DRAGON RISING

by

THE STREAMWRITER

thestreamwriter@gmail.com
D R A G O N R I S I N G

EXT. DULLARHEIM VALLEY - DAY

We open over the shire-like city of Dullarheim, nested at

the bottom of a wide valley, the forest-covered High Hills
on one side, and the imposing, gray, Fjallgardrinn Mountains
on the other.

At the base of the mountain is a tunnel where men covered in

dirt and soot push carts in and out. This is the Mine of
Fjallgardrinn.

EXT. MINE OF FJALLGARDRINN

At the entrance of the mine an OVERSEER is barking orders at

men who push their carts to a large pile of ore guarded by
men on horseback. One man, FLETCHER, dumps his cart onto the
pile, tears a bandana off his mouth, and wipes dirt off his
face.

He takes a second and looks down at the valley: a sprawling

expanse of thatched roof houses and fields of crops.

OVERSEER
Get back to work!

Fletcher spits on the ground, puts his bandana back on and

picks up his cart, when a loud rumbling shakes the ground.
An explosion of black smoke and soot plumes out of the mine.

Fletcher runs to the entrance where the black soot hangs in

the air like a poison fog. He looks at the overseer who is
standing fecklessly, staring agape at the black plume.

FLETCHER
Are you gonna do something?

OVERSEER
We have to wait until the dust
settles.

Fletcher winces at the sound of men screaming from inside

the mine. He glares at the overseer.

FLETCHER
You afraid of getting a stain on
your shirt?

He calls to some men standing nearby.

FLETCHER
Come on! Let's go!

He and the men run through the smoke into the mine. The
overseer stands there and watches.
 2.

EXT. MINE OF FJALLGARDRINN - LATER

The dust has settled. Fletcher and the other miners emerge
from the tunnel carrying wounded men in carts.

The overseer steps up. He starts to speak. Fletcher

interrupts him.

FLETCHER
What the hell do you know?

OVERSEER
You better watch your tone or
you'll be out of this job.

The Man spits on the ground, pushing by with the cart.

The overseer looks up at the mountain.

INT. JACE'S HOUSE - DAY

A jubilant young man named JACE is packing up a kit of

carpentry tools at the table when FLETCHER, Jace's father,
comes in.

JACE
Afternoon. You're back early.

The man washes himself at a basin full of water.

FLETCHER
There was an accident at the mine
today. Two men died. A lot more
were injured.

JACE
What happened?

FLETCHER
I have no idea. The whole ground
started shaking and suddenly one of
the walls inside the mine
collapsed. Shouldn't you be at
Lon's right now?

JACE
I've only just got off school, I'm
going right now.

FLETCHER
Well, get there quick. And Jace...
don't tell anybody about this.

JACE
Alright...
 3.

EXT. DULLARHEIM CITY - DAY

Jace races through the dirt streets of the city, waving at

people he knows as he goes by. He runs to a house that is on
the outskirts of the city, the Mountains looming overhead in
the distance. This is LON'S HOUSE.

EXT. LON'S HOUSE - DAY

Lon has a modestly sized house with a small barn to the side
of it. Jace runs into the barn.

INT. LON'S BARN - DAY

LON, a middle-aged carpenter and Jace's carpentry master, is

kneeling, focused intently on sanding down a finely crafted
wooden chair. The walls of the barn are lined with carpentry
equipment. In the corner is a small stall leading out to a
fenced area where a few chickens meander about, clucking
intermittently.

Jace knocks on the door and opens it. Lon looks up.

JACE
Afternoon, Mr. Lon.

LON
Good afternoon, Jace. You haven't
see my shovel anywhere have you?
I've been meaning to get some work
done in the garden and I can't seem
to find it.

JACE
Yeah, Mr. Dorish borrowed it.

Lon stops and looks at him.

LON
Dorish?

JACE
Yeah. He came by when I was here
the other day and said you'd lent
it to him.

LON
I most certainly did not.

He stands up, agitated.

LON
That man is always coming into my
barn and "borrowing" my tools. You
might have told me about it, Jace.
 4.

JACE
I'm sorry Mr. Lon. I didn't know.

