Torner looked up into the sky. It wouldn't take long for that dragon to see him there. He needed to act fast. He threw his pack on the ground, briefly wondering why he choose this place, in front of the temple, to confront the dragon. Perhaps it would be in a setting like this that the priest may find him worthy and restore his paladinhood .
He looked up again. The dragon was still circling, around and around the tops of the temple spires.
Quickly he opened the pack. On the top was the ropes, a blanket, and the extra pair of clean underwear his momma always told him to pack. Beneath that was what he was looking for, a pouch full of crushed snap dragons and ginger snaps. He had been told a long time ago that sprinkling something with a snap in it's name over yourself is good luck against dragons. It might have been snap dragon or maybe it was ginger snaps, the instructions had been so garbled he couldn't understand it quite right. He never believed it before, but it couldn't hurt to try this time. So he threw the mixture in to the air above himself, and let it fall down on him.
As the 'snap' powder fell on him, he caught out of the corner of his eye, a figure moving. He couldn't make it out. But he hopped that whomever it was had the sense to run. Then he saw it, on the bottom of the pack, just what he needed right now to help him fight the dragon, a silver bullet. He whipped it out of the pack, popped the tap on the top of the can back, and guzzled the cool brew.
" Yuck, next time I'll look for born on dating, "
He wondered why the dragon hadn't attacked yet. It was probably flying up there wondering what in the world he was doing. He was as ready as he was going to get.
" Well Torner, no dragon has ever gotten the best of you yet, of course you haven't fought a dragon, but you still have an unblemished record verses the beasties. And you really must stop talking to yourself"
Then he heard a flap. It was the dragon, coming in for a landing.
" On gaurd you vile dragon ! "
The dragon breathed. Torner put his shield over his head to deflect the expected acid. All that came over his was a blast of hot black smoke. This wasn't a black dragon like he thought, it must be a coal dragon. And he was lucky this time. If that dragon heats up, that coal will ignite and burn anything and everything. The dragon landed somewhere nearby. His vision was obscured by all the smoke. He charged toward the noise, waving his sword in front , hoping to come into contact with something.
THUD
" pay-dirt."
He got one more swing in before he heard the dragons tail swishing toward him. He dove on the ground, just in time for the tail to pass over him. But to late to avoid getting stepped on.
" Ow,, that's gonna hurt in the morning."
Torner rolled over and sliced off a piece of the dragons foot. He heard the dragon cry in pain. The dragon tried to stomp on him again with the other foot. This time he propped his sword right under the foot. As the dragon stomped down, the sword went up the foot and into the leg, causing that foot to also be useless to the dragon. The dragon fell over on it's side, unable to stand anymore. This would make the fight a little easier.
Torner crawled up to the dragon, pulled out his swiss army knife ( the sword being stuck in the dragon's leg ), and preceded to cut away at the dragon. The dragon kept crying in agony.
Then he felt something come across his shoulder. It was the dragons tail. He tried cutting at it, but by the time his knife got there more of the tail had pulled in on him. While he had been knifing the dragon, it had coiled it's tail loosely around him, and now was constricting around him like a big anaconda. It kept getting tighter and tighter, he could not get a breath, and started gasping for air. He felt the bones in his arms crack and brake, then his knees and legs.
It was at this time he saw his life flash in front of his eyes. How the whole adventure had started, back in the tavern, when Slick had given him that little white peace of paper. What did slick call it,,, a 'bill' or something. Confronting the orcs and finding a barrel of ale. Talking to Babett, boy had she changed. Meeting Pavek and thinking he was a dragon. And finding out how to cross the carvern, ha, that had been fun.
Then he felt his ribs crack. He faintly could make out some foot steps running by him. He noticed blood coming up his throat, and he started to choke on it. Was that the sound of a towel being snapped he just heard ? Then nothing..