The Dragon's Hoard

Dragons. You’ve probably heard of them. Great big fire lizards that fly high upon the sky, raining ruin upon peasants and kings alike. Even when the strongest among the Four Kingdoms are involved, they’re pretty dangerous.

So why am I mentioning them? Well, because our plan to recover the Gem of Traversal required defeating one to gain the treasure in its horde. Specifically the ancient Staff of Dowsing. I’ll explain later.

For now, just keep in mind that the Honoured Heroes’ plan for defeating the dragon… was me. If you don’t see an issue with that, I’ll remind you. MY ONLY POWER WAS A TRUCK. And trucks, generally speaking, don’t fly.

I tried explaining that to them.

“Hey, so my truck can’t fly.” I told Ser Erik as we kicked in the door to the last of the seven churches of the Golden Sun that dotted the capitol. We’d been searching them in a vain hope that the priest who’d killed the court wizard would turn up in one.

“Of course it can, Legendary Hero!” He responded as he smashed a priest with the pommel of his sword, “That’s how you defeated the Demonlord, remember?”

Right. That was the downside of being the “Legendary Hero”. The other Heroes wouldn’t hear of me talking down my powers. They thought I was being humble.

“No, so, that was like a special circumstance,” I said, punching another priest in the face. He swung back with a mace and missed. “It doesn’t normally do that.”

Atlas jumped atop the priest’s back, smashing his head into a wooden pew.

“You’re talking to a brick wall, Dale. You can’t get through to these people.” He leapt away, chasing down another priest as he tried to flee. I sighed.

“Dale,” Ser Erik said, turning to face me. He rested a hand on my shoulder. “You are the most powerful warrior I have ever seen. You defeated the Demonlord in a single blow and you can destroy dozens of demons without effort. You just need to have confidence in yourself and your abilities.”

“We all know you can do it!” Lynessa added, “You just need to believe in yourself!”

These people were insane. Patently, blatantly insane. We were all going to die.

As we sifted through the ruin of the church, we were unable to locate Gem of Traversal or the dark-robed individual who’d killed the court wizard.

“It looks like the Staff of Dowsing will be our only chance of relocating the gem.” Imalor grumbled. He was the only one of the Honoured Heroes not looking forward to facing the dragon.

“Well, we know where it’s located.” Arthur said, “The dragon Almaxor holds it within his lair.”

“Then let us be off!” Ser Erik said, “It’s time we got the Legendary Hero home!”

“So be it.” I said, feeling very much as though I was going off to the gallows. If this was truly my last hope to return home, then I would have to take the chance, no matter how slim it might be.

Our journey to the dragon’s lair took three days. All the while, I kept a nervous eye on the truck’s fuel gauge. It never strayed from the ‘full’ line. That was a relief. I’d been wondering how I was going to fuel my truck in this world, especially given its apparent technological limitations. Of course that raised a number of other questions, none of which I was able to answer. I chalked it up to some kind of unexplained magical force.

The terrain grew steadily bumpier and the climate increasingly colder as we continued to the north. We crossed beyond the borders of Folona, into the dragonlands. The roads eventually ended, and we were forced to drive slowly over uneven terrain. At times, I was worried we were going to have to leave my truck behind, but determination pushed me to take more vehicle-friendly routes.

Eventually, we arrived at the foot of a massive, snow covered mountain. Smoke rose from the mountain’s peak. A large cave was hewn into the rock and an ominous orange glow came from within.

“Almaxor’s lair.” Said Ser Erik, “Last time that evil dragon woke from his slumber, half the kingdom burned.”

“Aye.” Replied Imalor, “I remember it well. Homes and houses set ablaze. Livestock slaughtered in the fields same as the peasants in their hovels. It makes me wonder if sending Dale home is worth incurring the wrath of the beast.”

“We’ll defeat the dragon.” Stated Ser Erik, “We must, for if not for Dale our world would have been overrun by the Demonlord and his armies.”

My heart sank. Imalor had a point. Eyes turned to me, anxious to hear my opinion on the subject.

