The Last Knight Page #2

I enjoy writing stories with epic and mysterious characters, so I had a lot of fun with this fantasy story.

• Fantasy
• Fiction
• Short story
• Action and Adventure

								

 This part of the forest was subject to occasional forest fires, usually started by a fiery dragon. The ground was noticeably darker, and in some spots ashes were still visible. The Knight finally reached his destination, the small cabin of a man known as the Last Dragon Guard. All of the others had either been killed by a dragon or had just died from old age. The only remaining Guard was also becoming old, and his age had proved to hinder his ability to actually monitor a live dragon, which stayed dormant for centuries at a time, but occasionally awoke, on purpose or not. Pounding on the small cabin’s door, the Knight stepped back.
“I am one of the King’s Knights,” the Knight shouted, “and I command you to open this door!” The old Guard was known for being hard of hearing. After a few long seconds had passed, footsteps pounded over to the door, and then it swung open with considerable force. In the doorframe stood a shriveled remnant of what had once been a tall, muscular man.
“A real Knight? Right at my door!” As he spoke, the old man had a peculiar gleam in his eyes. “Ah, yes, the dragon sightings. I assume you are here for information. Well, come inside my cabin, and I will tell you all I know.” The man had a rough, deep voice. He gestured toward the inside of his cabin and then stepped back for the Knight to enter.
“I will not be here for long,” the Knight told him. “I only need you to tell me any new information you have on the dragon.” He stepped into the small cabin, ducking his head to pass through the low door header.
“I am afraid that no news of importance has reached me,” the old man told him. “The last few times I have checked on the dragon, I noticed no irregularities. It looked as fully dormant as I had ever seen. If you wish, I will allow you to monitor the dragon for tonight yourself, and you can see for yourself if the dragon is awake.”
 “I would appreciate that,” the Knight told him. “If you do not mind, I would like to go into the cave immediately.”
“I do not mind at all.” The old man’s face twisted into a curious sneer. The Knight frowned.
“Do you need me to show you the way?” the old man asked. Shaking his head in response, the Knight left the small cabin in silence and followed a narrow path which he knew went in the direction of the cave.
The path led to an ancient stone stairway that went very deep underground. A stone archway supported the ground above the stairs, and the Knight inspected it, curious to see if there was any evidence of the dragon having been there recently. Something caught his eye as it scanned over the rough surface of the arch, something that aroused a suspicion in his mind. It was an iridescent scale which could only have come from one source: the dragon of the Dead Forest. Cautiously, the Knight descended down the stone steps and into the chill, damp cave. He passed through an enormous stone door, which was propped open with a log. As he padded slowly and carefully deeper into the cave, the Knight noticed a slight glow in one of the cave’s chambers. He assumed that the dragon slept in that chamber, and headed in that direction, walking softly. His hand unconsciously started to grip the dagger fastened to his belt. At that very instant, a loud crash startled him. It had come from only one possible source: the great stone doors which led to the exit had been shut. Sweat started to drip from his brow as he realized that he was now trapped with the dragon in its own cave. Before he could move, a loud roar came from the glowing chamber, and to the Knight’s horror, an enormous, scaly head slid out in his direction. He pulled out the dagger in a flash, and ducked behind a stone pillar. The Knight could hear puffs of smoke coming from the dragon’s nostrils, and he smelled a raw, fleshy stench which made him want to gag. Closer and closer the great dragon crawled, its horrible claws scraping and dragging along the cave’s rock floor. It let out another terrifying roar and blasted the whole chamber with blistering flames. Turning his face from the heat, the Knight crawled behind another pillar to hide from the dragon’s all-seeing gaze. He knew that the only way to kill the dragon was to pierce it directly in its foul heart. Unfortunately, dragon scales were known for being incredibly hard to penetrate, and rumor had it that magic of some kind protected the dragons from wounds. With no other choice than to fight it, the Knight held his shield in front of his face and ran toward the dragon’s chest. It turned in surprise and breathed fire at him with a deep roar. Furious that the fire didn’t seem to harm the Knight, the dragon swiped a claw at the man, intending to strike him down. But the Knight quickly dodged the blow and thrust his dagger deep into the dragon’s side, directly into its heart. The dagger slid through the dragon’s scales almost effortlessly. It roared in pain and thrashed around, and swiped its claws another time at the Knight. But before its claws met the Knight’s solid steel armor, it gave a heave and dropped to the ground, completely dead. Panting heavily, the badly burned Knight staggered around the huge body of the dragon and headed toward the other end of the cave, where he could see a shaft of sunlight penetrating into the cave. He found a small tunnel in the cave wall that seemed to go directly into the forest. It was so small that he had to take off his bulky armor before crawling through, but he eventually reached the other side and collapsed into a patch of soft, green moss.

When he had summoned enough strength to get up, the Knight staggered over to a nearby tree and sat down, back resting on the rough surface of the tree trunk. As he sat down, a small piece of paper fell out from between his sleeve and floated slowly to the ground. It was the remains of his map, which he had shoved up his sleeve before getting blasted with the dragon’s flames. He picked up the fragment and inspected it. To his surprise, the flames had not damaged the part of the map which showed the dragon cave and the roads leading away from it. It would be a great deal easier to find his way back to the castle with the fragment of the map. The Knight sat for a moment in deep thought, trying to form a plan for what he would do next. He knew that the King had to be alerted of the Dragon Guard’s treachery, but also that the way back to the castle might be dangerous, especially without his armor. For all he knew, armed men lurked along each road leading away from the cave. The Knight did not know who had bribed the Guard, only that they were out to kill him. Finally, he made up his mind. Taking a deep breath he gathered all of the strength left in him and headed toward the outer edge of the Dead Forest. As he navigated through the ancient trees around a few decaying swamps and ravines, thirst and hunger started to gnaw at him. He had left behind his leather canteen and food supply at the old Guard’s cabin, so there was no way to recover it. After a few painful hours had passed, he eventually managed to make it to one of the Kingdom’s roads that ran along the edge of the forest. The Knight collapsed on the side and sat there, trying to recover some of his strength. As he waited, a small wagon pulled by two tired looking horses and driven by a dirty farmer passed by.

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