She could smell him long before she saw him. And once he was in view it took all she could do not to shake. By the gods, he is so big, she thought and quickly tried to gather her courage. It was clearly the largest creature she had ever seen on the good god’s earth. Nevertheless, in its own way, it was beautiful. She could not take her eyes away from the beast, which had iridescent blue-green scales with dashes of midnight strewn throughout.
The powerful head reminded her of horned lizards she had seen basking in the sun, yet, the eyes, as dark as midnight itself, held an intelligence beyond common held belief. It was to that great mind she wanted to appeal, to plead her plight as dismal as it may be. If all that was said of dragons were true, at least she stood a chance. She waited until she could feel the heat of his breath before she uttered a sound.
“Kind sire, if I may have a word?” she said modestly, bowing her head respectfully.
The sudden rear of the great beast’s head as it turned almost knocked over the stake to which she was tied. The force it carried stunned her as it rose up to look down upon her with large, luminescent eyes. “Did I hear the mewing of my dinner?” he roared.
“I would hope not. You see, my lord, the village has tried to cheat you,” she stated as bravely as she could, righting the stake as much as her strength would allow.
The dragon eyed her cautiously. “I cannot be tricked.”
The young woman shook her head rapidly. “That is not my intention, ancient one. I just know you were expecting a virgin.”
The dragon flapped his iridescent wings once, twice and gently folded them along his body. Just as gently, he laid himself before his quarry and tapped his chin with one large talon. “So, you are not a virgin. Is that what you are trying to tell me, lass?” intoned the rich deep, hypnotizing croon of the dragon’s voice.
The young woman shook her head, trying to clear the cobwebs suddenly forming. “Yes and please believe me. I have little for which to live. That little is vengeance against the village that put me here to be your dinner.”
“That is what you will not be if I continue to let you try to talk me out of it.” The dragon lifted one taloned digit and began to lightly trace it along his victim’s belly, as if measuring just where to make the first incision. “You are a wee bit small. Is something wrong with you, lass?”
“Nothing that a good meal would not cure,” she muttered more to herself than the creature standing before her. She had tried and failed, failed miserably to elicit the dragon’s help. She had always been a truthful, god-fearing girl and look where it had gotten her. “Just get it over with since it is what you are going to do anyway.”
“Whoa ? wait a minute. Did I say I was going to eat you?” The dragon’s large midnight eyes tried to gaze into the much smaller green ones before him. “Proceed. I was always a good one for a sob story.”
The young woman’s face brightened. “Thank you, sire. T’is all I am asking. Just that you hear me out.”

coming soon