On day 3, I saw my first dragon. It was one of the most-memorable moments of my life, up there with my marriage, my daughter's birth, and drinking with hobbits… I mean ALEP. 😉 You will also find me interacting at last with my good friend Gus Mainsails. We've had a slight falling out of recent. But that won't stop my goal to #SaveTheDragons. Find out more about the campaign through Kickstarter at celticmusic.org/DragonsVsPirates.
If you enjoy this show please rate it on iTunes as soon as possible. If we can get 10-20 ratings in the next four days, we might be added to New & Noteworthy on iTunes!
Other News from This Episode:
- Video Blog of Dragons vs. Pirates
- St Patrick's Day Internet Music Festival. I'm performing with Samantha Gillogly on Sunday, March 15th. Watch me perform later this morning!
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Day 3. I overslept this morning–don't know how, under the circumstances, but I managed it. I looked at my watch, and it was almost noon. Murphy would have my head!
Panicked, I ran up on deck, to find Gus manning the wheel. If I haven't said, Gus was the mate who actually did the kidnapping…though it was surely on Murphy's orders. “Gus!” I gasped. “What is going on here?”
He roared with laughter. “Finally decided to wake up, did ya? Don't expect to sleep like that ever' morning, but the Captain thought a little leeway were in order. Now, get to your post. We should be coming up on a dragon or two before long.”
“My post…?”
“Oh, aye. You are going to have to earn your keep as long as yer here. Why don't you go up t' the crow's nest and look out for them dragons.”
How exciting! I was so pumped. All my life I have been in love with dragons. I used to collect plastic ones. And now I had a chance to actually see one. It would be worth being away from Gwen and Kenzie for a little while–a very little while.
As I climbed up to the crow's nest, I wondered what a real dragon would look like. Would it be like the ones in the British legends? Would it be like the Chinese luck dragons? Would it be a winged worm or a feathered serpent? There were so many types of dragons that I remember from my Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual.
As I sat in the crow's nest, I glanced up and suddenly–there it was. My first dragon. It was a red. Gus said later that it was a small one. But to me it was massive. I was terrified and hid in the bottom of the crow's nest. I couldn't believe the size of that creature.
I peeked over the rim of the nest with my phone. I wanted to take a picture of it to show Gwen…but the battery was dead. How can I prove what I have seen to everyone back home?
The dragon soared overhead, but we missed it with the harpoon. I was secretly happy it got away. And the crew…they went about their duties totally unmoved by the wave of dread I knew was on my face. I don't know how anyone could subject themselves to this life–to hunting such glorious, if scary, creatures.
But that night, the crew told me stories of why they hunt. Their eyes sparkled as they recounted tales of gold hordes, dragon eggs, fistfuls of jewels. One sailor showed me a dragon tooth he wore around his neck. The sheer size of it! It was the size of my hand!
Right then and there, I decided that, as much as I love the creatures, I don't really want to meet a dragon up close and personal.
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