The Cat and the Dragon

a fantasy flash fiction story

Hello, and welcome to February. This month’s offering is a Glamour Dust Bonus—no audio or video, and usually a shorter story that came about because of a prompt or an experiment. This story, The Cat and the Dragon, was written years ago with the prompt of ‘write something from a cat’s POV’. The dragon was based off this little dragon statuette my husband gave me around the same time.

I hope you enjoy today’s story!

The rustle of silk made my ears twitch, pulling me from my dreams of chasing mechanical mice. I opened my eyes as the owner of the skirt swept past me, her dainty boots just missing my whiskers that poked beyond the table I slept under. The skirt had been divided for riding, which meant my master had received yet another curio from his lady adventurer friend.

I waited until she left the shop, the doorbell tinkling behind her, before slipping out and stretching. A whiff of something new caught my nose, and my whiskers shivered. The hair on my neck bristled a little.

What had the woman brought this time? Always something interesting, something my master had never seen before.

I padded to the counter at the back of the antique emporium. My master was nowhere to be seen, but a curious lump of metal sat on the counter. I leapt up and studied it from a few feet away.

Bronze scales, green with age, covered the thing's back and sides. Curious metal appendages, similar to bat wings but fashioned as thin as paper, lay folded against the scales.

I skirted around the thing, careful to never turn my back. The lady had once brought my master a harmless-looking flower that had tried to eat my nose when I'd sniffed it.

On its other side, I could see a triangular head with whiskers protruding from it. A long tail lay curved close, concealing the thing's belly.

I crouched down and crept up close, then inched my nose out to touch it. It was ice-cold.

The eyelids sprang open, revealing slitted eyes similar to my own.

I sprang back and hissed.

The thing raised its head, the wings unfurling from its back with a metallic twang. Gears and clockwork groaned as it stretched up onto its hindquarters.

It tilted its head to the side and said in a scratchy voice that reminded me of the master's phonograph, "Hello. I hope we shall be friends."

Thank you for reading! I’ll see you next month with another audio/video Glamour Dust story!