Prince of Dragons

Chapter 1 - Escape

The door of the cell was opened. Two guards entered, one holding a bowl of soup - in which a piece of bread floated around - and a halberd, the other holding a keyring and the same weapon. The first guard put down the bowl and the bread and pointed his weapon at Arwund, as the second guard proceeded to release him from his shackles. Arwund flashed a friendly smile at the first guard, who responded with a grunt.

"Really, sometimes I wonder what I did to make you guys hate me so much," Arwund said, looking at his soup. When he felt that his arms were free, he picked up the bowl of soup and began to eat the bread. The second guard got up from the floor and joined his friend in pointing his halberd at the prisoner. Neither guard reacted to his comment, as was to be expected.

He took a sip of his soup. Closing his eyes, he said: "My, how aggressive. How would you feel if someone pointed a weapon at you while you were having lunch?"

"Be glad you even have food," the first guard said finally.

"Wow. So you think my crimes were so heinous that I deserve to be starved to death." It was a statement, not a question.

"Why else would we have been commanded to guard you so closely? You must be dangerous!" the second guard said.

So much for listening to your commander, Arwund thought. The first guard went against all orders and spoke to the prisoner, apparently causing the second one to do the same.

"Oh, I am dangerous," he said mysteriously. "Very, very dangerous even."

The two guards looked at each other, clearly unsure of how to react to their prisoner... or possibly afraid of him after all?

"Do you know," he said ominously, "I have a secret."

He heard the guards hold their breath. He smiled: they were trained to be brave and fearless, but now he could sense their terror. "What secret?" the second guard managed to ask.

Arwund put down the bowl of soup and looked up. "You see," he said with a smile, "I can breathe fire."

The guards were quick enough to jump aside as Arwund breathed a large cone of fire in between the two. He jumped up and ran through the open door, leaving the dazzled guards behind in his cell.

He entered the hallway. It was dimly lit by torches, which were hanging from the stone walls. For a moment, he thought about whether he should go left or right. He decided to go right: the guards always came from the left, so he assumed he would encounter fewer people there. He just hoped there would be a way out that way.

Despite the wave of exhaustion that washed over him due to the use of his powers, he ran. He ran as if his life depended on it.

Which, come to think of it, was probably to be taken literally this time.

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Enorwin, prince of the Flaming Lands, gradually descended the spiral staircase leading into the dungeons.

He let out a sigh. Once again, he wished that he had been born a few centuries ago. Back then, knights had understood dragons and dragons had understood knights. The fight between them had been clear and fair. These days, however, the real dragons had almost completely disappeared. Now, the Flaming Lands apparently faced some kind of vague 'draconic threat', as far as the earl had heard, which could mean anything. The threat could very well be one of the few remaining dragons, but it could also be a gang of draconic humans. Things were far less clear, obvious and simple now than they used to be. And that meant that, unfortunately, he had to resort to different measures to resolve his quest.

And that was the reason that he was on his way to speak to the most dangerous prisoner in the castle dungeons: Arwund Marholdson, a draconic human rogue with above average draconic powers.

Enorwin finally reached the dungeons. But as he entered the hallway, he immediately saw it.

Arwund's cell door. It was open.

Almost on impulse, he drew his sword. He had thought it wise to take a weapon with him in case Arwund did something unexpected. And that seemed to be just the case, yet not in the way he had expected.

He approached the cell and looked through the door. There, he saw two guards sitting against the wall, trying to get up. They had clearly crashed into it.

"Where is the prisoner?" Enorwin demanded.

The guards looked up in surprise. "L-lord Enorwin," one of them said. "We... we didn't know you were coming!"

"Yes, yes, I know!" Enorwin said. "Where is the prisoner?"

The guards glanced at each other. Then the other guard said: "He... escaped, my lord."

"He escaped?!"

"I don't get it either, my lord!" the first guard quickly said. "He... he could suddenly breathe fire! It was an immense burst of flame, I swear, if you had seen it, my lord, then you would certainly understand how he managed to..."

"Alright, alright!" Enorwin interrupted. "Which way did he go? To the right, I suppose? Or can he also make himself invisible?"

"I believe he went to the right, my lord," was the response.

To the right, it is, Enorwin thought. He sighed deeply. This was going even worse than he thought.