A dragon kidnaps a princess. Dragon expected Princess to be very, very afraid of her. But Princess is actually relieved with her predicament. This is because before Dragon took her, she was going to be married off to an abusive tyrant.
Dragon stared at the human, at the princess that she had anticipated to scream and shout, but Princess was sitting there as if she were relieved.
Indignation flared somewhere inside of her—how could a human, a princess at that, not be terrified of her? Nobody had ever looked at Dragon with anything but fear and malice, so why was this human princess acting so calm? Was Dragon not scary? Had she lost her edge? She glared at Princess as she broiled around in her mind for plausible reasons that Princess wasn’t screaming and begging for mercy right now.
After a few minutes of staring, Dragon concluded that the human must be in shock. She had seen humans freeze up in fear before, so that could be what this is…
“Are you not scared?” Dragon demanded, continuing to look over the human with a look that could scald.
Princess met Dragon’s fiery eyes with a serene, nearly kind smile on her lips. “You’ve saved me.”
Dragon didn’t save people—she was a fearsome creature! People screamed in fear when they saw her! She couldn’t have saved this princess…not when she was the thing that princesses usually needed saving from. Furthermore, what was there to be saved from in a luxurious castle? What could Dragon have possibly saved Princess from?
“You’ve saved me!” Princess repeated, with a bigger smile. “I was to be wed to a cruel man, and you’ve taken me away before the wedding. Thank you.”
Her thoughts strayed to what the other dragons would say, how they’d ridicule her for having helped a human instead of eaten Princess then and there for being so unafraid and fearless in the wake of a mighty dragon, but she found she was more fascinated by this predicament than she’d ever admit to anyone…including herself.
With a gentle squeeze to not crush the human, Dragon picked up the princess and held her before her eyes to get a closer look.
“Tell me about this man.”
“He’s a horrible, wicked tyrant. He shouts and becomes violent when things aren’t exactly as he wants them…I’ve been on the blunt end of that before.” The corners of her mouth tilted up, but the smile withered like a dying rose.
Dragon stared at the human for several more seconds, trying to deduce what she’d do now, but she had begun to take on odd liking to the human—she hadn’t eaten her yet, which was unusual for Dragon, but this situation was highly unusual itself.
She let the human dangle in the air a few moments more before she gently placed the human down on her perch. She leaned down to be face-to-face with the human.
“Your suitor is cruel, and I’ve saved you?” Dragon inquired. “What shall your suitor do about it? Will he send an army, or will he try to vanquish me himself?”
“I’m inclined to think he’d try to do it himself, at first. He is not only cruel, but arrogant too.” Princess had a faint warmth to her cheeks as she looked into her captor’s eyes.
Dragon flicked her tail as she considered this. “Well, then I’ll have to make this difficult for him, won’t I?”
“I stole you, didn’t I? That makes you mine, my treasure, and you think I let humans steal my treasure?” Dragon responded. She shrunk down to a smaller, humanoid form so that she could get closer to the princess, slinking forward with snake-like grace in her movements.
Princess still had to look up at the dragon, but she flushed harder at the sight of the dragon as a human…mostly. There were still traces of what she truly was in her horns, diamond shaped pupils and the tail that still remained, but she looked somewhat human…and her face was the prettiest that Princess had ever seen. It had a mystical quality to it, which made sense, considering that it was a dragon she was looking at, but it still amazed her.
“Of course, but it’s only a matter of territory. I stole you, therefore you’re mine, so I’m simply doing this out of concern for my treasure. I’m not saving you, or helping you, or other good things. I’m a fearsome dragon.” Dragon announced, glaring at the human.
She didn’t believe her own glare; Princess didn’t either, judging by the amused twitch of her lips as Dragon spoke.
“Thank you for protecting me from my suitor.” Her voice was soft and melodic as silver bells, the voice of a princess.
Dragon narrowed her eyes, but nodded her head in acceptance of the gratitude—it wasn’t quite the groveling she had grown accustomed to, but it was good enough. “Tell me more about your life as a princess.”
“Well,” Princess began, thinking for a moment as she formed a response. “I live in a beautiful castle, I have a life of splendor and riches galore, but the cost is my life—I can be married off to a tyrant, and I have no choice, I have no say, and there’s no escape. I wish not to be married, but that is a wish I cannot express for my own safety.”
The dragon watched her facial expressions closely, noticing every twitch and tic. “What would you do if you weren’t a princess?”
“I’ve never thought about that before.”
“Then what does a princess do to pass the time? There must be something you enjoy.”
“I read in the royal library for most my day.” Princess replied with a small laugh, the thought of her books delighting her. “Do you have books here?”
Books and Dragon didn’t have a…happy history. Whenever Dragon did come across a book, she found herself angry with the stupid thing—she couldn’t read the human tongue, so in her eyes they were useless stacks of paper and leather that insulted her intelligence. Then, well, it usually ended in the book becoming kindling.
“No, I possess no books.” Dragon flicked her tail again, circling Princess.
She was strangely coming to like this human. Princess fascinated her, and she had an itch to know as much as she could about the woman, but her next question was cut off by the sound of clomping horses, a sound which could only mean the princess’s suitor was ready to attack.
Princess’s eyes widened and her shoulders began to tremble like a loose leaf in the wind.
Dragon returned to her usual form, and then plucked the princess up and placed her at the top of the treasure pile. She slinked closer to the human and whispered in her ear as she passed.
“Don’t worry, treasure. He won’t step one foot in this cave, or else I’ll burn him to nothing but ash.”
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