Chapter 2

The once fertile land surrounding the dragon's lair was empty and lifeless. The verdant green earth had been withered by the corrosive breath of the dragon, the animals had fled, and ponds that had once been sparkling waters teaming with life were now black pools of steaming slime. Only the vultures remained, hovering over the bloated carcasses of battle steeds and armorclad skeletons, keeping a wary eye on the dragon overhead even as they feasted on his kills.

The dragon himself crouched atop a needle-like spire of rock, arrogantly posing for the men below. His massive sinuous body gleamed, the iridescent scales sparkling like diamonds in the sunlight. His stance profiled the knife-tipped spikes on his forelegs and the razor-sharp barbs protecting his spine, and his leathery wings were spread half-open, showing off their lacy structure as his long supple tail whipped idly against the rock. While his back legs ended in sharp stubby claws capable of digging in and holding his balance on the thin outcrop of granite, his front talons were long curved needles, large enough to hold a full-grown cow in their cupped grasp. Acrid vapor trickled from between his formidable jaws and the acid reek made the mens' eyes redden and water even at their distance.

The two knights sat back in their saddles and surveyed him with a professional eye. They stayed within the green that marked the boundary of his territory, cautious but unafraid, ignoring the antics of the more sensible horses dancing restlessly beneath them.

"He looks powerful," Michael pronounced, assessing the sleek, steel-muscled body, "and invulnerable. There's no way a conventional weapon is going to pierce that hide."

"We knew that," the blond knight reminded him. "They threw an entire troop of the king's best men at him. There's no way two of us can defeat him by strength alone. We have to have the treasure he spoke of or we don't stand a chance." He looked over at Michael speculatively.

"What?" his partner glowered suspiciously at him. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Well, you *are* the brains of this partnership." David's roguish grin flashed at him. "Don't worry. I have total faith in you."

"I wish I did." Michael said gloomily. He had spend a great deal of their journey with his thoughts turned inward, trying to figure out what the challenge meant. 'There is only one thing that will keep me from enjoying their succulent young flesh.' That seemed straight forward enough; it was the key to the next part that eluded him. What on earth was the treasure, and how could naming it and claiming it stop an all powerful dragon?

"Don't worry, you'll figure it out," David said confidently. "Have we seen everything here, or do you want to take a closer look at his lair?"

"I've seen enough for now. There's no point in trying to enter his lair until we know what we're looking for. Let's go to the capital and see what we can find out there."

~~~~

They rode into the capital at dusk and found a crowded tavern that met their budget. The common room was already filling up and David went to get a room and took their packs up while Michael found an empty table and ordered food and ale for both of them.

"Hear anything new?" David asked as he joined his friend at the battered and scarred table.

"Nothing important," Michael replied, pushing one of the tankards of ale in front of his friend. "Half the room seems to be talking about the dragon, but the other half is talking about some case being taken to the king's court."

"The king's court?" David questioned. "Is the king holding court soon?"

"Tomorrow," the hard-working serving girl answered, having overheard his question as she slapped two platters of stringy, overcooked mutton in front of them, slopping gravy onto the table in the process. "He holds court once every moon, sitting in judgement on special cases. If you want to attend you can get passes from the seneschal beforehand."

"What are you thinking?" Michael asked him after the girl had left.

"If the king is holding court, won't the wizard and princes be part of the royal entourage? We've seen the dragon, maybe we should look over the rest of the players before we make any decisions."

"Wouldn't the time be better spent finding out about dragons and the weapons that have defeated them?"

"We could flip for it." David said hopefully. "King, we study dragons, Castle, we look over the princes."

~~~~

The crowd was heavy in the King's Court the following day, but the knights had little trouble making their way through the spectators to the front of the immense chamber.

The king sat on a massive oaken throne, his visage intent as he heard the claims of the plaintiff. An array of ministers and advisors stood slightly behind him, also listening intently, ready to offer their opinions should the king ask for them. The princes stood to one side, ostensibly there to listen and learn from the king's decisions.

