The Dragon's Roar

In a small village nestled in the hills, the villagers were preparing for their annual music festival. The musical festival was a well anticipated event in the town, turning the normal sleepy village into a bustling busy place. Several people were at the town square that morning: cleaning up the area, setting up booths, and gathering instruments in preparation for the event.

As usual for this time of year, a buzz of excitement filled the air... until it was suddenly wiped away and replaced by another noise entirely, causing the villagers to stop their work and look around in horror.

The entire town square was filled with a deafening droning sound which no one had ever heard before; it resembled an unholy combination between a serpent's hiss, an elephant's trumpet, and a lion's roar. A swift-moving shadow soon spread across the ground over the shocked villagers, who looked up only to be frozen in fright by the sight of a dragon. It was a scaly beast that was the size a man. It had a long neck, large bat-like wings and a long coiling tail.

The flying beast swooped down and landed on top of a booth. It glowered down at the villagers and reared back its long neck. As it snapped its neck forward again, it opened its mouth and released another blast of that horrible sound from its throat, which reverberated through the frightened frozen villagers, knocking them out of their daze.

The villager's frozen fear became a frightened frenzy. The town square erupted in a panicked and screaming cacophony of running villagers, dropped instruments and the dragon's dreadful roar. The extra noise agitated dragon, which started circling above the square again, occasionally swooping down and clacking its jaws at the frightened people. After a half hour of panic, the villagers had managed to get to the safety of their homes. From their windows, they watched the enraged dragon fly around the empty town square in a fury, destroying anything that got in its path of flight.

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The dragon had come into the village in the early morning and continued its outrage until noon. It was then that a young knight arrived, dressed in chain mail and armed with a shield and broadsword. He strode confidently into the town square and surveyed the damage until he saw the dragon, flailing and thrashing in its tantrum.

The knight looked straight at the dragon and spoke, his confidently booming voice echoing through the town center. "Why do you terrorize this village with your foul roar, Dragon?"

The dragon looked at the knight, opened it jaws wide and roared again. The powerful blast of sound nearly knocked the knight off his feet, but with a scrape of metal the knight simply drew his sword in response. "You have been warned. We can either settle this peacefully or we can do battle"

The dragon's brow furrowed at the knight's ultimatum, its piercing eyes glaring at its challenger. Suddenly, it leapt into air and dove straight at the knight, who deftly ducked and rolled out of the way. The dragon doubled back at its challenger using its scaly body as a weapon but this time, the knight made no attempt to evade and braced himself behind his raised shield. The dragon collided head first into the shield, the impact causing it to fall to the ground. As it lay prone on the floor, the knight lifted his sword to deliver the first blow. He swung the sword downwards, but the blade bit into nothing except the ground as the dragon launched backwards at the last moment. Undeterred, the knight lifted his weapon again, but the wily dragon flicked its tail backwards with blinding speed. The knight had to throw himself backwards to avoid the attack and fell on his back, his sword flying out of his hand and landing out of his reach.

The dragon rushed at the knight, opening its mouth and unleashing its dreadful cry as it snapped its teeth. Weaponless, the knight hastily lifted his shield over his body just as the dragon bit down, fangs sinking into the shield instead. The dragon screamed and jumped on top of the knight, pinning him down; it opened its jaws wider than before and let loose another droning roar right at the knight's face.

The knight closed his eyes and braced himself as the dragon continued its deafening roar. He tried to weigh his options and plan his next move but the only thing occupying his mind was the dragon's awful roar. As the strange sound traveled through his body, he couldn't help but notice that the sound was somewhat familiar. It was that moment that he saw something rather curious inside the dragon's gaping maw; perplexed but out of any other opinions, the knight grabbed the dragon's neck with his left hand and shoved his right hand straight into the dragon's throat.

The dragon gagged and choked, then flapped its wings in panic. It had managed to lift itself off the knight, but the warrior's firm grasp left it trapped. As its neck stretched, the now somewhat-strangled sound continued to drone on. Determined, the knight continued to pull as he felt a strange object slowly moving out of the dragon's throat. With one last heave, the object slipped right out of the dragon's mouth and the knight abruptedly released the beast from his grip, causing it to flip into the air and thud back onto the ground.

The offending object turned out to be a small accordion, which flopped and stretched in the knight's hand, letting loose a few more notes before stopping. A wave of realization hit him as he stared at the instrument. As he got up on his feet, he looked down at the dragon which coughed and gagged as it lie on the ground. The dragon looked back up at the knight with a small wheeze, its piercing eyes relaxed and a small smile crept onto the sides of its jaws. It let loose a soft relaxed hiss and slowly crawled up to the knight.

The knight was taken aback by the dragon's sudden change in mood. He couldn't believe what was happening as the dragon began nuzzling his leg. He placed the accordion down and observed the placid dragon in stunned silence. When the dragon looked up at him, the knight couldn't help but smile back and pat the dragon's scaly head.


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Once the villagers had cleaned everything up, the music festival was able to continue as planned. It was a joyous occasion full of singing, dancing and laughter. Several visitors from the neighboring villages had joined in on the fun, but two guests who were by far the most popular. Everyone loved the knight's masterful accordion playing and the dragon's graceful flying. It turned out to be one of the best festivals the village had ever had.