Chapter 1: The Viking vs the Serpent

As the head of papa sea serpent broke from the water spewing flame, Prince Nathan feared his rescue mission had gone from a victory to a disaster! Just as he was about to get help from the sea serpent, find his sister, and maybe even take possession of the Serpent’s Eye without trouble, Vonkar had arrived, shouting threats and killing all friendly negotiations. But worse than that, the prince feared that if he didn’t stop the Viking quickly, more than negotiations would be killed!

Rushing to stop Vonkar, Nathan waved his hands over his head to get the crazy berserkers attention. It, of course, was no use. The Viking too had found the end of his quest. Indeed, he had found the end of all quests! To kill the fabled two-headed sea-serpent that guarded the greatest treasure in all of Darrowold was the warrior’s lifelong dream and nothing would talk him out of it! Nathan knew he could never convince his friend that this giant “monster” was actually a good creature. There was only one thing Vonkar understood and that was brute force!

So Prince Nathan did the only thing he could do, though he knew it was going to hurt. Running as fast as he could, the prince charged the warrior!

Vonkar was nearly to the waters edge by now, his axe ready to strike even as the roaring head of the sea serpent was dropping upon him, jaws open wide. The three came together at nearly the same time. Fortunately, the prince struck first, knocking the dwarf to the ground a heartbeat before the collision. As he rolled to his feet, however, he wasn’t sure which one he had saved, the Viking or the dragon. Just as he had slammed into the dwarf, Vonkar had been sidestepping and bringing his axe up to meet the lunging sea serpent’s neck!

Flindee, meanwhile, had found a high ledge in the cave where he could watch the action in safety with his best friend and co-commentator, Quattlebom. The jester sat with his feet dangling over the ledge alternately using the puppet stick as a microphone and then flipping it right side up to let the puppet head speak, though of course, no one could hear anything Q had to say.
“Whoa! That was a close one for the prince!” He shouted with excitement into the puppet-stick “microphone” to an imaginary crowd of people, “but what a tackle, ladies and gentlemen! Vonkar never knew what hit him! Of course, I’d say that serpent is lucky to have his head still attached the way ol’ Fogey was swingin’! What do you think, Q?”

Flipping the stick, he wagged the puppet’s tongue and then continued commentating into the other end again.

“You’re right, Q.” He conceded. “I completely forgot there were kiddies in the audience. I’ll try to tone down the colorful descriptions of this titanic and potentially bloody combat… oops! I did it again.”

He covered his mouth with one hand while the puppet head flipped up to bob again near his ear.
“I couldn’t agree more, Q! It is getting ugly down there! Now Papa is pulling his head back while Vonkar and the Prince are dazed and getting back to their feet! Do you think he’s going to strike? I’d say a spanking is coming from the papa but Vonkar doesn’t stay dazed for long. Yes! He’s up, axe ready again. I told you, Q! There’s no keeping this good soldier down!”
Q’s head flipped around again.

“Yes, both teams seem to be huddling for the next play. And there seems to be disputes between the players and their coaches. Stand by, ladies and gentlemen while we sort this out!”

Down on the cave floor, Prince Nathan had jumped in Vonkar’s path and was physically struggling to stop the crazed Northern warrior while Mama sea serpent had wrapped her long neck around papas to restrain him, now realizing that their attacker was a friend of the prince. Neither was having much success as both of the combatants were enraged by battle.
Flindee continued his blow by blow commentary. The loopy jester was treating the whole fight like a staged wrestling match between two actors for entertainment instead of the dangerous confrontation it was in reality.

“The combatants are back in action! Vonkar the Vocal of clan Axtagrind has just thrown off his manager and is charging back toward Papa Pirahna-face! And now the sea-serpent pair have come to an agreement. Papa is huffin’ and puffin’ while mama pulls back again! I think we’re about to see flames again! Pull out those umbrella’s people, it’s going to get hot in here!”

“Wait a minute!” Flindee jumped to his feet shouting into the microphone with excitement, “something is happening down on the field! It appears there is an extra player running out from the dugout! And she’s running right into the middle of the play! Is she crazy? This is unbelievable! She could get injured! Someone has to do something about this!”

Quattlebom’s head snapped up, trembled, and then was spun into Flindee’s shoulder to hide his face.

“I can’t watch either, Q. This could be disastrous!”

And with that the jester covered his own face with his free hand, parting his fingers to peak at the last second.

Out of a side cave ran Princess Nataleigh, lost in the excitement of her moment of victory, her eyes fixed upon the small, yet priceless object in her hands. She did not see the activity around her, nor realize her danger until it was too late and she stood directly in front of the towering and angry sea serpent.

As the fire built in papa’s throat, his eyes fell upon the thief and the prize she carried… HIS prize! His most valued treasure and the one thing his master had charged him to protect! Seeing it being stolen right under his nose, his anger turned to rage, his vision clouded over and the fire in his belly grew hotter even as he changed targets from warrior to thief!
Prince Nathan jumped up from the ground a second time after being shoved down by Vonkar and began to chase after the infuriating dwarf who had grown deaf to everything but his own stubborn battle cry when he saw his nightmares rise up before his eyes and become reality! The suddenness of it shocked him to a brief halt.

There was his sister! She looked older, taller then she had the last time he had seen her, but there was no mistake. Like a vision running headlong toward him, he watched her stumble into the path of the lunging monstrosity that had haunted him since Snagglefang’s cave! She seemed blind to everything around her. And then he saw why. In her hands was a glowing ball of green mist, smaller than in his dreams, but unmistakable; the Serpent’s Eye held her enthralled as he had seen in the nightmare! It was happening yet again, only this time he knew he wouldn’t wake up and find it all a bad dream. And this time, he was even further from Nataleigh. There was no way he would reach her in time to save her!

Frozen in place, all he could do was watch as the dragon’s chest heaved and a torrent of flame roared toward his helpless sister.

At the last moment, Nataleigh’s attention was finally wrenched from her treasure and she halted, looking up just as the blast of fire engulfed her!

Nathan screamed!