“Hear ye, hear ye! The good King Leonard is offering a suitable reward for any person, man or woman, lad or lass, who can help him save his daughter, the royal Princess Mary.” So stated the young boy, standing on a crate in the middle of the town square, reading from a parchment scroll. Young Jerod stood in the crowd, listening to the announcement. His blue eyes showed interest, and he thoughtfully ran a calloused hand through his dark blond hair as the boy rolled up the scroll and walked off.

Jerod started back towards home, glancing up every so often to look at the tall white castle standing in the distance. He really wanted to help the king, but not for the reward. Jerod was considered strange that way, for he would rather help his mother and father instead of getting into trouble all day. Jerod simply liked helping others.
As he approached the small cottage where he lived with his parents, Jerod smiled. He loved his parents, and they loved him, their only child. So how would they take the news that Jerod planned to leave to help the king?

At dinner, both of Jerod’s parents noticed that their son was unusually quiet. His father asked if anything was wrong. Jerod picked at his food for a moment more before telling them about the announcement he heard that day and his desire to help the King. His father and mother looked at each other for a long moment. Finally Jerod’s father cleared his throat and said, “If the Lord so leads you, son, then go.”

The next day, Jerod woke early and started walking along the road that lead to King Leonard’s castle. It was not a long walk, and by early afternoon Jerod was looking up at the tall, spiraling towers and the gleaming white stone of the castle. Walking inside, Jerod was taken to the king’s court. There, Jerod was surprised to see none other than the princess Mary herself. She sat alone in a corner, silently watching everyone with her cloudy blue eyes. Leonard leaned forward as his sharp grey eyes watched the young lad approach. He was a simple looking boy, certainly no older than seventeen years of age, but there was something about the honest look in his blue eyes that told Leonard that this was the boy who would help him with his problem. Jerod came closer and asked the king what his problem was.

“My daughter, as you can see, is right over there. For, lad, it is not Mary herself that it is missing…but her heart. The Dragon Worldly has stolen it from me, and I do not know how to claim it back. If you can help me…” Leonard let his words fade slowly away as he watched Jerod observe Mary more closely. After a long moment, Jerod spoke.

“Your highness, I cannot solve your problem.” The king slumped back into his throne. He had been so certain that this was the boy who could help him. “No, I cannot help the princess. But you,” Jerod turned to face Leonard. “you can. For if a father loses his daughter’s heart then he must go and reclaim it for the glory of the High King!”

And Leonard knew these words to be true. So the next day he found himself traveling with Jerod to reclaim Mary’s heart. Although Leonard now knew that it was his job to obey his calling as a father and fight for Mary’s heart, he wanted Jerod to accompany him.

The Dragon Worldly, who had stolen Mary’s heart, lived deep in the black woods, far to the north. It was said that Worldly was merely an accomplice to the evil lord of darkness, Prince Shyam. Rare was the man who was bold enough to venture close to his tower, claimed the wandering minstrels, but King Leonard just laughed and called the warnings fairy tales. “For surely there is evil in this world, but not as dark and black as the storytellers claim, right?” he chuckled at Jerod over dinner one night. Jerod shook his head silently at himself. His parents had never sugar-coated evilness for him, but many others had grown up thinking that evilness could be taken lightly.

After traveling for a few days, Jerod saw on the horizon a tall, black, spiraling tower rise up. Swallowing the lump in his throat, he pointed it out to Leonard. “Aha!” the king chuckled to himself. “This is almost too easy.”

“Indeed, and it worries me.” Jerod muttered to himself. The words had barely left his lips when a ear piercing screech rent the air. The sun disappeared as a large black cloud covered it. “That is no cloud!” Jerod called out a warning to Leonard as the black ‘cloud’ swooped down with another screech and grabbed at the two men with its long talons. “That is the Dragon Worldly!” Jerod and Leonard drew their swords, and not too soon, for the Dragon was swiftly upon them. “King, run! Save her heart!” Jerod called out. “I can hold the dragon off for you!” Leonard nodded and started running towards the tower.

“That’s it, Leonard. Come to me.” Shyam’s sharp face had a wickedly pleased look on it and his black eyes glittered as he watched Leonard run towards him. “Save her heart.” He mocked the king.

“Shyam, you have stolen my daughter’s heart from me and I demand that you give it back, now!” Leonard snarled. But Shyam merely laughed in his face.

“You don’t deserve it. Think, Leonard, all the times where you were just ‘too busy’ to do something with Mary. She came to you with love, and that love was rejected. You are a failure as a father.” The sword slipped from Leonard’s hand as the words hit him. He knew that as evil as Shyam was, the words he just said were true in a horribly twisted way. There was only one thing that Shyam was mistaken about.

“I might have done Mary wrong in the past, but I am ready to do whatever possible to win her back!” And with these words Leonard picked up his sword once again and charged towards Shyam. At that moment Jerod also appeared in the doorway, his sword drawn and covered in blood.

“Give it up, Shyam! Worldly is dead!” he snarled.

“No!” shrieked Shyam as Leonard swiftly shoved him out of a window. Shyam fell, and was no more.

When Jerod and Leonard returned to the kingdom, there was a great celebration. Leonard raised his hand to get everyone’s attention, and motioned Mary close. Taking from his pocket a small golden locket, Leonard put it around her neck. “I am sorry, Mary. I realize that I have failed you as a father…” Silently, Mary looked up at her father with a smile on her face. Leonard smiled back at her as he turned to Jerod and told him to kneel.

“Jerod, in the name of our Lord I knight you. From now on you shall be Jerod, Slayer of Dragons.”

Jerod looked Leonard in the eyes, smiling, and whispered, “You saved her heart.”

Hannah Grace is a sixteen year old girl who loves writing, reading, talking with friends, and most importantly serving God.  She writes for her King over at her blog, The Authoress.