Remember: Never Tickle A Sleeping Dragon

For Aditi

~Chapter 1~
The Unexpected Arrival

On the eve of King Arthur and Queen Guinevere’s fifteenth wedding anniversary, a
stranger, tall, cloaked and bleeding stumbled in. Everyone was busy and at first did
not notice him. Sir Kay was the first to notice this bedraggled man.

“My Lord, we have a visitor…” He pointed at the stranger, who was intently looking
upon King Arthur and no one else.

“What is your request my good man?”

“My Lord, I wish to become a noble Knight of the Round Table.”

Many knights laughed at this request. But King Arthur and Sir Lancelot did not.
“My good man, I appreciate your request, but most unfortunately you cannot wave a
magic wand and become a knight.” At this there was more laughter. “You must first
prove yourself worthy.”

“Fool.” A dark voice rang out. There was a cackle and a cold wind blew even though
it was a warm summers night. A shiver ran through the table. At a swish of a cloak an
ancient man appeared. He too, like the stranger who had asked to become a knight,
was cloaked. However you could see he had a long white beard, and long white hair.
Everyone turned to face him apart from the stranger who had asked to become a
knight – was still looking intently upon King Arthur. He held a staff in one hand.
“Fool.” Said the man again.

“Merlin?” King Arthur asked astonished.

“Yes, it is I, Merlin. You are once again proving yourself to be a fool Arthur, as you
have done 20 years ago. When we met for the first time since you became king. Take
my advice Arthur, allow him to become a knight for a noble one he shall be. If you do
not believe me, ask him to go on a quest. Ask him to kill the very dragon that has
been harassing the people of the northern side of Logres. As proof, ask him to bring
back the dragon’s heart in a gold bottle filled with golden liquid without spilling a
drop. The Elixir of Happiness.” Merlin smiled. “As you know, many knights have
failed this task. Some have managed to get the bottle. But have failed to both kill the
dragon and keep themselves from trying a bit of the Elixir. By this time the dragon
had gained it’s full strength and either harmed the knight by using it’s fire; short
blasts come out of it’s nose and longer and hotter blasts of fire come out of it’s mouth,
or the dragon has hurt the poor knight by using it’s poisonous spikes on it’s back and
tail or using it’s teeth and claws. Several of your knights have suffered a gruesome
death from this dragon as you might have found out. In all these occasions the dragon
had not only triumphed over the knight, but has also got back the Elixir and made
some more of that which had been lost by using it’s urine. Look far within what you
see Arthur.”
 “But Merlin, be reasonable. Look at him-” By this time Merlin had vanished as
quickly as he had come and in the same fashion that he had come, leaving nothing but
an eerie laughter. The laughter died away and the room was left in silence. Most of
the knights have fought against huge fire breathing dragons and witches. They
weren’t ever scared of those things or if they were they certainly didn’t show it. But
when Merlin left if you had been inside the room at that moment, you would’ve not
only been able to sense the fear and tension but you would be able to feel the waves of
fear and tension drifting and spreading around the room.

The stranger broke the silence. “ My Lord, if I were not worthy of becoming a knight
of the Round Table, my mistress, a Lady of great nobility, would not have sent me
here. But clearly your subjects do not feel I am worthy in which case I’ll leave.”

“No young man, it’s okay. You can stay on behalf of your Lady. After all, I cannot
turn down someone who has travelled long - and hard by the looks of you – journey.”

“Thank you my Lord. You are most gracious. And may I know the answer to the
question I asked you in the first place?”

At this question there was a great deal of muttering. King Arthur held up his hand
and called for silence. “If your mistress felt you can handle the stress of a knight, I
cannot see why you must not go on this quest. However, if you were listening to what
Merlin was saying, you must have heard that a large number of knights have failed
this quest. On the other hand, you must never judge a judge a book by its cover.
Therefore I will allow you to attempt at this quest on the account that you take one of
my knights with you.”

“My Lord, I appreciate your request, but didn’t Merlin also say that I will succeed on
this task?”

At this King Arthur looked uncomfortable. “Yes, but-”

“You do not feel I have enough skill, bravery or… talent perhaps? My Lord, my
Lady was educated by Merlin and therefore knows how to tell the difference between
a simple squire and a knight. Two exceptionally talented people have both
recommended me, and you still feel that I am not worthy? Rumours of your nobility
have reached my ears. Now however I know that it’s all a lie.”

King Arthur looked even more uncomfortable and was frowning as though he was
thinking. “True, Merlin did say that. But I don’t recall him saying that you’ll succeed
all on your own. Okay, I’ll make a deal with you. Let one of my knights observe you
over the next few days. Like a test on archery, lancing and using a sword. He can help
you improve your skills an then after 3 days the pair of you can set off.”

“Very well my Lord, if that is what you wish then so be it.”

Arthur turned to face his wife. “ My Queen Guinevere, yet again I am asking for
your advice. Tell me, which knight of the Round Table should accompany our tired
and weary guest on this quest?”
 In reply to this, Queen Guinevere gave her full opinion. “I do not know my Lord.
For this stranger… I do not think he will be very strong and I advise against his
becoming a knight. And after all we don’t know who he is. He could be an enemy,
trying to get closer to know your plans. But of course, I am only a humble pawn on a
gigantic chessboard and Merlin is a lot more powerful than me. So if he must go, I
advise you to give him the most bravest and noblest knight alive, Sir Lancelot du Lac.
For he will protect our stranger in times of great danger.”

“Thank you for your advice my Queen. Sir Lancelot will certainly act as teacher to
our stranger. If that is fine with you Lancelot.”

“It was an honour to be recommended by the Queen and even more of an honour to
be chosen by you yourself my Lord. If this stranger would like to me meet me just
after breakfast in the bottom hall on the first floor?”

“Yes certainly, sir.” The stranger replied.

“Oh weary traveller on a stormy night, surely you do not wish for us to call you
stranger or traveller for ever more. Even if you do not want to reveal your identity,
surely you can think of another name that we could call you?”

“ My King, you will not need to call me by the name of a traveller or stranger forever
more for I will surely slay the dragon that is harassing your kingdom. But for the time
being the name of Luke shall do.”

“ Well, if that’s all… Madame Greenshaw, you service is needed here. Take Master
Luke tired and hungry stranger up to his room. Serve him with some food from the
kitchen and then clothe him of his choice. After you have finished with him, please
come back down and entertain us by your wonderful dancing.” A Lady with blonde
hair moved out of the shadows, she was dressed in pale green. She must have been in
her early twenties.

“Why certainly my Lord. Please follow me, Master Luke.” She then led the way
through several halls, down long corridors and up narrow and twisted staircases. Then
finally, she came to a stop in front of a plain wooden door. “ This is where you can
sleep for the next few days sir. I’ll bring you some hot tomato with herbs broth and
some water. You’ll need to keep your strength up.”

