Charles of Colshire Castle -- The Purple Dragon — Douglas Quinn

Charles, the son of Lothar, the dragon keeper, is there at Colshire Castle to assist his father with the birth of Charon and Chaka's dragonling. Once the new addition is old enough, he is to be trained for Prince Barth, the king's son. Much to everyone's surprise and dismay, when the dragonling is born, it is purple. Prince Barth is horrified and wants to kill it. When Charles stops him from doing so, an angry Barth goes to the king about it. Before Barth can act, Charles kidnaps the baby dragon, who he calls Hero, and takes him for safe-keeping to the cave of Magus the Magician, where he decides to train him for himself. Angry about what happened, the king arrests Lothar and throws him in the dungeon. When Charles discovers that Lothar is scheduled for execution by hanging, and that it is all fault, he tries to come up with a plan to rescue his father. Will Charles be able to devise a plan in time? Will the purple dragon survive and be trained in time to help Charles with the rescue? Or will the king and Prince Barth have their way?