Heart of the Dragon

By Jamie Sullivan

Madfall is the greatest thief in the kingdom, stealing crowns off the very heads of kings. His hoard is legendary. Simply put, he’s a dragon through and through. So, when he steals a basket of “gold” from the king’s castle but finds a baby inside, he’s at a loss. What’s a dragon to do?

Seventeen years later, inexperienced knight Richard of Benfro sets out to slay the dragon, expecting death or glory. Not the most awkward meet-cute in history when he’s captured by the dragon’s human—and handsome—son.

Oenyn has been content living with Madfall, enjoying the fierce and protective love of his adopted father. But he’s always been curious about humanity. When Richard blunders into the home he shares with Madfall, Oenyn grabs the chance to learn all he can about people, castle life, sex . . . and maybe love. At least until Richard makes a startling discovery.

Caught between a potential future in the human world and his old life, Oenyn is faced with an impossible choice. Luckily, being raised by a dragon has left him plenty stubborn. He won’t give up his father, or his human family, without a fight.

**Note: This is a revised second edition, originally published elsewhere.**

• Language: English
• Publisher: Riptide Publishing
• Release date: Jun 15, 2020
• ISBN: 9781626499362

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Riptide Publishing

PO Box 1537

Burnsville, NC 28714

www.riptidepublishing.com

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. All person(s) depicted on the cover are model(s) used for illustrative purposes only.

Heart of the Dragon

Copyright © 2018, 2020 by Jamie Sullivan

Smashwords Edition

Cover art: L.C. Chase, lcchase.com

Editor: Carole-ann Galloway

Layout: L.C. Chase, lcchase.com

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher, and where permitted by law. Reviewers may quote brief passages in a review. To request permission and all other inquiries, contact Riptide Publishing at the mailing address above, at Riptidepublishing.com, or at [e-mail].

ISBN: 978-1-62649-936-2

Second edition

June, 2020

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The greatest thief captures an unexpected prize.

Madfall is the greatest thief in the kingdom, stealing crowns off the very heads of kings. His hoard is legendary. Simply put, he’s a dragon through and through. So, when he steals a basket of gold from the king’s castle but finds a baby inside, he’s at a loss. What’s a dragon to do?

Seventeen years later, inexperienced knight Richard of Benfro sets out to slay the dragon, expecting death or glory. Not the most awkward meet-cute in history when he’s captured by the dragon’s human—and handsome—son.

Oenyn has been content living with Madfall, enjoying the fierce and protective love of his adopted father. But he’s always been curious about humanity. When Richard blunders into the home he shares with Madfall, Oenyn grabs the chance to learn all he can about people, castle life, sex . . . and maybe love. At least until Richard makes a startling discovery.

Caught between a potential future in the human world and his old life, Oenyn is faced with an impossible choice. Luckily, being raised by a dragon has left him plenty stubborn. He won’t give up his father, or his human family, without a fight.

About Heart of the Dragon

Part One: Madfall

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Part Two: Richard

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Part Three: Oenyn

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Part Four: Madfall

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Dear Reader

Also by Jamie Sullivan

About the Author

More Like This

For my family. I’m so glad I accidentally appropriated you.

Madfall crept low on his belly, pressing close to the ground to avoid being seen. He narrowed his eyes. He had been watching the castle for days from his position outside the royal treasury. A single chink in the wall, where a stone had been carefully pried out months before, revealed the corridor outside the heavily guarded room. The sentinels moved in rotations; there was never a moment when there wasn’t at least one armed guard outside the heavy, metal-laced door.

But Madfall wasn’t the greatest thief in the land for nothing. Hadn’t he stolen the Eye of Brahma right off the raj’s head? Hadn’t the central bank’s vault been plundered two times this calendar year already?

Madfall wriggled closer. No, a few dozen guards weren’t enough to deter him.

A young woman with a sweet face and an ample bosom approached the door, a large bread basket dangling from her round arm. If Madfall didn’t know better, he would have sworn she was nothing more than an assistant baker, delivering bread throughout the castle. But Madfall had been watching. Under her servant’s skirts were four glistening, dangerously sharp knives—two strapped to her waist and one in each dainty boot she wore. A small axe, its blade curved and gleaming, rested at the bottom of the basket. Her sweet smile hid the deadly precision with which she could wield the weapons. The baker’s assistant wasn’t there for bread; she was there for gold.

