Adrian Continues?

Now of course, the ending to this serial comes with an opening for further adventures of the Knight of the Clockwork City - at least expansion on the world in general. So before I go and revise the Golden Lentil further and take up more of your time with a PDF book download or a published work, I am setting up a poll for anyone who reads this to voice what they think should continue.

Along with this comes a stronger version of the reactions for every post: a poll of slightly more detailed reactions to the story! Okay, neither are compulsory, but we don't just want more of the same do we? Right?

Adrian's External

Now for the pleasure of the several individuals who read this, the last installment. Feel free to read this part and then the preceding one (that is, the linear order) or read the previous and then this last one (which is my preferred order, with my favourite ending).

Now how did Adrian resolve the dragon incident to eventually make his way back?

Adrian had tip-toed carefully into the cavern, the hot breath condensed on his face and mixed with sweat. Around a corner there was a cage comprised of bones, as though the food had assisted with the décor. Inside were two cadavers and three gaunt figures whose eyes followed him as he approached.

‘Shh,’ he said. The captured heroes barely displayed signs of life.

‘Are you here for the lentil?’ one said shakily.

‘Yes. What is up ahead?’

‘Tis an abhorrent dragon, friend. He captured us one by one, and eats us periodically. Two have managed to will themselves out of the apprehension.’ He pointed at the bodies.

‘Eww. Look, stay here – I’ll find a way to break you out.’

Adrian tried to wyrm his way into the inner lair. The old thing’s senses were still as sharp as ever, and nearly toppling him backwards came its booming voice.

‘Who is it that dares intrude upon my hoard?’

The muzzle of the massive creature filled Adrian’s vision.

‘It is I, Sir Adrian Salem of the Clockwork City,’ said Adrian after recovering from the shock.

‘What is your purpose here, Adrian Salem?’

‘I have come to claim the Golden Lentil,’ Adrian said.

‘Golden Lentil? What Golden Lentil? Aren’t lentils brown, mushy and tasteless vegetables?’ it bellowed. ‘A dragon has no use for those!’

‘You may have got it wrong, noble Dragon. Contrary to popular belief, lentils are delicious and nutritious! I have come for the one you may have mistaken for gold,’ the knight rebutted.

‘Very well, but you should know I cannot let you simply walk within and take what you like. Also, contrary to popular belief, not all dragons are noble creatures.’ The thing slowly began to move. Adrian realised what was happening and ran. From behind, a great boom rippled out from the dragon’s footstep. Adrian reached the bone cage and tried to look for a lock or door.

‘It’s no use. Dragons have no thumbs, they don’t build a cage with a door,’ said one of the food prisoners.

‘I’m not going to leave you people behind!’

‘Are you kidding? Save yourself!’

‘Okay.’ Adrian was sure he could hear the lumbering, elderly monster drawing breath. He made it around the corner in the cave and didn’t look back, but the scorch and glow made it clear what it had just done. He spared a moment’s thought for the heroes who had gone before him, but before he continued on there was a heave noise and a thunderous crash.

Adrian ventured a look around the corner after several beats. The giant reptile lay still on the ground. Dead? he thought. It still wasn’t moving.

‘Well that was anticlimactic,’ he said to himself. Behind where the dragon had emerged from was a pile of plunder, including the armour of several knights. Right on top lay a golden, sparkling, roughly pillow shaped object – the Golden Lentil. The issue plaguing his mind was how to get back carrying the damn thing, more implicitly how to descend the mountain.

Back outside the cave he got a chance to really survey the countryside; it wasn’t a bad place to be. His mind slipped into thinking about how he had spent most of his life in the Clockwork City before becoming a knight, and presently parts of his life were showing themselves before his eyes. The feeling of a presence came upon him and from behind a woman’s voice as sticky as honey and dark as ebony said:

‘Why hello again, Adrian. Care for a dance?’

Adrian's End (For Now)

Unconventional, yes, but this whole writing is yet to be consolidated as a whole anyway - so for reasons that I might make clearer later, here is the chronologically last part of the story:

Finally Adrian had claimed the Golden Lentil and returned to the Clockwork City. Just in time, too, because people were beginning to starve to death. He was outside the western gate and talking to the same man who had sent him on this journey.

‘Your clues were helpful… I guess,’ he mumbled.

Egghead sighed, ‘I’m afraid that if I hadn’t given you those clues you wouldn’t have had such a hard time. It’s all to do with narrative flow.’

‘What?’

‘Oh, never mind. Anyway, you’d better get that Lentil in the ground.’

Adrian ceremoniously lowered the legume into a hole dug by the substantially compensated farmer. As soon as the earth was replaced over it, a plant more than two metres tall burst from within the ground like a firework. Within seconds, pods had exploded all around, and any fertile soil within a kilometre was springing with lentils itself. Within a clearing in the forest, a new lentil plant was approached by a battle scarred spinach which made whistling noises, and the fields of the fiefdom were filled with plentiful and healthy food.

The story of Adrian and the Golden Lentil was spread throughout the land, and before long the City became a regional tourist attraction. Out of the flow of foreigners, the Prince was even able to trap a wife. That certainly calmed him down. Everyone in the end lived happily – until the next time Adrian was needed to help them out.