When I woke up, I was in a cage. In addition, I was in chains and had a muzzle on, which made it impossible for me to spit fire. I saw houses outside the cage, buildings made by people, they were mainly half-timbered houses. And lots of onlookers who stood around the pedestal on which my cage stood. Most of them wore simple gray and brown clothes that were roughly sewn together. It was very annoying the way they pointed their fingers at me, but on the other hand it was also very boring here. All I could do was people watch. Then I saw the man again who had caught me with his people. He advertised me like a commodity in a medieval market.
"Dear fellow citizens! See a magnificent specimen of a kite here! Which of them will offer the most? I am selling it in one piece or in individual parts!"
A man from the audience shouted:
"I want the brain! Ten thalers!""Ten thalers for the brain! Who offers more? That won't be all, will it?"
So I looked my death in the eye. How great. I began to long for that white powder. Then I would no longer have to listen to this haggling over my innards.
"One hundred thalers for the whole kite," I heard someone say. The voice seemed familiar to me.
"One hundred thalers is little for a whole dragon, sir."
"I'm bidding two hundred for the whole!"
"Three hundred!"
"Fivehundred!"
Now they wanted to buy me in one piece after all.
"I'm offering five thousand thalers," said the familiar voice again.
The others didn't seem to have that much money and fell silent.
"All right," said the dragon hunter, "five thousand thalers for the whole dragon. Congratulations. Shall we slaughter it for you right away?"
"No. I'll take him alive."
A murmur went through the crowd. Was my life spared?
"You want to take him alive, sir? Dragons are dangerous, you know?""Yes, I know. But death is of no use to me."
"As you wish. Please come with me."
I noticed that the pedestal below me was actually a cart that was now slowly moving. The oxen in front of the wagon had to drag my mass quite a bit. We drove out of town, and the dragon hunter and the man who bought me followed close behind the car. We stopped in a meadow.
"So, we can get him out of here. But first the money."
The man handed over 5000 thalers to the hunter. Then he unlocked the cage and I jumped onto the meadow, still restricted in my movement by the shackles.
"Here is the key to the shackles, sir. But please wait until we are gone."
The hunter got on the front of the cart and they drove back into town.
Now I took a closer look at the man. I should have done it earlier because I saw a knight. He was dressed in light armor and a sharp sword hung from his belt.On his back hung a red cloak with the same coat of arms that was seen on his armor. He seemed very wealthy.
At last the ox-cart was out of sight and the knight took my muzzle off. I looked into his face. He looked familiar to me.
He also removed the rest of my bonds and I stretched. Did that well!
Suddenly I recognized the knight. He was Tom, from my dream! Or wasn't it a dream after all? I no longer knew what the reality was now.
"Tom?" I asked carefully.
"How do you know my name?" He asked.
"I ... oh, nothing. Why did you save me?"
"My horse has been killed. And I thought it would be more impressive to the prince if he had a more dangerous mount."
"You are the prince?"
"Yes. And don't please me. That's only mine, dragon."
"My name is Theo."
"Theo, well. I hope you don't cause me any trouble."
I suddenly knew.That was my old friend Tom, whom I knew before school. And I was actually just a student, not a dragon. But where did I get the wrong memory from? Why was I a dragon? And why was I in this world anyway?
I decided to follow Tom. Maybe I could get him to remember.
"I will follow you, Your Majesty," I said effusively.
"Very good. It was easier than I thought. I thought I had to tame you and I would have trouble. But it is much easier this way."
"What are you going to do now?"
"I will return to my father. He will be happy to see me. Tilt your neck, I want you to fly me to the castle."
I did as I was told. Tom quickly sat down on my back.
"Hold on tight," I said.
"Don't worry about me. Better fly west!"
I spread my wings. Though I'd never flown before, if you took it seriously, I knew exactly what to do.We quickly left the meadow behind us. From up here in the air you had a wonderful view. I could see the city, with all the people (it was so far away that you probably couldn't see the residents as humans), and I saw the forest in which I had woken up. I thought he was further from town.
Tom screamed with excitement:
"Juuhuuu!"
The cool evening wind hit us, and I flew happily after the setting, red sun.