“Yes, thank you fair Lady.”

Ten minutes later… Knock, knock, knock. “Come in.” The stranger called.

“Sir, I have your food and drink. There are clothes in the cupboard and I have some
black cloaks for you to wear. I wish you luck with becoming a knight. I’ll leave now.”

“Thank you ma’am.” The stranger changed and washed up his wounds and wrapped
them up in a bandage. He then got into bed and fell asleep.

~Chapter 2~
 Lessons with Lancelot

He was awoken quickly the next day by the smell of fried egg and bacon. He found
that Madame Greenshaw had visited a few minutes ago and left him with his
breakfast. He ate quickly and changed, being careful to cloak himself and cover up his
face with a hood so that no one would recognize him. He then stepped out of his room
and, after several attempts; he managed to find his way down to the hall. This was
where Sir Lancelot had arranged to meet him the previous night. Sir Lancelot was
waiting for him there.

“Good morning Luke.”

“Good morning Sir Lancelot.”

“I thought today we should do a bit of archery. The ground is too slippery to do any
lancing or sword practise. Shall we go then? Some squires, hoping to become knights
are waiting for a class from me as well.” Luke then followed Sir Lancelot outside. It
was a clear summer day although the ground was slippery from the storm last night.
As much as Luke resented being put in a class with squires, he had to follow just to be
polite. “Here we are.” Lancelot had stopped in a small wood just outside Camelot
castle. Here a small group of squires were waiting for them. “Okay boys, today we
shall be concentrating on archery. I have placed a bird in a high tree. I want each of
you to come in turn and take aim at the bird’s eye, but do not shoot until I tell you to.
I would like my own squire, Garrett you have proven to be the best of your group so
to come first. Okay Garrett, take aim. Now tell me what you see.”

Garrett was a handsome young squire with messy brown hair. (He looked quite
skilful). Like everyone in the small group of squires, Garrett had a bow in one hand
and a quiver of arrows hung up on his back. “My good Sir Lancelot, I see the tree, it’s
branches, the bird, the grass around us and most of all I see you, my teacher and my
idol.”

“Is that all?” Lancelot sounded disappointed. “Very well then Garrett, step down, let
someone else have a go.” Each squire stepped up and described the same thing but
added one more thing to their list. Each squire was hoping to be right with his answer.
Each squire was hoping to be chosen to fire. But no, none of them got chosen. It was
at last Luke’s turn. “Luke, take aim. Now then, I want you to tell me what exactly do
you see?”

Luke, face absolutely still, replied, “Sir Lancelot, I see the bird’s eye and only the
bird’s eye. Nothing else.”

Lancelot was so amazed that he couldn’t think of what to say for the next couple of
moments. When words finally found themselves up his throat, he managed to croak,
“Then shoot.” Luke shot and the arrow hit the bird’s eye dead centre. “That was a
lesson, yes on archery, but more importantly concentration. If you are concentrating
on something you should only be able to see or hear that one thing. Take Luke for
example, Luke was concentrating so hard on shooting the bird’s eye; he blanked out
every thing from around him so he could see only the bird’s eye.
 “Now that you’ve had a lesson on concentration, which is the secret key of success
of any talented archer, let’s see how you do with aim.” Sir Lancelot made a gesture
for the small group of squires and Luke to follow him. He led them through the forest.
But immediately stopped at the end. In front of them was a large field. “I’ve set of
targets all the way up this field. The first one is 50 yards away; the next is 100 yards
away and so on. Again I would like Garrett to start first. We shall go in the same order
as last time.” He then turned to face Garrett as he stepped up. “Garrett, I want you to
take aim, block out everything else so that your entire focus is on the target, that’s
right. When I say the word I want you to fire. NOW!” Garrett fired, his arrow wasn’t
bulls-eye, but at least it hit near the centre. In the following squires, not all of them hit
the actual target. However, when it came to Luke’s turn Lancelot said. “Luke, let’s
see if your accuracy is as good as your concentration. So… fire… NOW!” Luke fired
immediately, his arrow flew high into the air and then it hit the target, dead centre.
But it didn’t stop there; it went through the target and into the grass. Sir Lancelot
raised his eyebrows and nodded, “Impressive. But that was easy. Let’s start getting
harder. The next target is 100 yards away. Garrett, take aim, fire.” Garrett’s arrow
missed and so did the rest of the squires’ arrows. Luke however hit yet again on the
centre of the target with full force. The other squires gasped in admiration. Luke hit
again and again on the middle of the target without fail. He did this until Lancelot and
the other squires got bored and then Lancelot said, “ I think that’s enough for today.
We’d better head back.”

By the time they reached Camelot it was dark and the cold weather was nibbling on
the edge of their fingers. “ Good night Sir Lancelot.” Luke called.

“ Same time, same place tomorrow? Good night.”

Luke trudged back up to his room looking forward for something to eat. Once he got
upstairs and changed, he found some chicken and potato waiting for him on the
bedside table. He got into bed and hungrily ate it all. Luke left his plate on the side.
Being exhausted, he fell asleep the minute his eyes closed. He didn’t even realise the
chatting and laughter that was going on downstairs as people celebrated King Arthur
and Queen Guinevere’s fifteenth wedding anniversary.

***

The next day, he was almost late for lessons with Lancelot. He overslept. It was
lucky Madame Greenshaw was passing by on her usual morning check up. “Sir, sir,
don’t you need to be going somewhere?” At first all Luke heard was a gentle voice
faraway. But then he felt rough bumps as Madame Greenshaw vigorously shook him.
All of a sudden he wasn’t in Luke-land, but his feet hit solid floor and started running
around, busy. But he was only truly awake when he splashed some cold water on his
face. He shuddered and was brought back to Earth. He was so busy that he forgot to
thank Madame Greenshaw for waking him up. Luke rushed downstairs and went into
the hall where he found Sir Lancelot.

“Good morning Sir Lancelot.”

“Good morning Luke, we’re going to be doing some lancing on hard ground today.
The floor has dried up since the night before the last. If you’d like to follow me down
to the lancing arena?” Lancelot led the way outside into a large and hard area with the
odd tree and a stretch of green grass. Around it was thousands of seats. Yet again
squires were waiting for them. They all had brought horses with them and they had all
got lances. “Seeming as Luke is new, he didn’t get a horse with him and doesn’t have
armour or a lance, I’ve brought spares.
One of the several qualities of a good knight is being able to joust. You need to be
able to joust in battles and tournaments. To lance well you have to be able to do one
thing, concentrate. Those who can’t concentrate can’t joust. Garrett,” Lancelot
rounded on Garrett, “ I ask for you to help me give the class a demonstration?” The
class watched as Garrett climbed onto his horse and drew his lance out. He then
turned to face Lancelot. “Does anyone here know how to begin a lancing match?”

