The puppy didn’t like the water falling from the sky. It had been fun for a minute or two to snap at the drops as they fell, but it had rapidly stopped being fun as the drops had come faster and faster until you could hardly tell one from another. He whined and snapped at the air, but no matter how many times he shook his fur clear of water he was wet again immediately. Perhaps he never stopped being wet. It was cold, and the soft dirt was becoming sticky and squishy. It sucked at his paws when he tried to take a step. He growled at it, but it held firm, slowing him to a slog.

It had grown very quiet. The brightly colored birds he had chased earlier were gone, their song along with them. The puffy-tailed squirrels had stopped winding around the branches. He began to tremble. He was badly lost. There was a soft, warm nest somewhere with all of his brothers and sisters, but he hadn’t paid much attention as he practiced his stalking, following a hare winding through the trees. He looked for any familiar landmarks. All of the trees here looked the same, huge and looming, and there was no way to tell which direction he had come. Any tracks he had left had melted into the mud.

The puppy sat, his fluffy bottom sinking into the mud, which only made him colder and wetter. He whined softly. His front paws kept sliding and he finally tired of trying to keep upright, sinking down onto his belly and propping his chin on one paw.

He might have just stayed there, shivering, until the sun came back, but a deep rumble sounded from inside the bushes. He pricked his ears up and the fur on his haunches bristled. It sounded a bit like the barnyard cat, Marmalade, if Marmalade was bigger than mama and twice as mean. He scooted back away from the bush, peering closely at it. All he saw were yellow eyes, bigger than his paws. He kept backing away slowly, but it let out a yowl and suddenly a huge shape sprang at him. He ran, yelping, slipping between the giant paws that batted at him and weaving through the trees. He didn’t want to look back and the enormous cat ran so silently, he couldn’t be sure if it was still behind him. So he ran until his chest burned and his tongue lolled, and he still was afraid of stopping.

Wait.

Was that?

Yes! A cave. A rocky wall loomed to his left and there was a crevice, just small enough for him to slip through. It was lit slightly with a warm light, but he didn’t question that. He just veered suddenly left, skidding through the mud and somehow managing to steer himself just enough to avoid hitting the wall. He slid through the narrow entrance and scampered deeper in. It was dry here, and warm. Water sheeted from his fur, leaving puddles on the rocky ground. A frustrated yowl came from the narrow entrance, followed by a swipe of a huge paw, but the creature’s shoulders couldn’t fit through like the puppy’s had.

Relieved, the puppy shook, splattering the narrow walls with droplets. He trotted forward, where he could see light and feel warmth, like the hearth back at home. The crevice opened up suddenly into an enormous cavern, and the puppy was so busy staring at the huge domed roof with its strange hanging rock formations that he almost, almost missed the golden glint that coiled along the floor. He froze.

It was a huge beast, scaled like a snake but shimmering like the fish that swam in the cow pond. A head, easily bigger than the wildcat which had chased him in here, lifted from the ground and fixed him with huge, ice-blue eyes that seemed to swirl with rainbows. The puppy whimpered and shrunk back, but the head only tilted slightly. Slowly, very slowly, the monstrous beast moved its head closer. The puppy rolled on his back, showing his belly, and the beast whuffed hot air from his nostrils, smelling him.

“Little morsel.” The beast said, “what do you mean by coming into my cave?” The puppy’s eyes went big and round and he shivered even harder.

“Cold, are you?” The beast—a dragon, the puppy thought, remembering a picture in a storybook—uncoiled itself. The puppy couldn’t even move, his eyes fixed on the scales that were bigger than he was tall.

“Come on then.” The dragon used one long talon to gently push the puppy up against its side. Still frozen in fear, the puppy couldn’t help but notice the warmth radiating from the shining scales. The beast opened its mouth, showing rows of terrible sharp teeth, and the puppy thought _this is it._ He screwed his eyes shut. But instead of sharp, crushing pain, there was only a slightly rough, damp feeling along his fur, like when mama cleaned him. He cracked one eye and then another. The dragon continued grooming, drying the puppy with his hot breath until moisture steamed off of him. The dragon then tucked his cheek against the puppy.

“Don’t worry, little one. You are safe now.”

The puppy cuddled against the dragon.

Perhaps he has found a home.