A STORY NEVER TOLD

It was one of those days when nothing went the right way. Darren was sitting on a worn out wooden bench polishing his sword near the "Black cat" inn, in a small village called Torlynn. The first rays of the morning sun pierced the gloom of the streets as his gaze was lost in distance. The remote peaks of the Firestorm mountains distracted him for a few moments and then he returned to his work. His thoughts were as confused as the heavy mist around him and despite his best efforts he could not clear his mind.

Darren was always an adventurer, a man of action, even a sellsword on occasions. The battle was his life, it was something that came out with no effort, it was the only thing he was best in, and there were moments when he thought that he and his sword were one.

There was nothing that could strike fear in his bones, for his life was the only thing he could lose.

It was two years ago that things began to change, two of the best years of his life. It all started while he was on an incidental adventure that promised to bring some money he lacked at the time. It was no big deal taking care of some slavelords that were behaving like tyrants in their village (whose name he could not recall anymore). That kind of people was the lowest slime and it was as easy to defeat them as their untrained militia. He earned the money he needed as well as the undying gratitude of a beautiful slave he freed - Serena Elderwood.

She was a young sorceress at that time, and soon afterwards she became his wife.

It was more than love, their connection, for their lives often depended upon each other.

Darren's life finally got a meaning after all those years. Together they settled down in a remote region known as Dargaard and built a small keep there. Darren even became a Knight of the Crown and abandoned his adventuring life thereafter.

One day he went to pay a visit to the King, something that all lords do twice a year, and when he came back a frightening scene awaited him. His keep was demolished, many of his men dead or injured and his wife gone. It took some time for his men to calm him down and tell him what happened: a huge red dragon known to some as Estorax Rex attacked the keep and took his wife along to the Firestorm peaks.

This event took place two weeks ago and Darren has been following the dragon ever since. This is how he found himself in Torlynn. It was a strange feeling to wear the battle armour after all that time and to wield a sword again but this worried him little. All his thoughts were with Serena and she was far, far away.

Thousands of unconnected thoughts ran through Darren's head and it was for the first time that he felt an unnatural, overwhelming fear. He was thinking of the time they spent together, of all those insignificant moments that mean much to a person. Slowly his hands began to shake and the rattling sound of his armour awakened him from his thoughts. No tears left his eyes, however, and it made him wonder if all those years of battle had hardened him that much. Did he ever tell her that he loved her? This thought hit him like a crossbow bolt and before he knew it he was on his horse heading towards the Firestorm peaks.

He found out from the local citizens that a giant ogre (a monster beings all but easy to deal with) was living half way up towards the mountains, but no monster will stand between him and his wife for as long as there is a breath of life in him.He already had a plan how to take care of the ogre and he took all that was necessary to set a few deadly traps with him, for ogre stupidity was a well known fact.

The roads were in terrible conditions in those god forsaken lands and his horse had more than a few problems during their journey. The weather was also disgusting: fog, rain and ice. No man had ever traveled to the Firestorms in these conditions but there was no time to lose for his wife could already be dead. This thought lashed at him like a whip.

At nightfall, Darren was forced to interrupt his journey because nothing could be seen anymore and the conditions got even worse. Nothing happened during the night, fortunately, except that he even got a headache because of the cold and the wind which blew away the mist early in the morning. He continued on his way for another couple of minutes when a strange feeling swept all over him.

There was something unusual in the air but he just couldn't concentrate enough to find out what it was (damned headache). He continued riding for another couple of minutes when he finally realised what was wrong. There was no sound at all, except for the wind. All was still, too still, as if nature itself awaited for something to happen. Something big was near, something that stroke fear into the hearts of animals, something evil. The ogre.

In a flash he was on the ground, sword in hand, waiting, but nothing happened. Fortunately, the monster was not too close, which gave him some time to set a few traps. Suddenly, he realised that the wind was blowing in the opposite direction and thus the ogre could smell him, smell his horse, sense his fear.

