A Bittersweet Collection of Tales and Stories

By Miranda Pardee

This book contains many different tales and stories that are not the usual happily ever after. Some do leave a happy end. Others leave a bittersweetness that challenges the idea that all stories and tales need a happily ever after to be good. To tantalize your interest, here’s a summary of a few…

                       
                                             DraGone:

A genocide of dragons had occurred. Only one dragon has survived. Her only hope is to make it to the land without man before a man kills her to earn the glorious knighting of ultimate bravery…

                                      Beautiful Mermaid:

James had been shipwrecked, but didn’t drown. He awakens to a scruffy man named Roger who tells him his tale of how a mermaid had saved him. With the excitement of Rogers tale, James goes to search for his mermaid. Roger wants to help. He hopes if they do find James’ mermaid, she’ll find his…

           

                                     If the Slipper Fits:

Sadie’s confusing adventure of misidentification starts when she somehow fits a magical slipper that isn’t hers. Since fitting the slipper, she’s been trying to convince everyone they have the wrong maiden. She hopes the real maiden of the slipper will be show up before it’s too late…

                                   The Ultimate Treasure:

A kingdom feared their beloved king would die from sickness and leave the kingdom in the wrong hands. Their king recovered, but made a shocking statement that he will grant a winner of his tournament his ultimate treasure…

                                         Her Unicorn:

A fat miniature horse known as The World Most Humongous Tiny Horse has a rough time at Mr. Lanson’s traveling circus. She gets booed, insulted, and food thrown at her. Her only comfort is cotton candy until a little girl steps into her life…

                         Death and the Man Who Lives Forever:

A man tries to out run what most mortals can’t out run. Death. But he realizes he can’t so he faces Death and makes his case…

And there are more stories and tales inside this book with twists, turns, and surprises just waiting to be revealed.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Publishdrive
• Release date: Nov 5, 2022

Book preview

A genocide of dragons had occurred. The main cause of this was men who wanted to prove themselves of the ultimate bravery. Of course, there had been events of dragons that ravaged entire villages. The majority, however, were in seclusion while living on monumental mountains and/or caverns deep within forests. These dragons had not harmed a single soul, but the quest of killing a dragon didn’t exclude them. The test of bravery just had to be shown by the death of any dragon. Innocent or not, doesn’t matter. Especially now that only one remains...

In hopes that the dragon can live without fear, a kind witch named Bertha approaches her from seemingly nowhere. She had found her by enchanting herself with a temporary magical sense of track. She insists on helping the dragon by turning her human so she can safely go to the land without man. She also insists on giving her a bottled potion so she can turn herself back when she safely reaches the destination.

The dragon in confusion asks Bertha, Why do I have to go? Why can’t I stay here? If I do have to go, why can’t I just fly there instead of walking there as a human? Why do you care if I’m the last dragon? You don’t even know my name. It’s Amanda by the way.

She fearfully explains to her, Amanda, I care because I knew some great dragons like you who died just because they were dragons. I know you are a peaceful dragon because there hasn’t been any sighting of a dangerous dragon since you’ve become the only dragon left. You absolutely can not go as you are or stay here! There are some men who already gossip about the possibility of your existence and what to do if they found you! That’s dangerous enough! If you want to live to get there, it’s safer my way. I would go with you, but I have major obligations to tend to.

Amanda believes she has no choice, but to agree with her point. She takes the potion from Bertha and drinks every drop till the bottle is empty.

(Amanda drastically transforms. Her fantastic wings and tail dissipate. Her arms and legs smoothen as they shrink as does her body. Her claws shorten to delicate fingers and toes. Her giant teeth shrink down as her snout squishes down to shape the new form of her head. Finally, hair flows down with a whisk from the top of her head.)

As the transformation completes, Amanda stumbles for a bit, but learns quickly how to balance her newly arranged body. She is immediately dressed with the apparel that Bertha made ready for her. As she is about to begin her journey, a poor desperate peasant man comes to Bertha pleading to help him track the last dragon. He wants to kill it so he can be knighted as a hero and to have the chance he hopes to have with the duke's only daughter. She refuses and turns away. Amanda, though, offers to help him while claiming she has a great sense of tracking dragons. (Her intention is to eat him when she transforms back in the land without man. She wants revenge for men like him killing dragons for empty glory). With some persuasion, he agrees to have her help him as he introduces himself as Ben.

