Bethjoy.com

Two things. 1. My posting program will only let me post a certian length. 2. Do not start a video at 9:30 if you do not know how long it is or if you do not have the will power to stop.

I did 2. last night. I started what I thought was going to be a short movie(Haha) and it turned out to be TWO AND A HALF HOURS LONG!!! So I finally turned it off around midnight and this moring I am a bit sleepy. Afteral, staying up an hour past your usual bedtime will do that to you.

Also the Royal Crowns of Scotland is now up. I hope that you will enjoy reading it!

The Royal Crowns of Scotland
By Elizabeth Von Fange

Dedication
I would like to dedicate this book to three extremely important people. Firstly I would like to dedicate it to my brother Daniel. Secondly I would like to dedicate this book to Nancealia, the heroine. Last but not least I would like to dedicate it to the person whose great intelligence, amazing sense of humor, and sparkling wit inspired me to write this story, Elizabeth Von Fange. And I believe that it is entirely possible to dedicate a book to yourself.

Preramble

One evening, I thought I would write an adventure. Of course, if you want to write an adventure you need to have some one to be the main character of the adventure. And I happened to have a very long suffering friend named Nancealia, who had often been the Heroine of my adventures. As I was thinking about choosing her she showed up. As usual she had dark brown eyes, long dark brown hair that was wavy and extremely beautiful. Of course she was very beautiful and looked exactly like what I would like to look like if I could choose. She walked to where I was, sat down, and proceeded to start the conversation.
“So, I suppose you want me to be the heroine of another series of mad and impossible adventures with unlikely and unnatural ends?”
“Yes, I want you to be the heroine but I hope that in this story things will be better.”
“They had better be,” said Nancealia, “Because I might go on strike if they aren’t. After all not everybody wants to go though sword fights, battles, and conversations, twenty times over until you get it right. I hope that you will get me a stunt double soon or else I really will go on strike.”
“Well, this time it is going to be different, because I am actually writing this and not merely making it up in my head and leaving it at that.”
“Really, writing it! You’ll have to write very fast then to keep up with the flow of the story.”
“Fortunately I type fast, though not as fast as you would if you were writing this. I wonder what would happen if you did write this story?”
“It would be done in a day and would be a best seller with tremendous profits before two weeks went by…”
“Yes, it would! Because that is how you do things in my imagination. It’s too bad you exist only in my imagination and can’t actually do things like that. But I suppose I’ll just write it myself.”
“I suppose you will, but this will be a very interesting book none the less. Where is it to take place?”
“I think I will have it take place in an actual place. Scotland, back in the mystical times of dragons and beautiful dresses etc. would be good setting.”
“Sounds neat! Am I going to be a princess or a knight’s daughter who goes off and has adventures and fights dragons and falls in love with princes ect.?”
“I think I will have you be the daughter of a knight, though your father will be dead and you will be roving around Scotland. Also I am going to do something really unusual and give you a side kick!.”
“Really! What did I do to deserve such an honor?”
“Nothing but I have been reading, and have found that it is very useful to have a sidekick to discuss plans with and to help in executing them etc. Besides it will let me have some one with red hair for a main character and in a story about Scotland there should be somebody with red hair.”
“That’s surprising, you usually don’t have red haired characters in your stories unless they are villains.
“This one won’t be. I think her name will be Celticia.”
“Celticia, sounds interesting, I don’t think you’ve used it before.”
“No, it’s close to Celtic and I don’t feel very unique at present. ”
“And you aren’t typing too well either, you are going to have a quite a mess to edit when you are done.”
“Yes, but it will be edited and fixed later, and when people read this they will have no idea of the typographical errors you were referring to.”
“Will this conversation really be in the book?
“Probably, it will be slightly edited of course. In fact, it will be greatly edited. But it will be here.”
“Well, back to the discussion of the story, will it end happily?”
“It should for most of the characters. But it depends on how the story goes. I think there will be a hero though because I want practice writing proposals.”
“Well, let’s get going, I want to meet Celticia and see how this adventure will begin. You can add to this conversation when you edit it if you want it any longer.”
“All right Nancealia, get ready to step back in time to Scotland, many many years ago. Also remember, this is not Bethjoy.com, this is an adventure story so do not expect a very funny ramble.”

