Dreamer, I have a story for you!

 Okay, so President Fantasy mentioned a contest, right? Well, that made me think of Dreamer's contest, and how I actually wrote a story for school that could be used in this contest. And this story is actually cool! For those who know about Jeremiab, please read this. It is a short (I guess kind of lame) story about one time that Jeremiab tried to ahem, "dispatch" Riodan Rimlore. (Or at least make him mad.) Here you go! Poppy Red, if you have not read about Jeremiab, please do. He comes in later in my loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong story, Over the River. Thanks! :)

Jeremiab’s Tale

Written by Samantha Nelson

Anna walked through the village, whistling. The town square was increasingly busy, as usual. The cobblestone streets were so crowded, Anna had to walk along the slim walkway in front of the small shops. Venders in their carts yelled at her, calling out prices for whatever they were trying to sell as she passed. A few visitors strolled the streets, buying small trinkets and baubles. Some of the royal guards passed her, but she paid them no mind. Today, she had a mission, and nothing would distract her.



Soon, however, her theory was put to a slight test. An old man sat on the step of a paper shop, reading a scroll. As much as Anna wanted to ignore him, she couldn’t help but stare at the him as she passed. He was the oldest male in the vicinity, older than even the king, and some pretty weird rumors had flown around about him. Some of the local tales richly painted him as a wizard. Anna didn’t believe those silly stories. Sure, Jeremiab may be weird, but if he was a wizard, she thought that she would know. Wizards were known to be show-offs.



Anna decided that she would see if Jeremiab would notice her. She waited, and he didn’t even stir. Jeremiab took out a new piece of paper, and started to write. Anna watched the ink flow across the page, beautifully written in calligraphy. Her eyes never left him for the next five minutes, and still the old man was intent on finishing his letter. Finally, Anna turned away, angry that she had let her attention slip, and annoyed that Jeremiab hadn’t acknowledged her presence. She liked to be noticed. Whatever she was feeling, though, she quickly brushed away. The sun was shining, the sky was blue, and she had a plan for adventure. Nothing could ruin today… could it?

Anna didn’t notice that as she left Jeremiab, he folded up his two scrolls and followed her. He walked behind her, seeming not to make a sound. He had known that she was up to something for a while now. Every day for the past week, she had disappeared into the dark forest, never returning before 7 o’clock. He knew that she was going after the dragon. And if she was going, she wasn’t going to go alone. This could be dangerous. Of course, he thought to himself, Anna didn’t know danger. She’d walked among that evil forest for years, never even getting a scratch. She had seen crazy things, and yet it still didn’t bother her. Young people these days, thought Jeremiab, have no knowledge that the world is dangerous.

　

Anna herself kept whistling as she noted all the unusual things in the landscape. She was now in the outskirts of the town. Hardly anyone went her, but something obviously did. A torn cloth here, an odd scratch in the dirt there… yes, something was not exactly right around the here. She stopped to bend down and examine an animal footprint that just looked… big, too big to be let inside the kingdom, let alone the village. She knew what she was looking for… a dragon. She was going to find it, and some one about it. Or maybe… she could lead them right to it! That would totally get her noticed! A noise shook her out of her thoughts.

Anna stood up and noticed Jeremiab staring at her. She brushed herself off, and held out her hand.

“Hello. I’m Anna Jaksnov. Nice to um…meet you.” She kept her hand outstretched.

“I know who you are, just as you know me.” Jeremiab replied simply, but politely. “Your aunt and uncle don’t know you’re here, do they?”

Anna blushed, and remarked, “So what if they don’t? They wouldn’t really care. They just want me to come home for dinner at the proper time.”

“On the contrary. They love you very much, and they should like to know your whereabouts.”

Anna blushed again, the tossed her hair around her face.

“Whatever you say.” Then she stalked away, while Jeremiab sighed and followed her.

Most people would have been offended at her brash tone, but Jeremiab was oblivious to insults. He got them all the time… from the townspeople, the servants in the castle, even the king himself seemed a little scared of him. Jeremiab was used to it, however, so the comment was left unnoticed.



He walked a little bit faster to catch up to Anna. Even though she was only fourteen, she had the muscle and physical ability of an older teenager. Her face was not one of great beauty, what with her circular face and small nose, but it served her well enough. Tall, athletic built with long legs meant that she usually won the races in the summer, even against the boys. Her dark hair swung behind her, creating a pendulum that caused Jeremiab’s focus to waver. Back and forth, it swung, back and forth… Stop it! Jeremiab told himself. Stay focused. This girl obviously knows more than she lets on.

