I sighed and shook my head, looking at the Forest of the Damned. “Why in the blazes did you pick this dragon to be your last, Draco?” I asked myself, thinking back to how this all began as I checked my gear.
I had been drinking two fortnights prior with some of the other Knights of the Round Table and telling stories of battles and wars long past when one of them - a fellow by the name of Kay - asked if I would have one last battle before I stepped back and let another take my place at the Table. I had agreed - in my inebriated state - that I should slay one of the last two known dragons still alive. When they asked which one, I had taken out my dagger and thrown it at a map that was always left hanging on the wall, unfortunately I was never the best with throwing knives, always preferring the familiar weight of my sword and shield to the light daggers that the rangers carried. As a result absolutely no one was surprised when my dagger bounced off the stone wall to the right of the map and fell ceremoniously to the ground.
To save face I stumbled over and picked up my knife, stating that it knew which dragon I was going to pick regardless of where it struck and rammed it right through the picture of a dragon in the middle of a forest with trees shaped like men. The table is silent for a moment before Sir Geraint spoke up.
“You’re going after Lethid, Sir Draco? You do know the stories surrounding the beast and it’s home don’t you?”
I pshawed and said no two dragons like Lethid could ever get the better of me even in my old age of fifty-two. Lethid would be dead before it even knew someone had entered into its lair.
“I’ll believe it when you emerge from the Forest of the Damned.” Sir Gawain started, “There isn’t enough holy water in the land to purify that abomination, Sir Draco.”
“And who said I would purify the forest? I’ve travelled there once before, and as long as you don’t harm the trees you will not be harmed by them,” I said, taking another swig from my stein afterwards. “Ah, yep, you can go right up to any of those trees and take a nap without any cause for alarm.”
“Well, even if the forest doesn’t claim you, Lethid is another story.” Sir Morien quickly stated, “Lethid isn’t like other dragons. Its scales are harder than diamonds, and it’s hide is so thick it doesn’t seem to notice when blades pierce it. The beast didn’t even flinch when Sir Tor drove his blade into its scaly leg, and it’s claws ripped through his armor like it wasn’t even there.”
“And he was using heavy armor which slowed him down to the point where he couldn’t move fast enough. I mean his memory no disrespect, but he did not know how to fight dragons,” I said with a... somewhat sober expression. “Everyone here knows that I am the most experienced knight of the Table when it comes to dragons, and my twenty-six dragon head trophies in the grand hall can attest to my might if you don’t.”
After that the other knights merely shook their heads and moved on to other topics, while I went off to plan my ill-advised last crusade.
I jolted and glanced around, noticing I hadn’t moved from where I sat my trusty steed to check my gear. “Old age must finally be catching up to me,” I sighed as I dismounted. “Ah well, I gave it a run for its gold.” I opened my bags and saw I still had everything I needed to fight the dragon. Potions Merlin had made that freeze anything they touch in ice, potions of burning water that don’t cause flames, my trusty hook that can punch through dragon scale and hide, my sword that has seen me through every battle and dragon-killing I’ve done since I was knighted, a shield to replace the one I lost while fighting a different dragon a year or so ago, and my specialized armor I made myself. It was strong as a full suit of plate armor, but light enough that it didn’t hinder any dives or rolls I would need to take.
Satisfied that I still had everything, I closed the bags and led my horse to the edge of the forest where I tied off his reins loose enough so that he could pull away from them if he needed to. “Good luck, Equuleus, you’re going to need it to stay alive until I return,” I said as I patted his snout some. “If I return, that is.” I sigh and untie my bags from his back, pulling the saddle off of his back and setting it on the ground next to him.
“Now.... Let’s see if this dragon is everything they say he is.” I slung the bags over my shoulder and started into the forest of trees made from the bodies of fallen men, women, and children who had been unfortunate enough to enter, hoping I would once again see Camelot.
I stood there, peering around a tree at the mouth of an enormous cave across the clearing. It had taken a few days to reach this point through the forest, and I had been growing more restless with each day. The forest had changed from the last time I was here, before a person could go anywhere, and while they might have felt like they were being watched, they were relatively safe as long as they didn’t start a fire. Now, the very air feels oppressive and the stench of decay is so overpowering it would gag even a buzzard. “Today will either mark my greatest victory, or my bitter end,” I said with a sigh, steadying my slight tremble with a sip of wine. “No use standing around here.” I put the flask away and checked my gear for the fifth time today, making note that I still had everything before stepping out into the clearing.
