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The noble fighter Teralgon paused on the mountain path, platemail armour gleaming in the sunshine, broadsword dangling by his side, and wiped his forehead with the lacy pink handkerchief his girlfriend had given him.
“Didn’t know armour was so hot,” he grumbled.
“Try lugging this around,” Melkin the mage said, shifting his enormous leather-bound spell book from one arm to the other. “Weighs a ton. And this robe’s too long. I keep tripping on it.”
“Told you this was a stupid idea.” Kiraka the thief’s leather armour strained across his belly, threatening to rip open. He was bright red from the exertion and wheezing badly. “We could have stayed home and played chess, but no, you two wanted an adventure―”
“Remember, we’re going to be heroes. Renowned throughout the land,” Teralgon said, peering at the cliff face above them. “And maybe we’ll get home in time for dinner.”
They continued trudging up the mountainside, stumbling over rocks and cursing, until they reached a dark crevice in the cliff face. A sign in front of it read: “Gold coin donation. Beware of monsters.”
The three adventurers prepared to explore. Teralgon pulled torches and a tinderbox from a sack and struggled to strike the tiny piece of flint, dropping it clumsily. Melkin pulled vials of a murky green liquid from his backpack and handed them out. “Potion of strength,” he said, holding his nose and gulping one down. He gagged and nearly threw up. Kiraka peered into the ceramic vase beside the cave entrance and stole a pile of coins.
“We’d better sharpen our weapons,” Teralgon said, striking his broadsword against a rock. He was amazed when the rock crumbled into pieces. “Wow, this is some blade.”
“That’s sandstone, you idiot,” Kiraka said. He pulled out a rusty dagger from his belt and ran it across the harder rock of the cave entrance. The blade broke off and fell near his foot. He swore. “Knew I shouldn’t have bought secondhand.”
“Let’s go in,” Melkin said, having already tried to memorise spells from his book, without much success. All the tricky foreign words kept spinning around inside his head.
Teralgon, being the leader, went in first, bumping his head on the low roof. Melkin followed easily, but Kiraka had to strain to fit through the narrow opening. They all trudged down a sloping passage, squinting and coughing as smoke from their torches blew back in their faces. Teralgon shrieked un-heroically as a bat suddenly flew past his face. Melkin tripped over a rock and nearly twisted his ankle.
“What’s that noise?” Kiraka said, stopping suddenly. A deep rumbling sound echoed around them.
“The monster’s snoring,” Teralgon said.
Melkin opened his spell book and started reciting a Fire Protection Spell. “Incanterius gooroneus arta- arte-” He struggled to decipher the elaborate curly script. He held his torch closer, only to accidentally set the page on fire. He dropped everything and jumped up and down on the book. The flames went out, but the pages were a charred mess.
Kiraka, meanwhile, had crept silently to the end of the passage to peer around the bend. He gestured wildly to the others. “Come on! It’s waking up!”
Teralgon and Melkin hurried after him and they all entered a large cavern. A giant, elongated reptilian creature lay curled up on the ground, wings folded by its sides. It had gleaming white scales, and wisps of steam rose from its nostrils. It looked at the adventurers curiously with one opened eye.
Teralgon set his torch down and drew his sword. He ran across and slashed at the dragon’s neck. The blade bounced off. His sword flew from his fingers and clattered on the ground. The dragon growled and started to rise.
Melkin waved his arms and tried to recite a spell from memory. “Ercaneum lagregoriturm misoleterus…” There was a flash of light and a small ornamental stone fountain appeared in the middle of the cavern. “Oops, wrong one,” he said.
Teralgon screamed as a giant white paw reached out and curled around him. The dragon pulled him towards its mouth.
“Kiraka! Help!” he shouted.
“What do you expect me to do? I’m a thief,” Kiraka said. “I already stole your money.”
Teralgon checked his money pouch. It was empty. Enraged, he twisted around and punched the dragon in the eye. It howled and dropped him. He rolled across the ground and grabbed his sword. He ran towards Kiraka, swinging it.
“All right, have it back!” Kiraka danced out of the way, throwing gold coins at him.
The dragon arched over Melkin, licking its lips hungrily. He pulled a wooden wand from his belt and waved it desperately. Blue, yellow, and red sparks erupted and fell in a beautiful, shimmering curtain. The dragon stared at it, mesmerised.
“Is that all a Wand of Wonder does?” Melkin grumbled. “I paid 2000 GP for it.”
The dragon shook itself and roared. A chilling white mist enveloped the three adventurers.
“Run!” Teralgon shouted.
Choking and shivering, they all ran out of the cavern. Their torches went out, but they stumbled along in the dark, terrified by the growls behind them. Finally, they reached the cave entrance and ran outside. They collapsed onto the ground, gasping for breath.
“We’re safe. Dragons hate sunlight,” Teralgon said.
“Forgot white dragons breathe cold,” Melkin said, still shaking. “Should have checked the Dragon Lore manual.”
“We wouldn’t have had a chance anyway,” Kiraka said, looking at all of the rips and tears in his leather armour. “We’re not cut out to be adventurers.”
Teralgon looked at his broadsword, which had somehow snapped in half. A few plates had broken off his armour. He had left his sack behind in the cavern. His girlfriend would kill him for losing her handkerchief.
“You’re right,” he said wearily. “Let’s throw out all this stuff. Back to the office on Monday and we’ll be Tony, Mike and Kenny again.”
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AUTHOR BIO:
C. A. Broadribb has an MA in Professional Writing and an over-active imagination. She lives in Australia. Her website is www.wildthoughts.com.au
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WHY WE CHOSE TO PUBLISH “Three Heroes”:
This piece is so much fun. Author C. A. Broadribb has put three interesting characters with great dialogue into an interesting situation, and then she manages to pull off a cool ending. What more is there to say? It’s simply a well-done piece of writing.