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Paul Viscount

THE DRAGON KING MUST DIE

SYNOPSIS

CHAPTER 1

The village of Castle Wood holds a festival to commemorate an old battle. There is a knockout tournament and Fox, the Leader of the village, ends up fighting Pacer, a female warrior. He beats her and is recognised - as for many years past - as the best warrior in the village.

CHAPTER 2

The Dragon King plans to attack Castle Wood because he wants the rare stone cadadite that lies in the ground under the village. He sends in his dragon army at dawn but the villagers spot the approaching troops and manage to arm themselves in readiness. The warriors of Castle Wood are up against enormous odds. They fight bravely but gradually the invaders gain the upper hand and eventually triumph. Most of the warriors die, including Pacer, and the few that remain are led away to slavery, along with the women and children. Fox is left for dead in the ruins of the village,

CHAPTER 3

Fox regains consciousness and finds that he is practically the only living being left in the village. He searches desperately for his five children but cannot find them and realises that they have been caputred by the Dragon King. He sets off to form a band of rebels that will destroy the Dragon King and liberate the women and children that have been imprisoned. Fox begins his journey by cutting through the treedwellers' wood. He is attacked by them and fights bravely, aided by his dog Patch, but eventually the two of them are overcome and prepare themselves for death. Fox's large cousin Bull arrives in the nick of time and beats off the treedwellers. Fox and Patch are saved. Bull agrees to join the fight against the Dragon King. The three of them camp for the night just outside the wood and then move on to the village of Water Down to seek out Oak, who is married to Fox's sister Elk.

CHAPTER 4

Fox and Bull meet up with Fox's other sister Hawk. She informs them that they have missed Oak and agrees to go along and help out. They meet a strange wizard on a unicorn. They swop insults and he disappears. Meanwhile the children are not finding life in the King's dungeon to their liking. Fox, Bull and Hawk catch up with Oak on the edge of the treedwellers' territory and find him fighting for his life. Then Oak accuses Fox of having no honour and running away and strikes him, opening up his wound. This causes some in-fighting among the rebels. Luckily for Oak the wizard (Tac) turns up and saves Fox's life, then disappears again. As Castle Wood is on the way, they call in and burn the dead. The smell of dead bodies attracts a most ferocious predator called a houndcat which attacks Oak. He is saved as the wizard turns up again, heals his wounds and joins the rebels. Now they are five.

CHAPTER 5

The five rebels set off for a village called Scrapford where Fox's elder brother Old Grey Bear lives. Although he declines to join the force, Fox runs into two very old friends (Black Knight and Opium) who don't need asking twice to fight. They are also joined by Fox's younger brother Wolf. Now they are eight. They head off to the land of the Hillanders, a mountain tribe whose leader is Fox's best friend. They eat, drink and test eachother's fighting skills. After the games, Fox and the others sit down and plan their attack. Morning comes and nine horses set off from the hills - Ibex, leader of the Hillanders, has agreed to fight with them. Presently they see smoke coming from Scrapford and find everyone in the village dead, including Old Grey Bear - killed by the dragons. They set off for their first battle against the dragon king. 

CHAPTER 6

Tac is sent to the dragon king's castle to pretend to sell him information on the whereabouts of the rebels. He visits the people of Castlewood in the dungeons, saves Elk's son Mole with magic and assures everyone that help is on the way. The dragon king agreed to swap information for his slaves. Meanwhile the rebels are waiting in the land of the treedwellers so Tac can lead the dragons into the carefully laid trap. A small force turns up and is totally destroyed with the help of the treedwellers. The rebels lose the first of their band in battle - Wolf - and many treedwellers also die. The band then moves on to Waterdown to recruit more men and put the second part of their plan into action.

CHAPTER 7

All goes well with the second part of the plan. The dragons still trust Tac and are lured into another carefully laid trap. The fighting is fierce and many casualties are inflicted on the rebel force. Black Knight and Opium are among the dead which saddens the others greatly. Black Knight is placed on his horse to wander in death as he had in life. Tac returns with bad news for the king, and the others push on towards the Great Swamp for the next engagement, after clearing up at Waterdown.

CHAPTER 8

Tac is recognised in his true colours by the dragon king and is beaten after having his powers taken away. He is then cut across the chest and left to die. The king thinks he has been very clever getting information from Tac, but all along Tac had every intention of telling him the whereabouts of the rebels but couldn't give in too soon or the dragons would have suspected another trap. Ibex has to persuade his people to fight with the rebels against the dragons. He does this by shaming them into it. Before the battle starts the dragons throw Tac's body to the rebels then laugh, which infuriates the rebels. The skies open and the rain comes down hard and fast, soaking the battlefield and making it very difficult to stand up straight, let alone fight. The final push comes and the rebels drive the dragons to the swamp and finish them off.

CHAPTER 9

All the fighters return to the Hillanders' village where they eat, drink and talk about how they met. A Hillander called Reed blames Fox for the whole situation and an argument develops into swordplay with Reed drawing on Fox. Fox is stopped from continuing the fight by Ibex telling him that if he kills Reed his people would not fight with the rebels. Fox spends a lot of time reminiscing about the deaths of his brothers and friends.

CHAPTER 10

The final battle. The rebels storm the castle, with Hillanders scaling the walls and being thrown back, and Bull desperately trying to batter the portcullis down to get reinforcements to Fox and Ibex who are alone on the battlements. Finally the rebels gain entry and the battle turns in their favour. Fox catches the king on his own and a one to one fight begins. After being pinned down and making ready to die, luck shows its head and Fox manages to grab his sword and finish the dragon king off. He rises to his feet and makes a speech to the remaining dragons. They lay down their weapons and surrender.

As Fox's sister is bringing the captives out of the dungeons, he notices a dragon officer on the battlements launching a lance in their direction. He pushes his sister and the children aside and takes the lance full in the chest.

CHAPTER 11

Fox is as good as dead. He speaks his last words to his children, family and friends. Fox asks for all the rebels to be buried in the same place.

Hawk gets the burrowers to undermine the dragon's castle, bringing it crashing to the ground. The rebels are all put in graves nearby. Tac's staff does its last piece of magic, making grass and trees grow where the castle had stood, leaving not a single trace of the evil place.

On the stones of the monument, images of the heads of the rebels and their coats of arms appear, and the story of their battles is chiselled in every detail in the rock. Badger and Sunny visit the monument where their father and the other rebels rest. They say that on a long summer's evening you can almost hear the rebels talking among themselves. But the children aren't afraid because they had known all the rebels and knew that the warriors wouldn't hurt them.

This is a story of the honour, bravery and loyalty of a man struggling against overwhelming odds and coming out dead but victorious - a hero never to be forgotten. It is also about the love of a father for his children, his family and his lifelong friends. This - The Dragon King Must Die - is the first in a series of books. Then comes:-

2. The Legend Begins

3. The Sons of Fox Ride Out

4. The Crop of Death.

THE DRAGON KING MUST DIE

SYNOPSIS