Chapter One

It was a dark and stormy night, at the local inn all seemed relatively peaceful despite the storm that was raging outside. The door seemed to blow open and two of the inns regular customers walked in. They were dressed as two female adventurers. One had dark brown hair that was braided back away from her face and dark brown eyes that seemed to be able to see everything and anything. She was wearing a dress of dark brown material which was very weather stained. Around her waist was a leather belt and on it hung a long sword, curiously carved. She had a brown woolen cloak on it was fastened with a pin of the same style as the sword.
Her companion was similarly dressed, only her gown was a dark green which matched her green eyes. She had red hair and her sword was plain and not carved She appeared to be the younger of the two, but in the dim light it was hard to tell.
A stranger and his companion, seated at corner table, noticed to the two women as they came in. “Who are they?” He asked the man who was serving them.
“Nancealia Arloth and Celticia McCleevy,” he replied.
“Arloth does not sound very Scottish.” said the stranger.
“That it isn’t, which is a great pity considering who her mother was.”
“Who was she?”
“Ah, Rose McClarve was her mother, and a greater beauty was never seen in these parts. She was the daughter of Lord McClarve, the owner of the castle yonder and of these lands. Rose could have had the pick of any of the lords around. It was great pity that she didn’t marry one of them.” He shook his head in a sad, solemn way.
“What happened” asked the stranger, who wasn’t used to long drawn out tales of this sort.
“Sir Arloth, that’s what! He came into to town one day about nineteen years ago with nothing but his horse and some light luggage. He saw her and proceeded to court her. Then she went off and eloped with him, just a landless wandering knight and it’s been doubted by some that he was a knight. Well, her father was quite mad at her and even more at him when he found out about. Most fathers would have just got rid of the fellow and taken their daughter back and taught them some sense. But not Lord McClarve, threw her out he did and he told her never to come near the castle or expect to see him or any other members of the family. The old man never did forgive her and went to his grave without seeing her again. She died shortly after he did but not until she brought Nancealia into the world. But the neighboring lords have learned a lesson and they now keep their daughters more closely guarded.”
“What about Sir Arloth, what happened to him?”
“He died during a battle with a dragon over two years ago. He became dragon hunter after his marriage to support his family, it’s a good living I’m told, though very dangerous. Also there are many wild animals that fetch a tidy sum when there pelts are brought in. That’s what Nancealia and Celticia mainly concern themselves with I think. Though the two of them could take down any dragon around here I’m sure. There both very good with those swords of theirs.”
“I’ll remember that. But who is Celticia and where did she come in?”
“Celticia is an orphan, she’s about a year younger than Nancealia I think, but that’s just an estimate. Her parents were killed by wolves about ten years ago, Sir Arloth came to fight them off as soon as he had heard about the attack but he came too late to save her parents. He did find Celticia though and he brought her home and raised her. Now that he’s dead, Nancealia looks after her.”
“I see. You say the two of them are very good at killing dragons?”
“They have had some experience but they’d probably know more about that than I would. Are you looking for somebody good at dragon slaying?”
“Yes,”
“Well, I think you should know that several other people have been into town lately looking somebody to kill some dragon named Dearth. Nancealia has turned them all down, and not because they didn’t offer her enough money either. Still you can ask. Any way she might have inherited her mother’s weakness for handsome strangers,” he added taking a good look at the stranger. He was handsome and there was a noble, well built look about him. His clothing was not very weather stained and was of good quality. His companion was also well built and strong but as he was wearing a hooded cloak his features and clothing were not too obvious.
After the man had gone the stranger sat reflecting about what he had heard. Then he seemed to make up his mind about something and got up and walked across the room to the table where Nancealia and Celticia where sitting. They looked up and he said.
“My name is Arnold McClen. I’m looking for some one to help me kill a dragon.”
“Any particular dragon or will just any dragon do?” asked Nancealia, who did not seem surprised, in fact she had noticed him talking and looking in her direction and that usually meant that somebody would come over and introduce themselves.
“Oh, a VERY particular dragon,” he said.
“Dearth by any chance?” asked Nancealia
“Yes, how did you know?”
“It was just a guess. But as he is the dragon most people seem to want killed right now it seemed likely. Others have been in town lately asking for someone to kill Dearth. I’m beginning to wonder why, he isn’t bothering people any more than a lot of dragons I could mention.”
“Well, it’s the treasure hoard that’s the reason.”
“I thought so, it is an enormous hoard.”
“There is a very particular treasure that’s in it which is the main attraction though.”
“What?” put in Celticia who since she hadn’t spoken yet thought it was about time. After all she had to have her share in the conversation.
“The royal crowns of Scotland are in there.” said Arnold McClen.
Nancealia and Celticia looked at each other in surprise.
“The royal crowns!” said Celticia, “But those have been lost for hundreds of years! How do you know that they are there?”
“Because they were seen by a knight who escaped from the dragon and later by other investigators who made it back. Besides, nearly everywhere else where they could be has been looked into.”
“So that’s why so many are wanting Dearth’s death.” said Nancealia, then after a short pause where the rain could be heard beating down she asked. “Are you from the king or are you just looking for the crowns on your own?
“Well,” here Arnold looked a bit hesitant but he said, “I am looking for them for myself but when I find them…”
“If you find them” interrupted Celticia.
“When I find them,” he continued, giving proper emphasis on the word when, “I will give them to the king but this is not an official mission.”
“We aren’t interested in going off by ourselves and trying to fight Dearth.” said Nancealia firmly.
“But it won’t be by yourselves. I and my companion, who is very good at sword fighting, will be there. We’d go by ourselves to fight him but we have never been in dragon country before and thought that having a guide would be a very good idea. Also some hints on the proper method of fighting dragons, or at least getting the crowns would be nice as well.”
“Well,” said Nancealia while looking questioningly at Celticia. Celticia nodded and that seemed to decide Nancealia. “All right, we’ll guide you to where Dearth is and get you some experience with fighting dragons. But with the exception of the crowns Celticia and I get half of any dragon hoard that we get. Also you provide your own provisions.”
“Sounds reasonable. About how long do you estimate it will take?” said Arnold’s companion, who had walked over to where they were.
“Two week to four weeks I think, but it depends on a great many circumstances but I don’t think that you will be back before two weeks.”
Arnold looked up and when he saw him standing there he said to him, “You never do leave me to myself for long. Do you Schelsh?” Then turning to the others he said “This is Schelsh McHarth,”
Nancealia and Celticia nodded in response to the introduction. Nancealia spoke next and said “When do you want to start?”
“The faster the better,” said Arnold, “I don’t want anyone else getting the crowns first.”
“Very well,” said Nancealia, “Will tomorrow morning at daybreak be too early.”
“No.” said both Arnold and Schelsh.
“Good, We’ll meet you at the inn stable yard then.”

