JesseZafiro

“Brother, why do I always follow your plans?” Sword smiled but he kept his silence. He had been quiet for most of the ride, something which was incredibly unusual. Especially as we were about to face a deadly dragon in order to save the next princess of the Windfall Kingdom. I looked up at the castle we had stopped in front of. It even looked ominous, and the path the dragon had taken to enter the castle was obvious. Sword turned in his saddle and dropped to the ground. Tying his horse to one of the trees, he started off towards the main gate without waiting for me. I quickly dismounted and tied my horse next to his. Giving a rel

"Sword, if this plan kills us I will kill you a second time." My brother chuckled but he dismounted his horse instead of answering. The sick feeling in my stomach worsened. Usually this was when he would boast about how grand his plan was. It was obvious something was bothering him, I just wished I knew what. I really hoped it was not a lack of confidence in his plan. We were about to go up against a devestatingly deadly dragon., the last thing I wanted to hear was that Sword was worried. I had my own doubts, of course. The plan largely meant I would be leaving Sword to fend for himself against the dragon while I found the princess. One man

I watched my brother dismount and start tying the reigns to a stunted tree. "Sword," I said tersely, "What the hell is your plan?" He looked up at me. "I should have thought that was obvious. We go in and we find the dragon and the stairs. I distract the dragon while you climb every staircase you get to until you reach the tower with the princess. You get her out of here and you keep her safe." Then he was walking away before I could think of a reply or put together my own thoughts on this "plan." I dismounted quickly so I could follow. I followed him through the first gate into a courtyard that was very nearly destroyed. The paving ston

I stared at the gate. Even sitting on my horse, the gate was far taller than I was. If it had been fully closed, I would have doubted even Sword and I together could have pulled it open. As it was, the gate was raised half way. This immediately made me question the intelligence of just walking in, which was the bulk of Sword's plan. I trusted my brother with my life, but that hardly meant I was prepared to agree to all of his plans without even questioning them. Not that it really mattered what I thought, Sword had already dismounted and was walking up to the gate. I hesitated, tightening my hands on the reigns, then swung my leg over and dr

"Shield, just remember to stay away from me. As long as the dragon's focused on me you should be fine to get to the princess." "So you keep saying." I mumbled. But my brother was already opening the castle gates, and was either ignoring me or too far ahead to hear me. This was absurd. Charging into this castle with barely any plan, only my brother's sword and my shield against a dragon. No, not even. My brother's sword against a dragon, while I ran through the castle finding the princess who may or may not be in the highest tower and getting her outside before Sword was killed by the dragon. This was dangerous, even for my brother's planning.

"Sword…" I looked between the staircase on my left and the great hall to my right. The dragon roared, so loudly I covered my ears. I wanted us to get out of this place, and now. Sword was facing off the dragon alone. And I had to hurry and get the princess out of this castle. But first I had to find her, and hope those townspeople were right when they said she'd be in the highest tower. He'll be fine. He'll be fine. I repeated the words to myself over and over while I pounded up the first staircase. The faster I got the princess out, the faster we all got out of here. I hesitated at the top of the last set of stairs, unsure if I shoul

I trust Sword. I trust my brother to lead us down the right path. I trust him with my life. So why am I shaking? Why are my knees weak? “Look on the bright side, Shield, if we die here you don’t have to explain to Father why you left the Seven Ships Kingdom without telling him!” That’s right. None of Sword’s other plans have ever involved killing a dragon. That’s why my arms don’t even feel strong enough to hold up my shield. “Alright, let’s go!” “What? No, wait—“ Too late, my brother opened the castle doors and ran inside. I hesitated a moment, silently pleading th

The dragon was purple. Not usually a very dangerous looking color, I know. But it was the kind of purple that made me think of poison, and its black claws looked dangerous enough even if they weren't poisonous. I didn't want to find out if this thing was poisonous or not. In fact, what I wanted was to run far away. Sword grabbed my shoulder and turned me so I was looking at him instead of the dragon. "Listen, I know what you're thinking." "That thing is going to kill us! Why did I let you talk me into this?" "See and I was right. You think we're going to die. Now, you've thought that about a lot of my plans and we're still breathing. So let's

"The plan is simple, Shield. I don't know why you're nervous." "No, no reason to be nervous." I said sarcastically, staring up at the castle in front of us. "Going in, killing dragons. We do this all the time." "Hey, you aren't the one killing the dragon. You just take care of the princess and get her out." "Because that's going to be so much easier." I said under my breath. How Sword expected me to even get past the dragon to find the princess was beyond me. That was my brother all over, claiming the hardest part of the plan for himself and laughing at me for being at all concerned. He never took my hesitations seriously. But his plans hadn'

I looked up at the castle, so tall it loomed over us. Then I looked to my brother. "Are you sure this plan will work?" "Of course. As long as we both keep our heads and do our parts this should work fine." "If the dragon surprises you--" "Don't worry about that. Just get the princess and get out." Sword clapped a hand against my shoulder. "Just get her out and keep her safe. That's all you have to worry about." Even knowing that Sword's plans had rarely failed us yet, I couldn't help wishing he had put a little more effort into it. Sword opened the castle door. A wave of foul air hit our noses. My brother held his sword loosely in one han