Short story: Leo and the dragon

This is a short story for the prompt contest at ironage.media/prompt/ based on The Centurion.

---

Centurion Georgius Cassius Leo was on his way back from Rome to report to his cohort in Londunium. It had been a long, weary ride from the coast that day. The day was warm, and beneath his cloak and armor, sweat glued his tunic to him. A bath would be most welcome. Barring that, a drink, both for himself and his horse.

The landscape was all rolling hills and wild-looking countryside, purple heather and dark trees in clumps drawing together into a wood beyond. He eyed the trees warily and wondered how well these roads were patrolled. He hadn't heard that the roads between the coast and Londunium had trouble with bandits, but he was a lone rider and, perhaps to the desperate, an easy mark.

The road led him in a curve around the foot of a hill. For a moment he glimpsed the white walls of a town in the distance, and he was glad. Then the trees closed in and hid it from sight. His horse shook its head, flinging bits of foam off the bridle. He patted the sorrel neck. “Not far now, boy.”

He rode on a while longer, glad for the shade of the trees, but the insects were thick and no breeze stirred the stuffy air.

The trees gave way to open land again, and Leo spotted a small castle standing not far from the road. It must support the nearby town as their fortress. As he gazed toward it, wondering if he should stop for water or press on to the city, he noticed a single white figure standing outside the castle walls. A woman stood alone in the middle of the road, as if waiting for something. The gates behind her were closed, and no one escorted her. This was so strange that Leo reined in his horse and stood gazing. The distance was too great to make out any features, only that she was not looking toward him. Instead, she watched the forest.

His instinct for trouble stirred. He tapped the horse with his heels and guided it up the road toward the girl. She turned at the sound of his hoof beats and stood watching him approach. Again, she didn’t retreat, and no one rushed to defend her from him. 

He dismounted and bowed. “Greetings, my lady. I am Centurion Georgius Cassius Leo. What are you doing out here alone?”

“Oh, sir,” she said, dropping a quick curtsy. “You shouldn’t have come here. I’m Princess Cyneburga, from the castle yonder. They’ve sent me out as a sacrifice to the dragon that lives in the woods, there. It will buy my people at least a month’s peace from his marauding.”

Leo gaped at her. “Your people would throw away your life so easily?”

“The dragon has eaten so many maidens already,” she said. “He’s killed the men who tried to end his wickedness. All we can do now is placate him.”

“By the name of Christ, whom I serve, you will not fall to the dragon this day,” said Leo. “Where does the beast issue forth?”

“About there,” Cyneburga said, pointing to a gap in the trees. “I heard him moving. He will be here soon.”

Leo took his buckler from the horse’s baggage and slipped his arm through the leather straps. Then he strode forward several paces to place himself between the woman and danger. “Take my horse to the castle walls,” he said. “He will not like this.”

Cyneburga led his horse back toward the castle, where a small group of onlookers had gathered on the battlements. They called questions to the princess, who shouted her answers.

In the midst of this, the dragon emerged from the trees.

It was a big fellow, as long as a horse and cart. It crawled on its belly like a lizard, but it had a huge head like a crocodile’s, and on its back was a sail taller than a man. It flicked its tongue as it waddled toward Leo, moving in a purposeful way, like an animal coming to a feed trough. It was expecting a meal, and it would take him as well as the girl.

Leo had heard old campaigners talk about dragons and how to slay one. He’d watched lizards hunting along the rocks outside his various camps, and expected the beast’s sudden halt. It pushed itself up on its forelegs and wove its head back and forth in the air, gauging the distance to him. 

You must not stand still, the old timers had said over their mugs of ale. Gives the beast a chance to pounce. They’re fast, too fast to fend off. Best to keep moving so they can’t prepare.

Leo danced sideways. The dragon lifted its head high, watching him with a cool, calculating eye, but it was no longer attempting to spring. Leo darted forward and aimed a slash at its leathery neck. His sword touched it, but the dragon wheeled around with astonishing speed and whipped him with its tail.

He ran forward, slashed at a hind leg, and danced back as the animal flailed. It whipped at him again, and the sail on its back blossomed with yellow and red threat markings. But it was dragging that hind leg. He circled and hacked at the other leg, taking a blow from the tail that he caught with his buckler. The leg collapsed under the dragon’s weight.

The dragon’s only goal now was to escape this feisty prey. It hissed and began dragging itself back toward the forest.

“No you don’t!” Leo snarled. He sheathed his sword and grabbed the beast by one leg and the tail. He hauled it up the road toward the castle, the forelegs scrabbling at the road all the way.

“Princess!” he yelled. “Tell them to open the gates! I’ll show them what Rome does to dragons!”

The onlookers saw him dragging the wounded beast toward them and rushed to open the gates. The princess ran up, grabbed the tail, and helped him drag the beast. She was flushed with excitement, and was savagely pleased to assist in the downfall of the monster that would have fed upon her.

The castle gates were flung open, and Leo and Cyneburga dragged the monster into the castle’s main square. There the town guards and Leo hacked the beast to pieces, taking revenge for all the innocent lives it had taken.

Afterward, as Leo was enjoying a long, long drink of cool well water mixed with wine, the king came and asked him what reward he would accept.

“None,” said Leo. “I was doing my duty as a Centurion to protect Roman citizens. Give glory instead to Jesus Christ, who strengthened my arm for the battle.”