Blinking now at the immense form there still was no fear emanating from his small form. This was puzzling to be sure. Kassian uncurled one long, hooked claw and nudged the boy’s shoulder. There was still only a curiosity as the large chocolate eyes continued to take in the imposing creature before him. “Are you going to eat me in one bite?” He asked, his gaze never wavering.
“Hmm” said the dragon, "You would not be much of a bite. Hardly a taste at all." He hooked the belt of the child with that single razor-sharp claw, lifting him high above the grassy clearing. He discovered the child was no bigger than one of his nostrils. The small dark body turned slowly in the air as it dangled fifteen feet above the ground. "Have you no fear at all?" The dragon aske curiously.
"Tis my fate I suppose, I have always known that." The boy reached a hand around but failed to touch the claw he dangled from.
"Where are you from little brown man-child? I do not recall any of your kind living near this valley. And why did they choose to put you out here instead of the young maidens they usually serve me?" Kassian was bewildered at the change in the villagers' behavior.
"Well I am not sure, exactly." The boy answered, "I was captured a year ago and sold to work on a farm near here. Ever sice I came the old man kept saying I was not worth my price, I was really only good for dragon food."
Still confused over the change in the offering Kassian lowered the boy back to the ground. "So you are alone with no family then?" The dragon asked with a tinge of sorrow in his voice.
Looking up the small boy of about eight summers took in the powerful form of the most feared creature in the country and perhaps the world. Kassian had a rather sleek form and had not unfurled his wings yet but Zylo was sure the creature did not in any way resemble the pictures painted of the fearsome, flesh tearing, mindless, monsters dipcted in the stories told and the etchings made. "Do you eat the girls alive that they give you?" Zylo asked hesitantly as his feet touched the ground. He stood waiting for the answer as the dragon contemplated his next move.
Lowering his great head until his chin rested on the ground Kassian sighed. "You see since you will no longer be living or even seeing those who sent you here, I will answer truthfully, no, I do not even like eating human flesh. It is a commonly held misconception among mankind that all dragons eat people." Kassian closed his eyes thinking of the many frightened girls he had carted off only to leave them outside the doors of the monastery in a neighboring country. Kassian had long ago decided that if the village was willing to tie a girl out for a dragon to devour, she was unwanted in her town, a town that didn't deserve the girls they offered.
Zylo thought this over. "Since you are being honest with me, I suppose I should be honest back. I have one small friend that I believe will miss me terribly. She has no one also to care for her so I have been her friend. She may not do well if I am gone." As he spoke Zylo suddenly realized if the dragon did not eat him then what was to become of him, and what was to become of Daisy?
About the Creator
Gayle
Grammy and just love to write here in sunny Florida.
Do You Remember?
”Do you remember?” “Remember, what?” “Do you remember how we met?” “Of course I remember when we met.” “But do you remember HOW we met?” “How? How. Well, yes.. what exactly are you goin’ on about, Vera?” “It’s been decades since I’ve thought about it” “Go on.” “Well, don’t you remember, Oscar? We were two very lost souls. So lost in the rubble we couldn’t find our own feet. “Ah, yes.” “Our hearts were shredded into the finest confetti, it’s a miracle they could even hold a beat!” “Mm, It’s coming back to me.” “Meddling on lonesome blues and cheap whiskey.” “Merely kids, we were.” “Down by that old river, some nights so misty!” “Oh, yes. That sure was a mighty beautiful river.” “and the bands would play until sunrise for all our lonesome souls to vanquish into spiritless nothingness.” “They knew we needed sleep at some point, just to wake up the next evening to do it all over again.” “A small light in the darkness.” “Hm, I am still not understanding why this faint memory has arised in you, Vera, are you okay?” “Do you remember when you looked at me? From across the dock?” “Well, yes. I saw a sad girl sitting on shore, digging her toes in the sand, curly dark locks drifting with the wind.” “Yes, and I looked up at that exact moment.” “A picturesque moment, a sight to be seen.” “That was the first time I smiled in months.” “Truly?” “Truly.” “Hm. Why is that?” “Well, I saw a handsome young man staring right back at me, with a hungered look in his eyes, a look I couldn’t quite read.” “and that made you smile?” “No one had ever looked at me like that in all my young years, if they ever even looked at me..” “You were… dauntingly beautiful, Vera. I couldn’t look away.” “I was not!” “You were! I saw a lost soul, like mine, toes so deep in the sand you couldn’t see them. An aching heart so shredded it was like fire works going off around you.” “and that made me beautiful?” “It made you real. It meant you could feel, deeply. And when you can feel, deeply - well, that’s the purest of beauty.” “and you saw all that just by looking at me?” “I felt you in my soul, and it made me feel.. not so lost anymore.” “Oh… Oscar.” “What is this all about, Vera?” “Well, to be honest, I was beginning to feel a little bit lost again.” “Oh, Vera..” “When you looked at me from that rickety ol’ dock, something in my soul ignited.” “You felt it too?” “Very much so.” “Hm, you never made a mention of that.” “Well, growing up crushed by the weight of endless trauma, you learn to hide such feelings.” “Fair.” “I just… I just needed that reminder, of what ignited my soul in the first place.” “You mean.. by giving you this look?” “Yes! Oh.. Yes, that look!” “You will always be the girl of my wildest imagination, Vera. Without you, there would only be darkness.”
By Kendra J. Anthony7 days ago in Fiction
Day 4 of Quitting
If this is how sobriety feels, maybe it’s better to go through life a little buzzed… this, along with other hits like, I want to kill myself, I wish I was dead, and I’m going to throw myself off a bridge have been the only thoughts on rotation these past few days. I promise myself that if, in a month, I still feel like this (‘this’ meaning despondent, full of rage, and simultaneously numb) I can go back to smoking. Until mid-February though? Nicotine is off the table.
By sleepy drafts7 days ago in Longevity
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