LON
Well now you do. Come on. I'm going
to get my shovel back. You need to
learn to be less trusty.

Lon exits the barn and Jace follows.

EXT. MR. DORISH'S HOUSE - DAY

Mr. Dorish's house is a small hut on a little plot of land.

Lon and Jace walk up to the door and Lon knocks.

LON
Dorish. Come on out here and give
me my shovel. Dorish!

There's no response. Lon looks in through a window.

LON
He's not in.

JACE
Well where would he be?

LON
If I had to guess Dorish is boozing
away at the Moorleaf.

JACE
At this time of day?

LON
At any time of day. Come on. Let's
go see.

JACE
What about my lesson?

LON
What about letting somebody steal
my property?

INT. MOORLEAF TAVERN - DAY

Jace and Lon enter the tavern which is bustling with

activity. They walk past several tables of dirty, soot
covered men, drinking, laughing and talking loudly. They
approach the bar.

LON
Something must have happened at the
mine.
 5.

JACE
What? Howdya know?

LON
Look around you. It's a bit early
for them to be back from there.

Jace looks around. He hadn't noticed.

Lon waves the bartender over.

LON
Barty!

BARTENDER
G'dafternoon Lon.

LON
Busy night tonight?

BARTENDER
Indeed it is, not that I'm
complaining.

Lon gestures to the miners.

LON
Do you know what happened?

BARTENDER
Apparently one of the walls
collapsed in the mine. Caused a
nasty bit of damage, what I heard.

LON
Do they know what caused it?

BARTENDER
Not that I've heard. They've got
somebody in from Castorale to look
at the place. They should know
something by tomorrow.

LON
Hope it's nothing too serious.

BARTENDER
Perhaps the dragon finally got fed
up and is coming to feast on our
bones.

Lon and Barty laugh. Jace's curiosity is piqued.

BARTENDER
So. Can I get you anything?
 6.

LON
I'm afraid not. I'm working with my
apprentice Jace tonight.

BARTENDER
Afternoon.

JACE
Hello.

LON
No, I'm trying to find a Mr. James
Dorish. See he "borrowed" something
of mine while I wasn't looking and
he wasn't at his home so I figured
he'd be here like usual. Have you
seen him?

BARTENDER
I'm afraid Dorish left last night.
Said there was some business
happening west of Castorale and
there was a pretty penny in it for
him.

LON
Did he say when he'd be back?

BARTENDER
He said it'd be a matter of weeks
till he returned. If I was you, I'd
claim a slice of that pretty penny
as rent for whatever it is he took
from you.

JACE
A shovel.

BARTENDER
A shovel? Who steals a man's
shovel?

LON
James Dorish steals a man's shovel.
Anywho, thank you for your time
Barty. I'll be going. I've stolen
enough time from the boy's lessons
as it is.

EXT. STREETS OF DULLARHEIM - DAY

Lon and Jace are walking back to Lon's house.

 7.

JACE
I'm sorry Mr. Lon. This is all my
fault. I shoulda known he wasn't
telling the truth.

LON
It's okay my boy it was only a
shovel.

JACE
I just feel bad about it.

LON
It's fine. Dorish will be back in
due time and when he does he'll be
hearing from me, I assure you. Less
so for the shovel and more for
taking advantage of the nievite of
the youth.

JACE
You don't have to rub it in.

LON
Then in the future you should think
twice about who people say they
are. And what they plan to do.

JACE
Hmm. You and that bartender were
saying something about a dragon
coming to eat all our bones. What's
that about?

LON
Oh that. It's just a fairy tale.
Something peoples fathers used to
tell them to scare them from going
up the mountain and getting lost.

JACE
But what does that have to do with
what happened in the mines?

LON
Well, two hundred years ago there
was indeed a tragedy that happened
where a dragon rose up from over
the Fjallgardrinn and burnt this
city to the ground.

JACE
Really? There really was a dragon?
 8.

LON
Yes, that part isn't a fairy tale.
That actually happened.

JACE
But what about it coming to eat our
bones and that.

LON
Well there was a wizard-

JACE
A wizard?!

