Wyldblood: Science Fiction and Fantasy

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The Egg is Mother of the Dragon

Gordon Pinckheard

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I’m sorry, Mom,” Zachary said.

“Sorry is one thing, Zach, but I’m looking for improvement. I want this room tidier. You’d swear there’d been some sort of disaster in here.”

“Sorry.”

His mother turned on her heel, left, shutting the door more forcefully than necessary.

Zachary promised himself to be better, to try to be better, starting tomorrow. Sometimes, Mom forgot, and sometimes, she felt guilty for being hard on him. Being better could wait until tomorrow.

The next morning, there was a new lizard in his vivarium. It was big for a lizard, the body about the size of his hand, wings flat along its back. It just sat there, tongue flickering in and out.

At breakfast, he asked, “Mom, did you and Dad buy me a new lizard? Maybe a Draco? And put it in my room last night?”

“No, Zach, we didn’t. You know I don’t even like the things. Why?”

“Oh, it doesn’t matter. Maybe an egg hatched.”

“If you let those things get out of control, we’ll have to get rid of them. You understand that, right?”

“Yes, Mom.”

In his bedroom, he stared through the glass at the new occupant. It did nothing. That was what he liked about lizards: peaceful, placid, living inside their warm glass box.

When he got home from school, there were two eggs. That settled it; she was female. He named her Eve. She seemed attentive to her eggs, a good mother.

During the night, Zachary woke up to a totally dark room. There had been a power cut, and his night light had gone off. He looked over at the vivarium; it would be getting cooler. Then he saw a flicker of light. He climbed out of bed and felt his way across the room. Eve was coughing out flames towards her two eggs, like a large green-scaled cigarette lighter. Eve was coughing out flames! “Cool!” thought Zachary, “Super cool!”

After breakfast, he brought his mother upstairs and pointed at Eve. “See, Mom, I think Eve is a dragon.”

“What? Who? Don’t be silly.”

“No, last night she was blowing out flames.”

“Flames? In your bedroom? I’ll speak to your father! We can’t have that. He’ll put a stop to it.” She stomped off, back downstairs.

Zachary lifted the lid and looked down at Eve. She sprang up, gripped the edge with her claws, and was out, sitting on the table beside the vivarium, wings partly spread. “We need to talk,” she said.

He crouched down closer to her. “Eh?”

“Your mother has threatened us. That’s not on.”

He replied without thinking: “Oh, don’t worry about that. My mom just doesn’t like reptiles, that’s all. She’s always saying she’ll get rid of mine but doesn’t.” He stopped. “Hang on; I’m talking to a lizard. This is nuts.”

“Don’t be silly; you know I’m a dragon. Now, take a look around.”

Zachary looked around his bedroom. From behind his pillow appeared another lizard, no, dragon. Another came out from under his desk. A green cluster of them emerged from under his bed.

“Your parents mustn’t threaten us, me, my unborn children,” Eve said. “Now, my colleagues have come to protect us.”

“Eh?” he asked.

“Now go and tell your mother to back off,” said Eve.

Zachary went out onto the landing and called downstairs: “Mom! I think the dragons have bred! There’s a few more now. But they say they want to be left alone.”

“What? That’s it! I’ve had enough! Your father can exterminate the damn things.”

He turned back into his bedroom.

“I heard that,” said Eve. “That’s unfortunate. There’ll be a response. You escalate, we escalate. I’ll message again for more support. Don’t worry; it’ll be a proportionate response. We won’t overreact.”

“Hang on, hang on. More support? What? Where? ‘Message’? How?”

“Message. Telepathy. Fast and efficient. Telepathy transcends time.”

There was a shriek from the street, the sound of tyres squealing. Zachary looked out. Standing in front of the house was a pair of dragons, about the size of large dogs. Smoke trickled from the corners of their lips. Another trotted out from the side of the house, and then another. A passerby stared at them, a hand over her mouth. A car had stopped in the road, its driver leaning out, phone in hand, videoing them.

“What’s happening?” Zachary asked Eve. “Where are these, these dragons all coming from?”

“From your future,” said Eve. “The same as me. They’re here to protect us. I told you.”

“Eh?”

“Look, I came back here to lay my eggs, little Adam and Eve. They have to hatch, mature, mate, and lay eggs, or there’ll be no dragons. No us. So all the dragons yet to come must defend Adam and Eve, ensure they are born, or they themselves won’t exist. So, when called, back they come to ensure the safety of their ancestors. Okay? Got it?”

“But that’s time travel!”

“Of course. And you recognise the bootstrap paradox, don’t you? Which came first, the dragon or the egg? Ha! And here I am, birthing my future self! Weird, huh? You humans talk of the anthropic principle. You got it wrong. The universe’s goal is dragons, not you. Having said that, it did take the energy of a black hole to open the breach. This is a one-shot deal.”

