Serial Saturday: Tea With a Dragon

Part 1

(Welcome to my newest serial, this one in the #CozyFantasy vein.
Each part will be posted on Saturdays. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I’ve enjoyed writing it!)

When I first spotted the little dragon snout, it took my brain a couple of steps to comprehend what I’d seen.

The realization stopped me in my tracks.

I backed up slowly and bent over to peer under the Vanasoom leaves. There was the little snout, two small bright eyes above it, white and blue, the colors whirling. The rest of the tiny creature was a deep green, allowing it to hide better among my plants.

I straightened up and studied the forest edge for any sign of a bigger dragon. Dams were known to be fierce in their protection of their young. If this one’s dam came charging out of the trees right now, I’d never outrun it.

Not with my knee the way it was.

And if she simply decided to roast me where I stood, I was equally screwed.

I couldn’t see any sign of her, but backed toward my cottage just the same.

Inside, I tried not to stare out my window.

I tried to focus on tying bunches of herbs and hanging them to dry in the rafters. I washed the single plate I’d eaten from just a short time ago.

I sat and sewed a couple of pouches I’d fill with herbs and sell at the market

But I couldn’t get the little green dragon out of my head.

I figured that sooner or later, the dam would collect her offspring. Once they’d moved off into the forest, I could go out and weed my garden and collect the herbs that were ready for harvesting and drying.

But by the time the sun was high over the roof of my cottage, I could wait no longer. I needed to go out and gather the vegetables I’d planned on making soup with. I glanced at my sword hanging on the wall, took a deep breath, and swung the door open.

I stood there, hand on the door, ready to slam it shut at the first glimpse of scales or fireballs.

But I saw nothing out of the ordinary. Heard the birds singing and calling in the trees. Smelled no sulphurous odor, nor heard any growling, save that of my stomach.

I stepped into the garden, picking the vegetables I wanted quickly. Every nerve ending screamed of the imminent danger waiting to eat me just beyond the trees.

I limped as quickly as I could back to the cottage.

And just before the door swung solidly shut behind me, I heard it.

A small keen from the Vanasoom patch.

Was it the cry of a tiny creature driven by fear? Hunger? Despite my own fears, I knew I could not leave it hungry. I didn’t want to be a meal for any of its kin, but I couldn’t let it starve, either.

I deposited my vegetables on the table and pondered what a baby dragon might eat.

Raw meat, certainly.

I had none.

But I did have smoke-cured fish. It would have to do.

I soaked a length of fish in a kettle of vanasoom tea that I’d left sitting on the small pile of embers in the hearth. The meat soaked as the tea cooled. The vanasoom would provide nourishment until the dragon’s mother returned for it.

I hoped.

When the meat had soaked up all the tea, I took it outside.

There was still no sign of any dragons, except for the little one hiding in my garden and keening all the more piteously now.

With some difficulty, I kneeled and held a chunk of tea-soaked meat out toward the little dragon.

“It’s alright, this is food.” My voice was hoarse, but I tried to sound as comforting as I could.

The little green dragon twitched its nostrils, and I hoped it wasn’t about to sneeze flames. The snout eased forward slowly from under the leaves, sniffing tentatively at first, then deeply. All of a sudden, the dragon realized I held food, and it lunged for the meat. I barely got my fingers clear in time.

I fed the dragon two more pieces of fish this way throughout the afternoon.

But my reflexes slowed, and while grabbing the last piece of fish, one of the dragon’s teeth ripped through the tip of my finger. Instinctively, I stuck the digit in my mouth, never stopping to consider what else might be in the dragon’s mouth besides my fish.

The little dragon gulped down the last of the fish, hiccuped, and burped a little smoke.

I glanced down at my visitor.

“Well, I don’t think it’s going to storm like it did last night. If you stay under there until your dam comes back, you should be safe enough.”

With that, I went back inside. I had fed the tiny creature so it wouldn’t perish from a lack of food. I had every expectation that I would sleep well knowing I had done my part, and in the morning, my garden would be dragon-free.

But I did not sleep soundly.

I tossed and turned, my sleep broken by images of swirling clouds, rain, and trees slashing at me. I could feel myself falling, and I jerked awake more times than I bothered to count.

When I went out in the morning, bleary-eyed and desperate for a cup of restorative Vanasoom tea, the little green dragon with white and blue eyes emerged from under the leaves and pushed under my hand.

And spoke its first word, sending it like a lightning bolt into my mind.

‘Food?’

To be continued next Saturday!

#fantasy #cozyfantasy #dragons

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