Before Ben and Amanda can officially start their journey, they realize they need to go to the closest town for supplies. While they were in the town, she hears some of the people whispering gossip about the existence of the last dragon, (her). She also hears them say that if the dragon exists, it should be destroyed at any cost for being terrifyingly dangerous. She tries to ignore them, but can’t help sensing the blinding hatred that radiated from them as they said those things. She begins to wonder why. She never did anything malevolent to them. In fact, this is her very first time seeing this town and there is no sign of any dragon ever being there. It is, however, believed everywhere that all dragons are meant to be eliminated as they are seen as monsters that only destroy. She knows this, but can’t understand seeing it in person. As they left the town though, she began to discard these thoughts. She believes it doesn’t matter to her anymore since she’ll soon be in the land without man.

As Amanda guides Ben into a vast forest, he wonders why she was acting awkward in the town.

He asks her, So what did you think about that town?

She doesn’t answer because a ginormous bear charges towards them with a viciously hungry look on it’s face. He attempts to get his sword ready, but struggles as it becomes tangled to his belt. She sets him behind her to confront the beast. The bear stops. She just intently glares at it. The bear whimpers as it frighteningly runs away.

He is puzzled and says in amazement, I didn’t know you had such power! That’s probably how you kill dragons too!

She replies with a smile, Yes, and if you attempt to try it, you’ll die.

She then heartily laughs causing him to laugh too. They continue on with high spirits.

As Amanda leads Ben deeper into the forest, she is disrupted by having glanced behind them. She saw a group of tough men who look like they are ready for hunting something big. She hopes it isn’t her they are hunting for. She urges Ben to slow down so the group can go ahead of them. She then tells him she wants to see if they are indeed after the big bear from earlier or the same dragon, (her).

He smirks as he insists, Why? We don’t want them to get the dragon first! If they get in our way, just use your scary power.

In frustration, she marches away from Ben to confront the group herself. She asks them as casually as she could to see what their intent is, So, are you men after the big bear too?

The huge bulky man who seems to be the leader answers with anger in his voice, Nay! We are after those bastardly dragons!

She gets a feeling like an empty burn in her stomach as if he just told her, she is as good as dead. She, though, was still unsure what they are really after as she asks while trying to seem enthusiastic, May we join you?!

He yells while he rushes over a hill with a battle cry, YEEEEEEEES!

While running with the group to see what’s ahead, Amanda and Ben pull out their swords. The leader of the group exclaims as he points his sword to what’s down below, Behold! The fire breathing devils!

(They aren’t dragons, but in fact fire trolls. They engulf fire to breathe out flames. They do this to terrorize villages like the one the men came from.)

One of the men says to the leader, Fergus, we are ready when you give the word.

He nods as he replies, Aye, well now be the time! Come with me men for the love of our village! AHHHHHH!

Amanda, Ben, and the group of men dash right into battle clashing with the fire trolls. During battle, Amanda sees how Ben looks so fierce and gallant. As she looks at him, she begins to feel something she is unfamiliar with. Her thoughts though, get disrupted by a scratch made to her arm by claws of a fire troll. Her focus then goes back into fighting off the fire trolls.

As the last few wounded fire trolls retreat, the battle is proclaimed over and victory is called to the villagers. Amanda and Ben don’t leave though, because they want to stay to help the wounded villagers. Amanda again takes notice of Ben, but this time on how he goofs around with the other men as he helps them bandage up. She can’t help, but to laugh with them as they clown around who's going to have the best battle scar. Ben, while still chuckling a bit, takes notice that she has some wounds around her arm. He sits her down and sits beside her to take a better look at her arm. She really takes notice of how he gently cares for her wounds. As she watches him finish bandaging her, she feels that unfamiliar feeling again. She asks herself what the feeling is, but her thoughts become disrupted by Fergus shouting to have the men ready to leave. As the men head home to tell their loved ones of their victory, Ben and Amanda resume their journey to their main quest.

