A Bronze Rising: Smoke and Fire
The boy sat on a boulder, the saddle where his hands were bound out before him and between his legs. I walked stiffly over, the bolts where they pierced my flesh stung more now that the battle rage was passing. I didn't ask if he was injured because...
A Bronze Rising: Battle, Such as it is
The boy had been brutalized, that much was clear. The sight of the bruises on his face and arms, his once crisp uniform torn in several places and his hands bound to the saddle of the horse he rode made my fire bladder hot. The boy was my property and...
A Bronze Rising: A Short Night
Dragons are very capable of remaining still for very long periods of time. In fact, most large dragons hibernate for extended periods throughout their lives. The heart slows, breaths become deeper and more prolonged. The eye lids droop down but don't...
A Bronze Rising: The Gate
Tobias approached the front gate following the wall to his left. He felt foolish tramping through the forest undergrowth in his father's war regalia. How many people had his father killed while wearing this? 'None,' Tobias chided himself, 'It's a...
A Bronze Rising: Father Issues
I moved my hand just in time, catching the large bolt in the fleshy pad between my thumb and first finger. With the range less than fifteen feet, the heavy crossbow packed enough power to punch through the scales on my palm. Ruby dragon-blood -...
A Bronze Rising: Returning Home
That morning I did not hunt. I slept in past dawn instead. I wanted to be well rested and not weighed down with a belly full of meat in case there was to be fighting done. However, I did not expect there to be any bloodshed today... except possibly one...
A Bronze Rising: Funkin Farn
"Tell me more about this... what did you call it? 'Funckin'?" "No, it's pronounced Pumpkin, Puh." The human lad explained about his staple crop. The human syllables were difficult on my thin, scaly lips, particularly, "p's" and "m's." "And they are...
A Bronze Rising: Fresh Meat
My weight caused my talons to sink deep into the soft turf as I flapped my wings madly. It was a difficult task to land without using one's front legs. Still flapping to keep my body upright, I lowered the young man with a single hand to the ground,...
A Bronze Rising: Spirited Away
"M-me? Powerful?" said the boy in a soft, frail voice. His knees were shaking with the cold. "I... I'm not sure what that would even mean." A tiny grin tickled the corner of my mouth. Perhaps the boy was not a stupid as I'd previously guessed....
A Bronze Rising: The Offer
By the harsher scent, I could tell that the human was male. However, the scent of the human male was as meek as a drop of milk diluted in a bucket of water compared to the musk of another male dragon which capable, by pure biology, of filling me with...
A Bronze Rising: Scenting
The human was so long in responding I began to wonder if the creature was even capable of speech. Where there, in fact different breeds of human as there were dragons? Perhaps I'd picked up a variety with no more sense than a rutting pig. Oh well,...
A Bronze Rising: Kidnapping
...human. Yes, that's what they were called. I circled lower and lower sacrificing the height I had taken from the thermal. It gave me time to decide which direction from which to strike. I was well practiced in hiding myself on my approach. The trees...