ONC 2024 ~ On Hold
Once upon a time there was a little golden dragon. He was the last of his kind and knew nothing of the ways of dragons. One day his hoard of gold was stolen by some men from the castle down the hill. This is the story of how the l...
"Can you save someone turned to stone?" Golden Scale asked the wizard.
Derrick frowned. "There is no spell that can undo petrification."
"When I traded a piece of treasure to the uneven man, the Red Dragon came back to life," Golden Scale said. "I don't want to be lonely anymore. I'd rather have friends and lose my treasure than be rich and live alone in my cave. Can you help me get my treasure back so I can rescue the other dragons?"
Derrick tugged on Golden Scale's clawed hand and slipped the necklace over the dragon's claws and onto his wrist. "This is all that is left," Derrick said, touching Golden Scale's new bracelet. "Alas, I will not help you steal back the treasure that pays for my services." Derrick crossed his arms. "Now please leave, and take your Red Dragon friend with you, before she burns down our castle village."
"Thank you," Golden Scale said, and he took off to find the Red Dragon. She was still wreaking havoc on the castle village, but when she saw Golden Scale coming she stopped breathing fire on the poor village. "You have a piece of treasure! Where did you get it?"
Golden Scale landed next to her and shouted, "The treasure isn't here! This is the last piece. A wizard from somewhere called West Castle gave it to me."
The Red Dragon instantly took off, and Golden Scale followed her as she flew west. "Where are we going?" he shouted after her.
"To West Castle of course," the Red Dragon said.
"Then we can rescue our friends!" Golden Scale said happily as he followed the Red Dragon west. They flew the entire morning until they reached the west side of the mountain. There, they came across a dwarf sitting at a great iron door. The dwarf saw the dragons coming and lifted his axe to honor them. Seeing that the dwarf had respect for their power, the Red Dragon landed nearby to rest and receive the dwarf's praise.
"Why do you sit at an iron door?" Golden Scale asked the dwarf.
"I'm waiting for those behind the door to let me in," the dwarf answered.
"Why will they not let you in?" Golden Scale asked.
"Because I have done something to disgrace them," the dwarf answered.
"I shall force open the door and make them take you back," the Red Dragon said.
"You are too kind, mighty beast," the dwarf said. "But I must earn my own way back into the mine."
"Do you know how to get to West Castle from here?" Golden Scale asked.
The dwarf peered up at the dragons. "That depends on why you want to go there."
"We go to take back what is rightfully ours, but that which has been stolen from us while we slept," the Red Dragon said with a snarl and a puff of smoke.
"And not to pillage and burn the countryside?" the dwarf asked.
"Never," Golden Scale said.
And so the dwarf pointed southwest and described a wide road which would lead them straight to West Castle.
The dragons flew the entire day until they saw the castle as the sun set in front of them. When they reached the castle, a beautiful lady waved to them from a high tower, and Golden Scale landed on the large balcony, which was small for him. The Red Dragon did not notice the beautiful lady, and she landed in the courtyard, instantly resuming her fire breathing havoc wreaking.
"Why have you come?" the lady asked wisely.
"I have come for the treasure that is rightfully mine," Golden Scale said.
"Alas, the treasure belongs to my daughter the princess," the lady said, and she frowned a sad frown. "It is all she cares about."
"But if you care for your daughter, you will make her give it up," Golden Scale said smartly. After meeting a friendly bird, a happy fairy, a wise old lizard, a cunning satyr, a tricky uneven man, an angry Red Dragon, a compassionate wizard, and a steadfast dwarf, Golden Scale had learned a thing or two about how to get what he wanted. "Give me back my treasure, and my friend and I will leave you and your people unharmed."
The lady nodded. "I will have my people carry it to the gate." And she went back into her tower.
Golden Scale flew to the courtyard to tell the Red Dragon the good news. She smiled, showing her sparkling white teeth, and followed Golden Scale to the gate. The lady emerged from the gate with fifty men carrying fifty bags of treasure. Behind the lady stood a tiny princess in a tiny pink dress, who was having the biggest tantrum of her life as her mother gave her gold away to one big dragon and another even bigger dragon.
And that is how the dragons retrieved their stolen treasure from the Castle in the West and made one little girl cry.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
