„As the village chief, I sentence thee to the mercy of the dragon.” said the man in a farmer’s outfit. Beside him was most of the village, 2 children in particular both crying but stopping themselves from looking her in the eyes. Looking the witch in the eyes, their former sister. The socalled witch, was a 6 years old girl. Her hair was blonde, contrary to his brothers’ whose were brown. She wore a simple robe made of something akin to a potato bag. The allegation held little truth though. The tiny girl did not understand the weight of her sentence, that she was wronged, that she was being punished even! She was just woken up and dragged out here. No one answered her when she asked for her mommy. She was feeling weirded out, but then was left there in the cave. She looked around, „Must be an adventure!” she thought.

The more she walked into the cave, the more dank and dark it got. The deeper she walked into the cave, the louder the snores were. Deep and menacing snores.  As her little feet walked down the cave, she finally hit resistence. She looked up. As the large thing started to move, torches came alive. It was a gigantic black dragon! It was at least 50 times bigger than her! Fear and realization hit her. She realized her fate. The dragon’s mouth closing in. She didn’t close her eyes, she couldn’t. Her eyes darted around- Whatever will she do?! She noticed something, and spoke up before her time came.

„Mister Dragon, your eyes are so pretty!” she shouted enthusiastically. The dragon staggered back to his back feet. Him? Called beautiful by a human? How odd.  He regained his composure and asked, „Whatever could you mean human child?”.

„They are pretty! What could I mean by that? Let’s see… Beautiful! Err… Beautifuller than my family’s!” she said. Her voice was filled with genuinity. The dragon was confused. „It wasn’t a tactic to make him not eat her? She genuinely thought that was a good idea to do in the face of death? Even claiming her family’s eyes are worse looking… What a strange girl.” What a strange girl indeed.

He decided not to eat her, he’ll need some apetizers anyways, this one child won’t be enough to satisfy his hunger. Were those excuses? Were those unbiased thoughts? Only god knows the answer to that. What he was thinking about was how could anyone let a child be treated like this. However he could guess. The monologue the socalled Village Chief kept going on about, was about how she scared her mother and her mother was convinced that she was a witch! And to save her two sons, she needed to get rid of this sinner. Though based on what he said, it was evident that her mother and her step father didn’t want a piece of a broken marriage looming around their house.

He laid his body on the ground. He closed his eyes and tried to go back to sleep, he needed to sleep. However, a certain someone kept nagging him. She finally stopped and gave him peace. After about 10 minutes, the child spoke up.

„Mister Dragon! I found these eggs, could you prepare them? Let’s see, I kinda like them boiled but I can’t see any water nearby, how about-” kept monologueing the child. The dragon looked up and saw something horrifying. Those weren’t regular bird eggs, they were his and his beloved’s eggs! How dare she?! Handling these miracles like filthy bird eggs! „How dare you? You human tragedy! These are my eggs! My children will hatch from that! I… I didn’t even eat you! I let you go! Yet you treat me to this?! Ungrateful brat! Leave my cave!” The dragon shouted. The girl was in tears. He realized his mistake, but it was too late anyways. That night, he kept making excuses for himself, like the girl being a menace.

To his horror the next day he awoke to a child humming. A very familiar voice. He quickly snapped his head to check if his eggs were safe. They were. They were being protected by a layer of leaves, and a dirt pillow to keep them warm. The girl was hugging the egg, slightly drooling on them. Humming a children’s melody. Even to the untrained eye, it was evident the girl worked hard on making the dirt pillows and the leaf layer. Her hand’s skin hardened up, and she had rings under he eyes. The craftsmanship was also belowpar, but the dragon didn’t mind.

His delusions about her were broken. They had to be. This child is no brat, no menace. She’s just young and inexperienced. The dragon smiled as he remembered his time as a tiny addition to his family. After a few hours the girl finally awoke. Expecting the dragon to shout at her again, she started to apologize, but contrary to her belief the dragon actually asked her, „You have done my children great service. You may have one thing that I can obtain.”. He felt bad about shouting at her last night, so he had to make up.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

The girl looked confused, then it turned to embarassment. The beast reassured her that anything is fine. The girl finally spoke up. „Can I… Can I fly on your back?” she asked nervously. The dragon was astonished. Shouldn’t she wish for something grand? Well, it matters not to him. If this is her heart’s will, he will complete it. The dragon lowered his head to the ground. The child still had trouble getting on, but managed. Soonafter, the dragon took off. The girl couldn’t compare this to anything. This feeling, was truly magical. She felt free, no longer confined by the constraints of a two dimensional and mean world. They reached seemingly the peak of the world, above the clouds. She felt as if her lungs were having trouble, but she didn’t mind. All good things come to an end though, and so did this. To her surprise the dragon landed near a lake. She asked him if she could sleep here for a bit.

