Jumping Jack (Legend of the Dragon Wars)

Down in the shadow of the broken ridge

Where the cold winds claw the stone

A stranger’s cry cut the mountain night

And Jack went running alone

A lizard man with iron teeth

Had a traveler on the ground

Jack grabbed a rock and leapt the fight

While the dark woods roared around

When the dust had settled in the moonlit black

The wounded man stood tall

He said, “Jack, you fought where others ran

You stood when hope was gone

Take these boots of the Children of Light

Where the Wey Horses once rode on

They’ll lift you high like a thunder crack

And strike like a hundred mules”

So the dragons learned to fear the hills

And the legend of Jumping Jack

Now the Children of Light were dragon slayers

From the age of fire and sky

They rode their Wey Horses through storm and flame

Where the black-winged tyrants fly

But their days were gone like fading stars

And the dragons ruled the land

So Jack laced tight those magic boots

And war rose from his hands

Thirty feet through the mountain air

Like a lightning bolt he’d strike

Wyverns fell from the burning sky

When Jack came crashing down from the heights

A hundred mules in a single kick

Sent lizard armies back

And the dragons cursed the mountain ghost

They called Jumping Jack

From a cave above the frozen cliffs

He waged a shadow war

Ambushed wings in the canyon winds

And kicked down fortress doors

The lizard hordes would hunt his trail

But the rocks would shake and crack

Then a thunder leap from the canyon walls

And death came down with Jack

But victory whispers dangerous lies

To a hero’s growing pride

For the higher a man believes he stands

The steeper the fall inside

Far beyond the ash-black desert dunes

Where the ancient fires glow

Slept the Gnar dragon, old as time

On a mountain made of gold

Jack said, “I’ve broken wings and armies

What’s one old beast to me?”

So he crept through smoke and molten stone

For the greatest theft to be

But the mountain shook with a thunder roar

And the fire split the black

No one saw the dragon rise

But no one saw Jumping Jack

The boots were never found again

Nor the thief who wore their track

Only scorched winds on the silent peaks

Still whisper Jumping Jack

So if you hear a thunder step

In the high and lonely pass

It might be just the mountain wind

Or the ghost of Jumping Jack.