A Demon and a Dragon

by Virlyce

  Mary tilted her head and placed the branch onto the ground. She made sure Mary Junior was still tightly wedged underneath her arm and climbed up Nova’s side with swift motions. Nova pointed underneath his wing. “Do you see that hilt? It’s golden with a phoenix engraved on it.”

  Mary nodded.

  “Try pulling on it. It’s wedged in pretty tight, but you look pretty strong,” Nova said. “See if you can get it out.”

  Mary grabbed the hilt and tugged, but it didn’t budge. She furrowed her brow and planted both her feet against Nova’s scales, bending her knees. She adjusted her grip, making sure her arm was straight. Then she straightened her knees. With a squelching sound accompanied by a squirt of blood, the sword slid out of Nova, and Mary went flying from the sudden loss of resistance. She yelped as she crashed to the ground, landing on her back but holding Mary Junior up with one hand and the sword with her other.

  “Ah,” Nova said, letting out a small groan. “That feels so much better.” He flapped his wing up and down a few times before letting it settle against his side. “Can you believe that thing was stuck inside of me for over several hundred years? I actually forgot about it until now.”

  Mary sat up and swallowed, her eyes wide as they stared at the blood-drenched sword in her grasp. “I … can have this?”

  “Yeah,” Nova said. “It belonged to a human who stabbed me and put me to sleep, but he should be dead by now since humans don’t live very long. You can have it as my thanks for removing it.”

  Mary swallowed again, her eyes welling with tears. “Thank you,” she said and hugged the sword to her chest, dropping Mary Junior onto the ground. “I’ll cherish it forever and ever.”

  Nova scratched his snout. “Err…, yeah, sure. No problem. No need to cry. You’re Vur’s friend, right? Just think of it as a gift from him to you.”

  Mary stiffened. She looked down at the hilt of the sword, then up at Nova. “I…. Okay.” She stroked the flat part of the sword’s blade, coating the tips of her leather gloves with blood. “I’ll accept this as a gift from Vur, my … friend.”

  A wooden branch fell into her lap. “Alright,” Nova said. “Now you can get to carving too. You can make Vur a staff in return in the future. Just take some firewood from Sharda’s place and use that as your base when you get serious.”

  Mary bobbed her head up and down and scooted over next to Youngest to get a better view of Nova’s demonstration.

  “Hey,” a small voice said from off to the side. The four dragons and Mary turned their heads towards the sound. Alice swallowed and nudged Mr. Skelly, who was sitting next to her. She whispered, “You say it.”

  Mr. Skelly cleared his throat and rose to his feet. “We’re friends of Vur too. Do you happen to have any more troublesome weapons embedded inside of you that you’d like us to help you remove?”

  Nova raised his brow. Then his eyes curved into a smile. “I do indeed.”

  “What,” Alice said. “Really?”

  “They’re not weapons per se, but my lower back hasn’t been scratched in ages,” Nova said. “I’m sure a few scales are in the process of shedding and haven’t fallen off yet. All you two-legged creatures love using dragon scales as crafting materials, don’t you?”

  “So, you want us to scratch your back, and we get to keep the shedding scales?” Alice asked. She stared up at the dragon that seemed like the size of a mountain. How do you scratch a mountain’s back?

  “Yep,” Nova said. “You just have to scratch the parts that I can’t reach.” He swept his front paw towards his wing before placing it back onto the ground. Then he lifted his hind leg before setting it back down. “Limited range of motion, see?”

  Alice and Mr. Skelly exchanged glances with each other. They nodded before facing Nova with their backs straight. “Alright, we’ll do it. We’ll give you the best backscratching of your life.”

  A couple of hours later, the annoying trio and Mary had finished crafting their staves. Nova peered down at the four carved pieces of wood in his paw. He lowered his ankle, letting the staves roll across his palm. Then he straightened his paw and nodded. He pinched one of the staves and brought it towards the ground where the annoying trio and Mary were waiting. “Who made this one?”

  Mary’s hand shot up. “I did.”

  “Have you ever considered woodworking for a living?” Nova asked and brought the staff towards Mary. “This is a masterpiece. The lines are perfect. You must have very steady hands or exceptional skill with a sword to cut this cleanly.”

