BACK DRAGONE 9' An poor orphan girl's dream of traveling come true Once upon a time a long time ago in a land far, far away lived a little orphan girl named Michaela. She had been an orphan so long that she could no longer remember what her mother or father looked like. Michaela lived on the streets of the town and she ate out of the trash cans, eating the garbage that other people threw away. Her clothes were in rags, so the children of the town made fun of her appearance. So, she avoided them whenever she could. But the children of the town, especially the boys, made fun of her more and more. Finally, she decided not to sleep in the town anymore. Instead, every night at dusk she walked out of town and hid herself from the boys in a strange looking jagged rock formation that the boys called "the monster". Michaela never understood why, but the boys were afraid to go near it. Michaela, on the other hand, was happiest in the rock formation because when she fell asleep there, her dreams were always warm and pleasant. And when the boys found out that she slept among the jagged rocks of "the monster" without suffering any harm, they became afraid of her and stayed away. One night a few weeks later, almost immediately after she fell asleep, she dreamed that her body lifted off the ground and she began flying through the air. As she flew higher and higher, she circle the town. With the light of the full moon she could see details in her dreams that she remembered from her travels through the town earlier, like a discarded baby doll near the school house, and a wrecked kite in a tree. She could also see the few remaining fires in the town: the blacksmith's burning embers, an open fire behind the saloon where three drunks gathered to swap stories, and a few remaining oil lamps that were visible through the windows. It was then that she began to feel a chill as she flew higher and higher. This was the first time she could ever recall a dream where she FELT anything. At this time, she noticed she was flying toward the mountain top in the distance that still had a snow cap remaining. Now Michaela knew why she was so cold. She was high above the snow level in the mountains. When she flew over the peak of the mountain with inches to spare, she noticed a mountain goat below that turned and ran from her. When the goat was out of sight, she turned toward where she was flying and saw the moonlight reflecting in ripples off the water of the biggest lake she had ever seen. "Ocean." said Michaela to herself, "That must be the ocean that the adults in the town talk about. That's a lot of water!" Then, suddenly, Michaela's flight turned into a dive. She felt her stomach wanting to rise into her throat. But for some reason she wasn't frightened at all of crashing. Though she was falling fast, she was not closer to the ground. She flew just a few feet over the tops of the trees until she arrived at the beach. Then she leveled off and flew straight out over the ocean, just a few feet above the waves. The further she flew over the ocean the more the wind blew and the higher the waves lapped up under her. She could hear the white-cap waves crashing against one another. Then suddenly, she could feel the cold wetness of ocean spray hitting her face and neck. Then, when she flew higher, she could see in the moonlight, three oil lamps in the distance. As she flew higher still, she could see the white sails of three sailing ships. Michaela didn't know why, but for some reason, she was frightened. She didn't know why until she saw the flag flying from the closest ship. The flag was black and it had white bones on it. Immediately, Michaela began flying in a different direction, back toward shore, she was flying faster now. Over the calmer water, over the white sand on the beach, over the trees nearby, up the mountainside, over the peak of the mountain, then diving down the other side toward her home town. But, oddly, she didn't land where she came from. Instead, she settled down on the other end of the town. As soon as she landed and settled down, she dreamed that she fell asleep. When she awakened it was morning. But nothing was the same as when she went to sleep. The sun was up. She was still in her hiding place among the jagged dark-green rocks, but everything else was different. She was on the other end of town and she was surrounded by all the people of the town. They were mumbling and debating, even arguing with one another. "Girl, are you responsible for this?!" asked the mayor. "For what?" asked Michaela. "Did you move the monster?" asked the Mayor. "No." she replied, "It's solid rock! I couldn't even lift part of it." The mayor turned to the other elders of the town and