Free The Witch of the Western Gate: Dragon's Gift by P. K. Brent

He's very cute. But I didn't see them on the ceiling tiles earlier. I must have missed that.”
    “Did you have time to look them up on the internet for me?” asked Blue.
    “Yes, I looked them up on the internet. They sound like knuckers, because they are small and with their webbed feet are obviously water dragons."
    "A what? A knucker? Never heard of such a thing," replied Rafe.
    "That's what the McChesney beastiary called them too," said Blue.
    "It's a British word for small water dragons," said Stella. Historically, dragons were at one time a big problem in that part of the world. The new world, North America anyway, does not have any indigenous dragon species, aside from the Canadian Ice Dragon, which lives on glaciers. It is said that the British knucker came over secretly in the hold of ships, and bred with the Canadian Ice Dragon, thus creating a new breed of water dragon that can handle the cold climate here.”
    “That makes sense,” said Rafe.
    Stella continued. “There are some dragons in South America but only fire dragons. That type cannot take the cold we get here.”
    “I find it odd that I’ve never seen dragons around here before,” replied Rafe.
    “They prefer more remote areas,” chimed in Blue.
    “Plus they are nocturnal. They like to sleep in caves during the day.”
    Rafe joined in, "If they stay in caves, the underground temperature is much warmer, and would certainly be above freezing."
    "The British knuckers are said to be brown, reddish brown or green,” continued Stella. Plus they swim rather than fly. The Canadian ice dragon can fly and swim, and is usually blue, green or gold. So it sounds to me like Blue’s dragon is small like the British knucker but has the coloring and abilities of the larger Canadian Ice Dragon.”
    "I think you are right Stella,” agreed Blue.
    "Is Took’s burn getting better?," asked Stella.
    "Took?" laughed Rafe. "You named it already?"
    "Yes," Blue laughed. The injured knucker now is namedTook, from Lord of the Rings . The most adventurous hobbits were of the Took line and i think this little dragon, or knucker, is very adventurous to have ended up in my Grandma's basement."
    Belladonna Took was the mother of Bilbo Baggins, so it's totally fitting," added Stella.
    "Wow, I didn't know there was a hobbit named Belladonna!" replied Blue, whose given name was Belladonna Louisa.
    "How is little Took feeling now?," inquired Stella.
    "Aunt Violet worked on him and detected no broken bones in the injured wing, just a bad sprain and bruises, also a burn which is odd. We think Zerelda attacked him. Since no bones are broken he'll be OK in a few days. Aunt Violet just wrapped the wing in place folded up against his body."
    "How did you get him to hold still?" inquired Rafe, suspiciously.
    "Well, I did my little trick," Blue replied, embarrassed a little.
    "I thought so!" interjected Stella, giggling nervously. "No other way could you keep an injured dragon calm."
    Blue had a talent for psychically communing with animals. It was a rare talent so frowned upon by leaders in the Paranormal Council. Stella became nervous at any mention of the Paranormal Council since she had a talent even more rare and even more frowned upon. The Paranormal Council thought that Stella was a witch, and one with minor powers, since with a lot of work Blue had taught Stella to light a candle. Basically the Council considered Stella to be an idiot, magically speaking, but a harmless idiot. If they knew Stella was a necromancer, they would be alarmed. Anyone with powers came to the attention of the Paranormal Council, and they were suspicious of strong or rare powers. Necromancers were both rare and powerful. A Necromancer in full power could raise up an entire cemetery full of ghouls and ghosts and command them at will. Stella and Blue often debated which of the two of them would be most frowned upon by the Paranormal Council if they knew everything. Stella scored very high. Blue's talent to