Her father came in then, bearing 5 brown squirrels. He squatted next to the dragon and fed them to her gently. She gulped them down without chewing then surprised them both. She smiled at him! They couldn't have explained how she did it but it was a clear up at the corners, expressed in the eyes, true smile. Her father was still for a second, looking shocked, and said “you're welcome!”
“Did she talk in your mind?” Madeline asked. She felt like she was sharing an amazing discovery with her father.
“Yes,” he said. “I knew they were intelligent but I never dreamed of that!”
“That's not all!” Madeline said exuberantly. She explained about Chitter and everything the dragon had told her. The dragon settled down with her head on her forefeet and listened.
When Madeline was finished he father looked at the dragon and asked her name. Madeline felt foolish. She had never thought of the dragon having a name!
“You may call me Gilda,” she mind-spoke to both of them. “I'm three years old.” she answered Madeline's next question before she spoke it.
“Why did they pick so young of a dragon?” Madeline's father asked. “Mad said it was because you were small but that is a very dangerous job for a little dragon.”
Gilda looked down for a second then answered “I am without kin. If I fail, no families will mourn.”
Madeline was shocked. Dragons were extremely long-lived and they had not heard of Baron Godfrey succeeding in killing any yet. How could there be orphans?
Once again Gilda answered before they verbalized a question. “Most dragon eggs hatch within a few days of each other. If any eggs are unhatched seven days after the last one they are placed in a common nest, warmed by older or sick dragons for a month more. Most of those eggs never hatch. The few that do are raised by everyone yet no one. We lack for nothing but yet are not the same. When the elders asked for volunteers for this duty, several other dragons stepped forward. All of their families prevented them going. No one objected for me. I wanted to go. I want to form a life for myself. I want to be more than I have been. I believed this would be my chance.”
“But,” Madeline sputtered, “you're a baby!”
“No more than you are,” Gilda answered. “I am small for my age, most late-hatchers are. I am on the verge of puberty. Just like you. You could say we are of the same maturity if not the same in years.”
Madeline was still stunned. She couldn't imagine leaving everything she knew to go on such a dangerous mission at her age. She felt great respect for Gilda.
“So,” she said, “we will be friends. I will help you recover and then I will take you to see Baron Humphrey. Will you go home then?”
“I don't know,” answered Gilda.
Sounds from the main room indicated that her mother was stirring. Her father bowed to Gilda and bade her a good day before he stepped out. Madeline continued to talk to Gilda for a few more minutes until her scaly eyelids began to look heavy.
“Rest!” Madeline said emphatically. “I will check on you soon and bring you something else to eat later.”
She thought about Gilda the rest of the morning as she did her chores. She was such an amazing creature. Madeline couldn't bring herself to call her an animal any more. She felt like as much of a person as Madeline was. The method of conversation took a little getting used to but once you stopped thinking about it and just did it, it was fine. She felt that she and Gilda could become very good friends. So her two best friends had wings, that was fine with her!
Chapter 4: Hunting Lessons
After the midday meal was eaten and cleaned up, Madeline walked briskly to the stable. Gilda had slept all morning and she had looked as comfortable as she could for her situation. Her father was oiling some saddles so she sat down next to him to help. While they finished the task Madeline went over the events of the night. Her father was sure the boys that had harmed Gilda were the latest two missing squires.
“Its a good thing it was those two,” he laughed “they couldn't catch a bird in a birdcage! They had only gotten as far as they had because their parents were thorns in Humphrey's side. I'm sure they won't be telling anyone about Gilda. If they do, she will have grown so large and mighty in the telling that no one would recognize her.”
He grabbed a slingshot and some rocks and took her out behind the stable for her lesson. She had been nervous because her hand-eye coordination had never been good. Surprisingly, she found that when more was on the line than the friendship of some silly boys, she was able to focus and do okay. She wasn't on the road to winning any prizes but she felt she could do her part to keep Gilda fed while she recovered. At least as long as the squirrels stood still!
After the lesson she ran quickly to the forest and set to work. Squirrels that ordinarily seemed to be everywhere were now elusive. They seemed to sense that now she was armed and ready to shorten their little lifespans. The first squirrel she saw was a little quicker than she expected and he escaped with little more then a slight breeze on his backside. The second fared a little worse. His tail would be needing a proper grooming when he got back to his nest. She finally got a good hit with the third squirrel. She was putting it in her bag when she heard her mother calling. It had taken much longer than she expected! She would have to squeeze in some more time between chores! One squirrel would not be enough to get Gilda through the rest of the day.
She reached in her room through the open window and tossed the bag towards Gilda. “I'm sorry!” she told her quickly. “I'll get more later.”
“Don't worry,” Gilda answered. “This will be okay for awhile. I can go without food for days if I have to but it would make it harder to recover. I appreciate the effort.”
Madeline ran into the house and grabbed the laundry basket. She had put the water on the fire before her hunting trip and was able to get all of the clothing washed in half the time that it usually took her. Her mom was mending by the fire. She seemed to be doing a little better today. That eased a little of Madeline's guilty feelings for being off so long.