Chapter Two

The next morning at dawn, when the suns gold rays were just reaching over the horizon and the birds began to sing, Arnold and and Schelsh walked to the front of the inn leading their horses. Nancealia and Celticia were all ready standing beside their horses.
“Greetings fellow adventurers!” said Arnold, “This is Starlight.” he added, motioning to the pale white stallion he was leading.
“And this” said Schelsh introducing his coal black stallion, “Is Midnight.”
“Starlight and Midnight, their names certainly go together,” Celticia said with a smile towards Schelsh. In the light of day she noticed that Schelsh was a lot younger than he had looked in the dim light of the inn, and a lot handsomer. “This is Bonnie,” she continued introducing her own horse. Bonnie was a light brown mare. She was small a small mare but larger than a pony.
“And this,” said Nancealia swinging up on the back of her horse, “Is Lady.” Lady was a deep chestnut colored mare, her mane was exactly the same color as Nancealia’s hair. Lady was built for speed and obviously much higher of quality than Bonnie. In fact she looked equal to even Arnold’s fine horse. The rider and horse were very well matched indeed.
“She’s a splendid looking horse.” said Arnold looking with admiration from the horse to the rider, “Where did you get her?”
“I bought her from a noble who had been robbed and needed some ready money and I was very fortunate to get her. She has a speed and strength that is amazing and rather uncommon in mares. But we can talk more about horses on the way. Let’s get started.”
Arnold agreed and they mounted their horses and in the beauty of a spring morning they rode down the main road toward the north.
Plenty of provisions had been packed on the horses, for all though Arnold and Schelsh may not have had much experience with dragons, they did have a good deal of experience with long journeys, and they knew that a lot of provisions always come in handy. Nancealia also knew the good of this and had packed enough to last her and Celticia for several weeks.
They soon left the village behind them and after about an hour or so the first glimpse of the McClarve castle came into view
Nancealia, who was leading, turned her horse off the main road to a path leading into a forest. It seemed frequently used by horses though little traveled by others.
“I thought it was shorter to take the main road to the mountains?” asked Arnold.
“Yes, it is shorter to the mountains. But we’ll be going to the Lesser Dragon Hills first and this route is shorter to go there.” replied Nancealia, “Besides the main road runs right in front of the McClarve castle and I usually don’t go that way. It’s best not to intentionally stir up trouble if you can avoid it.” with that remark she continued down the trail and Arnold had the impression that Nancealia was not very welcome at her Uncle’s castle. He was quite right for all though for Rose’s sake her daughter would have been taken back into the family by the other members, Lord McClarve would not hear of it and made all of his children promise not to to speak to or have anything to do with the girl, and never allow her to come near the castle.
The party of four, or eight including the horses headed down the forest path. It was very pleasant at first in the early morning coolness. The trees of the forest, mainly oaks, rose up above there heads and there were many birds singing in their branches. However as the sun climbed towards noon it began to get hot. They stopped for lunch when the sun was quite high in the sky. Lunch was mainly the provisions that would spoil soonest, some things do spoil faster than others they are usually eaten first. They had a good lunch and the horses lunched on the fine grass and drank from a stream nearby.
During Lunch Arnold asked, “What is our road going to be like?”
“Well,” said Nancealia, “We are going to be in this forest probably until this evening, if we keep up a good pace. After the forest there will be a few hours riding across a plain and then we will be at the Lesser Dragon Hills.”
“So named because the Lesser Dragons live there.” interrupted Celticia.
“Yes,” replied Nancealia, then continuing, “There, we’ll probably stop for a bit and maybe fight one of the Lesser Dragons before proceeding onwards. After that it will depend on several circumstances where we shall proceed.”
“Which routes would we take depending on the circumstances?” asked Schelsh.
“Well, it mainly depends on what I find out about Dearth from some of the dragons. We might go directly toward Dearth’s lair through the barren wastelands. Or we might make our way through the Lesser Dragon hills until we hit the Medium Rare Dragons.”
“That’s a funny name” laughed Arnold, “Why are they called that?”
“Because that’s how their flames will cook you. The lesser dragons don’t spout flames but the Medium Rare dragons do. Surprisingly the Rare dragons have become extremely rare.” Schelsh and Arnold had another laugh at that.
“But they are still quite dangerous and Dearth is a Burt-to-a-Crisp dragon so you’ll need to know how to avoid dragon flames. My father died by not avoiding the flames.” She seemed to be remembering the day her father died as she spoke the last words and there was a sad look in her eyes. But she soon continued, “So remember, if you can avoid the flames you’ll do all right.”
“And how should we avoid them?” asked Schelsh.
“One of the best ways to do this is to jump on the back of the dragon since most dragons can’t or won’t burn themselves so it’s pretty safe up there.” replied Nancealia.
“Unless the dragon flies to the roof of the cave and bumps against it several times forcibly…” added Celticia.
“Yes, but you can usually change your position so that the dragon is merely hurting himself in order to avoid that. And while the dragon is doing that he is usually stationary and it’s a good time to throw a sword into it’s heart.”
“I’m assuming that that is a way to kill a dragon.”
“Yes, especially if in the dragon’s hoard there are a lot of swords. You can pull it out of its sheath and throw it and if you aim correctly it may kill the dragon. But some times the dragon’s scales are too hard for the sword to go through. However Celticia has brought down many a dragon by this method.”
“What if the scales are too hard for a sword to go through?” asked Arnold.
“Usually if Celticia tells me that the scales are to hard I try to climb onto the dragon’s head and plunge my sword into its brain. Usually the eyes are the easiest way to do this, and I can at least blind the creature so that it doesn’t know where it’s going and where Celticia is and it can’t doge things. Sometimes it will come crashing down after hitting the cave walls or sometimes it will just keep flying around until it is exhausted. Also it may die of lose of blood. Any way a blind dragon is not as dangerous as a dragon that can see. However some times the dragon never flies low enough to be caught and ridden.”
“What is the best thing to do then” asked Arnold.
“Use the sword through the heart method, and if that doesn’t work either make your way out of the dragon’s cave at top speed or just throw anything that is rather sharp at the dragon and hope to hit its eyes. Most of the smaller dragons don’t have hoards of gems and gold but you can usually find something in the caves to throw at the dragon.”
Arnold and Schelsh nodded and the meal finished soon after. They remounted their horses after clearing things up, and after having a good drink from the stream. They proceeded along their way way at a quick trot. Their was very little talking for the trail wound around and there were many branches in the way that had to be moved unless you wanted them to hit you. However after they had been riding this way for about three hours they joined another path that seemed more used and the going became easier.
Celticia (who had a fine voice) sang a few songs at the request of Schelsh who was beginning to be fascinated by the beautiful young girl. Of course Celticia was all ready fascinated with him and the beginnings of a romance was underway. Neither Nancealia nor Arnold talked much, but they did enjoy the singing and listening to Celticia and Schelsh talk.
The shadows were lengthening and it was almost time for the sun to go down when they finally exited the forest.
Since both Arnold and Schelsh were very ready to get to the dragons they decided to continue riding rather far into the night. A bit before midnight the outline of some hills could be dimly seen in the distance. They halted close to the banks of a nearby stream and built a campfire. Blankets were unpacked and every one had a quick snack then lay down to sleep.
The night past silently and with out anything of interest happening in it, which was rather unusual for that area. The next morning everyone was up early. The hills seemed larger in the morning light. They were covered with grass and many sheep and goats roamed about on them. As they ate breakfast Arnold said to Nancealia,
“I would not have thought of grass, sheep, and goats in dragon territory.”
“Well, the lesser dragons don’t breathe fire, which is why there is grass. And where there is grass goats and sheep can usually live. The lesser dragons eat them, but they make sure that they don’t eat so many that the flocks lessen. That way they always have plenty of food.”
“I see.” said Arnold. After that the conversation at breakfast was not really worth recounting.