It had taken Madfall weeks to work out, but his careful surveillance of the castle had finally paid off. Every Friday the girl lined her basket with gold, covered it with bread to muffle the sound of the coins, and then strolled into the town center to deliver it to the king’s agent. Merchants would line up at the office door in the afternoon to collect payments for that week’s goods—the vast amount of flour, meat, cloth, and other items the castle used in a seven-day period.

Over the years there had been ample speculation in the country’s underbelly about how the money was delivered to the king’s agent. Highwaymen lined the roads into town, stopping every coach and carriage that bore the royal crest—and most of those that didn’t. But the girl with the bread didn’t ride in a cart or carriage. She rambled in the morning sun with a number of other palace servants, none of them holding anything larger than a basket—and the highwaymen were confident that a single woman would not be able to lift the amount of gold that was needed by the king’s agent every week. The women were allowed to pass unharassed—save for some unsavory comments that brought red to their cheeks.

None of the other thieves in the kingdom had figured out the secret of the bread basket—but Madfall had. He watched through narrowed eyes as the girl entered the treasury with a flirty smile at the guard. A few minutes later she strolled out again, her face never belying the added weight that hung over her arm. She wiggled her fingers in the guard’s direction and turned down the hall.

It was time. Madfall took one last look at the treasury door, the iron bolts in place again, and slithered away from the lookout. The castle perched precariously on a bed of stone, the rough crags overhanging the raging sea. Except for the long bridge that connected the spit of rock to the mainland, the castle was impenetrable.

For a human, anyway.

Madfall’s claws dug easily into the dense rock. His long, sinuous body curled over the promontory, his tail hanging down over the five-hundred-foot drop into the sea. He backed up, lowering his body over the side of the cliff face until he was out of sight of the castle, and then let himself drop. Sea air rushed up to meet him as he tumbled backward. He closed his eyes and let his wings unfurl. They caught the air with a sharp snick, jerking him upward. He twisted gracefully and wheeled round the sea cliffs that encircled the castle. It took the girl precisely eleven minutes to reach the inner courtyard. There, she would wait by the castle door until the rest of the young women walking into town had assembled. While still inside the castle walls, the girls were off their guard.

Madfall chuckled as his wings beat the air, lifting him up to the level of the castle, and then over the high castle wall. A man stationed on the battlement called out, Dragon! But the warning was too late. Madfall spotted a dot of a figure in the courtyard, a large basket at its feet. He swooped while the alarm was still being sounded and grabbed the basket in his hind claws. The young woman screamed.

Madfall smirked as he sped upward at breakneck speed, bursting through the cloud cover that hung low in the sky. The idiots on the wall hadn’t even had time to put an arrow to their bows. He’d been in sight for less than thirty seconds.

Turning in the air, he winged his way home. Today he swept over the large, dark forest that curved around the southern border of the capital city. He dipped low, until the tips of his foreclaws almost brushed the topmost branches, leaves ruffling in the wake of his beating wings. From the lookout towers of the castle, his black scales would be hard to make out against the inky forest.

After a few miles, he dropped into the forest itself, the bulk of his long body winding sinuously between the trees. He tucked his wings in and awkwardly moved the basket of gold to a front foot. He crept along the land, moving to the east. When he was sure his trail from the sky would be cold, Madfall took to the air again.

Every time he attacked a human settlement, Madfall made sure to approach his home from a new angle. As far as he knew, the humans still had no idea where he kept his hoard—and he planned to keep it that way. There were a thousand young men in the country who would gladly take the chance to storm his lair, their heads turned by the promise of wealth and valor.

Knights had searched every crack and crevice of the country’s mountains and forests, but they had yet to think of the caves that the tumultuous sea had carved out of the coastline. Eons of beating water had opened the rock enough to make Madfall quite comfortable inside, and just like the ancient kings who had built the castle, Madfall knew there was no better protection than the raging sea to keep out unwanted visitors.

Madfall carefully flew above the cloud cover until he was sure of a clear descent, and then he plummeted down to the sea. Ocean spray hit his snout as he drew up sharply just above the water, letting his tail dip into the icy-cold waters. His smirk grew into a wide smile and he closed his eyes, dipping lower until the sound of the waves rushed up to his ears and the salt coated his scales.

