His aged body rested on a boulder. The gray rock held the suit of armor as the bread knight poked the fire to start the blaze again. The campfire was surrounded by a circle of grapefruits. The gravel road leading up to the cave was lined with massive boulders. The stones were gray no color was to be found leading to the cave. The cave’s mouth was open at the top of a hill with and winding road about fifty feet from the tree line. The path was steep with sharp turns and it looked to be a considerable hike to get to the top. The journey zig-zagged the entire way on the gravel pathway. The stones of the gravel mixed with the gray dusty dirt underfoot. The days were long while looking at the gray. The landscape was dark, dreary and defeated, as the gray skies matched the gray ground in its melancholy tone. The clouds crowded the source of light in the sky. The dark rain infested clouds surrounded and choked the life from the sun. Only a little light was able to break through the cloud barrier. The light cascaded down to the dull mountain top, full of dirt, dust, and gray as he rested on the large rock in front of the cave. The cave’s mouth was dark; darker than the outside, black. No light came in or out of the cave as if the mouth was the entranceway to despair. He looked at the dark mouth of the cave then poked the embers of the fire, taking some of the wood he grabbed from the forest to feed the flames. As they flames grew and consumed the logs in the fire, the tree line rustled.

The sound caused him to look at the tree line. The bearded knight wore a suit of armor that had no shine. His helmet showed the face of the aging man. Age showed at his eyes where the wrinkles grew like branches from a tree. Bags of tiredness and age hung from his green eyes. His mouth never formed a smile as life beat the happiness out of him. His eyes were once youthful and carried a piercing bright green shine but now are muted and dull like a dying leaf. His nose is bent at the top of it from an injury that never healed right. It bore a nasty scar that ran from the bridge of his nose his right temple. Lastly, his bread protruded from the helmet. A full beard of gray aging hair. The knight rubbed his chin with his brown leathered hand as he looked at the tree line for his intruder. His gloves were cracked, dirty and old. The brown leather was worn and darkened with mud and use. The glove moved as fluidly as his fingers as if there were part of his hand. His outer layer of armor did not shine. His breastplate was beaten and dented and the same held true for his shin-plates, thigh-covers, and the covers on his arms. His mail under the armor shook and produced noise with every moment. He only wore chainmail over his torso. Simple leather pantaloons were under his armor on his legs. He wore leather boots. Mud permanently stained the soles of the dark brown leather. The top of the boots was hidden under the shin plates, but the high of the boots came up about half on his shin. Clank, the noise came from the trees; causing the knight to look over once more.

Stumbling over his own armor, a gallant and clumsy knight came from the tree line. He was dressed in armor that was not his; there was just no way. With his moments the aging knight deduced that the armor was too big for him. At appeared that this man has never worn armor before. A large sword hung from his belt. This new person appeared to be laboring under the weight of this weapon. The bearded knight smirked at the speckle. What little light that came to the spot was reflected in the armor of the intruder. Multicolored feathers shot straight up from his helmet. His face was hidden from the covering of the helmet. The ensemble was complete with a bright red circle shield upon his back. This person came up to the knight on the rock with a confident step and arrogance. He made noise with every step. Clink, clank as he journeyed up the zig-zag road to towards the cave. One of his covers on his arm was loose and hanging on by the leather strap, therefore, his chainmail was showing. This upper part of his left arm was one missed the protection. The knight remained unmoved and kept his outburst to a minimum but inside he could not help but laugh.

“You there, what lies in that cave yonder?” The man pointed with his metal glove. The knight on the rock looked at the growing flames and shrugged his shoulders. The man walked within spitting distance of the knight and was no pleased by his answer, “Out with it then.” The man gave the knight a bit of a push, “I demanded it!” The knight looked at him with his muted green, almost gray eyes.

“Demand?”

“Yes demand, I inquired information from you.”

“And what obligation am I bound to you?”

“Common decency.”

“Common? Common is relative. What is common to you may not seem common to me.”

“Now I say you are one of the most inconsiderate men I ever met!” The bearded knight rolled his eyes. “What be your name?” The Knight ignored his question, “Do you have an aversion to questions in general?”

“Why ask questions, when you do not care about the answers?”

“I care about the contents of this here cave.”

“Why? Why did you travel to the top of the mountain?”

“I am Fredrick from the house of Dunce. Son to Gerald of Dunce…”

“Stop.” The beard knight held up his hand. “That’s not what I asked.” The man opened his helmet cover.

“I am offended, sir!”

“Then be offended.”

“I have not quarrel with you good sir knight, but we will if you keep this up.”

“Why are you here?”

“I came to this cave because I heard of a dragon.”

“Why do you ask me these questions?”

“You are old and thus are wise.”

“Does age make intelligence? Imagine I find a man wiser than I and he is half my age. And if old age makes you wise, does that mean that being young means you are foolish?”

“No… What do you know about the dragon?”

“What do you what with a dragon?”

“Dragons provide great wealth and promise much riches!”

“Is wealth worth being burned?”

“What are a few burns to a rich man?”

“And what is money to dead one?”

“Dragons are good for the market. The skin can make the finest leather. The teeth are sharp and are harder than stone, great for weapons! The bones are large and strong they can be used as building material or a club. Finally, the meat can feed an army…”

“Stop. I know how valuable dragons are.”

“Then you know why I am here. So, is there a dragon in this cave?”

“That is what the legend says.”

“What do you say?”

“Nothing.”

“Are you not here for the wealth only a dragon can provide?” The knight shook his head. “Why do you not wear a sword?”

“I do not need a sword.”

“But you wear armor. What point does your armor serve if you are not going to fight?”

“Protection. Armor is not for attack. Armor is for defense. I can attack without armor but I cannot take hits without it.”

“Do you not want to fight?”

“I have nothing to fight for.”

“Are you not man enough to slay a dragon?”

“Man enough? Or stupid enough. If you want the riches of a dragon, why not wait until it dies so you do not have to risk your life?”

“Dragons can live for hundreds of years.”

“Can you not wait that long?”

“No man can wait that long.”

“Some things are worth waiting for, and they are always ruined when they are rushed.”

"I see what you are doing you are trying to distract me. You want the dragon all to yourself!"

"I want nothing to do with any dragon."

"Then why are you here?"

"I am always here." The man looked confused in his colorful outfit as he stared at the muted gray knight.

"Sometimes you just have to go for it. Waiting can kill a man, and if you take too long it will pass you by."

"That is true." The fire slowly started to crack and die as the wood burnt up into embers. There were only a few flames left.

“I’ll find this dragon and I will kill it!” The man struggled to remove his sword from its sheath and held it in his hand, laboring under the weight. He attached the shield to his arm and marched into the cave never to be heard of again. The knight sat on the rock and watched as another “want-to-be” knight that could afford a costume went into the cave. Orange light and heat came from the cave. The knight simply shook his head. Greed was the emotion that killed that one. Rubbing his chin again, he let his aged body rest on the rock. He threw more wood on the fire as around him another person came from the tree line.

"Aye, you, what lives is this cave?" The man pointed to the mouth of the cave as he walked closer to the knight. The old eyes looked at the cave then turned to the new face.