It is filled with the scattered remains of those who came before, yet another mark that this was the dragon’s lair. Instead of trees, I am stepping between skulls and ribcages. I learned last time that the forest doesn’t like those who make fire, and unfortunately I can feel the heat coming from the bleached bones. A dragon’s fire never really stops burning, it instead becomes a part of whatever it touches. For the forest to claim these remains would doom it to the eternal flame.
I shake my head in amusement and think, Ah, if only the dragon would burn the rest of the forest, this place would disappear and be nothing but a graveyard of bones. I stepped around the ribcage of a horse, noting that there was still flames on it and that it seemed to coalesce in the middle of the bones, almost like it was the heart of a fel beast. I’ll be glad when I put this place behind me....
Suddenly I stop, a bone rattling in the cave before me. Gathering my courage, I shout to the cave, “Come out and face your death, dragon!”
“...Go away mortal,” A deep voice rumbled from the cave.
“I fear not your visage, dragon. I have faced many that were stronger than you, and with your head it will be twenty seven I have collected!” I stood my ground and raised my shield in front of me. “Your hide is said to be thi-”
“Don’t care, just let me sleep worm.” The voice explains in a monotone.
I really shouldn’t do this but... “Are you talking about yourself? You hide in the ground and are too lily-livered to defend your honor. How is that befitting a proud dragon?”
“By the gods, do you knights ever shut up?!?” The voice says in an irritated tone.
“Yes, we do, but I am not leaving here until I’ve separated your head from your shoulders. I-”
“You know what?” The voice starts as the ground starts to shake in a rhythmic beat, “If it means I can go back to sleep,” I back up a few steps as the beast emerges, “I will gladly burn you to cinders.”
The dragon is huge even when compared to the others that fell before my blade, every orange scale on its hide almost as large as my own shield. The beast is almost as tall as the trees and even though it hasn’t done anything but exit its cave yet I swear that the temperature has risen at least several degrees. Its claws dwarf me, and it’s eyes speak of a deep malevolence I have never seen before.
“You wish to die bug? Then I shall grant you death.” It opens its mouth wide and shoots a stream of fire at me.
I rush to the side as I see the dragon opening its mouth, narrowly avoiding the stream of fire that started to follow me and heading for the trees on the edge of the clearing. Hopefully the trees will go after Lethid and not me once his fire starts burning them.
“You wish for death, and yet when I prepare my blade you run? You are a coward, unworthy to be called a knight!” Lethid bellows.
I stop and turn back to face Lethid. “A true knight uses his surroundings to his advantage. I wouldn’t assume a beast like you would understand something like that!” I pull one of my ice potions secretly and rush at Lethid.
“And a true knight,” Lethid starts as a gust of wind flings me back against one of the trees. “Knows when he is being led around by the nose.” The air is knocked out of me as the beast pins me to the tree with a scaled claw.
“Oh how I’ve waited for this day.” The beast whispers, “Ever since I learned that the knight who came before was Sir Tor, I have been waiting for you to come. This moment playing over and over in my mind, burned into my memory... Fate is a cruel mistress, but today… I free myself from her chains.” The world lurches as a spike of agony erupts from my gut.
“Good bye, Draco.” The beast says, releasing its grip on me and turning back to its cave as I slid to the ground under the tree.
I let my potion and sword slip from my hands and look down at my stomach in shock, moving my hands to push the parts of me spilling out from the gaping wound below my ribs. Blood pooling beneath me as I try to grab my entrails with shaky fingers. It is a strange feeling, grabbing one’s own small intestine, the bile leaking out of it feeling as though it were eating away at my hands like acid as I fumble to stop it from touching the ground. Strangely it didn’t hurt as much as I had thought it would, only leaving my entire abdomen feeling cold and empty as I fell onto my side.
“Oh deary me!” A voice exclaims from above my head. “That looks like a very bad wound you have.”
I look up to the source and see a strange creature. It looks like a rabbit standing on two feet and wearing a strange green outfit with a ball of reddish orange... stuff on what looked like a stick coming out of its head.
“Here, I can help you with this, though you won’t be using your own body if you do.”
I start to shake my head but stop. As far as the knights would be concerned I would be dead. Killed by Lethid in my stupidity. But.... A second chance at life? A way to live out the rest of my life in a secluded place on the earth? I probably wouldn’t even be human, but it would be easy to avoid humans in that case.
“You’re still slowly dying, mister,” The strange rabbit said. I refocused on her... him... it whatever, and nodded my head to accept the bunny’s offer. It smiled and held out its hand to me. “Then shake my hand and you’ll have your new body.”
