Red Writing Hood: Salt Water

“The cure for anything is salt water….sweat, tears or the sea.”
~ Isak Dinesen, pseudonym of Baroness Karen von Blixen-Finecke

Prompt:  Have your character resolve a problem using one of the three (or all three!!!). There are so many ways you can use this prompt so be creative with it, don’t take us where we think you’ll go.  

This is a continuation of this story.



The scales of a dragon are impervious to all things; the skin of a human is not.   While in human form, I was vulnerable should those who hunted my kind find me.  While our children grew within me, my lover Arik would protect us with his life, but what then? 

Somewhere in the back of my mind, in the vast depths of dragon memory, the answer lay hidden.  I was vexed with this problem of vulnerability constantly, even as my belly grew large and I was unable to move very far.  As my body became wracked with the pains of birth, the answer came, pushed to the fore by the same contractions which left me four squalling sons to care for.

Salt water. 

Panting from my exertions and too weak by far in human form, I asked Arik for what was needed.  It was he who gathered the wood and placed his largest cauldron onto the fire, filled it with water, and added as much salt as could be found in the larder.  When the water was boiling, it was Arik who took each newborn from my arms and held it over the cauldron.

I spoke the words, but it was their father who dropped each child into the cauldron of salt water and pulled them out with tongs while they spluttered and screamed.  As Arik returned each child to my embrace, my sons heard the sound of my heartbeat and quickly fell asleep, now protected by dragon magic.