“You fool!”
the dragon roared, fire spewing from his mouth and nostrils. “I shall kill you for that.”
“I have a feeling you would have
killed anyways, you foul beast,” responded Sir Pink.
“You are correct in that.”
The others now realized they had
also been fooled by the dragon.
Sir Chronicle had envisioned the
greatest of all story tellers, who was telling him that he, Sir Chronicle,
would one day take his place. Sir
Cumference had seen a woman cooking a most delightful pie and he immediately fell
in love with her. Sir Cadence had been
entranced by the image of a traveling salesman selling the most beautiful lute to accompany his most beautiful voice.
Sir Craven had seen a crowd of people surrounding him and applauding him
for his courage and strength.
As Sir Pink’s sword pierced the
dragon, all their visions faded into one true image, the cunning dragon.
“Why do you do this?” asked Sir
Pink.
“Because I need to eat, and luring
you into something in which you feel safe, makes it much easier to eat you,”
answered the dragon. At least the dragon
was an honest creature.
With that, the dragon swung its
mighty tail into Sir Pink, sending him crashing into the cave wall.
The four other knights drew their
swords and rushed forward. On their own,
they would have been easily defeated, but Sir Pink’s sword had already mortally
wounded the dragon, and he was soon vanquished.
The four knights raced to Sir Pink’s
side. Six puncture marks covered Sir
Pink’s torso where the dragon’s tail spikes had struck him.
“Sir Pink,” said Sir Cumference, “How
did you perceive that your vision was not true?”
“My vision was that of my mother,”
said Sir Pink. He coughed and blood
dribbled down his chin. “She loved the
color pink, and I wear this armour in honor of her. This mother laughed at the color of my
armour. If she were truly my mother, she
would have seen the truth behind this rosy hue, but the dragon could not resist
mocking my apparel just like the King and pretty much anyone else I have ever
met.”
“Never again shall the color of your
armour be reviled!” said Sir Chronicle.
“We shall forever hold the color pink in high esteem, for it was this
color that spared our lives.”
Sir Pink smiled serenely, and then
his already lacking breath ceased to exist entirely.
The others pulled Sir Pink’s sword
from the dragon’s corpse and placed it in Sir Pink’s lifeless hands. They crafted a makeshift litter and placed
Sir Pink upon it. As they were leaving
the cave, Sir Craven noticed a glimmer out of the corner of his eyes.
“Wait, friends,” he said.
They placed the bier on the ground
and went to the back of the cave. Rounding
a corner, they discovered that the once small cave suddenly opened into a
cavernous room. In the middle of the
room sat a pile of gold and jewels hundreds of feet high.
They stood in silence for a long
time, staring with mouths gaping open at the great wealth before them.
“I would rather it if that was a
pile of pies,” Sir Cumference said after awhile, with a small sigh.
After filling a couple of bags with
treasure to take home for proof of their success, they turned together and
began their journey home.
Before leaving, they buried Sir Pink
outside the cave, piling a great amount of rocks over him.
About two months later, the
triumphant knights arrived back home. The city and the King welcomed them with
open arms (once they showed the treasure they had collected, of course). Sir Pink was given full honor for his
sacrifice and his name is now written in the history books, to be told forever
in every land and household.
The four remaining knights, Sir
Chronicle, Sir Cumference, Sir Cadence, and Sir Craven, went on to become the Knights
of Pink, forever bearing the colors of their fallen friend. They didn’t really
do anything else brave or noteworthy though.
They mostly stayed in the castle and had parties all the time. The King loved them because of all the
treasure they had brought him (he had sent them back to the cave, along with a
large consort, to collect the rest of the treasure).
Outside the cave there still lies
the great mound of rocks, now painted pink, under which lies the most famous
and noble Sir Pink.
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