The room beyond was dark and silent. I stayed still until my eyes adjusted. A large bed stood in the center of the room, the curtains around it closed. There was other shadowy furniture scattered around the room, I had eyes for only one piece of it. Leaning against a table next to the bed, was the scepter. Telling myself not to rush, I crept across the room, reached out, and took it. "Well done. Not even my assassins could move so quietly." I whirled around as the Dragon King stepped out from a shadowy corner, fire springing to life in his hand. Great, he was a sorcerer. I started to back away toward the balcony door. I needed to lead the dragons away before I could deal with a sorcerer. The Dragon King followed slowly but made no move to stop me. On the balcony, I stopped, my eyes scanning the sky for Thunder. The Dragon King stopped in the doorway. "Why run?” He asked. “You hold the power. That’s what fighters like you want isn’t it? Power? The dragons are at your command now. You could rule the world. Look." The scepter began to glow, and I could hear many things stirring below. I climbed on to the wall to see better. Dragons were rising from their sleeping places throughout the castle, all looking to me. "Even I would have to bow to you now." I turned to see the Dragon King incline his head to me, his eyes wide, almost excited. What he said was true. I could end this war now. End all wars forever. I could rule. A flash of approaching red caught the corner of my eye, and I shook my head. "No." I said. "I'm not like you." And I let myself fall backward off the wall into midair. I fell for only a second before Thunder flew under me, grabbing me with his claws. Through some tricky maneuvers, I got onto his back and held the scepter aloft. I sent my thoughts out to the dragons who were still watching me. Come. Follow. The dragons obeyed. Twenty, thirty, fifty or more, all rising into the air and trailing behind us as we flew away. Behind us, I heard a yell of rage from the tallest tower. The Dragon King was watching his best defense fly away. We flew for more than an hour, getting as far from the castle as we could. In the moonlight, I spotted a mountain that had relatively few trees and directed Thunder to land there. Within minutes, the following dragons had landed around us on all sides. There had to be nearly a hundred of them all staring at me with wide, blank eyes. If I destroyed the scepter, the suddenly master less dragons would surely attack. As strong as we were, Thunder and I had little hope of fending off all of them. But did it really have to end this way? With this many dragons at my command, I could indeed rule the world. I could bring peace, by force if it became necessary. Hadn’t I desired peace once? Why else would I have given up my title as a famed mercenary in favor of a small village where nothing ever happened? A village where I could have a normal life and no one cared who I had once been. I shook my head. Slamming the end of the scepter in the ground I shouted to my dragon "Do it before I change my mind!" Thunder sent a jet of flame at the top of the scepter. When it was glowing red from the heat, I grabbed it and smashed it against a stone. Metal shards flew in all directions. The scepter was broken. With burns on my hands, little energy to spare, and no hope of surviving the next five minutes, I backed up until I was next to Thunder. If we were going down, we were going down together. The dragons around us were shaking their heads, hissing and snarling. Many were looking at us and beginning to move
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