“My story is a sad one that begins thousands of years ago. I may not look it, but I am actually a very old dragon; probably the oldest one still alive. I am as old as I am small. In fact, I am the smallest dragon to ever have lived on Darrowold. Before I was hatched, my mother placed my egg in the nest with my brothers and sisters and one of my uncles nearly ate me, thinking I was a chicken egg that got mixed in with the wrong nest. It was pathetic.”
“From the day I was hatched, my family laughed at me and my brothers pushed me around. But the worst thing of all, was that I was the oldest one. I had been the first one to come out of my egg and yet I have always been treated like the baby.”
“Can you imagine the pain and sorrow I went through?”
Snagglefang ran his hand over his face, peeking through his fingers to see if his words were affecting the Prince. Nathan’s eyes were covered by his visor, but if the giant and the jester were any indication, the dragon had a captive audience. Seeing his two flunkies with their mouths wide open and eyes glazed over, he continued.
“All through my hundreds of years of growing up, it was like that. I was never accepted by the other dragons. I was pushed around or ignored. They would fly off into the sky to play cloud tag or chase eagles or whatever else and I would be left behind with my useless little wings. Then when they burned down someones village, guess who got the blame.”
He paused for effect.
“Me of course. After all I was the only one who couldn’t fly away from whatever little knight came to bother me. Every month there was another one at my cave entrance shouting threats at me and jabbing me with his foul little stick when I tried to talk nicely with him.”
There was a loud sniffle as the jester used quattlebaum’s hat to wipe a tear from his eye. “That’s so sad, boss. I never knew you had such a sad childhood.”
Snagglefang ignored the sentiment, picked up a large sea shell from his bed and began to play with it as he spoke, turning it between his claws.
“Fortunately, I was an excellent swimmer and found the ocean to be a place where I could escape from the cruelty of the world. Oh, it took some getting used to I assure you. We dragons prefer fire to water, but given my situation, I made the best of it. In fact, I actually found that the seas contained much more treasure for my cave than did all the castles on land put together. With all the sunken ships and ocean pearls, I soon became the richest of all dragons. Besides all of this, I must say, water does soothe aging scales quite nicely after a long hard day of terrorizing fishing boats.”
He rolled onto his side and brought his tail forward. Balancing the shell on it’s spaded tip he continued.
“Yes, I was actually getting quite comfortable with life under the sea until...” He paused and Nathan found himself holding his breath wondering what had happened to ruin everything.
“Until what?” he questioned out loud.
The dragon’s tail suddenly flipped the shell up in the air and batted it against the cave wall as it came back down. The shell shattered as it struck the stone and Snagglefang whipped his head back to face Nathan. The sudden movement caught him by surprise and he took a step backward.
“Until I encountered that BRUTE!” the dragon finished. Then realizing he had startled his “guest” he calmed himself with a deep sigh.
Though Nathan was trying to keep his mouth shut, he had now become so curious, he couldn’t help but ask the next question: “What brute?”
Snagglefang’s eyes seemed to grow hungry again and narrowed as he explained. “A two headed sea-monster, the likes of which have never before been seen on Darrowold, nor will ever be seen again! It breathes fire from one head and from the other extends a long tentacle of a tongue which it uses to catch it’s prey! It came from nowhere one fateful day and moved right in to my underwater cave with all my beautiful treasure! When I returned home that evening, it attacked me and drove me away never to return!”
Again, the dragon covered his face with his hands and wept large crocodile tears, careful to watch for a sign from the prince that the story was having the desired effect.
“There I was, living in the most spacious cave in the seven seas, surrounded by gold and silver beyond imagination and that evil beast took it all away! I dare not even return to the waters that have become my home, for fear that it will find me and attack again!”
The jester was now openly sobbing and blowing his nose in the puppets hat. Snagglefang uncovered his face, wiping his eyes and sniffling pathetically.
“That is why I live here now, in exile far from the waters, in this pitiful excuse for a home, sleeping on a pile of cracked and decaying old shells which Gart has collected for me.” He stood again and shook shells from his scaled hide in emphasis. “They are a poor substitute for coins, but they are the closest thing available to a tiny little dragon who hasn’t the strength to attack a castle or even a royal coach.”
“So what do you want me to do? Kill this sea-monster?” Nathan was confused.
“No, no, nothing that dangerous.” Snagglefang moved off of the shells and circled the prince again with renewed scrutiny. “What I have in mind, even a boy could accomplish if he were a boy with a courageous heart and half a brain.”
“Like me, right Boss?” the jester added, his face brightening as he stuck the slimey hat back on Quattlebaums wooden head.
The dragon rolled his eyes in frustration and continued as he stopped in front of the prince again. “What I am suggesting for you, my BRAVE Knight, is a task so daring and noble that your name would be known everywhere in Darrowold! When you walked through a castle gate, crowds would shout the name of Sir Vanderfluff from the walls and streets and your enemies would cower in fear at your coming!”
Nathan felt his face flush at the thought and stood as tall and proud as he could, nearly rising up on his tiptoes.
Snagglefang could tell that the armored little man in front of him was excited and finally came to the point.
“What I have discovered is that the creature can be controlled by a magic device.” He placed one scaly hand on Nathan’s shoulder. “The device is a giant magic pearl set atop a scaled pedestal and it is hidden within the beast’s sea cave! All you have to do is sneak in and get it and bring it to me!”
“But how do I do that without getting caught and probably killed by this sea monster?” Nathan was shocked! How was he going to swim under water into a giant sea monster’s cave and escape with a giant ball under his arms without getting eaten in the process? If this was the “quest” that the dragon had in mind, he was starting to wonder if he wouldn’t be better off just fighting the dragon and the giant right here instead! But Snagglefang’s answer surprised him.
“Simple really...” the dragon soothed removing his hand from the prince’s shoulder and backing away slowly. “You go in through the back door.”
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