Chapter Three

After breakfast was over Nancealia said that should leave their horses behind them in a nearby glad of trees, she explained that this was a good idea as the horses would only be in their way when they were with the dragons. They then walked forward until they were right up against the hills.
Then Nancealia said, “Stay here for a minute while I reconnoiter.” She slowly walked forward and she disappeared behind the hill. After a few minutes she came back and said. “There is just one dragon in the cave, and its a small one. It’s in the process of eating a moose. We can probably all walk to the cave since it’s busy and not keeping a very good eye on things.”
All four of them walked slowly around the hill. As they came to the other side of it they saw a green valley. There were more sheep and goats grazing throughout the valley but the most remarkable thing about it were the many green hills that stood up like humps. Most of them had an entrance, and Arnold thought that the entrances were much too small for dragons. However the Lesser Dragons were “Lesser” and that meant that they were diminutive, and if you do not understand what diminutive is then you will have to wait to meet the dragon to understand. They walked towards the opening that was into the hill that they had just walked around. They stopped at the entrance to the cave and looked in. It wasn’t a large cave, just enough room for a small dragon to move around in and maybe have a few other dragons over. The Dragon inside was not very large, only about nine feet high (normal sized dragons are about thirty feet high, and very long. And exceptionally strong dragons in their prime can be fully seventy feet tall (with their heads held high of course)) This dragon was busy eating a large moose (not a chocolate one) in one corner.
Nancealia used the hilt of her sword to rap loudly on the side of the entrance.
“Can’t it wait until after I finish this moose?” asked the dragon, “”I got my Uncle Alexander to cook it for me and it’s hot.”
“We can wait.” replied Nancealia.
“Dragons talk?” asked a rather surprised Arnold.
“Most of them do. Usually the younger dragons don’t talk but this one must be old enough to have learned.”
“Yes, I turned three hundred today,” said the dragon, in between bites. “That’s why my Uncle got me a roasted moose for my birthday.”
“Happy Birthday then!” said Nancealia, “And if you can spare a moment could you tell me if there are any annoying dragons whom you wouldn’t miss too much living near by.”
“Yes,” said the dragon. “Drarw, three caves down to the west, you can’t miss it, he has a dragons skeleton in front. He got into a fight with that dragon and killed him. None of us can be quite easy with him around. He is rather fierce.”
“I would think so! But he still doesn’t breathe fire?”
“No, he doesn’t breathe fire. He isn’t even old enough to talk your language! He is just old enough to be annoying and dangerous and not have any sense.”
“Well, happy birthday and enjoy your moose. I’ll go disturb Drarw.”
“Wait a minute,” said the dragon. “What is your name?”
“Nancealia Arloth.”
“Nancealia Arloth! I am very glad you came by. I hope you will disturb Drarw, you are very good at that I’ve heard.”
Nancealia smiled at that then turned and led the others out and headed for the cave mentioned by the dragon.
“So we aren’t going to fight that dragon?” asked Schelsh who was not quite sure what to make of the conversation he had just witnessed.
“No,” said Nancealia, “it isn’t proper or nice to kill a dragon on its birthday. Besides some dragons are the marauding, stealing, cruel sort and others are rather nice and just want to live and let live quietly in the mountains. The dragon we just met was one of those. He’ll probably just go on enjoying eating wild moose and never bothering anybody so long as they don’t bother him. Drarw sounds like the other type, the type that kills for pleasure.”
They were soon at the cave, for the Lesser Dragon Hills were rather thickly populated, and entered. This time they were greeted by a roar and it wasn’t too terrible or loud a roar though they plainly saw that it was the best that the dragon could do. Quite a few bones and even the weapons of two knights lay around the cave. This dragon had a slight hoard, though it wasn’t much to speak of, just two swords, a spear, a few jewels and two saddles. But before they could really notice what was in the dragon’s small hoard, it attacked. The dragon and not the hoard.
Quickly every one unsheathed their weapons and began to get ready to fight. Nancealia and Celticia were as calm as a smooth pool of water. Schelsh was also calm but not as certain of what to do. Arnold felt slightly nervous for he really did not know much about fighting dragons. But he stood still and tall and hoped that it would hurt much.
As the dragon rushed toward them Nancealia said “Step to the side as soon as it’s almost to us, then use your swords and attack while its stunned from running into the side of the cave.”
They did so. During the struggle that followed neither Nancealia nor Celticia did too much, they let Arnold and Schelsh do most of the fighting, and since they were the ones needing the experience that was just fine. Besides since the cave was so small and Nancealia and Celticia guarded the entrance the dragon couldn’t go anywhere and had to be a good target. Schelsh finally plunged his sword into the dragon’s heart and ended the fight.
“Congratulations,” said Nancealia, “You have just taken down your first dragon.”
“What shall we do with the dragon?” asked Arnold, for even though it was a small dragon it still looked to large to carry or bury.
“Leave it.” said Nancealia, “It will be taken care of. There are many vultures and other creatures in the woods that like to eat dead Dragon so it will be taken care of.”
Arnold and Schelsh were only too glad to take her advice and they turned to the hoard, which was extremely small indeed.
“Two knights attacked and were killed by this dragon, that or one knight who had an extra sword and suit of amour. Thats where most of the stuff came from, the rest,” she motioned to some ruff gold stone and a few badly shaped jewels. “Came from the hills themselves, and some of the necklaces and other jewelry probably came from other dragon’s hoard, the one that is out there.” she motioned to the skeleton out front.
“What are we going to do with the hoard?” asked Arnold.
“We’ll probably see much better later on and that will just be inconvenient to carry further on right now. However since it is somebody’s birthday I think I know what to do with it.” Nancealia quickly gathered some of it up and began walking back to the first cave, the one where the dragon eating the moose was. Arnold and Schelsh were almost surprised at this but they noticed that Celticia looked as though this were completely normal and as she was picking up some more of the treasure Arnold and Schelsh picked up the rest and helped move the small hoard of treasure to the first dragon’s cave.
“Did you defeat him?” asked the dragon.
“Yes,” said Nancealia, “By the way, what is your name.”
“Lennard.” said the dragon.
“Well, Lennard, I brought you a present.” said Nancealia and everyone laid down the treasure in front of Lennard. He was so pleased he just grinned and then began making some hopping movements around the room.
“Oh Thank you, Thank you!” he said, “This has been the nicest birthday I’ve ever had. The only hoard I had was that,” he said pointing to two small silver bracelets and one plain knife and a piece of gold rock. Nancealia and the others added their treasure to the pile and wished Lennard many more happy birthdays and then left.

