Jake & The Giant (The Gryphon Chronicles, Book 2) (27 page)

The test
of courage—against the dragon.

CHAPTER THIRT
Y-TWO

Old Smokey

“N
ow, as we all know, dragons are great hoarders of gold and treasure,” the Master of Ceremonies announced to the six remaining contestants, who were all rather sleepy after a heavy lunch.

With the afternoon sun climbing into the sky, they had gathered in a clearing in t
he woods, well beyond the village and its surrounding fields.

Of course, there was no
audience for the second round. It was much too dangerous to allow spectators this close to a dragon’s den.

Aside from
the contestants and their coaches, the village elders had come to serve as witnesses, and of course, King Olaf and Princess Kaia, surrounded by their giant Viking guards.

Of the ten players who had started out
in the tournament, six now remained—one of which had only been invited back in by the skin of his teeth.

Jake had n
o doubt Gorm was still angry about that.

The Master of Ceremonies smoothed his long, official robes and continued with his explanation. “The object of this challenge is to prove your courage as a possible future leader of our people. To do so, you must go through these woods—” He pointed at the trail into the forest. “Find the mouth of the dragon’s cave, and sneak inside. It’s still daylight, so
Old Smokey
should
be sleeping. Obviously, you don’t want to wake him.

“Sneak past the dragon, find his
hoard of gold,” he continued, “and from his treasures, choose a special gift for Princess Kaia. Whoever brings back the best gift for Her Highness wins. But be warned, anyone returning empty-handed will be eliminated.

“
Those who remain will advance to the third and final round of the tournament tonight—the test of wits. Good luck, gentlemen,” he added. “And remember, if anyone should wake the dragon, follow the evacuation procedures we discussed earlier. Unless you wish to be barbecued.”

The other knights and warriors tur
ned to discuss these instructions with their coaches. They seemed awfully cool about it all. Most of them must have already had some experience with dragons, Jake thought.

Snorri, on the other hand, was looking rather green around the gills. “I shouldn’t have had that second helping at lunch,” he rumbled, rubbing his round stomach. “I don’t feel so good.”

“It’s only nerves,” Archie said. “Try not to worry.”

“I wish I was home taking care of my sheep. If anything happens to me, who will look after them?”

“I’m sure Princess Kaia will see they’re well kept, but look on the bright side,” Jake offered. “This is your chance to really impress her, show her how much you care!”

“If you say so
.”

The Master of Ceremonies came along, holding up a handful of straws. “Pick one,” he told Snorri.

Snorri pulled a long piece of straw out of his grasp.

As
the Master of Ceremonies walked away, Jake realized the players were drawing straws to see who would have the bad luck to go first, and in what order the rest of them would take their turns to sneak into the cave.

While the others drew their straws, Jake and Archi
e discussed strategy. Earlier contestants had a clear advantage: There was more treasure to choose from, and with each new player who ventured into the cave, the chances went up that someone would make a noise that would bring the dragon fully awake.

But while going second or third or even fourth would be desirable, nobody wanted to go first, for there was no telling what sort of mood
in which they might find the dragon. Yes, it was daylight, but what if the beast was only dozing?

The first player would be the one to
find out.

The only worse position had
to be last place, for by then, with so many intruders traipsing in and out of the cave, the last man to go surely had the highest chances of getting eaten.

When all the rivals’ straws were compared, they f
ound that Snorri would go fifth.

“Not too bad!” Jake assured him. Second or third would have been better, but
at least he didn’t have to go either first or last.

Prince Gorm,
unluckily, had drawn the longest straw: sixth place.

D
ead last.

But Gorm, if he was anything, was brave, and according to the tales
he liked to tell, he was an expert on dragons.

They would soon find out if this was only idle boasting, but h
e seemed to welcome the challenge. He went around grinning at his rivals and holding his straw up proudly, then sticking it between his teeth like a farmer, as if this brush with doom was just a lark.

Snorri shook his head at the
daredevil. For his part, the poor shepherd looked scared to death.

In any case, with everyone’s turns decided, there was no more putting it off. One of the visiting princes had drawn the shortest straw and so, had the unfortunate honor of going first. He put on his helmet, lifted his shield, took a deep breath, and marched off into the woods alone.

Kaia covered her eyes with both hands and put her head down.

Jake could tell she wanted to scream
to see men being forced to risk their lives all because of her. Not that any of this was her idea. When she lowered her hands from her face and forced herself to watch, she glanced at her father in obvious fury for putting these men through this. But King Olaf was just enjoying the show.

Everyone waited in pulse-pounding suspense to find out if the dragon would come charging out of the forest or if the first prince might make it back alive.

Irritatingly, as mere “dwarves,” Jake and Archie could not see anything behind all the towering giants.

Jake tapped Archie on the shoulder, then ge
stured toward a nearby tree. His cousin nodded eagerly and they both began climbing a massive spruce tree nearby.

When Archie’s footing slipped and left him dangling several yards
above the ground, Snorri quickly came to his aid, giving him an easy boost up onto the thick branch, where Jake joined him.

The b
oys made themselves comfortable and immediately Archie took his telescope out of his tool-bag again and lifted it to his eye.

“What
can you see?” Jake prompted.

“He’s almost
to the mouth of the cave...” Archie paused, scanning. Then he suddenly gasped. “I can see the dragon! He’s sleeping! I can see his snout, just inside the cave. Great Euclid, Jake… he’s
huge.”