“I saw you with a slingshot,” her mother said. “What made you decide to try that?”
Madeline was stumped for a minute. She did not, as a rule, lie to her parents but her father had told her not to tell her mother. Of all days for her mom to notice! “I just wanted to help out with food,” she said quickly, to try to fill in the pause. “I didn't have much luck though.” That should work, she thought, I didn't lie. She was far from happy about the situation though.
She and her mother chatted about castle life for awhile. Madeline was happy for the gift of her mother being herself for awhile. She ended up with less time for hunting than she had planned. Just when she was headed to her room to check on Gilda she heard her father's footsteps. He ordinarily would not be home for another hour.
Gilda was doing pretty well. She was still in considerable pain but she had been able to get the squirrel out of the bag and seemed to be a little bit more alert. Gilda thanked her again for the squirrel and the care. Madeline looked up in surprise when she heard a noise outside her window. Her father peeked in then hefted a large leg of lamb in through the windowsill.
“This was brought to me by one of the townspeople for keeping a horse from going lame. I would have given it to your mom to cook but since we are getting food from the castle for now, I thought Gilda might be able to use it. I assumed your first day of hunting may have went as well as my first day did.”
Madeline sighed and dropped to her bed in relief. She dragged the haunch over to Gilda who set in to eat with gusto. She ate with an odd mix of voraciousness and grace, chewing bone and meat as easily as Madeline might have eaten a loaf of bread. Dragons definitely had impressive teeth!
“Come on!” her father said, pulling Madeline's attention from Gilda's eating habits. “Grab the slingshot! I'll give you some more pointers before dinner.”
His first advice wasn't on aiming or on using a slingshot at all!
&nbs
p; “Mad, Mad, Mad,” he said quietly. “You will have much better luck if you walk quietly and carefully. A squirrel is neither deaf nor blind.” He showed her the proper way to walk while hunting and she was amazed at the difference in the number of squirrels in view. With his guidance, she was able to bag 3 more squirrels before heading home. She set the bag in her room through the window again and went in to set the table while her dad went to the castle to get their dinner.
After dinner she bid her parents goodnight and went in to talk with Gilda. Gilda wasn't too hungry but ate the squirrels anyway. “I'll be fine without any more food for a day now,” she mind-spoke “Rarely do I get a day with so much to eat. Never before have I had this much to eat with so little energy lost. Your cave-friend was right about you!”
Chitter was starting to rouse. They heard his sleepy mutterings. They were about as meaningless when she could understand them as when she couldn't. She had to laugh. Bats weren't that much different from humans after all!
After he woke up more fully, he circled around them, asking “How is dragon? Dragon like Mad? Dragon wing still broken?” Madeline had to laugh. His personality was really no different than she imagined before she could understand him. He was an affectionate and energetic creature whether you knew what he was saying or not.
The next few days went about the same. Madeline's hunting skills improved greatly. Gilda healed quickly and was now able to walk around Madeline's room with little pain. Their friendship grew, as did Gilda's size. Gilda also was surprised by her sudden growth. She was nearing the size of a pony within 4 days of her arrival. Her scales glistened brighter then ever. Madeline often stopped mid-sentence when she noticed the sunlight reflecting off the scales. Gilda's beauty was overwhelming!
“I'm not sure if my growth-spurt is the good food or care,” Gilda was saying. “Late-hatchers rarely get much bigger than the size I am now and dragons never stop growing. We slow down after we mate, which late-hatchers never do, but we never stop completely.”
“Why don't you mate?” Madeline asked.
“It is not acceptable to pass on our defects to another generation. No regular dragon would be interested and no other late hatcher would dare attempt it. Why put hatchlings through what we have gone through, anyway?” Gilda answered matter-of-factly.
Madeline shook her head in silence. She could see no faults in her draconian friend. After hearing of the treatment late-hatchers received in dragon society she was beginning to have a theory about Gilda's sudden burst in size. Dragons were magical creatures as much as they were physical creatures, what if the lack of affection and care contributed more to the late hatchers small stature as their unfortunate hatching time? Perhaps the lack of a bond with dragon parents or siblings prevented them from achieving their full potential. Madeline said nothing but vowed to herself to be the nest mate that Gilda had never had. That would not be hard as Gilda was fast becoming the friend Madeline had never had.
Chapter 5: Laboring
Ten days after Gilda's rescue found Madeline hanging out the laundry when she heard a cry from inside the house. She quickly ran inside and found her mother lying on the floor, clutching her belly.
“Mama!” Madeline cried. “Help me, someone!” she yelled. Gilda peered out from her bedroom door and was quickly by her side.
“Lean her against me” Gilda directed as she lay down behind her mother and maneuvered her wings out of the way. Madeline's mother didn't seem to notice anything but her pain and only groaned softly while she was being moved.
“I need to get my father, the midwife, someone!” Madeline said desperately.
“The cave friend is helping. Calm down, you are no use to her this way!” Gilda mind-spoke calmly and firmly. “I'm slowing the bleeding. The baby has to come out before I can stop it. Tell her to breathe!”
