As I am on holiday, I have posted this short story rather than another reason not to vote UKIP.
The Promises of Dragons
It suddenly appeared one day and took a cow from the field.
A week later. dark wings blotted out the summer sun. The farmer looked up and saw an enormous shape gliding overhead. A dragon! He watched, cowering behind a large tree.
The dragon swooped down and carried off another cow. As soon as the creature disappeared he ran as fast as he could to the village.
‘You are certain you saw a dragon? Most experts think they are extinct,’ asked the leader of the council.
‘It was a dragon. I can’t be mistaken about that!’
Another councilor asked, ‘It was in the sky, against the sun. Could it have been a cloud?’
‘And clouds swoop down and steal cattle?’
Two days later a group of volunteers set off to track down the dragon.
As they neared the lair the leader asked for a volunteer to go into the cave to look. One man stepped forward.
In the cave he stumbled over a smooth, rounded object. He lifted his torch and saw an egg! Not just one egg, but ten. He ran out of the cave and reported what he had seen.
They went in and smashed the eggs.
When Gulineran, returned to her cave and found her smashed eggs her roar of anguish made the mountains themselves tremble. She determined to take her revenge. She swept down and breathed flame onto the hapless village.
The cottages burned like tinder. Many lost their lives. Those who survived crowded into the village hall. They decided to send for help to the nearby wizards.
One wizard came, a young man by the name of Oni. Oni talked to the council, and promised to do something about the dragon. The council accepted his offer.
Oni walked out of the village and into the mountains. He stood near the cave and called. Within seconds the dragon rushed out ready for battle. She breathed flame.
The flames washed over Oni. Gulineran expected to see a dead wizard when her fire died away, but, Oni was left standing and very much alive. She looked into his eyes.
‘Ah,’ Oni breathed, ‘I’ve not seen such beauty in two hundred years.’
‘How can a human talk of hundreds of years?’ asked Gulineran. ‘Your lives aren’t that long.’
‘No, but dragons live centuries,’ replied Oni. ‘You are the first female dragon I’ve seen in more than a hundred.’
His skin began to change then, and he grew and rippled until a handsome male red dragon stood before her.
‘Will you accept me as your mate?’ Oni asked.
Gulineran accepted Oni’s offer. He changed back to human form and returned to the village. There he told the villagers that he had got the dragon to agree not to attack the village nor take their cattle. He then returned to Gulineran.
He told her of his promise to the villagers.
‘Oh, Oni.’ answered Gulineran. ‘They don’t know not to trust the promises of dragons.'
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