No one raised their hand. After a couple of moments Lancelot began “I didn’t thin-”

“Sir Lancelot,” Luke said, “I know. The referee stands in the middle of the
opponents and says one… two… three… GO! If either of the opponents move before
then, they are out.” At this Sir Lancelot was impressed but he didn’t show it. Instead
he asked for Luke to do it. So Luke walked forwards and did exactly the same. Luke
finished and the lancing started.

The knight and his squire circled each other. Garrett made the first move but
Lancelot dodged. This lasted at least half an hour. At last Lancelot called “TIME
OUT!” They stopped. But after five minutes Lancelot called for the next person to
come forward. And so it went on again until it was Luke’s turn. Again, he was the last
one. None of the squires so far had managed to knock Lancelot of his horse with their
lance.

When Luke started it was almost sunset. Garrett was the person who asked them to
start this time. Most of the other lancing matches took half an hour each, not to
mention time where Lancelot stopped the matches and pointed out to the squires what
they were doing wrong and corrected their mistakes and so on. However when Luke
came to joust with Lancelot, within two minutes of the match, Luke using fantastic
skill had knocked Lancelot off his horse, which no knight in Logres had done before.
The class gasped. Lancelot told everyone that they could leave. Lancelot secretly felt
impressed.

***

On the third and final day of Luke’s lessons with Lancelot, they were using sword
skills. First the class practised footwork. Then they moved on to hand movements.
The third step was to combine hand movements with footwork into Forms****. It
was about 2 o’clock in the afternoon before they could use real swords. From there
onwards, everyone stood in line to have a mock fight with Lancelot. Luke wasn’t last
this time in fact he was first.

“Class, I want you to study Luke’s every move, step and hand twist. It’s the first
person to get the other one over to the other side of the ground that wins. Ready, set,
GO!” They started, Lancelot was fast and at first it looked like he was going to win.
But then Luke started to realise what he was battling against and how much force he
needed to use. Luke and Lancelot battled faster and faster. At last Lancelot seemed to
be getting weary although Luke still had full strength. Luke used one last powerful
boost of his sword to push Lancelot against the wall. By this time, Lancelot’s sword
was at his side and he was panting, but Luke’s sword was an inch away from
Lancelot’s throat even though he was also panting. This battle took one hour. The
other squires’ just took ten minutes each so everyone was let out early.

Lancelot asked Luke to stay behind.

“Yes, sir?” Luke asked.

“Tell me, Luke. Who are you really? I don’t think you could find a squire anywhere
who has as much skill and talent as you. You have to have royal blood inside you.”

Luke smiled. “Can I trust you?”

“Yes.”

Luke whispered in Lancelot’s ear. When Lancelot heard his story he was wearing a
big smile on his face. “And may I ask you a question now? How does each squire
know what class is on what day without you asking them?”

“It is a marvellous invention called a timetable. The timetable tells exactly when and
where to go on each day. It doesn’t change. It stays the same. You may go now, get a
good night’s sleep before tomorrow. We’ll be starting tomorrow at about noon. But
come to the hall at around nine so that we can get your equipment sorted out.”

“It is okay Sir Lancelot. I have all the equipment that I need in my room apart from
armour, which I believe, is too heavy to move around in. If I’m going to be battling a
dragon I need to be quick and nimble. I have a map. I have a horse. I have everything.
I’ll come at noon fully ready. I’ll ask Madame Greenshaw to pack enough food to last
us a month at least, but not too much to make carrying it a burden. So… goodbye!”
Luke turned around and started walking to his room. He had just finished changing
when Madame Greenshaw came in.

“Oops! I’m so sorry sir. When I come in to leave food your not normally in-”

“Never mind.” Luke quickly took the tray from her hands. “Listen, this is very, very
important. Can you please pack enough food to last a month on a journey? But make
sure it won’t be too much to make a burden.”

“Yes sir. Good luck. I’ll go now.”

Luke flopped onto his bed but couldn’t get to sleep for a long time. When he slept he
dreamt of the dragon chasing him and his Lady cheering him on.

~Chapter 3~
And So It Begins
 Madame Greenshaw woke Luke up quite early. He changed into green clothes but
cloaked himself in black. It was a very misty morning. Luke decided to use this as an
excuse to cloak himself. But before that, he gathered his things up. He tied a magical
brown belt that his Lady had given to him around his waist. It was magical because it
could hold any weapon whatsoever; yet still make luggage feather light. He put his
lance in and a dagger. He added his sword and it’s sheath to it. The sword had a
golden handle and was almost as beautiful as Excalibur with its jewel-encrusted
handle and sharp, clean double-edged blade. The sheath was even more impressive. It
was dark leather but inlaid with golden patterns. Made from magic, a present from the
elves to him. He swung his quiver, which was completely stocked with sharp arrows,
over his shoulder. He added his bow to his belt. By this time Madame Greenshaw was
knocking at the door again. “Come in,” Luke called.

“Sir, I’ve packed everything and left it in the table as you instructed. Is there
anything else you want me to do before you leave?”

“Thank you ma’am. Two things. Firstly, could you please ask the stable lads to lead
my horse down to the forest and take the food with it. Next would you please bring
me a big breakfast? I’m rather hungry you see…”

“Yes sir.”

Once Madame Greenshaw had left. He took out a bottle. It contained water, but it
wasn’t any normal water but a gift from his Lady. It tasted sourer than sour, bitterer
than bitter, spicier than spicy, yet sweeter than sweet and clearer than clear. It gave
Luke the most wonderful sensation when he drank it. It made him feel strong and
happy but relax at the same time. But he only had one bottle so therefore was
restricted in using it. He usually took it just before a long, hard and dangerous
journey. Or when he felt nervous and had nobody to turn to. He took one sip and then
quickly put it back in his pocket.

In Luke’s opinion, Madame Greenshaw was incredibly fast at the work he had given
to her. Before long she was knocking on the door to Luke’s room. “Here is your
breakfast sir. It’s almost time to leave so Lancelot says hurry up. I wish you luck
again, sir.” She looked sadly at Luke. “Goodbye.” She turned and walked away.

Luke quickly finished his breakfast. Then he walked downstairs. The east sun shone
into his eyes as he found his horse laden with supplies for the journey. Lancelot was
already waiting for him, but not on his own. King Arthur was there as well.

“Luke, I wish you luck. And Lancelot, take care of young Luke for me. Goodbye!”
King Arthur waved them off. Lancelot and Luke set course immediately.

“Sir Lancelot, I am glad you got an extra horse”

“Now, I’ll have none of that. You can’t call me sir when your blood is purer than
mine. Can you Sir Yv-”

“No, please don’t call me my real name even where no one can hear.”
 “But why ever not?”

