The Dragons Apprentice | Teen Ink

The Dragons Apprentice

February 25, 2009
By kevin lewis BRONZE, Wamego, Kansas
kevin lewis BRONZE, Wamego, Kansas
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

Prologue
Falcos' Discovery's
One day a boy named Falcos spotted a sick boy and felt sorry for him so he packed his bags and attempted to travel over the mythical mountain for some herbs to help heal the poor fellow. When he and his friends find shelter in a cave & set up camp they come across some ancient runes they read them out loud and a secret vault opens up and inside they find riches beyond belief. They carefully explore the cavern where the riches were found.

'What is this place?' Danthor inquired.

'This is the cavern of the Blue Dragon!' Boomed a thunderous voice.

'Who's there?' Asked Falcos slightly frightened.

'It is I, Tantor the blue dragon who resides on this mountain. Who are you?'

'We are but humble travelers trying to pass over this sacred mountain.' Palceo shouted into the darkness. As good as his eyesight had always been, he could not pierce the darkness to see the dragon.

'Are you the three chosen to save the earth from the evil Danthros who lives on the mountain which lies just across from me and a portal to a parallel universe?' Tantor implored.

'I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about.' Danthor replied.

'Come in and I will show you what I know about this places history.'







Chapter One





A Gruesome History
There turned out to be a lot of snow on the ground and as it turned out there was more still falling. They still had much of the mountain to explore. As they trudged through the heavy snow they came across a precious artifact that they soon discovered was thought to be a long lost treasure known only to those who love the ancient lore. The statue was crafted in pure gold with intricate carvings and carefully detailed symbols that you could almost feel as if it were alive as you held the weight in your hands. They had a hard time believing they had actually found it. They'd never seen anything like it. They possessed much money, but never seen anything this precious before.

'How could this be, no one has found it in over a thousand years much less held it.' Danthor remarked.

'I have no idea how we, of all people in the world found this wonderful artifact.' Falcos continued

'Wait a minute, this doesn't feel right,' Palceo said. 'This feels like a trap.'

'What do you mean?' Asked Falcos with an inquiring tone.

'I mean DUCK!' Palceo shouted.

Suddenly a sharp blade erupted out of nowhere and sliced through the air where their heads resided a moment before.

'Holy crap! If you wouldn't have warned us before, our heads would have been fish bait.' Falcos praised.

'Or sushi. Don't forget sushi.' Danthros humored.

'Oh shut up you moron do you not realize that we could be in mortal danger.' Palceo shouted sounding extremely frustrated.

'How could you sit there and crack jokes about sushi while were sitting ducks never knowing when were going to walk right into a trap and get ourselves killed!' Palceo scolded

'Why do you have to be so uptight? You never let us have any fun without making a big deal about the dangers of everything we do!' Falcos argued.

'Well maybe it's because I actually care.' Palceo retorted.

'No you don't you only care about getting your medal for helping a little boy. We didn't come here to help you put us to shame and so you could laugh at us.'

'I don't want to laugh at you I only want to share the trophy.'

'Share the trophy?! You think that this is what this fight is all about.' Falcos asked surprised.

By this time night had fallen. Palceo couldn't imagine what had gotten into his brothers. He thought he had known them. It turns out that he didn't know them now like he had known them then. He had decided that he'd best be getting to bed. He knew that he had a long day ahead of him.


Chapter 2
The Dragon
As Palceo awoke the smell of smoke filled his nostrils. The acrid scent reminded him of home. He was just about to go and find the source when he saw his brothers cooking breakfast over a hot fire.
'You're up late sleepy one.' Falcos remarked snidely.
'You're up quite early, early bird.' Palceo retorted with the same snideness in his voice as his brother used.
'Shut up and eat both of you. I'm sick of both of you going at each others throats.' Said Danthros quite annoyed with both of them>

'I HAD A DREAM LAST NIGHT THAT YOU TWO WOULD JUST SHUT UP AND GET ALONG>'

'Wait a second,' Danthros interrupted. 'I think I hear something.'
'It's outside, probably just the wind.' Falcos explained dismissively as if he'd known the sound was coming all along.