“Can I see?” Jake asked eagerly.

Archie looked a little shaken as he handed him the spyglass. “I’ve never actually seen one before. Egads.”

“Too bad your precious
Mr. Darwin isn’t here.”

“You’re right. I should take a picture
of this to show him.” Archie reached again for his tool-bag to get his camera.

“Why both
er? He’d only think it’s a fake.” Jake brought the telescope up to his eyes and searched the woods until he found the cave.

When he spotted the sleeping dragon, he nearly laughed al
oud in amazement, so shocked by the sight that he could’ve fallen out of the tree. He had never seen anything like the beast before.

Magnificent and terrifying.

He couldn’t see much of the creature shadowed in its cave, but its snout was resting on its crossed front feet, and clouds of smoke or steam rose from its nostrils with each peaceful snore.

The dragon’s scaly hide was a greenish black, the color of moss and forest shadows, perfect for helping the huge beast blen
d into its environment. Jake stared in awe at the claws as big as threshing sickles protruding from each knuckle on the sleeping dragon’s front feet.

That’s right, have a nice dream, Smok
ey, old boy,
Jake thought with a shiver. He could see why his mentor, Guardian Derek Stone, had a particular fondness for dragons.

The creatures
were spectacular. Of course, if that thing woke up, Jake mused, they were all probably doomed. Then, through the circle of the telescope, he saw the first contestant creeping towards the cave.

Jake held his breath.
How the giant prince forced himself to keep going
toward
the dragon instead of running away from it, he could not fathom.

Kaia had to be impressed by this show of courage.

“He’s in!” Jake reported to the others in excitement.

King Olaf turned curiously. “How can you see so far?”

“The dwarves have a device,” Snorri said.

“What of the dragon?” someone asked.

“Sound asleep.”

The other warriors sighed with
relief.

Barely a bird sang in a tree. The woods were deathly silent as they all waited for the first prince to return.

“C’mon, Jake, it’s my telescope, let me have a turn! Quit hogging it.”

As h
e handed Archie back his spyglass, an object in the sky caught Jake’s attention. He looked up and saw the Gryphon soaring toward them, circling lower.

He frowned
but dared not risk waking Old Smokey by shouting at Red to go back to Snorri’s cottage, where he had left him.

With his eagle-eyes, Red
quickly spotted his master, and a moment later, glided down onto the branch beside him.

“Be-ca
w,” he complained at being excluded.

“What are you doing here?” Jake exclaimed in a whisper. “I told you to stay put!”

The Gryphon lowered his head a little at the scolding, but Jake suspected that, left alone at Snorri’s cottage, Red had been tempted to eat one of their host’s beloved sheep.

That would not have gone over very well.

Still, recalling something Derek had told him once, Jake was worried about having Red so near a dragon’s cave.

Gryphons and dragons hated each other, according to Derek.

It had to do with both mythical beasts’ connection to gold.

Gryphons could locate veins of gold in the earth,
and on rare occasions, when certain people earned their trust, they would show their human friends where these precious mineral deposits could be found.

That
was how Jake’s family had come to own their goldmine in Wales centuries ago. One of his medieval ancestors, a humble young squire called Reginald Everton, training to be a knight, had chanced to save a large, mysterious, golden egg from destruction.

The egg turned out to belong to a mother gryphon
, and inside it, waiting to be born, was baby Red. Whether Reginald knew it or not, gryphon eggs were extraordinarily rare and quite priceless, but he did not hesitated to give the egg back to its parent.

Because the young squire had proved he
was pure of heart and could be trusted, Red’s mother, in gratitude, had shown the lad to the location of a glittery vein of gold in the rugged mountains of Wales.

Young Reginald
had rushed home to tell his father about it—at that time, the one-day powerful Earls of Griffon were but humble yeomen farmers. The boy’s father journeyed to confirm his son’s tale, then raced back home and sold the family farm in order to buy the land on which the otherwise-secret stash of gold awaited.

That
was how the Everton family became rich, and stayed that way, when most other wealthy families lost their fortunes within a few generations due to foolishness.

In any case,
because of the people they occasionally befriended, gryphons could appreciate the backbreaking work that went into mining the gold, the craft and care that went into melting it down to purify it, and molding it into something beautiful, and above all, the wisdom it took to own it without becoming corrupted.

Dragons on the other hand…

Well, after all that effort by humans, dragons had no qualms about swooping down out of the sky and stealing the finished golden objects, just to horde them in moldy old caves, where they were of no use to anyone. Dragons never shared; they always kept accumulating more as if by compulsion; and they’d kill anyone who tried to take their trinkets.

Dragons, in short, went against everything gryphons stood for.

Which explained why Red was scowling in the direction of Old Smokey’s cave, having caught the giant reptile’s scent. That warlike gleam sprang back into his golden eyes, and his feathers had begun to bristle, especially around his neck.

“No,” Jake ordered
, laying a firm hand on his shoulder. “You need to keep calm. You’re not even supposed to be here.”

Red growled low in his throat, but obeyed, sitting on his lion haunches on the branch beside the boys.

“That’s better. Thank you, Red. I know you hate him, but we’ll be done here soon.” Jake patted his agitated pet on the withers, then turned to Archie. “Any sign of the prince yet?”