Fantasy Friday Fiction: The Last Page

A short story about a dragon, the brave librarian who befriended him, and their shared love of stories.

In the town of Eldridge, where the hills roll gently into the horizon and the nights are stitched with starlight, there is a library built of stone. The building, ornate and ivy-draped, stands as a silent sentinel at the edge of town, guarding the area’s rarest and oldest documents and books. It is here that Margot, the Rare Documents librarian, spent her days immersed in old ledgers, historic records of births, deaths, marriages, and all manner of legal documents. 

The basement of the library, seldom visited by anyone else, was a labyrinth of shadows and dust-covered shelves. One rainy and thundering day, Margot decided to catalog the oldest documents and turned down a long-ignored aisle and came face-to-snout with Asphodel—a dragon of iridescent blue scales and eyes like molten gold. He made no sudden moves, but stayed atop a pile of blankets, mats and what looked like cast-off coats. He blinked at her slowly.

“How did you get in here? How long have you been here?” Margot asked once she was sure she wasn’t hallucinating, her voice more curious than frightened.

“Since the leaves turned golden, then fell, then grew again. Many times over,” Asphodel replied, his voice a deep rumble that echoed off the stone walls of the library’s foundation. “I sought shelter from the cold one night when I was young. It was warm here, and there were many small chittering things to eat. So I stayed.”

Asphodel was a creature of intellect and solitude. Fed only by mice and rats through the years, he was smaller than Margot expected a dragon would be. She brought him what meat she could buy from the grocer without attracting too much attention. He expressed a desire to read, but …

To read the rest of this charming short story, follow this link.

Thanks for spending time with Asphodel, Margot, and me today!

Carolyn