Dragon's Tooth: The first Ingredient

Dragon's Tooth: The first ingredient

The late evening sunlight danced across the cold cobbles like fairies with their wings on fire. Shadows stretched across the small town and creatures of the night were stirring. A loud and steady beat came from a nearby tavern, and the smell of ale hung in the cool evening air. Two weary travellers, a boy and his fly, hobbled through the streets looking for a place to stay for the night.

They had travelled long and far, in search of a powerful mage to help them in their quest. But alas, whenever they found one, it was always the same story: “I’m not in at the moment, please leave your name and number after the horn blower has blown, and I’ll get back to you.”

Now here they were, a million miles away from the forest they called home, with not a penny to their name and not a wizard in sight.

“I’m sorry,” the fly said.

Elkin stopped and looked at him. “What for?”

“Dragging you away from home on this silly quest.”

“It’s hardly a silly quest Booboo,” Elkin heaved the heavy rucksack back onto his shoulder. “We need to do this or you may remain a fly forever.”

He turned back to the street and headed over to a nearby Inn to get a room for the night. The Inn was quiet and only had a few drinkers who murmured quietly in the darkened corners – probably plotting their next murder. Elkin ignored them and made his way to the bar. The innkeeper was a very stout fellow and smelled worse than a wet woolly mammoth that had been attacked by skunks.

“What do ya’ want?” he growled. “Ya’ ‘ain’t ‘ardly old enuff to get served in ‘ere.”

“We don’t want to be served,” Elkin said. “We just want a room for the night.”

“We?…what’s this WE business?” the innkeeper growled again.

“Me and Booboo.”

“Booboo?” the innkeeper looked around. “I can’t see no Booboo, all I can see is this pesky fly.” The innkeeper waved his hands in the air, trying to knock Booboo out of the way.

Booboo buzzed angrily. “What do you think you’re doing?” he yelled.

The innkeeper stumbled back, catching himself at the last minute. “What the?…A fly that can talk?…I never heard o’ such a thing.”

“I’m not a fly you idiot!”

“Well you looks like a fly to me.”

“Can we have a room or not?” Elkin said, trying to get the innkeepers attention who was still looking nervously at Booboo flying around the bar.

Arm shaking, the innkeeper nervously handed a bunch of keys to Elkin, still looking at Booboo. “Ere, take ya’ pick.”

“Thanks,” Elkin smiled at the innkeeper. “Come on Booboo, let’s get some rest.” Booboo buzzed after Elkin as he made his way to their room.

*************************************************

The following morning, Elkin and Booboo made their way to the apothecary. It was a small shop with small square windows arranged into a larger square like a chessboard. Vials of potions and jars of ingredients, such as frogs’ legs, newts’ eyes and dragon tears, littered the shelves of the shop.

Sitting on the counter was a grinning skull – not that it had much of a choice – greeting Elkin and Booboo as they entered the shop. Behind the counter stood the apothecary wearing a dark cloak with the hood pulled over her head. Elkin ambled over to her.

A soft feminine voice came from under the hood. “Can I help you, young sir?”
“I hope so,” said Elkin, he gestured toward Booboo who had just landed on the counter next to the skull and made his best efforts to grin back. “We need some ingredients to help turn Booboo–“

Before he could finish, the woman had dropped her hood and was staring wide-eyed with a look of shock on her face, at Booboo.

“It cannot be!” she said.

She was a young and beautiful woman with fair skin and long braided blonde hair, yet she looked old and tired all at the same time. Elkin’s brain almost exploded trying to grasp such a concept.

The woman was still staring at Booboo. “How can such a powerful sorcerer, like yourself, be a fly?”

“Well, it was quite simple really…” Booboo began.

“It must have been a VERY powerful wizard who managed to turn you into a fly…”

“Well, he wasn’t THAT powerful…” Booboo continued, looking a little grumpy.

“I’ve never heard of such a thing,” she said folding her arms. “So how did it happen?”

“If you would just SHUT UP and let me explain,” shouted Booboo impatiently.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “Please continue.”

Booboo folded his front two arms. “I was involved in a magical war with another powerful sorcerer; he tricked me with a proposition to end this war. I met up with him, as requested, and he caught me off guard. Because he couldn’t kill me, he turned me into a maggot, thinking the birds would eat me; which was his BIGGEST mistake. I survived for a few days, before I eventually turned into a fly; and I’ve been this way ever since.”