'Shut up you morons, I know what the wind sounds like and that's not it. Not to mention there is no wind up here, which is kind of odd considering our elevation. But still I heard something.'

'Yeah I hear it to,' Palceo cupped his hand up to his ear mockingly, 'It's the air particles bouncing around inside your pathetically hollow head.'

Just then a huge fireball whizzed through the air as fast as a speeding bullet. It crashed into the rock in front of the cave, the heat causing the rock to melt before their very eyes.

'Oh, that's just the wind that demolished that rock to pure molten lava!' Danthros remarked with the same sarcasm in his voice as his brother used on him earlier.

Then another fireball erupted out of nowhere. Only this time the black fireball was easier to spot against the clean white snow of the mountain. It whizzed past Danthros missing him by millimeters.

'What the hell!'
'We definitely need to get out of here.' Palceo exclaimed
'Na, really. I thought we wanted to stay here and die. That would make national gossip, 'Death by Fireballs' Yeah, we'd really be famous then.
'Could you at least try to help come up with a plan to get us out of here and to safety?'

Another fireball ripped through the air just over their heads and hit the wall behind them.

'First we have to find out whom or what is launching these arid smelling fireballs.' Palceo exclaimed.

'On it.' Falcos said happily.

So he rushed over to the opposite wall of the cave as fast as he could, dodging fireballs as he went. He hid behind a wall of stone that jutted from the cave foundation. He looked out from behind the rock and saw three fireballs heading straight towards him.

'I can't get a better look without being turned into a fried egg roll.' Falcos reported across the cave.

'Nicely put,' Palceo complimented. 'I have a plan but it'll be tricky. You have to distract the creature while I make a run for the other side of the cave and try to stay alive. Got it?'

'Got it! On a count of three. One'' Falcos started.

Palceo was having doubts in his mind about his plan.

'Two...'He continued.

He wondered if Falcos could keep this creature distracted long enough to get by undetected and alive.

'Three! Go!' Falcos finished.

With all his speed and agility he sprang from his hiding spot and started doing back flips and front flips avoiding fireballs as he went. As he was doing a back flip a fireball nicked his robe and put a slight burn hole in it.

Meanwhile Palceo was darting darting to the other side of the cave. He reached the wall and crept to the cave mouth stealthily and hesitated. Darting out in the middle of the open would be very dangerous, but he couldn't let his brother die to the hands of an unknown creature that he couldn't even look at. He made his decision to go out in the open quickly. So he ran out into the open and instantly felt exposed. Then he ran behind a snow covered rock and hid there. He spotted Falcos talking to Danthros for a brief moment.

'Falcos said he wanted you to hurry up.' Danthros said in barely more than a whisper.

'OK' He said in the same voice.

So he poked his head out from behind the rock. He sat frozen with fear. It was a dragon!









Chapter 3
The Old Ones

There were scales of all sizes and similar colors including bluish green, bluish brown and numerous other mixed colors. The dragon was very muscular and lean. The creature was as large as the giant lizards of myth. The sight was astonishing to look at.

'Hey, what do you want with us!' Palceo shouted to get the creature's attention.

'Are you stupid or brave? You're going to get yourself killed.

Then to his surprise the dragon started to speak with a very low tone.

'All I want is to meet the children of legend that will save dragon kind, and I didn't suppose you were the children stated in the prophecy by the Old Ones that lived so long ago.'

'How will you know if we are really the children the Old Ones foretold?' Falcos asked with curiosity.

'It is said that the children of Talor would be the only ones brave enough to travel anywhere near my lair. That's how I know.' The dragon replied.

'What can you tell us about your legend?' Danthros asked.

'For now I can only tell you about the recent history of this place, nothing more.' Said the dragon.

'What is your name?' Falcos inquired cautiously.

'My name is Tantos of Draco the Ancient Dragon Family.'

'That's interesting. I think I've heard that name before in my studies as a scholar. That's very interesting.' Palceo said as if he were in deep thought.

'Yes, you might have heard of that family. It was very prominent in my time.' Said Tantos.

