didn’t feel like the right time to bring up cannibalism. Besides, humans didn’t even seem to like the idea of throwing their kids out in the forest to fend for themselves. Eating them was probably a step too far.

“A very noble cause you attempt. What did these knights promise to the young boy who satisfied this priest’s vision?”

“They said the king himself would knight the prophesied, and his family would be brought to the capital to live in peace and wealth for the rest of their days.”

“I understand now. I am afraid you have been made a fool, swindled by worthless men.”

“The king’s knights are honorable men!” He was still cowering on the ground, but his bold voice surprised me. 

I couldn’t stop the wave of laughter that roared from my throat. “Honorable you say? What is it that makes these men so honorable?”

“They’ve sworn fealty to the king. They are willing to die for their liege lord.”

“Then why send you on a mission such as this?”

“The prophecy-”

“The prophecy, the prophecy. Do you not see? They hide behind this prophecy. It is but an excuse for them to avoid the work of slaying a dragon, the largest dragon in the land.” There were definitely larger dragons than me on this mountain, but that didn’t really matter. He was here, so why fight him on such a small affair? “They did not want to risk their lives in a fight against a magnificent creature such as myself. Instead, they send young boys in hopes that one may do their work. If he dies, it is little bother to them. If he succeeds, a few mouths extra to feed is of little effort in the capital.”

He was not the quickest of the mind. It took him time to piece it all together. “You mean, they expected me to fail? But they said they were positive I was the one, the one.” The bravado he had managed only moments before was draining from him rapidly. 

Smoke billowed out of my nose as I released a dejected sigh. It was hard not to feel bad for the lowly commonfolk who fell so easily and wholeheartedly for those in shining armor with rolled up sheets of parchment beckoning them forth. It was always talk of riches and grandeur. Who would not dream of a life beyond the fields and farms? 

“What will happen to your family if you fail to return from this quest? Your mother will have one less mouth to feed, but she will have no help from the eldest. The one who shares the burden of her suffering.”

He stopped to consider my words, thinking them thoroughly through. “My poor mother. My poor brothers and sisters.”

“You must return home at once. If those knights come again, you turn them away. Let them find someone else to send out to do their dirty work.”

“Yes. I must go back now.” 

He rose to his feet, turning away from my cave high up in the mountains. He stumbled over his feet, nearly falling a time or two. I watched as he rushed back. He was on a new mission in life. One that would still lead to death but gave him a few years more.

A peace fell over me. It was strange to cheer for a boy who shortly before had attempted to murder me, but I couldn’t deny that there was some small part of me that wanted him to succeed. He wasn’t the smartest human I’d ever encountered or the strongest. In fact, he didn’t have much going for him, but he had heart. That was not nothing. 

When he reached the fork in the road, he turned and shouted, “I’m going to lead my family to a new promising future!” And it felt like the truth. 

With him on his way, I turned my attention to the wound on my back. I was shocked that he managed to land his strike right between my scales. It was a deep wound that would take a few days to heal. Maybe I hadn’t given him enough credit? If he ever decided to wander back up in another attempt at assassinating me, I might have a harder fight than I thought. 

Although, perhaps not. “You’re going the wrong way! Left! Left!” 

When he was gone and out of sight, I stretched out my neck and reached down to pick up the sword he had left behind. I tossed it deeper down into my den. It landed with a twang amongst the heap of other weapons, all abandoned by their owners. This was all starting to get a bit old. After all, what use did I have for swords and shields? Though, if it brought peace to the land, maybe it was worthwhile to take out a few honorable knights?