Merlin's Dragon Slayers (2)

Chapter 1-Noah

by Cleve Taylor

There weren't always dragons in the Valley. And the only there now was dead and decomposing in McCullough's Cave. Noah knew this because he had helped George kill it.

Noah put his Stihl power saw back into the toolbox on his four-wheeler. Sweaty from his labor of sawing up the lodge pole pine that had fallen on his barbed wire fence last night in a thunderous rainstorm that couldn’t make up its mind whether it was a tornado or just a thunderstorm, he looked at the pile of four–foot logs he had stacked away from the fence and at the spliced barbed wire repair. Two fence poles, dragged down by the falling tree, had been reset and the two spliced strands of wire were drawn tight. His father had taught him well. Nothing was good enough until it was done right.

He would leave the pine logs where they lay, food for termites and shelter for critters. Pine sap made the logs unusable as firewood because of the residue from burning them that would coat the inside of a flue and create a fire hazard.

Despite having done a good job, the satisfaction of a job well done was missing. Ever since he had helped George slay the dragon over three weeks ago, his normal life seemed to be less than satisfactory, the tasks meaningless and inconsequential. Since having been introduced to a world of magic, dragons, wizards, and time travel, he wanted more--he needed more. Farming in the Shenandoah Valley just didn’t cut it anymore.

Noah had not been idle, although he had a growing fear that he would never hear from George again. He worried that George hadn’t even heard him yell “Yes” when George asked him to team with him as Merlin’s Dragon Slayers as George dissolved into the past from whence he had come. “But he had to have heard”, Noah said not realizing that he was speaking aloud to the soft breeze meandering up the valley. “Surely he will return for me.”

He was in far better shape than he was three weeks ago when he had labored with George up Grayson Mountain to McCullough’s Cave where the dragon slept. He had gasped for breath while George had been tireless. For three weeks now Noah had been lifting weights, running sprints, and jogging miles each day. He felt great and in better shape than when he had been a runner-up All-State Halfback on the Shenandoah Cougar football team when he was a senior in high school. George had to come back for him.

Noah had also been looking for better weapons. His twelve-gauge double barrel shotgun had barely phased the dragon despite taking both barrels to the face. It was George’s sword that was lethal and struck the beast in its heart. Noah needed something equally lethal.

At a gun show in Bristol he found what he thought of as a Dirty Harry pistol, large and heavy which would shoot 50 caliber armor piercing bullets. He also found a military style carbine with a shorter barrel than a regular rifle, a folding stock, and a pistol grip which used the same high-powered ammunition. It cost more than he paid for his used Ford pickup, but he needed the lethality these weapons promised. The dealer said he could return them in two weeks if they proved unsuitable, but that there would be a three hundred dollar restocking fee if returned. Two boxes of armor piercing rounds came with the purchase.

Noah climbed Grayson Mountain with the weapons to test them on the dragon decaying in McCullough Cave. On arriving at the entrance to the cave he realized that he was not gasping for breath as he had three weeks ago. However, the stench of the rotting dragon caused him to gag. He looped two N-95 surgeon masks around his ears, one atop the other, which helped cut the smell a little, but the smell was still awful. Inside the cave, about twenty feet from the carcass, he fired first the pistol and then the carbine into the dragon’s scales. Upon examination, both had penetrated the scales. He thrust a wooden rod into the dime sized holes made by the bullets and the rods, about 18 inches long, penetrated full length into the beast. Pretty sure that he had the right weapons, using a hammer and a sharp chisel he removed six dragon scales to take home with him for further testing.

Now, having finished repairing the fence, Noah was anxious to get home and further test the weapons.

Noah wanted to make sure the armor piercing bullets could reach the heart of a dragon and kill it. He imagined that a wounded and pissed off dragon might be deadly instead of dead. To test the piercing capability of the bullets he put two dragon scales together, doubling the armor he would expect to encounter. Behind that he put the biggest ham he could find, measuring 14 inches in diameter of meat and bone, and behind the ham a tightly packed bale of alfalfa laid lengthwise.

From a measured twenty-five feet away, he shot each weapon. He examined the results. The pistol bullet went through both scales, through the ham, and halfway through the bale of hay. The bullet from the carbine, probably because of the rifling, went through the scales, the ham, and the bale and embedded itself in the wooden post behind the bale.

Noah searched through the bale for the spent load when he heard a sound behind him. He turned. George was there grinning at him. He wasn’t wearing the Roman soldier attire Noah had first seen him in. Instead, he was wearing the faded Levi jeans and the hooded sweatshirt emblazoned with “University of Tennessee” that Noah had given him three weeks back. With the sneakers on his feet, he hardly looked like a saint anymore.

“It looks like you are ready,” George said while examining the holes in the dragon scales. Looking at Noah he said, “We have an appointment with Merlin at his cave near Tintagel. You need only bring your weapons with you. It seems that a dragon is terrorizing the folk at Ruithin Castle in Wales. Are you ready?”

“Of course not.”

Surprised, George lifted his eyes questioning.

“Just kidding,” Noah grinned back while putting his guns and ammo in an old army duffel bag that had his father’s name stenciled on it and throwing it over his shoulder. “Let’s go.”

Noah took the hand that George offered him, and they went.

(Watch for Chapter 2)