By this time it was starting to cloud up and get dark. The sun was hidden behind a thick wall of clouds that looked as if it would produce a storm soon and much snow would fall to the ground. On their way back they decided to stop to eat and rest. They built a warm fire and sat around it and ate quietly and in peace. The dragon went out to hunt and gather food for the storm that was coming soon. After his return they packed up their supplies and left the fire for the coals to burn out. The warriors walked with the dragon for a few hours and finally came to a cave that was well hidden by much snow blocking the opening. When they entered the cave they started to feel cold. At first they didn't know how the large dragon could fit inside the small miniscule cave. Then the dragon spoke in the ancient language and a string of lava ignited forming a two dimensional dome in the cavern wall. The inner part of the dome pushed itself in as if by magic moved aside to let them pass through the huge dome structure.

'This place is huge!' Falcos said astonished with the incredible room that didn't seem to be part of the mountain itself.

'It has to be in order to house all of my ancestors and myself. You can't expect us to hide out in a small cavern for thousands of years and still be unseen.'

'Well I knew it had to be big, I just didn't think it had to be this big and furnished.' Palceo put in.

'It seems to have much warmth against this cold, where does it all come from?' Danthros asked inquisitively.

'Can you not see the symbols on the wall glowing dimly; they are the source of the light and warmth.' Talor replied with a tone as if he were somewhere far off in space.

'How long have you lived here in these mountains?' Falcos asked eager to learn the history of this place.

'I know you have been waiting to hear the history bit so I will tell you but only after you have gotten some sleep tonight.' Talor explained.



Chapter 4
The ancestors

They settled down for the night after a hot cup of tea and a strange type of bread called drago bread. They were asleep within minutes. They were snoring loudly at about midnight. Talor thought that after the eventful day that they would eventually be tired. So he decided to play on that weakness and send them to bed so he could gather his thoughts and get together a report on the areas history. He had already eaten for the night and had tomorrows events in training already planned out. He had not told them about the training yet but he wanted to teach them to be prepared for anything. After he had his report planned he decided to go to sleep.

'After all,' He thought, 'dragons need some sleep also.'
The next morning the three warriors woke up to a different type of food. This food consisted of a full protein serving for the day. It also contained a strange type of fruit. According to Talor the strange fruit was called Dragon fruit. He said it was considered a delicacy to the ancient dragon people.

'You will need the protein and the fruit to boost your health and performance.' Talor explained.

'Training?! Nobody said anything about training!'

'What? You think you can defeat the lord of darkness without training when my people couldn't defeat with thousands of years of training? You've got to be kidding me.' Talor did not believe Danthros.

'What do you mean? You mean to tell me that you've been at war with the dark lord for more time than this?' Falcos Inquired

'Of course. But I will tell you more of that after training.' Talor urged sounding somewhat annoyed.

They talked on their way outside to the training grounds. Palceo didn't like the grounds as much as he thought he would. There were skulls of dragons, lizards, and many more creatures piled on the outer edge of the dirt ring. Among all the bone he saw, the ones that stood out to him the most were humans.



Chapter 5
Training

Thy started their training almost immediately. They had to continuously dodge fireballs. There were also less gruesome tasks to perform. They were forced to lift weights for endless hours.

'All this work is making me hungry.' Falcos complained.

'You can't eat for another hour.' Talor repeated as he had done for the first six hours.

Talor kept them in training for another six hours. By the time training was over the three warriors were exhausted and famished. They had trained hard and had improved their fitness level greatly.

'My muscles ache horribly.' Falcos whined.

'Same here.' Palceo agreed.

'You think this is bad, wait 'till we get into teamwork. Then we're going to have some major issues. I've seen how you three get along. It's terrible.' Talor said in a matter of fact tone.

'You never said anything about working in teams!' Falcos cried.

Just then they heard an ear piercing screech that cut through the air. A black shadow flew across the cave so low that the three warriors had to duck. The dragon flattened himself against the floor as low as he could go.

'What the hell was that!?' Palceo asked surprised.

'I think that was literally a bat out of hell.' Danthros

'No kidding!' Falcos commented.

'That is a Portal Wraith. Dragas must have released it while trying to enter the portal.' Talor thought out loud.

'What the hell is that?' Falcos


The author's comments:
This piece is in the process of being a novel for kids

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