“That’s so horrible,” she said grimacing. “So you are now looking for ingredients to a spell that will turn you back into a human?”

“Yes!” said Elkin butting in. “We need them right away, and if you could tell us of a wizard in these parts that could help, we’d be very grateful.”

She smiled, nodding her head. “So tell me, young sir, what ingredients do you seek?”

“We need…” Elkin pulled out a rolled up piece of paper from his rucksack, and unrolled it onto the counter. “We need a dragon’s tooth, the hair of a yeti’s backside, and a golem’s tear.”

“Oh…” she said, the smile had vanished from her face. “I’m sorry, we don’t have ANY of those ingredients in stock.”

“You don’t?” Elkin said with a pout.

“I’m afraid not. We haven’t had a dragon’s tooth or golem’s tear for nearly a year. The last of the yeti backside hair was sold yesterday…it makes a great herbal tea you know–“

“But we need those ingredients,” Elkin said grabbing hold of the counter. “We need them now!”

“Ok…I can get you a map to help you find the yeti, but I can’t help with the other ingredients…I’m sorry.”

Elkin sighed. “That will have to do then.”

She gave them a rolled up map; she also gave them a bag of pixie dust to protect them in case they ran into trouble. They thanked her and left the shop.

Outside the shop, Elkin unrolled the map and took a quick look. “It’ll take us days to travel there, Booboo; it’s high up in the Frosty Mountains.”

“If we can find a wizard, he’d be able to teleport us their and back again.”

“Okay,” said Elkin nodding. “So what do we do about the other ingredients?”

“There's a tavern nearby; it will surely have a brave hero or two that claim to have slain dragons; they might be able to tell us where to find one.”

Elkin nodded, carefully rolled up the map and placed it into his rucksack, and then headed down the street toward the nearest tavern.

“The Steaming Dragon’s Dump,” said Elkin. “This sounds like our kind of place.”

Booboo and Elkin entered the tavern together. Inside it was smoky, smelly and full of so-called barbarians, warriors, knights and adventurers. No one looked up when they entered; nobody cared.

“There…” Booboo hovered in front of Elkin’s face, pointing toward a lone barbarian wearing thick red armour that looked like large scales from a giant snake – or even a dragon. “That’s who we want, he should know.”

They moved closer to the barbarian. Next to him, on a small wooden table, was a huge helmet made from dragon skull. This barbarian had to be a REAL barbarian. Real barbarians are as rare as virgin maidens, Elkin noted sourly.

“Hi,” said Elkin to the barbarian.

The barbarian didn’t even look up, he just grunted in reply.

“We were wondering if you could help us find a dragon?”

Taking a big slurp from his tankard, he didn’t even make an attempt to reply this time.

“Hey…you big lump,” Booboo was standing on the table waving his arms at the barbarian.

He frowned, looked at Booboo, and then slammed his big, heavy fist down where Booboo had been standing. Elkin looked like he had just eaten a tin of sardines, but forgot to take them out of the tin first.

“Ya missed, you big bully,” shouted Booboo, standing atop the barbarian’s dragon skull helmet. Elkin breathed a sigh of relief.

Roaring loudly, the barbarian pulled out a large double-edged axe, raised it high into the air and swung it down, heavily, toward Booboo. His axe not only split his helmet, but also chopped the table it had been sitting on in half too.

“What’s gowin’ on?” roared a voice from the bar. The voice belonged to a big, burly woman from behind the bar; bigger, it would seem, than the barbarian – who suddenly cowered, and rightly so.

She picked up a huge club, so huge that it dwarfed Elkin – and he was an elf. Stomping over to the barbarian, who was now quivering, she roared that terrible voice again.

“I said…what’s gowin’ on?”

“I’m sorry,” said the barbarian, trembling behind the remnants of the table and tears beginning to fill his eyes.

“This boy botherin’ you?” she asked of the barbarian; he nodded his head.

“So what’s gowin’ on?” she said, suddenly glaring at Elkin. “Why are you disturbin’ Puffy?”

“Puffy? What kind of name is that?” said Booboo, squealing with laughter.

She spun and locked eyes with Booboo. “You mean you ‘aint never heard ‘o Puffy the Dragon Slayer?”

“Nope, “ said Booboo, holding his sides to stop them from splitting. “Can’t say I have.”

