Lady Henrietta

Sometimes a pet can be a little more than you bargained for.

Lady Henrietta Von Flamebroiled the second was my best friend. From the moment we first laid eyes upon each other, we knew that we were going to be together for quite some time. Unfortunately, not everyone saw it that way.

“If you wanted a pet, we could have gotten you a kitten,” my parents had told me. “That thing is liable to bite your fingers off.”

“That thing,” I had said back, “is called Henrietta. And she's a dragon!”

Henrietta wasn't exactly what one could call a house pet. At only three months old she was the size of a full grown cow, and much too large to fit through the house door. She slept in the barn, and preferred to hunt deer instead of our livestock. That was a relief for me. My parents wouldn't have allowed her to stay if she ate half of our means of winter survival.

Months more passed, and she grew like crazy. Soon she was too big to sleep in the barn. Shortly after that she was much too large to find a hiding spot in the forest easily. It was only one year from her hatching that she was fully grown. She was at least as large as our house, but I never really paid that much attention.

“Come on Henrietta,” I told her. “I found you a cave.”

She settled in and was as comfortable as ever. That was the last I ever saw of her awake.

Somehow it had escaped my attention that dragons hibernate for centuries once they no longer need the care of their parent figure. I had raised her. Now the bond had to be cut. I just hoped that she wouldn't be one of the dragons that feasted on people. I prayed that she would remember the lessons I had taught her.

I never got a chance to know.