Ragnarock The Brave

• Bailey Hatchman, Grade 5
• Short Story
• 2018

Once upon a time there was an Eastern Tribe of Berserkers who had a rivalry against the Dragons of the Old. The Chief of the Berserker Tribe was Orin the Powerful who as a child swung a sword across the face of the Dragon King leaving a metre long gash across the beast’s eye. Now the Dragon King was a terrifying sight with its shiny black scales impenetrable by any weapon except for the Sword of Vengeance. A face full of triangular shaped teeth sharper than obsidian, and those burning red eyes full of hatred. With its muscular wings and legs, it was stronger than one thousand mammoths and a mind sharper than its teeth.
Now Orin had a son named Ragnarock who was a hardened warrior from birth, trained all his life to kill the Dragon King, to finish what Orin started. Though Ragnarock didn’t want to kill the Dragons for he thought they could tame the Dragons and their King. Everyone would laugh at him and look at him as if he were mad but no one would say to him that he would never destroy the Dragon King. Ragnarock would say, “They only attack us because they are defending their young and homes.” One night though Ragnarock sick of his father’s disappointment and the Tribe’s jeering he ran away.
He stole the Sword of Vengeance from his father and ran away into the night, not hearing the great beating of wings. His heart set on destroying the King of the Dragons, but he didn’t realise that he would not slay the Dragon King. He travelled through the night looking for the Dragon King, little did he know that the Dragon was following him instead. The Dragon was constantly watching the Berserker Tribe Village patiently to release his revenge on Orin.
Exhausted from searching, Ragnarock made camp in a small cave and was soon asleep. Ragnarock suddenly awoke the next morning to a thunderous roar that shook the cave. The Dragon King had decided to strike. Ragnarock arose quickly to unsheathe the Sword of Vengeance from its scabbard of gems. He ran to the entrance of the cave and found a terrifying sight. The King Dragon, huge, ancient, terrible.
The Dragon had already set the trees and grass ablaze. Ragnarock ran out and swung his sword at the beast but it batted it aside with its paw and went to step towards him but when its paw made contact with the ground, it growled and brought it back up. Ragnarock saw then that the Dragon had a large tree branch sticking out of its paw. Ragnarock then remembered that he didn’t want to slay Dragons and suddenly ran forward and yanked the branch out.
The Dragon then stopped roaring and sank to the ground as if inviting him to get on its back. Ragnarock quickly scrambled up the Dragon and thought, “I’m going to call you Shard.” Then they flew off into the sky.