John pushed his way through the crowds of people, a letter clutched tight to his chest. He was a tall, wiry man, with a clean-shaven and youthful face. Most people with good sense moved aside when they saw the coat of arms stitched onto his tabard and the sword at his hip; but this was a tavern, and taverns did not inspire good sense. Case in point, the man at the bar.

“Sir Henry?” John called out. “There’s a letter for you?”

Henry was an absolutely enormous man. He had a chest like a barrel, arms like tree trunks and a long red beard that hung down to his navel, striking a stark contrast with his otherwise bald head. Like John, he was armed—but instead of a straight sword at his hip, he wore a massive great-sword over his back. John suspected that he wouldn’t be able to even lift the thing if he tried, but Henry somehow managed to swing it one handed.

“Sir Henry!” John tried again. The sound of music and conversation floated around him, muffling his words.

Currently, the man was deep in his cups, face flushed red and laughing uproariously at some joke a man beside him had made. Despite his size, people didn’t seem to shy away from Henry the way they did for John—or at least, never for very long. He exuded a sort of natural charm that drew others in. There was always a smile on his face, always a glint in his eye.

“HENRY!” John finally had enough, and clapped the big man on his back. “There’s a letter here! It’s for you! From the king!”

“Eh?” That got his attention. “How long have you been standing there? You need to speak up, squire! It’s an important part of learning to be a knight! Now, give that here … let’s see … ” Henry snatched the letter from John’s hand, opening it with deft fingers. John flushed, standing up straighter. He was sure he had been speaking up! But the noise around him had cancelled it out.

His train of thought was interrupted as Henry burst into laughter, this time tinged with delight instead of humor. “Well look here! We’ve got a real quest to go on, John. Saddle up the horses! We’ll be setting off for the royal keep.”

John paused, looking at Henry’s red cheeks and how he swayed unsteadily as he rose up off the bar stool. “Err … now, sir?”

“Yes, right now!” Henry looked at him like he was an idiot, and John immediately ducked his head. “We don’t want to keep the king waiting. We’ve got a duty to perform. That’s the most important part of being a knight, John, your duty. Now go! Double time! I’ll be out in a minute, just got to pay the tab.”

~

Less than an hour later, the two were cantering through the streets on horseback. Henry, somehow, had entirely sobered up, and was riding straight and steady as he led the way towards the towering keep in the heart of the city. Squalor surrounded them—even this close to the royal residence, there simply wasn’t enough gold to afford hiring people to keep the streets clean and the buildings repaired. It hadn’t always been this way, but time had not been kind to their kingdom.

Soon enough, they reached the doors to the keep. Servants led their horses away, and the two men were admitted to the throne room. It was a beautiful place, with a high vaulted ceiling and massive stained glass windows. But even here, there was a feeling of decay. Spiderwebs hung in the corners, out of reach of the servants’ dusters, and many of the guards had old or mismatched equipment.

On the throne before them sat the king, old but not yet withered, long graying hair hanging over a strong face, his back straight and his eyes ahead. He looked at the two of them the way a man looks at a window, his eyes piercing through to see something beyond.

“My knights.” The king intoned, his voice quiet yet somehow filling the space around them. “A great evil has befallen our kingdom. Our dear princess, the jewel of this palace, has been taken by a terrible dragon. I have called upon you, Henry, the greatest of my warriors, to recover her, and slay the beast.”

Henry stood straighter at the words, his normally jovial face taking a serious cast. “Of course, my king. Where is this creature?”

“Atop the highest peak of the mountain range that guards the northern edge of our kingdom is where it makes its lair. But before you set off … ” The king held up a hand, stopping Henry, who had already nearly turned around to begin this new quest. “There are warnings I must give, and a task that must be completed. To begin with—do not listen to a word the dragon says. It is a creature born of lies, molded in the darkness of this world. It will try to trick you, to deceive you, to turn you against one another—and against me. Do not allow this.” They both nodded seriously. “And secondly … before you go, you must collect the princess insurance payout on my behalf.”

John blinked. “Princess insurance?” It was only a few moments later that he realized he had spoken aloud.

“Indeed.” The king nodded seriously, his eyes moving to John for the first time in the conversation. “Princess insurance. Dragons kidnapping princesses is not an uncommon event, and the United Kingdoms, an alliance of which we are part, offers an insurance payout to all its members in the case of such an event. This money will be vital to our kingdom, my knights. Collect the gold, slay the dragon and save the princess. These are your goals. Will you accept this quest, my champions?”

“Of course!” Henry shouted, before John could get in another word edgewise. And that was that.

