Chapter Three

With a bellow, the dragon shook itself all over, then opened its eyes and glared at Norman. It then opened its mouth and, to Norman's astonishment, spoke.

"Are you kidding me?! Do you normally go around climbing on dragons and stabbing them while they're sleeping?" the dragon demanded. "Well?"

Norman, who had been expecting to be charred to cinders, was a little taken aback by the dragon's sarcasm. Well, truthfully, he was mostly taken aback by having the dragon speak to him at all. He stammered, "Y-y-you can s-speak!"

"Of course I can speak! Better than you can, apparently!" the dragon retorted. He cocked his head and said, "I asked you a question, you know. It would be polite of you to answer."

Norman replied, "No, I don't usually climb on dragons or stab them. I've never even seen a dragon before now. I do apologize, though. I saw you flying and was looking for you so I could challenge you to a fair fight. I've been recently knighted, and my quest is to slay the fiercest dragon in the kingdom. So, now that I've found you, I challenge you! Let us find a clear field and do battle!" He somehow thought he might have sounded a bit ridiculous, especially when he noticed the dragon was laughing at him, shaking with silent chuckles and blowing little puffs of smoke out of its nostrils.

When the dragon could control itself, it said, "I haven't laughed so hard in months! What makes you think that you can slay me, or any dragon, for that matter? Look at you. You're puny!"

Norman retorted, "That's what knights do--they slay dragons! And I may be puny compared to you, but really, I'm normal-sized for a human!"

"Listen, human, how many knights do you know who've actually slain a dragon?"

"Well, none, now that I think about it. But that's what the stories all say."

"Uh-huh, that's what I thought. Listen, kid, you just can't believe everything the bards tell you. What's your name, anyhow?

"I'm Norman," Norman replied. "What's your name?" He was still a bit unnerved that this creature was actually talking to him (albeit pretty sarcastically) instead of eating him, but thought that that wasn't such a bad thing anyhow.

"I'm Dennis," said the dragon. "Pleased to meet you. Let me tell you a bit about dragons. We really don't like to eat people. You're stringy, and you just aren't big enough to be more than an appetizer. We much prefer to eat things like cows, wild pigs, deer, you get the picture. We're good at hiding ourselves in plain sight, so most of the time, you humans don't even know we're around. And we tend to travel quite a bit, so that we don't wear out our welcome, so to speak, in any certain area. Myself, I was heading east to see what's been going on in that part of the world in the last twenty or so years since I was there last. What are your plans? Other than the whole dragon-slaying thing, that is?"

"Well," answered Norman, "I don't have a direction in mind. I just decided to go east because that's the way the road from home goes, and then I saw you flying, and now I've talked to you and I don't know what I'm going to do. I can't very well try to slay every dragon I come across, but even if I did slay you--which I'm not going to do!" he added hastily, "I couldn't go home and say that I'd killed the fiercest dragon in the kingdom, because how would I know?"

Dennis was trying not to laugh at this young human. He could tell that Norman was truly concerned with proving himself worthy as a knight, but hadn't expected dragons to be intelligent beings, instead of unthinking beasts. He was fairly young himself, for a dragon--only about two hundred years old--and it sometimes got lonely traveling with no one to talk to. He said, "You know, you could come with me. We might run across other dragons, you never know. If nothing else, you would have adventures and see places that you'd never be able to get to on your own. What d'you say?"

Norman thought about it. "What about my horse?" he asked. "He'd never be able to keep up with you, you know."

"That's true. Well, you could sell him in the next town, and you could ride on my back, instead. There's nothing like flying to get you someplace quickly."

"All right," Norman said. "It's a deal. I'll sell my horse, and you and I will have adventures and travel the world!"

"Right then," said Dennis. "I'll meet you on the other side of town. You'll be able to find me--just look for the pile of boulders." With that, he flew off, heading eastward toward the town that Norman now knew lay just a few miles distant. Norman headed back to his horse, thinking about the amazing turn his life had taken in the last hour, and realizing that he now had a new quest--to explore every corner of the kingdom, as well as the habits of dragonkind in person. It was good to have a new friend and companion to share the journey.

To be continued.....