This story is a tale of Virtue from Ultima 9

[Shard] - Sosaria
[Type] - Fiction/History
[Book] - Purple - 40 pages

[Title] - Geoffrey and the Dragon
[Author] - McCubbin the Wise

[Page 1]
Of old, in the days
when the great Dragons
still flew freely about
the skies, there was a
dragon called Ignus.
Now dragons are subtle
and dangerous creatures,
but as a whole they

[Page 2]
are not truly evil, for they
have their own way to
follow, and honor after
their own fashion.
Ignus, however, was an
exception, and in fact I
believe he was the source
of many of the popular

[Page 3]
libels which are spoken
about his race. For Ignus
was a mischievous and
rapacious beast, and he
took great delight in
plundering and ruining the
habitations of humanity.
He even had a taste for

[Page 4]
the flesh of human youths, particularly
females, which habit I am
sure his fellow Dragons found very nearly as
distasteful as we do.
So it came to pass
one day that Ignus woke

[Page 5]
to find himself both
hungry and bored, and he
bestirred himself and off
he flew, in search of
amusement and sustenance
among the habitations of
men.

[Page 6]
On this day he chose
a hamlet so small that it
had no name (or if it
had one, it is long since
forgotten). And this
particular cott was the
home of a youth named
Geoffrey, of about 14

[Page 7]
years, and his sister
Marguerida, who was a
few years older. On this
day they were both
engaged in pulling weeds in their father's bean
field, which was located
some distance from their

[Page 8] home.
Dragons have the most
amazing eyesight, far
more keen even than an
eagle's, and huge as he
was flying through the
clouds, Ignus saw the
brother and sister long

[Page 9]
before they saw him.
"Aha," he thought to
himself, "Here's a bit of
sport indeed, and a
decent start to my
luncheon as well. I shall devour these tender
younglings first, and then

[Page 10]
have the rest of this
nest of humans as my
main course."
Ignus could easily have
swooped down and blasted
the pair before they had any idea he was above,
but as I mentioned he

[Page 11]
was bored, and preferred
to play with his food a
bit. So he descended with
a mighty roar, and
blasted the innocent bean
field with flame, to get
his quarry running.

[Page 12]
And run they did, you
may be sure. For all
their youth, they were
not fools. Geoffrey sized
up the situation first,
and led his sister
towards the banks of the
nearby river, where he

[Page 13]
hoped to find a crack or
crevice in the rocky
banks which might shelter
them. It was a slight
hope, at best, but a far
better chance than the
certainty of the dragon's
jaws.

[Page 14]
Despite himself, Ignus
could not help but be
impressed with the
cleverness and agility of
his prey, which dodged
and clambered away from
him most cunningly. Indeed,
several times the dragon

[Page 15]
prepared a fatal strike,
only to have the young
humans slip away in some
improbable fashion. Ignus
was not greatly put out
at the inconvenience, for
he knew there was no
safety for his prey,

[Page 16]
however long they might
wiggle away.
As they approached
the river, Geoffrey and
Marguerida dodged around
the trunk of a gnarled
old oak, and there d
isaster struck, for

[Page 17]
Marguerida caught her
ankle in a twisted root.
She fell, her foot
wrenched, and still securely caught. Geoffrey
tried to help her up, but
it was useless. Ignus paused some distance

[Page 18]
away to catch his breath,
watching their distress in polite amusement.
Seeing that there was
no way to free his
sister, Geoffrey
unsheathed his tiny
shepherd's knife, and

[Page 19]
picking up a fist-sized
stone in his other hand, stepped between the old
dragon and his sister,
with a warrior's determination on his young
face.

[Page 20]
This delighted Ignus no
end, and he called out to
Geoffrey saying, "What now, Sir Knight, do you
hold an enchanted sword
virtuous enough to take
my head?"

[Page 21]
Geoffrey replied,
surprising himself with a
voice much stronger than
he had thought he could
muster. "Knight I am
none, old lizard, nor do I
wield enchantment, but
you shall not take my

[Page 22]
sister unless you first
face me. Your head I will
take gladly, should chance
offer it to me!"
Ignus chuckled at this
bold speech. "You must be
a most stupid child, to think you can harm me

[Page 23]
with such trivial trinkets.
Run, boy, run! Perhaps you shall find shelter,
while I am distracted in
devouring the girl."
"I know that I do not
possess the skill or gear
necessary to harm you,

[Page 24]
old lizard," Geoffrey
replied. "But that signifies
nothing when my sister is
in danger."
Ignus began to find the
conversation tedious, and
spoke in some irritation. "Here boy, look, your logic

[Page 25]
is greatly flawed. I shall
have your sister if you
run or no. Why give me
two, when it could be
one?"
"I do not dispute your
logic," Geoffrey replied, a
feeling of fatal

[Page 26]inevitability weighing upon
his heart. "Yet there is
no logic that would suffice to make me
abandon my sister to one s
uch as you."
Old Ignus was a
creature of treachery

[Page 27]
himself, and at this a
tiny blossom of doubt
bloomed in his cold heart.
"I start to see," he
growled. "Since there is
no reasonable cause for
you to stand where you
are undefended, it is

[Page 28]
reasonable to suppose
that you remain because
you wish me to approach.
Perhaps that tree is
where you little humans
have set some snare,
curse or ambush to take
me unawares."

[Page 29]
"Again, I do not dispute
your logic," replied G
eoffrey who, as I have mentioned, was no fool.
"Then again, you may
just be trying to bluff
me," mused the dragon.
"In fact, that is rather

[Page 30]
likely. Nonetheless, if
there is a trap, and it is well set, I may be harmed
or even killed. On balance,
I do not believe you are
worth the risk. No,
certainly not!" And with
that, to the amazement

[Page 31]
of both Geoffrey and
Marguerida, the creature
rose into the air and
soared off, in search of
some less (as he
supposed) chancy meal.
So it was that
Geoffrey showed true

[Page 32]
Valor, which is the pure
distillation of the
Principle of Courage. By
setting his life at no
worth, he saved it. Had
he valued his survival
enough to run, as the
Dragon's logic suggested,

[Page 33]the creature would surely
have devoured first his
sister, and them him. He stood his ground according
to the need, rather than
the consequence, and though he could easily
have died, on this

[Page 34]
occasion his Valor saved
him and another.
As for old Ignus, he
set the value on his own
hide so high that he
could not bear even the
tiniest risk or doubt, and
so he missed an easy

[Page 35]
meal. But the price of
his cowardice was greater
than that. For after a
few years Geoffrey grew
into a most puissant
young champion, a knight
indeed, and he went forth
in full gear (bearing a

[Page 36]
most potent magical
sword), at the height of
both skill and strength,
and he slew old Ignus.
And he hung the dragon's head over his
stable door, where the
children of his sister

[Page 37]
often cast rocks at it
for sport.

Great addition!