It was all going wrong. He tried to find a place to hide, to set an ambush, but only a few leafless trees stood there offering no protection. There was no place for panic. He leaned against a tree with his sword in front. All was still for a while and then several ironshod-booted footsteps could be heard and after that silence again.

Darren knew that the ogre sensed him and just hoped his traps would do some good.

All of a sudden a terrible scream pierced the silence from his left followed by a loud hit on the ground. His horse fell dying, all covered with blood.

Above the carcass a humanoid creature was laughing madly. The giant ogre stood over 15 feet tall, in full scale armour with a great two-handed axe in his hands. His muscles tense as if carved from stone, his appearance majestic, frightening. The beast noticed the traps, made a circle around and flanked Darren from his left. All hopes of surprise and "first strike" were gone, he was now to face the beast in a hand-to-hand fight counting only on his agility as an advantage.

The ogre spoke slowly, in a semi-understanding language: "You not bring gift. You not beg for life. You die." With this he leaped forward and swung with his massive axe. Darren barely managed to duck as he heard the noise of the tree being splintered behind him. He avoided several such blows and watched carefully his opponent's mistakes. The ogre was fast for his size and covered all the weak points of his armour so a tactical piercing strike was out of discussion. Furthermore, the ogre was much too strong and it was a matter of time when his blow will lend on the target.

However, there are some details that a master swordsman notices right away: it is very hard to fight with a two-handed weapon (although it has some advantages), axes are handled in a specific way and this often allows the opponent to find a flaw in the defence of the wielder and last but not least, large creatures (such as ogres) can make mistakes when fighting smaller opponents.

Darren knew all this and yet he found it very difficult to hit the beast that, by the way, showed no signs of fatigue.

However, the beast finally made a mistake: the ogre swung his axe a bit too violently and the force of the blow dragged him out of position which was barely enough for Darken to slash with his sword at the beast's right arm. At his surprise the blade barely cut through the hard skin of the beast that hit him with his elbow right in the forehead.

The force of the blow flung Darren several yards backwards and he made it just in time to stand up and avoid the successive strike. Blood was dripping over his left eye and he could not see clearly anymore.

The battle went on for a few more moments when Darren suddenly noticed that the giant exposed his left leg a bit too much every time he struck. His strength was failing him and his wound on the forehead almost made him faint so he had to take the first chance he got.

The ogre's successive blow destroyed his shield but gave him enough time to strike back.

He leaped forward and with all his remaining strength he drove the sword through the beast's leg.

The ogre fell to the ground clutching at his leg, screaming and cursing. Darren was exhausted but there was no time: the beast was still alive and still capable of killing him. He got near for the final blow when the ogre spoke: "No kill Ogrynn. Ogrynn good. No kill. Ogrynn help little man."

A word of an ogre is as valid as a false coin, but still Darren felt pity for the creature and let him live. It took a while for the ogre to bandage his leg and when he finally stood up he said: "You not as other little men. You not kill Ogrynn and now Ogrynn help. Follow me." Although not confident, Darren followed.

Later that day they reached The giant ogre's cave where Darren could finally rest for a while and eat a warm meal. The ogre actually felt sorry for killing his horse and gave him the only valuable thing he had: a magical healing potion.

Although they almost killed each other, they slowly became confident one towards the other and perhaps even felt a strange friendship even though none of them would admit it. Darren told him his story and the ogre was awed by the courage of the knight. A lone man against a dragon - those were just tales as far as he was concerned.

Darren left the ogre's cave in the evening. The conditions were much better than the previous day but his wound weakened him significantly and he had to walk. It was a hard march for a man in his condition. The idea of using the healing potion to restore himself crossed his mind but he knew it would be more useful later, if later ever came. The only thought in his mind was his wife and much more than a wound would have been necessary to stop him on his way.

He walked for two days, maybe more, but he lost trace of time, his objective the only thing left in his weary mind. He met no one on his way and was glad about it.

