Seize the Dragon

There weren’t always dragons in the Valley. That was the first line of my story, the absolutely non-negotiable first line required by the good people at Vocal.media. The same first line that every one of the (so far) six hundred and eighty-one qualified stories entered into the challenge had used.

“Enter often,” was the advice they gave their writers. And I had done just that. Since finding out about the challenge in a Facebook ad, I’d written six or seven different entries for the Fantasy Prologue challenge. I’d decided to seize the—

Well, to seize the dragon by the dewlaps, so to speak. This was a topic I knew pretty darn well, considering my background. It was my intention to turn this into a personal challenge. To grow my writer’s chops. I was going to write one story for every day that the challenge ran. May 10 to June 6. That was...

Math is definitely not my strong suit. Words are my forte. Excuse me while I switch to the calculator app on my phone...

(Cue the Jeopardy! theme.)

Sorry that took so long. I’m rather a Luddite. I just got this iPhone6, a hand-me-down, and I’m still getting used to it. I know! The world is up to the iPhone37 or something ridiculous. Some piece of tech that’s much more than this simple gal needs and costs twice its weight in gold. As if I would waste that much hard-won lucre on something that will be outdated in less than a year!

Anyway, there was no calculator on this phone—not that I could find—so I had to download an app and most of them require iOS 13 or higher, while my trusty iPhone 6 is probably iOS 2 or 3. But I finally found one.

Twenty-seven. That's the answer. (Math! Ughh!) The challenge runs for twenty-seven days. That means I have to write twenty or twenty-one more stories. Prologues. Thank goodness for that! Just the prologues.

I can do that. Right?!?

Isn’t that the first piece of advice they give creative writers? Write what you know. Well, I do know a lot about dragons. In addition to my Master's degrees in Creative Writing and Renaissance Literature, I hold a Ph.D. in socio-anthropology, specializing in the mythological creatures of the ancient world. If anyone can write about dragons, it’s me.

(Wait! Are you sure?)

Sorry, again. That was my husband. Always looking over my shoulder. Interrupting my train of thought. He’s the old-fashioned type. Doesn’t believe women should work outside the home. Wants me to just take care of the littles and forget I even earned an advanced degree. So it was online. That's no disgrace. I had to work just as hard as my peers.

But maybe he’s right. This time.

He says I should be more forthcoming about my background. This coming from a guy who never leaves the house because he’s afraid of what people will say about him. He doesn’t want me to work, but he can’t earn a living to save his life. Well, I’m not afraid to—

Hold on! There’s someone in the yard. I need to take care of this. People really shouldn’t drop by unannounced. That's just rude. Intrusive. I think I may be on "the spectrum." You know. Neurodivergent. I hate to have strangers getting in my face...

Okay, I’m back. And I guess maybe it might put me over the top if one of my stories actually makes it to the top or maybe if there’s a tie. My social media presence isn’t all it should be. So I’ll come clean about who I am. I’m rather older than most of the other writers on Vocal.media. And, you know, a Luddite. Living in a figurative cave doesn’t exactly lend itself to high-speed Internet connections. Besides, my youngest scared off the last cable guy who came around. And now we can’t even get an upgrade.

Oops! Gotta go. I’ll need to finish this later. After dinner. We’re having a nice couple who were hiking the Appalachian Trail in for supper tonight. Well done. Undercooked meat just is just so unhealthy, they say. We didn't have this problem back in my day. Maybe it was something about the armor.

When you flame a knight in his armor, he's always cooked to perfection.

Those were the days...

***

Thank you for reading! Likes, comments, shares, follows, and pledges are always cherished, like a dragon treasures a cavern filled with gold. And books.

Author's Note: I have challenged myself to write twenty-seven dragon prologues/stories for the Vocal.media Fantasy Prologue Challenge, one for each day the challenge runs. Here's a link to my next entry: