Douglas the Dragon: Book 1 - Douglas the Unloved Dragon

by William Forde

Douglas the Unloved Dragon

  Our story begins long, long ago when dragons roamed the world and wizards were the masters of all that they surveyed. This was a time when the forces of ‘Good and Evil’ were in constant struggle; a time when war was waged between the human emotions of Fear, Anger and Love. The prize at stake was the greatest prize of all: control of the heart, mind and actions of every man, woman and child.

  One mile, beyond the Village of Marfield, the hero of our story (a baby dragon), was being born through a slit in its mother’s stomach. Such entry into the world is known as a Caesarean birth. One hour before its birth, its mother had been killed by a wicked wizard. The wicked wizard believed that if he drank the warm blood of a female dragon that he’d killed with his own hands, he’d live forever.

  After the wicked wizard had drunk the warm blood of the female dragon he’d killed, he left. He didn’t know that the female dragon was a pregnant dragon, and was due to give birth. Shortly after, a baby dragon was born through the slit in its mother’s stomach and it crawled into the nearby grassland. For the first few hours of its existence, the baby dragon’s eyelids were stuck and it couldn’t yet see the world into which it had been born. It only had its nose to guide it in those first few hours of life. It could smell two different smells. One was the stench of death close by and the other; an aroma of life in the direction of Marfield Village. So choosing life over death, it followed its nose through the long grass towards the Village of Marfield.

  Meanwhile, a young boy called Douglas and his widowed mother who lived in Marfield Village were having a friendly dispute.

  “Go on, Mum. I’ll not be too long. Please let me go to the long grass and look for frogs.” Douglas pleaded with his mother.

  “Okay,” relented Douglas’s mother. “You can visit the long grass, but you must collect a loaf before you come home as we’re out of bread. And, whatever you see on your travels, my boy, you leave there. You don’t bring it home! We’re overrun with your stray animals. We’ve already got two cats, four dogs, a three-legged pony, a poorly goose and a white rat. And only last week you tried to sneak a frog with a broken leg into your bedroom!”

  “Thank you, Mum. Thank you, thank you, and thank you. You’re the best mum in the whole wide world. I won’t forget the bread, Mum,” Douglas said gleefully as he started to run off.

  Douglas set out on his afternoon travels and after an hour or so he came across a creature crawling through the long grass in search of food and water. As the boy approached this strange-looking creature, he could sense that it was unable to see. Its large eyelids remained firmly closed and the skin that covered its body bore the wrinkles of something newborn.

  The boy, who loved all manner of animals, had never seen anything quite like it before. It had the build and size of a baby crocodile, the face of a camel, the wings of a buzzard and the legs of a giant-sized turkey. The skin across its chest was pulled tight in regimented lines; giving it the look of an armoured breastplate worn by centurions during the time of the Roman Empire. Most of its body was coloured green, apart from its spiky mane; which stretched from the base of the creature’s neck to the tip of its long tapering tail. The only sound it made came in the form of short snorts from the two large nostrils in the centre of its face.

  “Hello there, fella,” the boy said, as he gently picked up the creature to give it a cuddle. ”You’re a strange-looking creature if ever I saw one! You’re gorgeous, fella; simply gorgeous. I’d love to take you back home with me, but I can’t, fella, as mum would never allow it. She already says that I’ve got too many animals.”

  As the boy cradled the creature in his arms, it opened its eyes for the very first time in its life and snorted loudly. This was the first time that the creature had set eyes upon the world into which it had been born, and Douglas’s face was the first face it had ever seen.

  Douglas offered the creature an apple that he was just about to eat, which the creature quickly gobbled up before snorting for more. When Douglas placed the creature back down in the long grass, he half expected it to run off, but it didn’t. It started to hang on to his coat tail and follow the boy home. Douglas tried to tell the creature that it couldn’t come home with him, but whatever Douglas said and however sternly he tried to say it, the creature simply ignored his instructions to stay there. Instead, it followed the boy all the way back to his home in the village.

