A young girl gets a fire lizard for her birthday.
A young fire lizard is kidnapped from her home.
When their two worlds collide, their lives will never be the same.
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Super-short chapters! Word count is under 6,000 for the whole story.
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I'm...
Sometimes my chief captor—the smallest one—reaches out to touch me. Though I knew it is not wise to anger her, I discourage her with bared teeth and a slap with the tip of my tail. She then leaves me alone.
Today however, these tricks are futile. Her paw closes over me, pinning one wing painfully against my side.
I struggle, beating my free wing, thrashing my tail, and finally biting her. My teeth sink into a lifeless pelt—a disturbing sensation, until I realize she is wearing a dried skin to protect her paw. She may be more cunning than I gave her credit for.
She shifts her grip to trap my other wing and presses me against her shoulder. I still. Her body emits a faint, moist heat. Embarrassingly, I find myself clinging to it. I flatten my belly against her, trying to absorb her heat, like a hatchling with her mother.
Then I notice the fire. It is tauntingly close, just the other side of the wall that confined me!
I struggle to get nearer the fire, but my captor keeps me pressed against her. At last she shifts, her paw tightening over me. I renew my struggle as she lifts me into the air, but she is too strong, and I am enclosed once again.
Something has changed, however. Now the grating, rather than on top, makes up the wall closest to the fire. Glorious heat floods in. The bars warm rapidly under my claws. I stand on my hind legs and spread my wings to the fullest extent, to catch every ray.
My captor crouches, watching me through the bars with eyes like egg whites.
Not wanting to give her satisfaction, I lower my wings and turn to the back wall. I lie down, and for the first time since my capture, sleep undisturbed by winter.
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