Chapter 2

Lord Mitten was not satisfied, not satisfied at all.

He looked at his bowl unimpressed and then turned his stare to Norna, the stare with which he had brought monsters to their knees in the past.

This was the reward for all his efforts, for wandering through the thicket of the forest? Half a fish?

Indignation spread through him as he stared implacably at the young girl.

At least she has the decency to look contrite, he thought. His mood improved somewhat.

Norna frowned.

"I wanted to give you an extra-large portion, really! But when we got home, all the good fish had already been sold and the only thing I could talk Dad out of was in your bowl. Word of honor!"

Lord Mitten looked into his bowl again, feeling sorry for the normal house cats in the village. Imagine if his food supply depended on how well the fisherman fished or how much he sold.

Unthinkable!

The thought, which was too frightening to be imagined, sent a shiver down his spine. Wonderful material for a horror story.

He quickly banished it to the realm of nightmares and turned his attention back to more beautiful thoughts.

Good thing he had his own sources. Of course, that didn't stop him from accepting the daily offerings of his subjects. Who would say no to fish - no one!

So he wouldn't despise this puny fish either, however despicable it looked.

Sighing, he sat down in front of his bowl and thoughtfully ate his reward. Who would have thought that one day he would share the poor man's fate - if only for a moment.

If Maribold saw him like that, she would have a fit of laughter and ensure that the story of poor Lord Mitten would be carried to the far corners of the world and never forgotten. Even though he liked her, at the moment he was glad that he and Maribold were separated by thousands of kilometers.

Seen in this light, he suddenly realized, it could have been far worse. The realization immediately made the fish tastier in his mouth and the bones less annoying.

Norna seemed to take his eating as a peace offering and made her way towards the kitchen to prepare the much-too-late lunch. Admittedly, the fact that Olf had only found a cold and deserted kitchen in his house had probably not made him any more generous when it came to his fish.

The bowl was empty faster than Lord Mitten could blink.

Meager.

He wrinkled his nose and groomed his dark brown fur extensively. His stomach growled.

Unsatisfying.

The measly fish was more of an appetizer and made him crave a good portion of meat.

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But where to take without stealing. Without hunting and toiling? he pondered and let his thoughts wander.

"Hm."

An idea came to him.

Lord Mitten pushed the bowl aside with a disdainful look and slowly stood up.

He stretched extensively and set off in the direction of Brent Forest. He had been planning to make the journey for some time, so why not now?

Time to meet up with an old friend.

*****

"Oh, what a distinguished visitor. What gives me the honor?"

Lord Mitten entered the huge cave, the entrance to which was at the foot of the Frost Mountains. In front of him were piles of treasures made of gold, precious stones and finely crafted jewelry, on which a dragon had made itself comfortable.

I'll never understand what she finds so attractive about this uncomfortable stuff, he thought.

In the past, he had once laid here on a small mound of treasure to test its comfort. Perhaps it was a well-constructed illusion and the golden mountain actually turned out to be soft and comfortable!

The thought of a global conspiracy of dragons that made the world believe - just for their own amusement - that they preferred a hard, cold and pointy place to lie down was just too good. In his mind's eye, he could see them secretly mocking the gullibility of the humans, elves and dwarves over a cup of tea. He wouldn't put it past them - dragons were weird birds.

But no, the pile of gold was actually just as cold, prickly and uncomfortable as it had looked. No conspiracy, just bad taste - too bad.

"You know me, don't you? Always looking for a little chat with friends." he said.

"Always looking for a treat from friends, you mean."

The huge dragon looked at him with amusement. An elegant head with shimmering blue scales was enthroned on its long, muscular neck. Her cold breath condensed in the air of the cave.

"Don't friends and food just go together? I truly cannot imagine one without the other, dear Glacial Doom," Lord Mitten answered.

He looked around in search of a comfortable spot and found it on a curtain embroidered with gold thread that lay at the edge of the gold treasure.

"I see the mermaids have taught you the art of wordplay old friend. Well, enough chit-chat! In fact, you seem to have an almost magical sense of where the next treat awaits - I caught a kraken yesterday.”

"Oh?"

He wouldn't tell her that a part of his life before the last catastrophe was spent studying the phenomenon of "luck" and how it could be captured and harnessed.

And what was luck other than food?

However, the fact that he was here today had nothing to do with luck. He needed a break from his village cat existence and where better to do that than in a dragon's lair?

Especially as Glacial Doom is a very pleasant acquaintance and always has something to eat - so why not combine the pleasant with the delicious? he thought.

"Cold Dawn!" Glacial Doom called into the inside of the cave. A small dragon with milky white scales emerged from one of the many entrances leading into the cave. He glanced briefly in the direction of Lord Mitten, only to quickly avert his gaze again and focus on the mistress of the house.

"As you can see, we have a distinguished visitor. Prepare everything so that our guest lacks for nothing at the feast. No one should ever be able to say that they left my lair hungry," she said.

The little dragon nodded briefly and quickly disappeared back into one of the tunnels.

"Relatives?"

"A nephew of mine. His father thought that his mother was overprotecting him and asked for help. When it comes to the welfare of our offspring, I just can't say no," sighed Glacial Doom.

"To be fair, though, he's a bright lad and has excellent cooking skills. And as thanks for my help, I received an exquisite ice emerald. So all in all, I come out of the deal a winner," she continued.

"But enough about the dear relatives; tell me, what are you doing at the moment? It feels like I haven't seen you for ages! In fact, not since the last catastrophe."

She looked at him sympathetically.

"Just don't remind me," groaned Lord Mitten.

"I was busy cleaning up for centuries after the last debacle. The dwarves left a disgusting mess behind."