The Little Adventures of Sofie: Book 1

Chapter 3

Sofie woke up the next morning to the smell of eggs, bacon, and coffee.

"Good morning baby girl. You are getting breakfast in bed this morning," Joe said with a smile on his face.

"Oh Daddy, you didn't have to do this but thank you." She held out her arms towards him indicating that she wanted a hug and possibly, no definitely, kisses.

She scarfed down her breakfast and went to go find what had happened to Daddy. She found him in her bedroom setting up what can only be described as heaven on earth. It was a full blanket fort with Christmas lights draped on the inside and pillows and her stuffed animals waiting for her. Her jaw dropped in amazement as she gazed at it.

"I've never seen anything so pretty!" She exclaimed.

"It was meant to be a surprise when it was done but I guess it's close enough," Joe said with a hint of pride in his voice. Sofie crawled into it immediately and began setting up her stuffed animals.

The moon was high overhead when the bounty hunters strolled into the tavern, holding the palace issued notice for a handsome reward to anyone that could slay the local dragon. Many had tried but none had succeeded. But these were no ordinary bounty hunters. One was a beautiful, sun-kissed, and tall woman, the other was a bit shorter and stockier male. Their fame preceded them. This was the famous duo of Ruby of Wintersfell and Brock of North Daggermouth. Ruby sauntered up to the bar and ordered an ale. Brock followed close behind.

"Are you two here for the dragon," the barkeep asked.

Ruby gave a single nod and took another sip of her ale. Brock on the other hand cleared his throat loudly and exclaimed, "ye verily."

"Daddy that's not how people talk here," Sofie whispered. "Try to act more natural."

Joe nodded to show he understood.

Ruby looked back at the barkeeper. "We'll need a room for the night." She plopped down the biggest silver coin the barkeep had ever seen.

"Yes of course. Up the stairs first door on the left."

Brock and Ruby finished their drinks and went upstairs for the night. In the morning, they gathered all their weapons and armors and set out west where the dragon was rumored to live. They hadn't even gone half way when they heard the distant roar of the dragon. They paused and put on their armor, medium weight, it offered decent protection and movement, and picked out a few of their favorite weapons. The roars were getting closer and closer till at last a large shadow swept over them from above.

"Avast ye dragon!" shouted Brock. Joe looked over to see Sofie staring at him incredulously.

"Daddy?"

"Yes pumpkin?"

"Gallant bounty hunters don't say avast. Or ye. Dragon is ok though."

Joe laughed. "I'll just run around in circles shouting 'dragon' then."

"Daddy!" Sofie said exasperatedly. "I didn't mean you shouldn't talk. Just...... be better at it?" She tried to sound encouraging but was afraid she came of a bit bossy.

Joe let out a hearty laugh and said ok. He promised to try to be better at speaking.

The dragon circled low overhead. Brock jumped up on the nearest boulder and shouted after the dragon "Behold dragon! I, Brock the Mighty-" Ruby rolled her eyes. "-Will slay you this day. No more will you reign terror...." Ruby didn't catch the rest of his speech. She had wandered off to a nearby cave in search of the dragon, and she had found him. As quick and graceful as you can imagine, Ruby ducked and dodged her way up to the beast. She pulled out two short swords and flung them into the dragons neck. He let out a fearsome howl and a fiery blast that scorched the earth around it. Ruby rolled out of the way just in time. She gathered up all her courage and ran straight at the dragon. He slashed the air in front of her with its huge claws but just missed. In no time at all Ruby had run up the neck of the dragon, using the short swords to help her along, and carved a deep trench into the gullet of the loathsome creature.

Ruby quickly chopped off one of the horns on the dragon and tucked it away in a knapsack before heading back to Brock. She found him right where she had left him. Still in the middle of his speech. She had to give him credit though, it did sound good. But it had to be done, so she interrupted him and, after giving her an extremely puzzled look as to why she was covered in blood and holding a horn, they went back to the cave to chop off the head so they could show the king that the dragon was truly dead and collect the reward. Brock pouted all the way there however. He had wanted to be in on the action and missed all of it because he was busy speaking properly.

Sofie giggled and gave her Daddy a kiss on the cheek. "You're still my hero, Daddy."

At this point it was later in the day. Sofie and Joe had spent the morning and early afternoon pretending to be brave warriors and bounty hunters inside the blanket fort. But now it was time for Sofie to get ready for work. She was dreading it after her accident yesterday, but Joe just encouraged her and told her everything would be alright. So Sofie left for work and although it was a very busy Saturday night, she got through it just fine. Her manager told her there would be no penalties for what happened because it was out of her control and Sofie thought back to Joe and was glad he had convinced her to go to work. As a thank you, she ordered his favorite dessert to take home and surprise him with.