The Dragons - Chapter 1 Bill meets the dragons

Bill used to be a mighty warrior in Fantasy Kingdom. He won many fierce battles against the mightiest of opponents. Every creature and human would participate in these events by sitting in the audience. The King and Queen would watch from a tall tower of their castle.

It was great fun when they saw him thrash his enemies with his lance, and his horse was so powerful that the other horses didn’t stand a chance. He was feeling very happy with his achievements because he knew for sure that the day when he would earn his trophy, to be presented by the King and Queen, and declared Protector forever, was not very far off.

But unfortunately, all that came to an end one day when he was fighting with another warrior called Arthur. He had heard rumours that he had won far more difficult battles and that if he won that day, he could take his place. He was confident at the start. Once the battle began, his horse ran towards the other horse, but backed off when he noticed the red eyes on the other horse. He felt frightened. He pulled the reins. His horse jolted and ran here and there, which made the crowd laugh. The battle was over even before he could draw his lance. He noticed the King and Queen had already made up their mind. From that day on, he stopped being a warrior.

His parents had gifted him this pony on his 7^th birthday assuming that with this
horse’s help, he might become the first Protector. The world needed a protector,
to protect them from evil. He felt sad to see his parents’ dreams shattered. He
wasn’t of any use to anyone because wherever he walked he noticed that in every poster, his face had been replaced with Arthur’s.

One day, when he was feeling especially low, he left Fantasy Kingdom hoping to feel better. He took his father’s boat out into the river and sailed out into the distance until he couldn’t see the towers of the castle anymore. He wanted to
find a new home. Docking the boat on unknown shores, he stepped out onto a
pebbled beach. He immediately looked up to see these creatures circling above his head. He had never seen or heard of them before. They were red in colour with fur all over them and had huge wings. They looked strong enough to fight in battles, flying in the sky, blowing fire at each other. However, they looked friendly
and playful. He thought that they looked like they could help him become
Protector. But he had to get their attention. This is where his story begins.

Bill called out to them using a friendly voice, “Hello, would you all mind coming down please for I would like to have a word?”

As soon as he said that, he thought, “Oops! What if they’re man eating creatures?”

But by then the dragons were already swooping down so he thought, “Oh well, I’ll find out now.”

“Hello, what might you be?” asked an old dragon.

Bill thought, “Oh good, we’re talking so maybe they won’t eat me.”

“Hello, my name is Bill. I want to know your names if you don’t mind, please?”

The five dragons took it in turns starting with the oldest one.

“Hi Bill, nice to meet you and my name is Fuzzball. I’m the father of these four. These are my daughters Alicia, Charlotte and Alice, and my son Spikey. We are
dragons. What brings you here of all places? We’ve never interacted with your
kind before.”

Bill replied, “I’m human and I feel it’s great to meet new creatures because I feel
now is the perfect chance for you guys to come to my Fantasy Kingdom. As it is,
I’ve seen how strong you all look and how much you enjoy flying, so how about
flying in a battle to defeat my opponent Arthur to impress the mayor in front
of the whole crowd and show your special skills?”

The dragons first reacted by feeling frightened apart from Fuzzball, which Bill
could easily figure out by the looks on their faces.

“What have I said? I thought a new place might appeal to your adventurous side?”

Fuzzball explained, “We dragons know what place you’re talking about but there’s nobody of our kind there, which makes it difficult. People might see us as a terror
and immediately attack us? We’re glad to have met you alone but have no further
interest with joining the outside world. I hope you can understand how we feel
over this matter?”

Bill replied, “Don’t worry, if anyone behaves like that, I’ll handle it. I would
like you all to give it one chance for my sake, please?”

Fuzzball replied, “If you want us to be a part of your quest then you must train us every day so that we can see whether we’re capable or not. And then we’ll decide, is that a deal?”

Bill smiled, “I’m happy, consider it done.”