*Disclaimer: Digimon and all fairy tales used in this fic do not belong to me.
Knights of the Round Table
By: RaspberryGirl
The dragon stood up to its full height, stretching its massive wings. Its huge scaly body filled up the entire space between the two mountains and completely blocked the entrance to the mountain pass. Tai gulped as the dragon eyed him hungrily. "N-now, wait just a m-moment." Tai's voice shook violently with fear. "C-couldn't we make some s-sort of compromise?"
"Compromise?" the dragon sneered. "And trust you, a puny human, not to go back on your word? I don't think so."
"B-bad experience with h-humans, I see." Tai forced a fake laugh.
"I really wouldn't know," the dragon said smoothly. "Humans are fickle little things. I was never stupid enough to take a chance with one. As a matter of fact, I've eaten every single human who has stumbled across my lair." The dragon crouched down so its head was almost level with Tai's. The young knight had the sinking feeling that it was appraising him—estimating how much of a meal he would make.
"Is that s-so?" From the corner of his eye, Tai quickly glanced back at Davis to see if the squire had come up with a plan to get them out of this mess. But as far as the knight could tell, Davis had come up with nothing.
Beads of perspiration began trickling down the side of Tai's face. His shirt and tunic clung to him. He wished the dragon would move back a few hundred paces and give him some room to breathe. The creature's unblinking yellow eyes were making Tai's head spin, and the dragon's foul breath wasn't much help, either.
"Trust me on this one," Tai babbled. The thick air and the smell of smoke were probably making him stupid. "My squire and I taste very bad."
"That's what they all say," the dragon snickered. "But they've all turned out delicious." It grinned, showing a row of pointy teeth. "Humans are so amusing when they lie. One can always see right through it."
"No, no, believe me. You don't want to eat us," Tai insisted. "We'd probably give you indigestion."
"You'd be surprised at what my stomach can handle," the dragon answered. Its spiky tail flicked restlessly. "Enough talk. I'm getting hungry. In fact, the more you make me talk, the hungrier I'm getting." The dragon leaned closer so that it's mouth was level with Tai's head. "Don't be afraid. The pain won't last long." The creature's forked tongue flicked out across its lips. "Or perhaps I'll start with your squire first to spare you a few more moments of life."
Tai couldn't believe what was happening. He and Davis had barely begun their journey and now they going to end up as dragon chow—all thanks to that smart-mouthed shard of glass.
Curse you, you good-for-nothing piece of garbage, Tai thought miserably. I hope a warty witch finds you and turns you into a hand-mirror so you'll have to reflect her ugly face for the rest of eternity.
Or better yet, maybe the dragon would accidentally eat Shard and the glass would slit the sorry creature's throat open as it was being swallowed.
But counting on his luck, Tai doubted that would happen.
"Any last words?" The dragon flexed his claws.
"Er" Tai stammered. "That is"
"Actually, since you askedyes," came Davis's voice.
Tai turned around, giving Davis a quizzical look, but didn't interrupt the squire.
"I've heard that dragons are excellent at solving riddles," Davis began. He gave the dragon a challenging look. "Right?"
The dragon scowled. "So what if dragons are good with riddles? What are you trying to get at, boy?"
"All I'm saying," Davis explained patiently, "is that wouldn't your fellow dragons laugh at you if they found out that you were picking off helpless humans?"
The dragon looked annoyed. "What do you mean helpless'? You're a squire. Your master's a knight. Knights always ride off on dragon-slaying, maiden-saving quests while dragons sit around in their lairs waiting for a stupid knight and squire to stumble by so we can make a meal out of them. That's what dragons do. It's called the food chain.' "
"Exactly!" Davis cried. "Dragons eat knights, but when they do, they always win the privilege! You know, through a contest or something."
"Is that what you're suggesting?" the dragon asked suspiciously. "A contest?"
"Certainly," Davis said cheerfully. "That way, the next time you invite your fellow dragons over for—oh, I don't know—a little tea party or something, you can tell them—with pride, of course—that you ate a human you outsmarted."
