Short Story Part 6 *drumroll*

It's been a while, hasn't it? Eh.  Better late than never, I like to think.  Well, I've been in school for like one and a half weeks, though it feels like much longer (thanks to chemistry no doubt).  xD  Anywho, without much further ado, we'll end this six-part-long journey.  (And maybe the main character will actually finally get hit in the head with a boulder...)

The Short Story Consisting of Words in Which a Dragon Who Cannot Tell a Single Lie Gets Hit in the Head With a Boulder Part Six

With boulders flying everywhere, Marius had to, understandably, dodge and weave as he flew.  The stone giants were ripping portions off of the stone wall surrounding the emperor's castle (which, the emperor had claimed, was now unassailable.  But that comment was made before he realized that stone giants existed, so...).  

A giant boulder whistled by Marius's head, so close he could feel the breeze as the rock passed him by. Turning to his left, Marius saw a smaller stone giant hurling more boulders right at him.  Veering, Marius changed his direction so that he was heading toward the stone giant.

As he dodged the giant flying boulders, Marius wondered how he could break the stone giant's stone covering.  His claws would likely have no effect (he'd tried scratching through stone in his alone time when he was bored before) and his fire couldn't melt rock (yes, he had been so alone one time that he even tried that).

But as a boulder came right for him, he had a sudden idea.  He grabbed hold of the boulder as it flew past, then swung it around and hurled it back at the stone giant.  Something like that would likely have pulled a human's arms out of their sockets, but for dragons, who have arm socket things that are incredibly strong, such a feat was easy.

The stone giant looked shocked as the boulder came flying back, but it was far too massive to nimbly dodge the projectile.  As the boulder smashed into the giant, the stone exoskeleton crumbled and fell to the ground in pieces.  

And on top of the wreckage lay three armored, very dizzy looking dwarves.  They stood, gained their balance, shook their hands at Marius, and cried out in their own dwarvish language which Marius understood none of.

He had no idea how three dwarves were able to control such a massive suit of stone armor, but he figured the humans capable of dispatching the dwarves.  He called out to the dragons and told them about his tactic of throwing the boulders back at the giants.  Hesitant at first, the dragons complied when they saw the crumbled stone giant.

The stone giants saw this too, and as the first few began crumbling and falling to the ground, the rest began to try to run.  But none made it far.

Since the boulders were no longer getting thrown at the dragons, they had to pick up their own and throw them, but even that hindrance didn't slow them down much as they vengefully dispatching the giants one by one.

After all had fallen, the dragons made their way back to the castle's courtyard where the human army was just finishing off the last of the dwarves.  The dragons landed and looked at the humans as Emperor Vaidd stubbornly stared back, refusing to sheath his sword.  

"Both humans and dragons have felt the sting of death today," Marius growled.  "Let that be enough.  If you will not challenge us, Emperor, we will take our leave."

Vaidd scowled, but lowered his weapon.  Just as Marius was about to take off, however, he had second thoughts.  He raised his weapon and charged.

Roaring, Marius surged forward, caught Vaidd in his grasp, and lifted off into the air quickly.  Right as they were above the castle, Vaidd cut his sword through Marius's foot, and the dragon, howling in pain, dropped the emperor.

Vaidd fell and tumbled through the air, landing heavily on the top of the castle.  He looked up and saw Marius circling back, so he quickly took refuge behind one of his castle's towers just as hot flames spewed forth and engulfed the tower and shot from either side of him.

As the flames stopped, he pulled a dagger from its sheath, jumped out from his hiding place, and hurled it at Marius.  The dragon reared in pain as he smashed into the castle, shooting shingles everywhere.  Vaidd cautiously moved forward, wary that Marius could spring up at anytime.  But as he neared the dragon, he threw all caution to the wind as he cried out and raised his sword the sky, intending to deliver the final blow. 

But he never did.

With a quick sweep of his tail, Marius knocked the emperor from the roof of the castle.  The emperor would have fallen to his death, but Marius swooped down and caught him.  Flying toward the ground, the dragon dropped the emperor from a more reasonable height, swooping down to pin him to the ground.  "This is for my imprisonment," Marius growled, willing fire to spew forth from his mouth.

"No, please!" a trembling voice behind him cried.

Marius turned back, swallowing the fire (which tasted horrible, in case you were wondering).  He saw Junior standing there.

"Don't kill him," the boy pleaded.  "Just please go.  Leave him alive."

Marius looked back at the emperor on the ground, and instead of seeing defiance on his eyes, Marius saw fear.  Fear of death perhaps?

Or was it fear that Marius would fly into a death rage and kill Vaidd's son? 

Looking back at Junior, Marius said, "Fine.  He won't die at my claws today."  He released the emperor and flew back to the rest of the dragons.  "Let's fly."

It was at that moment that a random boulder came flying through the air and hit Marius in the head.  (Ah, there it is!)  Looking around, Marius saw nothing that could have thrown it.  Growling in frustration, he and the rest of the dragons lifted off into the air and flew away.

---

And as they were flying away, a red dragon flew close to Marius.  "So, did you ever tell him what we were really scared of?"

Marius chuckled.  "No, of course not."

"He might suspect it, you know, when there are a surplus of rabbits in the forest instead of deer."

Marius paled.  "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." 

"It's funny how we dragons, who are so large, could be afraid of something so small..." the red dragon mused quietly.

"Do not underestimate the power of rabbits," Marius warned.  "They're tiny little monsters waiting to be unleashed.  Cute, I'll give you.  But I've heard stories of dragons that have gotten too close..."

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And so we reached the end of Marius's story.  Long, perhaps confusing, and completely unnecessary!  I wonder what happened to the humans after that... did father and son have a tender moment of reconciliation?  Mayhaps.  But that's for you to figure out.  Fanfiction moment, people!  xD  

Anyway, that was a pretty fun journey.  I thought at least. Well, I have no idea what else I should say.  This is a first draft.  Maybe I'll revise it, make it better, and stuff.  Maybe I won't.  Who knows?

Anyway, comment below and stuff.  It's been a while since my last post, but since this monumental thing is over, hopefully I can get back to more consistent stuff... xD  

See you soon!

Myth: the "Panda With a Pencil"