This story takes place in the middle ages when everything was a little bit darker and scarier than it is today. There was one particular fella called George who wasn’t easily scared by much and this was thoroughly tested when he was on a trip to Libya. He had been travelling for what felt like years over land and through rough seas before he arrived on the sunny shores of Libya. One of George’s first encounters when he arrived here was with an old ugly hermit bloke who didn’t get out much but always knew the local gossip. (No one really knew how considering all the time he spent indoors). He was stood on his doorstep of his mud hut on this particular sunny day when George and his mates approached on horseback.
“OI, you there, I know something that’s happening that you might be interested in. You look like the type of bloke that might be able to help. You aint from round here are ya?” The old hermit asked George as he approached.
“What do you know old man? I’m George, I’m here to explore and help all those that need it in this amazing country.” George swelled with pride as he spoke looking at the skies valiantly.
“Right.” The old man wasn't much impressed with George, he was just happy because it meant he had the chance to talk a bit more. Normally he just spent his days hunting and then chilling out in his hut. He stood a little straighter before he started his story in an attempt to appear a bit more presentable in front of this strange chap on horseback. He was obviously a knight or skilled military man of some type, he sat on a nice well kept horse and he had a good physical build, he looked a lot braver and stronger than a lot of people the old man usually saw passing by.
“There’s a problem you see, the King of Selene has a bit of a nuisance hanging outside of the city walls. This thing lurks outside and releases a tremendous stink, killing all those that smell it.”
George laughed at the sound of this, “It’s not you is it?” George’s mates cracked up with laughter but the old man was less than impressed.
“Alright, alright” the old man pretended to laugh along, “but seriously now.” As he said this the old man furrowed his brow, reducing his eyes to just thin, serpent like, narrow slits. George was rather startled by the man’s sudden change in attitude and shuffled awkwardly in his saddle.
“Apologies sir, continue” George said, looking at his mates with a look of concern.
“Where was I?” the old man mused.
“The stink outside the city!” a chap from the back of the group shouted.
“Yes, good, thanks” the old man’s face returned to a more relaxed expression as he began the rest of his story.
“So you better know from the outset that this nuisance is actually a huge black dragon that will probably kill you all if you go near it.”
George coughed nervously, his hand moving to the hilt of his sword as he looked about the vacant planes for any sign of the beast. Luckily, no beast was in sight.
The old man carried on, “This dragon has been eating two sheep every day as payment to stay away from the city. It’s a right pain to the King as they’re running low on food. This dragon appeared out of nowhere right, turns up, kills a couple of people with his stink and reckons he can then demand sheep everyday!”
“That’s atrocious!” George shouted bravely.
“Too true it is” shouted the man as he jumped and pointed at George. “And it gets worse fella, I promise you, listen to this! The dragon won’t go, he won’t leave Selene alone, he kept coming every day, eating two sheep then returning again for more the following day. Trouble is, they ran out of sheep didn’t they!”
George rolled his eyes with astonishment. “So is it still there?”
“Oh yes!” spat the old man, “So get this, they run out of sheep and it flames its stink on the city once more killing more innocent people. But with no sheep left they had to do the unthinkable. They had to offer the dragon a young girl to keep it away.”
“No!” shouted George, his mates in the group were shouting with anger and disbelief.
“Yes yes you see. It was either a girl a day or hundreds of people being killed by its black flaming stink. So this has been happening for a month now, each day a young maiden is offered to the dragon and he takes her back to its lair and leaves the people alone once more. Thing is you’ve arrived just in time if you want to do something about it.”
George leant forward in his saddle, “go on, how can I help?”
“Well, the king has a daughter right. Cleodolinda is her name, beautiful young thing she is, in her teens.”
George looked concerned. He was intelligent as well as brave and had guessed what the old man was about to say.
The old man spat as he said, “they’ve run out of young ladies to offer the dragon and now it’s only the kings daughter left. They’re offering her to the dragon today!”
George didn’t waste any more time, “Come on guys, we have a maiden to save!” George pulled on the reigns and his horse began to gallop away. “Thank you for your help old man!” George shouted behind him as he rode towards the city walls.
The King was really upset. He sat on his throne in complete despair at the thought of his daughter about to be offered to the huge beast that had haunted the city for the last year. But what else could he do? Any knight that had been sent to attack it was easily killed by the dragon and whenever they stopped feeding it the dragon would always turn up and blast the guards and watchmen with poisonous flames, killing twenty at a time.
There was no hope. Cleodolinda would be another maiden from the town that would be lost to the horrible beast and then what would they do?
He kissed his daughter fair well and she walked outside of the city gates to await her fate.
As George and his mates approached on horseback he arrived just in time to see the princess in pure white silk leaving the city with the gates beginning to close behind her. Shutting her out and leaving her to the dragon.
“Return to the city maiden!” yelled George as he rode past her, “I will slay this beast and save your life!”