Keeping close to the cliff walls, Madfall made his way home. The cave didn’t look like much from the outside—and a good thing, too. He had to squeeze his impressive bulk between the jagged rocks into nearly impenetrable darkness. Inside, the sea had smoothed the walls, pushing the rock back to form a large, dry cavern. Madfall stretched his wings, shaking the sea spray from the thin membrane. He turned to his treasure.

The basket was large and oblong, with a heavy blanket tucked over the treasure inside. He took a deep breath to savor the moment, and then flicked the blanket aside with a sharp, curved claw.

The baby inside took one look at him and started to wail.

Madfall leapt back with a curse, the shrill noise ringing in his ears.

What in the ever living . . . he gasped, creeping forward again.

Another peek into the basket presented the same picture as before: one human baby, fists bunched and face red, screaming at the top of its tiny lungs. For such a small person, it could make an awful lot of noise.

Shhhh! Madfall hissed, tiny wisps of smoke curling out of his nostrils as he hovered over the basket.

The baby screamed louder.

Okay, okay, he said, desperately wriggling backward. No shushing. Fine.

His voice rumbled through the cave. The pitch of the baby’s wail reached the level of bats’ screams in the night.

Right, Madfall whispered in despair. Quieter. I got it.

He held his breath, crouched low to the floor, and waited.

The baby kept crying.

Come on! he huffed, craning forward to peer into the basket again. I can’t even hear myself think!

The baby’s face was crumpled in on itself, nothing but a mouth stretched wide.

Quiet! Madfall raged, a burst of flame shooting out of his mouth. The baby’s eyes widened, and the noise stopped.

Guh? the baby asked.

Huh? Madfall said.

He slithered closer. The baby’s eyes were darting around the room and his forehead was starting to crease again.

Oh! Madfall gasped. Right. Human eyes. Darkness. Ugh. You people are so useless.

He turned and shot a column of flames at a nearby lantern, stolen for its intricate metalwork, rather than its ability to provide light. Still, it blazed to life, casting an orange glow through the cavern. The baby’s big blue eyes shone in the light, latching onto him once again.

In the moment’s peace, the circumstances of the last five minutes managed to penetrate Madfall’s brain. He sat back on his haunches, truly astonished for what felt like the first time in a century. The baby made an inquisitive noise, and Madfall’s eyes narrowed. He stalked forward, peering angrily into the basket.

Where’s my gold? he demanded.

Guh? The baby’s head cocked, and one little hand reached up toward him.

You are not treasure! he said, making his voice stern.

The baby gurgled.

Madfall plopped back on his haunches and frowned. He had seen the girl take the basket from the treasury . . . he had grabbed the basket in the courtyard. With a deepening frown, he peered at the basket again. When he had seen it in the hands of the female guard, had it always been so . . . oblong? And surely when he had watched the girl disguise the treasure, he had seen some loaves of bread covering the gold beneath.

Are you kidding me? Madfall thundered, making the whole cave system shake.

The baby started to whimper again.

Oh! No, no, no, no, no, he said urgently, leaning close. Madfall was just being an idiot. Don’t cry, little human. He squeezed one eye shut, trying to think. What made you stop before? Fire? He snorted a tiny stream of orange-and-blue flame out into the low light of the cave.

The whimpering stopped.

Madfall did it again. And then the strangest sound reverberated off of the smooth stone walls.

He leaned closer, peering into the baby’s basket. Its little eyes were scrunched up in mirth, and another giggle escaped into the gloomy cave.

Huh, Madfall said. Most humans are afraid of fire, you know.

The baby just laughed again.

Reviews for Heart of the Dragon

[nannyogg13 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Madfall is a dragon and dragons care only about one thing - their hoard. So when he steals a basket that was supposed to have gold in it but instead had a baby - of course he wanted to get rid of it! Or maybe ransom it. He won't get attached because dragons don't get attached to humans. They don't.

Oenyn is human. And also dragon. After all, his father is a dragon - and he says it doesn't matter whose skin you wear. He loves his life with his father (and his goat, and his bunnies), but he is also curious about humans.

Richard is a squire who, in an effort to try and prove himself to his father and the knights who trained him, accepted the king's mission to find and slay the dragon that's been plaguing their kingdom and bring back the dragon's heart.

Hilarity ensues.

This book was just so much fun. It's light, fluffy and it made me laugh out loud. The only thing that bothered me a little is the use of contemporary phrases (like "You're on") in a world that's supposed to be medieval fantasy, but it didn't distract me from the story too much, because I just had so much fun reading it.