Chapter Four

“So, there are different types of dragons?” asked Arnold as they started walking back to where they had left their horses.
“Yes,” said Nancealia, “there are.”
“How can you tell the difference?”
“Well, most of the time the easiest way is to talk to the dragon.”
“I see, but do the two different types have names?”
“There are several different names for the two types, it mainly depends on whom you are talking with.”
“For example?”
“Amongst the dragons, they usually the call the fierce ones who attack and pillage for the fun of it Active as in Active Volcanos, then the others are usually called dormant. Of course the active ones usually call the dormant ones weaklings and there are many variations on that.”
“I see,” said Arnold. “Is Dearth Active or Dormant?”
“I don’t know, If he is Dormant we have a better chance of getting the crowns than if he isn’t. But I don’t know if he is or not. I will find out later.”
“All right, is there anything else about dragons I should know?”
“Yes, The exceptions.”
“Exceptions?”
“Yes,” said Nancealia, it seemed as though she was thinking of something funny and she looked as though she was very near laughing as she said, “Especially the five D club.” then she really did laugh, as did Celticia at the mention of the five D club.
“The five D club?” said both Arnold and Schelsh at the same time.
“Yes,” said Celticia, “The five D club is one of the main exceptions.”
“Though it isn’t really an exception.” said Nancealia.
“What does the Five D club stand for?” asked Arnold.
“Well it stands for D. D. D. D. D. it’s just thats difficult to say and you don’t want to accidently say D. D. D. D or D. D. D. D. D. D.”
“Why not? And what do all of the D’s stand for?”
“Well” said Nancealia, “The four D club is ‘Drunken Dragons Desiring Drink’ and the six D club is ‘Dirty, Dank, Disgusting, Dark, Dreary, Dragons anonymous’. You don’t want to belong to either of those clubs if you wish to be thought respectable.”
“So dragons have clubs.” said Arnold.
“They do, and some of them are quite interesting, Like the PP (Providing for Posterity) club and the SW (Sheep Watchers) club but there aren’t that many clubs and they usually don’t have more than five members apiece, if that. For example the Six D club just has two members, and they’re active dragons who chiefly raid villages to get pigs and they have a giant pig farm and no respectable dragon would go near it, though the four D club frequently does. It only has three members. However the two clubs are usually just grouped together as D.D. when the other dragons refer to them.”
“And what does D.D. mean?” asked Arnold, this discussion of dragons was very fascinating and he was enjoying himself far more than he usually did. “Does it mean “Despicable Dragons”?”
“Quite right! But to get back to the five D club, it’s very unusual. The five D’s stand for “Dormant Dragons Desiring Dire Deeds”. I’ll start their history from the beginning. Originally there were five dragons, and all of their names started with D so that the five D’s have a double meaning. Their names were Drake, Drag (a very popular name among Dragons), Dorco, Dwight, and Demothesisous.”
“Demothesisous!” laughed Arnold, “Dragons have strange names indeed.”
“They do,” said Nancealia, “But Demothesisous is strange even for dragons, His father had been to Greece and thought it would be quite cultural to give his son a Grecian name. But I think he got too much Greek from it for Demothesisous is the senior member and president of the Dormant Dragons Desiring Dire Deeds club, and it was his idea. Any way, the five dragons were talking together one day after Draco had just had a fight with a knight. He was saying that he actually enjoyed the fight and was wishing that he could have more fights more often. Well, all of them discussed it and since they had similar opinions on some things Demothesisous hit upon the idea to put all of their hoards together and take turns guarding it. The knights, who might not be induced by just their small portions of treasure might be quite induced if it was all heaped together. So they take turns over a huge hoard of treasure and have a grand time. I usually donate extra treasure there and I would have been made an honorary member, only my name doesn’t start with D.” Nancealia smiled for a moment before continuing, “They do need a fifth member now, for Drag was killed during a fight with several knights. So currently there are just four dragons, only now they all guard the treasure at the same time.”
They had reached the spot where their horses had been left long before the conversation was over, and now that they could pay attention to other things they mounted their horses and got ready to ride off.

Chapter Five

They rode through the lesser dragon hills for several hours. Hill after hill rose up from the ground and many times they saw dragons. Nancealia frequently said good morning to them and they always replied with “Good Morning”. Nancealia pointed out to Arnold that they best way to get along with most dragons is to be very polite. The mountains were getting closer and the were rising above their heads like tall peaks. Many dragons lived in those mountains, and few, other than adventurers and knights, ever came near them. They stopped for lunch at noon and after that continued on their way.
