I was stunned and just stared at the dragon, it was really cute with those small wings and purple eyes. The dragon made a soft growl as it looked at me and I was shaken out of my daze. I hastened to grab the bag I had with me and started to pull food out of it. The books had said the dragon would be hungry and would eat the remains of its egg, but that would not be enough. Normally the parents of the dragon would provide some food for the wyrmling, but if no one was there to provide for it, the instincts would tell it to start hunting on its own.

I had brought some fish and meat that Helga had provided. And I had made a big steel plate for the dragon with some help from my father. I placed the food on it and slowly pushed it in front of the newborn dragon. It watched the plate as I took a step back to give it some space, it walked over and smelled the food. I was nervous and hopefully it would like what I had brought. It gave a growl that almost sounded like a pureeing cat, and it took some meat but no fish and I smiled as it ate. At least the food was to it's satisfaction. When it was done it more or less toppled over and its breathing slowed as it drifted off into sleep.

Most of that day I spent watching the dragon as it ate and explored its surroundings until it became tired and drifted off to sleep. Last summer me and Thorgrim had built a small lair out of stone above ground. The opening to the lair was a 3*3ft square with a 5 ft tunnel with the first 2ft tilting slightly upwards so that rain would not flood the small lair, it then turned sharply in 90 degrees to the right and opened up in a small room that was 5*5ft and with 4ft to the ceiling. The floor was made of wood inside the room and covered with a beer fur that had cost me almost all the money I got for working in the smith. After the construction was done we shoveled dirt over the stone construction and I planted grass seeds with Helga. So this summer we would hopefully have a small grass mound in the backyard.

When the dragon found the entrance I got excited and crawled after it inside. It was inspecting the small room and I hoped it would like the home we had built for it. When it looked at me I tried to tell the dragon with words and gesticulation that this was it's new home, but I had no idea if it understood me but at least it lay down on the fur and was soon fast asleep. Hopefully that was a good sign, and it was getting late so I figured it was time for me to follow the dragons example, so I waited a short while by watching the dragon sleeping before I went to my own bed inside the house where I was fast asleep.

The next day I woke early when Helga called from downstairs.

"Elric! Get down here and open the door!"

Could she not open it herself, I muttered as I slowly dragged my sleep drunken self down the stairs towards the front door. The sounds of scratching coming from the door leading to the backyard stopped me, and it took me a moment to realize that it was probably the dragon trying to get in. So I went over and opened, two purple eyes met mine and true enough the dragon was standing there. It gave a small growl before it sniffed the air, then it tilted it's head to the side and looked at me with expecting eyes.

" She is probably hungry."

I turned to see my mother come up behind me with a slab of meat on the plate I had made.

"Good morning mother... and dragon."

Then it hit me mother had said she… was the dragon a girl?

"Mom, how do you know it's a girl?"

"Oh, Elric you must understand that we girls just know such things."

I gave her a disbelieving look.

"Or I checked her status."

I took the plate and gestured for the dragon to follow, it took some trying before it understood and followed me to the kitchen. I placed it down beside my place at the table. I hesitated when I bent down to pick her up. How would she react if I put my hands on her? Slowly I put my hands on the sides of the dragon, I could feel how she tensed up, I looked her in the eyes while I waited and after a moment she must have decided it was okay, I could feel how her small scaly body relaxed. Then I lifted her up and put her down on the table. I waited to make sure she was eating, then I got my own breakfast oatmeal with some bits of nuts and dried fruit.

"So what are you going to name her?"

Helga had sat down at the table across from me and the dragon.

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"Well, I'm not sure what to call her or if it would be right if I were the one to give her a name."

Helga frowned at my answer.

"And why is that?"

"Well I'm not her parent and she is a dragon, what do you even name them?"

Helga looked at the small dragon devouring the meat besides me.

"Well you must call her something, and she is cute."

I looked at the dragon and agreed she was cute.

" How about Belinda, it means beautiful. And no girl I know would hate being called beautiful."

I gave the name some thought, it was not bad. But can you call a dragon Belinda?

"Well it would do for the moment I guess?"

