Yes, There Be Dragons

Dedicated to my granddaughter Layla
The young woman lay curled around the egg she had found.  She didn’t know why she felt the need to protect the oblong object but she knew she had to.  Layla was doing everything she could to keep it warm.  Every now and then she felt something move within the hard shell and wondered if she was doing the right thing.
That it was an egg she had no doubt but she had never seen one so large.  Her small body didn’t come close to sheltering the egg so she had taken several blankets and quilts from her home and was using them to help with protecting the egg.  Truth was the multi layers of covering were helping to keep her warm as well.  If something didn’t happen soon she would have to leave the egg because what little she had brought with her to keep her from going hungry was almost gone.  She wondered if it would even matter if she starved once the egg hatched because whatever was in it might very well eat her.
Again she felt something move within the oval but this time the oval wobbled a bit.  That hadn’t happened since she had found the egg.  Something inside her told her she probably should be afraid, run even, but she wasn’t afraid.
Again the egg wobbled and this time she heard a cracking sound.  Maybe she should get away she thought but yet she stayed where she was.  Another cracking sound split the early morning hours only this one was louder and still she didn’t move.
The third and loudest crack was the last.  A wing extended out from the broken shell throwing the covering aside and the bright red color of the wing was exposed followed by the body and other wing of the red dragon.  Layla quickly sat up not knowing what to do.  A dragon.  There was no such thing as dragons, or at least that is what she had always heard.  She had also heard that mythological dragons ate people.  Still she wasn’t frightened.
The dragon turned its face toward her and stared at her through eyes that seemed as old as time.  It cocked its head first one way and then another then it did something that shocked her.  It lay its head in her lap as if to reassure her she was in no danger.  Layla placed her hand on the dragon’s head and began to rub it between the ridges of its eyes.
“Ruby, your name is Ruby.”  Layla didn’t know why she felt the need to name this magnificent creature Rudy outside of its beautiful bright red scales that seemed to sparkle in the sunlight and give off an iridescent sheen.  The infant dragon seemed to nod its head while it rested it in her lap as if it understood what she was saying.
Layla thought the Earth might be about to change.  She wondered if there be dragons in this world what other wonders might exist still to be found and if there was one dragon could there be more?

#horror #writer #CathyPaceMatthews #TheBloodLinesSeries #JourneyIntoNightmare #NightmareExpress #ColdEncounters
#Fantasy
#Dragons