Sorry about the lack of names...
The streets were crowded with people all moving in one direction: away. Boy moved against the surging crowd. He walked with determination; his head held high, his shoulders squared. This was a foolhardy journey but Boy was reckless and daring. He liked to think of himself as brave. I suppose we should give him some credit for doing what no other man would do. Boy was going to the mountains, he felt as though he had no other choice. And maybe he would succeed; he’d be a legend, a hero.
Boy left the town and walked across the foothills of the looming mountains ahead. People said that the beast was in these mountains, lurking in the caves. They said she was death to anyone who dared cross the mountain range.
Soon Boy began the long and strenuous climb up. The sky had turned an ominous gray and mist shrouded Boy’s vision. He kept climbing, one hand over the other. Boy slipped and fell over and over, cutting his hands and knees and sending pebbles plummeting below. Still, he climbed on.
Suddenly Boy stopped. He gripped the ledge and listened. A beautiful sound drifted over the vast expanse gloomy, gray rock. The sound sent shivers down Boy’s spine. Someone was singing, an angel maybe. Boy climbed the last few feet until he crawled over the ledge. He lay on the rocky ground, listening.
“Who are you?” a voice asked suddenly. Boy sat up and blinked. A girl stood before him, dressed in a long yellow dress and her long auburn hair blowing in the wind around her.
“I’m Boy,” Boy stuttered. “Was it you who was singing?” The girl nodded. “Who are you? Why are you all the way up here?” Boy asked.
“I’m Girl and I live up here,” the girl answered. “Why are you up here?”
“I’ve come to slay the dragon,” Boy answered in what he hoped was a brave and convincing voice.
“Perfect. I’ll come with you,” Girl said.
“You can’t come with me!”
“But I will none the less.”
The two walked off to a dark and ominous looking cave.
“Are you afraid?” Girl whispered as she gripped Boy’s arm.
“No,” Boy lied.
“Only fools do not fear,” Girl said.
“Then yes, I am very afraid,” Boy whispered.
A great tremble shook the ground violently, nearly throwing Boy from his feet.
“Run and hide,” Boy said to Girl.
“Never,” Girl said stubbornly. Boy smiled grimly and raised his sword.
Two gleaming yellow eyes filled Boy’s vision as the monster emerged from its lair. It was enormous. Two pairs of leathery wings jutted from its glittering green and blue scaly back.
“Fool,” it breathed, singeing Boy’s sleeve. The dragon stank of rotting corpses. “I have made every great knight that as ventured up here my dinner, you will be no different,” the dragon said. Boy looked behind the dragon and saw piles of armor and bones littering the cave floor.
“I am Boy and I will defeat you!” Boy said. He could barely keep the fear from his voice.
“Hello Boy, I am Dragon and you will not defeat me.” The dragon stuck out with her gigantic claw. Boy flew backwards from the impact.
“Oh look, he brought a long a girl. A man in love always tastes better,” Dragon scoffed.
“Don’t touch her,” Boy gasped as he struggled to his feet.
Dragon scooped Girl up and gripped her in her claw. Boy charged at the dragon and thrust his sword into her scaly hide. To his dismay his sword didn’t even dent the scales and instead it snapped in two. Dragon caught Boy up in her other claw, crushing him. Boy felt his ribs snap like twigs. Though his vision darkened, he could see Girl, struggling in the grasp of Dragon.
If Boy was going to die, so was this dragon. With the last of his strength, boy plunged the remainder of his sword into Dragon’s open mouth and down her throat. Fire whipped around Boy but he felt himself falling. And with a stomach churning screech, the mighty dragon fell also.
Girls rose to her feet slowly, painfully. The dragon was dead, lying in a pool of its blood. Girl looked away. She saw Boy a few feet away lay on the ground near by. Girls ran to him. His arms and face were covered with terrible burns but Girls hardly noticed.
“You defeated the dragon!” Girl said as she knelt beside him.
Boy opened his eyes slowly.
“I know,” he said.
“And you saved me,” Girl said.
“Did I?”
“Thank you.”
“Any time,” Boy said. He had defeated the dragon. He was a hero. But somehow, he didn’t feel very heroic. Didn’t heroes survive the battles?
“I will always remember you,” Girl whispered. “Everyone will.”
Heroes were always alive in stories and tales. Girl’s tears felt cool on Boy’s face. He smiled to himself and closed his eyes.
The End.
Very tragic. 