It Hatched

“There weren’t always dragons in the valley?” Richard growled, mostly to himself. “Hey, you little snit, stop popping me with those, those, whatever you are shooting at me!” He once more smacked at the smoldering ember on his pantleg where the tiny dragon had shot a smoking something at him. He hoped it wasn’t dragon snot. “Hey” he dodged another one and shook his fist at the creature. “What are you following me for? Obviously, I can’t give you whatever you want, HEY,” He cried out as another tiny fireball shot at him.”

“She’s hungry,” a soft voice from beside him said. “You are her momma.” She said with a soft smile. The tiny creature loped over and sniffed the young woman lying in the soft grass. She whimpered softly and put her head on the woman’s lap. The tiny demon looked more like a slick little puppy now. Her stunted snout that had moments ago been spitting tiny fireballs nuzzled the woman’s hand and she stroked her weakly.

“WHAT!” Richard spit out gaping at the woman. “Mother, how can I be her mother?” He sputtered. The creature was now curled almost completely around the woman. Her long shiny blue tail with the heart shaped tip went completely around and nearly touched her own nose that lay in the woman’s lap. Her claws had retracted somehow, almost out of sight and her delicate feet looked like tiny paws instead of dangerous daggers like they had before.

“If you were the first creature she saw after hatching then she has imprinted on you, and you must feed her.” The woman insisted. Richard noticed the woman’s strength was fading rapidly. The tiny beak of the dragon lifted, looked at him and she shot another spurt of embers in his direction. The slightly forked tongue snaked out and licked the woman’s hand that had stilled on her head. “Fish, do you have fish?” The pond at the bottom of the tiny falls was close by and Richard knew there were fish in it, he just didn’t know how to catch them without nets or lines and hooks.

“Well, yeah if I could catch them, I could give her some.” Richard said as he scratched his head, dislodging the dark, silky locks that waved slightly before, and looked immaculate.

“Take her to the edge of the water, she can catch . . . them.” The woman said and then her eyes closed, and she wavered as though about to faint. Richard rushed over and kneeling caught her around the shoulders. The tiny dragon pulled back and let out a pathetic bawl. “Feed her please.” The woman whispered without opening her eyes.

“We will all go, she seems attached to you now and you are not well.” Richard said as he scooped the woman up in his arms. She was not real small, but she felt light in his arms. He was tall and strong, many years of training for battles that hadn’t happened yet had built his body into a lean powerhouse. He made his way to the edge of the pond, well small lake it could be termed because of its size. Gingerly he set the woman down and the tiny beast running circles around him and jumping high in the air, ran straight to her. Richard guessed she was worried about the woman she had taken to so quickly. Settling her in a very soft patch of grass he used his jacket to make a pillow.

He then turned to the infant dragon who had finally discovered the water and was lapping at it with a forked tongue. The woman chuckled and made a scooping motion with her hands. “It will take her forever if she tries to lap like a dog. Coax her in and show her how to dive under. She will discover the fish then.” The woman could barely keep her eyes open but was very concerned for the tiny dragonette.

Looking at the water, Richard knew it was ice cold, but he dutifully stripped off his shirt, trousers, and boots and waded in in his undershorts. The dragon hesitated her small head bobbing up and down now trying to sniff Richard, her small whiskers dangling from her cheeks and nose bobbing as well as her triangular shaped fins that looked like ears on the sides, they were just below the bumps that Richard knew would grow to be horns. He splashed the water at her and the creature leaped in the air, but instead of backward she landed neck deep in the water. Her startled lavender eyes popped for a moment, then, plunging her head underneath she suddenly disappeared.

Looking around quickly Richard wondered what had happened, the tiny head appeared twenty feet out from him, and the creature was crunching a small fish. He turned and grinned at the woman who smiled weakly. “I guess she got it.” He exclaimed as he began wading back towards her. He frowned, “I think you need a healer.” He now knelt in front of her and reached out to see if she was fevered. She was warm but he needed to cover her and then make some herbal tea, that much he had been taught. In the meanwhile, he retrieved his gourd of water and carefully helped her sip it. “How long since you had anything?” he asked deeply concerned now.