Anna forced her eyes to only see the road in front of her, and not the man slightly behind and slightly beside her. She had let the old man come, not because she wanted him to, but because if he got offended, she could be in big trouble. Jeremiab may be old, but many people respected him. Most of the townspeople insulted him, but they were just too simple to let on how much they were scared of him. Anna wondered how he had gained such high status. He worked for the king… that was one reason. He also was known to play tricks on you, letting you think he would do one thing, but then go and do another. What he wanted always seemed to come to him. And not only that, but he was just weird. All those rumors probably weren’t true, but… still. Then another noise shook Anna (yet again) out of her thoughts.

She looked towards the noise. It was coming from inside the forest. Anna knew that she shouldn’t go inside without protection, but she had done it millions of times before. She had never gotten hurt inside the thick, dark woodlands. Surely it wouldn’t start now. Her boots crumpled the leaves beneath her as she plunged into the unknown jungle. Jeremiab followed her cautiously.



The noise continued as Anna got closer and closer to the heart of the wild haven. She could hear Jeremiab following her, but she deemed it alright to have a little protection this time. She had never heard something like this before. Just as she was about to inch closer to the odd sound, the weird snuffling stopped. Then a fully grown dragon entered their path. Anna didn’t even have time to see him very well, because just as she stepped back, the dragon grabbed her in one massive paw. Jeremiab cursed quickly, but the dragon noticed him as well. Another large paw scooped up the man. The dragon jumped into the sky and flew high into the air.

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A fuzzy thought entered Anna’s brain. Where am I? She sat up and opened her eyes. Light was streaming in through an opening in a wall. It took Anna a few minutes to remember what had happened. Dragon… claw… sky… forest… Jeremiab! Her eyes scanned the room, looking for any sign of her comrade. She saw him lying on his side in the dirt of the room. She saw that he was asleep, and in no immediate danger. Then Anna got up, and did what Anna did best… explore.

The cave (for that was what it was) had no other opening besides the window, and a large door covered one large wall of the cave. The walls of the stone haven were dry and slightly warm to the touch. The sunlight must have warmed this whole room, Anna realized. No wonder she didn’t feel the slightest bit cold. As she looked around, she saw that the cave was clean, except for the occasional footprint if the dragon here or there. A groaning from the corner of the room made Anna bend down and look at Jeremiab. The old man was still lying in the dirt, now moaning and shuffling over. She rushed over to him.

“Jeremiab! Are you okay?” she asked curiously.

“Ouch,” was all that he replied.

Anna shook him a little to wake him up fully. He groaned and rolled over… then groaned again. She prodded him.

“Wake up!” she told him sternly. He grunted and sat up.

Anna breathed a sigh of relief. In this crazy adventure, he was her link to normalcy. She quickly told him where they were.

“Okay, so I think the dragon took us to this cave, and-”

Jeremiab held up a hand. “I know. I saw everything as he flew you and me over the forest and into the mountains.

“You saw all of that? How come I don’t remember any of that?” asked Anna, dumbstruck.

Jeremiab looked calm as could be in the morning light. “On the way here, you passed out. All throughout the rest of the day you remained unconscious. Only was it this morning that you woke up.”



Anna blushed, embarrassed at having passed out. She was supposed to be the amazing fighter, the hero, the adventurer. Then, her first big journey and she faints. How girly was that!? True, she was a girl, but being who she was, she forgot most of the time. She shook herself and looked at Jeremiab. His short grey hair was a bit rumpled from sleep, but he looked fine, if a little bruised from napping on a dirt floor all night. She had never really seen his face so… so… nervous looking before. It was hard to tell his real emotions, but in the end, what she saw was a face with a bit of nervous tension. She felt the same way.

Jeremiab stood up and stretched. He yawned some, too, and scratched his head. He then sat down again and took out a pipe. Anna wrinkled her nose. Her uncle had used his pipe before, and she had never liked it then. She didn’t suppose she would like it now, either.

“Please don’t use your pipe, Jeremiab. I don’t like the smoke it puffs out.”

Jeremiab looked slightly surprised, but put the pipe away. Then he sighed, and started talking.

“I suppose you want to know why we were captured by a dragon, don’t you.” His eyes swiveled towards her.

Anna nodded. “Yeah, I had thought about it.”

Jeremiab sighed again. “I’m a wizard.”

Anna gasped. “What? You… you’re a wizard?” she asked timidly.

He nodded. “I work for King Matthew. That’s why I am found to be your village so often: it is the closest town to the palace. My job is to keep the harder criminals out of the kingdom, stop dark creatures and wizards from entering or causing harm and many other small jobs. You could call me an Attendant, of sorts.”

