Monday I featured CarlHoliday's story, and today it is my job to keep you interested with a tasty excerpt. Skinny dragon called Dreams Can Come True "tongue in cheek" which is an apt description for the novella-length tale. There are moments that make you snicker, some that make you aww, and others that may make you... well, read on to find out! 

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The very next building was the Ass Tail Inn. It looked to be a fairly well cared for establishment and the two stars hanging under the sign told him it wouldn’t be overly expensive, though he did hope the food was good. One had to be careful of two-star establishments as they tended to concentrate on show while cutting back in other areas. He dismounted and was immediately surround by a swarm of unruly children.

“It’s a knight!” they called out in high-pitched screams. “A knight! A knight! A pink knight!”

“Don’t you children have parents?” Pink demanded.

“No, not today!” they screamed and ran back down the road.

Pink went into the inn. The room was empty. The chairs were stacked on the tables. All the glasses and tankards were cleaned, polished, and arraigned on their racks. The warm smell of beef roast filled the room.

“Hello? Hello?” Pink called out. “I say, I say, is anyone about?”

“They’s all down the square getting drunk,” a robust woman with a red face and short red hair said coming around the corner from the kitchen. Her grey shift was covered with a greasy, grey apron. Her scraggly moustache and furry legs told Pink a lot about her place in the establishment. She was about a hand taller than Pink, which meant she was still short for a woman. “And yer who?”

“I am Sir Pink Daisy, of Baron Daisy’s manor,” Pink said trying to sound important despite his diminutive appearance.

“We don’t take too kindly to knights and them such,” the woman said. “Too uppity and a demanding sort. Course yer being so short it’s likely yer not too uppity. No, not like that other one down there in the square. They’s roasting him.”

“What? What is this place?” Pink exclaimed.

“Furthburg, the first burg this side of the Hinterlands. Yer know, first burg, Furthburg. Yer never been to the Hinterlands has yer?”

“No.”

“Didn’t think so. Yer a nice knight or pushy like that other one? He was all demanding like. Thought he was special. Thought we owed him something. Us in Furthburg don’t owe no one nothing. Yer think we owes yer something?”

“No, not at all,” Pink said. “Do you have a room? For the night? I have money.”

She handed him a card explaining the rates and policies of the establishment and said, “Two silvers a night, includes meals, a separate room being yer’s gentry and all, livery for yer animals, drinks is extra. A gold and a silver gets yer drinks. Two golds and we’ll arrange a wench, or a boy if yer so inclined, to keep yer warm at night.”

“Here, this will cover my stay,” Pink said, handing the woman two silvers.

“Mama’s boy, right?” the woman asked. “Maybe yer’d prefer the smithy come up and push yer around a bit. Put yer in yer place. Bend yer over and drive yer home, so to speak.”

“No, I’m saving myself for marriage,” Pink said.

“Oh, lordy, lordy, lordy, we’s got us a religious freak,” the woman said shaking her head. “What yer need young man is a priest. That’s what yer need. A priest’ll get yer thinking correctly. Arthur! Arthur! Arthur! Quit yer wanking and get down here.”

 

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