LON
Yes, boy, a wizard. Well, more like
an alchemist, a man who fiddles
with various powders and
substances, ever finagling with the
laws of nature, trying to produce
something magical... You'll have to
ask someone else, it's not my area
of expertize. Anyway, after it
happened, after the dragon had laid
siege to the city of Dullarheim,
and people were starting to
rebuild, this wizard came to the
people with a prediction, a
prophecy if you will, that one day
the dragon would return and, as the
wizard said, eat all our bones.

JACE
And that the dragon would be fed up
with what they're doing in the mine
and come back.

LON
That was the joke, yes.

JACE
But if it really happened before,
what if it's true?

LON
I wouldn't worry myself about it,
Jace. Mayor Eberhard has sent
parties of men up into the
mountains to look for any sign of
the dragon and they found nothing.

Lon and Jace continue on there way back to Lon's house as

we:

FADE TO BLACK:
 9.

EXT. DULLARHEIM CITY - NIGHT

The city is asleep, save for a few houses with their fires
still lit.

INT. LON'S HOUSE - NIGHT

Lon is lying asleep in his bed when something startles him

awake. He sits up, looking around, confused, rubbing his
eyes. He feels uneasy.

He stands up and moves to his window and looks out at the

fields outside the city. He scans the area for anything
abnormal. His eyes raise up the sides of the Fjallgardrinn
when he sees something:

Deep within the mountain range, there is an orange light

illuminating the craggy rocks. Lon stares at it, bewitched.

The light gets brighter and brighter, and then stops. Lon
stares for a few moments more, but there is nothing else. He
steps back from the window, considering what he just saw,
and climbs back into bed.

EXT. LON'S BARN - DAY

Lon is shaking hands with a CUSTOMER who is holding the

chair Lon made the day before. Lon pockets a pouch of coins
as the man walks away and Jace bounds up to his house.

JACE
Mr. Lon!

LON
Afternoon, Jace.

JACE
That wizard is still alive.

Lon gawks at him. The customer turns and gives them a look
as he continues walking.

Lon ushers Jace into the barn.

INT. LON'S BARN - DAY

LON
What are you talking about?

JACE
I was asking around about the
dragon and the wizard and
everything you told me and people
told me that the wizard is still
(MORE)
 10.

JACE (cont'd)
alive. Two hundred years old and
he's still alive. And that he's
living in Dullarheim!

LON
Yes he is boy, but what does that
have to do with anything?

JACE
Why didn't you tell me?

LON
Because I was afraid you'd get too
excited and go off on flights of
fancy about it, but I can see I've
already done enough damage.

JACE
Damage? With respect Mr. Lon but
I'm not a kid anymore.

Lon scoffs.

JACE
And besides with everything you
told me, and the wizard being two
hundred years old, makes me think
he might have gotten something
right.

LON
There is no dragon, Jace.

JACE
I'm not talking about a dragon, I'm
talking about a wizard!

LON
Well then, yes, the wizard does
still live here, in a house a fair
bit of the way outside the city. He
comes into Dullarheim every once in
a while to purchase supplies but
never talks to anybody. People
think he used his alchemy to keep
himself alive this long.

JACE
Can we go see him?

LON
Yes, you can go see him on your own
time.
 11.

JACE
I don't wanna go by a wizard's on
my own. What if he turns me into a
frog?

LON
Jace... I have work to do.

Lon goes to work on something.

JACE
Mr. Lon... Last night I couldn't
sleep because I couldn't get
thoughts of dragons and wizards out
of my head. So I got up and I went
for a walk around the city. And in
the middle of the walk I looked up
at the mountain. And I saw there
was this glowing orange light. I'm
not saying it was a dragon. But for
a moment I just thought, what if it
wasn't a joke? What if what the
wizard said was true? Wouldn't you
want to at least know? To ask him
if this is what he saw was gonna
happen?

Lon looks down and moves to a window and looks out over the
Fjallgardrinn.

JACE
Mr. Lon?

LON
I... I saw it. The orange light. I
saw it. Last night I woke up.
Looked outside to see if there was
anything outside my window. And I
saw it. Up on the mountain. I don't
know what it was up there. But at
that moment, all I wanted was for
it to pass. Just on the off chance
that it might be...

Lon stops. Turns to Jace, gravely.

LON
Let's go see the wizard.