Love and Dragons

Tanwen, the great golden dragon, walked the countryside on a cold winter night. As she walked, she breathed in the winter air, the moonlight made her scales glitter. She had just said goodbye to her resent hatchling's and breathed out and melted the snow on the trail; the moonlight revealed a child in dirty rags frozen under the snow. A little girl no more than two years old, with a lovely face and red hair that looked like fire. She was thin and covered in bruises. She nudged the child with her nose, but she did not move. Tears started to run down her face thinking who would leave a child in the middle of the woods to die. Her tears landed on the child, her body turned pink, and she heard a faint heartbeat. She wanted to save this little girl and she wrapped up the child in her tongue and swallowed her whole, then went back to the cave in the sapphire mountain. She went to sleep that night, and her belly started to glow. She woke up the next day with her belly swollen, and then she positioned herself over her hoard made up of gold coins and jewels for hours, and with great pain, she forced out a giant gold egg. She laid by the egg for five days until it started to glow and crack. The egg hatched, and the child emerged alive, she looked healthy, and her bruises were gone. Tanwen transformed into a tall, beautiful woman with golden hair that flowed down her back and touched the floor and porcelain skin that was soft as silk with gold eyes that were warm as the sun. The girl looked up and reached out to her, she picked up the child, and held her close.

She put her head on her chest and started playing with her hair. "Mommy, I'm hungry." Tanwen removed her hair from her chest, revealing her breast. "Drink my milk, little one." The girl latched on and started suckling her milk; she looked down at this sweet little girl and ran her fingers down her hair, which was now platinum. "What is your name little one?" The girl stopped suckling. "The people I ran away from called me Pigsty." She then went back to eating. "Pigsty, that is not a good name for such a beautiful little girl. I will give you a new name, what should I name you?" She thought for a few moments and then smiled. "Finding you was a great gift, so I will name you Darrina." Darrina looked up at her with her eyes deep blue and smiled. "Thank you, mommy. I love you." Tanwen cried tears of joy and hugged her. "I love you too." She raised her with love and protection, and as the years passed, she grew up strong and confident, and she soon started to show draconic abilities. By the time she was thirteen, her skin was hard as steel but soft to the touch, she could break rocks with her bare hands, she could run faster than a wolf, and she could see in the dark clear as day. One day she was walking through the forest hunting rabbits for breakfast. While hunting, she heard a scream, and a young boy looking to be around ten with blond hair and dressed in fine clothes ran to her. Four grown men dressed in leather armor and weapons were chasing him, she stayed hidden in the woods as they all ran right by her. The boy had tears running down his face as he ran.

The boy ran until he tripped and fell onto the ground, skinning his knee; he screamed in pain, holding his leg. A gruff man in black studded leather armor with long oily brown hair and a dirt beard grabbed the boy roughly by his arm. "That will teach you to run, you little brat! Now your father will pay double to get you back." She stepped out of the woods and confronted the men. "Let the boy go!" The men looked at her, paused for a moment before laughing at her. The man holding the crying boy looked at her up and down. "Look what we have here, a sweet peach in rabbit fur. You taste as good as you look, girl?" She cringed while narrowing her eyes at the men. "I said let the boy go, or you will regret it!" They laughed louder at her, and the man holding the boy smiled. "Grab her!" In the blink of an eye, she was in front of the man holding the boy. She punched the man and he let the boy go and she picked him up and jumped away from the men. She put the boy down behind her and he covered his eyes and rolled up into a ball. The leader still holding his gut looked at his men in anger. "Kill that little bitch!" The men then attacked her, she felt a fire burning inside her as the men got closer; she then yelled. "GET BACK!" She then felt something hot come up her throat, and she threw up a ball of fire at one of the men. The fireball landed on one of the men's arms, and he screamed in pain as the skin melted off his arm. The men looked at her in terror, then turned and ran away. She walked over to the boy, who was still crying and curled up in a ball. She placed her hand on his head. "It's okay little boy; please stop crying. Your safe now." The boy looked up at her and saw a dragon head emerge from the woods from behind her. He screamed and buried his face in her chest. She turned and smiled at Tanwen.

"That dragon won't hurt you. She's my mom, so don't be afraid. My name is Darrina; what is your name?" He dried his eyes. "Brandon. I want my mom and dad." He started to cry again, and she hugged him. She picked him up and turned to her mother. She transformed into her human form. Brandon looked up and dried his eyes, she saw his skinned knee. "Poor boy let me take a look at that." She gently placed her hand on his knee and shed a tear. It fell on his wound, and it healed, he smiled and hugged her. "Thank you, pretty lady!" She looked up at Darrina. "I should bring him home." Tanwen changed back into a dragon. "Hop on my back, and I will take you to the forest’s edge." She picked up Brandon and got on her mother's back. "Hang on to me, okay? We're going to fly." He wrapped his arms around her and held on tight. She took flight, and he kept his eyes shut. Darrina felt the wind on her face and the sun’s warmth on her skin; she looked down at him cowering. "Open your eyes, Brandon; you are missing the view." He dug his face into her chest. "I can't... I'm scared." She ran her fingers through his hair. "Don't let fear control you. Open your eyes and see the beauty of this world." He opened his eyes and looked at the clouds and mountains with the sunlight glittering on them. He then looked up at Darrina with the wind blowing through her hair and the sunlight making her face glow and her eyes sparkle. "Wow, beautiful." Tanwen landed at the edge of the forest, and they slid off. She took him to the entrance of the city. "Your home now, Brandon. I need to get back to my mom; take care." He grabbed her arm. "Will I ever see you again?" She leaned down and kissed him on the cheek. He then heard his dad calling his name and turned away. He saw his dad running towards him with a group of soldiers, and when he turned back, and she was gone. His dad hugged and kissed him with tears in his eyes. "Brandon, thank goodness your safe! Did those bad men hurt you?" He thought about Darrina and put his hand on his heart. "I'll be okay, daddy." They took him home, his mother cried when she saw he was okay, and after he was bathed and fed, he sat at the window of his room. He looked out to the forest and heard the crickets and saw the firefly's flying around. He breathed in the night air and thought of her. "I promise not to live in fear, I will see you again when I am a man."