Zachary sank to the floor, his head in his hands. “I can’t take it; it’s all too much,” he mumbled.

There was the sound of sirens outside.

“Oops, there’s another escalation. By you people. One of the team outside will probably call for backup.”

Something heavy landed on the roof. Outside his window, Zachary saw talons curl over the guttering. A police car had stopped outside the house, the cop standing in the driveway looking up.

“I hope this calms down soon,” said Eve. “If you resort to nuclear weapons, it will make a mess of the planet. Not good for you, not good for us.”

“Eve! Nuclear weapons? No!” Zachary looked at the dragons on the floor. They were small. Eve was still sitting on the table beside the open vivarium. He dove for it.

Small claws ripped at him, flames lit the hair on the back of his head, but his hands reached the two eggs.

The window crashed inwards, a huge head filling the opening. Sharp teeth ringed open jaws, flames filled the room. Zachary smashed his fists down onto the table.

Eve was gone, the head in the window was gone, but his room burnt on.

Zachary opened the door, screamed, “Mom! Dad! Fire! Fire!” as loud as he could, shut the door, and started throwing burning bedclothes, books, and papers out through the smashed window.

His father hurtled into the room, carrying a fire extinguisher. He circled the room, putting out burning embers.

Arms folded, his mother stood in the doorway. “Now, Zach,” she said, “Now do you see what you’ve done? You and your lizards and their little flames.”

“Dragons, Mom, dragons,” Zachary corrected her. “I got rid of them. You know, it could have been worse, a disaster.”

“Worse? Would you like to repeat that to me, young man?”

He looked at his mother’s tight face, his ruined room. “I’m sorry, Mom,” Zachary said.

                                      

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Gordon Pinckheard lives in County Kerry, Ireland. Retired from a working life writing computer programs and technical documents, he now spends his sunset years submitting short stories pounded out with one arthritic finger. His stories have been published by Shooter, Stupefying Stories, Every Day Fiction, Mersey Review, Short Beasts and others.

more stories here

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Glowbugs first published September 25th, 2026

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Rick Danforth – Strawberries in Spring
Robert Bagnall – The Naming of HMS Ark Royal
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Daniel Lidman – Ship Astray
Andrew Kozma – The Tower of Seed and Promise
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Karl Dandenell – Final Exam, Demonology
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MM Schreier – City of Lights
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Chrissie Rohrman – The Long Way Home
J.D. Harlock –Sariya Grants a Wish
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Maura Yzmore – Among the Monsters
Sam Winner – Friday the 13th
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Eric Fomley – Clone Care
Natalie Burrows – Within These Walls
Tim McDaniel – Black Friday
Liam Hogan – The Dragon Hunter
James Cato –It’s Free to Laugh
Aeryn Rudel – Rhymes With Dead
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Holly Schofield – Special Delivery
Danielle C. Chen – Excurmania
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Aeryn Rudel – News from Home
Ian C Douglas – The Instant Karma Vending Machine
Craig Aitchison –Hearken
Adria Bailton – Submerged
Fija Callaghan – Last Wish
Melion Traverse – Salt and Moonlight
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Holly Barratt –Rabbit Ears in the Laundry
Holly Rae Garcia – A Werewolf’s Lament
MK Roney – Cornerstone
Malina Douglas – The Needlecraft Guide to Averting Doom
Tova Hope-Liel – Palingenesis
Sam Winner – The Silence of the Owl
Jennifer Loring – Burn
N.E. Rule – Eye Candy
Jane Saunders – looking Back
Eric Fomley – War Crimes
Sarah Gallego –The Final Voyage of Amos
David Rogers – What We Found on the Way to Alpha Centauri
Robert Bagnall – Felis Sarcasticus
Alexander Xavier Urpi – The Pit
Russell Hemmell – Bird Masks and Leather Butterflies
Ephiny Gale –Light and Sleek and Strong
Richard Wren – In My Image
Bob Johnston – Debt
Michelle Muenzler –Neither Sleeping, nor Alive, nor Dead
Cheryl Sonnier – Wolf Whistle
Marisca Pichette – The Tail
A. P. Howell – Purple Lizard Skin
Adam Knight – Parts
Avra Margariti – College Survival Tips for Girls and Wolves
Ian Robert Krueger –It Lives
Chrissie Rohrman – Small Packages
Abigail Celeste –The Bees
Jacey Bedford – The Loneliness of the Long Distance Panda
Dawn Vogel – The Dark Forest Takes
Vaughan Stanger – In Every Dream Home

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