(This message was edited by legerdemain on 06-07-12 @ 9:00 am EDT)

Edited by Legerdemain to fit forum content rating.


This is bullshit.

I gazed down the long, smoky hall at the great, silent beast. The creature lay on a pile of glittering treasure, coins and scales glinting in the starlight, its back rising and falling with the pump of every cloud from its nostrils. Hibernation: the perfect time to enslave a dragon. Easy breezy for a Knight of the Fairy Court, right?

Wrong, because dragons were light sleepers. Easy breezy would be speaking the words of power from back here, peering around a corner from a distance. But this magic required physical contact. As in, I had to touch a fire-breathing dragon. On its body. With my hand.

This is bullshit.

Mab can get her own fucking dragon. Why the fuck does she need a dragon in the first place? Decoration? She despises anything more beautiful than herself. Intimidation? She hangs enemies by their toes with the flick of a wrist.

F***. I didn't want to be hung by my toes again. This is such f***ing bullshit.

Already nervous about losing the sword and armor I'd left outside the cavern, I gritted my teeth and pulled off my boots. If I returned to Mab weaponless and half naked, she would reward me with better gear and garments, so long as I returned with her precious dragon. I lay the boots gently down and slipped around the corner, hugging the corridor wall close. The stone floor felt hard and cold through my stockings, the walls smooth against my back.

I creeped down the hall one painstaking tiptoe at a time. Sweat dripped down my temples, and I had to concentrate to keep from coughing. Before I knew it, I was upon the beast and acted without thinking. I lay my hand on the tip of her scaly tail and cried the words. Dragon eyes opened wide and peered at me, gold and illuminated as if from flames behind. I almost shrieked, but instead I froze. I held my breath, willing her to be nice and refrain from barbecuing me.

She nudged me with her snout.

I breathed. The beast was mine. Mine! Now that the deed was done, I could keep her for myself! I could turn the dragon on Mab and refuse to transfer ownership. Maybe I could sic the dragon on the bitch and watch her burn. I'd gain a dragon and my freedom, all in one huge, scaly package.

********

I hung from my toes and glared at Mab's new pet. I swear the beast laughed at me. What a bitch.