Story So far: If you haven’t already been following along – A dragon ran off with a princess. When the Knight arrived to save her, she declares that she wants to stay with the dragon and steal one of her eggs so she can have her very own pet dragon. The Knight obviously, thinks this is a very bad idea.
‘Steal … ?’ he wheezed and spluttered again. ‘S .. Steal … ? Egg …?’ He shook his head to clear it. ‘What do you mean, we … ?’
‘Well of course you,’ said the princess. She turned and started walking back towards the cave. ‘Father sent you here to keep me safe, didn’t he?’ she called back over her shoulder just before she disappeared back into the still smoking mouth of the cave.
The Knight stared after her. She’s got to be joking. She was, wasn’t she? He sighed, again. Nevertheless, he had promised the King that he would protect his daughter at all costs. And she was the princess after all. He picked up his helmet and gingerly stepped into the cave. All was quiet. Trying not to cough on the small wisps of smoke that remained, he made his way forward. It wasn’t as dark this time around because the plants that broke out of the rocky walls had all caught fire and some were still burning. Feeling sorry for them on the one hand, the knight was thankful that at least he could see a few feet ahead. He slowly inched deeper and deeper in, not daring to call out to the princess lest the dragon should appear.
After a few minutes, the cave widened and opened onto a vast, rocky chamber. Bang in the middle was a giant nest with 1 giant egg. And right below the nest crouched the princess, slowly reaching in towards the egg. The knight swung his head wildly from side to side, looking for the dragon. And then remembering that they could fly, he looked up so fast that he cricked his neck. Massaging his neck and feeling silly for looking for a flying dragon inside a cave, he looked back at the princess who had managed to prise the egg from its nest and had both her arms around it as she hugged it to her chest. She looked up and spotted the knight and smiled jubilantly at him.
‘Hurry Princess … Hurry,’ he hissed, flapping his hands.
Still smiling, the princess started moving towards him when an angry ROAAARRRR filled the cavern. The princess let go of the egg and clapped her hands on to her ears. The Knight’s heart stopped as he watched the egg fall to the ground in what seemed like an eternity but thankfully, it just bounced into a corner and lay there, unharmed.
He drew his sword just as a huge, green dragon appeared out of the shadows at the back of the cavern. This thing was as big as the King’s castle and it was snorting fire as it advanced. Suddenly, his sword felt about as useful as a stick of jell-o.
‘PRINCESS!’ he screamed, looking around for her. To his utter disbelief, she was inching towards the egg, lying only feet from where its mother was thrashing her tail against the cavern walls.
The Knight sprinted forwards and grabbed her wrist. ‘We’ve got to get out of here, princess,’ he said urgently.
‘No,’ replied the princess. ‘I will have that egg.’
He tugged at her wrist.
‘We’ll find another way,’ he said desperately, as he pulled her towards the passage leading out.
‘No …’ began the princess but just then there was another deafening ROAAARRR behind them and the Knight felt the searing heat pass his helmet before he saw the flames. His helmet turned hot enough to singe his hair inside it.
‘RUN!’ he shouted, pulling harder at the princess’ wrist, willing her to move. This time she did not argue and ran past the knight into the tunnel leading out, her long hair billowing behind her.
He used his free hand to pull his helmet off. Thankful for his steel gloves and trying not to think what would have happened if the dragon hadn’t missed his head, he ran after the princess holding his helmet aloft.
ROAAARRRRRRRR, came another sound as the knight clanked his way behind the princess, sword and helmet still held high.
Outside in the sunshine, they didn’t stop running until they had put quite some distance between them and the cave.
‘That … was … close,’ panted the knight.
‘This isn’t working. We need a proper plan,’ came the princess’ voice.
The Knight looked up to see the princess pacing around again. After about a minute, she suddenly stopped and smiled.
‘Ahaa!’ she said, snapping her fingers.
‘What?’ said the Knight. , scared of what was coming.
What happens next?
So attempt 1 has failed, as we knew it would. Its not that easy after all. It is a DRAGON!! But will the succeed? The princess seems pretty determined. What hair-brained idea will she come up with, next?