Without hesitation I lift my blood-soaked hand up and take the bunny’s paw just as darkness began to take me.
When I awoke I was warm and enclosed in a space that was small and pushing on me from all sides. It felt wrong, and I could feel something affecting my mind. In response, I try thrashing my limbs in my dark prison, only to find they are pinned to my body due to how small my confines are. Starting to panic, I thrashed about as best I could and found my prison wasn’t as stable as I had thought it was when it rocked with my movements.
I heard some sort of sound from beyond my prison, muffled and distant as though I was hearing it through some sort of liquid. The pressure on my mind wasn’t helping as every time I tried to think it would intensify. It got to the point where even thinking simple thoughts required a titanic effort and as time went on the pressure in my head sapped even more of my strength.
Out of desperation I slammed my head into the top of my prison and heard it crack. Even as my thoughts slowed to a crawl I knew that I needed to free myself, I could feel myself slipping away even as I continued to slam my head into what held me prisoner. I gave one last push with my head feeling my prison give completely as light blinded me, and I thought no more.
I look down at the little reptile as it poked it’s head out of the egg on my wood desk, “...Aww, it’s adorable! Look at those little chubby cheeks!” I say, reaching out a pink hand to pat it on its orange scaled head.
“Your majesty, please don’t pet it,” I hear my assistant say to my right. “Baby dragons do have their razor sharp teeth from the moment they hatch.”
I smile and pet the little drake’s cheek as it looks at me with its big, golden eyes. “Nonsense. I’m the first being he saw, so he thinks of me as his mother. Or have you never heard that dragons are like gryphons when they hatch?”
“I know what imprinting is your majesty, I am just asking you to be careful. We might have access to the best healers in all of Terra, but I doubt that you would like having to regrow a finger if it gets hungry.”
I roll my eyes and look over at my assistant standing on the large pink carpet in the middle of my room. “Well then why don’t you go get some gems from the treasury for the little tyke?”
The brown earth pony mare with a blonde mane looks conflicted in her formal business attire for a moment, her eyes darting between the newborn dragon and me before she finally bows her head. “Very well Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, it shall be done,” she states before walking through the large double doors of my room and leaving me with a silent guard standing next to the doors and the dragon who was still mostly in his red and gold egg.
I hummed as I picked the dragon up, walking towards my bathroom. To think, a group of adventurers fought their way through a dungeon only to find a dead dragon and its egg at the end. They’d have to be strong and fearsome to kill something that took down a mother dragon. Maybe I should try to contact them to join the knights guide, I thought, opening the door to my bathroom with my magic. Of course, free spirits like adventurers don’t like being bound by laws or rules....
I sigh and pull the little drake from the rest of his shell and set him in the sink, the tub being far too big for him right now. “Let’s get you all cleaned up before you get some gems to eat,” I say with a smile as I turn on the water and begin to wash him. “Of course we’ll have to name you, too. How about.... Lethid. Lethid Drac.”
“I’ll be back once I’m done with court, Lethid. Try to stay out of trouble,” Mom says to me before leaning down and kissing me on the forehead.
My snout scrunching up as her royal multicolored mane brushes against it. I can still smell her strawberry scented shampoo in it, and although I like the smell, having a mane tickle my snout causes me to sneeze. Mom stands up in her bright and shiny red dress along with a gold necklace around her neck and gold horseshoes on her hooves. With her large pink wings framing her in the morning light she looks down as me waiting for a response.
“Don’t worry Mom, I will!” I tell her while jumping up and down on the orange rug in my room. She giggles before turning and walking out the large wooden doors to my room. I wave at the open doorway until I can’t hear her hoofsteps echoing in the halls before I stop jumping and run over to my dresser. My smile evolves into a grin as I open the middle drawer in the dresser and dig under the multiple shirts in it. A single sheet of paper lies at the very bottom and after looking over my shoulder to see if I am alone I quickly pull it out before running over to the brown desk against the right wall of my room. Climbing on the wooden chair I double check to make sure I am alone before turning my squinting eyes back to the seemingly blank paper. Focusing for a moment I inhale until I feel that peculiar feeling in the pit of my stomach before slowly exhaling.
A sliver of green fire trickles out of my mouth, gently heating up the air surrounding it. Words start appearing on the paper as I sway the tiny flame back and forth above it. I stop once I see the edges of the paper starting to curl in on themselves due to the heat, and I can’t stop the grin on my face once I see the fruits of my labor.
Operation Birthday
Give Mom the best Birthday EVER!
1. Make sure Mom is distracted.
2. Bake a cake with Chef Hazelnut.
3.Get some of the servants to help decorate Mom’s room.