They were approaching another line of more mountainous hills. The ground began showing a few signs of scorching in places and the sheep and goats were getting far less numerous. Things were looking more grim and the lengthening shadows did not improve the look of the place. Finally they entered a long and somewhat narrow valley with many dragon cave entrances dotting the hills. After a while Nancealia stopped at the entrance to a cave.
“Active or Dormant?” asked Arnold.
“Dormant and an old friend of mine. We may be able to spend the night here. It will be better that spending it out in the open. I’ll check right now and see if we can stay.” Nancealia entered the cave.
“Greetings, Mratha,” they heard Nancealia’s voice say,
“Oh, Hello, is that you Nancealia?”
“Yes, I’m here with two friends of mine and Celticia, could we stay here tonight?”
“Well, I wouldn’t object, but Mortimor would.” She spoke the name Mortimor with a disdainful sniff, “He says I am too friendly with humans and that anybody that gets friendly with humans will be either be killed by them or expelled from the dragon colony. Also he is annoying and a bully.”
“Which cave is he in? I would like to pay him a visit.” asked Nancealia, her voice showing a slight twitch of annoyance in it.
“I was hoping that you would take care of him. He is at the first cave when you come into the valley, that one is usually uninhabited because that’s the one knights usually go to first.”
“Thank you.” Nancealia said and she was about to leave but before she left she turned and said “Does he breath fire?”
“Yes, not very hot fire, but it’s enough to terrify most of the younger dragons, he’s quite a bully and I am so glad you’re here to take care of him.”
“Well, I’ll do my best.”
As she stepped out of the cave Arnold said, “So we have a fire breathing dragon to fight. That should be exciting!”
“It should be. However, since we have all ready had a long ride and another fight with a dragon today I don’t think you should take an active part in this. Celticia and I can handle him in a short period of time, you’ll probably have another chance to fight a fire breathing dragon but not tonight.”
Arnold wanted to object to this but Nancealia stood firm and finally he and Schelsh agreed that they wouldn’t take part in the fight. Nancealia then led the way to the first dragon cave in the valley. Just before the entrance was the remains of a burned horse, which did not look too pleasant. Neither Arnold’s horse or Schelsh’s horse looked as though they would like to go nearer. Nancealia strapped her helmet on (it had been hanging on the side of her saddle.) and took of her cloak and laid it on the saddle. Then she dismounted. Celticia also put on her helmet and having drawn her sword, joined Nancealia.
Nancealia then walked forward to the front of the cave and drawing her sword shouted
“Mortimer, Dragon of the mountains, I declare you a foe and a menace and I plan to take your life.” All this was spoken very grandly and sounded impressive but Nancealia really didn’t have a foe to match the speech. Out of the cave came a short, and some what fat dragon. He was pale yellowish green, with dull red spikes and he had a mean look in his face.
He said, “Well, you insignificant person. I am going to roast you!” He shot out some flames but they were only slight flame bursts and and did not even reach the spot where Nancealia was standing, Even if they had, they wouldn’t have done any harm, for the moment the dragon had stopped speaking Nancealia sort of ran and sort of jumped and she was on Mortimer’s back before ten seconds had elapsed. Then the fight began!
Arnold and Schelsh noticed several other dragons coming out of their caves to watch, and they also noticed that most of them looked pleased, especially when Mratha called out, “Nancealia’s here.”
Arnold began to get the idea that Nancealia had a reputation among the dragons. The battle between Nancealia and Mortimer seemed more of a wrestling match than what he thought a fight with a fire breathing dragon would be. Mortimer obviously wanted to get Nancealia off himself so he tried rolling over. But this didn’t work because he couldn’t roll over faster than Nancealia could climb around him and as she was doing this she was thrusting her sword into weak spots. Mortimer was rather mad and frightened by now and he started to try to take off, but he couldn’t because Nancealia had, during the struggle, cut his wings so that they could not fly. He gave a howl of rage when he realized that he couldn’t fly and tried even harder to get at Nancealia. However she soon gave him a mortal wound and Mortimer lost the fight. The whole fight had lasted no more than fifteen minutes.
There was a loud cheer, led by Mratha, the other three humans joining in as did most of the dragons, for Mortimer had made himself very unpopular during his stay there. Nancealia made a grand bow and said that the dragons could dived the treasure amongst themselves. Whereupon a committee was formed for the dividing of the treasure and all of the dragons were quite happy with their shares, though the committee leaders had to report everything to the committee on the committees.

