Sir Daniel and the Dragon (cont..) By Daniel
Minutes passed until Sir Daniel noticed the same shadow he had seen the night before. He looked up from it, but he saw nothing. People were still standing in the square not seeing anything.  Why weren’t they in a building or somewhere safe? That was it! That was how the dragon was going to land in the square! They were using the people as bait! “RUN!” Sir Daniel yelled into the night air. Suddenly there were screams of panic in the street. He looked around but saw nothing. As he peered closer he saw a dark shape moving in the streets. An enormous black dragon stepped out into the square! It had a snout-like nose and long pointy ears. Its wings were long and sharp and together were longer than its entire body. The dragon’s tail thrashed about wrecking the streets. Its clawed feet were much like a bird’s but more masculine and tough. Sir Daniel had thought that black dragons were only legends but obviously they weren’t. Bob had been right, too. It was taller than the bar building! Something else clicked in Sir Daniel’s mind. Those weren’t ordinary craters in the streets. Those were dragon footprints!   Catapults took off! Only one boulder hit the dragon square on his side, knocking him a few steps over. Another hit his tail, making him bellow for the whole town to hear. The other two completely missed, causing damage in some of the buildings. One of the building top archers shot his arrow too soon, causing the whole line of archers to shoot randomly. Dugout archers sent their arrows flying at the dragon, but the dragon’s skin was too tough and most of the arrows never even pierced the skin. Sir Daniel had brought along his long bow and shot at the dragon along with the archers. His weapon was a little more effective.   The dragon began flying away! Their attempts had been useless!   “Bob!” Someone yelled in the streets. It was George. Sir Daniel spotted him in the crowd looking at the dragon. There was Bob in the black dragon’s clawed hand flailing his arms and screaming hopelessly. Sir Daniel carefully aimed his long bow and fired. Success! It hit the dragon’s hand! A wave of relief swam over Sir Daniel. The dragon screeched and opened up its hand. Bob fell out and onto what looked like a pile of fertilizer bags by the garden shop.   Sir Daniel sprinted down to the streets and ran to see if Bob was okay. When he got there George was at Bob’s side. “You’re gonna make it, Bob. It’s going to be all right.”   “Ooooh! My legs! I’ll never be able to walk again!” Bob exclaimed.   “Oh, shut up. You fell from twenty feet and landed on nice soft manure. I’m sure you’ll be just fine.” Sir Daniel stated.   “Manure!” Bob jumped up and leaped away from the fertilizer.   “I guess this means I should cancel that order for a wheelchair,” Sir Daniel retorted. George came up to Bob looking him over.   “Are you alright?” George stated. “Sir Daniel here just saved your life.”   “Well, my ribs are sure sore, but other than that, I guess I’m fine,” Bob responded. “I just wanted to see you push me around town in a wheelchair.” From the crowd a large man was pushing his way to the front of the mass of people.   “Get out of my way! Move it!” When he reached the front, he confronted Sir Daniel. “Why did you bother saving that fool’s life? Now that beast will go after our livestock!”   “Well if you let people die, where will your profit go?” Sir Daniel replied.   “We give over half of our product to the King, and if I’m not able to raise one hundred cattle I lose money. Don’t you know that?” People began to leave the area and go back to their homes.   “Well, I’m glad you saved my life,” Bob whispered…   The next morning the town called for a meeting. The “mayor” would be presenting a speech over the damage assessments for the past month. Apparently the town hadn’t understood that they were used as bait last night.