Welcome to this week’s installment of many micro stories, ranging in length from 100 words to 500 words.
With each story we hope to deliver a little whimsy into the lives of our readers.
ENCUMBRANCE
“Where are you hiding, human?”
The deep voice rolled like thunder around the rocky hillside. The dragon’s black scales fanned as its long body curved over the ridge, sniffing at the air in search of the thief.
Hiding in a cleft of large rocks, the man breathed slowly and quietly despite his panicked heart’s best efforts to put a dent in his sternum. He had a mixture of leaves, roots, gums, sap, and bark rubbed onto his body to adopt a mixed odour of surrounding natural elements. An olfactory camouflage to mask his human scent, with his clothes greyed by lacquered rock dust to blend in with the stony terrain.
Had he felt braver, he might have made a break for it. A cautiously slow, rock-hugging one, but then he’d have to leave behind the sack he’d filled with so many coins, gems, and other trinkets. The weight of which had him pulling it along the rocks instead of carrying a lighter haul over his shoulder.
Generally, he had a rule to curtail being hamstrung by his greed. A scale of estimated perceived value versus observable weight. It had always served him well with larger items, but he had grossly underestimated the shimmering mountain of wealth waiting to tempt him in the creature’s cave.
The dragon drew close, clacking on the rocks, its sharp talons that could easily divide him into several butcher stall cuts. Not that it would pick that option when there was a corrosive black sludge it could unleash upon him.
If he meant to escape the creature’s wrath, he’d have to lighten his load. Now, while it was moving away. Once its tail whipped past, he reached into the sack and grabbed the nearest three items; a coin, a ring, and a bracelet. He slid out of his hiding spot, behind the descending black dragon, and threw them as hard as he could, casting them in the opposite direction to which he intended to escape. They chimed on the rocks as they bounced and deflected, drawing the dragon’s head towards them.
With a deep and gravelly hum, the creature dragged its body over the rocks towards the sound, giving the thief covering noise under which to drag his sack of valuables behind him, pulling it over rock and groove until he could find a farther hiding spot.
Looking back, he saw the dragon continue past the landing trinkets to pursue a false shadow of his distraction. But then he heard a scratchy tear. A broken wooden post, a remnant of some long-lost cabin, presented a protruding rusty nail that disembowelled his treasure sack.
The chiming chorus that ensued was ethereal with its ringing and dinging, echoing down the rocky hill. A golden fountain of high-pitched babbling, keepsakes and coins rolled and skipped, stopping the dark beast in its tracks to let out an amused guttural sigh.
And although it was a severe overcorrection of his previous attempt, at least the thief’s load had been sufficiently lightened.
Barend Nieuwstraten III grew up and lives in Sydney, Australia, where he was born to Dutch and Indian immigrants. He has worked in film, short film, television, music, and online comics. He is now primarily working on a collection of stories set within a high fantasy world, a science fiction alternate future, often dipping his toes in horror in the process. With over eighty stories published in anthologies, he continues to work on short stories, stand-alone novels, and an epic series.
A discovery writer not knowing what will happen when he begins typing, he endeavours to drag his readers on the same unknown journey through the fog of his subconscious.
If you enjoyed this story you can find it and more in the Hawthorn & Ash anthology.
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