A short response to the prompt "Write a story titled, "The Baby Dragon.""
'So, without further gilding the lily and with no more ado, I give to you,' the story!
The woods surrounding Camelot were thick with unknowns, many magical surprises hidden underneath the cover of leaves, unbeknownst to the majority of the townspeople within the kingdom. However, to the young boy who was currently darting around large rocks and tree trunks into the heart of the woods, nothing was unfamiliar and strange here any longer. He spent nearly all of his time that was not spent on his mother's farmland, or healing people in his small village, inside of these woods. In his mind, this magic was a familiar, welcoming environment that allowed him in like he was family.
Today, the young boy was searching for a safe place to get out of the rain. He was caught by surprise by the thunderstorm and was too far from home to make it back without catching cold. He ducked into the first cave he came across, crouching down inside the small opening. He twisted his head around, blinking water out of his eyes and squinting in the darkness to see if the cave went in any further. He lifted a palm, pressing it against the cool, jagged rock, and could feel the hollowness on the other side. His calm blue eyes glowed golden for a moment before the rock blasted away from his palm, allowing him passage further inside.
He crawled forward until the cave was large enough for him to stand in, forgetting that the cave was only supposed to be a temporary hideaway in his new explorations. He stumbled across a couple slippery rocks and tripped onto the ground, and the sound echoed strangely, almost as though he were in a large cavern. He held his hand out, palm upwards, and allowed his eyes to shift from cerulean to golden yet again. A flame appeared before him, hovering above his palm, as his eyes returned to their normal color. The flame illuminated the entire area, and he turned his head up.
The young boy was astounded by the sight he found. This new area was an enormous, cavernous room, with stalactites clinging to the ceiling. The high walls seemed to be glittering with captured stars, and his gaze soon fell to the small stone pedestal in the middle of the room. It seemed to be natural, growing out of the stone in the exact center of the area, but it had a strangely flat top surface. The odd pedestal wasn't what caught the boy's attention, however; it was the young dragon sitting atop it.
The boy inched forward, trying not to startle the dragon away. He knew the dragon would not be safe outside this cave, where it could be seen by frightened eyes. Since the king's decree that all magical beings should be destroyed, creatures such as the dragon must be hidden away. The young boy felt the same way; being born with magic, a situation that was previously unheard of, was a daily source of terror for him. He sympathized with this baby dragon, and he hoped the dragon would sense his friendliness and lack of hostility.
Luck was on the boy's side today as the dragon merely fluttered his wings and drew himself up to his full height. The dragon was two feet tall or so, but the young boy knew that was an average size for a newly-hatched dragon. In the light of the flame, the dragon's copper scales seemed to glow. The young boy reached out his free hand, and the dragon immediately nuzzled his head into the rough skin. The boy smiled at the young dragon, and it almost seemed, for a moment, that the dragon smiled back.
"Merlin!" Someone shouted from the direction of the mouth of the cave. "Merlin, are you in here?"
"That's my mum." The young boy named Merlin whispered to the dragon. The dragon's intelligent grey eyes stared back into Merlin's joyous blue ones. "I'll try to come back for you, yeah?"
The dragon dipped it's head, as though it were nodding, before curling back up again on the pedestal. Merlin turned on his heel and fled from the cave, sprinting back to the mouth of the cave, stumbling more than once. When he reached the entrance, he put the flame out and blinked in the harsh sunlight. As his eyes adjusted, he realized the sudden storm had passed as quickly as it had come, and his mother was waiting for him.
"I was worried sick, I thought..." His mother trailed off before clutching her small boy against her in a tight hug. "I thought they'd found you."
"They won't find me out, Mum. I'll make sure of it. I need to take care of you." Merlin mumbled into his mother's stomach, his voice muffled. His mother kissed the top of his head and pushed his back.
"Move along. The rain's stopped, so you have chores to do." She ordered. Merlin looked back over his shoulder at the cave, remembering different characteristics about it's location so that he could return.
"Yes, Mum." He agreed easily, taking her hand and following her back through the woods.