Far Horizons: Tales of Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror. Issue #15 June 2015 | Page 25

They could see scorch marks and there was a faint
whiff of smoke in the air.

“Come on, but slowly,” said Jack, “let’s try and not
be silly today.”

Edward rolled his eyes and Kevin gave a hesitant
thumbs up, grasping his over large dagger close, like a
talisman.

The entrance ran deep, heading into the bowels of
the earth. They followed the wide path slowly, John
carrying a torch to light the way. Suddenly the walls
fell away to reveal a large cavern, the ground covered
with fine sand, dim light spilling in from some unseen
break in the jagged ceiling above them. Suddenly,
there before them, was the dragon. But this was no
terrifying beast of fire and smoke, this was a gigantic
creature already moved onto the next life. John crept
forward; small red lumps covering the body confirming his suspicions, plague! The dragon had engineered
its own demise by eating cows whose owners had had
the plague. The poor beast had died alone in the cave

and was no longer a threat to anyone.

“Gentlemen, I believe our quest is complete,” said
John, “I suggest we take a memento for the king’s collection and return to court as quickly as possible.”

With a whoop of victory Edward and Kevin ran into
the cavern; even a dead dragon was still a dragon. The
boys removed some of the claws and teeth, the teeth
were almost a foot long and the claws razor sharp,
exactly as Kevin had imagined them. He didn’t even
mind when Edward chased him with one, until John
intervened.
The dragons head and a large container of dragon’s
blood also headed back to the court. They would be
well rewarded for these items; everyone knew dragon’s blood was a sovereign cure for the plague. John
once more cursed the lack of foresight that had meant
that the men at arms had been left behind, but they
took what booty they could and headed back to the
castle, sure of their welcome and looking forward to
the feast heralding their exploits. Even their coughs
couldn’t put a damper on their journey home.

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