4. Have the guards find that one clown Mom always says is in Court.
5. Make sure her friends are here.
6. Jump out and yell “Surprise!” when Mom comes in.
“Alright, so the first thing is done,” I say as I put a check by the first entry on my list. “Now I just need to go make a cake!”
“And a fine cake it’ll be,” A Feminine voice says from behind me.
I quickly slam my arms over the list before looking over my shoulder, only to pause and smile when I see who it is. “White Glove!”
The white unicorn mare with a red mane is wearing her usual black and white outfit. She looks at me with her bright green eyes with a smile on her face before opening her muzzle. “Stonewall’s making sure that the long-winded nobles are going to take up most of Princess Cadence’s day. We’ll have all the time we need to finish preparations,” The head maid says in a hushed tone.
“Great! Let’s get to the kitchen then.” I jump down from my chair and race towards the door, ducking around White Glove and taking off down the hall.
“No running in the halls, young drake!” I wince as White Glove’s voice carries down the hall and instinctively slow my pace to a brisk walk. The head maid quickly catches up and give me what I like to call, “The Eye of Shame.” It’s like the look Mom gives me when I break something really expensive except, like, one hundred times more effective. It’s the kind of look that could bring armies to their knees, begging for forgiveness, and leave gods crying in shame of their actions. Needless to say, I find the floor extremely interesting right now.
“Sorry, Mrs. White Glove.... I wanna get started, though,” I whined, not slowing my new pace. “I want this to be Mom’s best birthday ever!” I finish, throwing my claws in the air to emphasize how much this needs to be perfect. Looking up in defiance, my determined look immediately returns to the marble hallway once I realize she hasn’t stopped looking at me with “The Eye of Shame.”
We walk together in silence for a while before the mare beside me sighs, “I know what it’s like to be excited for something Lethid, but sometimes you need to slow down. We’re not on a time limit, and trying to rush things will only make problems, you want this party to be perfect don’t you?” I slowly look up at White Glove nodding my head when I see that she is no longer using “The Eye of Shame.”
She gives me a small smile and takes my claw in her hand before speeding up slightly, “Let’s go then, that cake isn’t going to make itself after all.”
I smile and speed up with her, skipping some as we go down the halls. It takes us far too long to reach the kitchens, but we finally make it to see Chef Hazelnut setting a tray of cookies down on a counter.
A row of shelves line the back wall of the kitchen with ingredients ranging from blueberries all the way to yeast with several crates stacked in the corners probably filled with other goods. On a counter in the middle of the kitchen were several bowls and what looked to be lots of other stuff in bags and boxes and jars. There is a large black stone box pushed up against the left wall that Hazelnut likes to call a oven.
“Right on time. Hello Lethid, White Glove,” Hazelnut says in a refined voice as he turns to us. The brown earth pony is wearing a red apron with flour smeared on it, and a pair of maroon pants, along with a large white hat on his head that is leaning to one side. “I have everything ready for us to make the cake.”
I smile at Hazelnut and hop in place some. He was a bit older than most of the ponies at the castle, but he could still catch me when I snuck into the kitchen to get a cookie. “It’s gonna be her favorite kind, right?”
“The strawberries are in the icebox to stay cool, but yes.”
“Then let’s get started.” White Glove states as she washes her hands in the bowl of water at the edge of the counter and sliding it over to me.
I reach for the edge of the bowl that’s just barely beyond my grasp, trying my hardest to grab it so I could pull it from the towering counter. “I got it, don’t worry.” Straining my legs and feeling my clawed feet slightly dig into the floor between the tiles, I reached for the bowl again and grabbed the edge.... Only to have some of the water spill onto the floor and make me slip and land on my scaley butt, the rest of the water and the bowl following right behind to land on my head. “.... I don’t got it,” I say, my voice echoing a little from the bowl.
I hear White Glove laugh as a soft hand grabs my shoulder and pulls me to my feet once again. “Here, I’ll help you with washing your claws.” A moist cloth falls over my arms as the head maid goes to work on my scaled claws.
My face heats up in embarrassment and I would’ve looked away had it not been for the bowl still on my head. “Thank you, White glove.”
The bowl is lifted off of my head and placed back on the counter as Hazelnut chuckles and says, “Well, looks like we’ll need a step ladder for you if you’re going to be helping.” I watch him as he heads to the pantry and pulls out a foldable, wooden ladder with only two steps on it. “Here we are. I use this to reach stuff on the shelves I can’t reach.”
