Dragon Knights Fan Fiction ❯ Thatz's Quest for Food ❯ The Cremation ( Chapter 1 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Edit 28 October, 2004 Sorry, reading it while writing chapter two, I realise what a bad job I did of the first draft. This story should stand alone, but it was treated as an afterthought in too many places and the story didn't flow. This version should fix the problems I found with it. There is no excuse for a rush to publish. Everything needs time to be edited. Please enjoy this new edit. The main differences are in Thatz's interactions with Rath.

This is the third linked story in the series. The other two are Rune's Quest for Peace and Rath's Quest for Demons.

It was a truly magnificent feast.
There was so much food on the picnic basket, that the scraggy, green-haired dragon had to sit on the grass. Apples, oranges, grapes and yams tumbled over the bananas onto the ground. Pork buns, rice balls and glazed ham all graced the left side. Chicken balls, miso soup and seasonal salads haunted the right. The desert, the temptations, apple tart, full chocolate cake, lemon sorbet and a sumptuous cheesecake hid at the back, out of reach until the main courses were finished. In the centre, the piéce de la resistance, was a whole suckling pig, loving roasted for several hours, by his own hand. Mmmm, the aroma filled the air and made him dizzy.
He smiled and intoned deeply, "Green Thatz needs food badly".

"KAI!"

The sound echoed and threatened to topple the leaning tower of mashed potato. Thatz turned and looked down the hill, to see the Fire Dragon Knight waving his sword in the air. He grabbed an apple and watched for a bit.
"Ah, entertainment to go with my food," he said, taking a bite. "What a perfect day."

Rath continued to leap, dance and stab the air. Thatz chomped on some skewered, barbecued meat, watching half-heartedly, until the prancing knight made a strange motion with his hand. Thatz leant forward and saw a flicker of light, that turned into a stream of fire. He followed its path as it soared into the air, arced and came back down, just passing behind his head.
He sat for a moment, holding his chest and thanking his lucky stars, until he heard an evil cackle behind him. He turned quickly and screamed, "Red Rath has shot the food!"

Hey, I'm called Thatz and I'm the Dragon Knight of Earth. I used to be a petty thief, but life's gotten much easier since the Dragonlord hired me. Sometimes I miss the danger and fun of it. Now being a Dragon Knight's great, the opportunities are good, the lads are fun and I never go hungry, but stealing's a different kind of thrill. I hope I'm not getting rusty.
Stealing's a game. Your opponents are the guards and those you steal from. Your rivals are other thieves. The best part is that there's an inbuilt scoring system. Of course, if we were good thieves, then we'd all be rich, but fencers take an enormous cut and tools cost a fortune. Maybe stealing isn't the best way to make a bundle from thievery, but it sure is the most fun.

Thatz ran down to Rath. "What are you doing? My food, my food, it's ruined!" he said, jumping back and forth and shooting devastated glances at the hill.
Rath ignored him, steadily attacking the air around him and Thatz turned back. "Maybe I can save something." He surged up the hill to survey the damage. The pig! It was burning, but maybe it was only surface damage. Like a barbecue, yeah? Blackened and crispy, okay, it was crumbling now, but maybe it was only damaged on the outside and still perfect on the inside! As he eagerly grabbed it, it fell to ashes. Staring at his hands, he wept, only to be distracted by a strange noise. Looking up, he saw an untouched, unblemished chocolate cake. Dribbling tears once more, he reached out, only to notice the trail of sugar that led from a smouldering, wooden basket, to a nearby mound of candy cakes. The sugar fuse hissed and flared blue, then ignited fully. Thatz dove, just before the candy mountain exploded. He resurfaced and cringingly re-evaluated the blanket. The cake was ruined.
He reached out towards it, but was kept at bay by the thought of burning sugar stuck to his fingers. With a final sigh, he pulled the blanket across the remains of his lunch, giving it dignity. He then walked away.

"I can't believe it's all gone," he said, aloud. "So much good food. It took me ages to choose and pack it. Even thinking of the stuff I left out turns my mouth moist. I mean, the list was endless. Grapes, apples, bananas, waffles, pancakes, noodles..." He wailed out. "There was a suckling pig and everything!"
"What?" Rath said, still chopping at the air. He spun around and stabbed at this new foe, stopping his blade a hair's breadth from the Earth Dragon Knight.
His mouth quivered. "My lunch, Rath! There was a whole pig! Roasted with an apple! There were riceballs, ramen, succulent fruit..." He smacked his lips and stroked his rumbling stomach. "And now it's all gone."
"Well, then," Rath interrupted, sounding bored as he put away his sword. "I'm glad you enjoyed it."
"Huh?" Thatz said. "What are talking about? I didn't get to eat anything." Looking down he marked off the many succulent foods that perished on the hill. "Apples, oranges, grapes, yams, pork buns, rice balls, glazed ham, chicken balls, miso soup, salads, udon, apple tart, chocolate cake, lemon sorbet, cheesecake."
Suddenly, Rath grabbed Thatz and pulled him away from the site of the attack. Thatz tried to gain some purchase on the ground and fight back, but gave up as Rath relentlessly dragged him onwards. He laid back in Rath's embrace, occassionally kicking free a stone or twig as they got caught beneath his heels, which were gouging tiny trails in the Castle's grounds. He sighed, trying to gain perspective on his lost meal. "Thanks, Rath. You're right. I shouldn't wallow over it's sweet, devastated goodness. After all, it can't be eaten now. You know, maybe there's still some lunch available at the kitchens. I should at least eat something. I think they were cooking yams..."
Rath suddenly let go and turned around to face Thatz saying, "Man, you like food!"
Thatz stared at Rath. "Rath? Looking around he noticed that Rath had dragged him to the Dragonlord's study. "Hey, how'd we get here?"

