Che Crawford Fanfiction

(Dragon by chevsy)

Shards crumbled from the cliffs above, causing Ged to duck his head and protect his eyes. The other men were all fast climbers. He supposed they’d been training for this; little it would do to help them once they got inside. His fingers scrambled for holds, grating his skin, as he pushed to keep up. He could have shifted and flown into the mountain, but he needed to save his power for later. The biggest threat was not the climb.
The day wore on, the sun was high, and soon Ged lost sight of the other men. They had made it into the mountain. He stilled himself, and could hear the screams coming from deep inside. This would be the last year the village conned young men into sacrificing themselves. Ged promised himself that.
Deep booms and roars could be heard now, mixed with the chilling screams. And loud cracks from blocks of stone flying down to the ground beneath him. The mountain itself seemed to be warming, expanding,... breaking.
Ged was still too far from the entrance, but he had to get in now.
Summoning energy, he slapped a flat palm firmly against the rock in front of him. It tumbled inward, leaving a gaping hole for him to climb through.

Into the lair of the dragon.

“Travel. This time without a shadow pushing you onwards. See what you can learn when you have the time,” his master Ogion had urged him gently.
Ged had entered the village that morning to find a flurry of colours, smells, and people singing, dancing, and shuffling their way closer to the foot of the mountain. A stall vendor managed to convince Ged to buy a dragon printed cloth in exchange for information. The festival was to celebrate the brave young men who entered the mountain through the opening that showed itself only once a year. They would then take on the dragon, trying to steal it’s power, and if victorious, come back as the saviour of the village. Vast riches and honor were promised to the hero that defeated it. Although so far, none had.
When Ged asked the vendor what happened if no one went up, the man couldn’t meet his eye, and he mumbled something about the dragon coming out to feast on villagers.
That’s when Ged saw it for what it really was. A glorified sacrificial festival.
What Ged didn’t see coming was that the cloth marked him as one of the participants. He took it in stride though. He would end this.

He didn’t need to create light. When the blast of hot air cleared, Ged saw that entire parts of the cave were glowing with a deep red heat. Flames licked along the cracks of the walls. Everywhere that hadn’t been touched recently was scorched black with old fire.
And all of this reflected back onto the scales of grotesque, curling, serpent creature, currently winding it’s way between rocks and feasting on village men.
It was fierce, but young. Ged dropped through the hole.
The hot air currents caught him with the help of his magic. He let himself land gently onto the dragon’s back between two black spikes. He grabbed one tightly for support. The dragon was too busy blowing fireballs at fleeing men to notice.
The dragon had a wild look in it’s eyes. It was unlike anything Ged had seen before in the usually intelligent dragons. He knew that this time, he wasn’t going to be able to talk the beast out of eating villagers. He would have to end it.
There were several men still alive. Most of them were now unsuccessfully looking for ways out, drawing attention to themselves. Except one man Ged noticed, whose eyes were gleaming with fierce determination. He stood perfectly still between two slivers of rock. It was like he wasn’t even breathing. Was he waiting for his moment? These men had little to use against a dragon. Ged wanted to call out to the man to please stop, but that would draw attention to them both.
The dragon had spotted another victim against the cave wall, and raised his claws to strike him down. That’s when Ged saw the bronzed ring on one of it’s talons, and that’s when the determined man between the slivers of rock made his move.
Ged watched the man sprint across the burning floor and jump, catching the ring and pulling it off the claw of the dragon.
The next moment was full of confusion. Beneath Ged, the dragon turned to ashes, crumbling to the floor. He landed among them, instantly dazed and blackened. The man who had the ring, looked down at it in awe, and slipped it onto his finger.
His skin started to lump and pulse. A wave of scales shivered down his body, and all at once he burst into a twin of the ashen dragon.
He rounded on Ged.
The same wild look flashed in the new dragon’s eyes, and Ged knew this was no longer the man; there would again be no talking to him.
Luckily Ged guessed what would happen next, and dive rolled out of the way. The stoney floor where he had been standing burst alight with molten flame, spat by the dragon. The ground quickly smoldered out. Ged hissed in pain as he got to his feet. A flame had caught his robe, scorching his skin and he hurriedly patted it out.
The dragon clicked it’s serpent tongue, delighted at it’s new trick. It proceeded to fire inferno after inferno Ged’s way. But it’s aim was off, it was new to this after all. Ged glanced around for a quick way stop it, ducking and dodging the molten rock explosions. The dragon’s aim was getting better, fast.
A fireball landed in front of Ged, throwing him onto his back. He blinked. The cave’s roof came into focus, and he saw several large stalactites. Convenient. It was extremely surprising that they hadn’t fallen already. All they needed was a little persuasion.
He called to the rising air currents, urging them to throw themselves at the hanging spikes. They rounded the cave, again and again, slamming into the rocks.
And then the stalactites fell.
When the dust cleared, all was eerily silent. Three men crawled out from their hiding places, standing in quiet awe beside the unmoving dragon.
Ged stood and brushed himself off. He ripped his robe, wincing at the burns on his arm, and used the cloth to pry the ring off the dead dragon. He was careful not to touch the metal, in case he too was urged to put it on. And he wrapped it up tightly as the dragon crumbled to ashes.
“Go back to your village and tell them they’re safe,” he said quietly.
It was finally time to shift. He flew the ring out to the deepest part of the ocean and dropped it.

The end.

Le Guinn, U. (1993; 1968).  A Wizard of Earthsea. In The Earthsea Quartet  (pp.13-167). London: Penguin.