Free The Door Within by Wayne Thomas Batson

he neared a high ridge.
    The smoke came from directly behind the stony ridge, so once again, Aidan climbed. Compared to the long journey up the mountain the day before, it was an easy ascent.
    Just then, a trumpet rang out from the other side of the ridge. It was not the proud blast of royalty, however. It sounded more like the dying scream of a large bird. Aidan remained very still, and he gripped the stone so hard his knuckles whitened. He had a terrible feeling that he was headed in the wrong direction, but he was just a few feet from where he might see what was on the other side of the ridge.
    Moving an inch at a time, Aidan climbed closer until he could peek over the edge. Looking into the cavernous valley, what he saw stole away his breath and most of his hope. A long convoy of soldiers was entering the cove from the wastelands beyond. He could see knights in black armor riding horses and pulling people on foot chained at the neck, wrists, and ankles. All moved toward a pair of tall arched doors that were cut into the mountain. Foul black smoke escaped the thin fissure between the doors and rose like a shadow of a serpent into the sky.
    A soldier in the lead of the convoy blew his trumpet once more. A second trumpet answered from some unseen opening in the rock near the doors. The caravan halted. Great belches of smoke escaped as the heavy doors swung outward.
    The convoy resumed its march, and the first wave of knights began to pass within the mountain. But there was some trouble with the prisoners. They screamed and violently pulled against their captors. They clutched their own chains and dug in their heels to avoid entering the place in the mountain from which the black smoke rose. The soldiers in front spurred their horses, and the soldiers behind pressed into the prisoners, forcing them forward. They were dragged—some still struggling, some limp—into the smoky darkness.
    When the last of the soldiers passed into the mountain, the great stone doors slowly closed. Aidan stared, transfixed, unable to look away and yet not wanting to see.
    “You there, on the rock!” A soldier in black stood on a ledge just below Aidan. “Who are you? The Prince does not take kindly to trespassers!”
    Aidan struggled to his feet. He looked left and right, adrenaline surging.
    “Stay right there!” the knight yelled. He began to climb up after Aidan.
    Aidan turned and leaped back down the way he had come.
    “Don’t move, you!” Aidan heard the soldier shouting as he ran. He also heard the distinctive metallic ring of a sword being drawn. Aidan panicked.
    He bounded down the ridge, groaning with each awkward landing. He knew the knight in black must be right behind him, and he knew there really was nowhere to go.
    A million hopeless options of escape flickered in his mind, but he knew the knight would get him first. Suddenly, Aidan heard a swooshing sound.
    Aidan stopped running.
    “There now, that’s better! Stay where you are!”
    Aidan turned and saw the knight leap down from a cleft of rock. He wore a black masked helmet, so Aidan couldn’t see his face. But Aidan feared the soldier would either kill him on the spot or drag him like the others into the dark place in the mountain.
    The knight was only a few feet away when a shadow passed over them both. There was another Swoosh! Swoosh! and the knight looked up into the sky. He raised his shield as if to ward off a blow.
    Just as Aidan looked into the sky and drew in a breath to scream, a burst of wind slammed him and the soldier to the ground. The wind brought with it an overwhelming warm and beastly smell, with a tinge of smoke or ash. A dragon! Aidan’s imagination raced as he struggled between utter disbelief and paralyzing fear. Debris rotated in the violent winds. Aidan tried to cover his eyes, but the force of the turbulence was too powerful. He shrieked, turned on his stomach, and frantically clawed at the dirt trying to get away.
    The creature’s enormous