Chapter 1. The Egg

Bookworm's start in life was completely ordinary, for a dragon. His mother, Rendtalon, feeling an egg ripening inside her, flew out of her lair in search of a nesting site. After weeks of careful scouting, she found just the spot: a forested hill overlooking a large and prosperous seaside town not yet encumbered by a dragon. The town was a busy seaport, bustling with trade. It had luxury goods flowing in and out, and plenty of gold.

Rendtalon was a gold-hoarding dragon, and she hoped that her offspring would take after her. But the city was suitable for other types of dragons as well. It was surrounded by pleasant countryside dotted with dairy farms whose livestock could be raided, should the hatchling inherit its father's taste for hunting. A dragon who prefers to eat or abduct people would have good prospects as well. The densely forested craggy hills attracted woodcutters and hunters in the fall and winter. In the spring and summer, young maidens went into the woods to pick edible berries, mushrooms and medicinal plants.
 
Rendtalon landed, and, after a short exploration, found a deep crevice in the rock. She busied herself with enlarging it, breaking and digging out the limestone with her mighty long-taloned paws.  Once she had made ready a good-sized nesting cave, she flew off.  Weeks later, the she-dragon returned to the cave, flying slowly and wearily with a huge wooden trunk in her claws. She dragged it into the cave and dumped out a quantity of objects made of gold and decorated with precious stones. After a few more trips, the floor of the cave had a large pile of treasure.

Having prepared the nest hoard for her offspring, Rendtalon laid a large black, gold-speckled egg in the middle of the glittering pile. She incubated it for seven months, seven days, and seven hours. And then, right on time, the shell cracked. Rendtalon climbed off the nest and waited. A black, scaly snout poked out through the hole. The mother dragon blew a spark of her own fire into each gold-rimmed nostril. The snout withdrew. There was a sneeze and a puff of smoke. The snout re-appeared, spouting two small, steady jets of fire. "I name you Scorchfire! May your talons be sharp, your wings be strong, and your fire burn hot for a long time!" rumbled Rendtalon. Then, her maternal duty completed, she crawled out of the cave, opened her wings and was off. By the time the newborn dragon finished freeing himself of his shell, Rendtalon was merely a dark, rapidly receding speck in the dawn sky.

The raven-black, golden-crested hatchling looked around with curiosity, taking in his new world. Right in front of him, near the entrance to the cave, lay a large open book. The strong morning breeze was stirring its pages.

This book, and scores of others, was part of the nest hoard.  His mother did not supply them to promote a love of reading in her son. Rather, the books were included because of their gold-covered and jewel-encrusted bindings. In that era, books were laboriously handwritten and were considered precious objects, a luxury. Kings and other important people had their books decorated with gold and jewels. As far as Rendtalon was concerned, that is what mattered. To her, what was inside the bindings was of no consequence.

The baby dragon was also not yet interested in what was written in the books, but he was attracted by the bright vermilion, gold, and azure pictures that were flashing in the sun as the pages stirred. He stretched out a paw, ripped out a page and took a tentative bite. Immediately, he was rewarded with a sweet and pungent taste in his mouth, and pleasant warmth in his belly. He had bitten into a book of wise and powerful fables written long, long ago by a man named Aesop.

Dragons’ real source of nourishment is power. As a rule, dragons feed on the most obvious sources of power: terror, wealth, and beauty. That is why they burn and pillage, build up treasure hoards, or carry off and imprison maidens.  This particular baby dragon chanced upon a different source of power: books.



CONTINUED IN THE NEXT CHAPTER

[ The picture "New life"  was created by Behane.  You can see the work of this artist here: linktr.ee/behane_dragons

I am grateful to the artist for the permission to use this image as an illustration for "The Book of Bookworm" ]