said, "She doesn't know." "I don't understand." replied Michaela, "Have I done something wrong?" "This is an omen. I know it!" exclaimed the mayor. "What is an omen?" asked Michaela. "We're not going to get anything out of her!" exclaimed the mayor, "Fetch the wise one." "Here he comes!" said a woman at the edge of the crowd, "The wise one is here." The mayor motioned broadly with his arms and shouted, "Make way for the wise one." With that the crowd parted and an old blind man with a cane felt his way to the front of the crowd asking "So, it's true, is it? The monster has moved again?" Taking the blind man by the hand, the mayor guide him close enough to the monster for him to tap it with his cane. "So, it's true!" the old man exclaimed. "Is this a sign, wise one?" asked the mayor. "Yes, it is!" exclaimed the blind man, "Where is the seer?" "Where is the what?" asked the Mayor. "The seer. Where is the seer?! Whenever the monster moves there's always a seer. Where is he?!" The crowd was silent for several seconds. "Well?! Where is he?!" asked the wise one. The mayor replied timidly, "The only one who was here when we arrived was the girl." "Girl? What girl?!" asked the wise one. "The orphan girl." replied the mayor. "I'm here." replied Michaela meekly. "What did you see?" asked the wise one. "Excuse me?" she asked. "You're the seer. What did you see?" he asked. "I think you have the wrong person," she replied, "I'm not a... seer." "Did you sleep on the monster last night?" he asked. "Well, yes, but..." she replied. "Did you have an unusual dream last night?" he asked. "Well, yes, but..." "Did you dream of flying through the air?" he asked. "Yes. How did you know?", she asked. "That was no dream. You are the seer!" he insisted. The crowd mumbled. Noone, including Michaela, believed it. "What you thought was a dream was actually what the monster saw as he flew through the air" explained the wise one. "But it's a rock! Rocks can't fly!" exclaimed Michaela. All agreed, except the wise one. "Those are not rocks around you. Those are horns and protective armor plates on the back of the monster." he explained. "You mean this thing is ALIVE?!" asked the Mayor. "Yes," replied the wise one, "It's a dragon!" Everyone in the crowd gasped and moved back from the monster. "You mean, I've been sleeping on a dragon's back all these weeks?!" asked Michaela. "Yes. You're the seer for the dragon. What did you see?" "I... we flew over that mountain peak..." she began as she pointed. "Toward the ocean", interrupted the wise one. "Yes, we flew out over the ocean and saw three sailing ships." replied Michaela. "There was a full moon last night. Were you able to see the flags on the ships?" he asked. "Yes, it was black with white bones" she replied. The crowd mumbled. "A skull and crossed bones?!" asked the Mayor. "Yes." she replied. "Pirates!" exclaimed the Mayor. The crowd went into a frenzy. All of them began to talk, and noone was listening. The mayor raised his arms and shouted, "People, listen to me! The pirates are coming to pillage our town as they did more than 50 years ago. Prepare for war!" All the towns people turned and ran toward town, then scattered in all directions. Then there was quiet around Michaela and the wise one. "Are you sure about this?" asked Michaela. "What do you mean?" asked the wise one. "You're telling people to get ready for war just because I had a dream last night." she explained. "If it was just a dream," replied the wise one, "how do you explain the moving of the monster to the other side of town?" "Oh." replied Michaela, "I guess I can't explain it." Suddenly, the ground began to shudder. "What was that?!" exclaimed Michaela. "You'd better hold on, now." explained the wise one. "The monster is about to show you how he did it!" With that, the monster rose up on four legs, unfurled its wings, flapped them twice, then he began flying. Though she had been warned, Michaela was not ready for this. She fell backward and then wrapped her arms around one of the horns on the back of the monster and watched in amazement that such a big beast could fly. Michaela had read about monsters that fly, but she didn't believe they were true. But here she was flying on the back of... of... a dragon! Yes, that's it! She was riding on the back of a flying dragon! She soared and circled over the town before heading toward the mountain peak in the distance. Higher and higher she went. Then she felt the same cool air she felt last night while dreaming of flying. "I saw what the dragon saw, so I must have felt what the dragon felt!" said Michaela to herself. "That's right." replied a woman's voice. Michaela turned her head in all directions as if on a swivel. "Who said