Rex Draco Farm

Summer passes as the marvelous, crisp smells of Fall settle upon the land, the fields of grasses turning from bright emerald green to a shade of brown that reminded Arthur of a paper bag from the store. Scratching his head as he looked out from the front porch, a cup of coffee in his hand early mornings having become a rather painful routine ever since Little John had brought the two cows and three chickens. “I still cannot believe they just gave us the animals.” He told himself a building on his face thinking about all the changes they had to make to accommodate the new giant chickens and the new routines added to the once slow days.

As Arthur was standing and looking out over the farm, one of the new Brahma chickens stepped out of the coop. A giant rooster Standing tall at just over two and a half feet tall, he was busy shaking his feather that made him look like a big fluffy cloud with a gentle call to start the day he began his routine of moving around the yard picking out what few bugs were still brave enough to be on the farm.

Arthur looked at the rooster. “Well, good morning Rex. How are you and the ladies doing?” Arthur laughed to himself at his greeting of the new addition to the family. They had named him partially after the farm as he was the king of the chickens.

Shortly after that, the barn door opened, and Mia came out, leading a young cow outside with a lead. “Come on, Marigold, let’s get you outside and into the pasture so you can get some food in your belly.” The cow gave a soft “moo.” She followed the gentle pull of the rope into the pasture. Mia closed the gate behind Marigold as the cow made her way to a particular spot of grass it seems to enjoy.

Arthur picked up a thermos full of hot coffee and a second cup from the table. “Come on, Mia, come and get a cup before it gets cold.” Pouring the steaming contents as she walks up to claim her cup.

She grabs her cup and gives him a small kiss on the cheek. “You know the morning chores would go a lot faster if we could get Marigold actually to seem more excited about going out into the field.” Taking a drink of the hot refreshment. “Thank you, Arthur. I needed some more coffee.” Taking a seat with her coffee in hand. “If I remember right, today is Halloween.”

A soft crackling sound follows her words as a gentle green flash of flames shoots up and starts burning in the flowerbed near the corner of the porch. “Holy cow,” Arthur yelled as he jumped up and ran down the steps and raced to the spot that was ablaze. The emerald flames die down slightly as a sound of cracking and muffled growls escape from within the fire.

If a puff of white smoke and dust, the fire dies out as Mia empties a fire extinguisher into the heart of the fire. “cough cough cough. You could warn a dragon before you spray him.” As both Arthur and Mia look at each other, a commanding but oddly high-pitched voice addressed them. “Excuse me, but a madwoman has attacked me with a fire extinguisher on my birthday.”

An angry smile crosses Mias’ face as she raises the extinguisher once more. “Who are you calling a madwoman? You nearly burnt down our house. Who and what are you?”

A small claw shot up into the air. “Hold up, please don’t hit me with that. I will answer all of your questions. I know it can be challenging for first-time dragon breeders when we come out of our hibernation cycles. The flames were harmless to your house. That was my outer shell going up in flames. We have partial control of the process so as not to damage any nearby plant life or structures. Typically our energy-storing trees are not planted next to people’s homes. Did they not explain this to you?”

Arthur cocks his head to the side. “What exactly should have been explained to us. You were a statue in a gift her parents gave us.” As he spoke, he gestured up to Mia, who half smiled and waved with a strangely puzzled look on her face.

He was shaking his head. “Okay, so in this gift, there was a hand full of seeds that gave off a slight heat, correct kinda like my own, remember? Those were the seeds of my Tree of Life; they gather and store energy or life-force for me while I am still growing. The statue was a magical incubator for me. Even though my physical form was ready, my spiritual and life essence matured as the tree got stronger. Are we starting to put the pieces together?”

As the dragon talked, a million more thoughts and questions raced through Arthur’s head, one replacing the other as fast as he can think of them. “So you are a dragon, if I understand this correctly. You hatched, for the lack of a better word today, I guess because you finally gained enough life force, so what will you do now? Hopefully not terrorize my farm and eat the animals.”

Just as he spoke, Rex walked into view of the little dragon. “Oh wow, what on Gia is that? Would you mind not letting it eat me? I am too pretty to be eaten.” The little dragon scurried up Arthur's pants leg and hid in a deep pocket of his pants.

Arthur reached his hand inside his pocket and pulled the shaking and terrified creature out. “Rex will not eat you. At least, I do not think he will.”

