10 Minute Tales

Jan 27 - Dragon at the Fair

Leo sighed as he wandered the faire, its gaudy tents promising wonders the like of which he had never seen. He had gotten tired of the freakshows and the side attractions. After all, she hadn't turned up yet. Had he been played for a fool? Again? He sighed as he kept walking, but stopped at the sight of a man wearing a leather apron, stood behind a large, oaken table. Perched upon it sat a small, green dragon. He tilted his head softly and approached, prompting the keeper to smile.
"Isn't she a beauty?" He asked, petting the tiny dragon down the length of its spine. Leo frowned, not convinced, but nodded his agreement. The dragons he had heard tales of spoke of titanic creatures, scales as tough as a battalion of shield bearers, fangs like spears and claws like scythes, but this ungainly little beast was barely as large as his hand. Green, rugged scales coated a tiny, wriggling body as the young dragon nuzzled the keeper's finger. "This particular little girl came from the marshes to the north, you know. She was being plagued by a small pack of hawk dragons, but I was able to fend them off."
"How?" He asked. "Hawk dragons tend to stick with something."
"Well, I offered an exchange... alright, don't give me that look, I threw a chunk of meat in the other direction. While they fought over it, I was able to rescue this girl."
"I doubt she would have appreciated that." He said, kneeling to look at the dragon from its height. It backed off a little, fangs bared and growling a tiny, adorable growl. He couldn't help but smile at that. This faire was proving to be interesting after all.
"Well, no, she did bite me, but she hasn't developed her poison sacs yet so it didn't matter much."
"Poison?"
"Of course! Not every dragon exhales fire, you know, that's only a trait of one particular breed."
"Red-scaled ones, right?"
"Exactly!" The keeper smiled, putting a worn notebook on the table and flipping through its many pages. "There's also blue, which breathes supercooled air, you've got the lightning breath of the rare purple-scaled..." as he flipped through the pages, he stopped on various diagrams, showing the various dragons he spoke of.
"Listen, this is pretty cool, I won't lie, but I've got someone I want to see, so..." Leo took a step back, gesturing to a tent behind him.
"Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to keep you busy. I hope this has been interesting!"
"Yeah, yeah, it has, thanks." He turned away, waving gently as he took his leave.