“Even trees have ears Sir Lancelot.”

“Please, Luke. Don’t call me sir. Just Lancelot.”

“Fine then Lancelot.”

Luke took Lancelot’s extra steed and tied all the food to it’s back. Then he jumped
onto his own steed and said something in a much braver voice than he felt. “So we
ride. Here we come Dacon!”
And so Luke and his companion set off on a long journey.

~Chapter 4~
The Red Knight

Sir Lancelot and Luke had been travelling for many days. As they rode further and
further away from Camelot and away from safety, they rode closer and closer to
Dacon’s cave and more and more into the wilderness. There was the odd occasion
when they would see a knight going to or coming back from a quest. Almost all the
knights they met came from Camelot. Lancelot therefore sent a message with them to
King Arthur to explain how they were progressing. However there was the odd knight
who came from a different kingdom, like Cornwall. Most of these knights Luke
noticed and asked them to send a message back to his Lady to explain how they were
progressing. All of the knights that they met were friendly. All… except one. One
knight was so big, so strong, so greedy, so mighty and had so much of a thirst for
blood that whichever poor knight happened to cross his way he challenged them to a
battle. He won and he killed each knight mercilessly.

Now one day Lancelot and Luke got lost. For the first time they had an argument.

“I thought you were mapping Lancelot.”

“Me? Don’t you remember back when we started the quest? You were the one who
said, I have everything we need!”

And so their argument continued…

“We’ve been travelling south since… God knows when. I’ve only realised after we
reached the Mortmain Mountains.”

“Well Lancelot, I’m new to the kingdom of Logres. I can hardly map and route
everything- Shhhhhh!”

“What?” Lancelot whispered.

“Look up ahead.”
 Ahead, there was a knight dressed in red, holding his sword to another knight’s
neck. SPLAT! The Red Knight had chopped off the other knight’s head. He then
licked his sword and roared.

“I LOVE THE TASTE OF BLOOD!” the Red Knight said. He then cut the other
knight’s body open and after picking out all the bones, he pierced each gut with his
sword and ate it. After he had finished with eating everything, he let out a gigantic
burp and licked his lips. “Time for the afters!” He picked up the other knight’s body
and began devouring it. First sucking up all the blood and then tearing the flesh off
with his yellow and black teeth.

“Come on Luke.”

“WHAT! Lancelot don’t be crazy. You can’t go. You saw him devouring up that
poor knight.”

Lancelot raised his eyebrows. “So this is Luke, the almighty. Anyway, I’m not being
crazy. And I can go. I set off on this quest and I’ll carry on until I die or until I
succeed. I WILL carry on even if you won’t come with me. In fact why don’t you
return to Camelot and explain to King Arthur why you returned?”

“I… Lancelot… you… for gods sake! Be reasonable! Anyway I can’t go back
because I was sent out to complete this task and that I shall.”

“Then we shall carry on! To victory!” With that Lancelot rode forward out of his
hiding place. By this time, the Red Knight had finished his meal. As Luke
approached, the Red Knight turned his red eyes on Luke and Lancelot, who was not
far behind.

“Good afternoon strangers.” He said with a pleasant smile showing all his yellow
and black teeth, which were by now cleared by his brown tongue of any blood that
was left behind.

“Good afternoon sir. We would like to cross this path, if you wouldn’t mind.”

At this the Red Knight gave an even friendlier smile, but his face was tinged with
slyness. “You may. But first you must joust with me. If I win I either kill you or you
be my slave, if you win you can kill me and cross this path.”

The Red Knight looked at Lancelot closely. “Ah, so this is Sir Lancelot. Well I’m
very pleased to meet you.” He held out a hand, which was brown and covered in hair,
it might as well have been an animal’s paw. It also had super sharp nails. Lancelot
took it, smiling nevertheless the situation. The Red Knight’s grip was strong although
he quickly let go.

“I don’t need to joust with you. This young man will be more than enough.”

“Ah, so this is Luke. I have heard rumours of him even from here. So you will joust
with me. Here is a lance.” The Red Knight held out to Luke a rusty lance, which
wasn’t even sharp. While he twizzled his own lance, which was sharp, in his fingers.
 “No thanks, I have my own. He took it out of it’s sheath, which hung on the flank of
the third horse It was almost equally as sharp as the Red Knight’s. Luke then climbed
onto his horse and began jousting.

Half the day was gone before at long last Luke knocked the Red Knight of his steed.
He did this by raising himself to a certain height so that he looked incredibly tall. The
Red Knight adjusted the aim of his lance to quite high up. At the last possible
moment, Luke ducked down low, so that he was hardly visible, swung to the side and
while the Red Knight thrust his lance high, Luke, aiming from the side got him
immediately in the abdomen. The Red Knight fell off his horse.

Luke threw away his lance and replaced it with a sword. He was now panting
heavily, being cut in several places and bruised even more.

“P…p…p…please don’t kill me!”

“You don’t deserve to live. I saw you eating that defenceless knight. You are no
knight. Just a wild animal.”

“I can change my ways! I’m sorry.”

“Tell me something. We’re lost. Do you know the direction in which to go to get to
Dacon the dragon’s cave?”

“Yes. Go through the forest the way you came…” He then gave a long list of
instructions that would bore you to death if I put them down so I’ll carry on with the
story.

“Thank you.”

Luke was now gasping harder than ever. His hair was wet with sweat and he had to
make his first big decision after starting his quest to become a knight. Should he kill
this evil man or should he forgive him and let him change his ways? After all he had
killed several noble knights. But on the other hand, he had also helped them. He
decided that he would let him change his ways. Slowly, carefully he took his sword
away from the Red Knight’s neck. He then slowly began walking back to his horse.

“Luke,” Sir Lancelot yelled. “Loo-”

Too late, the Red Knight had already grasped his sword and roared mightily.
Luckily Luke heard this roar and grasped his own sword and turned just in time to see
the Red Knight charging at him. He raised his sword and held it high in the air. The
Red Knight’s sword broke into two pieces as he tried to bring it down onto Luke’s
head. The only problem was he had to go through Luke’s sword first. This time Luke
didn’t hesitate, this time Luke pierced his sword into the Red Knight’s stomach.

“Sour lemons don’t become sweet.” Luke said. There was one thing that Luke did
not know though. He did not know that the Red Knight had been working for
someone. He did not know that the Red Knight could not speak of whom he was
working for until his dieing day, which had now come.

“Before I d – d – die. I was cursed by the woman who I worked for. I could not
speak of her. But now I am dieing. I – I think you might be interested in knowing who
she is.”

Sir Lancelot and Luke who had been walking away from the dieing knight were now
intrigued. They slowly turned around and looked at him. Luke suddenly rushed to his
side. “Tell me, who put this curse upon you?”