Chapter Six

They then proceeded back to Mratha’s cave. She welcomed them to her humble abode, though it wasn’t too humble. It was a rather large cave and there was even a smaller cave with shelfs of rock that looked as though they were meant for beds. Mratha told the group to set their things down on these, which they did. After a quick supper they went to bed.
If he hadn’t been so tired Arnold would have liked to have asked Nancealia questions about why the dragons had not objected to her killing Mortimor. But he saved up his questions for the next days journey. He went to sleep and dreamed of a beautiful Princess with dark brown eyes who rode a horse with a dark brown mane. The princess was dressed in a deep crimson colored gown. He saw himself in the dream walking up to the princess as she dismounted. It seemed as though they were about to kiss, but they didn’t for at that moment he was awakened by Schelsh shaking him.
“Sorry to disturb you, but it’s morning.”
“So it is.” said Arnold sitting up, “And I wonder if I did kiss the princess.”
“What princess?” asked Schelsh, looking surprised.
“I was dreaming about a princess and I think I was about to kiss her but you woke me up before I found out. So I suppose I’ll never know whether I would have or not. In fact, I’m not even sure that she was a princess.”
Schelsh looked at Arnold and shook his head. “I’ve never known you to dream about almost kissing a princess before and I don’t see why you should start now. Anybody would think that with what is currently going on you would be dreaming about dragons or something like that. I even dreamed about dragons.”
“What happened in your dream?” asked Arnold wishing to get the subject of the conversation off himself.
“Well, I dreamed that there was a huge, fire breathing dragon coming towards me and just before it got to me I threw the sword in my hand right through it’s heart and it dropped the princess that he was about to devour and I caught her in my arms. Then I woke up!”
“So you dreamed about a princess too! I hope it wasn’t the same one, what color of hair did she have?”
“Fiery red and she had green eyes. But I didn’t try to kiss her like you did.”
“Well, the princess in my dream had dark brown hair so I didn’t try to kiss the one in your dream. And I think that if your princess was even half as beautiful as mine you would have…”
“You know this conversation is really ridiculous. I think that it is high time to change the subject.” Arnold agreed and both got up, each trying not to think about the princess in their dreams and each failing miserably.
Neither Nancealia nor Celticia had heard this conversation for both of them were busy talking to Mratha at the other end of the caves. Arnold and Schelsh walked over. Schelsh was suddenly struck by the resemblance of Celticia to the princess in his dream, and he couldn’t help wondering if there was some connection between them.
“Good Morning,” said Mratha, “I hope that you had a pleasant nights rest.”
“We had a very pleasant nights rest,” said Arnold politely, “Thank you for inquiring.”
They then had breakfast. Dragon breakfasts are rather interesting and it was a new experience for Arnold and Schelsh. Mratha cooked a sheep and a few small rabbits right on the a flat rock that served as a table.
Arnold wondered why Nancealia or Celticia didn’t get out some of the bread and other things in their packs to go with the meat but when he whispered this to Nancealia she whispered back,
“It would be very impolite to bring your own food to a dragon meal, it is an insult and you do not want to offend a fire breathing dormant dragon.” Arnold nodded in reply and went back to eating his meat
After they finished breakfast they began getting ready to start out. As soon as their preparations were completed, Nancealia bid good bye to Mratha and they rode off.

