The Dragon and His Bride (Closed)

[Hypnotikus]

For everyone in the village, the Aelth festival is a time of celebration. Houses are adorned with garlands and every hearth is lit in every home. Large tables were lined up in the center of the market square, already being laid with the savoriest and sweetest of dishes. This was the day they would thank the dragon for protecting their tiny Hamlet. He kept invaders at bay with just the stories spread from the village. No one dare attack a village under the protection of a dragon. So, in return the dragon was offered the best of their harvest...and a young woman.

Most of the villagers agreed it was brutal business, but what could be done for it? They wouldn't dare deny the dragon his dues.

Ellia was the unlucky chosen for this years sacrifice. She was a waif of a thing with dark hair and pale skin, the daughter of a pig farmer. She had been a sickly child and had spent most of her teenage years in a pig sty, with her nose stuck in a book. When the time for the lottery came, Ellia had chosen the long straw. She had wailed in grief, and beat the stones, but it didn't change the decision. She was to be sacrificed to the dragon, and there was nothing more to say.

As the day of the feast began, Ellia was washed and fed. She pushed her food around her plate. What was the point if she was going to be burnt to a crisp anyways? The village women attended her, adorning her in perfumes and dressing her in a gossamer white gown. Silver chains were wound around her wrists, down her arms and around her middle. The chains continued down her body, wrapping her legs together and making it impossible for her to run.

Ellia did not resist, she did not fight as they laid her on the pile of offerings for the dragon. They carried her from the great hall and out towards the lake their small village was built around, and set the platform at the water's edge. The villagers scurried off to a safe distance as drums began to sound. Ellia knew she didn't have long, but she closed her eyes all the same. She didn't want to see the fire coming before she burned.

 

[Finadien]

Alhamdonaxus, great red wyrm, scourge of the five lands was bored. He had pillaged and killed, burned and robbed, put fear in the heart of men and survived more dragonslayers than he could count. For a short time (a few decades or so) he had been contend with living near this small village, feasting on thundergoats, mountain lions and rocs and of course the sweet morsel the villagers where offering each year. It was a strange symbiosis. His presence prevented anyone from attacking the village and the village made it perfectly clear that any dragonslayer that came this way would not be welcomed. Once the rumor of his hoard had reached the ears of some adventuring party and they had come to steal it from him. Luckily, they had decided to rest in the village before the attack and the villager had killed them in their sleep.

Still he was bored. Nothing excided him anymore. He considered moving again. Looking for new lands to burn to the ground and enjoy the screams and moans of the mortals, but his heart really wasn’t in it anymore. So he had taken up reading, an utterly mortal concept. Dragons didn’t need to write down things because they lived so long and remembered everything, and magic came naturally to them. But those mortals had such a short life span compared to them, even the elves. But of course, he knew how to read and so he had picked a book that somehow had slipped into his offerings of gold, silver and the morsel he got each year and started to read. The first book had been about the history of a faraway land he had never visited and for a moment he considered going there and seeing the sights but first he wanted to see if there was more to this reading.

Several trips to larger cities in his human disguise later he had a rather large library about quite a lot of topics. Recently he had read with a book called “The princess desire” which was about human mating and “love” which got him really interested in that concept. After a few more books about that topic, he really was intrigued. What was this “love”? Could he experience it himself?

Over his reading he nearly had forgotten the annual trip to the village and only the drums in the distance reminded him. He put his current book – “The Slave in my chambers” – down on the reading table, walked out of the rather large library in his hoard and changed back into his true form. With the powerful beat of his wings, he was in the air and minutes later he swooped down to the village by the lake. As usual there was the pile with the offerings and on top lay the Morsel. He was about to incinerate and eat her as he had done so many times before but then reconsidered. Perhaps he could learn something new, something that could do away with his boredom. He grabbed the whole pile in his claws and carried it to his hoard.

When he arrived, he realized that the Morsel must have fainted because she was limp, but her breast was moving so she was still breathing. He picked her up gently and put her on some furs in the corner of the cave, right beside the entrance to his library and then he waited for her to wake up.

 

[Hypnotikus]

Ellia had laid still as the drums went quiet around the village. She knew this meant that someone had spotted the dragon, descending from his lair. She scrunched her eyes closed even harder. It wouldn't be long now until she would feel the fire. She just hoped it would be quick, and somewhat painless. Ellia wouldn't scream, she would give her father that honor. She would go without a fight and without a scene.

The beat of wings now echoed through the village and Ellia tried to slow her breathing. Tears leaked from her closed eyes as her hands balled into fists within the chains. The thunderous sound was closer now, invading every sense of Ellia's. Even with her eyes closed, she could sense the imposing figure who loomed over her. She took a deep, shuddering breath and waited.

The crunch of the offerings in claws as the dragon scooped her up was surprising enough, but when Ellia opened her eyes, the village was a small dot on the landscape. With a groan, lost on the wind, Ellia went limp in the pile of offerings.

