Two's-Day with a Dragon

“Boys the fire in the oven is dying, please go collect more wood from the forest”, Mikayla called to her older sons.

“Yes, mother”, echoed from the den. The boys both put on their fur coats, for that morning was just the start of a very cold day. As they exited their home, they failed to notice another smaller being following them. Their youngest brother Micah had slipped out of the door behind them, toddling along as a two year old does. As the boys advanced through the light snow from the night before, Micah slowly followed their steps trying to jump from footprint to footprint in the snow.

Gathering wood in the early morning was not a new task for the boys, their mother was the local baker. Their father worked the local grain mill and tended livestock in a nearby pasture. The boys were often tasked with aiding their mother in various tasks, from gathering the flour from the mill to keeping the ovens burning. The youngest in the house, Micah was always curious about anything he could discover. He would often be crawling under things and chasing small animals to see what they were. This morning would prove to be no different.

As the boys advanced deeper into the woods in search of timber that could be collected, Micah saw a blur of gray to the side of their path. A small hare had been foraging nearby and the older boys had startled it out of the brush. Micah, always being curious, chased after it. The hare would stop every so often and Micah would almost catch up to it, this led to a chase leading into a darker part of the forest. The trees in this part of the forest had expansive evergreen canopies, meaning snow had been blocked from reaching the ground. Without a snow patch, Micah soon lost the hare out of his sight.

Having lost the hare he was following, Micah stopped and looked around for his brothers. He had traveled in a separate direction from them, and they were long out of sight. He soon began to get scared. He was without the comfort of knowing where he was and where his family was. It was not long before he started crying while continuing to walk the direction he last saw the hare run.

After a few minutes he arrived at a hillside in the forest. Upon that hillside was an opening to what looked like a cave. The roots of the giant trees growing down around the earthen opening. Micah stood in wonder of what could be in the cave, when great thuds and thumps began behind him.

“Well tiny being, you are far from your home and kin”, boomed a great voice from above Micah. Micah turned to only see a great brown, scaly chest and scaled legs the size of trees. “Do you not speak?”, it boomed again. Micah froze in terror when he finally located where the voice was coming from. Looking down on him from above was the head of a dragon with a maw twice the size of Micah’s whole body. While the sheer size of the dragon should be terrifying to a toddler, when the dragon’s head descended to eye level with Micah, his fear suddenly was replaced with curiosity. Micah extended his hand, fingers spread, and patted the great scaly snout now within his reach.

“I am Olike”, the dragon spoke, now trying to be quieter to the toddler. “I live in the hollow in the hillside and have for many an age.”

Micah, while not understanding all that the dragon had said tried to mimic his name “Oh Ike” the toddler tried to repeat.

“Close young one”, the dragon spoke, now almost grinning with delight.

Olike had come down from the mountains and settled in the woods long ago. Dragons typically prefer caves high upon various peaks, but Olike’s had collapsed, so he sought shelter in the woods discovering the hollow he now resided in. As fate would have it after being many years without human interaction, a toddler would be the most unlikely visitor to the aged dragon. Olike knew that Micah should not be alone in the woods and that his family and village would begin seeking him upon noticing his disappearance. Considering his options, Olike pondered what the best course would be to return Micah home. Without knowing exactly from which village Micah came, they could walk to the wrong village. Flying was not an option as Micah was too young to ride on Olike’s back and would be too cold if he was carried.

While thinking, Olike noticed Micah picking up leaves and trying to eat them. “Are you hungry child?” asked the dragon. Micah nodded knowing what the word hungry meant.

Olike had fire roasted a deer earlier that morning for his own food and began to walk toward his hollow to fetch it. As he dragged the deer out of the hollow, he used his claws to tear a small chunk of meat for Micah to eat. The dragon was about to learn that human toddlers were very different from dragon hatchlings. Micah took the venison from Olike and took a small hesitant bite. Instantly, the meat fell to the forest floor, having been spit out by the child.

“You need to eat child”, thundered Olike, hoping to possibly command the child to eat. Micah merely pushed the meat further from him and turned away. The dragon began to consider what else he could feed the small being if meat would not suffice. As he eyed the surrounding forest, his gaze turned to a plum tree at a thinner part of the woods. It would be incredibly unlikely for a plum to still be in bloom this late in season, after the cold winter had begun to set in. Olike walked towards the tree, his footsteps thundering across the forest floor. Luck would have it that as he grew closer to the tree, three ripe plums fell from the tree. He lowered his head and gently picked up the plums using his teeth, careful not to damage the fruit. He returned to where Micah was sitting. Olike dropped the fruit in front of Micah, using a claw he pierced the outer skin of the plum, enticing Micah to try it. Soon all that remained of the fruit were three pits littered on the ground in front of Micah. As Olike watched Micah he began to notice how pale and chilled the child looked. Micah yawned and Olike knew this meant it was almost time for a nap. The great dragon extended his leathery wing and used it to almost scoop the child up against his ribcage to both give him a place to rest his head and warm himself with the body heat of the dragon.

It was late afternoon when Micah finally awoke from his nap, Olike the ever watchful had remained still and mindful of the surroundings as the child slept. Micah emerged from his cocoon under the dragon’s wing, now warm and full of energy. Olike did his best to entertain the child by letting him ride on his head nestled between his horns and ears. He would set Micah on his back and let him use his tail as a slide to ground. They continued to play like this until it was almost dark.

As the forest dimmed and the sun set, more and more life began moving at the edge of the thicker parts of the forest around the hollow. Olike began scanning the tree lines looking for any sign of searchers looking for Micah. It was almost completely dark before the first signs of human life came into view of the great dragon. Torches soon illuminated the surrounding forest and calls of the child’s name soon became more audible the closer they got. Olike looked down at the child and spoke, “Thank you for the wonderful day little one. I have much enjoyed your company. It is now time for you to return to your kin and I to my cave.” Olike nuzzled Micah towards the torches getting closer and used his tongue to tickle the child into a laughing fit. This brought the villagers closer and as they reached the hollow, they only saw Micah sitting on the ground laughing, Olike having returned to the interior of his cave out of sight.

Mikayla ran to her son, and scooped him up, tears of joy streaming down her face having found her son. The calls rang out across the forest that the child had been found. As Mikayla positioned her son on her hip for the long walk back to the village, Micah looked back towards the cave and said only one word, “Olike”.