The Warrior’s adventure

The only sound that could be heard was Ivy’s heartbeat as she slowly made her way towards her improbable death. She paused and tried to peer upwards, but it was dark and the stairs she was climbing were too steep to see much. Removing her sword from the sheath, she sat down as tears threatened to spill. She trembled, not from the cold but from her nerves, as she pondered her current situation. Ivy was near the top of the 10,000 step tower which she had been sent up two days ago. She had been sent to kill the dragon residing at the top and she was trying to go as slow as possible to avoid reaching the top, which wasn’t hard.

The tower was thousands of years old, made from stone and a big, green leafy vine plant covered the bottom, undisturbed. It creeped its way upwards and it had been hard for Ivy to find the oak door. What once had been impressive and was meant to keep people out now stood full of woodworm and rotted away at the bottom. The tower stood in the middle of a green field, with a track for carriages running alongside it and a river flowed at the other side of it. 

Ivy was taking part in her final training quest to become a fully fledged warrior - protecting the city of Centauri and the 13 villages that surrounded it.

The final quest always involved killing something that was a threat to their people; a young wyrm that had escaped the burrows they moved around in, or an outsider who plotted to murder their King. This quest, however, was slightly different and had never been completed by a training warrior before - kill the dragon that had taken up residency in the most westerly tower. Warriors either completed their task and finished their training, or died attempting. No one had failed before.

Her shoulders hunched down as she sighed and picked her sword back up. It had a straight, double-edged blade, which was given to Ivy in the naive hope it may improve her chances. The hilt was beautiful; it entwined flowers to the green jade which was encrusted in the middle, again, in an attempt to bring the sword wielder luck. Putting it back into her sheath, she dragged her feet as she carried on up the steps reluctantly, hoping she wasn’t near the top yet but knowing she probably was.

She was apprehensive, unknowing what was going to be at the top of the tower. She knew there was going to be a dragon, and she knew that she didn’t want to kill it but she didn’t know whether it was going to be a baby dragon curled up asleep in the corner of an old library or office space, or an angry, restless creature that would kill her as soon as she appeared in its space. Even the first option was scary enough, a baby dragon would have a mother dragon nearby. 

Ivy began to get an idea of what lay ahead though as it was growing warm. As if she wasn’t already nervous, more nerves seemed to slam into her as she anxiously took each step one at a time. She knew she was near to the top now, and near to her death. She knew she wouldn’t be able to kill it, she didn’t even want to kill it, so it was either the dragon killed her or the warriors waiting for her triumph at the bottom of the tower. 

It had started to get very hot now. Ivy realised she was definitely near the top and felt sick with nerves. Deciding her armour probably wasn’t going to do much against an onslaught of dragon flames, and wanting to cool down, she took off her iron helmet and placed it on the step. She unclasped her steel gloves silently as she listened out for any noises from the dragon, but all she could hear was a faint purring.  

She weighed up her options, she really did not want to kill the dragon and was too nervous to do so anyway. The warriors had been trained on how to kill creatures but dragon’s were so rare and legendary she thought they must be some sort of mythical creature and hadn’t really listened in training. On the other hand, she had never seen a dragon before and realised now may be her only opportunity to do so. She made a bargain with herself; if she just peeked her head into the room and saw it, she could go back down the stairs and deal with warriors waiting for her triumph.

Ivy had never wanted to be a warrior, the thought of fighting and killing people had never appealed to her. Growing up, she had wanted to help heal people, or animals, like the rest of her family. Her mother and sister were both nurses, her brother was a vet and her father was an academic and he helped to discover new cures and ailments. 

On her final day of school last year, Ivy had been hurrying home to celebrate with her family, when a big, burly figure stepped out of the hedgerow and blocked her path. He attempted to attack her, but Ivy fought as best as she could and managed to slip free and ran home. A senior warrior saw what happened from a distance and personally selected her for mandatory warrior training and now here she was at 19, either facing saving her village from the dragon or death.

She made it to the top of the 10,000 steps and paused. Listening, she could still hear the purring sound again and deciding it must be asleep, reluctantly, she pushed open the door which led to the top of the tower. 

