Bessemer is the steel dragon of the series Senta and the Steel Dragon.  He is of course named for Henry Bessemer, the real life inventor of the Bessemer process for making steel.  Like Senta, Bessemer changes quite a bit during the series.  In book 0, he’s literally an egg.  In book 1: The Voyage of the Minotaur, he is newly hatched and by the end of the book, has grown to a little bigger than the average house cat.  He speaks only a few words, his first two being “Fina” for Zurfina, and “Pet,” his and Zurfina’s nickname for Senta.  Still, he manages to add a little fun and adventure to the story.  I really enjoy when Senta uses him as her baby doll.  This scene was also my chance to start to define exactly what a dragon in this book could do.

They walked out onto the deck together and stood for a moment by the railing.  The warmth of the sun on his skin reminded Terrence of the sun on his body in that other place—the place where Pantagria awaited him.  Something startled him as it leapt up onto the railing next to him.  Judging by the shocked squeak that Yuah let out, she was just as surprised as he was.  Terrence thought at first that it was a sea bird or one of the large flying reptiles common in the skies above Greater Brechalon, but it was Zurfina’s small steel dragon.

“Gawp!” it said.

The steel dragon was a magnificent little creature.  About four feet long from the tip of its snout to the small barb at the end of its tale, it was completely covered in scales that were perfectly meshed together.  All four of its feet had grasping claws that enabled it to crouch on the railing and keep its balance despite the rolling sway of the ship.  Its head was just as covered by its armor as any other part of its body, but it had the beginnings of horns growing from the top and sides of its face, though they looked less like horns than they did metal spikes.  Something that Terrence had not noticed before was the dozen or so cat-like whiskers around the little dragon’s long, thin snout.  Its wings, which were folded neatly on its back, were also covered with shiny steel scales, far too heavy to carry the creature in flight.  They were however as beautiful as the rest of the beast.  This would have been a terrifying monster indeed, had it been ten times its size, and had it not been wearing a baby bonnet.

“Baby!” called a child’s voice and Zurfina’s young ward ran toward them.

“Gawp!”  The dragon said.  It leaped over the railing of the ship, opening its wings and soaring into the sky, disproving Terrence’s assumption that the beast was too heavy to be supported by the air.  It flew several hundred feet up, circled, and suddenly dived down into the sea.

“Baby!” called the girl again, looking over the side at the waves.

The dragon shot back out of the ocean and beat its wings forcefully until it once again reached the ship’s deck.  It settled down about twenty feet away.  Its sharp teeth now held a small silver fish with golden fins—Terrence thought it was a perch, though he was no fisherman.  The large reptiles that roamed above the seas near home often scooped up fish from the ocean then maneuvered them into position so that they could swallow them whole.  The little steel dragon again defied Terrence’s expectations, by setting the fish on deck, placing its front right foot on it, and then ripping off the fish’s head and chewing it before swallowing.

The girl ran over and grabbed the dragon by the neck with her hands, and pressed her face to the side of its face.  For its part, the dragon didn’t seem to mind.  It simply pulled away, bent down, and took another bite of the fish.  This time the soggy baby bonnet that the creature wore, slipped down over its eyes.  The girl pulled it back into place and gave the dragon another hug.

“Do you think that’s safe?” asked Yuah.

Terrence grunted noncommittally.  “Let’s go on back.  I’m starving.”