“A couple of days I think,” she said as she closed her eyes. Richard quickly lit a fire and heated water, he dropped Willow bark in and then honey to sweeten it and add energy. When it had cooled enough, he gently slipped an arm around her and steadied her against his broad chest. She sipped slowly but it felt good on her empty stomach, anything would have been good at this point, but this was soothing.

His body was warm and though she was fevered she felt chilled and clung tightly to him for a while before realizing she didn’t even know who he was. Knowing his wet shorts were going to be no help to her he carefully settled her back in the grass bed. Springing up he found his blankets and covered her with two of them. Then retrieved his trousers and shirt. He took a moment to look out and see the tiny dragon still diving for fish. “She will eat ravenously for a while.” The woman’s voice floated over him. He nodded and moved behind some bushes. As he began to change, he noticed splotches of blood on one side of his shorts.

Yanking his pants on he nearly ran back to the woman. “You are injured, aren’t you, where? What happened?” He was nervous now. Dealing with injuries was not his specialty. Suddenly a small ball of energy shook on him and covered him with spray from the lake. “Why you little devil” he exclaimed as he made a wild grab for it. She was too fast and disappeared back into the water. He shook a fist, “When you come back just see who helps you then.” He only half meant it.

Turning back to the still form he wondered if he should give in and go fetch the healer. Once he did his father would know where he was and that would undo months of careful planning and execution in his escape. He wondered if he could contact his sister, she would help, and she had been studying with the healer. Yes, that would be the best plan.

“I need to see this injury, and I am going to need help if you are going to get better.” Richard said softly. With gentle hands he turned the woman on her side. She held in a groan for the most part. She had on a loose tunic the belt that would normally have secured the waist was loosened. “I am not trying to look at your person, but I must see your wound.” He spoke gently and she nodded not resisting as he unbuttoned the tunic in the front. He discovered she had put on an under blouse but had not buttoned it. Soon he discovered it was stuck to the wound, the flesh was burned and separated, that was why the blood was seeping. It had an odd shape to it starting at the between her shoulder blades and angling forward and then back at the rib cage. “I need help.” He whispered it was far worse than he envisioned.

Not willing to cause more pain he simply pulled the blanket over her. “I don’t even know your name.” He whispered. He looked over to see where the tiny dragonette was, it looked up when he whistled and much to Richard’s surprise shook off and the curled up next to the woman, promptly falling asleep.

He turned to put another cup of tea on and grab his boots. “My name is Kay-Lynn.” She whispered. Her eyes still closed and her breathing shallow. He saw the perspiration beaded on her top lip. He knew at this point she was fighting for her life.

Taking a pot and a cloth Richard scooped some cold water, wrung out the cloth and gingerly dabbed at the top lip, then each cheek, he dipped the cloth and continued to bathe her face. “My name is Richard,” He whispered then dipped the cloth once more and laid it across her forehead, he brushed his lips across her cheek and then swallowing hard stood and trotted off. He needed to contact his sister as soon as possible and he knew who he could trust to do that. It was a three-mile hike and Richard decided to jog it to save time, Jimmy would bring his sister as fast as humanly possible.

All the way to Jimmy’s dad’s barn Richard thought about what this new development would mean. He now had a beautiful young woman whose life hung in the balance and an unruly little dragonette that has imprinted on him. He didn’t even know what that entailed but he had been told they imprint for life. He had simply been placing the egg in a nice warm spot, how did he know it would hatch when he moved it. He wondered what would have happened if he had not been there, he saw no parental dragons.

Richard round a tree a the very back of the back fence to his friend’s house and stopped in his tracks. There before him lay the body of an enormous dragon. I had been there a day or two and was bloating. He circled, it was a beautiful iridescent blue, he circled it and saw that it had been slashed and it also had torch marks on it. The throat was slashed, but it didn’t look like a sword, it looked like the throat was ripped open. He stood staring for a moment and then remembered he had to go. His last thoughts were, ‘I wonder if this is one of the little sprout’s parents?