When she did wake, it took her a moment to come to. Had she died? Was she in hell? Ellia rubbed her eyes with the back of her hands and gripped the fur rug beneath her. It was a comforting feeling, but when she lifted her head, her eyes met with the dragons. A scream threatened to erupt from her throat, but Ellia fought it down.

She cleared her throat and lowered her head. Taking a deep breath to calm herself, Ellia spoke, "I ask that if you're going to eat me, please don't drag it out..." She said in a soft voice. She was beyond confused. Never had the dragon taken a young woman, it was always the same, incineration and then meal time. Ellia didn't know if this dragon was a particularly cruel one who liked to play with his food before eating.

The chains on her made soft noises as she moved to try and get comfortable on the fur rug.

 

[Finadien]

Alhamdonaxus looked down at the human woman and wondered what she was thinking now. He of course could use magic to read her mind, but he remembered this other book he had read where such an action had led to more complication, and he really was curious where this all could lead. It was clear she was afraid of him, and rightfully so, he was a great wyrm after all, but this was not very helpful at the moment. He raised his immense clow, pointed at the chains that were binding her, and they simply fell off.

“I’m not going to eat you.” He said and his booming voice filled the whole cavern. He could see the fear in her eyes as he spoke but also a bit of curiosity, surprise and … defiance?

He walked a few steps towards the cavern exist und flexed his wings. Not really spreading them, just making sure that she remembered that he could fly, and she did not.

“Just to make sure,” he looked again at her and this time he tried to keep his voice a bit lower, “you will not flee.”

Even though his voice no longer was that intense he made sure she understood that this was neither request nor command, it was just stating a fact.

“You will teach me.” He said, “And for that I will provide you with everything you need.”

“You will teach me about the thing called love you mortals cherish so much. I have read a lot about it but I don’t know if I really understand it so I need someone who can show me more.”

He pointed to the entrance to the library.

“Have a look there, do I need different books? Is there anything else I need?”

He smiled at her hoping it would be reassuring. It had worked in human form in several cities. Then he remembered something.

“What do you need for nourishment? I will get something for you.”

 

[Hypnotikus]

The feeling of the chains falling away made Ellia jump. To say she was surprised would be an understatement. His words were reassuring and the last thing on her mind was trying to run. He could fly, but she couldn't and she was willing to bet the drop from the cave entrance was steep enough to kill her within seconds. She took a moment to take in her surroundings as he continued. It was warm in the cave and she looked to the library as he mentioned it. She almost glossed over the fact of what he was asking.

"I'm sorry...did you say teach you about love?" she asked as she blinked up at the large creature. There was no disdain in her voice, just shock. She didn't wait for his answer as she got up and entered the library. Her eyes went wide at the rows upon rows of books. More than she had ever seen, taller than three men standing on each other's shoulders.

"I don't think it's a problem of the right books. My goodness." She whispered, almost to herself before she turned back to him. He was asking about nourishment, she stepped back through the doorway of the library. "We usually eat lamb the night of Aelth.." She told him with a pang of sadness in her heart. Her father would be down there wondering what happened to his daughter. She chided herself, mentally. She needed to deal with the task at hand.

"I can try and teach you about love. As for the library, it might take me awhile to go through all the books to see if you have the ones that would help in this...situation." A plan was forming in Ellia's mind. If this dragon wanted to learn about love, she would try and teach him. She had no idea where to start, but it wasn't like she had any other options. All she could think of was spending hours reading every book he had. In the village she had been stuck reading the same five books since she learned to read. This was more books than she had ever seen. It was enough to make the impossibility of the task seem smaller.

 

[Finadien]

He looked at her as he realized that the primal fear she had was slowly receding and something other taken over. She was no longer wondering what was going on and less if she was going to live. This was good. From the books he had learned that real fear was probably not leading to love even though apparently someone could he coaxed into to somehow? He still was very confused about the whole subject and hoped she could help.

And she seemed eager to help, or eager to… he wasn’t sure. Humans were so hard to read when it was not the fear for their lives he was seeing. She seemed to be impressed with his library and that made him feel proud. He smiled and his posture changed a bit, he was more erect, and his chest was rising and then he stopped.

What was he doing? Was he really happy about a compliment from a human? Was the time he had spent in human form collecting those books changing him somehow? He felt a spark of concern rise but then the real question presented itself, would that make it easier for him to feel love?

He shrugged and looked at her again as she browsed his library.

“I will get nourishment for you.”

With that he made two steps towards the cave exit, spread his wings and swooped into the air. He knew where he had to land without being noticed, changed into human form and sneaked into the village. He had been here several times in human form but even though he couldn’t just ask for a meal and leave again, so he made sure he wasn’t seen, grabbed some of the lamb and vegetables when the villagers were dancing, put them into a backpack he was wearing in this form and then returned the way he came.

When he was back at the cave, he found the woman browsing his books, taking some out, shaking her head and putting them back somewhere else.

He changed into human form again so he could fetch the food out of the backpack. He walked into the library and put it down on a table there.

“I hope this is to your liking.”