Anna knew what Attendants were, of course. They stopped crime in the cities and towns, and tried to keep peace. Sometimes they succeeded… sometimes they did not.

Jeremiab continued his narrative. “The dragon is owned by Riodan Rimlore, the darkest wizard of all ages. May the world forever cast that evil wizard out, and let his own dark creatures consume him. This dragon was looking for me. Well, he found me by a miraculous stroke of luck, and you just happened to be caught up in it. But you were looking for him anyhow, so you would have been caught either way.”

Anna scowled. She had been looking for him, but only because she worried that he would attack the town. And, well… because this was her first chance at a real adventure.

Anna replied scathingly, “I guess all hope is lost then. If this dragon truly is Rimlore’s, (she had heard enough stories to know that he was evil) then we are surely going to be eaten, or taken prisoner.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t say we are without hope,” Jeremiab stated firmly. “If hope was lost, then we would be sitting in the underworld somewhere, marveling at how stupid we were not to listen to our hearts and be good boys and girls. Hope can be found in all places, no matter where you are.”

Anna snorted. This was just like Jeremiab, trying to raise your hopes, just when it was impossible to actually have hope.

“Yeah, sure,” she retorted sarcastically. “I guess that the dragon is actually really friendly, and doesn’t like flambéing people for breakfast, and taking some prisoner for lunch!” Anna now stood, arms stretched wide. “What am I going to do?! The first time I set out to do something heroic, and look where it got me.” At this she sat down, sad and depressed.

Jeremiab scooted closer to her. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe he is friendly and doesn’t like serving Rimlore… then again, maybe he does. It doesn’t matter. As long as we keep our wits about us, stay calm and have hope, then we can survive and escape. Soon we can find a way out of here.”

Jeremiab stood up and looked out the window.

“If we squeeze, we can climb out, and find our way back to the village. Come on, I’m give you a hand, then you can-,” Jeremiab started, but then a roar interrupted his voice.

“Prisoners! Where are you?!” The dragon’s voice screamed. An evil laugh erupted after this statement.

Anna and Jeremiab stood still, both looking slightly panicked. Quickly, Jeremiab ran over to Anna’s side, and away from the window just as the dragon pushed aside the door to the cave. He was two stories high, with scales that gleamed like jewels. His coloration was of the deepest green, and every other part was green as well; scales, claws, horns, teeth, eyes and, (when he roared for the second time) even green flame. The head of the dragon was angular and diamond shaped. The eyes were slanted, and scanned the room for any sign of movement or disturbance. None of the prisoners dared to move a muscle. Jeremiab only glared at the creature with disgust. Anna stood shock still, her face frozen in terror. Then, as if she really had been frozen, she suddenly unfroze, and in her annoying sort of way, asked the dragon what he intended to do with them. The dragon laughed and told them to follow him, and if anyone tried to escape… they would find themselves burnt to a crisp. Anna and Jeremiab didn’t try to argue.

After they had followed the dragon some ways, they found themselves in a spacious cavern, with huge wooden doors guarding the entrance. The space disappointed. It only had a LARGE mound of grass as the dragon’s bed. The dragon kept walking, and the two prisoners kept following. The next part of the cave was… also disappointing. It contained nothing but crates labeled FOOD FOR DRAGON. Jeremiab asked what they held, but the dragon growled, and lead them further. Jeremiab never got an answer. The last cavern was obviously the most impressive. It was very large, and about half of it was taken up by things. Anna saw millions of costumes on wooden racks, antique furniture, golden plates of armor, fancy taperitres and woven blankets. She wondered if this was Rimlore’s stash of stuff from the people he had killed or driven mad. But as the dragon closed the doors, he started talking.

“Please feel free to sit down at the dining table. Not that one, but the mahogany one over there. Yes, okay. I like that one the best. I always place my favorite tea set on that table. Please take some of those scones and tea cakes. Honestly, they don’t taste very good to me, but the humans like them. I’ll go get the tea pot and start brewing. What type of tea would you like? I have Earl Grey, Raspberry, Orange, or Mint. Please excuse me for the lack of how many flavors I have. It’s very hard to try and reason with the people I get it from. They’re all so terrified, they give me copious amounts of the same one as the last person. Honestly!”

Anna and Jeremiab stood shock still, realizing that all this stuff was the dragon’s. Jeremiab stood instead of sat at the table, wondering why Rimlore had found this particular dragon to be his. Anna just snorted.

“ You keep all of this stuff? Yeah right.”

The dragon looked offended. “Yes, I do. I like fancy things, and Rimlore doesn’t seem to care as long as I help him. And I do have a name, you know.”

Anna asked, “Well? What is it?”

The dragon replied, “Dragon.”

