(I’m gonna make this dragon-y if you don’t mind, my love)Softly, hushedly, gently, breathing. His tender warmth bled through the fresh snow, coating the ground. Pines trembled as they needles formed a carpet of royal green for him. Everyone knew him, but his name was never spoken. They didn’t want to coax the beast. His tail swung low, turning crushed snow into a veil of fog. Everyone new there was only a few ways to get out of those impending jaws. Well, almost everyone. His scales danced as a careless, cocky child dared the edges of his home. The boy wandered with a hound by his side. He set the hound out to find a rabbit. Loyal and loving, the hound ran, but stumbled a fell. He showed himself to the mutt who’s gums where blue and breath ragged. “He has hurt you.” A long claw was pointed at the leather bond around the dog’s throat, digging into the skin. “It will kill you.”The dog wailed, voice freezing from the cold. The tips of its ears frozen from the wind. “If I don’t came back with a rabbit, he’ll have me instead!” “He shall not!” The dragon huffed, fog trickling down from his nostrils. He took that long claw and broke the leather collar. Warmth glowed from the belly of the monster and he whispered something the dog could not demur.The man walked as the snow pilled into the sky. Birds passed on without a care. The wind had stopped blowing and the sky was becoming no different that the sea. Dark without a trace of recollection, the man was lost. He snarled for his dog to return, but it did not. He swore and promised to beat that mutt. A howl was all it took to get him walking for away from escape. Freshly fallen flakes filled up his tracks before he could turn to see them. He was lost and cold. That’s when the voices started. Mumbles at first, but then he could feel them vibrating in his chest.“Aren’t you cold? Hungry? Come by the fire. I’ll keep you well.” Sang a voice like a morning starling. There was no fire. He waved the thoughts away, but it continued. “I know the way…”“Where are you?” He called out, but his voice was weak and hollow. That’s when he saw a glimmer, a speckle of a flame. He chased it until he found a fireplace, neatly stocked and ablaze. He tried to warm himself. He ignored how far he was. How deep. It was too late now.They found the dog. Happy and safe. Tail wagging and full. He never harmed good creatures. They found nothing else however, nothing but the shed scales. Fire he created led bad men so deep in desperation that they never returned. Perhaps they should have warned him. Or maybe they wanted him gone. Either way, the dog and people thanked him with sweets and fruit and delicious meat as they did every time he needed appeasing.
