Today's Bormor instalment: princesses, knights and dragons

[toothycat]

Original here.

The Knight walked up to the cave, glanced at the stone that covered the entrance and sat down next to it, leaning back against the warm cliff face. Making himself comfortable, he folded his hands behind his head and relaxed sleepily.
"Hey, Dragon!", the Knight shouted without opening his eyes. "You in?"
"I'm in", the Dragon replied from behind the stone.
"You don't fancy coming outside yet?"
"Nope."
"Fair enough, it's your business. Just, you know, if you ever decide you'd like to..."
"I'll warn you in advance."
"Uh-huh."
The Knight shuffled about until his sword-sheath no longer pressed into his side and continued, without raising his voice:
"There was a festival in town yesterday. With dancing. Travelling bards came."
"Oh, yes?", the Dragon spoke, interested. "Who performed?"
"The Silver Ones from the Seven Islands, or something like that. And Vasilek, too. And that other one, I forget her name..."
"Skylark?"
"No, another one. Oh, I remember. Dragonfly."
"And how were they?"
"As usual." The Knight shrugged. The Dragon could not see him, but heard the creaking armour and sighed.
"Did they have news to tell?"
"Uh-huh. Nothing interesting."
"Oh, well." The Dragon sighed again. "Did you bring anything to eat?"
"Yup." The Knight kicked his rucksack.
"Not poisoned, is it?"
"Nope. Eat all you like."
"Bear in mind I'll feed some to the princess first."
"I know. I'm telling you, it's not poisoned."
"I'm just saying, is all. Just so you know."
"Can I have a word with her?"
"With the princess? Hang on a minute..."
The Dragon shuffled about somewhere deep in the cave; muted voices could be heard. A minute later the Dragon returned and spoke apologetically:
"You can't, sorry - she's having a bath. You can talk tomorrow."
"Then can you just ask her if she found out what I asked her to?"
"This is about my weak spot, is it?"
"Ahem... well, yes."
"She tried. I didn't say."
The Knight shrugged resignedly, plucked a blade of grass and chewed it.
"Oh, well. Where did we get to last time?"
"Knight takes king's pawn, D5."
"Oh, yeah, that was it. Rook to A4."
"You're sacrificing your bishop?"
"Interpret it however you like."
"I'll have a think..."
The Dragon thought for a while, then moved his bishop forward; the Knight moved a knight, the opponents exchanged bishops and left the endgame for the next day.
"I'll leave the food here," the Knight said as he stood up. "Do you need anything else?"
"Yes, please. Could you bring some writing paper tomorrow? Also, the princess asked to get her a flute, said she'd like to learn to play."
"I'll find her a textbook", the Knight promised. "And pick a decent instrument."
"They're not too expensive, are they?" The Dragon sounded worried. "I've got some savings here..."
"Don't worry about it." The Knight waved a hand. "They pay me quite well to keep you terrorised. You are terrorised, right?"
"Yup!", the Dragon replied readily. "Mortally afraid. Even my tail is trembling, if you must know. You can tell the mayor that."
"I will", the Knight nodded.
"Oh, yeah. If Dragonfly hasn't left yet, I don't suppose you could invite her over to mine? Just for a day or two. I haven't seen her for ages, and the princess would be pleased too - they could have a girly chat, or maybe even a bit of sing-song..."
"I'll ask her."
"Thanks."
"'till tomorrow, then. And if you do decide..."
"Another time, perhaps."
"OK."
The knight mounted his horse and rode away.



Original here.

Loud roars came from the cave, interspersed with the occasional shrill scream. The knight stopped by the entrance and called out uncertainly:
"Hey, dragon, you there? Come out!"
"Hang on a sec", a reply came from the cave. Something clashed, someone cried out indignantly, and the dragon appeared.
The knight's charger lost his nerve and fainted. The knight inched backwards and swore loudly. The citizens had all insisted the monster that had kidnapped the princess was but ten feet tall. The dragon turned out to be much bigger; out of the cave he came and came and did not end.
"What do you want?", the dragon asked somewhat rudely.
"I'm... I just... I'm here for the princess. Is she here?"
"For the princess, you say? Uh-huh. Wait here."
The Dragon crawled back into the cave, and a minute later dragged the princess out.
"Here, take her."
"She's mi-i-i-ne!", a howl came from the cave. "I found her!!!"
"Hush, snakeling!, the dragon roared fiercely over his shoulder. "How many times have I told you to stop bringing weird critters home? Here, see, this one's got an owner. And you've already got a whole aquarium full of crocodiles, they breed like anything and there's no getting rid of them."
He turned towards the knight and shrugged in embarassement:
"He's just a kid - what can you do? One day it's a kitten 'follows him home', the next a lamb. Now he's dragged a princess home. And I'm allergic to princesses!"
He sneezed loudly into an asbestos handkerchief.



Original here.

"We were too slow", the Knight breathed in resignation, staring at the sky.
"He's caught up", the Princess confirmed in a shaky voice.
The Dragon lowered himself on the ground right in front of the escapees with a crash and a clatter and tilted his head to once side, birdlike, examining the pair with one eye at a time.
"Hissssss...."
"I'll distract him", the Knight whispered. "You run."
"Without you, alone, across the mountains, and the sun about to set? No way!"
"Ts-s-s-s!", the Dragon spoke.
"I'm not coming back!", the Princess shouted, staring up at the dragon's muzzle. "Don't even try to talk me into it!"
"Pf-f-f!" The Dragon snorted and dropped a heavy pack from his back. Then he braced, jumped, flapped his scaly wings - and flew away.
"What's with him?" The Knight stared after the Dragon in confusion before transferring his gaze to the abandoned package.
The Princess untied the rope and peered inside.
"What is it?", the Knight asked.
"A change of clothes, roast chicken in a lunchbox, a toothbrush and a spare crown", the Princess listed. "And some random little things."
She tied the rope again and loaded the pack onto the Knight's back.
"Shall we go? It gets dark early in the mountains."
(A quarter of an hour later the Dragon caught up with the escapees once more, shoved a warm scarf into the Princess's hands and flew off again, muttering something angrily under his nose.)



Original here.

"Aaargh!", the Dragon cried. "No, please, anything but that!"
"What, again?", the Knight exclaimed.
"Oh, I am so fed up of this," the Princess moaned. "Knights, Dragons..."
"And Princesses", the Dragon added with revulsion.
"Are you all assembled, then?", the Storyteller rubbed his hands with glee. "Then let us begin. So, once upon a time, in a faraway kingdom..."
The Dragon, Knight and Princess stared at each other and burst into tears.