When Dragons Return

It's not easy giving birth to dragons. When no one really knows how that works, it can seem impossible. With no adult dragons around to ask, maybe impossible. Except, they are going to hatch anyway...

A sequel to “There Be Dragons”.

This is part of Bradley Ramsey’s final Flash Fiction February challenge.

And also tells some of the lore behind the Ghost Hunters series.

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Photo by Jeff Tumale on Unsplash

THE EARTH RUMBLED beneath my feet. But because my pendant buzzed simultaneously, I knew that was the earth goddess Gaia just coming to call. At that, a dust devil emerged from the otherwise damp ground. It coalesced into my old friend. Again, it must be something important. So I waited. She did love the dramatic.

I finally saw her in the tailored Western garb of a plaid blouse with pearl snap buttons, stove pipe denim jeans tight enough to be poured into them, which in turn were stuffed into some fancy-stitched turquoise alligator cowboy boots with tall, feminine heels. Her long coal-black hair with gray highlights flowed down her back, almost to her waist. And she wore a small smile that said she was happy to see me. But a minute later she was in my arms, giving me a hug while she laid her head on my chest.

So I gave her some time. Spending a few minutes hugging her back, compared to the millions of years she’d been alive, was well worth her investment, and receiving my return on it. So I stood there and waited.

“John, I need your help.” She quietly spoke into my red-t-shirted front.

I said nothing, waiting.

She at last stood back to look up at me with those dark eyes. “I’m about to become a mother.”

I smiled, “So - congratulations?”

She nodded in return, though her eyes turned misty. “Yes, and thanks, but it’s not what you think - I’m birthing dragons.”

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We’d walked the cow path to my little writing cabin in quiet. At last, outside of the cabin door, I motioned for her to sit by the cabin door on the Adirondack bench there. “Some of my ‘bachelor’ coffee? My wife’s not here today, so you’re getting the home-brewed variety.”

Gaia nodded, but said nothing, looking out over the pasture that sloped away down the way we came.

Shortly I returned with two mugs of my dark chicory blend. Handing her one, I sat down next to her with the other. And waited.

At last, with another sniffle, she summed up the problem that she needed help with. “Well, John, I don’t know what I’m doing, because I’ve never given birth before.”

Glancing down at her trim stomach, I wondered. And then I remembered those eggs she’d protected some time ago. “Oh - you’re bringing those dragons back from eggs - and they are nearly ready to hatch.” The relief was tangible in my voice.

She looked up at me, quite serious. “I don’t think you know how serious this is. There haven’t been dragons roaming this earth for thousands of years. And that they’ve chosen to hatch now has more meaning that I can even cipher out. Why now? And how do I raise them? More - and worse - how do I protect them from all the human destruction and selfishness? Does this mean I’ve failed by giving all these humans a place to survive and take over as the alpha species here?”

I held my tongue. Even if I could have stepped into that torrent of questions, I was far smarter to simply listen. Until she was ready to hear me.

I sipped my coffee and enjoyed the morning as it warmed up. And the comfort coming from the thigh-warmth I felt next to me. Gaia chose this form for her own reasons. Mostly, it was a way she could get my attention. Which she had all of now.

At last, I asked, “So, dragons?”

Gaia cleared her throat. “Yes, I’m going to have some cute little fire-breathing youngsters running around and have no clue what to feed them, how to get them exercise, whether they need flame-proof diapers - all that stuff.”

I put my arm around her and gave her a squeeze. “Let’s unpack that a bit at a time. Take a breath. OK. Now - how about that portal in that mountain cavern where we left them last. Does that still work?”

She nodded. “Yes, and I’ve taken some time to visit with these other surviving dragons in this galaxy and others. And they are a bit inscrutable with their advice. I’ve been told not to move the eggs at all, just keep that cavern at a regular temperature. And then the process otherwise takes care of itself.”

I shrugged. “If that’s it, then that’s not much.”

She looked up at me. “No kidding. I’m stumped.”

A tear fell from her cheek down into that coffee, leaving ripples.

I squeezed her shoulder with my hand. “Oh, that’s too bad. We’re on some real thin ground here, then.”

Gaia only nodded again, and sniffled.

An idea came to me. “OK, so the hatching itself is fine, then. What about the raising?”

She looked up at me, her eyes red-rimmed. “Exactly. If your government and its scientists find out, then - well - I don’t have any real way to protect them.”

She turned toward me. “Look, I’ve told you about how dragons bring balance, that they preserve the ecosystem and ensure life continues…”

I nodded, waiting.

She looked off across the pasture. “I don’t know why I’m so dense at times. Dragons returning means there’s work to do in rebalancing all that’s been done here. Technically, they can live in magma indefinitely. That’s how they raised me. And they can fly in that stuff, which is what has raised more than one mountain range. But humans are either going to have to help them grow and learn from them, or will be in the way and need to be eliminated.”

One corner of my mouth came up in a wry grin. “Oh, maybe it’s not all that bad. You’ve already set the solution in motion - with your own not-completely human solution.”

She looked back at me, with a raised eyebrow. Waiting for the other shoe to drop.
I smiled. “Now I seem to recall that you were partly responsible for my siring those three harpy daughters. All of which was a surprise to me. And you said at the time, quite mysteriously, that they had different names before they came to be born on this planet.”

Gaia gave a surprised look. “Hope, Faith, Charity.”

I nodded. “So, how are those three doing these days?”

She gave a slight chuckle. “Between Harpy herself, and her sister Rose, they’ve learned a lot of their native talents. Meanwhile, your spirit-guide wife has taken her own god-mother duties seriously and been holding them to their lessons in human culture. So they are turning out to be able to live around humans quite well, even with their capacity for flight, and their siren singing. So what do they have to do with dragons?”

I gave her another hug. “Remember how we first met? I seem to recall that you took me deep into the depths, and gave me a tour of your solid-rock apartments…”

“One which should have killed you off, since humans can’t breath solid rock - with certain exceptions.”

I nodded. “Because I’d been infected and cured by Rochelle as a Lazurai-enabled human myself.”

She sat back to look at me. Her coffee sloshing in its mug. “And so, genetically, Harpy’s daughters are part Lazurai and so could baby-sit these little dragons below ground, where they’d be safe while they grew up.”

That brought a smile to my face.

Then she frowned. “But when they get bigger? The governments, those NGO’s that go after your friends from time to time. And their military ‘friends’…”

I just patted her shoulder. “Those are years from now. You have that portal where they can get advanced training from other dragons. So that when they are ready, and the best trained that my harpy daughters and their own kind can give them, then…”

Gaia’s face was bright now, all signs of tears gone. “...Then we’ll be ready to bring the imbalance in human culture back into alignment, all without having to sink continents or anything.”

She stood at this, placing her coffee mug on the bench. Then she reached out for my hand.

I wisely put my own mug down by hers.

Because next she was in my arms giving me a big hug, which was followed by a grateful kiss.

“John, you’re an absolute wonder. I knew you could figure this out!”

We stood, arms around each other, looking over the gorgeous day that was forming.

“Imagine, a sky with flying dragons. Helping humans achieve greater things than, well, they’ve ever done. Helping them to learn to find their own balance…”

Gais hugged me close, then pecked a kiss on my cheek before stepping away off my tiny home porch.

“I owe you one, John. Maybe even name one of the baby dragons after you.”

At that, her bright smile faded into a swirling dust cloud that sank quickly back into the earth.

I was glad I put some extra coffee on this morning. I had a story to write.

Imagine that. Dragons flying around. Humans growing up, finally.

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PS. If you’ve missed descriptions of John and Gaia, you can find their origin stories here:

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