Tluthdar's younger self

[a magical taco]

When Tluthdar Aleansek, the prince of Seona, was a boy he traveled with his best friend, A'lar, and 15 of his personal guards into the mist of the Smokey Mountains. He had made this trip before on more than one occasion, daring the mist, each time traveling deeper into the unexplored. On this day his party came upon an ancient ruin that stretched further than Tluthdar could see. Excitedly, he began to search the ruin with A'lar, joyously. After an hour of searching and exploring, the guards becoming more and more tense, the ground began to shake. Loud rumbling filled the air and a great dragon rose from the ruin. Letting loose a mighty roar, Tluthdar and his party ran back though the ruins. the dragon smashed huge stone walls with his feet and sent massive winds with his winds that threated to knock a man from his feet. by the time the party had reached the edge of the ruins Tluthdar looked back to see that he and A'lar were the only ones still there.

Tluthdar led A'lek east, away from Seona. Having a dragon there would be devastating. The dragon stayed close on their heels, relentless in his pursuit. finally the dragon cornered them on a cliff with nowhere to run. A'lek stepped in front of the prince to protect him despite Tluthdar's plea not to do so. A'lek stepped toward the dragon and let out the loudest and deepest scream he could muster. The dragon cocked his head to the side and stuck the boy with sush speed that A'lar was already falling before the princes eyes caught up to what was happening. The prince fell to his knees and began to weep. He was going to die, his best friend was dead, and his guards were as well. The dragon let out a noise that seemed to be a laugh, Tluthdar did not care, he knew he could not fight a dragon by himself.

Suddenly a noise started in the west. A crackling sound like thunder and lightning. Faint at first and quickly growing louder. The dragon's boy tensed and he stood to his full height to see where the sound was coming from and then he was gone, running back though the woods to find the mysterious sounds. Tluthdar did not wait, he ran north, back towards his home. He ran recklessly, his only though was to get as far from the beast as he could but not more than a hundred meters and his foot caught on a root and he tumbled down a steep grade, turning over and over again before his head struck something hard and he splashed in to cold water. Tluthdar could head the sounds of voices and horse hooves but could not make sense of them. Then the world went black.

When the prince awoke a mighty grey wolf was pulling him from the water. Tluthdar kicked and clawed at the creature in order to escape but the wolf simply let him go once he was safely on land and sat down on his haunches. Tluthdar looked the creature over but the wolf did not seem interested in eating him. He thanked the wolf out loud but only got a yawn in response. The prince say where he was for a long while, laughing that he had survived and crying about his friends. When he rose to head home the wolf followed. The prince was happy to have a companion.

Once he was home, the prince found his father and explained what had happened. His father listed and when the story was finished he told Tluthdar no never speak of the event again. The accident was to have been a rock slide in the mountains and no more. The prince was happy to stick to the story, if people knew about the dragon everyone would want to ask him questions about it and he had no interest in answering them.