The door opened and Rath's demeanor changed. He leaned back and started to glower. When a significant puss had formed on his face, he strode in ahead of Thatz, walked straight up to the Dragonlord and then right past him. He wandered over to the window, folded his arms and stared sulkily outside, ignoring everyone and making the senior dragons distinctly uncomfortable. Thatz, used to his mood changes when the Dragonlord appeared, slouched after him and waved casually. As a matter of course, he examined the room for easily pocketed, high value items.
Tetheus looked at Rath briefly, then turned his attention to Thatz and nodded at him. His uniform was slick, tight and unadorned. Alfeegi burned. He was on the brink of marching over to Rath and making him acknowledge the Dragonlord. He was wearing a nice pair of cufflinks that could be easily sold on the black market, for close to half value. Lykouleon, wearing distinctive, signature jewellery, with a limited resale value, merely sighed, looked almost longingly at Rath, then put on one of his fake smiles and started the meeting.

"I sent for Rune too. He should be here shortly," he said softly. He then looked over to Tetheus before continuing. "We can wait a little longer."
"Rune?" said Thatz, shrugging a little. "I haven't seen him all day."
The Dragon Officers looked strained at this, then Tetheus spoke. "I believe that he's been practising his control over his water magic. A useful activity."
"Hear that, Rath? You could do with a bit more control over your fire magic. Rath?" Alfeegi called, the colour in his cheeks rising even more. "You'd better start paying more attention, Rath!"
Lykouleon quieted him, with another wave of his hand. "In that case, we'd better start. I have a mission for the three of you," he said.
"A mission?" said Thatz. "What do you have in mind?"
Rath snorted. "Long as I get out of here, I don't care," he said, moodily.
The Dragonlord cut off Alfeegi's response, with a small wave of his hand. "That's good then, Rath," he said, lightly. "There's a certain area of Dusis that we're worried about. There's been no information coming from it, for the past three months. We thought that maybe the route was blocked, but given the sheer amount of time, I doubt that's the reason."
"How serious is it?" asked Thatz. " Have you sent out any of Dragon Fighters?"

Rath glared at him, unsettling him, but Tetheus spoke, before he could find out why.

"We've sent Dragon Fighters out that way, but none have reported back," Tetheus said, sternly. "Salazar has indicated trouble in the region. You're our best fighters and we want you to investigate. Whatever the problem is, help out, then come home."
Alfeegi, tired of Rath's attitude spoke loudly and with solemn disgust. "There are demons. Hugely, powerful demons. Obscenely, mighty demons!"
That got Rath's attention and he turned, his eyes growing wider with every demon-filled sentence.
"Really?" he squeaked, like a small boy offered a cool new toy.
Alfeegi, shocked that he'd gotten Rath's attention, gaped like a fish. "We haven't ruled them out," he said, weakly. Rath perked up and smiled again.
"We'll do it!" he said, grabbing Thatz again and squealing happily. "Demons!"
Tetheus, Lykouleon and Alfeegi exchanged glances and each called out. Rath stopped his happy march and turned to them impatiently.
"Rath!" Tetheus said. "Don't you want more details?"
"If we move now, we can grab Rune, pack and be gone before mid-day," he whined, impatient to leave.
"It's an important mission. You have to be properly prepared. We're not sure exactly what the situation is..." Alfeegi trailed off. Rath's tapping foot and bored, skyward stare betraying his lack of attention.
Tetheus squeezed his shoulder. "I'm going in that direction on a business matter," he said. "I'll travel with them part of the way and teach them what I know of the area." At Lykouleon's nod he turned to Thatz and the impatient Rath. "I'll wait for you at the North Gate, an hour after mid-day."
"Gotcha," said Rath. "Gone." He raced out with the luckless Thatz, who waved at the senior Dragons. He heard them muttering, even before the door closed in his face. His instincts told him that listening at the door, would let him in on a very interesting conversation. Rath's grip was iron, though. So he laid back and waited for Rath to ask just how they'd find the errant Water Knight, enjoying his chance to relax, although his heels got quite a battering.

I know that sugar is explosive, but I do know that there's another household chemical you have to mix with it, to set it on fire as described in the story. Let's just assume that it's mixed up in there.

Each story has intentional variations. Let's just say that Thatz, Rath and Rune each notice different things and have different opinions about the things they notice. I'm sure that Alfeegi, Tetheus and Lykouleon remember a different conversation too. Each story also has a different writing style and bias. Hopefully, each tale has a distinctive feel to it.

I wonder now, if I should have taken the Gauntlet references out of it. They came into my head as I was thinking what to write for Thatz's side. I don't know if they fit or not.

For the fuller story, please read the other versions. They are Rune's Quest for Peace and Rath's Quest for Demons.