Socially Orcward (Adventures in Aguillon #3) - Lisa Henry Page 0,3
she looked like a vulture and a lizard had met in a high speed collision and nobody had been able to separate the wreckage.
“Who’s a pretty girl?” Dave cooed. “Come on, come to Daddy.” The first time Loth had heard Dave call himself Daddy he’d had one of those coughing fits and fallen down laughing, but Dave still hadn’t figured out why—he had to call himself something, and he wanted his babies to have a family, even if he did intend to release them into the wild. Eventually.
The tapestry rippled and Petal shuffled out from behind it, her claws clacking on the stone floor as she followed the sound of Dave’s voice and hopped up into his extended arms and rested her heavy head on his shoulder, a trail of dragon drool and steam leaving her open mouth. Dave petted the top of her head with a massive palm.
“’S’my girl,” he said, and Petal responded by rasping a wide tongue up the side of his face.
She’d grown another inch, Dave would swear, and her feathers and scales were coming in nicely. Dave gave her a few more head scritches and then carried her over to the feed box where there was some cut up goat waiting, and he watched with satisfaction as she managed to create a flame big enough to crisp the outside of the meat before she ate it. In another few months Dave would look at releasing her. Unless she didn’t want to go of course, in which case he’d let her stay.
After wiping Petal’s face and tickling her under her wings, Dave surveyed his small kingdom and let out a satisfied sigh. This was much nicer than being an adventurer and getting lost in swamps and hitting people, although some days Dave did miss that part and then he’d go to the training yards to see if anyone in the palace guard wanted to take him on. There was always some poor idiot who volunteered, thinking that because Dave smiled more now he didn’t hit as hard, and Dave always had lots of fun proving them wrong.
Nobody else seemed to share his love for dragons, but that was okay. Maybe it was something you didn’t get to share, that was all. Still, a dragon hatchery of his own was more than he’d ever dreamed of having as an orcling. It made him happy, and that was good enough.
He carried Petal over to the large couch that served as his cosy chair by the fire, and sat down. The couch groaned alarmingly, like always, but it held. Most human furniture wasn’t built for orcs.
He reached down with his free hand for the letter he’d left stashed between the cushions before hurrying off to see the play. It had been delivered earlier, and going by all the grimy marks on it, it’d had an adventure finding its way to the castle at Callier.
It was from Mum.
Like all orcs, she wrote in a mixture of human letters, orc scratches, and little pictures. Dave studied the letter, patting Petal on the scaly backside absently.
Cousin Blargh had a cold, but he was getting better. Grugbert, Mum’s neighbour, had brought her a bushel of fresh slugberries from his own garden, though Mum was still denying he was her boyfriend. And Mum had heard from the mountain troll side of the family—they were related by marriage—that there was a monster in their territory with a roar so terrifying it made the mountains shake.
Dave sat up and peered at the drawings more carefully. Yes, it definitely said monster, not mustard. (Dave still sometimes got them confused.) That was very interesting, and Dave wondered if it was dragon-related.
He sighed. Even if it was, it wasn’t as though he could go gallivanting off into the mountains to find out. Not with two hatchlings and his eggs to care for. But the twinge of regret in his stomach made him wonder if he was as ready to give up adventuring as he told himself he was. Adventuring with fighting and running and being chased? Dave didn’t want to try that again. But the sort of adventuring where he got to search for dragons? Yes, that made his breath catch in excitement.
He chuckled as Petal began to snore, and Pie, still underneath his shirt, began to knead his claws into his collarbone.
Well, maybe he’d go adventuring again when all his babies were older. But for now? They needed him and there was no place he’d rather be.