Dragon Prince

2

            After a while Patton got up and began to pack his clothes and plan his escape from the castle. Soon morning came and after breakfast Patton announced that he was going to go out riding for the day. His close friend and royal advisor Logan and brother Roman were surprised to hear this because Patton had not taken an interest in anything since Virgil died. They immediately offered to go with him. Patton had known this would happen and declined saying he wanted to be alone with his thoughts and nature. Logan and Roman accepted this without question just glad that Patton seemed to be coming out of the shell he had made when Virgil died. As Patton readied his horse, Logan and Roman came to see him off. When they asked why his horses saddle bags were so full he simply said that it was a packed lunch and some books. They shrugged and waved him off until he was out of sight.

As soon as he was out of sight of the castle Patton broke into a gallop. The mountain wasn't that far away, only a few miles and Patton was eager to find out what was going on.

When Virgil woke up he saw sunlight streaming through the opening of the cave and cursed to himself. It was already mid morning and for all he know Patton had been wandering around in the woods at the base of the mountain for hours depending on if and when he left the castle. He quickly jumped into the air and flew to the edge of the forest to keep watch. Before long he saw Patton coming up the road on a sweating horse. As soon as Patton was far enough into the forest Virgil swooped down and landed behind him to prevent him or the horse from bolting back to the castle.

When Patton saw the dragon he completely freaked out (although oddly enough the horse did not). From what he had heard Virgil had been killed by a dragon that was vibrant purple with short horns and a brown mane. That description exactly matched the look of the dragon in front of him. After discovering that the horse for some reason would not move at all and if he tried to run the dragon would just move to block him, Patton completely lost it. Screaming he ran at the dragon he tried to cut it with his sword but the blade just bounced off the dragons hard scales.

Virgil had a pretty good idea of what his death story would be so he wasn't surprised that Patton flipped out. He just waited until Patton tired himself out and then opened the paw he had been holding closed to revel a rather crumpled piece of paper.

When Patton finally stopped to catch his breath the dragon waited a moment as if to make sure he was done before holding out a paw with something on it. It was a piece of paper with something written on it. He wiped his eyes not having really noticing that he had started crying. He looked at the paper again it said "follow me" in Virgil's handwriting. Patton looked up at the dragon then at the paper then back at the dragon. He was rather skeptical about the note but he didn't seem to have a choice. So he got back on his horse and looked at the dragon for directions. The dragon responded by taking off in a whirl of leaves and slowly flying towards the mountain. As he rode Patton thought about how the dragon had acted. It hadn't attacked him or even growled, it had simply stood there. Then he realized something else, the dragon had the same eye color as Virgil, a stormy gray with blue flecks. Not Just similar but the exact. same. color. This really freaked Patton out and he began to think that this dragon was not what it seemed especially when he had read that dragons eyes were the same color of their scales. After a couple of hours (it was slow going with the horse) they finally reached a cave part way up the mountain. The dragon landed and entered the cave with Patton trailing behind. After his eyes adjusted to the shadow of the cave Patton looked around and was rather surprised at what he saw. A rather beat up writing desk sat off to the side with a paper on it and one wall of the cave was covered in scratches in neat rows up to the height of the average man. The dragon stood in the back of the cave looking at Patton when it saw him looking at it, it snorted and started walking. Patton took this as a signal to follow it and did. The dragon showed him a second larger chamber connected to the first by a hole just big enough for a dragon. This chamber was bare except for a small pool in the middle. Patton asked if the water was clean and the dragon nodded so he got his horse and wiped it down while it drank before picketing it just outside the cave. That done, Patton turned his attention to the desk with the paper on it that he had first seen. He went over to it and began to read. The it said "Dearest Patton, in case you haven't guessed already, I am not dead but was cursed into the shape of a dragon a little over a year ago. I will explain everything after sundown. Please make yourself comfortable in the meantime. Love Virgil". After reading and rereading and rereading and blankly staring at the wall trying to breathe Patton turned around, sat down hard and stared at the Dragon with Virgil's eyes who had curled up across the cave to watch him.