The Jade Dragon

My flight was late. That was not surprising – dirigibles are not known for their timeliness. But I was in a hurry to board, and the minutes stretched on and on: sea-salt taffy on a warm afternoon.

I had intended to book passage on one of the newer, sleeker airships. The Silver Swan, perhaps, or the famous Eagle of Monmouth. But something about this stately old cruiser appealed to me. Forty years ago she was christened the Jade Dragon for her iridescent sails that resembled great green wings. Nowadays most people called her the Dinosaur. Some even said it with affection.

“The Eagle would have been and gone by now,” Jax muttered in my ear, as if reading my thoughts. He shifted his grip on my shoulder, flexing his claws in irritation.

“Stop that. You’ll ruin my blouse.” To soften my words, I stroked his ebony mane. He wrapped his tail around my neck and settled his weight more comfortably. A man gave Jax a curious glance before turning back to his newspaper. Saguins were not so unusual now as they once had been, before the war, and the sight of the small, tamarin- like creature no longer attracted stares.

A muffled thump announced the Jade Dragon‘s arrival at the platform above us. For the twentieth time today I wished there were windows in the passenger boarding lounge. I would have loved to have seen the grand behemoth sail in. But the height of the platform had caused some passengers early on to suffer severe vertigo, and there were rumors that one had leapt to her death from the open balcony, so the windows had been walled off and replaced with bright, stylized frescoes meant to depict the landscape below.

A bell rang. The elevator door opened. Passengers shuffled forward, crowding into the small space. I hefted my suitcase and looked back.

“Don’t worry,” Jax said. “I’m sure he’s forgotten about you.”

“That’s exactly what I’m afraid of,” I replied, stepping into the elevator.

Next Installment >>

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This post is the beginning of the Jade Dragon series. It was written in response to two prompts:

Trifecta Writing Challenge prompt:

You should write a creative response using the given word. You must use the word in your response, and you must use it correctly. Your response can be no fewer than 33 and no more than 333 words. This week’s word is:

DINOSAUR 

1: any of a group (Dinosauria) of extinct often very large chiefly terrestrial carnivorous or herbivorous reptiles of the Mesozoic era
2: any of various large extinct reptiles (as ichthyosaurs) other than the true dinosaurs
3: one that is impractically large, out-of-date, or obsolete

And my first foray into the Scriptic prompt exchange:

For the Scriptic prompt exchange this week, Michael gave me this prompt: I’m in a hurry..

I gave Grace O’Malley this prompt: Take a familiar book, story, or fairy tale, and rewrite the ending. Feel free to change the setting, time period, characters, etc., as long as the original story is recognizable.