The next morning an assembly was called in the court outside the castle. A tally of the damage had to be taken. Dead had to be buried. Houses rebuilt. Defenses refortified. The entire village had gathered in the courtyard. The king and his court appeared on the balcony of the north wing of the castle. All but the prince. He was late. Finally he appeared, wearing his usual hooded cloak and gloves; dark, hollow eyes peering from beneath the woolen fringes. The crowd silenced, waiting for the trumpets to sound, announcing that the king would speak. Then a shrill voice pierced the silence. It was the town baker's wife. "He was there!" she cried. "I saw him! On the dragon! He was on the dragon, riding on it's back while it wrecked our village and killed our children!" she said, pointing to the prince. "I saw him, too!" another cried. The king turned to his son. No trumpets sounded. No royal banners unfurled. Everyone was speechless and every eye, all three-thousand, six-hundred and eighty-two pairs of them, were on the prince. "Is this true, son?" the king asked. The prince could only bow his head in shame. "Remove your cloak," commanded the king. The prince complied. "Your shirt," added the king. A gasp rose from the crowd. Then another. Then a thousand. The prince's hands, arms, and shoulders were covered with scales. Large ridges were on his back. The prince bowed to his knees in shame. And waited. Waited for what justice required from his father. He had seen it many times before. He waited for the sound of the swish of the sword. For he knew that would be the last sound he heard on this earth, was the swishing sound that sword made as his father, after raising it as high above his head as he could, drew it down upon the back of his son's neck. It never came. "How many others have been doing this?" the king demanded, glancing throughout the crowd. No one responded. "How many?" he cried, louder. Slowly, the town crier removed his shirt. Then someone else. Then another. And another. They all had scales. They had all been riding the dragon. Of the thirty-six hundred some aught people who were there, there wasn't one person who had not ridden the dragon. They all had. Get more from the Web. FREE MSN Explorer download : http://explorer.msn.com |