"But what if the human was actually really stupid?" the dragon complained. "You know, one of those village idiots who can't even tell the difference between a cow and themselves."
"But your fellow dragons wouldn't know that," Davis pointed out.
"True" The dragon thought about Davis's suggestion for another moment before saying, "Fine! Let's have this contest! There's no way you humans can win anyway."
Davis only smiled.
Hands still trembling slightly, Tai turned his steed and pulled it next to Davis's. The knight glared at the squire. "Just what do you think you're doing?" Tai whispered fiercely. There was no way Davis had come up with this plan by himself. Shard had probably thought it up, otherwise, Davis wouldn't look so confident.
"Trust me," Davis whispered back.
Tai didn't like this at all.
To the dragon, Davis said, "I get to pick what contest. And I choose a riddling game."
"Fine," the dragon agreed. "But I get to ask the questions."
"All right." Davis shrugged indifferently. "You get to ask three riddles. No tricks, no cheating, no nothing. If you win, meaning if we get all three questions wrong, you can eat us—horses and all. But if Tai and I get even one question right, you lose. And what that means iswell, both Tai and I, the horses, the equipment, everything that came with us goes with us—unharmed. Agreed?"
"Agreed," the dragon muttered.
"And no going back on your word," Tai added.
"Just as long as you don't go back on yours," the dragon retorted.
"Fine. Let's begin," Davis announced.
The dragon smirked. "First riddle: What is round and orange?"
"Hey, what's the big idea?" Tai complained. The stupid dragon was acting just like Shard. "What kind of question is that? Can't you be a little more specific?"
"No," the dragon said curtly. "Either you give an answer or forfeit this question."
Davis nudged Tai with his elbow. "Just play along," he said in a low voice.
"Last time," the dragon announced impatiently. "What is round and orange?"
"Uman orange!" Tai blurted.
The dragon snickered. "Wrong. The answer is the sun'."
"The sun?" Tai repeated incredulously. "How can you even look at the sun long enough to see what color it is? Or even to know that it's round? Maybe it's oval! You're an idiot, your poor mother must be so ashamed!" Tai broke off his angry words to gasp for breath.
"Humph. And you're about to become my lunch if you don't shut up right now." The dragon narrowed its eyes. "Next question: Is the world round or flat?"
Davis grabbed Tai's arm and covered the knight's mouth before he could answer. "Ahem." Davis gave Tai a look that said, Shut up if you want to live to see tomorrow.
"Okay, listen," Tai heard Shard whisper to Davis. "The answer to that riddle is—"
"Flat," Davis answered confidently. "The world is flat."
"No, fool!" Shard screamed.
"Wrong again," the dragon said smugly.
"What?" Tai wrenched free from Davis's grasp. "That can't be right!"
The dragon laughed. "You humans are so ignorant. In another four hundred years or so, you'll find out that the world is actually round and not flat like you think."
"What are you talking about?" Tai exploded. He was ready to charge at the dragon and kick it in the shin. "Of course the world is flat! Everyone knows the world is flat! It's like asking what color dirt is and you saying it's pink when everyone knows it's brown!"
"Yes, well," the dragon said calmly, "it was your squire's idea to play this little game. It's not my fault I'm winning. Come now, don't be sore losers."
"We haven't lost yet," Davis reminded. "You still have one more riddle to ask."
"And this time," Tai added in a low voice, "let's discuss it before either of us blurt out an answer. We are playing for our lives here."
"By the way," Shard interrupted, sounding cranky, "our scaly friend here is quite right. The world is round. Like a ball. If you two bumbling morons had bothered to let me tell you, maybe you'd have gotten that question right."
Davis sighed. "Shard's got a point. After all, answering questions was what it was created for."
"This time, think before we speak," Tai agreed.
"Ready?" the dragon gazed at the knight and squire eagerly. "Okay, the third and last riddle: What is my name?"