“We’ve come this far,” I said, reluctantly, “The best we can do is ensure this dragon dies. He will never reign chaos and destruction upon your world again.”

“Hear, hear!” Exclaimed Ser Erik. Lynessa cheered. Arthur pumped his fist in the air.

Imalor fixed me with a grim stare.

“You’d better be right.” He said.

We began our ascent of the mountain. Lynessa used her magic to smooth a path up to the cave entrance so that my truck could follow. Arthur and Atlas scouted ahead. They returned with hopeful news.

“The cave is wide, the tunnels inside tall and level.” Atlas said, “The truck should fit easily inside.”

“The size of the cave doesn’t bode well.” I said.

“It does not.” He agreed, “I didn’t catch a glimpse of the dragon, but the thing must be huge if it needs such a large entrance.”

I flicked on the headlights as we entered the cave. Atlas was right, and the driving was smooth. The air was hot, heavy and humid, and only became more so as the tunnels took a slow descent into the heart of the mountain.

We rounded a corner and the party collectively gasped. Ahead of us was a massive cavern filled with mounds upon mounds of treasures. Gold coins, jewellery of all sizes and colors, suits of armor, magic swords and more could be found in abundance amidst the stash. Tomes and tomes of untold secrets piled in one corner, philters and decanters of unknown liquids in another, and atop the mound of golden glory slumbered the great beast himself. Almaxor the Mighty.

The dragon seemed to sense our presence. He opened one emerald eye, the iris flickered with blistering hate. We had interrupted his slumber.

The party dismounted from my truck and took up fighting stances as the dragon lifted himself up from his mound of treasure, gold coins scattering off his scales as he did. Almaxor roared, his voice echoing from the walls of the cavern and getting caught in its vaulted ceiling. The heroes clutched their ears in pain. I revved the engine in response and floored the gas.

Despite being composed of thousands of pieces of treasure, the truck’s tires caught well and I was able to crest the first mound of treasure at a blistering sixty-eight miles an hour. The dragon spread his wings and leapt over the truck, claws scraping the roof of the cab as he glided over towards the party. I jerked the steering wheel to the side, scattering coins as I brought the truck around.

Almaxor landed with a powerful impact, sending the Honoured Heroes off their feet. He opened his mouth and spewed a stream of wicked black fire, which was only barely deflected by a magical shield from Lynessa.

I roared back towards the dragon. He spun around, his spined tail crashing into the side of my truck and sending me spinning away. I slammed on the brakes and wrestled the steering wheel back into control, narrowly avoiding colliding with the cavern’s wall.

Atlas growled from the seat next to me.

“Pull alongside it!” He said, “I’m going to try to get on its back.”

I wasn’t really sure what that was going to do, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to have him helping out. The Heroes looked like they needed it.

Atlas wormed his way out of the passenger side window and hauled himself up onto the roof of the cab. I punched the roof twice. Atlas slammed it in response.

I took a deep breath and fired the engine for another run at the dragon. He had managed to knock Ser Erik down with a sweep of his tail. The knight looked hurt, though from my current distance I couldn’t tell how badly.

The tires squealed as I swept in. The dragon pivoted, opening his mouth and releasing a spurt of black flame. I swerved to avoid it and saw Atlas’ back paws go sliding off the roof to my left. I turned right again, narrowly dodging another tail swipe from the beast.

A thump from the roof informed me that Atlas had made his leap. I drove between the dragon’s legs, shooting out behind him. I checked my rearview mirror to see the tiger clinging to one of the dragon’s wings.

Almaxor stood back on his hind legs and writhed, trying to remove the tiger from his wing. His jaws snapped and I felt a sharp pain in my leg. I looked up in shock. The dragon had his jaws around Atlas!

Screaming, I brought the truck around, aiming for one of the dragon’s hind legs. The dragon rolled to avoid the truck, sending Atlas flying. I felt the impact in my ribs.

I swerved to hit my target but he lashed his tail and crawled swiftly out of the way. I skidded to a halt. Almaxor faced me, jaws open. I could see black fire flickering in his mouth.