Adi whispered.

‘Do you think we ...’ Sir Thomas paused, ‘... we could take on a dragon?’

‘We need to help these people,’ Dame Sofia declared. She stood up and addressed the room. ‘If this dragon is causing you trouble, we will go and sort it out.’

The villagers stared at her.

The bearded man laughed. ‘Really? Against a dragon? Are you mad?’ he said.

‘I am a knight. I fear no dragon.’ Dame Sofia glared at him. His laughter faded.

Sir Adi and Sir Thomas looked at each other.

‘After dinner, of course,’ Sir Adi added.

Soon the innkeeper served them dinner. As they ate, they noticed the rest of the room murmuring, sneaking glances at them. Just as they finished, a plump villager approached their table.

‘If you really mean it, the dragon lives in a cave at the top of the mountain. My pa’s old friend went up there once. He says the cave is littered with bones.’

‘We mean it, and we will be fine. Thank you for the tip,’ Dame Sofia said. The knights stood up, paid for their meal and walked out of the inn. They headed towards the dark mountain. They lit torches and marched up an old broken road to the summit.

Owls screeched in the night. Blackened grass and dead trees edged the path. Even the air felt scorched against their skin. Up they climbed for many hours. Eventually, they reached the peak where the dead grass gave way to black rock.

A cave entrance glowed red on the mountaintop.

‘Do we have a plan?’ Sir Adi asked Dame Sofia.

‘We’ll need to have a look around the cave first,’ Dame Sofia said.

In they went and found that the cave sloped downwards in a spiral. From the light of the torches, they could see soot on the walls and claw marks scraped across the floor.

The air was heavy with smoke. Down and down the three went until they reached a curtain of some white material, tied together with rope.

‘Bones?’ Sir Thomas asked.

Sir Adi looked closer. The curtain was too transparent to be made of bone.

‘Some kind of rock?’ he muttered.

A roar ripped through the air. It scattered the curtain of white rock and knocked the knights backwards for a moment.

As they regained their balance, together they pushed through the curtain to find themselves in a tall cavern.

Ore of a thousand different colours streaked the walls, glittering in the firelight. Gemstones of all shapes and sizes stood in cairns on the floor. In the middle of the room sat a mountain of gems so tall it touched the upper reaches of the cavern. The knights looked around in awe; they had never seen such riches.

‘Do you think this is the dragon’s home? If it is such an ugly monster, how could it have created such a wonderful place?’ Sir Thomas asked.