“Puffy is a very famous play in these parts, I’ll have you know”

“You mean…he’s an actor?”

“Yes…a bloody good one too,” she returned to the bar, taking her club with her. “We all play parts in the Puffy theatrical production. It’s about a small town that sits on the edge of gateway to dragon land. Dragons pop up all over the place, and Puffy has to take care of them.”

“You mean…you’re all actors?”

“That’s right.”

“So not one of you is a REAL dragon slayer?” Booboo looked slightly miffed, if he had teeth he would have gritted them. Booboo turned to leave. “Come on Elkin…lets–“

“We’re not ALL actors, “ growled a voice from the darkest corner of the tavern.

The crowd parted, revealing a hooded figure wearing an oilskin cloak. On rising from the table, his cloak parted to show gleaming golden armour; etched into the breastplate was a dragon’s head breathing golden fire.

“If it’s dragon’s ye want, I can provide,” he growled.

“Now THAT’S a dragon slayer,” cried Booboo.

After the mob of actors had started chitchatting amongst themselves again, Booboo and Elkin joined the dragon slayer at his table to discuss terms.

“A dragon’s ‘ead’ll cost ye one thousand gold pieces; dragon scales cost two thousand gold pieces; a dragon’s claw’ll cost ye five ‘undred gold pieces. Now what’ll it be?” the dragon slayer growled from under his hood.

“We only want a tooth, “ said Elkin.

“A tooth? Ye can’t be serious…what would anyone want with a tooth,” the dragon slayer laughed.

“No, we need a tooth,” Elkin repeated.

“Then ye’ve come to the wrong dragon slayer,” he said, folding his arms. “Why don’t ye find one with a bad tooth, I’m sure he’ll give it to ye.”

“Where can we find a dragon with a bad tooth?”

“Well, as it ‘appens, there is a dragon with toothache in the ‘ills, just two days walk from ‘ere. I’d ‘ave slain him by now, but ‘e’s not causing no one any bother. You could ask ‘im; ’e’s a bit grumpy mind.”

*************************************************

Armed with this new information, Elkin and Booboo travelled for two days to the north, stopping at village after village and asking if they had seen any dragons. It was getting on for three day’s, when a villager told them of a grumpy dragon in some hills not far from there. The dragon hadn’t bothered anyone for about two months now, just stayed in his cave, pained screams echoing out into the night. So Elkin and Booboo made their way to the cave.

As they approached the cave, an agonised howl – if you could call it that, it sounded similar to the noise a cat makes when you stand on its tail – emanated from within.

“I’m not sure I like this,” Elkin said.

“If you can think of an easier way to get a dragon’s tooth, I’m all ears,” Booboo replied.

Cautiously making their way to the entrance, they heard an odd sound – taking about two minutes for it to register that it was actually a voice, a dragon’s voice.

“Why’s the world so cruel,” wailed the dragon.

“Hello…” said Elkin, stepping into view. The dragon was deep red in colour, with a golden underside. His hand was holding his jaw and tears were gushing from his eyes.

“Go away,” cried the dragon.

“We’re here to help,” said Elkin.

“I’ve got toothache, not double vision,” wailed the dragon. “What do you think you’re playing at?”

“There are two of us here,” shouted Booboo from Elkin’s shoulder.

“Ah, so there is,” said the dragon. “Now go away and leave me alone to die.”

“You don’t die from toothache,” said Elkin.

“If you had the toothache that I’ve got, you would feel differently,” said the dragon, more tears gushed from his eyes.

“Which tooth is it?” Booboo asked.

The dragon opened his massive mouth, revealing hundreds of gleaming white teeth. He pointed at a black and obviously rotten tooth.

“i’s a’ on’,” said the dragon with his mouth still open.

“Pardon?” said Booboo.

The dragon closed his mouth. “It’s that one.”

“So can we help?” asked Elkin.

“No,” said the dragon, turning away from them.

Elkin and Booboo moved a little further down the hill and seated themselves on a nearby rock.

“So what do we do now?” asked Booboo.

“Pixie dust is explosive, you know,” Elkin said.

“That’s interesting…but how’s that supposed to help us?”

“Dragon’s breathe fire.”

“Yeah…so…how is that supposed to–…ooh…if we can get the pixie dust behind the rotten tooth, then we can blow the tooth right out of his mouth.”

“Exactly!”