The two knights found places against the wall close to the railing that divided the spectators from the participants, and Michael looked over the men on the dais with a critical eye. The sallow man in the rich plum colored robes must be the wizard, he decided. He had seen many such men, both as a knight and as the youngest son of a nobleman. Pompous, egotistical, he would fawn over the people more powerful than himself and contemptuously bully the ones that he deemed less worthy. Michael wondered if he had even bothered to study the dragon before making his attack. Probably not, he decided cynically.

David gave careful attention to the princes. Heads held high, chins tilted imperiously, they paid little attention to the proceedings in front of them, and even less to the spectators. They were identical visions in royal blue and pearl, but David surveyed the visions with a jaundiced eye. To one who favored comfort and utility and lived in a plain shirt and breeches most of the time, they seemed incredibly ornate. Their pearl-colored silk shirts had high collars and long sweeping sleeves elaborately embroidered in blue and gold, sleeves that were longer than the shirts themselves. Over these, the princes wore royal blue velvet tunics, the matching embroidery set with small pearls. The lush velvet skimmed their torsos and hips, then ended abruptly at mid-thigh, drawing the eye to pert rounded butts and slim muscular legs clad in pearl-colored hose. Each wore a golden circlet set with pearls and sapphires, and had a single pearl and sapphire earring dangling from one ear. Matching pearl and sapphire clasps graced sleek, thigh-length ebony braids.

It looked as if they had spent hours planning their ensemble and dressing for this court, and David wondered if they had spent half as much time studying the cases on the agenda. Did they think about anything other than clothes and jewelry, or were they simply vain, empty-headed dolls? He was dismally concluding that Michael was right about fairy tales when one of the princes felt his scrutiny and glanced toward them.

