"Laura´s Dragon (Ch 1)" by Miss Loraina Tubbs

The one where Laura gets eaten by a dragon

           “Well that’s boogery,” Tamaeriel complained. She was completely still in the pit of the young dragon’s stomach trying to avoid the sloshing acids. “You weren’t supposed to eat me, Taerynth!” The dragon-whisperer sat motionless, covered completely in the reptile’s slobber and stomach fluids. She had two options: she could use her sword to cut herself out of her belly, or she could wait until Jaeden convinced the dragon to eat an elf-sized capsule.

           Neither option was pleasant, but Tamaeriel was going for the less enjoyable one. She would wait for the capsule, climb into it, shrink to the size of a pomegranate, and pass through the animal’s digestive system. It was completely unfortunate that the creators of the device had decided to make the capsule out of transparent material. But it was worth it, she didn’t want to kill her very first dragon simply because it had eaten her.

           The whisperer sat up straight, trying in vain to get as little of the dragon’s saliva and digestive acid on her as possible. After at least an hour of that painful position, she gave up and relaxed against the walls of Taerynth’s stomach. I love being a dragon-whisperer, she thought. It’s so much fun, except the part where the dragons actually eat you… It’s totally annoying I have to pretend to be a guy though… I can’t flirt with all the guys without them thinking I’m gay! she laughed out loud.

           An hour later, the girl was still in the belly of the huge creature. It was really starting to bore her. And she was really hungry. Pushed to desperate measures, she took out one of the red potato dragon treats from her pocket. Thankfully her pants were liquid resistant. She nibbled on the potato with her disgustingly filthy hands.

           Suddenly, the capsule crashed down from the sky- or, more accurately, the dragon’s esophagus. Tamaeriel groaned as she opened the hatch and climbed in. From the inside, she closed the lid and prepared to wait again. Once the latch was closed, she began to shrink. This whole being-eaten-by-a-dragon thing was starting to get on her nerves. She smelt rank and disgusting, was sopping wet with slobber, was chilled to the bone, and was completely bored.

           The dragon-whisperer closed her eyes and started to sing to pass the time. Any song that came to mind was sung over and over again until she was completely sick of it. She had gone from “Princes and Frogs” by Superchic[k] to the old nursery rhyme “Row, Row, Row You’re Boat.” After hours and hours later, Tamaeriel’s capsule finally squished onto hard ground. With his latex gloves, Jaeden fished the capsule out of Taerynth’s feces. Tamaeriel twisted her way out of her cage and stepped out- still the size of a pomegranate, although she was less round.

           Touching the handle on the door, she and the cage began to slowly grow until she was back to normal size. Still dripping in the dragon’s fluids and shivering from the wetness, Tamaeriel glared at her dragon. “Thanks a lot, Tae,” she said affectionately. “I really needed a bath.”

           “And now you need another one,” a melodic voice chuckled behind her.

           “‘Ello, Jaeden,” she greeted the boy without looking.

           “Hey Tameron,” he said, using the boy’s name she had used. “How was it passing through a dragon’s digestive system in a transparent cage that shrank you the size of an orange?”

           “It was more like the size of a pomegranate, really. And I had my eyes closed the entire time, believe me.”

           “It took you like four hours to come back out,” he laughed. “I was worried about you,” he said, only half-joking.

           “Well, you shouldn’t have been. I was fine,” she insisted. “And thank Goddess Taer is too,” she added, stroking her silver dragon’s head tenderly. The creature’s ears wagged back and forth in pleasure, and a stream of fire came shooting out of his mouth. “Watch it,” Tamaeriel said in warning, smacking her on the snout. The dragon snorted contemptuously.

           “I hate not being able to kythe with her yet,” she complained to Jaeden.

           “You’ll be able to soon, Tam,” he insisted, “I’ve been at Tamarind for at least a month, and I only started kything with Jaspyn yesterday! Taer just chose you yesterday, and you’re already expecting to be kything?”

           “Yeah I know… I’m just so impatient. I’ve been waiting all my life to have my own dragon, and now that I have one I can’t even kythe with it!” The dragon’s form of communication was mental, and the human dragon-whisperers were selectively able to use the telepathic dialect. Once the whisperer imprinted with their dragon, the two could communicate as easily as Jaeden and Tamaeriel could.

           Tam grabbed Taerynth’s horn and led her into her domed corral. “Here you go, girl. I have to go home now. I’ll see you tomorrow!” she said in farewell, turning and returned to where she had left Jaeden.

           “You ready to leave?” he inquired.

           “Yup!” she replied, glancing back toward the corral to ensure that the gate was locked.

           “Great. Last one to the lake is dragon feed!” he challenged, sprinting to the west.

           “The lake?” she said, stopping in her tracks. “Oh goddess I hope he doesn’t make me swim...” she wished allowed, thinking of the ties and shirt she was wearing to hide her bust under her baggy T-shirt. This was bound to be interesting. The ked up her feet and sprinted after her new friend.

           Much to her delight, Tam was the first to the lake’s edge. “I win,” she said tauntingly.

           “No fair! You’re half elf, of course you’re going to be faster than a pure-blood human like me!” he objected.

           “Bummer for you, yayness for me!” she exclaimed, taking off her leather sandals.