  Mary grabbed the staff and stared at it with a blank expression. After a moment, she looked up at Nova. “I’m … good at this?”

  “Yep,” Nova said. “You’re amazing at it. That staff is made out of an ordinary tree, but I’m willing to bet magicians all over would fight to have it.”

  Mary blinked and looked at the staff again. She stroked the length of it with her palm. There was a thumping sound, and she flinched, jerking her head up. A block of rose-colored wood lay by her feet; it was longer than she was tall.

  “Use that to make a staff for Vur,” Nova said before turning his attention towards the annoying trio. “As for you three, all of your staves are pretty similar. It’s hard to judge whose is better. This one”—he raised a partially burnt staff with gnarls spiraling up its body—“is the best for fire magic.” He placed the first staff onto the ground and raised another. It was wavy, its body twisting and turning. “This one is the best for wind magic.” He placed that one down and lifted the last staff. It was top-heavy, bulging at the top and stick-thin in comparison at the bottom. “And this one is perfect for bludgeoning things.”

  Bonnie picked up the top-heavy staff. “Grandpa, I thought this would be perfect for earth magic,” she said, holding it out towards her grandfather. “How do I fix it?”

  “Oh, that’s easy,” Nova said and took the staff. He carved away at the top with his claw, evening out the weight distribution. “First you make it perfectly balanced. And then”—he leaned over and picked up a bucket filled with green paint—“you color the top part green.” He dipped the tip of the staff inside as if he were churning butter. Then he pulled the staff out and gave it a twirl, flinging loose paint off. “Easy, see?”

  Bonnie blinked at her new staff. She made eye contact with her grandfather. “Does painting it do anything? Why don’t Eldest and Youngest have to paint theirs?”

  Nova stroked his chin. “Of course,” he said. “Painting a staff makes it look nice. And I don’t have any red or white paint at the moment, so they can’t paint theirs.”

  “I’m done!”

  Nova and the annoying trio turned towards Mary. She was holding up a rose-colored staff with scenes of carnage engraved on its side: Soldiers swinging swords, clashing with other soldiers. Soldiers holding the heads of their fallen enemies. Soldiers with their hearts being run through by rose-colored, cold steel. Nova received the staff with his paw and stared at it. “Uh, don’t staves usually depict, um, nature-related things like birds and flowers? Shouldn’t that be the first thing that comes to mind when you’re using such an ancient piece of wood?”

  Mary tilted her head and pursed her lips. “Is it bad?”

  “No, no,” Nova said, shaking his head. “It looks great, truly a masterpiece. It was just a bit unexpected. Mana also flows through this surprisingly well. I didn’t think such a disharmonious scene would transmit mana so perfectly. Now, the only thing left to do is to paint it green.”

  Mary ran up and grabbed Nova’s paw, stopping him just before the staff entered the bucket. She stared at him with wide eyes and shook her head.

  “Hmm?” Nova raised an eyebrow. “Oh, you wanted to paint it yourself. I got it.” He handed the staff towards Mary and nudged the bucket closer to her.

  Mary bit her lower lip, her gaze switching between the bucket and Nova’s face. She took a step back, hugging the staff to her chest. “Green isn’t a good color for this.”

  Nova hummed and
furrowed his brow. “I guess that’s true. But a good artist can make anything look good with a single color.” He sat back on his haunches. “I suppose asking you to do that will be too much though. What color would work best?”

  “Blood.”

  “…Red? I can make red paint.”

  Mary shook her head. “Blood.” She tucked the staff under her right arm and slid her leather glove off of her left. She retrieved the staff with her left hand and drew her sword with her right. Then, before anyone could react, she slashed her left forearm.

  Bonnie yelped and backed away, staring at Mary as if she were crazy. Youngest and Eldest crept back too as a steady flow of blood crawled down Mary’s arm and onto the staff, dying the rose-colored wood reddish-black.

  “Uh….” Nova scratched his head as Mary twirled the staff, letting her blood coat it evenly. “That’s some serious devotion to art you got there…. Have you ever considered being an artist?”

  Mary finished coating the staff and planted it upright in the ground before putting her glove back on. “I don’t know how to make art.”