“What?”

“That’s my name. Dragon. That’s all Rimlore called me, so that’s my name. Terrible, isn’t it? I would love to have a name like Oxford.” Dragon sighed dreamily while Anna tried not to laugh.

But while Anna held in her giggles from laughter, Jeremiab had come to a startling conclusion. If Rimlore’s dragon was here, then… where was Rimlore?! Jeremiab jumped and quickly asked Dragon.

“Where’s your master!?”

Dragon looked surprised at the harshness of his tone. “Oh, him? He never comes out here, unless he needs me. He just asked me to do a job yesterday, so he’ll be busy sneaking and stealing around that town. He won’t come here, I promise. And if on a whim that he does, I’m sure that you could find some place to hide.” Dragon waved a claw around his fancy collection of things.

Jeremiab seemed convinced enough to finally sit down. Anna just shook her head. The dragon quickly had a pot of tea (raspberry, for Anna’s taste) on the table with a lemon scones (freshly baked, because the dragon had found a huge oven in which he had found in a town somewhere. The dragon had made the scones himself.) Anna munched on a scone while Jeremiab took a few sips of the tea to be polite. Dragon, seeing that they weren’t talking, quickly tried to interest them in his collection.

“All these costumes came hand-shipped from Europe. And this-”

Anna interrupted. “How did you get them from Europe?”

“Rimlore had to get some supplies, and I asked him to get me these.” He gestured to a rack of costumes.

“I told him that I wouldn’t help him if he didn’t, so I got my wish.”

Jeremiab interrupted the dragon again. “Dragon, I would like to know what exactly your job is for Rimlore.”

Dragon paused, then resumed looking at his collection. “Oh, a few burned towns here, a threat there, and a few times, he has asked me to ah, dispose, of someone, but I always refuse. Strangely, he doesn’t get why I don’t want to kill people.” Dragon shrugged a dragon shrug, then went back to inspecting his wide assortment of stuff. Anna stood up.

“You mean, you don’t like working for Rimlore?” she asked tentatively.

“What? Of course I don’t! I was forced into it. He made me think that I actually liked the idea of serving him. I mean, I like that I can own fancy things, but serving him - ugh! I really feel so bad about all the people in the towns I have to destroy. I don’t kill them, but they all end up being homeless. So, yes, I really hate working for that terrible man.”

Anna jumped up and down. “Hey, what if you quit! Then Rimlore would be without an main agent to destroy stuff!”

Jeremiab stood up as well. “That’s a great idea. Anna, you just said something wise.”

Anna looked confused. “Aren’t I already wise?”

Jeremiab shook his head. “Oh, dear. Back to the point, Dragon, would you do it?”

Dragon looked thoughtful. “That could work… yes, I think that would great. Only, Rimlore would find out and get me back.”

Jeremiab only was temporalily was set back. “Not if you were my dragon…” He let the hint settle.
Dragon quickly grew excited. “Oh yes! You are the only person who Rimlore can’t defeat… oh yes! May I?”

Jeremiab smiled. “Of course. As long as you would like to, than I would be glad of a companion. And you leaving would get on Rimlore’s nerves, giving me satisfaction. Let’s leave, and make sure Rimlore doesn’t come back.”

Dragon quickly bent his neck, letting Anna and Jeremiab climb on his back. But before Anna got on, she paused.

“Dragon, when Rimlore is upset about you leaving, won’t he destroy your stuff?”

Dragon sniffed. “That’s very nice of you. But no, he can’t open the doors to the cave, and they are charmed so you can’t open them magically. Poor Rimlore.” Anna snorted and climbed on his back.



Once Dragon opened the doors, they were off. They soared over the forest very fast, and soon Dragon was in town. Screaming people ran from the outskirts of the village. Jeremiab was the saving grace for Dragon.

He yelled, “Hold your fire! Dragon is safe! He is now my dragon, and on the King’s word and mine, he would never hurt anyone!”

The people didn’t look convinced. Some ladies passed out, and some men continued to point swords at the invader.

Dragon quickly spoke up. “Jeremiab is right! I used to work for Rimlore, but I now work for the wise Jeremiab. I would never dream of hurting anyone here!”

The people still didn’t trust him exactly, but the men slowly lowered their weapons. As Dragon kept talking, the people slowly started to warm up to him, and even a little toddler waddled up to him and patted his nose. Dragon smiled, and the people cheered. Jeremiab leaned over and told him,

“You know, I think I’ll name you Oxford.” The dragon smiled, and far away, an evil wizard screamed about a lost dragon.

 There you have it! That is Jeremiab's Tale, produced by yours truly, Tiger the Odd.

-Tiger