The Talking Knight

For a thousand winters, I have sat on this ancient treasure. Trinkets and coin glimmer in it; Swords and daggers shine like the stars. I spent most of my time in slumber, disturbed only by those annoying knights! I miss when knights used to be less… stupid. Ah, good times. I quite like it here. The two giant golden statues beside the entrance still remind me of my friend Kind George. I thought of melting them, his death was most painful, but then I’ll be all alone. Oh look, another one of those little annoyers entered my dimly lit dungeon. He rode on a depressed steed and his armour shined like the ones before him, the stupid ones of course. But that red lion his shield reminded me of George.

"Dragon!" he shouted, "I, Sir Richard of Isramor, have come to take your treasure. Give it and I may spare your life."

Here we go again. I open my mouth, and a storm of fire burst out. He impressively dodges it and hides behind one of the two giant golden knight statues.

"Get out of there, you moron. That statue is older than your great grandfather and frankly more valuable."

"Wait, you can talk?"

"Of course, I can talk. Get out of there," I said as I put pressure on the left side, but so much that the statue would melt. Finally, Richard couldn't take it anymore and ran out. "But I thought you were tongueless," he said.

"Tongueless!" I flapped my wings, and a furious wind pinned Richard to the wall.

"There is not a creature in this world that have a longer tongue than mine."

"I…didn't mean literally. I meant langua—"

"That too!" My eyes drifted toward his red pouch strapped to his hip. Something sparkling leaked from it. My fire stopped as my nose blocked. I looked at Richard and smiled. He knows my weakness, sulphur. I didn’t know that knights had brains.

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"It was not my intention to comment on your tongue. I apologise."

Do my ears hear the truth? They are getting a bit old.

"Have the sulphur locked your mouth too?"

He hasn't killed me yet, so these things mustn’t be that old.

"No, nothing can lock my mouth," I said.

"Yes, all that fire… your hatred never ends, does it?"

"My hatred doesn't fuel my fire."

"Then what is the fuel?"

"What fuels your saliva?"

"My…well, nothing. But we are different."

"Are we?"

"Maybe not. But you kill innocent knights."

My eyes blazed, and I whipped him with my tail, throwing him against a wall. “Really? If I recall correctly, you were the one that drew his sword and threatened me."

He groaned. "You are a dragon. What was I supposed to do?"

"Maybe talk to me first!"

"Well, you could have spoken before you tried to burn me alive."

"Well, you can guess my mood when a little human—"

"A little human, yes. What was I going to do? Poke your eye?"

"If you aren't here to kill me…."

He got up. "Kill you? No, I can't kill you. I thought to stop your fire with sulphur, pick some trinkets and run away. I couldn't survive a fury-filled monster like—"

"I'm no monster!"

"Then tell me, why didn't the other knights survive?"

I looked at Richard and lifted my left wing. He stepped forward to look at my scars.

"This is what happens when you try to talk to knights. They thought I was casting illusions on them."

"I would be lying if I said that the thought didn't cross my mind." Richard sheathed his sword.

“I’m no wizard. I honestly hate them.”

Richard laughed.

“How disrespectful!” Sparks came out of my mouth, and Richard’s smile extinguished. “To think that only humans know the art of speaking.”

“I’m sorry, we have lost many our knowledge…”

A knight apologizing? I thought—

“Hey, what happened? Do you think we forget how to apologise?”

“How do you know?”

“Your face it’'s,” He made a circle in the air, “I can guess faces. Yours is not too different.”

“For a second I thought you were a wizard.”

“We have them no more. That art is also lost. We actually have lost many as our land is struck by plague and war.”

“Hmm… I noticed your tongue is not as fluent as George's.”

“George? Do you mean King George himself?”

“Yes.”

“How?”

“Well, He was a close friend of mine. It is his treasure that I slumber on.”

“Wait,” Richard walked near the hill of gold and silver, “It’s…it’s our treasure?”

“Yes, of course. What do you think?”

“Aa, I don’t think you’ll like it.” He picked a gold coin and turned it around. His shield and the coin had the same lion. A smile brightened his face.

“Hmm… keep your secrets then. I’ve been disrespected enough.”

“Can I take it?” He held the coin high.

“Yes, of course. What kind of question is that? Foolish knights.”

He snickered and burdened his weak steed with all the treasure it could carry and a little more. He waved and left, and I never had those annoying knights again. But I did hear of a certain King named Richard The Wise. Guess Knights do have minds.