Madeline followed Gilda's directions and made her mother as comfortable as she could. Her father was soon rushing through the door, with the village midwife at his heels. Neither of them blinked an eye at the dragon propping up the laboring woman. The night was long but dawn brought the thankful tears of Madeline and the lusty wails of her new brother. The midwife was still working on her mother but Gilda assured her that she would be okay.
After the midwife had her mother cleaned up and comfortable with the baby at her breast, she turned to Gilda and bowed deeply. “That woman owes her life to you,” she said respectfully. “I don't know how you stopped the bleeding and kept her going. I don't need to know. I only know that my part in this could only have been done with your help. I hope the best for you and your kind. Bless you!” She nodded to Madeline and her father and walked out the door.
The midwife and Madeline had settled her mother where she was, on the floor against Gilda, with blankets around and under her as best as possible without making her uncomfortable. Gilda had assured them that she didn't mind and that her presence would help her mother recover her strength more quickly. Her mother had fallen asleep while the baby was nursing, followed shortly thereafter by the baby. Madeline reached for the baby and sat down on a nearby bench to examine her new sibling more closely. It had gotten dark during the excitement and Chitter was soon flying around the room, chittering his opinions of the day's events in his excited way.
Madeline smiled tiredly at him and continued her examination. He had a full head of brown hair, and was the prettiest baby she had ever seen. A baby brother, a bat, and a teenage dragon. How different it was from the norm and yet how right it seemed! The baby, as yet unnamed, started to root, searching for the milk that Madeline could not provide. She clucked at him and brought him back to her mother, who roused as Madeline handed her the baby.
“So,” her mother began, “to what do I owe my thanks for bringing this remarkable cushion? I knew you and your father were hiding something but I trusted that you had a good reason. Why so shocked? I was miserable and uncomfortable, not blind and deaf! That bat of yours has been very excited lately!” She looked directly at Gilda, whose head rested at her side, and spoke to her “thank you dear dragon, you are so welcome in our home!”
Madeline's father filled his wife in on Gilda's story while Madeline prepared some bread and cheese.
“The healing was a pleasant surprise for me,” her father said as he concluded, looking at Gilda with eyebrows raised.
Mad was surprised that dragons could blush! Her ventral scales had a pink tinge to them as she replied “That is a skill that seems limited to late-hatchers. We can augment and assist the body's natural healing abilities but we can't perform miracles. For instance, today I was able to speed the blood clotting and slow blood flow in key areas but I could not heal a wound completely. I am unable to cure illness but I can boost the immune system to help the body fight it on it's own. I am also unable to do any of this for myself. I would require a second dragon with the same abilities to do the same for me. I also have to physically touch the one being healed, the more contact the better.”
“Incredible!” her father proclaimed, “with skills like that, late hatchers must be of more value to your community than I gathered from what you said before.”
Gilda shook her russet head and answered sadly “that is not the case. Our skills are utilized greatly for the young and sickly but we are akin to nursemaids in your villages. We are needed but not valued. Even though it takes time to learn how to direct the ability to best use, this is not esteemed at all. Our hunting skills are not great compared to the bigger dragons. We can only hunt enough to feed ourselves and rarely do since we are usually in the caves, we are considered a burden to the group, eating a portion of what the bigger dragons bring back in exchange for our healing and baby-tending.”
“Well, Gilda seems healthy to me,” her mom stated. “It must be nearly time to proceed with her quest. Have you made any plans?”
“Yes,” Gilda replied, “My wing is nearly healed, it should be fine in a day or so. I do need to see Baron Humphrey before it is too late.”
“I have been thinking on how to get her in to speak to the baron,” Madeline's father stated. “Madeline, you must do it. Squires are constantly questioning me in the castle, they would surely notice if I had a dragon in my presence. You, however, keep to yourself so much, no one is likely to approach you. The problem is how to make a dragon look like something else. We can't have the squires telling tales and getting big ideas!”
Madeline hadn't thought about that detail. If Gilda were to attempt to fly in or simply walk through the gates, the temptation might get the better of them. If her father were to walk her in, the squires may not attack her, but they would still tell stories that would get to Baron Godfrey faster than one could imagine. There had to be a way to get Gilda in the castle without being obvious. It would have been easier when she was smaller, now that she was shetland-sized it was going to be a challenge.
Madeline's mother broke into their contemplation, “What about the laundry?”
Madeline was dumbfounded. Why worry about the laundry now?
Seeing the look on Mad's face, her mother quickly explained “Put her in the laundry cart. Covered with clothes she shouldn't be noticed. People may think it's odd that you are bringing laundry directly to the baron but once you get that close, you should be around the knights rather than the squires anyway.”
“That might just work!” Mad's father enthusiastically stated. “It sounds like an excellent plan!”
“Great!” said her mother, “now let's get this baby boy a name!”
They finally decided to name him Drake, after the help given by Gilda to her mother during the birth. Madeline joked that she was going to call him “duck-boy” but her mother quickly glared at her. Apparently her sense of humor hadn't recovered completely from the birth. At least her father laughed. He knew she wouldn't really call him that although drake was also the term for a male duck. Well, maybe she would once or twice. He wouldn't always be a sweet little baby after all.
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