It was the fourth day of his journey when he came near the dragon's cave. He had never seen a living dragon in his life but he read a lot about those creatures and according to the old scripts an extreme amount of damage is needed to destroy such a creature. He was not afraid, there was no time for that. He moved with determination towards the cave when a huge reptilian creature suddenly swept over him.

He was lucky for the dragon did not see him and now he had a chance. He ran right into the cave just to find two savage orcs in the first chamber of the crude building.

Orcs? No orcs will stop him now that he came so far! Darren already fought those vile creatures in the past and knew that they were untrained warriors, although brutal and fierce. He managed to surprise the two monsters and one of them fell right after the first blow. The other one was more skilled than his companion and managed to duck the strike of the sword. The creature hit Darren with his mace right in the chest rather painfully. They fought for another few minutes and Darren finally killed the evil creature.

He was exhausted and wounded but now he was near her, he could feel it. It took half an hour for him to find her and almost as much to break down the iron door she was locked behind. He could not believe that he made it after all. They fell in each other's embrace and just stood like that for a long time. Finally Serena told him that they'd better move if they didn't want the dragon to return from his hunt.

In the middle of this sentence a harsh yet melodious voice interrupted them: "How dare you enter my domain, mortal!" The dragon stood majestic in the darkness blocking their way out. All of a sudden they felt a strange, unnatural fear. Darren read something about this dragon aura but never actually believed those tales.

They stood there paralysed while the dragon was laughing, and then Darren dared to speak at last: "Let us go, honourable dragon, and I promise to give you all I have in exchange for our lives." "You have nothing to give me, mortal" was the dragon's reply and slowly the great beast moved towards them.

They felt very warm and at first Darren thought it was because of the dragon but it was not that: a huge lava pit was right at the dragon's side. He thought little about it. The only hope they had was to throw the dragon into the pit. He charged the dragon with his sword but the beast spat out a searing cone of flame which enveloped Darren and cast him all over the chamber.

"And you woman? You dared to go against me too?" The dragon's voice boomed through the cave. Darren felt indescribable pain and knew that he was dying. His eyes were slowly closing when he remembered the healing potion. With the last amount of strength he pulled the little bottle out and drank the foul liquid. The effect was immediate. Darren felt all his pains slowly leaving his body and the next thing he knew he was behind the dragon stabbing the great beast. The scream of the monster was so terrible that even the walls trembled.

Instead of falling the dragon just turned around and ripped at him with both of his great claws. Serena tried to cast a spell at the monster but was interrupted by a powerful tail blow which sent her flying on the floor. Darren felt faint from the pain. He saw the dragon above him preparing to strike him dead and was sure that it was the last moment of his life. A terrible axe blow hit the dragon in the chest and flung him into the lava pit.

The giant ogre! Darren's joy was of a short notice for the dragon managed to envelop his tail around the ogre's leg and they both fell into the pit. Darren cried out, but there was nothing to do anymore, they both died a terrible death.

He helped Serena rise and slowly they went for the exit when a voice as if from beyond the grave made them shudder: "Nothing and no one can defeat Estorax Rex!"

The dragon went out of the pit but this was not him anymore: All the flesh fell from his bones and his eye sockets gleamed with an unearthly red light.

The skeletal dragon attacked but this time Darren managed to avoid his blow and his sword cut off the dragon's left claw. This gave Serena enough time to concentrate and with all her remaining magical energies she cast out a huge lightning bolt that hit the dragon in the chest. The force of the spell was such that the dragon's skeletal body exploded violently sending bone shards all over the cave.

Their nightmare finally ended. They left the cave in each other's hands, their thoughts still confused: the undying dragon, the ogre's sacrifice.... They just couldn't wait to go back to the remote region of Dargaard and to live their lives peacefully and happily far from these dangers. They would never forget that adventure and the friend they found in one of the most evil creatures known. They would never tell that story to anyone.

And so they went and never returned to the Firestorm peaks again, but deep in a sinister cave, in an empty socket of a dragon's skull an unearthly light glowed again.

"Nothing and no one can defeat Estorax Rex."