The Sword of St. George

Fred watched the creature as it lumbered towards him A green monstrous two tons of fire breathing fanged destruction descended upon him He did not move His eyes never left the dragon He waited He watched He gripped the handle of his sword more tightly in his right hand He needed to time his stroke He must be sure the dragon s vulnerable unarmoured belly was exposed to his blade He waited for the monster to take off He counted the seconds in his head one two three The giant claws pushed the razor sharp talons into the air and raging and thrashing the beast hurtled towards the solitary figure of the boy Fred acted instinctively There was no time to do otherwise He dropped onto his knees drawing the monster towards him almost inviting attack The dragon raised its head and as it did so its wings spread open in a gesture of triumph The giant jaws opened and the blazing sheet of flame shot forth towards the small figure As the deadly stream left the dragon s jaws Fred rolled onto his left side feeling the searing heat as it almost singed his hair In one movement he regained his feet stood up straight and thrust upwards with the weapon in his right hand Now dragons are impervious to simple steel blades A normal sword will not penetrate a dragon s hide even its unarmoured skin will not be pierced by a mere mortal s sword But the sword that was in Fred s hand was no ordinary blade It was a magic sword which he had earned as a result of many trials and tests He felt the magic metal push upwards through the creature s hide felt it as it pushed through the tough flesh and into the dragon s evil heart The monster screamed a high pitched wail which made the boy wince Yet he knew he must hold onto the sword to keep on thrusting it into the dragon s innards