Part IV

Violet stared at Will. "You are kidding me?" she asked hopefully.

"Nope. I swear, that is really how the story ends." Will chuckled at her disbelief.

"It can't be. Stories aren't supposed to end like that," Violet countered. She look up into the crisscrossed branches of the yew tree and wondered if Will's story was true. If it was, this yew tree used to be a man and this hill was the body of the dragon.

Will wrapped his arm around Violet's shoulders. "We should probably go. It is getting dark."

"You're right." Violet said, "Thanks for the story."

Will smiled at Violet. "No need to thank me." Together, they walked down the hill.

***

The yew tree watched the young couple leave. Their shared afternoon had refreshed his memories. Their young love reminded him of his daughter and Thomas. Phineas often thought back to his daughter. He had been given centuries to reminisce over her and lament her untimely death. He knew now that it was his pride that had killed her. Although he was not the direct cause, his pride had been the boulder that brought the cascade leading to her death.

He did not understand the love shared between Thomas and Ella. It had been too pure and real. Phineas expected their love to fade into the wind. Instead, it had appeared to grow in strength with every passing day. Now, Phineas knew that their deep bond was what drove Ella to follow Thomas as he endeavored to kill the dragon. It was true that Phineas had used the dragon and the armor as the means to get rid of Thomas and permanently end his daughter's engagement. It was expected that Thomas would not return. It was not expected that Ella would go missing for days, only to be found charred and dead alongside Thomas' mangled body. When the search party brought the two corpses back to the village, Phineas wept and tore his clothes in anguish. He vowed for vengeance against the beast.

Phineas was a coward at heart, and could not face the dragon without inequitable aid. He was a man of many secrets--- one being his affinity towards the practice of dark magic. Immediately following the burial of Ella, Phineas whisked himself away into the dark corridors of his manor. In a room more heavily guarded than that with the suit of armor, Phineas threw vials of thick black liquid into the hot fire blazing in the fireplace. Immediately a haggard, crouching man in a black cloak appeared before Phineas. Phineas demanded a way to kill the dragon. He promised to fulfill any price. The old man had chuckled as he revealed a large bottle of purplish liquid. The liquid was a potion meant to disintegrate the scales of the dragon's mighty armor. As for the price, the old man croaked, "In due time, you will pay you price tenfold." He disappeared back into the fire before Phineas could refuse the bottle.

The liquid had worked. Phineas killed the dragon. No sooner than the deed was done, the old warlock's words rang true. Phineas was transformed into a yew tree atop the dragon as the dragon's body became a hill. Phineas was condemned to live trapped in the yew tree: forever blaming his pride and cowardice.

Author's Note: This is the final installment of my storybook. Here we find out how interconnected the story is. Will and Violet are lunching on a hill as Will recounts the story of a dragon and a knight. The hill is the body of the dragon and the yew tree is the bewitched body of one of the knights.

In the original story, a knight fights a dragon and then goes insane and dies atop the dragon's body and both are transformed into landmarks. I was intrigued by this seemingly random plot detail about the knight going crazy with no reason. In my version of the story, I decided to create a reason for the knight's apparent insanity. Phineas, the knight, hates the fiance of his daughter, Ella. So, he sends Thomas off to kill a dragon. Ella follows Thomas as he seeks to fight the dragon, and both are killed. Phineas realizes that her death is his fault so he plots vengeance against the dragon. He knows he is too weak to fight the dragon unaided, and in his desperation, he will do anything. He makes a deal with a decrepit warlock. The price is unnamed, but it is eventually revealed that warlock locks Phineas in the form of a yew tree as penance.