~

Henry and John trudged their way out of the offices of the United Kingdoms. Their task had not been difficult, there had been no lines, and the rooms were clean and well lit – yet, somehow, it had still been an ordeal. Something about the sterile white walls and white lights and wooden faces of the clerks seemed to drain the energy and soul of any who ventured too close. Yet, they were successful nonetheless, and had secured the promise of a large cart of gold to be delivered to the royal keep by next morning.

John did not feel like it was much of a victory.

“Sir Henry … do you really think we should have done that?” John asked as they rode for the gates of the city.

“Hmm?” Henry looked at him, face open to the wind as he held his helmet in one hand. The two were properly armored now, wearing heavy sets of iron plates that gleamed dully in the noon-day sun, reflecting the city around them.

“I mean, it just feels a bit deceptive. We went to get princess insurance for a stolen princess, but we’re riding to get her back right now. Wouldn’t the insurance only apply if she’s gone for good?”

Henry shrugged, his massive shoulders rising and falling in a dismissive gesture. “Maybe? It doesn’t much matter, honestly. I thought you’d be more excited, now that we’ve finished up the busywork, we can finally get to the adventure!” He chuckled.

John sputtered. “Doesn’t much – Sir Henry, the oaths of a knight are to be honest and virtuous in all he does! I plan to take those oaths when I finish my training, and I know you have taken them yourself! How can you say it doesn’t matter? We just cheated those men out of their money!”

Henry raised an eyebrow at him. “I took an oath of honesty to my king, and of virtue to the people of this kingdom. What should I care about some bureaucrats trying to run the world? My king commanded me to get his insurance, and I did. My king commands me to retrieve the princess, and so I shall. It’s really as simple as that. I am a knight, and so I fulfill my duty.”

John scowled and turned away. Henry sighed, leaned over (causing his horse to tip precariously as it tried to balance his weight) and patted the younger man on the back. “Don’t worry yourself too much over it, John. You’re young, no one expects you to understand everything about being a knight. That’s why you’re a squire – to learn this stuff!” Henry sent him a beaming smile. John tried his best to smile back, but it felt as wooden against his face as the smiles of the attendants at United Kingdoms. Henry’s words sat ill in his heart, like a malformed gear in the clockwork of his soul.

~

The journey to the dragon was not particularly long, less so because of any skill or swiftness on the part of the two travelers and more because the kingdom they were within was not very large to begin with. A few days saw them to the base of the mountains; a week saw them half-way up the largest peak, but as they went their progress slowed. Neither of them slept well, both because their tents were thin shelter against the biting cold and because of the silence that now stretched between them. Conversations were short and terse, food rationed with the cold efficiency of men who were well familiar with these sorts of extended expeditions. Neither was truly angry at the other, but somehow, as the days passed, their minor argument seemed to loom larger and larger in their minds. John could not reconcile the image of the Henry he now saw with the noble knight in his mind. Every action came under scrutiny, carefully dissected, and even memories of the past were reexamined in a new light. Was Henry’s constant drinking truly a minor indiscretion, or a sign of some deeper failing? Was the way he had laughed at John’s failures in training truly friendly encouragement, or the symptom of a darkened soul? John stewed and stewed, yet no answers presented themselves.

Henry, meanwhile, had resolved to give his apprentice the time and space to process things. John had always been a somewhat sheltered boy, clinging to his dreams of nobility and perfection. He would need time and experience to understand the sometimes darker realities of the job, and both of these were something Henry was more than happy to give. It was no different than any other training they had done, really.

And so the days passed in silence.

As they closed in on the mountain peak, frost turned to steam, and chill to suffocating heat. The ice and snow gave way to dark basaltic rock, and what trees they passed were withered in an unnatural smog. Soon, tiny streams of lava began to appear, congregating into rivers of molten stone that flowed slowly down the mountainside. They were forced to leave their horses behind, and the steep upward march combined with the heat and heavy armor proved even more debilitating than the cold.

The scent of smoke lingered in the air, and their worries faded to the back of their minds. They were nearly there. And soon enough, they saw it.

A tower of black stone, seemingly as much grown as built, jutting from the land like an obelisk. It stood at the very peak of the mountain, and the epicenter of the environmental destruction.

A fleck of yellow appeared at its top. Something moved. A crack like thunder rang out, and with a great leap, the dragon soared into the air, scales as black as the stone of the tower, eyes yellow like pyrite. Its neck was long and sinuous, like that of a snake, and with each beat of its wings, another peal of thunder shook the mountain. With a crash, it landed before them, and both men nearly lost their footing as the ground trembled.

“Two knights appear before me …” It hissed, its mouth curling into an ugly grin. “Bearing the crest of the king of this land. Good, good. Now tell me … do you have my gold?”