The Wonderful Wood

Diagon the Dragon King

"That would be wonderful. But I've never ridden a dragon. I would love to ride on you!" said Ethan looking up at the dragon towering above him. "What is your name?"

"I was known as Diagon during my time," said the dragon, opening and shutting his wings. I was a wild dragon. No one could tame me!"

"Did they try to?" asked Ethan gazing up at the dragon.

"Try? They struggled!" said Diagon. "I was known as the Inferno!"

"Really! That's so cool!"

"There were tournaments held in my honour. Only those who had the fire flint could tame me, and there was no other way of conquering me without my free will otherwise."

"We don't have much time, Ethan. We have to keep moving on. We need to get going," said Drizzlemister looking out at the sun that was nearly in the zenith.

"Diagon, we need to move on. Time is running out. There is a dragon loose in our world. We are want to find out what we can do about him."

"Our world?" asked the dragon cocking its head to one side.

"Yes. from where I came. I came from another place!"

"They don't have dragons there?"

"As far as I know, they are there only in stories!"

"Well, I was the last dragon in Celestia! You've resurrected me! I will serve you for the rest of my life."

"Thank you so much. I wonder what my friends would think if I say I saw a dragon and that I'm friends with one!" said Ethan smiling. "Probably they will not believe me!"

"Well, I will turn into a horse to be less, well, conspicuous!" said Diagon, and instantly, there was a flash, and he had turned into a black-white stallion.

 The white stallion neighed and said, "get on to my back Ethan."

Ethan climbed on, and they set off together across the valley of bones. They went on and on until it was nearly sunset and came upon a grove of trees. Drizzlemister stopped and decided that they should camp there for the night.

Then in the night, they were awakened by the sound of a horn. Drizzlemister came out and stared into the distance. "I wonder who it can be in the dead of night!"

"Well, it sounded so...well...eerie..." said Diana as she adjusted her shawl around her. Just then, they heard a horse neighing, and a man appeared. As soon as the man looked at Diana, she found that she couldn't move. Drizzlemister gazed at Diana and then at the man and found that he couldn't move as well. Meanwhile, Ethan was fast asleep in his tent.

Ethan felt something nibbling at his ear. Something wet and whiskery. "Wake up!" it whispered in his ear.

"Who's there?" he asked, suddenly waking up. He looked around and saw no one.

Then he heard a voice say, "shh...not so loud! Keep quiet and follow me!" said the voice, and Ethan recognized that it belonged to Diagon.

Ethan got up and looked around, and there was a flash, and there was a white dog inside his tent. "Diagon?" he said as he rubbed his eyes. He yawned. It's the middle of the night!"

"Yes. But we need to get moving. It's the masked men?"

"Masked men? Who are they?" asked Ethan as he peeped out of the tent.

"Whatever you do, don't look at them. Especially their eyes. You will end up petrified!"

"Petrified?" asked Ethan. "What's that?" he knew he had read the word somewhere but couldn't recall what it meant.

''It means turned to stone! As soon as I go out of the tent, I will turn into a dragon, and I want you to get on to my back. We must leave this place immediately."

"What about Drizzlemister and Diana?" 

"They've got them already! They left carrying them on their horses."

"Oh no! We've got to rescue them!"

"Yes. That's what I had in mind as well!""Great! Let's do this!" said Ethan, and as soon as Diagon dashed out of the tent, Ethan followed, and there was a flash, and Diagon turned to his actual shape.

Ethan scrambled onto the dragon, and he took off into the air. Up he rose into the sky underneath the waning moon. He rose higher and higher. At first, Ethan held on tight and kept his eyes shut. But after they had been flying for a while, he opened his eyes.

The world below hin spread like a map. Ethan looked up and saw clouds floating by just a few feet above them.

'Diagon? Where are we going?"

"To get help so that we can rescue Diana and Drizzlemister!"

"But who can help? and who are these masked men, by the way?"

"They are a group of mages that practice black arts. It is said that they got their power from demons!"

"Oh, that's scary!"

"Yes. It is. The masked men powder those who they petrify and use them in potions!"

"But who can help? They seem pretty powerful!"

'The dwarves can. We are going to ask them to forge a mask for you! That will be resistant to their petrifying powers!"

"But, how can they make something like that? Do they know how to?"

'Dwarves can make pretty much anything!"

"Alright, then let's find them and go and rescue Diana and Drizzlemister! I only hope we aren't too late!"

"Don't give up hope so soon, young master. We should always try before we do! Well, I will keep flying till we get there. The dwarves live deep underneath the mountain. We have a long way to go."

"Alright! said Ethan, tightening his grip around the dragon's neck. The wind whistled about his hair as Diagon flapped his wings and flew through the night. The sky grew pale, and Ethan felt sleepy. The stars began to fade.

Ethan looked ahead. Far away, he could see the shadows of the mountains. The sky grew paler and paler, and they whisked past clouds.

 The sun peeped out from behind the hills.