What is A Dragon?

If It Were Only a Dragon [Chapter 2]

With duty on my mind, I marched out of the castle and down to the courtyard. My first thought was that if I were going to go all the way to the eastern end of the Kingdom, there was no way I was going to carry my sword and my supplies there and take care of my own horse and meals and armoring myself. As a Knight of the Ministry of Arms, of course, I must have my squire at my side to take care of all those things.

When young men in the Ministry take up knighthood, they earn the right to take up a squire. Many choose teens from families of a lesser status. My youth in the capital among peers like those taught me that I could find better. Someone with street smarts. On the street is exactly where I found the man who would be my squire.

Eric was among the dirty urchins of the capital, scrounging and playing dice to earn coin. Those sorts use the meager riches perhaps to buy dirt from the countryside to smear on their bodies and clothes for warmth. If that is how they use their time, who was I to tell them no? I came to them one certain day with a purse full of their desired shiny coins, betting they would not be able to clean me out.

Many of the dirty youngsters were sated with a meager handful before pulling out of the game. Only one dared to raise the ante over and over until the remainder of my bag was at stake. I do not know how Eric won those countless times that day, but I knew his luck and unending courage would serve me well if he were to become my Squire.

After cleaning him up and teaching him the ways of a squire, I christened him with a proper highborn moniker— Eriques— a name of different spelling, but pronunciation similar enough. The change seemed not to dismay him.

When not in my immediate service, Eriques held the same company as old, playing silly games with the other dirty folk about the city. He was playing horseshoes by the castle stables when I came upon him.

“Eriques,” I called out to him, reminding him of his service.

The dark-haired lad paused his careful aim of the horseshoe and looked up to me, “You’re down from the castle early, Gladius. Did the king fire you?”

“Quite the opposite, lad. His Highness has given me a task,” I said, pointing to what felt to be the east. “A warrior’s strength is needed.”

“War, is it?” One of the urchins called out suddenly, his screech filling the streets.

“War?” Repeated one of the passing locals.

“We’re at war?” Another confirmed with terror.

The flow of the street was suddenly interrupted by the frantic running of those wishing to share the news. I tried my best to wave at them and quell their worries, but soon remembered that my responsibilities lay elsewhere.

I clicked my tongue and shook my head at my squire and the other youngsters. “Not quite a war, but a battle. And against not any men nor nation, but a dragon!”

“A dragon!” The loudmouthed urchin screamed, arms raised to the sky.

I dashed to him and covered his mouth with my hand. “Yes, indeed, lad. But alas, it is far from this place. Far to the east. Eriques, I call upon you to aid me in this venture. But as I speak, the King has allowed me to use any resources the kingdom may offer. So, if any of you should wish to aid us in this venture, I shall offer you… five copper pieces if you travel with us and defeat this dragon.”

Eriques flung the horseshoe finally, landing it around the peg with grace. “I suppose I am dutifully bound to you, Gladius,” He said with a sigh. “Make it… ten coppers, and I’m sure one or two of these shites will join us.”

“Six coppers,” I countered.

“Nine coppers,” an older urchin urged.

“Seven coppers and… a serving… no, a mouthful of meat per day during the journey.” I nodded and thought to myself. If I abandon the others out east there, that will save us on having to carry extra food for the return journey.

Eriques looked about, accepting a few shrugs from his lackeys. “Deal.”

“A deal it is,” I nodded, a job well done. “Now, a show of hands for this quest of ours.”

A pair of hands raised. Then one more, waving as if it had not tasted enough dirty copper coins that day.

“What is it you want there, the dirty one?” I pointed and called out. “If you are not satisfied with the coppers offered, you may stay here in the capital.”

“Sir Gladius… what is a dragon?”

I folded my arms and shook my head. “Our foe, a… beast attacking a province to the east, as I have said. My good squire, what would you fathom it to take to slay a dragon?”

Eriques shrugged. “If I knew what a dragon was, Glad, I would tell all of y’all. But you’d be better off telling everyone here yourself.”

I felt at my forehead with the back of my hand to make sure the heat was from the insolence surrounding me and not my extended time out in the sun. “I suppose it is my duty, young squire, to teach you in a proper scholarly setting as I myself have studied. And no doubt the castle archives have all such details of these so-called dragons. Come, Eriques.”

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The castle may have been a step back in the tiny bit of progress my quest had taken thus far, but it was certainly the right direction to proceed. On the march through the halls, I kept Eriques close so as to keep the fine details between us.

“Listen, my boy,” I said lowly in his direction. “I shall need your help diving into these tomes of knowledge, specifically on these dragons. If we are to keep this quest short and simple, knowing how to slay a dragon is paramount. And it will also keep me in good favor with—“

“Glad,” Eriques interrupted, clearing his throat.

“Yes, my boy?”

“This whole… books thing is not quite the task I imagined seeing myself doing.”

“Your position as my squire requires you to engage in such deeds with me. I’m terribly sorry if you had other plans today. But the kingdom is… in danger.”

Eriques nodded hopefully. “No, no, no, saving the kingdom and all that. Maybe help me out with one thing real quick.”

I stopped and grabbed up my squire by the shoulders. A few courtesans and other castle staff fumbled around us. “Do you not trust me, boy?”

“N’ what makes you think I don’t? Nah, I guess I can ask this question. What is… reading?”

I stepped back, words caught in my throat. Maybe even further down. They caught in my stomach. My bowels. “Well, there are words on the paper, the pages. You look at them, and they enter your mind… I guess?”

“And what sort of sorcery is that? Does one have control of the words that enter your mind?”

I chuckled at the foolhardiness of my squire. “Ah, not like that. The words are made up of letters. Like the letter… A. When you put enough of them together, they make a sound, which is just like the sounds you make with your lips and tongue and breathe. You often hear the words in your head as you read them.”

“Then it is like a trance that the reader enters upon viewing these words and letters on paper! But… how can you make it stop?”

I grasped my hand at the air and made sure nobody in our proximity was listening. “Uh, not like that, either. There is nothing strange at hand when reading is performed. Uh… when His Highness the King reads off a decree… he is making the sounds with his lips that match the letters on the paper. That is called reading aloud.”

Eriques rubbed at his chin. “But is it not the wise man, Sacher, who reads off such decrees, that the King then repeats? I did not think of the King as one with magical blood, but surely the wise man…”

I placed a finger on Eriques’ lips. “Questioning the details of the magical aptitude in His Highness’ bloodline is one thing, but asking whether or not the King can read is another. Especially here in the castle halls. Come, let us get to the archives. We can perhaps find something useful for you to do while we are there.”

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