The dragon agreed to it, and said that it was his plan to make her sleep here anyways. The girl was a tad confused, but gracefully fell asleep. While she was dreamingof flying more with the dragon, and having a good time with him, the dragon flew back to his cave. Leaving all the nescassaties to survive for a month at the side of the girl. He knew it was the best for her. He knew it was the best for himself. A day passed. He slept in as there was no one to wake him up.

Another one passed. He went for a hunting trip as he was bored. What a weird thing that flying felt so confining this time. Another day passed, then another, yet another day passed before a figure came walking into the cave. A figure clothed fully in rain water, and her eyes visibly crying. The child found her way back to the cave and she asked the dragon, „Why did you leave me there! I… I thought… I… Jerk!”. The dragon was visibly distressed. This was very embarassing, but why did he feel so comfortable like he was back at home? The dragon put his gigantic finger next to her, it was as big as her tiny body. The child hugged hugged the finger.

As if her soul left her body, she collapsed while still hugging his finger. She was saying over and over in her sleep „Don’t leave me… not again… not like the village chief…”. The dragon sighed, he thought she couldn’t understand the subtext. He was right. He yawned as he went to sleep too. As the dragon awoke, he realized something was burning. He looked around, the dragon was no fool. He knew a large fire could make him suffocate in a cave with such a little opening and no ventilation. Since he couldn’t find the source, he started making ventilation by flapping his wings.

Suddenly, a tiny figure approached and started to go on and on about how irresponsible that was and how he ruined their breakfast. He knocked the makeshift pot over with his wings’ flapping. The prideful dragon contrary to what he usually does, he lowered his head and apologized. His punishment was using his flames to keep the „soup” cooking. The soup itself turned out bitter as expected. It only had a type of blue grass, meat and… large eggs? He looked back to his nest, his eggs were intact. Wherever could she have gotten that? The dragon thanked her for the uhh… „meal”, and went back to sleep. The night was already out by the time he was woken up yet again by the girl.

She was feeling homesick. „Can’t you take me back to the village and help my family get out of the village? They must be feeling terrible under the chief who took me!” she exclaimed worriedly. The beast could only sigh. He forbid her from going back to the village. He told her, „Do not go back child. It will only end in hardships.”. The girl, didn’t act as he expected her to. She agreed, though she did have quite the stubborn face. They both went to sleep.

When he awoke he was greeted with nothing. The girl wasn’t there. He looked frantically, what happened?! He took to the air, he looked near the lake, near to woods, in the woods, in the lake, on the trees, everywhere. Only one place was left unchecked in this valley.

The village. The dragon sighed. „Foolish girl” he thought. He went back to his cave to sleep however someone ran into the cave in the middle of the night. The dragon looked up, at first he could only see a silhoutte as outside of the cave the village was loud and bright. As his eyes adjusted he realized it was the child. However, much to his dismay her body was in a terrible shape.

Her pale skin was now filled with black and purple bruises, even bleeding at some places. Her clothes like they were completely torn and her face was just terrible, she was missing an eye. Was she stoned and beat? She looked up to the dragon with pleading eyes. The dragon was confused, what could she ask? She wanted to ask, but she was visibly anxious to ask. The dragon reassured her, „Anything is fine to ask, just ask please.”.

The child only spoke a sentence, „Take me flying again like last time, but this time make me sleep forever…”. The dragon understood, he complied. He never in his life felt so in shackles while flying. They landed near the lake in the forest. The dragon opening his mouth, preparing to bite. The girl spoke one last time, „Your eyes really are the prettiest.”. The dragon bit down. The girl met his fate the world destined her to. To be abandoned by those who she thought were her family. His eyes filling with tears. He spoke one thing before going back to his cave. „Yours will always be more beautiful.”.

END