Dragon Castle by Joseph Bruchac

Author:Joseph Bruchac
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2011-05-12T16:00:00+00:00

PAVOL’S LEGEND

Dvanast

HE’D BEEN CLIMBING for a long time. It wasn’t bad enough that he had set himself a goal that might quite logically lead to his death. True, he’d had better training with a sword than most. But that was against a more or less human opponent. As fine a teacher and as worthy an opponent as Gregor had been, he was not a fire-breathing reptile reputed to be the size of a hill. Confronting a dragon was not something an inexperienced young man such as himself should hope to survive.

In addition to his probably imminent mortality, he also had to deal with discomfort along the way. First there was the merciless heat of the sun on his head. Then there was the difficulty of making his way back and forth along a narrow mountain track that seemed to wend ever upward to the point where his journey now felt as if it had begun when the trees around him were no more than mere seeds in the stony earth.

His disquiet was added to by the small incessant insects, of some species he’d never seen before and thus could not identify when they appeared in great sociable swarms to demonstrate their fondness for humanity. Actually he now did have names for those little blood-suckers, none of which might be repeated in the presence of polite company.

He looked up at the golden eagle that had just come to circle overhead, its head cocked to watch him. How much easier it would be to undertake this quest if he had wings.

Pavol sighed and looked over at what had become his greatest trial, that which made his journey seem totally interminable—his steed. He had set out not astride a horse—which his purse would not have been able to afford even if he had been given a choice—but atop a slow, stunted donkey named Jedovaty.

Jedovaty. Poisonous. A well-named mount.

Jedovaty’s lack of a saddle (which Pavol had been too impoverished to lease or purchase) was compensated for by the innumerable bony ridges of his spine. The uncomfortable young man had shifted his weight first from one side and then to the other to no avail. He even tried a sideways stance, both long legs dangling and scraping the ground, in a vain attempt to find a comfortable seat. Finally he had slid off to walk beside the bony beast.

That, however, had not made things easier. Although Jedovaty might have been uncomfortable as a mount, the delightful creature was just as unpleasant as a walking companion.

Indolent, bad-tempered, uncooperative, vicious, stubborn.

Those were some of the many words that Pavol had catalogued to describe Jedovaty’s unendearing traits—each vying for first position. If his back was turned, Pavol now knew, the donkey would attempt to sink his yellowed teeth into any nearby portion of the young man’s flesh.

The only good things about his current situation were two. First, it was slightly faster to drag his unwilling steed uphill by his halter than to use him as a means of transportation.

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