Here There Be Dragons

Chapter 5

The princess' birthday party promised to be a gala affair. The great dining hall of the palace resounded with music. There was dancing and wine and big platters of food. There were whole roasted pigs with apples in their mouths, and there were chickens and dumplings and great roasts of beef.

All the ladies and gentlemen of the kingdom came, and the ladies wore dresses of red and yellow and blue and orange and green and violet. There was a great birthday cake, the size of an elephant and a half, and it had ten candles on it, because that was how old the princess was. Everyone brought her wondrous gifts. There was everything that a person could possibly want at a birthday party. Except for fireworks, that is. Or a fire-breathing dragon.

"Do you think he will really produce a dragon?" asked the third adviser.

"Of course not," said the second. "How could he have gotten a dragon? And if he did, where is he keeping it?"

The captain of the King's Guard laughed. "You were going to seek a dragon all by yourself, eh?" he said. "Well, where is it?"

William did not answer him. Instead, he tapped his glass with his spoon until the room was quiet. Then he cleared his throat. He appeared to be a bit nervous.

"Uh, the time has come for the fireworks display," he told them all, "in honor of her young majesty's tenth birthday. Happy birthday, Princess. This is going to be a very special and rather unusual display."

The king laughed and slapped his leg. "Yes, yes!" he cried out. "Bring it on, William! Bring it on! Medium-sized, and with colored lights, mind you!"

"Yes, your highness," said William, taking a tiny package from beneath the table and placing it before him. It is in here."

"It seems a pretty small package," said the king.

"Yes," said the first adviser.

"Yes indeed," said the second.

"Much too small," said the third.

The king opened the package. Bell jumped out and stood upon the table.

The three advisers laughed. The knights laughed. They laughed and laughed until the tears came into their eyes.

"That is supposed to be a medium-sized dragon, with colored lights?" they asked. "Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!"

And they laughed and laughed and laughed some more, until Bell stood up on his tiny hind legs and turned to William and asked, "Now?"

"Now," he said.

Then something happened. Bell had been the color of the oakwood table, but now he was dark, red-green in color and seemed slightly larger than he had been. He opened his mouth, and a tiny spark came out of it.

Then he was bigger than the package he had come out of. He was twice as big as he had been only a moment before. He opened his mouth again, and the king drew back away from the flame that emerged.

Then Bell was as big as a man, and the platters rattled as they fell upon the floor, pushed away from him while he grew.

And he kept growing. He grew and he grew, until the table broke in half beneath him. He grew until he filled half the great banquet hall.

He opened his mouth and roared with a sound like thunder. Flames shot forth from the windows of the palace and lighted up the courtyard outside. Tapestries were scorched. Women screamed and backed against the wall. Seven knights fainted, and the captain of the King's Guard ran and hid himself behind the throne.

William felt something crawling across his foot, and he looked down under what was left of the table. The first three advisers were crouched there, shivering.

"Well?" he asked them. "Yes, it is a very good dragon," answered the first.

"Only it is not a medium-sized one," said the second.

"No, it is a large, economy-sized dragon," said the third.

"He was the best I could manage on such short notice," said William, smiling.

The king pushed the princess behind his back and stood facing the dragon.

"My, you're a big one," he said. "Please do be careful with those flames. There are expensive tapestries and people and things like that about."

The dragon laughed. No one else did.

"I am Belkis," he roared, "king of the dragons! You are only a human king, so do not give me orders!"

"But I am sovereign majesty of a mighty kingdom," said the king, "and my word is law. I order. I really do order. And I am always obeyed. So please do not go about burning tapestries and people and things like that."

Belkis laughed again, and the flames danced about the rafters.

"No one orders Belkis to do or not to do anything. I am only here for one reason. I want to meet your Royal Cartographer, Mister Gibberling. Produce him!"