A Mothers Love

         Brisalear woke with the cat-like alertness inherent in her kind. Her ears flicking back and forth, searching for the sounds that disturbed her. Soft sobbing echoed off the cave walls, seeming to come from every direction. Slipping silently to her feet, she stretched. The flexing muscles rippled and bunched under her hide. Extending her nose, she sniffed at one passage and then a second. A human.

         Rage building, she slunk down the passage. The only sound of her passing was a light clicking noise made by her talons. Humans had taken her child away, slaughtering her with the wanton destruction of their kind. She had come home from hunting to find her, lying in a pool of blood. Her beautiful daughter, not yet even able to fly.

         Peering around a bend, she saw a young human child huddled on the floor. The child sat with knees drawn up, her sobs muffled in her dress. Rage dwindled away, replaced by puzzlement, then compassion. A child alone, scared. Why and how did she come here? Crouching, she sat in the darkness studying the little girl.

         Sobs drifting into hiccups, the child lay down knees still drawn up and drifted into exhausted sleep. Occasional whimpers rose from the sleeping child, nightmares disturbing her rest.

         Consternation paralyzed Brisalear as she watched, this was one of the hated and feared humans. She should be killed, one less to torment her kind. But this was a child, a lost or abandoned child. Slowly a long buried feeling awoke in her, a desire to protect, nourish. A feeling that had died with her beloved daughter.

         Tears filled the eyes of the dragon as she stood watching the sleeping human child. The little form starting to shiver in the cold damp of the cave, gave her a start. This child would die without care.

         Decisively she slipped around the corner and using her tongue to gently cradle the child, she lifted her into her mouth. Exhausted the child didn't stir as Brisalear shifted her around to avoid her teeth. Then she turned and padded back down the tunnel.

         Brisalear felt someone staring at her. Lifting her head, she looked into the wide open blue eyes of the child curled up in her forearms. "Are you going to eat me?" asked an inquisitive voice.

         Taken aback, Brisalear stared a moment. She understood what the child was saying. Confusion swept through her, this was unheard of.

         "Can you understand me child?" she asked cautiously.

         "Of course I can. I talk to animals all the time, but momma doesn't believe me." Her chin began to quiver. "Momma told me to run when the bad men came." Wet blue eyes looked up into hers, "I don't think she is going to come find me this time."

         Tenderly Brisalear pulled her closer, "I will take care of you child, at least until I decide what to do with you. Now what is your name?"

         "I am Meena, I am 7 years old," she stated proudly. "I live with my momma," she broke off, tears starting to fill her eyes again. "But momma is gone now."

         "Shhhh, Meena," soothed Brisalear, "I am sure your momma loved you very much and never wanted to leave you all alone." Pulling the child closer, she began to sing, a deep rumble that soothed the distraught child. "It's all over now, no one can harm you here."