The Dragon Keeper and Other Stories

The Dragon Keeper and Other Stories

By Lynne Roberts

Published by Liberty Publications at Smashwords

Copyright 2014 Lynne Roberts

ISBN 978-1-927241-18-9

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author

Contents

The Dragon Keeper

Spelling Lesson

Tall Tales

Mrs Ainsworth Says

The Breakfast Dragons

The Dragon Keeper

The moonlight slanted down, silvering the rock formations on the crest of the mountain. Slowly the proud, golden dragon paced forward, bowing before the young dragonmaster and his bride. Hand in hand they climbed astride its back, the glittering scales a perfect setting for the couple, as Aleysha’s flowing, white-blonde hair mingled with Danyr’s dark locks. One last, lingering, sweet kiss, and with a brief burst of flame the dragon rose into the air and soared away.

Ellen sighed as she put the book down. Her eyes closed and she imagined what it would be like to be adored by a dragon rider. What would it be like to have long blonde hair cascading in ringlets? She sighed as she tossed back her own brown hair, which she was sure would certainly never inspire poetry, and tried to picture herself with full pouting lips.

‘Oh, bother it all,’ she muttered. ‘Nothing about me is right for a heroine. I’m not fashionably thin or voluptuously curved. My nose is a blob and I even have freckles. What hope do I have?’

The book dropped from her hands as she leaned back against the tree deeper in the shade. Scenes from the book played out in her head as she tried to see herself in the role of the heroine. A shaft of sunlight through the trees caught her face and brought her back to reality with a start.

‘But I do wish I owned a dragon,’ she said aloud.

‘You don’t really mean that,’ a voice in her ear said. With a jump Ellen turned to see a young man sitting cross-legged beside her on the riverbank. He had a cheerful smiling face, topped with an unruly mop of dark hair.

‘What?’ said Ellen, flustered.

‘You wouldn’t really want a dragon. Terrible things they are. All that feeding! They’re never satisfied. Dragons eat whenever they feel like it, and that’s most of the time. And they’re not fussy. Sheep, people, anything with a bit of flavour, and if it puts up a fight so much the better.’

Ellen’s mouth hung open. Was she dreaming? Where could this boy have come from?

‘Um,’ she stammered, ‘but wouldn’t a dragon be good for transport? I mean, just imagine being able to hop on its back and ask it to take you wherever you like.’

‘Are you kidding?’ A pair of dark eyebrows raised up as with a comical grimace the young man said, ‘You obviously haven’t had much experience. What do you think this dragon of yours is going to do when you finish your little flight? They don’t sit happily around waiting for your next command, you know. They have minds of their own and you’re the one responsible for them. Were you planning on leaving it for the day in a place like this?’ He gestured at the trees around them and the grass stretching down to the riverbank broken by beds of colourful flowers.

‘You can say goodbye to those flowers for a start,’ the young man went on. ‘They’d be the first course before the beast went on to terrify a few innocent sheep. And as for the river… ’ a contemptuous finger pointed to the sparkling water trickling merrily below them, ‘that would soon be a muddy hole by the time the wretched thing had been for its daily wallow. No,’ he said firmly, ‘you have no idea what life with a dragon would be like. Be thankful you don’t have to have anything to do with them. I only wish I was so lucky,’ he added.

Ellen had listened to all this in amazement, her face reflecting the conflict of emotions she was experiencing, bewilderment being the main one. Who was this? Was he for real? She pinched herself hard. It hurt, so no, she was definitely not dreaming.

‘Er, have you actually seen a dragon?’ she asked hesitantly.

‘Seen one! I have to look after one of the jolly things,’ came the reply. ‘Every day, not even the weekend off, it’s ‘keep the wretched beast happy’ and ‘see that it doesn’t set fire to the furniture.’ Oh, I’ve certainly seen one,’ he said bitterly. ‘That’s my job. Number one Dragonkeeper, that’s me. Hours of work every day and ‘make sure the water buckets are always full.’ I don’t get any time off unless it’s sleeping, and it’s due to wake up any minute now, so I’ll have to go.’

A rustle of leaves, and a last flashing smile showing even white teeth, and the young man vanished. Ellen gulped and looked around. It wasn’t a dream, but how could the young man be a Dragonkeeper? What was happening? Was she in some sort of weird time warp or had she been in the sun too long. She leaned back against the tree again and decided to think logically. She was Ellen, thirteen years old, and she was sitting in the grounds of the Herberton university during the summer vacation. Her father had been appointed as Senior lecturer in mathematics, a big career jump from his previous college position, and they had moved to the university town three weeks earlier.

Ellen hadn’t wanted to move to a new place and leave all her friends. To make things worse, she had no friends yet in this new town. Her two younger brothers were happy to play together and had already joined up with a pack of similar aged small boys. They spent their time cycling or skateboarding around to each other’s houses and swapping numerous computer games. Ellen had hoped that she could salvage some of the holiday by working somewhere interesting and meeting people as well as making some spending money for herself. No such