Tai and Davis exchanged glances. Then they both gazed quickly at Shard in the pouch.
"What are you two looking at?" The dragon sounded suspicious. "No cheating, remember?"
"We're not," Davis insisted.
"We're thinking," Tai put in.
The dragon snorted. "Well? Hurry up with the answer, can't you?"
"What do we do?" Davis whispered to Tai. "The thing is keeping a close eye on us now. We can't open the pouch flap and see what Shard says."
"Hmmlet me think," Tai suddenly shouted. "What can your name be?"
Amazingly enough, Davis got Tai's message. "Shard," Davis whispered quickly and urgently. "What's the dragon's name?"
"Your namelet's seeI say, this certainly is an excellent riddle!" Tai continued to holler.
"Rermperlskin," came the muffled reply.
"What? Say it clearer!"
"Rumperilskin! Just remember the name of the little man who spun straw into gold!"
"I know!" Tai was continuing on. "Your name must beno, no, that can't be right. How about"
The man who spun straw into gold? Davis was pretty sure he'd heard it somewhere before. But what was the name?
Rupertno, Rumble
"I know!" Davis cried out.
"You do?" Tai stopped short of his senseless chatter.
"It's Rumpelstiltskin!" Davis declared.
"Drat!" the dragon pouted. "First that ninny-headed peasant girl and now you two! Why do people always get my name right?"
The dragon began to shimmer and its form fell away to reveal an ugly little man with black, beady eyes, a coarse, gray beard, and yellow, rotten teeth. The man stamped his feet indignantly like a child having a temper tantrum. "Curses, I really need to get my name officially changed." He scowled at Tai and Davis. "A plague on you two, but a deal's a deal. You're free to go, and I suggest you'd better run for it before my stomach gets the better of me and I change my mind."
Muttering and grumbling to himself, the little man disappeared.
"We—we won?" Tai uttered in disbelief. "We actually won?"
"I know, it's a miracle," Shard said sarcastically.
"I half expected him to scream a stream of curses then tear himself in two or something," Davis laughed, "Just like in the story."
"Maybe he learned something from the first time," Shard offered dryly. "I wonder how long it took him to put himself back together?"
"What story?" Tai asked, looking confused.
"Never mind," Davis and Shard said in unison.
"Hey," Davis reminded, "we'd better take the little man's words seriously. Let's get out of here just in case he does come back. Next time, we might not be so lucky."
"Right." Tai looked at the narrow mountain pass doubtfully. It seemed even smaller now compared to the bulk of the dragon. "Sodo you want to go first this time, Davis?"
__________
Matt had decided to travel east since he figured Tai and Davis would go south. The golden-haired knight had been keeping an eye out for any signs of the ogre—or any other ogre for that matter. For many days, Matt had traveled, passing towns and villages, asking the locals if they'd seen or heard of a big, ugly, hairy ogre passing through, carrying a beautiful girl.
But no one had seen anything of the sort.
Undaunted, Matt continued on, but he fervently hoped that at least some excitement would come his way. He was even beginning to wish that one of those magical creatures would show itself to him, but after another day of fruitless searching, he still turned up nothing.
Suddenly, as Matt reached the top of the hilly dirt road, a mass of emerald green sprung up below.
"A forest," Matt murmured to himself. "This should be interesting."
Matt spurred his horse forward down the hill. A sign came into view on the side of the road just outside the forest. Matt slowed down his horse to read it. The sign was old and rotting, the wood faded to a bleary gray. The dull words on it read:
The Greenwood
Humans Beware
The people of the Greenwood hold no responsibility for any property, animals, or lives lost in the wood
Enter at Your Own Risk
Enter at your own risk'? The knight stared at the sign curiously. Briefly, he wondered what things the sign was warning humans to be wary of.
But the thought didn't last long.
This was his chance for adventure, at long last. With one hand on the hilt of his sword and the other holding the reins, Matt urged his horse cautiously into the Greenwood.