How Naïvithrax got her Promotion

A young dragon intern checks in on one of the elder dragon guards.

The tranquil hush of twilight shrouded the ancient forest, the dying embers of the day casting long shadows among the towering trees. Shafts of fading sunlight pierced the dense canopy, dappling the forest floor with patches of yellow light. In the heart of this wilderness, Kraken Pond glistened like a gold tooth.

         At the edge of the pond, the modestly-sized form of Naïvithrax watched with anxiety. She’d been standing there for the past five minutes--mostly twiddling her claws--and had just settled on her choice of words.

         She had found Haughtarius standing not unlike a giraffe, with his legs spread apart on a rotten alcove and his head fully submerged underwater. He stood deadly still. That was some dedication to a drink, she thought. Naïvithrax thought that perhaps she wasn’t meant to see him like this. Should she come back in five minutes? Pretend she hadn’t seen anything? —No, she had to be punctual. It was her duty to check in on each of the elder dragon guards, find out if they’d seen anything. But why did they have to be so big?

         Naïvithrax inched forward. “Wow, really keeping an eye on things, aren’t you? Ha ha…!” she called, kicking herself afterwords.

         But it seemed he didn’t hear it. The great black dragon was stiller than stone. Naïvithrax reasoned that this was because it is difficult to hear people calling out to you while your head is underwater.

         With slow, deliberate steps, Naïvithrax drew closer. Her long, sinuous tail twitched in protest. It knew quicker than she did. Breathe in, and out. All she had to do was ask if he had seen anything unusual. Then, it would be the weekend, and everything would be soft and comfortable and she could brush her adorable pet cow all day.

         “Um — anything to report?” she asked, from what she thought was the absolute minimum safe distance from an irritable dragon.

         Still no response.

         She edged onto the alcove and leaned in closer, eyes narrowing as she tried to make out what was happening beneath the water's surface. Was it always this murky? Her nostrils flared as she caught a whiff of something that made her scales bristle — something sour.

         Her talon reached out, brushed Haughtarius's shoulder. No response — of course not. Oh, get it over with. She gave him a quick tap.

         The elder dragon wobbled rigidly until he fell towards her like a tripod. Naïvithrax made a good college try to get out of the way, but her tail got trapped under his left foreleg.

         Her vision dark with panic, Naïvithrax focused all her energy on getting her tail free. By using her legs and twisting—OW!—she was able to pull her tail out with only a minor sprain. She sprang on all fours, running until she felt she was at a safe distance.

         “Haughtarius—” she said, turning, “—are you a… a A A AAA “

         Her voice tripped over itself as she realized that Haughtarius’ body was not only free from the water, but also from its own head.