Writing Challenge 2014 September

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 stones were covered in moss and grass pushed up where they were broken. I could see now that the high walls around the courtyard were falling down in places. I was hit with the realization that this castle must have been abandoned far longer than I had thought to have this level of destruction on it. This was more than just the damage a dragon would do when forcing entry, this was the damage of time. How long had the princess been here?

But I had no time for this. I had no time to overthink what I was looking at. Sword was going through the main door and I had to move quickly so I could keep pace.

Inside, the castle looked as bad as the courtyard. The tapestries on the walls were faded and torn, some collapsed heavily on the ground like massive, exhausted beasts. The floor beneath us was uneven, the stones ripped open like the damage of a cat's claws against fabric.

There was no sign of anyone. I was relieved, I had half expected there to be the bodies of those who failed to defeat the dragon. Then I realized the dragon must have eaten them, armor and all, and I felt worse than before.

At the end of the hall, I could see a set of stairs. I knew I would have to get there, I had to get as high up as I could to find the Princess. But before that, the hallway was strewn with blackened rubble. On our right was an enormous hole in the wall, I had to assume it was once the entrance to the great hall. From inside the hole, I could hear scratching and heavy breathing. The dragon.

Sword was still ahead of me. He was creeping towards the hole, trying to get close enough to see in. I stopped staring at the castle's dissrepair and tried to follow.

As I did, something caught my foot, tightened, and sent me sprawling forwards. I twisted as I tried to stop myself from falling, but instead of helping all I did was allow the shield strapped to my back to clang loudly against the stone floor.

A horrible screech filled the air. It drove into my ears so painfully I screamed, a scream that was utterly lost in the sound from the dragon.

In the silence that came after, every inch of me felt impossibly heavy. I had doomed us, we were going to die.

Then my brother was hauling me to my feet. Kneeling down, he ripped away the tapestry that had twisted around my leg and caused my fall.

"Sword, Sword we're going to die--"

"Shut up and run!"

He shoved me towards the stairs. I stumbled forward a few steps and looked back. Sword unsheathed his weapon. Holding it carefully, he took a deep breath. Then he ran through the hole in the wall, shouting a challenge to the dragon. His words were drowned out in another horrific screech.

I should have run after him. I should have stopped him, dragged him out of here. I should have helped in any way I could. Forget the princess, how could I stand to watch my brother face an impossible task alone?

But instead, I covered my ears against the dragon's screech and ran for the stairs.

That dragon had defeated countless enemies. Knights from who knew how many kingdoms, brave men from far and wide, and even powerful wizards. What could we do against such a monster?

My brother was one of the best swordsmen in The South Kingdom of the Light, but did that mean he could take on a dragon alone?

I should have gone with him. I should have, but I knew what Sword would have done if I had. He would have sent me away, sent me after the princess. Because that was what his plan said.

So I tried to ignore my growing panic and took the stairs three at a time.

As I skidded around a short landing in the stairs to keep climbing, I heard the dragon screeching again and the floor beneath me shook. I hoped it was dead. I hoped Sword had managed to kill it. The longer Sword had to spend fighting it the more exhausted he would become, and the more likely it was he would be killed.

It all came down to one thing. I had to get the princess, and I had to be damn quick about it. The faster I did my part of the plan, the sooner I could help Sword.

I climbed as high as I could, until the only thing left was the staircase of the tower itself. I pushed on, slower than before only because I was having trouble breathing.

The ceiling kept lowering. The higher I climbed, the lower the celing. I had to duck my head by the time I reached the only door. There was a wooden brace locking the door from the outside. I pulled it aside and reached for the door.

Instead of opening it, I knocked.

"Princess! My brother is Sword Calcule, first son and crown prince of the South Kingdom of the Light. I am Shield Calcule, second son of the South Kingdom of the Light. As allies to the Windfall Kingdom we have come to aid your escape from the dragon that keeps you captive."

There was silence beyond the door. I waited a moment but there was so little time to waste. I knocked again, one hand ready to open the door.

"I am entering your room now princess."

The door opened into a tiny, though lavishly decorated, room. There was only one room, not even a separate area for the princess to sleep in. A canopied bed was pushed into one corner, rugs and pillows covered the stone floor. Everything was in much better condition than what I had seen so far in the castle.

But that meant nothing, especially if there was no princess here. And so far, I could see no one in the room.

I stepped into the room and heard a sound. Looking around, I still saw no one.

"Princess?"

The curtain in front of the only window shivered. Looking down, I saw small, slippered feet poking out from the curtain.

"Princess please, I am Shield Calcule from the South Kingdom of the Light. I want to help you."

A thin hand appeared on the edge of the curtain. Bit by bit, the princess emereged from behind the curtain. She was thinnner than any princess I had ever seen, in a sickly way that looked painful. Her dress barely fit her, and her hair was knotted. I supposed she must have been beautiful once, but the starvation in her eyes had stolen that from her.

"Come, Princess. My brother, Sword Calcule, is fighting the dragon for your sake. If it's alright, follow me quickly. I'm going to lead us out of here."