that?!" she asked. "You should know by now." replied the dragon. "The dragon? The dragon... is a female!" she exclaimed. "That's right." replied the dragon, "Hold on tightly, I'm about to dive toward the ocean." With that, the dragon folded back her wings and dived in what seemed like a free-fall toward the big blue ocean ahead. The roar of the wind was now deafening in Michaela's ears. She lean beside the dragon's neck and shouted, "How can I hear you so well when the wind is so loud." "I'm not talking to you with my mouth," replied the dragon, "I'm talking to you with my mind." Michaela shouted "You mean I can hear what you're thinking?" "Yes," replied the dragon, "and I can hear what you're thinking. You don't have to shout." Michaela closed her mouth tightly and closed her eyes and thought as loud as she could, "Can you hear me now?" "Yes," replied the dragon, "but please keep your eyes open. I'll need your eyes when we battle the pirates." "We are going to battle the pirates?!" shouted Michaela, "I mean..." Then she closed her mouth and thought, "Are we really going to battle the pirates?" "Yes," replied the dragon, "And there they are." The dragon's wings began to flap faster. Michaela raised up slightly and received a face full of ocean spray before seeing the white sails of the three pirate ships in the distance. "What can I do?!" asked Michaela, then she silently added, "I don't know anything about fighting." "I need you to watch my flanks." replied the dragon, "Do you know what that means?" "I think so," thought Michaela, "You want me to watch for what you can't see. The dragon was now just a few feet from the first pirate ship, she began to breathe fire at the sails of the ship as she past by. When Michaela looked back she saw all the ship's sails on fire. "I guess you don't need me to fight. Without sails, those ships won't be able to get to our shore." thought Michaela. The dragon was now just a few feet from the second pirate ship, she began to breathe fire at the sails of the ship as she past by. When Michaela looked back she saw all the sails on fire. "Two down, one to..." Michaela's thoughts were interrupted when she saw two large puffs of smoke coming from the third pirate ship off to her right. "Wo!" she shouted. Suddenly, the dragon flipped upside down and dived toward the ocean to avoid the two approaching cannon balls. But Michaela was not holding on. She fell off the dragon's back and was headed for a salt water bath. But as soon as the cannon ball passed by, the dragon dived again and positioned her body so that Michaela landed on her back. "I'm sorry I didn't warn you." thought Michaela. "But you did warn me." replied the Dragon. "Remember, I can see what you see." Then the dragon swerved and dived to avoid another cannon ball that Michaela was looking at. But this time, Michaela held on and didn't fall off. She looked back at the first two pirate ships which were now completely covered in flames as all the pirates jumped into the sea. The dragon maneuvered quickly to catch up with the cannon balls that had missed them earlier. She plucked two of the cannon balls out of the air with her talons, then turned and flew back toward the pirate ships. As the dragon flew higher and higher and higher, Michaela asked "Why are we flying so high?" "The last pirate ship is firing cannons at us," explained the dragon. "so we can't get close enough to burn their sales. So, we'll have to stop them another way." With that, the dragon, now flying high above the third pirate ship, let go of the two cannon balls. The heavy balls dropped faster and faster until they hit the ship. They broke right through the deck of the ship, through the lower decks and through the bottom of the ship. Sea water immediately filled the ship like a geyser. And within minutes the ship sank from under the pirates and they too jumped into the ocean to save their own lives. "Nice work, dragon!" thought Michaela. "Nice work, seer!" replied the dragon as she turned back toward the shore. When they got back to town, the dragon landed, folded its wings and went to sleep, waiting for the next time she was needed to save the town. Michaela was now the town's hero. She was no longer homeless. Every family in the town wanted to adopt her. She accepted their meals, but she preferred to sleep where she always had pleasant dreams: on the rock known as THE MONSTER. �2013 Bob Snook. Conditions for use: Do not sell any part of this script, even if you rewrite it. Pay no royalties, even if you make money from performances. You may reproduce and distribute this script freely, but all copies must contain this copyright statement. http://www.bobsnook.org email: [email protected] BACK |