And so the dragon was named Belinda. The weeks passed and winter was over and spring was about to give way for summer. Belinda has started to understand what I was saying and sometimes I would get mental feelings from her. I read in the books I had, that it was the way she expressed herself until she got a better grasp of telepathy. I had almost peed myself the first time she had used it, I had been overwhelmed with the feeling of hunger. And I had thought that some great beast was about to pounce on me. But it was just the dragon that was trying to inform me that it was time for lunch. It still helped a lot that we were starting to be able to communicate.

We had started to hunt together, usually hare or some other small animals we came across. I brought my bow and had brought down some game, but it was mostly Belinda that did the hunting since it was important that she learned to fend for herself. The problem was that we didn't really have any good hunting spots around here, and since we were not allowed to go north into the forest, that left us with the plains around us. There are some woods to the south but it's almost 10 miles away. And since I did not have a horse it would take me and belinda more than a day back and forth. And that was what had brought me to the smith this morning.

" Morning father!"

Thorgrim looked up from his work.

"Elric how rare to see you up and about this early in the morning."

I hesitated not knowing how to formulate my question.

"Well there is a reason for that… I wanted to ask you something."

He put down his hammer and gave me a sharp look. I could see he was now taking this seriously.

"Well what is it you wanted to ask Elric, I can't answer if I don't know the question?"

This was harder than I had thought. I took a deep breath steeling my resolve.

" Well I want to earn some coins father, enough so that I can buy myself a horse."

He looked surprised for a moment, then I could see he was starting to think it over,

absentmindedly stroking his beard.

"And how were you going to earn that amount of money? A horse is not cheap, you know?"

"Well I know we have gotten a big order to supply the men the King is sending to reinforce the garrison."

"So you overheard that did you?"

Well I had been standing outside the door listening in as the army officer had placed the order.

"Yes, I was waiting outside. And didn't want to interrupt you and the officer."

"It's true that the king is sending more men and we have gotten an order for more weapons, but I could easily handle it alone."

"I know that, but I was thinking more about the armor you were about to turn down since they wanted chainmail. I could easily make a chainmail as long as you do the fitting."

"Well it is about time you learned to ride properly, tell you what. You help me make a riveted chainmail hauberk and I will get you a warhorse. But you will have to ask the knights and paladins at the monastery to teach you how to ride and fight from horseback. I will need to give you a letter of introduction."

"But father I don't need a warhorse, I'm no squire."

This was getting out of hand, I only needed a horse to get me from point A to point B and back. And suddenly I was sent off to learn how to fight with knights.

" Boy you don't understand, and that is my fault."

He sat down and indicated for me to do the same. I moved some materials that lay on my chair and sat down.

"You must understand that you are the foster son of a king that has no heir. Lucky for you dwarfs don't look at nobility the same way as humans or elves. If I were to die the council of elders would elect the new king since no direct heir to the throne exists. And you would probably not be chosen since you are not a dwarf."

He had gotten himself a pitcher of ale from his ring of holding and paused to wet his throat.

"Me and Helga have discussed your future and since getting the dragon we have come to the agreement that we will give you some land to the east of the dwarven mountains and purchase some from Astrana. This land is more or less wilderness and will be perfect for you and the dragon. It will also make you able to enter the circle of nobility since you will own land."

"But what does this have to do with me riding warhorses?"

"Well we don't know if you will choose a civilian class or combatant class when you turn fifteen. So we will train for both paths, and this will give you either the dwarven title Lord Ambassador or Lord Knight Ambassador. The human title will be Knight or just Lord."

He could probably see the confusion on my face.

" Every noble in dwarven lands is a Lord or a Lady and a Knight is an officer, a leader of ten men and the highest rank you can start with in the army, the Ambassador title is given to someone who is a representative of the dwarfs."

He drank some more ale and continued.

" In Astrana a knight is the lowest title of nobility and he is either granted land from some higher nobility or he owns it, but he is also a warrior and he must be able to take part in the heavy cavalry of the kingdom. A lord is just someone who is part of the nobility but doesn't have any real title like a baron. The sons of the baron for example would be called lords."

" And since you will own land and if Belinda stays, you will more or less be forced to take a combat class."

" But don't I have to be knighted to become a knight?"

He just smiled when I asked him.

" I'm a king, remember? I could knight you as soon as you turned level ten and to be recognized as a human knight we just have to enter you into some tournaments where you show them that you can handle your horse."