  Nova’s eyes shifted to the staff. “Are you sure about that? Even if you can’t, I can teach you. I always wanted an apprentice, and you two-legged creatures are so small that you can pay more attention to detail than us dragons.”

  Mary sat down and exhaled, curling up into a ball. She spoke towards the ground while a turtle shell made of aura wrapped around her, “I don’t know. I have to raise Mary Junior and be best friends with Tafel and try to be friends with Vur. And I’m an empress. Will I have time to learn art?”

  Before Nova could respond, a high-pitched voice thundered across the sky. “Nova! You ditched me! That was really mean of you, you old fogey. And I had to carry two birds in my mouth without swallowing; it’s all your fault!”

  Prika slammed to the ground like a meteor and spat out two clumps of wet feathers. She shook herself off and looked around, her gaze landing on the annoying trio. “Oh! You three are … too young.” She sighed but sidled up to Eldest and nudged him with her elbow. “Got any older brothers though? Or a single uncle? Perhaps an older cousin?”

  Eldest shivered and crept back towards Nova. “Grandpa? Who is this?”

  “She’s Prika,” Nova said. “You can ignore her.”

  “Actually,” Bonnie said and tugged on Prika’s tail, drawing the red dragon’s attention. “We do have an older cousin. He’s really cool too.”

  “Ooh?” Prika’s eyes lit up, and she whirled around to face Bonnie. “Where is he? Is he single? Do I have to fight off a different dragon?”

  Bonnie furrowed her brow. “Um….”

  But before she could reply, Nova placed his paw on top of Prika’s head, his claws lightly touching her skull. “She’s talking about Vur,” Nova said. “Unless you want to embarrass yourself again, just—”

  “Damnit, Vur!” Prika shouted, cutting Nova off. She huffed, exhaling two jets of flames through her nostrils. She sighed and looked down at Bonnie, a defeated expression on her face. “Any cousins beside Vur?”

  Bonnie shook her head.

  “Actually,” Youngest said and tugged on Prika’s tail in the same manner that Bonnie had earlier. “Maybe Uncle Vernon has an older brother or sister with kids.”

  “He doesn’t,” Prika said and rolled her eyes. “I asked him a looong time ago.” Her eyes narrowed. “Wait a minute. In that long amount of time, couldn’t one have been born?” She bit her lower lip. “But then they’d be too young.” She sighed again, her head drooping towards the ground. Her tail rose and slammed into the earth. She lifted her head towards the sky and shouted, “There needs to be more dragons in the world! Why are there so few of us!?”

  “Hey,” Alice said. She was standing atop Nova’s back, holding a metal rake. Sweat dripped from her forehead, and she wiped at it with the back of her arm.

  Prika turned her head and blinked at Alice. Then she pointed at herself. “Are you talking to me?” She cupped her paw over her mouth and whispered to Nova, “You slept for too long. Parasites are growing on your back.”

  “I’m Vur’s friend,” Alice said.

  “…Friend?” Prika asked. She raised her eyebrows and smirked. “Girl…friend?”

  Alice turned to Mr. Skelly. “Is it just me or are dragons really a lot like children?”

  “No, I’ve been noticing that too lately,” Mr. Skelly said and nodded.

  “I’m Vur’s girl friend!” Mary said, raising her hand into the air. She stood up out of her aura turtle shell before hanging her head. “Or, I’m trying to be.”

  “Ooh!” Prika’s eyes lit up. “Really?”

  Mary bobbed her head up and down. “For Grandpa’s sake,” she said and patted Nova’s claw.

  Prika blinked at Nova. “Eh? Is Tafel not good enough for you?”

  Nova sighed and pushed Prika’s head down to the ground with his tail. He faced his three grandchildren and gestured towards the struggling red dragon with his claw. “And this is why you should ignore her. Her neurons have been replaced with hormones, and she can’t think or speak properly.”

  Bonnie swallowed. “When we grow up … will we be like her?”

  “Eh.” Nova shrugged. “It’s possible if you don’t find a mate in a suitable timeframe, but I don’t think that’ll happen to you three.”

  Prika shoved Nova’s tail off of her head and gasped for breath. “Whose neurons have been replaced with hormones!?” She paused and tilted her head. “What’s a neuron?”

