Into the Dragon's Lair (Mythic Series Volume Ten)

When we reached the forge,

A dark and deadly suspicion

Overcame my sensibility,

For within the glowing cavern

Lives a dragon, of ungodliness

Yet we stand conspiring,

First a tracker would test a path,

When returned ahead we’d march,

And wage destruction upon scale and skin,

At the mouth, a foul stench raced upon our very flesh,

Awakened a glorious amber,

Monster from another world,

Draped upon uncountable treasure chest,

Overflowing with trinkets, both silver and in gold,

His eye peeled back to see an army,

Preparing the strike to come,

Archers flailed arrows through the sky

Brilliant war has sight a light,

Yet fail they did to pierce the armor

Of a dragon well worth the attack,

Flame burst from his snout and tongue,

Singing all and burning some,

Quickly his wings expand,

Removing himself from his mounds of coin,

Deeper and deeper still,

Into the innards of its cave,

The path the dragon weaved,

Many men looked in awe,

Never in their life had glory within their grasp,

A few dropped shield and sword,

Within the wealth they were absorbed,

Armor raced to temperatures peak,

Within mere instance, all that remained was the boots and feet,

Three were down and down the rest would persist,

To snare this behemoth in our midst,

Each step down the throat of this stony grave,

Light abandoned the path we tread,

And torches would be lit instead,

At the basin a river sounds,

Rippling notions like when pounced upon,

And then infernos sheared us in,

Behind a pillar, made of quartz and sand,

In the torching wall held candles became lit,

And draws would fall when eyes focused too,

One had turned to six,

Six dragons in our midst,

Five were small, as are many,

But too stood tall above them all,

One of the beasts, in the back,

Would be the one we last attacked,

Many heads upon one neck,

Flames igniting all around,

Men began to question this journey,

Were we purposely led into agony,

An ambush like this could not come from another man,

Nor did it I replied,

These are guardians of a demon great,

There below, a dismal gate,

Once we slay each and every,


Those of us still to live,

Would enter and retrieve

What glory the Gods will get,

Upon my knees I laid prayer,

For each and every God to hear,

When the battle plan came clear to me,

Do not fight each separately,

Damage all at once permanently,

And so we scattered to every side,

Axe to wall and flame to find

The weakness in the columns of stone,

And after much blood was spent

The exterior came down with it,

Buried deep beneath the rubbish

Breathing dragons did not disturb us,

Pushing aside boulder upon boulder

We unearthed a path to the gate to try

Reclaim the prize for the God’s grace,

Unlock the latch and light the flame,

To guide us along this spiral descent,

Until the wet stamping of moist clay we set our boots down to,

There a coffin miles wide,

Taking might from all inside,

Unleash the golden corpse of an age old find,

The snake like tomb of another time,

Golden wings and bronzed claw,

Diamonds were eyes once saw,

But there we knew the second in view,

The magnificent and glorious dragon sword and shield,

One left by our count,

Six have fell and one left to mount,

To the bridge we shall ride,

One last battle left to fight