An Acorns Flash Fiction Feature
By: Karen McCullough
An hour before the start of the afternoon performance, Lia discovered Ocho was missing. The dragons had a back-up four-place dance in their repertoire, but none of them liked it. More participants produced better routines. And today’s shows had to be fabulous. Their survival depended on it.
She asked Doce about him as she prepared the banners.
“He heard a call.” The dragon stretched out his wings and dipped one toward her. Lia massaged the tissues between the long bones and Doce sighed. “If he doesn’t return in time, we’ll do the Quatrain.”
“He had to go now? How far?” She considered sending Doce after him, but when a dragon heard a call, the compulsion overrode most other considerations. No telling what might be the source. A mating call was the most common type, but the dragons’ emotional sensitivity meant Ocho could be responding to a cry for help or companionship, from others of his kind, from humans, or even less self-aware creatures. Cinco had once brought back three orphaned dragons. Of them, Doce and Quince had stayed with the troop while their brother went off to seek his own adventures.
Quince had twice issued mating calls herself and received plenty of attention, but so far no offspring had resulted. The troop needed more individuals. The five dragons did remarkable routines, but more participants could create yet more dramatic and spectacular aerial dances. With luck, Ocho would find others.
“He said he’d be back in time for the afternoon dance,” Doce said.
Lia rubbed her forehead. “He’d better be. This is the best booking we’ve had for months, and it’s only for two days.”
Doce lifted a shoulder in a dragon shrug.
She sometimes envied the dragons’ carefree attitude. Other times, like now, it annoyed her. Lia worried over everything—food, shelter, transportation, bookings, and the hundreds of other details of managing the shows and the dragons’ needs. The job had grown harder two months past, when her former partner told her he’d had enough, handed over the business, broke off their engagement, and disappeared into the morning mist, taking all their recent profits with him.
A man and child walked up, distracting her, and asked, “Are there still seats for the next show? I heard this morning’s was amazing.”
“There are.” She made out tickets for them. “Take these to the gate and please spread the word about tomorrows’ performances.”
The man hesitated. “Can I ask you about the dragons? How do you train them to dance so beautifully?”
“I don’t train them. I help them develop routines, but mostly they create their own, and they dance purely for the love of it. Some dragons are born to perform. They draw energy from the crowds that watch and cheer for them.”
“How do you find them or recruit them?”
She searched the horizons, hoping for a glimpse of Ocho. “They find me. They need a human partner to manage the practical details for them.”
“Why do you do it?”
“I—” No one had asked her that before and she had to think about it. “I love them, I guess. I have an affinity for them, and they seem to feel the same for me. I’m part of their world and love to watch them dance their joy.”
“Taking care of them and the shows must be a lot of work.”
“Organizing the shows can be hard. The dragons mostly take care of themselves. And sometimes they take care of me, too.”
“They do?”
“They’re very sensitive to emotions, human and dragon. They try to cheer me when I’m distraught and they protect against danger.”
He looked surprised, but the girl with him tugged on his arm and dragged him away.
She checked the time. Thirty minutes until the next show. The customer’s words reminded her what a stunning performance they’d put on that morning. In the sky overhead, the five dragons had looped and swirled graceful arabesques with sunlight glittering off their scales in cascades of green, blue, and silver. Children in the audience gaped in wonder, inspiring her to see it from their viewpoint. She took for granted the glorious spectacle of wings beating in rhythm: long slender bodies weaving fluid, twisting patterns; tails joining together or with their fellows’ heads to form ovals, stars, and florets; and the final eruption of the flame display. The dragons fed on the wonderment of their audience and elevated their performance.
She doubted this afternoon’s show would run so smoothly. Ocho was the oldest and most experienced of the crew. Without him the others might fumble their moves.
Everything could go sideways if he didn’t return before the next performance. A glance at the village clock tower showed twenty minutes remaining.
Her breath sped up. They needed another spectacular performance to ensure tomorrow’s crowd would be larger. Without Ocho, though…
Movement caught her eye off to the east. A cloud of dust approaching, possibly with a cart at its center. Above it, scales glinted in the sunlight. Dragons…Maybe three? Was that greenish-gold one Ocho?
After a quick debate, she went to the staging area and announced a short delay in getting started but promised the show would be worth the wait. Her identification had better be right.
The dragons arrived before the cart, with Ocho in the lead. She sighed with relief as she went to meet him and urged him to join the others in getting ready for the show.
“We will all join,” he announced. “This show will be the best.”
Surprise and doubt washed over her. She looked at the two new dragons “They don’t know the routines.”
“They do,” Ocho insisted. “I have demonstrated for them. And they will fit in. I’ll inform the others.”
She’d have to trust he knew what he was doing. Ocho generally did. But her nerves still jangled as she watched him fly off. Before she could hurry after him to the field, the cart arrived, driven by an attractive young man wearing a bashful look.
“You must be Lia,” he said. “Ocho told me to find you and offer my help. He heard a call from my dragons, but he said your heart had been calling, too, and I was the answer.”
“Not sure what that means,” she answered. “But the show’s about to get started and I can’t worry about it now.”
She heard him follow her to the field, but he waited at the side while she announced the introduction. The nervous lump in her throat made it harder to project, but she got through her spiel and cued the dragons to begin. The newcomer joined her once she moved aside while the dragons glided onto the field, one after the other, in a rippling ribbon of graceful curves and glittering scales.
She held her breath as they rose into the air and began weaving the complex tapestry of fluctuating formations. Moments later she released the air on a gasp. Ocho hadn’t exaggerated. The newcomers fit themselves into the routines perfectly, the larger number making their flowing spirals and whirling pirouettes yet more spectacular.
The young man next to her jerked in a sharp breath and let it out slowly. “They’re beautiful. It’s amazing. I didn’t know they could do this.”
“They are. Ocho was right about them fitting in. He’s right about a lot of things.”
The dragons launched into their fiery concluding routine, emitting undulating, interweaving, and brilliantly colored columns of flame high above, drawing thunderous applause from the crowd.
The young man’s eyes lit as he stared at her. He leaned closer to make himself heard over the noise. “I’m Geoffrey, by the way, and this is the most amazing day of my life. I hope you’ll let me join your troupe along with my dragons.”
“I don’t think I could stop you.” She smiled at him, eyeing his broad shoulders, slender waist, and pleasant features. “I don’t think I want to.”
About the Author:
Karen McCullough is the author of more than two dozen published novels and novellas in the mystery, romance, suspense, and fantasy genres, including the Market Center Mysteries Series and three books in the No Brides Club series. A member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and the Short Mystery Fiction Society, she is also a past president of the Southeast chapter of Mystery Writers of America and served on the MWA national board as well as the boards of two Romance Writers of America chapters. Karen has won numerous awards, including the 2021 Bould Awards for flash fiction, an Epic Ebook Award for fantasy, and has also been a finalist in the Daphne, Prism, Dream Realm, International Digital, Lories, and Vixen Award contests. Her short fiction has appeared in a wide variety of anthologies. More information is available at her website: https://www.kmccullough.com.