Carmine

He strode quickly down and out of the rock corridor and into the open air. Behind him, he could hear the skittering claws of that pretty Skydancer hatchling. She seemed awful ditzy and clingy, but she was kind enough, so Carmine stopped and turned around to see what she wanted.

“Hi Carmine!” She beamed at him. “What’ve you got? I saw you leave that weird traveler’s stand, and he was selling some pretty cool stuff. What’d you snatch?”

“I - uh ... just this ... ah ... stone ...” Carmine mumbled. Truth was, it was the prettiest gem he had ever seen, and he didn’t want anyone to get any ideas. The dim Skydancer leaned close for an inspection, but Carmine stuffed it back into his bag before she could get a good look. Turning, he spoke: “Hey, I gotta jet. Talk later?” He was about to lift off of the ledge when the other Skydancer grabbed his bag.

“Wait, Carmine! I had another question.” Her soft red eyes met his, and he couldn’t look away. She was a pretty Skydancer.

“Yeah?”

“Why try to hide the Gem of the World from a world-class theif?” Her soft eyes turned suddenly sharp, and she lifted into the darkening sky. Feeling his bag, Carmine knew: she was the one dragon he had read wrong.


*For a brief continuation of the story, visit @CoyoteMilk’s dragon lair.*