Ivy stopped to take in what was in front of her; what was once an office, or a library, had been long since abandoned and thick dust coated everything. To the left, an oak desk stood beside an old, lumpy armchair which had years worth of thick dust settled on top of it. Broken chairs lay scattered behind the desk furthest away from Ivy, and the stone walls were lined with bookshelves, filled with big, thick leather bound hardbacks. But what caught Ivy’s eye was the tip of a big, red tail which led to the mammoth young dragon curled up fast asleep. It lay underneath a colossal hole in the ceiling and wall and Ivy stood frozen to the spot in shock as hot smoke shot out of the nostril making the room stifling hot, despite the gaping hole.

Another jet of hot smoke escaped from the dragon and brought Ivy to her senses. Shocked, she stumbled forward and readjusted her braid as she thought of what to do now. She knew she wouldn’t be able to kill the dragon, it was just unattainable even if she did want to anyway and she had seen it now so she nodded to herself as she decided to just sneak back out of the room and back down the stairs; she would just have to deal with the reprimand from the warriors, assuming they didn’t kill her. 

She began to slowly edge back towards the stairs when the dragon stirred and Ivy, scared enough already, froze, not wanting to make any noise as the dragon made itself comfy.  With its eyes still closed, the dragon readjusted its head and began snoring again. Relieved, Ivy crept towards the doorway and glanced back just as a jet of hot smoke streamed past her, catching her arm. Letting out a loud yelp, Ivy lept back and ran towards the safety of the lumpy armchair, cowering behind it.

She was breathing very fast, panicked. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to focus on her breathing redundantly. She could hear her mother in her head saying "in through the nose and out through the mouth” but she was too panicked to pay any attention now. After what felt like an age, Ivy calmed down and slowly dared to open her eyes again but a huge yellow eye was peering around the side of the chair, staring right at her.

She had accidentally woken the dragon.

Ivy blinked back at the dragon as her breath caught in her throat.  The dragon moved its head back and, bracing herself against the incoming blast, Ivy wrapped her arms around her head and whimpered and waited - but nothing came. 

Slowly lifting her head up, tears streamed down Ivy’s face as she saw the end of the dragon tail swishing away. She breathed a sigh of relief and after she stopped shaking, she slowly forced herself to lean around the side of the armchair to see what the dragon was doing. It had gone back to the corner it was previously sleeping in and was sitting looking at the armchair, almost as if it was waiting for her. 

Trembling, she lent back against the armchair and tried to think of what to do now but she was too panicked to think straight. Her sword caught her attention as it glistened in the light coming in from the ceiling. She shook her head to herself, she couldn’t do that - she’d have more chance of hurting herself than ever hurting the dragon. 

She brushed the escaped braid hair from her eyes and wiped her face with her hands, and inched her head back around the side of the armchair. The dragon was still sitting looking at her, expectantly, so she sighed, attempting to bolster herself up and dragged herself in front of the armchair, leaving a faint line in the thick dust on the stone floor. 

They stared at each other and Ivy wondered what to do next - she was too afraid to run to the stairs and too tired to be the warrior she was meant to be and attempt to fight the dragon, so she did what her mother would tell her to do and talked to it.

“Erm, h-hello” she muttered nervously, flinching as the dragon tilted its head to the side. 

Closing her eyes, she whispered “I’m Ivy and erm, I-I like your tower.” 

The dragon tilted its head and flicked its tail to the other side, enjoying listening to Ivy. 

Thinking that that went okay, Ivy decided she’d quite like to leave now. She glanced at the doorway and back at the dragon, and slowly stood up with her hand outstretched as she attempted to not startle the dragon but it didn’t move - just carried on watching her. 

She crept backwards towards the door, facing the dragon the entire time so she could keep an eye on its movements. Just as she was about to reach safety, she turned away but the dragon stood up and flicked its tail in front of Ivy, blocking the staircase and her escape.  She jumped, absolutely petrified now and knew her death was imminent. 

She faced back towards the dragon and slowly, casually, reached for her sword. She didn’t know what she was going to do but it seemed like the right thing to do in this situation. Unfortunately for her, the dragon saw it. It narrowed its eyes and, letting out a huge roar, angrily flicked its tail into Ivy, sending her crashing backwards into the wooden desk with a big clatter. 

