Prologue[]
Gather round, dear children. Oh, do sit down, Spring! I won't tell you a story if you keep whining so.
Once upon a time, there was a large pit in the middle of Bonfire Spire, that gave birth to gallons of lava fit for a royal bath. And in the very center of that pit was a dragoness who had just given birth to six very slimy eggs, just like I gave birth to you. Oh, do stop that fussing. That slime helped you survive.
Anyways, each was about the size of a turnip and quite frankly, the same color as one also. Mother would set them on top of the foaming lava and let the heat do its work, but she watched over them day and night, in case any wizards mistook them for turnips, and therefore potential food. Every once in a while an egg would crackle, like the sound a grill made when a mutton chop was placed above it.
No, you all do not taste nearly as good as a mutton chop! I would never eat you, for I am your mother! What an audacious thing to suggest!
Where was I... Oh, so one by one, the six slimy eggs hatched into six very slimy babies. They whistled to call their mother, and the din was comparable to that of six teakettles. Just so you know, children, that is exactly how you sound to me.
Mother was an exceptionally good worker—I am quite jealous of her, of course. She would pluck feathers from an Ashlet before the meal so that none of the children would choke. The young ones were very interested in the naked bird—just like you—and they played around with the bones before Mother cooked it.
It was nearly all black by the end of all that cooking, but the youngsters needed to sharpen their teeth, so they crunched the bones and ate the crispy meat.
The runt of the litter always had the least tasty parts, but he was in fact, very, very, smart. And that runt was truly one of a kind. One would say he was a legend. A legend among us Embersheds.
And yes, Candle, the good parts are coming up.
Wu Ming Tricks the Poacher[]
Most dragons back then did not name their children, unfortunately. And it was that the runt of the litter named himself Wu Ming, which, in Chinese, directly meant that he was nameless. Oh! What irony to it! And very soon you little ones will begin to have Chinese classes along with your English too, so you mustn't forget your textbooks.
Well, Wu Ming wasn't the greatest fighter, but he was, I assure you, unexpected.
One day their mother didn't come home from hunting trips, and the hatchlings worried themselves sick. So Wu Ming left his siblings and crawled around the area. He eventually came across an Emburn who told him that a powerful wizard had illegally captured her, and the wizard was already making off Bonfire Spire with a dragon, right under the Fire Warden's nose. It was also reported that there was a special muzzle on the dragon's snout that prevented her from breathing fire.
Wu Ming crawled back and devised a clever plan. He knew his five siblings all had special quirks that made them easy to tell apart. He was the littlest of all of them. There was Spica, who had the sharpest scales, Lee, who burned the hottest, Happy, who weighed the most, Miso, who had the toughest scales, and Rosten, who had the thinnest legs and the highest jump.
So here is essentially what happened: After Wu Ming took his siblings to see the Emburn again, he was told that the wizard was going to come out of the Queen Slime's throne room. Mind you, the young ones lived on a secluded island, and a moat of lava separated them from the rest of Bonfire Spire. The door to the queen's throne room was right across the surrounding lava river.
Wu Ming and his siblings swam across, and when they reached land, they could hear the wizard talking about his fine catch. So they all crawled over the door frame and slithered into the Royal Kitchen.
Then, as if out of nowhere, Rosten made a daring leap and latched onto the wizard's head. He screamed in surprise, and then when he recovered, he mistook Miso for the latter and kicked her hard scales in frustration! And then, listen to this—as he was hopping up and down on one foot, he stepped right onto Lee, whose heated body burned the soles of his shoes right off.
And I would like to give you a moment to consider what in the name of the Wardens the Queen Slime must have been thinking as he was watching this bumbling fool dance his feet off. After his feet were toasted, he looked for a place to catch his breath and sat down on a chair. Only then did he realize that Spica had been sitting in it first, and her sharp scales did no mercy on his undergarments. She tore them to shreds—and she may have wounded some sensitive parts as well. Now the wizard was desperately trying to find a way out of the throne room, and, seeing as his Embershed was escaping right through a door that she had blasted open (her muzzle had been removed by then), ran across the room with his wand in hand. Right as he passed the door frame, Happy jumped from the top of it onto his head, which knocked him out cold.
It was not exactly a victory for Wu Ming, for he got no recognition for his plan, but his mother would live another day. It would be very soon that Wu Ming would be recognized as the brightest bulb in the box.