As they were walking, Ben begins to show signs of exhaustion. Since the battle earlier did take most of the day, they decide it will be best to make camp for the night. Despite being worn out from the battle, Amanda can’t sleep. Though they still have a long way to go, she is excited thinking about living in the land without man. Being wide awake, she asks him questions like what his life is like and about what he would hope to do after being knighted. He hesitantly tells her what his life is like being a poor bar servant with a little somberness to his voice. He expresses how he doesn’t find the job really anything more than a means to earn money. To her though, his life is fascinating especially since she never knew how humans live. He tells her to forget that image of him and completely changes his tone to great enthusiasm and determination talking about his plans for the future. As he finishes his sentence, he falls dead asleep from complete exhaustion.

She tries laying down, but is still wide awake now with extreme excitement thinking about human life and what more is there about them. She sits up to ask Ben more questions, but sees he is deep a sleep. As she silently looks at him, she thinks about what the mystery feeling she has toward him. She reflects seeing his passion when he talked about what he hopes to achieve, how they laugh together, and how he helps bandage her wounds. Suddenly, she gets a revelation...

She is passionately in love with Ben. Having discovered this feeling, she begins thinking about her life. She flirts around with the idea of staying human to be with him. She though, realizes she can’t. She can’t love him as a dragon, she can’t stay human without feeling guilty about betraying her own kind, and there is no guarantee he would love her back since he’s already in love with someone else.

She asks herself, What good is it to live as a lonely dragon?!

She comes to a serious conclusion. She will sacrifice herself to her new found love so he can be with who he loves.

As dawn approaches, Amanda draws blood from her wound she had from the fight to wipe it on her clothes. She rips the clothes to shreds to make them appear as if she had been eaten. She gets her bottle ready, but stops to glance at Ben who is still asleep. She wants to see him as a human one last time before becoming the monster in his. As her mind starts to wonder a life with him, she quickly drinks the potion to transform back into a dragon to prevent having second thoughts.

(Her hair dissipates. Her legs and arms become scaly as they enlarge as does her body. Her fingers and toes sharpen as they grow into enormous claws. Her teeth grow back to their massive hugeness. Her face stretches out to reform her snout and head. Finally, her fantastic wings and tail expand out with brilliance as they form. She manages to quickly adjust to being back to her true self)

Amanda stomps the ground so it would rumble as she gives out a mighty dragon roar. (She wants it to be as epic as she can make it seem). As Ben is awoken startled, he sees what was left of the bloody clothing and becomes quickly enraged. With his anger, he immediately picks up his sword and starts slashing towards what he sees as an evil dragon. Though she tries to look convincingly like she is fighting for her life, she is careful not to get carried away so she doesn't accidentally harm him. As she gets tired from not sleeping and juggling this long false fight, he slashes her face with his sword. She reacts by crashing down in defeat pretending the blow is more damaging than it actually is. She squirms a little as if she became paralyzed so he would believe he really damaged her. She stiffens as he climbs upon her chest and raises his sword...

(She closes her eyes instantly not wanting to see the man she loves so much stabbing her. She focuses her thoughts on his face with all the smiles and laughter they shared on the journey. That’s what she wants her last thoughts to be.)

Her eyes pop open to the sound of something thrown. Ben didn’t stab her. The sound came from his sword he threw away. She looks at him while he walks away.

He stops. He looks over his shoulder at her and remarks, Death is too easy for you not to suffer.

Before he continues to walk away, he picks up the sword. She doesn’t want him to go so she charges to him with her mouth open like she is ready to eat him. She doesn’t want to kill him. She just wants to get him to kill her in self-defense if that’s the only way now to claim his victory. He stops. She drops down her mouth on him, but she can’t get herself to close her jaw. She just leaves it open blocking his way of going forward or back. He slides out from the gap opening.

He shouts harshly at her, Why?! Why must you have eaten her and not me?! She was not for you! I am! I’m the one you should have killed! I’m the one who had sought to kill you! And now I seek only for your utter suffering! No! I will not kill you. Just leave you the last lonely scared cowardly pathetic monster you are!

As he turns away to leave her for the last time, she crashes down and spills out silent tears. She feels torn between love and great heart ache. This is from the fact he would leave her to suffer not realizing it’s because he also cares about her. She feels the pain of yearning to tell him the truth, but knows there’s no point now. Helplessly, she watches him walk till he vanishes by the thickened vastness of the