Spluttering and trying to catch her breath, she saw that the dragon was now pacing around in circles, looking very angry. She didn’t know what to do; the dragon had hurt her and she winced as she gently prodded her ribs. She burst into tears. All she wanted to do was go home.

Trying to calm herself down, Ivy glanced around her, trying to find something to focus on when she saw the bookshelf. Quickly glimpsing back at the dragon, she saw it had sat down at the top of the staircase blocking her escape. Struggling, she got to her feet and stepped towards the bookshelf, holding her ribs. She blew away the dust so she could read the titles.  The covers had faded and looked boring, but one did catch her eye. She rubbed the spine and read the title: “Dragons, Phoenix’s and Unicorns; A Complete handbook to Britain’s mythical creatures” and she pulled it off excitedly. 

She glanced back at the dragon, which was still just staring at her, and flicked through the book, hoping it would help her figure out what to do. She found an index page and slid her finger down the page, looking at each chapter title. Her finger paused at chapter 5 ‘Introducing yourself to new creatures’ and she leafed her way through until she found it.  She leant against the wooden desk as she read, and satisfied she could introduce herself, she gently placed the book on the desk and stood up, trembling.

She warily walked towards the dragon which was still watching her and paused a couple of feet in front of it. It had calmed down now.  Shyly, she slowly took a couple of steps towards it whilst raising her hand, almost so it could smell her hand like you would approach a dog and she waited to see if the dragon would accept her. After what seemed like an age, the dragon laid down so its head was right in front of Ivy and cautiously nudged her. 

Ivy couldn’t believe her luck, the dragon had accepted her! She cautiously lifted her hand and stroked the dragon’s head, which it seemed to enjoy and so she let herself get right up to it, and stroked away on its red scales. 

Now Ivy needed to decide what to do; she couldn’t stay up here with the dragon forever but if she went back down the stairs then the other warriors would know the dragon wasn’t dead and knowing it was here, would come kill it themselves. But she couldn’t not kill the dragon as the other warriors saw it as a huge threat to the city and the villages. 

“Oh what do I do” she muttered frustrated into the dragon scales and it nudged her as if to see what was wrong. “Honestly” she whispered, not wanting to scare or anger the dragon, “I was sent up here to, well you know, kill you” and the dragon pulled its head back. 

The dragon looked away and Ivy’s heart dropped as she saw a tear drop from its big, shiny eye. 

Waving her hands, she urgently said “Oh no, no! I’m not going to, I was never going to! But I don’t know what to do now as they will kill me if I go back down - they knew I wouldn’t be able to kill you and probably relied on you killing me to get rid of me, I’m a very weak warrior you see.”

The dragon looked back at her and nudged her with its head, and began swishing its tail again. She timidly smiled as she laughed “I think we could be good friends”.

A light bulb went off in her head… “Imagine if we could escape together and hide out somewhere else, then you won’t be killed by any other warriors and I could help you not venture to close to any cities, and in return I won’t have to kill you”

The dragon stopped swishing its tail and stood up, arching its back as it stretched. Then it walked over to where the huge hole was and looked back at Ivy and bent low.

“You don’t think we actually should escape do you?” she asked, not wanting to believe there actually could be a way out of this dilemma.  The dragon went on staring at her, waiting for her to get on its back. “Oh my… but what about my family? Well, I suppose we both get to stay alive in this situation!”

Ivy slowly limped over to the dragon, still clutching her ribs from before and looked at it, wondering how on earth she could ride it. As if the dragon knew what she was thinking,  it stretched its wings out and she knew she should use them as a stepping stone to get onto its back.  Cautiously, and disbelieving at what was happening, she pulled herself on to the wing whilst being mindful of her injury and used the big scales to lever herself up onto its back. She tried to sit in what she thought would be an okay sitting position but before she could get settled, it stood up and launched itself out of the hole.

“Oh.. my.. GOD” Ivy screamed, the wind blowing at her face and making her hair fall out of its braid. She grabbed aimlessly onto the scales in front of her so she didn’t fall off. She couldn’t believe she was riding a dragon, and she looked back towards the tower as it shrinked away.  She would probably not see her family again, but riding this dragon was exhilarating and she laughed in disbelief. She’d maybe even be able to start her career as a nurse in a new city far away if she was lucky, but she knew this was right for her and now she had a dragon too, who else could say that?