Digory The Dragon Slayer

Barley’s saddlebags.
    But Digory was busy pondering over the wizard’s words.
    ‘We were on our way to the sea, you see,’ he puzzled aloud. ‘If the map is right we should be sitting in a sand dune at this very moment.’
    Burdock stopped his rummaging to take a look.
    ‘There’s nothing wrong with the map,’ he said, turning it upside down. ‘But I don’t think you know your north and south. The sea is ten leagues away. We are here...’ He pointed to a spot just a flea’s footstep away from Gnasher’s cave!

SURPRISE, SURPRISE!

    Digory couldn’t believe his eyes. Had they really been travelling around in circles since breakfast? How did they manage to arrive at the only place on the map Digory didn’t want to visit?
    ‘Your dragon’s cave is just behind that bush,’ said Burdock helpfully. ‘I’d like to hang around and watch. I’ve never seen anyone battle with a jaw-dripping, flesh-ripping, bone-crunching, snout-snarling, bloodthirsty dragon before. But I’ve got to feed my bats at sunset so I must get home.’
    Digory thought this was probably turning out to be the most awful day of his life.
    ‘By the way,’ said the wizard, ‘you agreed I could have anything I wanted if I told your fortune, so I’ll just take this.’ And he strapped Digory’s lute across his back.
    That was the last straw. Now it definitely was the most awful day of Digory’s life, and there was still a dragon to slay before bedtime.
    ‘Cheer up,’ said Burdock, when he saw Digory’s long face. ‘Remember, I see dancing, I see laughter. You’ll live happily ever after.
    Take this magic sword, I don’t need it much. You might find it useful.’ And, leaving his battered old sword behind, Burdock the Wizard hurried off into the woods.

    Digory felt lonelier than ever when Burdock had gone. He picked up the sword. It didn’t look magic. It didn’t twitch in his hand or shoot sparks from the hilt. Still, it seemed as if fate had decided Digory was going to have to face the Horrible Gnasher Toast’em Firebreath and he would need all the help he could get, magic or not, so he tucked it into his belt.
    After some thought Digory decided the best
    time, in fact the only time to visit a dragon must be while it was asleep. So he waited until dusk, and then when night fell and the moon came out shining its eerie beams into the mouth of the dragon’s cave he waited some more...
    At last the night air grew so chilly that Digory had to get up and walk about. He pulled Enid’s portrait out of his saddlebag. It must have been freshly painted when she gave it to him because it was very badly smudged now, but the sight of her smudgy face and hodgepig hair made him feel braver, so he tucked it inside his armour for luck. Barley ambled over and nuzzled Digory’s ear as if she knew something was going to happen, as if she wanted to give her little bit of encouragement too.
    ‘Goodbye, my friend,’ said Digory. ‘I expect I shall never return from this adventure. If I am not back by morning you must go home to Batty-by-Noodle without me.’
    However, if Barley really could read
    Digory’s lips she only paid attention to the last few words and, turning clumsily about, walked off with a snort into the night.
    Poor Digory was left to face the Horrible Gnasher Toast’em Firebreath alone. He wanted his lute, he wanted his friend Enid, he wanted his mother. He would even have been pleased to see his sister Ethelburg at that moment. She’d be a good match for a dragon. But there really was no turning back this time. Digory lit a torch, gripped the hilt of Burdock’s magic sword and slowly stepped inside the cave.



THE FATE AWAITS

    T HE dragon’s cave was horribly cold and clammy.
    This must be shiverous, thought Digory, and 1 don’t like it! Fie also didn’t like the tummy-churning stench of rotten meat and the spooky echo of water dripping in deep, dark caverns.
    Digory held the torch before him and stepped slowly through the winding tunnel. With each step he knew he was closer to the dragon, and further away from escape. The tunnel sloped down and then opened out into a chamber as large as King Widget’s banqueting hall. This must be where the dragon devours his prey , Digory thought nervously. But there weren’t any bones to be seen — just a heap of colourful stuff lying by a rock. When Digory looked closer he discovered it was a pile of maiden’s cloaks and jewellery, shoes and crowns. He went weak at the