She nodded but stayed standing where she was.

"Do you want anything from this room?"

She shook her head. Did she ever speak? I supposed I could hardly blame her. Anyone would be nervous after being held captive by a dragon for, how long? Weeks? Months? That probably explained why she would want nothing from the room, surely she wanted to avoid being reminded of her time here.

Turning, I left the room. While climbing down the stairs, I look back so often to check on her that I hit my head on the low ceiling.

Every move she made was slow. I knew I should feel pity for her plight, or proud that she was brave enough to follow me. But all I felt was anxious. We had to hurry, yet I was left waiting at the end of each staircase for her to catch up.

When we finally made it to the main hall, I was torn between feeling relief and terror. On our entire way down, I had heard nothing from the dragon. I wanted to be relieved, to decide this meant Sword had killed it. But for all I knew, the dragon was simply sleeping off the meal he had made from my brother.

I walked faster.

Then I heard it, the same scraping sound of the dragon's claws on stone that I had heard before. It was alive. Did that mean Sword was dead?

I looked back at the princess, who because of how slow she had been walking was somewhat behind me. Sword had told me to get her out of here. But we were so close to the door. She could get outside by herself. My brother was facing off a dragon, he had been for the last twenty minutes. No swordsman could last that long in any battle, let alone against a dragon. Unless Sword had gotten away from the dragon long enough to rest, he would be far past exhaustion. I had to get him out of there.

While I deliberated, she finally caught up with me.

"Princess, I need you to run. Run straight through this hall and to the outside. There are horses there, wait by them for my brother and I. Can you do this?"

She was smoothing down her dress, avoiding looking at me.

"I'm sorry, I know this is hard. Please do this. I promise to make sure you are safe. Can you run?"

Slowly, like everything else she did, she nodded.

I crept up to the hole in the wall. The closer I got, the worse the air smelled. It smelled like something was burning. Looking in, I saw the dragon at last.

Its scales were a bright, poisonous purple. With black spikes and ridges down its spine. Long, black claws clicked and scratched against the floor as it moved. It was smaller than I expected, but it looked no less deadly.

It was in the far corner of the room, poking at pile of gold and treasure. I wondered where it had gotten it all. But I dissregarded that as panic began to rise in me again.

It was a long half a minute before I saw my brother. I felt bile in the back of my throat. He was sitting, not moving an inch, hunched underneath a colomn. I was too far away to see if he was breathing.

I refused to believe he was dead. I had to go in there and get him.

The dragon was busy with its hoard. Keeping an eye on it, I waved for the princess to go.

"Run, run now!"

Without waiting to make sure she did, I snuck into the Great Hall. Ducking behind the first column, I looked from Sword the the dragon and back. I just had to make it to my brother. I just had to get him out of here.

Peeking around the corner, I saw as the dragon jerked its head to face me. I heard it drawing deep, rattleing breaths. Then that horrible screech tore through the air again.

The sharp pain in my ears sent me reeling. Leaning against the column behind me I screamed for it to stop.

Forcing my eyes open, I looked to my brother. Where I always looked in pain and fear.

He was moving. He was pulling himself up so he was standing. He was alive.

He was alive.

And the dragon was looking right at him. When the dragon began to move, shaking the ground as it stomped towards my brother, I stopped waiting. I ran. I ran straight for the dragon, not even taking the time to draw my sword or put my shield on my arm.

I was screaming at it, anything to get it to look my way. Its head turned towards me. Its jaw unhinged and fire belched from its throat.

The full force of the dragon fire hit me, flinging me helplessly backwards. My back slammed into the wall and I crumpled to the ground.

Shallow breaths were all I could take. Laying facedown on the ground, I stared at the dusty floor.

I was dead. I had to be. It was impossible to survive dragon fire.

Then the dragon screeched, even louder and higher pitched this time. The whole castle shook as something incredibly heavy fell.

Hands were pulling at me. I tried to focus my attention, it was Sword. He was alive. He was pulling me to my feet. I stared at him. He was covered in purple dragon's blood, which steamed and hissed angrily. His sword was covered in it too. Behind him, I saw the dragon was dead.

He was talking to me but I had trouble focusing that closely. I looked at my hands. My unburned, normal looking hands. But that was impossible. I should have been charred by the dragon fire. I should have died. Was I even injured at all?

Sword was still holding on to me as he began to drag me outside. I was stumbling, too busy looking at my hands to watch where I was putting my feet.

I was supposed to be dead. That was what it meant to be attack head on by a dragon. Even if I had used my shield, I would have died. So how was I unharmed?

Outside, Sword let me go so he could talk with the princess. I wondered why she was waiting alone instead of by the horses like I had told her to. Though I had bigger problems to worry about. The world seemed to be tilting to one side and the numb, heavy feeling in my body was getting worse.

"Sword…" I tried to speak but since my hearing was suddenly failing I had no idea if I actually spoke.

Then the ground rushed at me and I passed out.