10 A Working Day

  Sara woke up the next day feeling more pain in her muscles than she ever remembered feeling in her life, even more than when she learned to ride. Her feet hurt, and she was hungry. She wanted nothing more than to call a servant and tell them to bring her food and a couple more blankets. Sara looked around and nearly cried. Instead, she threw back the covers and started her day by dealing with her bodily needs. She decided she may have missed the bathing room even more than her bed.

  There were some coals on the fire, so getting it going wasn’t as difficult as she feared it would be. She put a pot on the small fire and went out to gather water for the house and for washing. After getting the water, she gathered the eggs, thrilled that she had found one somewhere she hadn’t before.

  She went in to cook a few eggs, forgetting the warning David had given her about putting questionable eggs in the frying pan. When the rotten egg hit the hot pan, she remembered quickly. She rushed from the house, gagging on the smell. She didn’t stay there long as she thought about the smell filling the house.

  Sara ran back inside, grabbed a cloth to protect her hand from the heat of the pan, and carried it out of the house. She walked a way off and dropped the pan on the ground, not caring where it landed. Sara walked quickly back to the edge of the house and bent over. Part of her wanted to throw up, but since she hadn’t eaten, she was able to resist the urge.

  “I know what brimstone smells like now,” Sara said, trying to smile.

  Sara straightened up and looked back at where her pan lay on the ground. “I’ll remember to pay closer attention when David warns me about something.”

  “I think I need some tea,” Sara said as she walked back into the house. The house had several openings on the walls as if windows were planned but never installed. The breeze that came through helped clear out at least part of the smell. Sara went over to the pot and, seeing there was still enough water in it, she poured the hot water into a cup and dropped a couple of the mint leaves in it.

  She sat down and waited for the tea to steep. She took her first drink when she heard the beating of the dragon’s wing. Sara thought about getting up and going out but remembered it was Sixth Day. According to David, he and Draco were going to let her have the two days off a week she wanted. Since she had told David that she was going to take Sixth Day and Seventh Day or Creator’s Day off, Sara stayed where she was.

  Soon she was going to find out, not for the last time, that just because Draco said something didn’t mean he wasn’t going to change his mind.

  There came a growl of words that Sara was quickly understanding as Draco’s language. The sound came from outside the place she was considering her house. A louder growl of words came next, then David yelled, “Sari, you need to get out here, now. Draco wants you to serve him.”

  Sara jumped up and ran outside, angry that the dragon would demand her to come out.

  When she was halfway between the house and where the dragon stood and she yelled, “You said I could choose two days off. I chose today and tomorrow.”

  In a flash, the dragon closed the distance between them. It swung his tail around, knocking her to the ground. Standing over her, he growled out his words. The heat from his mouth covering her and sweat breaking out all over.

  Sara watched Draco move away from her and, looking around, saw why as David was yelling at him. Sara was so stunned she didn’t hear what the giant said.

  A minute later, David was standing next to her with his hand down to help her up. Sara took it, and as he was helping her up, the giant said, “Draco says you had yesterday off, so you can work today. He is hungry and wants a rooster. You had better hurry and go get it.”

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  Leaning forward, he whispered, “Just pretend Draco is like one of your lords and do what he says. It will go better for you.”

  Sara dusted herself off and began walking toward the house to get what she needed. What does he mean like one of my lords? Sara thought but stopped by the house only to get what she needed.

  Just a moment later, she was walking again and grumbling. She had been angry at Draco, but now she was angry at David. Her anger at the giant was because he was correct. Draco was acting just like some of the lords she knew.

  Once she fed Draco, she learned that the dragon wanted her to begin planting a garden with some seeds that he and David picked up when they left the valley.

  The only thing that seemed to please Sara was that David seemed just as upset about Draco’s plan as she was. Sara understood why when he joined her at the place where the garden was supposed to be.

  Sara looked up at the giant and asked, “How do I do this?”

  David looked over the ground and said, “The first thing we need to do is to break up the ground and try and clear away the grass.”

  Sara looked from the ground to the giant, confused. She knew there were tools to do this job, but didn’t even know what to call them, let alone how to use them.

  David looked down and laughed, “Do you know what a shovel, a hoe, and a plow are?”

  Sara shook her head. She had heard the words but honestly didn’t know what all the tools did.

  “A shovel is for digging?” Sara said with uncertainty.

  David looked across the ground, shook his head, and sighed. “I pick the servant next time.” He said in a whisper, then looked at Sara and winked. In a louder voice, David said, “Just preparing the ground will take us a few days. Draco could have this done in a day, maybe, but we would not want him to break one of his delicate claws, so we’ll have to do it.”

  In a moment, Draco was out of the cave and speaking in his growling rumble of his language.

  “No, go back in,” David replied, waving his hands to indicate the direction back to the cave, and then continued. “You have been flying hard; I wouldn’t want you to tire out your weak legs.”

  Sara couldn’t understand the reply, but she moved back, not knowing if the two were going to fight or if David was going to provoke Draco into doing the work after all. After a few more exchanges, Draco pushed David back with his tail and tore into the ground with his claws. It wasn’t twenty minutes later that the initial work was done.

  Draco stepped back afterwards and stared at David. The dragon’s nose was pointing into the air as if he was saying, yes, I’m that good.

  Sara stayed quiet, knowing this wasn’t a fight she wanted a part of, but close enough to see the exchange.

  “Thank you, Draco,” David said, nodding at first, then shaking his head while picking up a clod of grass and throwing it aside. “You were correct, it did not take you long to do the initial work, now we will get the hard stuff done. I wouldn’t want you to get grass stuck in your claws.”

  Sara tried not to giggle, understanding that David was trying to use the dragon’s pride to get him to finish this part of the work. Sara looked at the dragon and swore that the dragon rolled his eyes, as David continued giving Draco excuses.

  “Yes, besides the grass in your claws, there is the dust that might upset your nose, and like I said before, you are probably feeling tired from flying. After all, you are not a young dragon anymore, so we will prepare the ground the rest of the way.” David looked at Draco, then lowered and shook his head. “Yes, we will finish it.”

  She thought she heard the dragon clear his throat, but then Draco roared, flapped his wings, and pointed one clawed hand towards the house Sara lived in.

  David at once turned and, grabbing Sara by the arm, pulling her towards her house as Draco began dragging his claws across the ground. Once at the house, he waved to her to sit down on the porch, but before he said anything else, he sniffed.

  “You did what I told you not to do and fried a bad egg, correct?”

  Sara looked down and nodded.

  Sara didn’t expect what would happen next as the giant burst out laughing. “Everyone does it who has chickens, at least once. Since you have never had the unpleasant experience before, it was probably easy to discount what I said.”

  The giant reached down and patted her on the shoulder gently. “For now, we should talk about gardening.”

  The rest of the day, Sara learned about how to plant a garden. By the time David had told her about the different vegetables they had seeds for, Draco had finished preparing the ground, and they got to work. She was surprised at the number of different seeds they had, and after having just eggs, potatoes, and a little bit of smoked meat, she was looking forward to seeing a greater variety to her menu. The only disappointment was hearing how long it would take for them to grow.

  When the day was over, Sara was again sore and tired. She enjoyed soaking in her bath that night more than she ever remembered doing before. She hoped that Draco would keep his word about letting her have the next day off. She was sure she needed the day to rest, and as soon as she lay down, she was again asleep.