The maiden gushed, pretty chuffed that this random man had turned up seemingly just in time. So she turned and sprinted back into the city, just making it through the remaining gap before the gates slammed shut.
This is where things got really interesting. George continued riding hard, the fowl stench in the air leading them down the valley and towards the Dragons lair.
As they approached the entrance to the cave the dragon suddenly burst from within the inky black depths and out into the evening sky.
Its wings blocked the sun from the sky momentarily and evening turned to night in an instant. The huge black scale covered dragon flew straight up into the air above the small group of knights. Suddenly George felt that this could have been a pretty big mistake. The dragon was far too large to attempt to take down and not even his valiant buddies made him feel any safer. Another horrible thought also struck George, what if the dragon was just going to ignore them and fly over their heads and onto the city? He looked up nervously where the dragon was almost lost from sight amongst the clouds. It was with a mixture of relief and fright when he saw the dragon approaching them once more, its wings were tucked back and it was dive bombing towards the group of knights.
There was no time, the dragon was almost upon them and speeding faster than any living thing George had ever seen! He raised his spear in defence, trying to shelter himself behind the threatening point, aiming it skywards and keeping his head low. The dragon swooshed down above him, blasting a jet of black flame and poison at his clueless group of friends. Their armour instantly split, solid steel splintering like wood from the dragon’s poison.
George had luckily avoided the direct blast suffered by his colleagues; he jumped off his horse and sprinted across the valley floor to shelter under an orange tree, the only nearby shelter other than the dragons lair and he wasn’t about to head into there! He looked back at his group of friends, they were doomed. Armour was clinking and dropping to the floor, rotten from the black could, their swords luckily had survived but they would do little good. The dragon was circling back around for another swooping charge.
The beast roared loudly and filled the sky with the sound of thunder, it exhaled and the thick blast of black flaming poison once more completely engulfed his men, ending their fight. George charged from beneath the tree just as the dragon was pulling up from its lunging attack. He thrust as hard as he could and managed to hit the dragon’s stomach with his spear. Instantly his shoulder screamed with pain as the spear splintered on impact, useless against the seemingly impenetrable scales that covered the dragon. Again George retreated beneath the orange tree to avoid the dragon’s fiery blast as it swung back around in the sky. The dragon didn’t appear to be in any pain what-so-ever, it just looked mad, roaring ferociously and ready for more death.
The heavy black wings of the dragon beat down above George, the downdraft knocking oranges off their branches and onto his helmet. Peel and juice covered his armour as he readied his sword for one last attack. The dragon flew from its position above him to hover over the entrance to the valley once more, ready for another low blasting charge at George who was now the only remaining knight in the valley. If he left his shelter under the tree, he would certainly die from the poisoned flames that would rain down on him from the dragon’s attack. But what choice did he have? He ran from under the tree with his sword held aloft, “Come on!” he yelled at the dragon.
The dragon didn’t hesitate; it launched itself at George, black flames blasting from its mouth. The stench was incredible; George stood waiting making sure that the sword he gripped with both hands wasn’t trembling. He knew what was about to happen, he just had to make sure that he had one last go at the dragon before he died. Trees, bushes and the remains of his colleagues all were caught in the final assault from the dragon in front of him, disintegrating and breaking apart on impact from the thick cloud. As the black stinking flames approached, George readied himself to strike, knowing he had to make it count.
George crouched slightly, ready to propel himself upwards. The dragon was just feet away, the black cloud covered George and he held his breath, keeping his lips tightly closed to avoid breathing any of the toxic gas in. At the last possible second George rolled forwards narrowly avoiding the open jaws of the dragon, with no time to spare he thrust upwards with all of his might and caught the dragon under its left wing. The great beast smashed into the ground behind him, dirt and dust flying into the air to join the thick cloud that the dragon had produced.
George couldn’t hold his breath any longer and finally breathed in, the stench filled his nostrils but didn’t seem to cause him any harm. He looked down at his torso assessing the damage. His armour was completely intact. How? All his colleagues had been defenceless after the first attack from the dragon but here George was, standing, still alive with his armour in one piece. Admittedly the armour was a complete mess of dust and sticky orange juice but at least it had done the trick. Then it dawned on him, the orange tree had saved his life! The acidic juice from the oranges must have protected him from the toxic black death cloud that the dragon had spewed over him. It was a stroke of luck that meant the city of Selene was now free from the torment of the Dragon and the princess Cleodolinda was now saved.
George looked behind him, the animal was lying on the floor on the brink of death, a deep wound was leaking inky blood into the dusty valley floor from its wing. Luckily there were no scales under the wing area to protect the dragon, unlike the spear on its stomach; the sword had caused a lot of damage. Unknown to George, his act of courage wouldn’t just be talked about by the gossiping old hermit that lived in the mud hut on the outskirts of town. It would be a story that would continue to be told for centuries, the story of George and the Dragon.
Dragon News - St. Georges Day special
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