“I am a cannibal, but – but I work for someone. She tells me not to let anyone
through or she’ll kill me. I was always scared of death… but now…” He took a deep
breath as though in a few moments he would run out of air.
“Yes, yes, who did this to you?!?”

“Mm – Mm – Mo – F.” He took his last breath of air and that was the last ever seen
of the Red Knight. He died.

“Luke, have you learnt a lesson from this experience?”

“Yes.

~Chapter 5~
Beautiful?

There is a saying that says beauty is only skin deep. There must be several people
who don’t agree with this. However Sir Lancelot and Luke learned from the
following experience that this saying was perfectly true. In fact they learnt a lot of
useful lessons from their quest. One of them was never trust a vicious cannibal.
Another is that some people’s beauty is only skin deep. It happened like this.

Five queens were hunting in the Forest of Rohini. This was where Lancelot and
Luke were travelling at the time. One queen (she was particularly fat) got of her horse
and walked towards a rabbit. Or rather she waddled towards a rabbit. “GOTCHA!”
she shouted. She picked the rabbit up by its ears and used her sword to kill it.

“Give it here for a minute Mary.”

“NO. I CAUGHT IT, I KEEP IT!” There was no emotional reason for her to shout.
Her voice was just LOUD. “I CAN KEEP THIS ONES LEGS AS A LUCKY
CHARM AND I CAN CUT OFF ITS EARS AND USE THAT AS A LUCKY
CHARM. I CAN ALSO GIVE ALL THIS DELICIOUS MEAT TO MY COOK. SEE
HOW TENDER IT IS? OOOH! AND LOOK AT THIS TAIL. I’LL USE IT FOR
PART OF MY CLOTHES.”

“Okay, you don’t need to shout.”

“IT’S NOT MY FAULT I’M SO LOUD!”

 “Mary, Mary. If you can’t talk quietly, don’t talk AT ALL!”

“MMM, M MMM’M M MMMM!”

“What nonsense are you speaking now?”

“M, MMMM MM MMM.”

“Oh god. She’ll never change. You know that she takes things literally all the time.
It’s okay Mary. You can talk.”

“Marilyn? How did you know?”

“She’s my sister.”

“Yeah… well so are the rest of us!”

“True, but I was born first.”

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!” Mary had just been shot in the stomach

with an arrow. The good thing was she was so fat that she could hardly feel anything.

“Oh I’m so sorry ma’am. I thought you were an animal.” Sir Lancelot said emerging
from the trees.

“My, my, what a handsome knight you are! Are there more of you lurking in the
shadows?”

“Mary! He thought you were an animal!”

“SO WHAT? LET’S TAKE HIM BACK TO OUR CASTLE.”

“Lancelot, I…”

“OOOOH! SO THIS IS YOUR HANDSOME SQUIRE. LET’S TAKE HIM BACK

TOO!”

“Ma’am, we would love to come to your castle but we are on a quest…”

“Mary! This is Lancelot. Sir Lancelot.”

“THE SIR LANCELOT! NOW YOU HAVE TO COME HOME.”

“Come on, let’s go. Get your horses and then we’ll go.” Sir Lancelot and Luke then
turned their eyes away from the fat queen and onto Marilyn. She was the most
beautiful Lady either of them had ever laid eyes on. Her green eyes enchanted both of
them.

“MARILYN, HOW COME YOU ALWAYS GET ALL THE ATTENTION?”

 “Because Mary, you are… Erm more well built and people don’t find that
attractive.”

The fat queen just moaned all the way to the castle. After reaching the castle,
Marilyn smiled nastily and threw them into the darkest dungeon. The spell that she
had cast instantly broke. Their memory of the five queens had been erased. The next
day, Marilyn sent a maid to the dungeons to explain what they had to do.
“My mistress says that you must marry one of the five sisters that live in this castle.
She says you have one week to choose whom. Mary, will be the first queen to visit
you. She’ll be coming right now.” Just as the maid left, Mary came in.

“HELLO KNIGHTS. WHO ARE YOU GOING TO MARRY?”

“My dear Lady. It cannot be you because you’re too fat.” Luke said.

“SO MUCH FOR CARING KNIGHTS!” ANN WILL VISIT YOU NEXT!” She
went away.

And so Ann came in after she left. She had a sweet, high-pitched, quiet, childish
voice. “Who will you marry, Knights?”

“My Lady, it cannot be you. Your voice is too childish.” Lancelot replied.

“Hmmm, you are very disrespectful knights.” With that she turned around and
walked away. It was not long after she had walked away when the third queen came.

“Knights, who will you marry?”

“My Lady, it cannot be you. You are far too thin.”

“But isn’t that good?”

“No.” came Luke’s reply. “If you’re too thin, it means you are not eating properly. If
you’re not eating properly, it means you’re not healthy.” The third queen left. Straight
away, the fourth queen came.

“Knights, who will you marry?”

“My Lady, it cannot be you. You are far too young.” The fourth queen went away
without another word. Marilyn, the fifth queen then came in.

“My good knights, who will you marry?” This time neither of the knights replied.
“Do you find me too fat?” The knights shook their heads. “Is my voice too childish?”
Again the knights shook their heads. “Am I too thin?” The knights shook her head.
“Am I too young?” The knights shook their heads again. “Am I too beautiful?” This
time the knights nodded. “Then who will you marry?” It was Luke who answered
first.

“My Lady, it cannot be you.”

 For the first time, Marilyn stopped smiling and turned her sharp green eyes upon
Luke. She did not speak in tones of sweetness, but in a harsh, hoarse way. “Why
not?”

“There are several reasons. Firstly my heart is on someone else at Camelot.

Secondly, I am on a quest and cannot be delayed. Thirdly, I do not like your
entrancing eyes very much. Therefore I will not marry you.”
“Of that is so, then have it your way. But Lancelot will marry me, won’t you?”

“I would of course ma’am. But firstly, my heart lies with a different Lady. And I
was sent on this quest to look after Luke. I must complete my task.”

“Oh you good for nothing Knights. You are so disrespectful. GO! Get on with your
journey! You insulted my sisters and you insulted me! No one has ever done that
before. GO! GET OUT! I would keep you as slaves, but I have no space in my home
for disrespectful knights. GOOD BYE!”

And so that is one very strange chapter in their lives to retrieve the Elixir of
Happiness.

~Chapter 6~
Sirenated

Sirens are mythical beasts. They have the heads of beautiful woman and the bodies
of birds. Legend has it that sirens had beautiful voices. Sailors thought they were
mermaids and got attracted by their melodious singing. This was where their ships
either crashed into the rocks, or didn’t. Instead they got out onto the rocks and fell
straight into the sirens trap. The siren(s) ate him up. Strangely enough, Luke and
Lancelot had an encounter with these vicious creatures.