“So how are we supposed to get the pixie dust into the dragon’s mouth?”
“Well…ummm–“

Two minutes later, Booboo, with a bag of pixie dust strapped to him, fluttered into the cave, and Elkin walked to the cave entrance.

“Hey, dragon,” shouted Elkin. “Show me your tooth again.”

The dragon eyed him for a moment, and then opened his mouth and pointed at the rotten tooth. Booboo used this prime moment to quickly drop the bag of pixie dust right behind the bad tooth. When safely cleared the dragon’s mouth, and made his way out of the cave, Elkin got to work.

“Hey, dragon, will you breathe fire at me if I annoy you?” shouted Elkin.

“No I won’t, go away,” replied the dragon.

“Dragon, you’re breath stinks,” yelled Elkin. The dragon ignored his futile efforts to annoy him.

Elkin picked up a stone and threw it at the dragon. The stone just bounced off the dragon’s thick scales without even flinching.

“Come on dragon,” shouted Elkin. “Haven’t I annoyed you enough yet?”

Elkin turned to Booboo. “It’s not working.”

“With those insults, I’m not surprised,” replied Booboo. “Try insulting his mother, that would be enough to annoy a troll, never mind a dragon.”

“You’re mother was an ogre,” shouted Elkin to the dragon.

“I didn’t have a mother; she left me at eggbirth,” moaned the dragon.

Elkin looked at Booboo. He shrugged. “Well I’m all out of ideas.”

“There must be something that will annoy him,” said Elkin. He stood at the opening of the cave. Elkin sighed. “I bet he can’t even breathe fire anyway.”

“What did you say?” asked the dragon, suddenly raising his head.

“Erm…I said…I bet you can’t even breathe fire anyway,” said Elkin.

“Yes I can,” said the dragon defiantly.

“I don’t think you can.”

“Well I bloody well can,” said the dragon, pushing himself up from the floor.

“Prove it then.”

“This is just a trick to make me breathe fire at you,” said the dragon, lowering himself again.

“It isn’t a trick…I bet you couldn’t even light a candle,” laughed Elkin.

Before Elkin could react, the dragon was up on his feet, mouth opening wide and smoke billowing out of his nostrils.

“Run!” shouted Booboo.

Elkin turned and ran as fast as he could down the hill; a huge flame erupted from the opening of the cave. A small rock found its way to Elkin’s foot, causing him to trip and tumble down the hill; he landed sitting upright. Booboo hovered above his head.

“What happened?” asked Elkin.

“I don’t know,” replied Booboo. “It should’ve exploded.”

Standing up and brushing himself down, Elkin turned to wander back up the hill. He had almost made it to the entrance when there was a loud bang, a flash, and then an eruption of boulders and smoke from the cave entrance. Elkin covered his head trying to move out of the way of the shower of stones.

When the smoke had cleared, the dragon ambled from the cave toward them, carrying the rotten tooth in his hand.

“Hey guys,” the dragon said, smiling. “Thanks a lot. The pain’s gone. If there’s anything I could do for you?”

Elkin rose from his crouching position and smiled. “Actually, we’d really like that tooth. Could we have it, please?”

“Sure,” said the dragon handing the tooth to Elkin. “Is there anything else I could do for you?”

“Could you fly us somewhere?” asked Booboo.

“Yeah, sure, where’d you like to go?”

Elkin pulled the map to the yetis from his rucksack and showed it to the dragon. “Yeah, I could take you there…could you excuse me for a moment?”

Standing upright, the dragon unfolded his massive wings. He wriggled them, as if to test them out. Flapping them faster and faster, the dragon started to rise from the ground. The dragon flew off into the distance, just above a small village not far from the cave – the same village that Elkin and Booboo learned of the cave that the dragon was living in. Stopping just above the village, the dragon breathed in a deep breath; he released a cascade of fire setting the village alight. Even from the distance they were standing, Elkin and Booboo could hear the villagers’ cries.

A few moments later, the dragon returned, landing with a thud. Booboo and Elkin were staring at him.

"What?" the dragon said. "The children used to come up to my cave and laugh at me."

Elkin nodded and the dragon shrugged.

“Okay, hop on,” the dragon said. “The ride may be a little bumpy, but I’ll have you there in no time.”

Elkin and Booboo hopped onto the dragons back, and it wasn’t long before they were on their way to the second part of their quest; flying over mountains, through valleys, over lush forests and finally up to the Frosty Mountains where the yetis live.

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