With the height issue solved I mutter a quick thanks to Hazelnut and we get started. To start off we butter up the pan we’re using to make the cake making sure that the bottom and sides are nice and slippery. Next we bring out a large bowl and measure out three cups of flour, one tablespoon of baking powder, and half a tablespoon of salt and mix the ingredients very well in the bowl with a whisk. I hand the bowl off to Hazelnut once we add two sticks of butter since it was getting extremely hard to mix. I don’t know how, but he was mixing the ingredients in the bowl like the butter wasn’t even there, the whisk swirling the ingredients around like a force of nature. We added in the eggs next, it always feels special when I crack them open like Hazelnut showed me, it makes me feel like a professional cook. We beat the eggs in the bowl along with the other ingredients and add in some vanilla extract to add the flavor. Finally we measure out half a cup of water and add it to the batter, mixing it until Hazelnut said to stop. Pouring the sticky substance into the buttered pan we stick it in the oven, and after lighting the bottom of the metal box with a small fire, we close it.
The cake takes forever to cook, every time I think enough time passes for it to be done Hazelnut whacks my outstretched claw with a wooden spoon and says, “It’s not ready yet,” he does this about seven times before he suddenly gets up and opens the oven door with a pair of gloves. Bringing out our masterpiece a moment later in all of its fluffy glory and placing it on the counter.
“Woooow.... Can we put the icing on it now?” I ask, my eyes wide as I stare at the cake.
“It has to cool for a little before we can put the icing on it,” White Glove said as she stirred the icing. It was something Hazelnut called “buttermilk frosting” that they had put butter, powder sugar, and milk in.
“While we’re waiting for it to cool down a little, why don’t you start on your other jobs for this very special day?” Hazelnut suggests gesturing to the door, “Don’t worry, I won’t put the finishing touches on it without you.”
I smile at the chef and say, “Okay! Gotta get some servants to help put up the decorations! I’ll be back after they’re done.” I hop down from where I sat on the counter and rush towards the door, making sure to not actually run.
“No, that goes from the top of the bed to the mirror,” I said, pointing to the two places. “It has to be there, or it won’t be spread out all the way.” I was telling some maids who worked at the castle where the decorations went. The two pegasus mares shared a look before rolling their eyes and righting the banner where it is supposed to go. Once I’m sure that they’ve got it under control I turn back to the red and yellow bundles in my claws. The mostly pink room has been transformed with red and yellow streamers bridging the air between almost every piece of furniture, from the vanity pushed up against the left wall to the large fluffy bed against the right wall.
I hopped in place a little before tossing one of the bundles up, making sure to hold onto the unwrapped end to make it unroll as it flew through the air to accidentally wrap around the muzzle of one of the maids. I smiled sheepishly as she looked at me and said, “Sorry, I was aiming for the top of the bed.” I pointed at the bedpost near the headboard of the bed, quite a distance from the maid.
“I’ll tell you what Lethid,” I hear White Glove speak up from behind me before a pair of pale white hands take the streamers out of my claws. “You tell us where everything needs to go, and we’ll put the finishing touches on the room. Does that sound reasonable?”
I look up and smile at White Glove, nodding. “Okay! This way I don’t have to keep showing off my great throwing skills.” I rush over to the bed and hop up onto it, bouncing a few times before settling on the bed. “The red one goes across the room perpendu- penperdim- um....” I glance at White Glove for a bit of help.
“Perpendicular?” She offers while stringing party streamers between the bed posts.
“Yeah, that! Perpen-dicu-lar to the last yellow one. The rest of the streamers get hung on everything else.”
“Everywhere else?” White Glove asks in an amused voice.
I nod with a smile. “Yeah, everywhere else!”
White Glove titters shaking her head as she ties off the last of the streamers in her hands.
“Well,” a voice starts as chef Hazelnut walks into the room balancing the cake in one hand a bowl of strawberries in the other. “You might not want to put the streamers everywhere else, after all, you have to leave some room for the party goers and let’s not forget the food.”
I turn to face Hazelnut, my stomach growling a little at the sight of the cake. “Well of course! Can’t have a party without a cake and guests. Now....” I look around, trying to figure out where it would be best to place the cake. “Umm....”
Hazelnut chuckled before setting the cake and strawberries on the vanity, “Having trouble with something?”
“Yeah, that’s where the punch bowl will be. I’m trying to figure out where the cake will go.”
“Well while you’re trying to figure it out, why don’t we put the finishing touches on the cake?”
“Okay.” I hop down from the bed and go over towards the vanity, thinking about how great this party was going to be.
