The Preposterous Tale of Sir Edmund The Courageous

Chapter 5 The Treasure of the Dragon Heir

After the dragon's departure an atmosphere of irritability hung about the people gathered in the stony glade. Not a single soul or lack thereof was left unperturbed. Sir Edmund and his companion felt anger at the presented obligation to return back to the Dragon Mountains from which they had only just withdrawn and attempt again to do the same task which they felt now was almost comic in the way it eluded them; the Skeleton King felt anger at his match being interrupted and his prize stolen, and all the dead people were stroked to wrathful ire when the cage was again captivated by their draconic foes, not to mention the time wasted watching a duel which evidently could not now continue what with the object of reward stolen from them.
Now Goldskull approached Sir Edmund, saying indeed just that "I am afraid that our duel cannot now proceed as was planned, as your prize has been stolen from you. Do you then propose that we consider it a draw and each chase the dragon our separate ways?"
"I do so propose." Answered Sir Edmund.
"Then let it be so." And with that the two parted and made their own preparations.
Now, Sir Edmund was swifter in his preparations as it was only he and his steed that he need ready for departure, while Goldskull was gathering not a small force to take on the dragon, and so the Edmunds over a day of travel ahead of the Dead King.
This they spent as well as they could, and though Sir Edmund's injuries slowed them down they still made it a fair distance from the Dead Lands before night fell. Sir Edmund slept deeply, weary of the hardships of the day, and yet more was to come.

The next day Sir Edmund awoke refreshed with his wounds having healed better than Edmund the Wise had predicted them, though not by any unnatural amount.
After this they traveled the rest of the way to the Krakk Mountains and after searching for a little while discovered the trail of blood that Krakkfaster had left behind, for Sir Edmund had struck so deep that his wound had not even yet begun to clot.
Once they had made this discovery following the wyrm to his lair was not difficult and they came upon cavern that Krakkfaster abode in at shortly after noon.

Coming to the mouth of the cave and craning his ears for sounds from the dragon Sir Edmund was surprised to hear the sound of music coming from the creature's lair. "What can this mean?" Sir Edmund asked "Does the wyrm play sweet harmonies?"
"The melody is most annoying even though it come from the dragons hands." Edmund the Wise remarked, for the tune was monotonous and easily was learnt but hard forgotten.
Then Sir Edmund peered around the stone wall and saw Krakkfaster laying upon the floor like a gigantic hound, in seeming ecstasy at the music which was playing. It turned out that the tune came not from any instrument but instead from a small but intricately wrought music box of gold and beech wood. Near to Krakkfaster was the cage holding the princess, in it she writhed in agony from the perpetual sound but Krakkfaster did not appear to take any notice of her discomfort. The strangest thing to Sir Edmund was that Krakkfaster did not in fact have any other treasure, all the cave was bare save for the bone cage, the dragon, and the small music box.

As Sir Edmund later learned in a way irrelevant to the story at hand Krakkfaster had adored his grandfather due to him pretty much raising the young dragon after the banishment of Krakkfaster's father, Krakk-in-the-Middle who is not important in this tale, and the young dragon had thus given his grandfather him all of his own treasure as a tribune and thanks, but Krakk could not stand the sound of the music box and so gave it back to Krakkfaster. This pleased the young dragon greatly and it had remained dear to him ever since.

But now back to where Sir Edmund and his name alike stand outside the cavern entrance and debated what to do, Sir Edmund wished to simply outright challenge the dragon but Edmund the Wise warned against it.
"Once already have you fought with a dragon face to face, and that time nearly ended in disaster, better to wait until the dragon is asleep."
"But slaying a reposed beast is not honorable." Sir Edmund protested.
"You have already slain the dragon King, no more honor could fit to your name, and this may be the quickest way to return to Zanlar triumphant."
"This is a small beast, maybe it is not as dangerous as its ancestor."
"Maybe, but you have felt this dragons fire for yourself, is it not just as hot?"
"Fine, I shall wait until the beast is napping." Sir Edmund said, and this soothed his equestrian advisor. Then they waited, and several long hours passed before Krakkfaster finally closed the lid of the music box and also his eyes.
Then Sir Edmund was impatient to rush into the cave right then, but Edmund the Wise made him wait a few minutes more to make sure the dragon was really asleep. This irked Sir Edmund for secretly he planned to wake the dragon before he slew it and saw this as a waste of time.
Finally Edmund the Wise was convinced that the dragon indeed lay in slumber and Sir Edmund cautiously crept into the cave. Soundlessly he snuck into the second dragon lair that week.
Or soundlessly it would have been, but knights have a tendency to be clumsy and are prone to knock things over as they walk across a dragon's hoard, and so it was that Sir Edmund knocked over the only thing in the entire dragon's hoard, whether by design or accident is unclear, but regardless the box fell over, the lid open and once again the melodies filled the air with their sweet inescapability.
This woke the princess who had been dozing, and she writhed on the floor in agony, shouting curses much too profane for a princess' mouth, and this in turn woke the dragon. The dragon was not at all used to being woken up, having never captured a princess before, and he at once began to shoot fire everywhere in his surprise.
This, of course, was very bad for everyone in the cave who was not fire-proof, which was everyone but the dragon himself. Sir Edmund had to duck behind his shield that he had thankfully remembered to grab from the dueling ring before he left. The Princess also managed to dodge out of the way mostly, but the hem of her long navy blue skirts caught fire and the little wooden music box was incinerated.
The princess at once began screaming about the fire that had appeared on her clothing, but did not actually do anything to extinguish the fire herself until at last Sir Edmund ran over to the cage and stomped on her dress with his foot. After that Maria turned to the dragon "Look what you did!" She practically yelled at him "You ruined my favorite dress! Watch where you point that fire next time or you might burn someone!!!"
Now as you could imagine Krakkfaster did not take being scolded by what he had thought was going to be his dinner very well. That combined with the sudden and not yet fully mourned loss of his precious music box drove him over the edge and he began to swell, inhaling deeply and growing round. To Sir Edmund it looked as if he were going to explode.
A dragon exploding is an event that even a knight known for bravery may think twice before enduring. And so Sir Edmund the Courageous of Zanlar shot out of the cave, his chain mail swinging like mad as his legs carried him almost halfway down the mountain before he stopped. As ran he could hear the sound of Krakkfaster bellowing in the background, not an incredibly deep sound but a loud one, and Sir Edmund felt as if it shook the mountain.