  Alice cleared her throat. “Hello? Miss Red Dragon?”

  “Oh, right. You were saying something to me before I was so rudely interrupted,” Prika said and shot a dirty look at Nova. She snorted and nodded at Alice. “What’s up?”

  “So, back on the eastern continent where I’m from, there’s a bunch of holy dragons,” Alice said. “Do you know them?”

  “Leila’s family?” Prika asked. She furrowed her brow. “I actually don’t know much about her family. She doesn’t talk about them.”

  “Well, other than the dragon matriarch and her mate, there’s another four dragons,” Alice said. “There’s Leila, the one that you know. Lulu, a freak that kept following Vur around for the majority of the time. And there’s another two that I don’t know the names of, but judging by the way they were talking to the dragon matriarch, they’re definitely brothers.”

  Prika stiffened. “Brothers?” She wet her lips with her tongue. “How old did you say there were?”

  “I didn’t say anything about their age,” Alice said. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “That’s not something a two-legged creature like me is able to discern at a glance.”

  “Leila had brothers and never mentioned them to me…,” Prika said in a low voice while staring at the ground. “I wonder why.”

  “Is it because your neurons were replaced by hormones?” Eldest asked.

  “No!” Prika said, snapping her jaws at Eldest. “Stop saying that. I’m a perfectly healthy and functional dragon. Nothing vital was replaced by anything, okay?” She furrowed her brow and looked up at the sky before sighing. “Leila must’ve forgot. Yes, that must be it.” Her head snapped down to glare at Alice. “How big are they? Are they bigger than me, or smaller than me?”

  Alice scratched her head before tapping on Mr. Skelly’s shoulder. “How big would you say they were?”

  “As someone with no eyes, I can say with complete confidence that when we last saw them, they were the same size as you, Prika.” Mr. Skelly nodded.

  Prika stared at Mr. Skelly. “Aren’t you one of Lindyss’ skeletons?”

  “I’m a free man now,” Mr. Skelly said. He wrapped his arm around Alice’s shoulder. “This is my wife.”

  Prika’s expression darkened. “Are you telling me a skeleton has a better love life than me? Is that for real?” She exhaled and spread her wings. “Alright, to the eastern continent I go. I’m not coming back until I have a mate.”

  “Wait!” Alice s
aid. When Prika turned to look at her, Alice cleared her throat and scratched her reddening neck. “Err, wasn’t my information helpful? Isn’t there something you might want to … give … me…?” She shrank back under Prika’s glare but continued talking, “Like a scale? Or two?”

  Prika snorted. “You’re happily married to a skeleton. What could you possibly want from a lonely old spinster like me?” Her wings spread even further, and her knees bent.

  “Before you go, say hi to Lulu for me,” a voice said from behind her.

  Prika turned around. “Vur! When did you get here?”

  Tafel cleared her throat. “About the time Mary said she wanted to be Vur’s girlfriend because of Nova.”

  “Ooh,” Prika said. She closed her wings, letting them rest against her sides. “I think I’ll stick around for a bit longer then.”

  “So, what did you mean by that?” Tafel asked, crossing her arms and staring at Mary.

  “Grandpa Nova gave me a sword,” Mary said, holding out her weapon, “for being Vur’s friend. And I’m a girl. I have to be Vur’s girl friend to thank him properly for the sword.”

  Tafel exhaled. “You’re just his friend, okay? You don’t have to append girl to friend just because you’re a girl.”

  Mary tilted her head. “But don’t you have to specify genders?” she asked. “There’s a girl chicken and there’s a boy chicken, and they both do different things, so we don’t call them both chickens.”

  “No, we do,” Tafel said. “A hen is a chicken. A rooster is a chicken. You only have to call them hens and roosters when you want to be technical. When you tell someone to make that dumb chicken stop crowing, they know you’re talking about a rooster.”

  Mary furrowed her brow. “But don’t girl friends and boy friends do different things?” She nodded. “When my sisters had their girl friends over, they’d discuss different ways to poison men while painting their nails. When my brothers had their boy friends over, they’d fight each other to see who was stronger. Boy friends won’t talk about poisoning men with you while painting their nails, and girl friends won’t stab you with swords.” She nodded again, firmer this time. “That’s right. You have to specify.”