They had reached the end of the Forest of Rohini and a small village. They thought
that it was strange that in the midst of wilderness there was a village.

“Aye, are you new around here?” A small man with a bent back and a stick
stumbled forwards.

“Yes my good sir, we are. We are looking for a dragon by the name of Dacon. Could
you please direct us in the correct direction?”

“Aye, you don’t look like you’re from these parts. You shouldn’t be tangling with
this dragon. Aye.”

“Ah, but I am a Knight of the Round Table. This young man here wants to become a
Knight.”

“Aye? You’d better come inside then.” He led them inside a small hut made out of
straw and stone. It was cramped inside, and smelt strongly of fish. “Aye, sorry if it
smells. I’m a fisherman in me old days, you see. Now, you wanted to know about
Dacon?”
 “Yes, Sir, if you won’t find it any trouble.”

“Now just you follow the road up North, till you come to the ol’ river. There’s as
likely as you’ll find out ‘bout the dragon there. Aye. Just you be careful though, the
old folks say that there’re sirens up there. But for the night you can stay here with me
old wife. Aye!”

“Thank you, kind Sir. We would love to stay, but we must be getting on. Thank you
very much for your help.” And so Luke and Lancelot left the little hut. It was sunset
by the time they had reached Lake Rimorse, or so it was labelled on the map, which
Luke, after a lot of emptying-of-pockets, found. The last of the fishermen were
coming back from fishing.

“Should we start or should we come back at sunrise?” Lancelot asked.

“We’ll start! We don’t have any time to lose! It’s been more than a month. The King
will think we’re dead!”

“Yes Luke, although it would be wiser to start the next morning. You see, if there
are sirens out and about as the folks say, they are more likely to disturb us in the night
than in the morning. We’ll be delayed for longer. But if you want, we’ll go.”

“Siren. Look, let’s ask that fisherman over there to lend us a boat for the night.”
They walked up to the fisherman. “Excuse me? We would like to borrow a boat for
the night. Would you care to lend us yours?”

“Ooooh, no, no, no, no, no! There are sirens out there. They’ll rip you from limb to
limb. Aye!”

“Please?”

“Umm… very well. But don’t say I din’t warn you.”

“Thank you, kind Sir.” They took the boat and started rowing across the calm
waters. By this time it was nightfall. Luke and Lancelot took turns to row while the
other slept.

It was Luke’s turn to row when he heard this beautiful, melodious music. Luke
started getting attracted but then realised that they were sirens and immediately tried
to block out their music. It got louder and more delicate until Lancelot was awake. It
stopped. Luke had managed to concentrate, as his Lady had taught him for most of
his life. It was now Lancelot’s turn to row. Luke warned him about the sirens but
Lancelot didn’t seem to take him seriously. As soon as Luke had dozed off, the music
began again. But Lancelot was not as trained as Luke was on concentrating and could
not block it out. He started to row towards the rocks. With careful skill he guided the
boat across the waters, which were now stormy. Lancelot got out onto the rock. Luke
was awoken by the boat’s sudden bump against a rock.

“Lancelot?” He called. He suddenly realised where they were and quickly jumped
out of the boat. He turned around to see a woman’s head, which enchantingly
beautiful, seemed to ask him to come to her. When he managed to take his eyes off
her head (which was very difficult, because she seemed to pull his attention to her
face), he saw that the head was on top of a bird’s body, a huge bird like the picture of
one he had seen in one of his Lady’s books in her library. He reached around for his
sword. This felt like he was moving through a viscous fluid, with great effort. He
finally found it and grasped its jewel encrusted handle. By this time the siren had
pecked at his other arm. He yelled out in pain. This noise woke Lancelot up from his
trance.

“LUKE!!!” He yelled. He took his own sword out and swung it at the sirens head. It
met with its target, but it didn’t kill the siren. However it did give Luke time to think.

Luke figured out that sirens must like damp, cold conditions. This was because they
sang at sailors who are at sea on stormy nights. As if in a trance, he saw Lancelot
fighting this strange creature, the battle seemed to be tiring him as well. So, he
thought, what’s warm and hot? A fire! He took out the flint stones from his belt that
he used to start campfires with. At the same time he also took out the precious dry
kindling. He started striking the flints against one another. The sound drove the siren
mad, especially when a spark came out from the flints. It stamped and squawked.
When Luke finally managed to light a fire, the siren fainted. Luke then raised his
sword and chopped the siren’s head off. He dropped the sirens head into the sea. “Let
us keep the body for food.” Lancelot thought this was a really cleverly devised plan.

“You’ll make a good knight. I’m very proud.” He then plucked out all the bird’s
feathers and chopped its legs off. Using the fire that Luke had made, he roasted the
body. They stayed there talking and feasting until the first rays shone. This was when
they got back into their boat and continued with their very long journey.

~Chapter 7~
The Cave, The Dragon and The Story

After a long and tiring journey, Luke and Lancelot reached their final destination.
They had crossed a river, where a siren tried to attack them; five queens had tried to
force them to marry them; and Luke had a joust with a vicious cannibal. They had
crossed several streams, mountains and forests. They were in the frosty mountainside.
It had taken several weeks and they were almost out of food, so it had to be rationed.

“According to the map, it should be just around… there!” Luke pointed to a small
hole in the side of a mountain. This mountain towered above all the rest and it looked
like it was black against the sparkling snow covered tops that were untouched.

“HA! Don’t be ridiculous Luke. A dragon couldn’t fit through there.”

“Well it says on the map…”

“The map is obviously wrong then. Anyway, if it really is there then we’d better
have a good meal. Here,” Lancelot passed Luke a loaf of bread and some water. Luke
accepted the bread but didn’t want the water. Instead he took out his own water called
Ceracical in the elfish way. He drank three drops, a little more than usual, but
desperate times call for desperate measures. A strong power flooded through his
body. Immediately he started relaxing. He finished half the loaf of bread and gave the
rest back to Lancelot.

“We’ll need it for the journey home.”

Although Lancelot didn’t say anything, he thought, if we’re going home that is.
“Luke, be careful.”

Luke had already started going into the cave. He squeezed through the small crack
and a magnificent sight met his eyes. There were trees made from gold and silver.
There were masses and masses of jewels, gems and precious stones. Diamonds,
pearls, sapphires, amethysts, opals, carbuncles, garnets, topazes, emeralds and rubies
decorated the high ceiling of the cave and the rest of it too. But this wasn’t what
caught Luke’s eye. In the middle of everything lay a long snake on legs. It was of the
deepest red imaginable, like dried blood on a battlefield, almost black. It’s scales
blended in together. Its wings lay folded on it’s back. Its back was covered in sharp
spikes and so was its tail. At first it looked as though it’s eyes were shut and then
slowly it lifted its eyelids. Luke froze immediately.