Their eyes met, and David found himself gazing into vivid sapphire pools framed by long sooty lashes. He caught his breath at their beauty and then, as they focused on his for a moment, he was almost overwhelmed by the desolation in them. Then the prince looked back over the heads of the crowd, the mask firmly back in place, and David was left haunted by the despair he had seen, half wondering if it were real or only his imagination.

~~~~

Three days later.

David strode into the crowded tavern at dinnertime, tired and discouraged as he made his way to Michael's table. "Did you find anything useful?" he asked as he swung his leg over the bench and sat down across from his friend.

"Only that you shouldn't order the roast pork," Michael gestured toward the half-eaten meal in front of him. "It's even worse than the mutton. Other than that, nothing. I've read every dragon tale in the temple archives, some of them two or three times. I've pored over them until I can't see straight and not one of them mentions a special treasure that will defeat a dragon. You?"

"I think I've talked to every smith and armorer in the city. None of them have any idea of what kind of weapon we'd be looking for. I talked to some people in the Wizard's Guild and the only thing they have to offer is that Andronicus is a sly, power hungry fool, and they wouldn't trust him as far as they could throw him. I had a few drinks with a soldier from the Royal Guard and it doesn't sound like they have a champion yet. They've had enough men set off to the dragon's lair and not come back that it's discouraging the ones left behind." He took a bite of pork from Michael's plate and made a face. "I think I'll have the beef."

Michael waited until the serving wench had finished flirting with David and gone to get his roast beef before he took up the conversation again. "I don't think there is an answer, David."

"There has to be, Michael. Let's keep trying, just for a couple more days."

"I know they're handsome young men, David, and they're facing a terrible death, but getting ourselves killed along with them won't help. And if we try to face Rohannon with the knowledge we have so far, that's exactly what's going to happen."

"I know, Michael," David said wretchedly, "but you didn't see the look in his eyes. If I give up and walk away now, I'll see it for the rest of my life, and I'll always wonder if there was something I could have done to save him. Just a couple more days. Please?"

"A couple more days, then," Michael agreed, reluctantly admitting to himself that the sense of failure would haunt him as much as it would David.

"So what do you think we should do next?" David asked as the serving wench slapped meat and ale in front of him.

Michael absently moved the bread away from the spilled ale as David cut into the stringy meant and chewed doggedly on the first bite.

"Gods, where did they find this beef?" David asked him as he swallowed heavily and reached for his mug. "They must have taken the oldest cow in the herd and let it die of starvation before they butchered it."

"What do you expect? We're staying in one of the cheapest taverns in the city. The tender young beef always goes to the-" he paused with his mouth open and a piece of bread halfway to his mouth.

"Michael? Are you all right?" David asked in concern, waving his hand in front of his friend's face when the young man didn't move or reply.

"That's it. That's the answer." Michael sounded stunned.

"What? Are you all right? The answer to what?"

"I know the answer to the riddle. I don't know why I didn't see it before," he shook his head in disbelief.

"Tell me!" David's eyes shone with hope.

"Not here," Michael was suddenly cautious, assessing the crowd around them, wondering if anyone had overheard his intemperate remarks. No one was looking in their direction or seemed interested, but he remained cautious all the same.

"Let's go. I need to check something in the temple archives."

Once back in the dusty chamber that held the temple's collection of dragon lore, he looked through book after book, becoming increasingly more jubilant, ignoring the increasingly impatient knight waiting beside him. Finally, he leaned back in his chair and laced his fingers together behind his neck, a satisfied grin on his face.

"I've got it," he announced.

"A way to kill him?" David asked eagerly.

"No. Better." Michael smiled gleefully. "Virgins, David."

"Huh?"

"He didn't say there was only one way to kill him or one way to defeat him. He didn't even say there was only one way to keep him from eating them. He said there was one way to keep him from "enjoying" them."

"So?" David stared at him blankly.

Michael was beginning to get frustrated at his friend's lack of understanding.

"In every scroll and every book that mentions sacrifices to dragons, there is one common factor," Michael explained with exaggerated patience. "The sacrifice is always a virgin; a sweet, tender, succulent young virgin."

"The wool merchant said Rohannon was demanding five lambs a week," David said slowly, thinking back to the conversation. "Not sheep, lambs."

"And the farmer said they couldn't build their herds if he took all the heifers - cows that have never been bred," he elaborated for his city friend. "What do you want to bet that our two young princes are virgins as well?"

"So the treasure is their virginity?" David was beginning to grasp the concept.

"And all the champion has to do is name it and claim it," Michael confirmed.

As the implications of that set in, a broad smile appeared on David's face. "So, no virginity, no lunch for the dragon?"

His partner grinned back at him. "All we have to do is make sure they aren't virgins when he shows up to take them. I think we can handle that, don't you?"

~~~~

The next morning David realized there was a minor detail they had overlooked in their perfect solution. He brought it up over breakfast.

"Um, Michael? There's one small thing about this plan."

Michael raised one eyebrow in query, his mouth full of bread and cheese.

"I don't want to be there when you tell the king we're his champions and we're there to fuck his sons."

After David had pounded on his back until he'd stopped choking and he'd taken a strong swig of ale, Michael responded.

"I wasn't planning on putting it that bluntly."

"How *were* you planning on putting it?"

"I don't know. I haven't figured that part out yet."

They sat in silent concentration. Occasionally one would start to speak, then shake his head and lapse into silence again.

Finally, Michael spoke. "I think I've got it. We won't tell him anything."

David reached over and took Michael's mug of ale away from him.

"Stop that," the dark-haired knight said irritably, taking it back. "Hear me out. We're eligible young bachelors, right?"

David stared at him in amazement and took the mug again.

"All right, we're not *eligible* young bachelors, but they won't know that. What they will know is that, thanks to the wizard's incompetence and stupidity, they have a serious shortage of marriageable young men. If we arrive at the castle with the letters of introduction proclaiming our status and hint that we're looking for brides, we'll be welcomed with open arms. Then we can find a way to talk to the princes and explain things to them. They'll be more likely to listen to us than the king will, and once they're convinced, they can convince him."

"I like it," David said after careful consideration. "I like it a lot."

"Why?" Michael asked suspiciously.

"Because I'm going to enjoy watching you flirt with all those potential brides," David replied with an evil grin.

"Who knows?" Michael retorted. "I may even become as good at it as you are."