“Wyrm-collecting After a Morning Storm” • by Allison Mulder

 

“Rain humbles the dragons,” the poachers laughed as they gathered their hooks and chains, their lances, their mud-crusted rainboots.

From their stronghold, they rode the well-worn trail to the plains, to the beasts’ hunting grounds, where dragons floundered in mud. Fragile wings wet and useless. Breath cold as doused candles.

The men advanced, grinning beneath their helmets as the dragons cringed away. They huddled with their wings spread, desperate, as if holding each other up.

Or like the market awnings that kept the poachers’ wares dry.

A single dragon uncoiled from the center, smoke ribboning over its bone-dry scales.

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Allison Mulder grew up in the Midwest, and enjoys cheesy jokes and eldritch horrors in equal measure. She writes fantasy, science fiction, and horror. Her stories have appeared in Fireside Fiction, Escape Pod, Cast of Wonders, and more. You can find them at allisonmulder.wordpress.com, though Allison herself is more easily found on Twitter as @AMulderWrites.