  Now Douglas knew a great deal about many animals, but one thing he didn’t know was that when any newborn creature first opens its eyes, the very first thing it sees, it thinks of as its mother! The other thing that Douglas didn’t realise was the true nature of the strange-looking creature that was now in his presence. He didn’t know that he had found and befriended a baby dragon, or to be more precise; one of the few remaining dragons still alive on the face of the earth.

  He couldn’t have known; having never seen a dragon before or even heard of one. Douglas didn’t even know that such creatures as dragons existed. Believing Douglas to be its mother, the baby dragon wouldn’t let the boy out of its sight once it had first set eyes on him. It followed Douglas all the way home, like a shadow the boy just couldn’t shake off!

  When Douglas arrived home with the baby dragon in pursuit, his mother gave him an angry welcome.

  “Douglas, where in heaven’s name have you been all morning? Where’s the fresh bread I asked you to collect from the bakers hours ago? And whatever have you brought home with you this time? You’ve already got two cats, four dogs, a three-legged pony, a poorly goose and a white rat. Are you trying to overrun us lad?" she remarked angrily.

  Douglas had completely forgotten the loaf of bread his mother had sent him to fetch!

  “Sorry, Mum. I was on my way to get the bread when I came across a cub fox trapped in the barbed-wire fence of Farmer Brown’s field. I just had to free it, Mum. By the time I’d freed the fox I’d completely forgotten about the bread and where I was going. Then I came across this little fella here and.........”

  Douglas’s mother cut him off in mid-sentence. She had heard enough. She had heard it all before; too many times. Ever since the death of Douglas’s father, her only child, Douglas, had started to attach himself to all manner of creatures; homeless creatures and unfortunate animals who’d found themselves orphaned or badly maimed through some accident or other mishap. There wasn’t one week that went by when Douglas failed to bring home some stray or injured creature. His mother didn’t particularly dislike animals: she didn’t want them filling up her small house! The trouble with Douglas was that although he knew the difference between four-legged animals and two-legged humans, he couldn’t stop himself loving both in equal measure.

  “We’re having no more of your strays in this house, my boy!” Douglas’s mother said in an angry voice.” We’re already overrun with half the strays in the village. We’re already accommodating two cats, four dogs, a three- legged pony....................”

  Douglas interrupted,” But Mum, just look at it! It looks lost to me, poor little mite.”

  “And it can jolly well stay lost as far as I’m concerned, my boy!” replied his mother.

  “Mum....Please, Mum. It’s all alone in the world with no parents to protect it. Please let it stay a week; just one little week, Mum. Ple....ase,” Douglas pleaded.

  “No!” replied Douglas’s mother firmly as she folded her arms resolutely.

  “Please, Mum” Douglas continued to plea. “If you won’t let it stay a week, then three days. Please let it stay three days, Mum?”

  “What part of ‘no’ don’t you understand, my boy. ‘No’ means ‘no!’” his mother replied adamantly.

  “One night then, Mum; just one night, please. If we leave it out to face the elements all alone on the first night of its life, it’ll be dead by the morning and we’ll have as good as killed it! We’ll be no better than ‘murderers.’ Just one night, Mum. Ple....ase?”

  “You always could get around me with those winning eyes,”
Douglas’s mother replied.” You always know which heartstring to tug, my boy. Just one night then. One night only, but mark my words; when tomorrow comes, the newfound stray goes or else I will, and then you can also taste the experience of being motherless! If it stays, it sleeps in the barn, my boy, and it doesn’t come inside the house. Smelly creature!”

  “Oh thank you, thank you and thank you Mum. You’re the best mum in the whole wide world, “said Douglas gleefully as he flung his arms around his mother’s neck before kissing her.

  That first night was a night to remember. It was a night sent to test the patience of Douglas, with the insecurity of the baby dragon keeping him occupied all night long.

  Close to the outskirts of the village stood two hills side-by-side. One hill was so tall that no villager ever tried to climb it, and became known as ‘The Hill of Fear.’ The other hill was known to the villagers as ‘The Angry Hill’ because it was forever grumbling its discontent deep down in its belly. It would build up its anger over one or two hundred years until it had stored up so much that it could no longer contain it. Then, when it was ready for ‘blowing its top off’, it would suddenly erupt and explode its volcanic larva down the hillside and destroy the very foundation of village