He was quite fetching in human form. His face of undetermined age, a neatly short white beard framed his mouth, and his white hair flowed loosely behind him. He wore a purple robe with faint arcane sigil woven into it and matching slippers. He had found that this form was most effective when trying to get more books and had used it quite often in recent times.

He looked at her expectantly.

“So, found and books that are helpful yet?”

 

[Hypnotikus]

Ellia watched as the dragon left to get her food. This was not at all how she thought her day was going to go. She had been sure it would end in her demise and that would be it. But no, this was way more complicated than that. She watched the dark shape of him disappear and turned back to the library. Hundreds upon hundreds of volumes leered down at her as she surveyed them.

There were discourses and books of fables, giant books with creatures drawn in the margins and small hymnals in languages so ancient Ellia was sure no one could speak it. She almost jumped out of her skin when a man appeared with a parcel of food. She blinked and frowned for a moment as the wheels turned in her mind.

This was the dragon. She didn't know how she knew it, but something about the proud posture and the look of otherworldly arrogance, spoke to her. The smell of well cooked food filled the library and Ellia didn't realize how hungry she was until her stomach growled loud enough for the dragon to hear.

"I think it will take me longer than that to be able to tell. There was a book of fables I found that might have some good examples of love..." She untied the parcel and dug in, waiting until she swallowed to continue.

"But I'm not sure love can be completely taught just by books. It also has to be..practiced? I suppose that's the right word. But we can begin with stories that show examples...thank you for fetching this for me." She motioned to the food. "I was hungrier than I thought."

She glanced at the dragon from the corner of her eye, he was indeed handsome and far less intimidating in his human form. This might be an impossible task, but she was going to give it a try. "Would you like to try some? You did forgo your traditional meal this evening." She tried to give him a soft smile.

 

[Finadien]

She smiled at him, and he tried to return it. He knew of siblings of him who spent more time with mortals and thought where more practiced in facial expressions. He always got screams and panic when he smiled, but that was in his real form, not this human body. He returned the smile and took some of the food he had brought. Magic was strange. In his Dragon form he needed a whole lot of more food then now but he hadn’t realized that he was hungry too. He savored the taste of the lamb and the vegetables and thought about her words.

But I'm not sure love can be completely taught just by books. It also has to be..practiced

Practiced? He had read enough books that he at least understood the basics… or so he thought.

“Practiced?” he said aloud and put down the food, looked her in the eyes and tried to smile again.

“Like so?” with that he grabbed her, tried to be as gentle as possible, pulled her close and pressed a kiss on her mouth. He tried to remember anything he had read, pushed his tongue slightly into her mouth and then pulled back again.

He looked at her expectantly and raised an eyebrow. The human body felt more and more natural to him, not like all the times before when he had fetched the books or the food for her when he had longed to get back to his real form. The body also was somehow reacting to something he didn’t yet understand.

 

[Hypnotikus]

Ellia watched as the dragon enjoyed some of her food. It really was some of the best when it came to feast time. When he approached her, Ellia wasn't sure what was going to happen. She didn't resist as he slid an arm around her and pulled her close for a kiss. Her eyes shot open in surprise as his tongue probed her mouth. The look of shock stayed on her face as he pulled away and seemed to gauge her reaction.

"I..well eventually...yes..." She managed out once she had regained her composure. Her mind scrambled to try and find a way to explain the concept of love to a dragon. "Love is more than just the physical too...it's acts of care and protection."

She wasn't pulling from his arms, but she was sure he could feel her heart hammering in her chest. She had never been kissed like that before, not to mention from such a powerful being. She cleared her throat and lowered her eyes. "I..I think I need some rest. Today was...a lot."

She hoped he would be understanding. Even as she stood there she could feel the fatigue setting into her limbs. She was sure it was just all of the excitement of the day wearing off.

 

[Finadien]

Alhamdonaxus looked at the human woman and wondered what she was thinking. It was clear that she no longer was afraid, and that curiosity had taken over. That was what he had seen in her earlier. This was progressing better then he hoped, curiosity was one of the things that could lead to love according to some of the books.

And she had not pulled away when he kissed her as well and she was apparently thinking further. But she also was only mortal and needed Rest and perhaps time to think about things. It was also getting late and he knew that humans needed to rest at night.

He nodded and told her: “Wait here a moment.” Then he went off into another part of the cave. It took some minutes and then he returned. In his hands he held a large chest atop which rested a bunch of clean and soft furs and blankets.

“It can grow cold in here for mortals.” He told her, this should help.

“In the chest you will find some clean clothes for you.” He placed it beside a free place in the library where she could maker her lair for the night. It had a nook that had a natural chimney and so he walked back to the cave, fetched some wood and put it in there. He took one of the branches, breathed at it carefully and it started to burn.

“This should help as well.”

Then he pointed to a corridor. “This leads to a small cave with fresh water if you want to clean yourself.”

With that he turned around and left the library, at the exit he turned around once more, smiled at her and told her: “Good night my little morsel and sleep well.”