Chapter seven

“Nancealia,” said Arnold, after they had ridden a little way. “Why was it that the dragons didn’t seem to mind when you killed Mortimer?”
“Most people don’t get very upset when a police officer kills a criminal.” replied Nancealia.
“Oh, I see. I was wondering something else too.”
“What?”
“Is Dearth dormant or active?”
“Mratha told me that he is dormant.”
“So are we now going directly to Dearth and ask him for the crowns?”
“It is one of the worst things that you can do, asking a dragon for it’s treasure. Unless you challenge him first of course.”
“So what are we going to do?”
“We are heading in Dearth’s direction right now and we will probably be there a few hours before sunset.”
“What shall we do when we get there?”
“I don’t really know yet. I’ll just see how things are when we get there and act according to circumstances.”
“All right.” said Arnold and for a while there was silence between Arnold and Nancealia. She seemed to be in deep thought and he was wondering why it was that she reminded him of the princess he had dreamed about the night before.
Schelsh and Celticia were not silent though. They talked together for quite a while together.
After a long days ride they saw a rather unpleasant sight ahead of them. There was a large cave more by itself than was usual. In front of it there were the charred remains of a few horses and knights. The path to the entrance was very exposed and grim. Nancealia looked at Arnold, Celticia, and Schelsh and said,
“I think you should wait here while I go up and see if Dearth is home.”
Since nobody else really wanted to ride up that path despite the assurance that Dearth was Dormant, nobody else volunteered to go with her, though they would have if she had asked them.

Chapter eight

They watched as Nancealia dismounted and walked quickly up the the path to Dearth’s lair. As she approached the entrance a dark green dragon’s head popped out.
“Hello,” said Nancealia with a smile (if she was afraid she did not show it.) “My name is Nancealia Arloth.”
“Nancealia Arloth!” the dragon said, coming out of his cave and looking very pleased. “I am so very glad to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you from the other dragons, I know you have helped at least five or six in barricading their caves before and I would really like some help in keeping these annoying knights away.”
“Certainly, I’ll be glad to help. First I would like to introduce you to some friends of mine.” she motioned to Arnold, Schelsh and Celticia who were now approaching, “This Celticia my companion, and those are Arnold and Schelsh, two friends of mine who are currently getting an education in dragon customs.”
“Really! ” said Dearth, “Won’t you come in and tell me more about yourselves.”
They entered. Though Arnold had heard that Dearth had a large treasure hoard they didn’t realize just how big it was. But it wasn’t as large as Smaug’s (From “The Hobbit”). Arnold quickly began looking for the Royal crowns but he did not see them anywhere. However it was likely that he wouldn’t see them if they were there as it was hard to see because of the dim light and the fact that nearly everything was piled together in a disorderly mess.
“I wonder where the crowns are.” he accidently said aloud.
“Don’t tell me you’re looking for the same crowns everybody else has been looking for? Oh bother.” said Dearth when he heard this.
“I’m afraid that we are looking for them” said Nancealia, “But I hope you aren’t too much offended by the fact.”
“No, I just wish you had come sooner so that you could have gotten them.” said Dearth.
“Sooner?” asked Nancealia.
“Do you mean they aren’t here!” exclaimed Arnold.
“No they aren’t here,” said Dearth shaking his head, “Somebody took them. You see, I was attacked by a large group of knights a few days back. I did the best I could and I thought I was defending my treasure very well when one of the knights shouted “Retreat!” and they all left hurriedly. The leader of them had the two crowns in his hand when they left. I didn’t pursue because I had been wounded and I don’t really like pursuing. All of that stuff is for Active dragons.”
“Do you remember who they were or was there any crest or something that could help us trace them?” questioned Schelsh.
“Yes, in their challenge they said that they were emissaries from Dolak McDath.”
“Dolak McDath!” exclaimed Arnold.
“Who?” whispered Celticia to Schelsh.
“Dolak McDath,” whispered Schelsh back, “The McDath’s have been trying to take over Scotland for some years, and if a McDath has the crowns in his possession it is very likely he’ll think of something for the aggrandizement of the McDaths.”
“So I suppose this is rather bad news.” said Dearth.
“For you it isn’t,” said Nancealia, “since you no longer have the crowns you probably will be left alone.”
“But that is the problem, they aren’t letting me alone! I am still being troubled by knights!”
“I think that the best thing to do under the situation is to get the five D. club up here as soon as possible. They’ll gladly handle the knights.”
“Do you think that they will? I’ve wanted to talk to them about it but I was afraid of looking like I couldn’t handle the knights by myself.”
“Don’t worry, I can probably get them up here and you will be doing them a great favor in letting them help guard your treasure. After all, it’s dire deeds they like.”
“I would like to be there when you interview them. However I don’t think I should leave my treasure.”
“Well, How about this, you go with me to see the five D. club and Celticia, Arnold, and Schelsh will remain behind and prevent personages from taking the treasure. Also if you move some of those boulders to block off the lower part of your cave entrance that will keep knights from getting in until we get back. And if any do, don’t kill them” she said turning to the others, “Just stun them and set them back on the other side, I doubt you will be bothered much though because of Dearth’s reputation.”
“Do I have one? Oh bother!” said Dearth, looking rather crestfallen.
“Well yes, considering the fight you’ve put up over your treasure it would be very strange if you didn’t have one.”
“My father would have been proud of me at least, HE was an active dragon, very active.”
“Yes, and his reputation was quite large, as was his hoard. But let’s hurry and get to the five D club and talk with them.”