“Luke, what are you-” But Lancelot didn’t finish his sentence because he had just
entered the cave in time to see the dragons eyelids lifting.

Luke was terrified, but eventually started relaxing. A lesson from when he was
younger came into mind. His tutor was teaching him the properties of a dragon. “All
dragons have three sets of eyelids.” Luke remembered his tutor saying. “The first one
is thin and completely clear. The second one is transparent. The third one is made out
of the same material as its hide and its completely opaque.” Luke smiled.

“Come on Lancelot, let’s find the Elixir.”

“ARE YOU MAD? LET’S FIRST KILL THE DRAGON.”

Luke shook his head. “Shhhh! You don’t want to wake it. It’s not noble and
anyway, where’s the fun without the danger?” The spark Luke’s green eyes was now
brighter then ever. So they set to work after Luke explained about the three sets of
eyelids. They found plenty of money and very rare things that you wouldn’t find
anywhere else. Both of them were very tempted to cram their pockets with this. But
they did find two things that Luke’s sixth sense told him to keep. One was a brown
feather, the other was a dagger. It wasn’t impressive at all. Not decorated and the
handle was rusty. But the blade was still sharp.

They forgot about the dragon. Luke moved backwards, stumbled over the dragons
tail and fell into a crumpled heap on the floor.

The dragon didn’t awake, but it looked like it was close to. All this happened so
quickly. When Luke fell over, he threw the feather up into the air. It was gently
floating down. It floated onto the dragon’s stomach and landed gently. The dragon let
out a snort of fire and opened its last set of eyelids. It’s eyes were jet black and
reminded Luke of cold, dark, abanded, dwarf tunnels. It swished its spine-covered tail
back and forth, while it roared in anger at seeing Luke and Lancelot in his cave.
 Luke jumped up and ran over to the cave entrance. This was where he drew his
arrow out and pulled an arrow out of his quiver. He aimed at the dragon’s short legs.
It missed by a few inches because the dragon was moving so quickly. Luke quickly
raised another arrow. This time it met with it’s target but immediately rebounded. Of
course, Luke thought, dragon hide is incredibly tough. If only I could get underneath
it. But Luke didn’t have long to think of a way because the dragon had drawn a deep
breath and let out a long, but very thin streak of fire. Luke called out to Lancelot,
“Attract its attention!” What Luke didn’t know was Dacon knew several languages
including English.

Lancelot cut his sword against Dacon’s leg. True, it didn’t cut it or weaken it but it
still must have hurt. The dragon started raging. Of course he knew that Lancelot
purposely did this and really didn’t want to turn his attention, however, it hurt so
badly that he wanted revenge. He turned his attention to Lancelot.

“Great Luke, now what am I supposed to do?”

“Just hold it off for a little longer. Nearly… one more minute…” Luke was looking
for a chance to slip under the dragon’s stomach. At last the dragon lifted its body off
the floor. Luke ran and slipped under its body. Using the dagger that he had picked up
he thrust it into the dragon’s stomach. He turned over just in time to miss a drop of
lava that came out instead of blood. Lava. Lava? But that means fire? Of course! This
gripped the dragon’s attention. Straight away Luke backed away. He held the dagger
up. Then dragon slowly backed away.

“Don’t kill me, please.” It said.

“You can talk? Well then, follow the dagger.”

“Luke, what are you doing?” Lancelot whispered.

Luke just ignored him. He led Dacon out into the freezing mountainside. Still facing
Dacon, he walked right back into the Valley of Four Drafts. The wind that came from
all four directions stung his face. He found a river that was reasonably deep and threw
the dagger into it. The dragon immediately followed. It fell into the sharp water.

Luke turned to face Lancelot. “You see, if the dragons blood is lava, then it must
have fire inside it. What puts out fire? Water. Cold water.” Luke explained.

“Very clever. I’m really imp- Good lord! Look what’s happening in the lake.”

Luke looked at the place that Lancelot was pointing at. It was where Dacon had
fallen in. The water was rising. It started forming the shape of a human body.
Eventually, a tall man with brown hair and black eyes stood there. He glided across
the water to them.

“Who are you?”

“Dacon.”
 ~Chapter 8~
A Story Worth Hearing

Dacon led the way back to the snow covered mountaintops into the warm and
decorated cave. “Sit down,” he said. “It’s a long story. And I prefer not being
interrupted.
“I was very little, only ten years old when a witch cast a spell on me. She prefers to
be known as an enchantress, but she’s as good as a witch. You see my father got on
the wrong side of her; he was so poor he couldn’t pay taxes. In punishment, she cast a
spell on me. I’ve been like this since the age of ten; I’m now 32. I had the mind and
body of a dragon. I enjoyed ripping and eating people.
“The thing was, he also once had a lot of power and helped win a war. For this the
evil witch cast another spell on me. This time, the spell was good. Revolting, yes, but
good. As a dragon, one drop of my urine could bring happiness forever to anyone
who drank it. If it’s purified first though, it loses all its strength.
“The worst part was at night I turn into human so that I can reflect upon all the
terrible things that I did during the day. I couldn’t escape because there was an
enchantment around me that stopped me from going outside the cave unless it’s for
food.
“The day someone killed me, would be the day that I turned back into human form
and could live as a human forever more in peace. The problem was, the only way
someone could kill me is to get me to go into water. Also, the only thing that could
give anyone even the slightest clue of how to kill me was a dagger. This dagger is the
only piece of weaponry that allowed someone to have the slightest chance of piercing
me.
“And so, that is my life’s sad, sad story.” There was silence.

Luke’s eyes were narrowed with curiosity. “But what is the witch’s name?”

“Of that, I cannot speak. Only on my deathbed can I say her dreadful name.”

“Have you ever heard of the Red Knight?”

“The cannibal? Yes, my father died because of him. He works for the same Lady
who put me under this horrible curse.”

“Well I suppose you’ll be pleased to hear we killed him then?”

There was no response. In the end all Dacon said was, “Now that my curse is gone, I
suppose you’ll be needing this?” He held out the Elixir of Happiness.

Luke took it and pocketed it with a huge ‘thanks’. “So are you coming back to
Camelot with us or are you going back to your own kingdom?”

“Back to my own kingdom,” came Dacon’s reply in a small voice. “Now that the
curse has lifted, I don’t mind if you take all these back.” He was pointing at the
jewels.
 “Thanks, but I think we can manage without them. But can we have some of that
fruit that grows on the gold and silver trees?”

Dacon handed them a soft fruit, brown in colour. “Toffee-fruit.” He said.

“Thank you!” Luke bit into it. It was soft, sweet and sticky inside and smelled
strongly of toffee.

The trio split up and went back to their original home. Apart from Luke, who went
back to Camelot with Lancelot.

