Grumpy Dragon Daddy by Milly Taiden

1

Tyla

Capturing the deer and setting the trap was the easy part. Staying sharp and focused while waiting for the trap to be sprung was the hard part.

Oh, and killing the dragon could prove to be difficult, too.

Dragon slaying was what Tyla had been trained for, however. More than that, it was basically what she had been bred for. She came from a long line of dragon slayers dating back to the Middle Ages. All were proud members of the Bloodbane Clan, each one more famous for his or her exploits than the last.

The last being her father, who had died in battle with a dragon, saving an entire city in the process.

Tyla had spent her whole life hoping to make the ghost of her father proud. It turned out that pleasing ghosts was even harder than pleasing emotionally distant living parents. That hadn’t stopped her from continuing to try.

That was why this solo kill was so important. It would be her first. And it would gain her entry to the Elite Templars.

A bald eagle flew high above Tyla, magnificent and expansive. That’s the only sort of majestic flying beast the world should have, she thought. You don’t deserve to have to share the sky with vicious dragons.

The bald eagle was indigenous to this part of Shawnee National Forest. Tyla had been able to track a dragon to this part of Southern Illinois. She’d had to guess from there and had chosen the Panther Den wilderness area as the most likely place for the dragon to set up his den. Her thought process had been twofold. One, she liked the name. Two, it contained enough big and small game for her to reasonably suspect it would make hunting easy for the dragon.

Hence the deer she had drugged and tied to a stake in the ground.

Tyla shifted in her crouched position to keep her muscles from going stiff. She had taken up her hiding spot hours ago when the sun was still high in the sky. Now it was setting. Perfect time for the dragon to emerge and feed.

Hurry up, you bastard. The waiting is killing me.

Reflecting back on her stalk through the forest to this area, Tyla was reminded of the well-meaning, douchebag hiker she’d passed who tried to stop her from heading off-trail into this part of the forest. Some hipster dude with a long beard, ripped shorts, and a beach hat.

“You sure you want to go off that way?”

Tyla had bristled. She hated men who looked at her long, thin frame and assumed she couldn’t handle herself. Actually, she hated all men who felt they had a duty to ‘protect women’ for any reason.

“You sure you want to keep dousing yourself in perfume?” was all she said to him in response before hefting her large backpack a little higher and slipping into the woods.

The deer skittered a little, drawing Tyla’s attention back to her trap. Her stomach rose a little in her body with nervous anticipation. She quickly tied back her curly red hair and reached into her backpack.

From it, she removed a long sword. Its blade seemed ordinary enough to the naked eye. If looked at more closely, however, it appeared to be covered in glitter. That was the magic that bound the sword’s metal, making it strong enough to damage a dragon’s scales. It couldn’t penetrate them completely, except in their most vulnerable spots, but it was a powerful weapon.

Tyla called it Tearbringer for the effect it had on dragons she’d harmed in group hunts.

Now, it would know a kill on its own for the first time.

Tyla readied herself. Her keen senses, honed from years of training, kicked into high gear. That training had also given her incredible strength, necessary for combating the demonic beasts that haunted the earth.

Listening, watching, sniffing, Tyla could sense a change in the air around her. The forest was growing suddenly quieter. More still. More afraid.

Then everything rocked with the impact of large footsteps. Tree branches, high up, snapped and tumbled to the ground.

Then, it emerged from the foliage and stood above the deer.

Even though she’d already encountered and fought dragons, their mythical appearance and their impressive size still made her throat catch.

This one looked to be about the size of a 747. His scales were black, except for under his belly, where they were a deep, dark blue. He seemed to absorb the orange light of the setting sun that cut in sharp angles through the leaves.

The dragon considered the deer. Tyla had hidden the rope going from its leg to the stake beneath a bunch of leaves and twigs. Still, dragons weren’t stupid. Not all of them, at least. He was clearly going to be suspicious.

But that was why Tyla had set the trap. Which the deer was just baiting.

With a quick swipe of her sword through the air, Tyla cut a rope tied just above her head. That released a huge, heavy tree trunk that she’d hauled up and tied off. It went swinging through the air and connected with a powerful crunch right in the dragon’s flank.

It went tumbling on its side, letting out a growl. The deer, completely freaked, turned and ran, ripping the stake from the ground in its terrified flight.

Tyla leapt from her hiding place. She rose eight feet in the air and covered ten feet of distance to land right before the dragon’s surprised face. As she raised her sword, Tyla noted the huge eyes of her prey. Something was striking about them. They were a deep, swirling green.

Snap out of it, her brain shouted!

Then Tyla shouted for real, a battle cry, and swung her sword at the dragon’s neck. Tearbringer rang with a metallic sound as it connected with the dragon’s scales. The blow left its mark. Moreover, the force of it threw the dragon’s head aside, exposing the vulnerable patch of its underbelly.

Right near its heart.

With another cry, Tyla leapt forward, her blade’s point aiming true.