He reined his horse in just outside the forest. He reached in the pouch tied to his saddle and pulled out a roll of parchment. Carefully unrolling it, he held it up so that it was just beneath the line of the horizon in the distance. It was a perfect match! At last he had found the Mount of S'Gal! The drawing on the parchment was identical to the mountain of rock in the distance. The longest part of his quest was now complete, but the hardest part was yet to come.
His quest had started two long years ago and had led him through many kingdoms. The King of Rathgenar had offered a huge portion of his kingdom's coffers for the return of his daughter. And William, having sensed the urging of the gods, accepted the king's offer. The king provided him with two good horses, provisions and coin for the journey. The most help came in the form of a parchment. The king's mage had had a vision and wrote it down when he awoke. It was a drawing of a mountain and a dragon. The dragon was S'Gal and the mountain was his lair. The mage said he would find the princess Gwendolyn, inside the mountain. And the only clue was that everyone who saw the dragon claimed it flew off to the east.
"Return my daughter to me, warrior," the king had told him. "And a third of my treasury is yours. Others have also accepted, but they have all failed. She means the world to me, and any resource I have is at your disposal."
"Your Majesty, if your daughter lives, you will see her again." And so William had left the king and began his quest. He had two strong horses, a sturdy bow and full quiver, and his sword. He was a marksman with the bow and, with his father's sword, he was unequaled in combat. His spirits remained high throughout his journey.
After collecting his thoughts, he spurred his horse toward the mountain. It wasn't long, though, before neither horse would take another step closer to the mountain. He left them at a rock pile and proceeded on foot.
The sun was a couple hours above the horizon, yet, by the time he reached the only opening in the mountain. It was halfway up the side and there was no obvious path from below. He did see the bleached bones and tattered remnants of a previous rescuer who had not been so lucky as to make it all the way up to the opening. He liberated the corpse of its purse and started his climb. As he continued upwards, he wondered why there weren't more bodies littering the bottom of the mountain. The climbing was difficult and at times he only found purchase for his hands and was forced to pull himself up the mountain with just his arms.
He finally reached the opening as the final rays of light were fading from the sky. He didn't like the idea of meeting the dragon in the dark after a strenuous climb. He looked around and found a suitable place above the opening to rest for the night.
William awoke with the sunrise and stretched the sleep out of his muscles. He climbed down to the opening and slowly started into the mountain. He kept to the side of the tunnel and felt his way along the wall. He felt a constant warm breeze against his face and, as his eyes were slowly accustomed to the darkness, he detected a faint glow down the tunnel.
He rounded a wide bend and saw that the tunnel opened into a huge cavern. He unslung his bow and nocked an arrow then slid along the wall to the cavern entrance. There were a few lit torches but the glow came from one corner of the cavern. Princess Gwendolyn lay on a simple rock altar and her body seemed to glow from some magic. And there, a few hundred yards away, lay the dragon, S'Gal. William started creeping along the wall towards Gwendolyn's body.
"Welcome, warrior." William felt the words in his mind rather than heard them with his ears. He looked at S'Gal, but the dragon hadn't moved.