           “So you are disqualified, and therefore I win.”

           “Not quite, Jae,” Tam chuckled. “For one, you were the one that called the race in the first place, knowing full well I’m half elf. Secondly, I gave you a head start. And thirdly, I didn’t know where the blasted lake was!”

           “So…” Jaeden trailed.

           “So I won,” she stated firmly.

           “Fine then, but last into the water is a rotten dragon egg!” he said, taking his shirt off. Tamaeriel just stood there and laughed. Jaeden looked over at her questioningly.

           “I don’t want to swim…” she said, her mind racing for an excuse. “I’m H20 intolerant.”

           “Oh don’t be such a girl,” he teased. Seeing her opportunity, Tam went for it.

           “You did not just call me a girl,” she objected, taking a step forward.

           “Oh yeah?” Jae said incredulously. “What are you going to do about it?”

           “For the Hyraen!” she exclaimed, diving directly into her friend causing them both to tumble into the water.

           “You fool!” Jae exclaimed, “I am wearing my leather sandals!”

           “You should have thought of that before,” she chuckled. The boy reached down and grabbed a handful of seaweed with a smile on his face.

           “For Tamarind!” The glob of sea plant landed, ironically, right in her pocket.

           “Oh that’s nice, seaweed on my potatoes,” Tam complained, reaching into the pocket and extracting two water-logged red potatoes.

           “Are you going to start crying, Tami?” Jaeden taunted. Tamaeriel looked at him questioningly. That’s what they called her at home. Had he realized that she was a girl? “A girl’s name for the femanite boy,” he teased. Despite herself, Tami sighed in relief.

           “Ok, you’re going down!” she yelped, jumping on him and dunking him under the frigid water’s surface.

           “Well that was certainly uncalled for,” Jae sputtered as she let him back up for air. “You really think I’m going to let you get away with that?”

           “I don’t think you have much of a choice,” she smirked.

           “We’ll see about that,” he smiled slyly. Suddenly, he lunged at her. With lightning speed she dodged his leap, got behind him, and dunked him again.

           “You want to try that one again, pansy?” she taunted. Time after time the boy lunged at her, and every time he missed. Once or twice Tami countered his attack and dunked him under, but she was generally content to watch him sputter when his repeated attempts to dunk her failed. After a half hour of dodging and diving, the pair decided it was time to go back to the dorm.

           They climbed out of the icy water with their teeth chattering, laughing and teasing all the way. Picking up their shoes, they began to walk barefoot to the boarding house. “Race you!” Tami teased, running ahead. Jae laughed and sprinted to catch up with her. “Oh my goddess, you’re beating me!” she objected. The girl allowed him to stay ahead, if only for him to lead her to the building, and she raced ahead when they were just yards away.

           “No fair! Next time I get a longer head start,” Jaeden complained.

           “It was perfectly fair!” Tami chuckled, “I just have a natural advantage.” Jae rolled his eyes.

           “I still want a longer head start…” he mumbled.

           “Fine with me, pansy,” Tami taunted. “I’ll still win and you know it!” The two dragon-whisperers entered their dorm, trailing laughter and water the entire way to their room.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

           “Tam, you idiot, wake up! You’re going to miss breakfast!” Jaeden shouted, trying to shake Tamaeriel awake. “You have to go feed your blasted dragon.”

           “Food. Taer. Right…” she mumbled, pulling her head under her pillow.

           “Tami!” he exclaimed, then rolled his eyes. Picking up the water-bottle on the night stand next to her bed, he yanked her pillow away. “Elves may be faster, but humans are stronger!!” he teased as he drenched her with its contents.

           Tam screeched and shot up her bed. “Alright, alright I’m up already!” she protested.

           “You scream like a girl,” he laughed. Tami just glared at him. “Anyways, you have to go feed Taerynth. I’ll see you at breakfast,” he chuckled as he walked out the door.

           “What about Jaspyn?” she called after him.

           “I already fed him!” he answered faintly.

           “Fabulous…” she complained to herself. It was only her fourth day at Tamarind, and she was already going to miss breakfast. When she had been back at Hyraen, she hadn’t had a dragon to feed, so it wasn’t an issue. Through four years of watching dragon hatchings three times a year at Hyraen, no dragon had chosen her. Tami’s head master, Aeryth, had finally decided to send her to Tamarind for the spring dragon hatching. Although the dragons here were supposedly ‘more picky’ than the ones at Hyraen, Aeryth thought it was worth the risk.

           On the second day of the hatching, her silver dragon chose her. She was totally elated. She hadn’t even dared to hope that a dragon would pick her. And the fact that it was a silver dragon, the rarest colour, made her feel even better. All she had to do was name her, and it was her very own.

           Tamaeriel had named the dracling Taerynth after her best friend back at Hyraen, Taryn. Of course, Taryn had started attending Hyraen because she had been eaten accidentally by Aeryth’s dragon, (I don’t remember… Laura help). Apparently, he was the long lost brother of Puff the Magic Dragon.

           Tami sat up and was assaulted by the bright light of the early morning sun. She really did not want to get up this early. Fighting the urge to get back in bed, she pulled her shoes on and darted out of the dorm to her waiting dragon.