As he stopped to shake in fear, the little dragon uncovered his head and looked around as he got a higher view of the farm. “Hmm,” He thought, “ Not precisely the bustling center of activity I thought it would be. So, where are the Master Breeders? Also, no, I will not eat your animals even if I wanted to. The life force I get from the tree is all the nutrients I need at the moment.”

A worried expression crossed Mia’s face. “Excuse me, little dragon, what do you mean by Master Breeders?” Shaking her head. “No one has lived on this farm ever since his grandparents passed away.”

A look of fear, worry, and then finally resentment crossed his face. “Okay, the Master Breeders are those who help the young dragons. This farm is the last remaining breeding ground for my kind; how long ago has it been that they passed. Oh yeah, I do not have a name yet; normally, the Breeders give us our names.”

Scratching his head okay, so just because calling you little dragon is not an option, how about we call you Draco after the second half of the farms’ name? Unfortunately, my grandparents passed on a decade ago.”

Draco's eyes bulged at the news. “You mean to tell me that I am 10 years overdue?” His little shoulders slumped down, and he let out a slight groan. His tail flicked, and color raced to his face. I know. I hope you two are ready to learn because you will become the newest dragon breeders in the last two thousand years.”

Arthur raised eyebrows. “What do you mean the newest in two thousand years? I do not think my grandparents were that old. Oh, what exactly would we have to do as the new breeders?”

Mia looked to Arthur. “It is pretty clear to me that your grandparents were not exactly honest with everyone when it came to secrets, so for now, how about we all go inside so we can figure out what we need to do.” Turning back around Mia, walks back to the front door of the house and opens it for Arthur and Draco to go inside. “Well, are you two coming inside or not?”

Draco twisted his head around to look at Mia and back to Arthur. “We better get a move on; She still has the extinguisher.” Once inside, Draco jumped from Arthur’s hand to the kitchen table. “Okay, so everyone inside extinguishers put away? Good, so as I would hope you have figured it out by now, Breeders help young dragons primarily by keeping them and their trees safe from those who would seek to harm either-or while the young dragon is still in what you called a statue. Once the tree has enough energy and gives us a primary surge of life force while we rest nearby, we burst forth as you saw.”

Mia was shaking her head in approval. “Okay, that sounds somewhat simple. What about the other duties, and why here would it not be safer to hatch your kind in the middle of sacred mountain range surrounded by your kind?”

Draco let out a laugh and rolled around the table. “Oh, where do you think we are? When his grandparents first settled this farm two thousand years ago, it was the heart of the dragons’ territory. Hunters and merchants drove my kind elsewhere in the last seven hundred years. However, we can only be born here on this farm now, or only my family members can.”

Arthur was looking at Draco. “Are there other locations where Breeders work?” A look of surprise and wonder spread across his face.

A frown sank on his face. “Unfortunately, I do not know what fates brought the other locations. Some found themselves hunted out of existence while others gave up and ran for the hope of survival.”

A feeling of sadness crept into Arthur. “We will help you. Just let us know what all we need to do.”

A smile tugged the corner of Dracos mouth back, showing his fangs. “Well, in all honesty keeping us safe and teaching us this like swimming, flight, and a skill that is unique to individual dragons is the general way things are customarily done. We stay nearby our trees until early to mid-spring when the fruit is ready to eat, at which point I will go out and seek my family.”

A sigh of relief left Mia as she let out her pent-up worry. “Well, if that is all we have to do, there is a pond in the back where we can swim, and I bet the old barn would allow for flight training; however, I am not sure how we are going to get you to fly when you have no wings.”

Arthur let out a laugh. “Oh well, Mia, if he has no wings, we will just have to figure out how he is supposed to fly, or maybe he just swims everywhere or runs fast.” Looking down at Draco. “Alright, then, little man, we will begin your swimming training here, maybe a tub with lukewarm water, so you do not drown.” Grabbing a large cake pan from a cupboard, he fills it with clear warm water. Setting it on the table. “Alright, Draco pool is open hop on in and give it a try.” He watches as Draco climbs into the pan and then slithers into the water as he looks up at him with a what now look on his face. “Try kicking your feet or wagging your tail.”

Draco rolled his eyes, but as he started to wiggle back and forth, he found himself making progress. “Well, looky here I can swim now looks like you know a thing or two about Dragon Breeding after all.” He performed a lap or two of the pan, ducked under the water, and launched himself onto the table.

Clapping, Mia looked at Arthur. “ Well, it looks like we are Breeders now.”