~Chapter 9~
Court!

Because Dacon had gone, the Elixir of Happiness wasn’t that strong. It still gave the
drinker eternal happiness, but the force that drew the drinker towards it wasn’t half as
strong as it was. The journey home was a lot faster and easier than the journey to get
there. They passed through the mountains, back across the River Rimorse and past the
forest where they had met the five queens. This time they didn’t get lost, so they
didn’t go anywhere near where they had met the red knight. Soon they were riding
through familiar places. Their surroundings became less wild and they could see more
and more knights. It was lucky that they bumped into Sir Lionel; otherwise they
would have starved.

“So, Luke, you have managed to slay the dragon? Congratulations.”

“Hello Sir Lionel, what are you off to?” answered Lancelot before Luke could open
his mouth.

“Oh, I’m going to try to save a damsel.”

This time Luke did speak. “Good luck, Sir. You don’t by any chance have some
spare food, do you?”

“Plenty young man. Plenty.” Sir Lionel gave them plenty of food “It’s a shame I
have to miss this.” He replied, before turning around and trotting off on his steed.

They set off on their journey back to Camelot Castle. After another couple of days,
it came into view. For the last hour of their journey, they trotted gently and then
finally reached the castle. The peasants inside cheered them on, they finally met up
with King Arthur.

“My Lord, we have been successful. Luke has more talent as a knight in him than I
have. Most of the journey I did not need to protect him, but he needed to protect me.”

“Congratulations! Luke, I’m very proud of you. May I have the Elixir?”

“Yes, my Lord, but first promise that you will not drink it.”
 “Yes. Very well, you need to be made a knight immediately! Come on, we’ll have
the ceremony tonight. You must have had an adventurous journey, tell me you story.”

***

That night there was plenty of laughter and chatter. “SILENCE!” called King
Arthur. “We are here to celebrate Master Luke’s triumph over the Dacon, a dragon
who has been harassing the northern side of Logres. He has battled several things that
some knights here would never have been able to battle.” King Arthur then retold the
whole story. At the end of the speech, someone who was stood outside the hall would
have thought some kind of explosion had taken place inside because the cheering was
so loud. “I would now like to call him forward.” Luke half walked, half ran forward
and bowed down low before the king. “First would you please tell me your name?”

“Yvain. I come from Cornwall.”

At this King Arthur frowned. “That name seems familiar.” He narrowed his eyes as
though he was trying to think hard. “No.”

“What?” Yvain inquisitively looked up at King Arthur. For the first time the king
saw his beautiful green eyes and his long blonde hair and his sharp face.

“You’re my sisters son.” At this there was a sharp intake of breath from the crowd.
Everyone who had come to watch could all remember the nasty incident involving
Queen Guinevere and King Arthur’s sister.

Yvain held his head high. “That I am my Lord. My Lady is Queen Morgan Le Fay
of Cornwall.”

“I shall not name you a Knight of the Round Table you vile betrayer!”

“What do you mean?”

“After what your mother did…I’m sorry young man, but you’ll just have to go
home.”

“But you promised! You said that if I got the Elixir of Happiness back here without
spilling a drop and slayed Dacon I could become a Knight of the Round Table! You
made a public announcement about it as well. You can’t turn me down now! And
anyhow, what has my mother got to do with any of this?”

“Are you saying, you… don’t know?”

“About WHAT?”

“Your mother sent Queen Guinevere a beautiful cloak on our wedding anniversary.
She told the maid who came and gave it that it was only for my Queen and no one
else. Guinevere was about to wear it when Merlin appeared and told the maid to try it
on. At first she refused, but Merlin insisted and in the end she had to wear it. The
moment it was draped around her, she let out a loud scream and burst into flame.”
 “Are you sure it was my mother who sent this?”

“Is your mother Queen Morgan Le Fay?”

“Yes.”

“Then it definitely was your mother who sent it. All these years she hid her evil acts
from you?”

“Yes. I swear to be loyal only to you my Lord. I will get my revenge on my mother
for such a ghastly deed.” Yvain kneeled down and bent his head again. “If you wish
to kill me because of my mother. Please do so now.”

King Arthur raised his Excalibur, his sword, but didn’t kill Yvain. Instead he placed
it steadily down on his shoulder and said the following words. “I dub you Sir Yvain
of Cornwall and a Knight of the Round Table!” At these words a lot of cheering went
on.

“I would like to thank Sir Lancelot. Without him, I would most likely be dead.
Thanks to King Arthur for letting me go on this quest and knighting me, even though
my mother was dreadfully evil.” Even more cheering exploded out of the crowd.
King Arthur and Sir Yvain walked back to their seats and King Arthur gave the signal
for the feast to start.

There were plenty of entertainers. Some damsels danced to the melody played by
some young boys holding flutes. Jugglers juggled. Two knights had a mock fight.
This was by far a very enjoyable evening. It was two in the morning before people
started going to bed. Sir Yvain in particular was tired so the hero of that night went to
bed early. He did not know of what would happen that very night, but he felt like
something was building up inside himself apart from his happiness. He could not tell
what that feeling meant but it was churning his insides as though fire was melting
them. He could not feel pain, but he felt discomfort. He fell asleep with this same
uncomfortable feeling, although he was happy at finally becoming a Knight of the
Round Table.

And so here ends the story of Sir Yvain’s first quest, although I assure you, it won’t
be his last.

By Akshaya Reddy
7z, L6

Never Tickle A Sleeping Dragon

Part 2
 His feet crushed the leaves that lay scattered on the forest floor. There was nothing
stirring as it was in the middle of the night although the occasional owl swooped and
hooted overhead. He was a tall man dressed in pure white; he had a long white beard
and long white hair to finish the look. He held a white and silver staff in one hand. He
finally stopped when he reached a clearing. Several other men and women, much like
himself but in different colours were waiting for him.

“As Head of The White Magic Association, I hereby call this meeting to begin.
There is a reason why I have called this meeting. It is my belief that someone evil is
out there. I also believe that one of our members is guilty of supporting this evil
person. I have something here that may prove my point.” He held out a golden bottle
filled with golden liquid. “The Elixir of Happiness…”* At this there was a gasp.

A woman from the front row spoke up, “So it’s true then Merlin? Its not just a
legend?”

“My dear Lady, I have spoken the truth, it is true. Dacon has been released by one of
the noblest knights ever to be heard of. It is time now to see who…which person that
I, myself taught did this, it is time to see whether my hunch is correct.” He had a
curious expression etched into his old, withered face. There was a great swirling of
his long white cloak, his eyes closed and he began muttering strange names and
words under his breath. It would have been a strange sight to anyone who didn’t
know what was going on. Although there wasn’t any change in the temperature,
everyone suddenly felt colder.