A cold heart in the face of spring

Weregemeir woke to the sound of spring rain, it dripped into his lair somewhere from a hole above. The dragon raised his head slowly, emerald green scales rustling off the dust from a long winter’s sleep. He swung his head slowly from side to side looking around for the source of the sound, it was not in his immediate vicinity. No, the sound lay outside the nest of tree branches and thick furs that Weregemeir had collected the season before. He stood, his short legs stretching, and prowled towards the sound. The drips came from the overhead of the entrance of his winter lair. The droplets fell through a gap in the barricade of felled trees that sealed the entrance of his outer lair. His long serpentine neck twisted as he examined the leak, he then snorted dejectedly and began scratching down the trees with his iron sharp talons. He was hungry.

As soon as he broke through the barrier a foul smell filled his nostrils, humans, he hissed and recoiled at the stench. It emanated through the tunnel toward him, damp, but not very fresh, he crept forward slowly not thrilled by the ought of having to fight anything. The tunnel was narrow, a dragon even slightly larger than him would’ve struggled to maneuver the abandoned mine. Vereena hadn’t fit, as he moved through the tunnel he came to where it widened, where he had stopped scouring the stone walls to make the passage big enough for her. He shivered, struggling to put the dragoness out of his mind. Sniffing again the smell of humans was growing stronger, he inhaled slowly, sucking the damp cave air deep into himself, as he did the air dried in the heat of his lungs, prepared to become a great flame.

His neck wrapped around the final corner of the passage as his large green eyes peered into the dimly lit exterior cavern. He heard nothing except for some quiet rustling, perhaps they were asleep and this would be quick. Advancing forward he looked around, there was some human food was strewn around, a bundle of human supplies, and A child? It sat with its back facing the Great Dragon small and covered with grey rags it stank of feces and wet. The creature had raven hair and small button ears that protruded from either side of its head. its chubby hands were waving occasionally smacking into a puddle of water next to it.

Weregemeir tensed he knew, where there were small humans there were bound to be large ones somewhere nearby.

He didn’t hear or see any so he decided to ignore the creature, perhaps the parents would return while he was out hunting and no issues would arise at all. The thought comforted him he had no interest in killing a child. He walked past it silently not drawing attention to himself in case the child screamed.

Once outside the cave Weregemeir looked around again, surrounded by trees as far as his great sight could see, the pine needles clung to the branches and the oaks and maples were still leafless, with tiny green buds of spring along their branches. With no humans in sight, he unfurled his wings stretching them out, shaking off the sleep and dust the winter had accumulated. He could hear the sound of deer eating in the glen nearby and took off to chase them. He glided low to the ground weaving through the trees. Weregemeir had grown to prefer this low-to-the-ground flight, although the open skies had once been open to him, he no longer had the heart to soar up high into them. To be amongst the clouds alone was something he dreaded the thought of. Weregemeir liked the complexity of the maze of trees, having to focus on not crashing into them was a good distraction that preoccupied his mind. Now that spring was here and once that child and the other humans were gone he would be able to spend his days speeding through the forest, living in the distraction. He raised his head to sniff the spring air, and instead smelled death. Curious about what it was and why he smelled no scavengers he changed course, dinner will still be there by the time I look at this.

He landed in a clearing with a spring trickling through it. Next to the spring sprawled across the ground was the body of a raven-haired woman, she was dressed in simple garb, and what was visible of her skin was bluish purple. Weregemeir knew despite the arrival of spring, the nights could still be deadly cold and it seemed as though that is what she had succumbed to. She had been dead long enough that her body was no longer stiff, but short enough that the coyotes and wolves had not yet found her- not that many coyotes or wolves frequented his territory. The child's mother? He thought to himself, with one of his front talons he flipped the woman face up, same color hair, same button ears, it seemed likely.

Weregemeir inhaled, and on the exhale used a small controlled blaze to melt the woman's body and bones to nothing but ash- he didn’t particularly want to deal with an infestation of scavengers. But what to do with the child? Weregemeir looked skyward and let out a low rumble of frustration, probably best to kill it, less cruel than letting it starve. Smoke spilled out of Weregemeir’s nostrils, Vereena would know what to do, Vereena. The visions of her lifeless scaleless body burned behind his eyes. A rage filled him, shaking his head skyward he let out a low pained roar, flames billowed out of his mouth, “VEREENA,” singeing the canopy above. With each passing season, his memories of her grew more and more distant.

He heard the deer he had been planning on eating cantering through the underbrush away from the predator. It took him a moment to regain his composure and he took off again after his prey.

~

Weregemeir clutched a carcass of a deer in each set of front talons crushing the rib cages. He walked slowly back into the outer cavern and dropped the carcasses on the ground. His chest heaved, he’d lost muscle and stamina over the winter.

“Whaaaaa,” a screech filled the carven.

Weregemeir jumped back and whipped around, he’d been so absorbed in grief and bloodlust that he had forgotten the small child in his lair. He decided it was best to get the ordeal over with and inhaled deeply once again, his eyes settled on the dark-haired child through the gloom of the cave it was waddling towards the dragon, waving an arm at it. He recoiled slightly, the small thing was so fearless it stomped its light fleshy feet closer and closer. Looking up at the great dragon with golden yellow eyes.

Time stopped for Weregemeir then, as his eyes met the babes. Those eyes, her eyes, it can’t be.

~

The cool brisk wind of autumn was in the air, Weregemeir was soaring high in the clouds, and the distant sun warmed his back. She flew above him, her scales glittering in the sun. As he looked up she turned her gaze down, her golden yellow eyes met his green, he felt a surge of joy spread through his whole body. Beating his wings he flew up to greet her, he brushed his nose gently against her own, and wordlessly they spiraled into a dance across the sky. The dance was slow, as Vereena was heavy with brood. Her long steady wingbeats outpaced by his shorter rapid ones. They were in search of a place to land and build their nest, he’d yearned for this since the first time he’d seen her in the sky, a beautiful glittering creature.

~

Weregemeir growled at the memories, overwhelmed by the grief and joy of seeing those eyes again. He swallowed the flame and brought his face close to the child, smoke pluming from his nostrils again, who are you? He projected the thought into the little one mind.

“Gargh,” the creature babbled in reply, snatching at the smoke with its tiny hands. Realizing it could not catch the smoke the child resolved to pat the great dragon on the snout, “Oowaa mmhmm.”

Somewhere in the dragon's broken heart, he felt a trickle of warmth, Do you have a name little one? He probed into the creature's mind again searching through the young things' fuzzy memories, but nothing, Well then, I shall call you Vera. Come now let’s get something to eat, Weregemeir turned to one of the deer carcasses and used a small flame to cook the flesh until it sizzled.

Vera shrieked with excitement, he watched her beautiful glittering eyes light up, and once again Weregemeir felt a trickle of warmth in his heart.