Here be Dragons

As the woods gave way to a blasted, gravel-strewn field, Sir Cedric’s horse stopped, shied, and stubbornly refused to take another step. Cedric could not fault his mount. The land ahead did not look the least bit encouraging. The wide valley was coming to a narrow end. Beyond the timberline, there was nothing but rock and debris, climbing in tiers towards a gaping, jagged mouth of a cave set high in the valley’s wall. Cedric, although not without a poetic streak, was not enthusiastic about the image. He suspected that he would soon enough encounter an entirely non-metaphoric gaping, jagged mouth.
He tied his horse to a tree and gazed out at the terrain, which offered no shelter, no shade, and certainly no cover against anything that might come crawling, or flying, or racing out of the cave. The ground was useless for a charge with a lance; his horse would break a leg within five yards. His blue eyes hardening, he belted on his sword, adjusted his armor, and set off towards the cave. Whatever else could be said for his adversary, it was not a fool in picking its battlegrounds.
As Cedric strode towards the mouth of the cave, as briskly as the rocks would let him, he thought back on the train of events that had brought him to this place, to rescue Lady Urrica. As with all of the knights at court, he was expected to find a lady towards whom to display proper courtly love, to play the languishing, lovesick supplicant to her haughty, inconstant, aloof charms. Cedric considered this a tremendous folly and waste of time: if the lady was interested in his lovemaking, she would say so (or at least demonstrate, ideally by removing some interfering article of clothing), and if she was not, he would go about his business, which was, largely, killing people who had offended the king.

Weiterlesen: Here be Dragons

Diese Geschichte gefällt mir besonders gut, denn der Held, Sir Cedric, ist ein Mann mit Game. Er liebt Frauen, ist aber nicht bereit, sich für diese zum Narren zu machen. Der Drachen ist offensichtlich aus dem gleichen Holz geschnitzt.