“Oh, you… You mean to say you sent out that leaflet?” As Leslie slid her visor up, the ill-fitting helmet let out a small creak of protest. She felt her face flush as the lady before her smiled a toothy grin that promised to eat her, although not in which specific way.

“Well, it does get rather lonely out here. And don’t get me wrong: I’m into some rough stuff. Anyone not prepared to slay a dragon is going to have a rather hard time dealing with my particular needs.” Her sheer gown left her scaly hide visible, smooth and hard as her slender dragon snout shifted into a smirk. She slid a claw along her humanoid thigh while purring, “And it looks like I found just the playing I need. Who could have imagined a gryphon’s daughter would answer the call?”

Leslie gulped, knowing her own fur would protect her somewhat, but unsure whose claws would prove sharper. As luck would have it, that’s exactly when the bedroom’s door burst open and the dragon king entered the room.

“Exaline! You’re late to court again! And how many times must I remind you not to send quests to foreign lands asking for someone to rescue the princess from a dragon!? Now go get prepared, you’re the crown princess and expected to rule one day! Leave your plaything here in your room, I’m sure she’ll still be here in a few hours. We have several verdicts to give and I want you there.”

“Aww, Dad…” the dragon princess whined, but smoke billowed from her nose, and her form began to twist and warp within the cloud until she stood, now a quadruped, tall and winged and terrifying to behold. “Please forgive the interruption. Have a bath and wait for me here. Duty calls, but I’ll truly enjoy you when we get back.”

Leslie stared, dumbfounded, as the two dragons left for the throne room. She tapped her lips, casually trying to decide just how far to let this madness go, before making her way into the magnificent bathroom. Golden trim on the onyx fixtures made for a bathroom which was both glimmering and dark at once. The polished stone reflected the light of dozens of candles, and Leslie noticed with some delight that the water was feeding from a nearby hot spring. Soaps of all varieties lined the rim, and she took her time selecting from the different fragrances.

Grime, soot, ash and blood (none of it hers, thankfully) melted away in the hot water, and steam rose around her in wisps as she finally got the last of her long journey removed from her skin. She pulled her hair back in a simple ponytail and drifted, letting the heat and scent of lavender and tea carry her away.

She must have fallen asleep, because she woke up to a very pleased, and very predatory, princess staring at her. The shape she had adopted was much closer to a human this time, but there was no mistaking the heat and desire in her eyes.

“You seem to be enjoying yourself. Most knights would have run away, after getting prepared. You simply seem to have prepared yourself for me. Why is that?”

“Well, it’s been an awfully long trip, and it would be a crying shame to leave such a lovely lady wanting. I’m still not sure what to make of all this, or where it will go, but I knew my life was over when I started on this quest. I might as well enjoy seeing all of this to the end. We can decide exactly where to go, together. But for now, I’m sure court drained you, so why not join me for a little while and let me see what I can do to tame the stress you’ve built up deciding the fate of dragons?”

Garret’s pride died on his lips as he burst through the tower door. He had expected a petite creature, blonde silken hair and sky blue eyes. ‘I have come!’ He planned to say, ‘the dragon is slain!’

But the cobwebs and thick dust stopped him. Had anyone ever lived here? He cast his mind back through the great halls and winding corridors he had traversed to get here. Was he in the right place?

He quickly paced over to the window and threw it open, leaning out in an attempt to get his bearings. This was definitely the largest of the three towers, the others were so small he doubted they would make for comfortable quarters. Still, the instructions were very clear. A blonde haired blue eyed princess named Avera, locked in the ‘highest’ tower of Seaworth Castle. An ancient, crumbling ruin perched on sea stone, surrounded by treacherous and ever changing ocean, corals and stones. Just getting into the castle was a feat all it’s own.

Garret scanned the edges of the water for signs of a tower that might have been reclaimed by the ocean but could see nothing. He pulled back into the room and scanned it. A bed, desk, small privacy, a stove fireplace with water purification system neatly sat on top. He opened the closet and found dressed, he searched the desk and found papers, ink, quills and jewellery. Beneath the bed a pair of satin slippers. This definitely seemed like it should be the right place.

There was nothing for it but to begin searching the castle room by room. He crept back down the creaking stairs. He hadn’t found the promised guardian dragon yet and he was hoping not to. With any luck, the beast was sleeping in his hoards of gold in the main hall and he would stay that way.

And he was in luck, because if there was a dragon, he had not woken it. Yet now with every single room searched, Garret knew he was going to have to peak in at the creature because he had not found a single sign of the Princess Avera.

He gazed around in hope of a sign - any sign - of life elsewhere in the castle. There were tracks in the dust through all the main passages of the castle and in a handful of rooms, but none of the beds were used and the prints were a similar size to his own, other knights and lords searching the castle for the princess.

He stayed himself at the door and decided to just quickly check the tide first. If it was still out they would have time to escape, if not he would need to camp out somewhere safe, quietly until the tide went back out before risking waking a dragon. If anything, it had receded further than he thought it could.

The door, mercifully, did not creak. The room was surprisingly well lit, with huge windows running down either side of massive doors Garret imagined were to let the dragon in and out. But this room too was covered in dust, untouched. The pile of gold at the centre of the hall was certainly not large enough to hide a dragon, and he didn’t know of any dragon that left his gold unattended and dirty. He sighed heavily. So that was that, then, the castle was empty. A wild goose chase meant to keep greedy young lords busy. How many had died simply trying to get into or out of the castle?

He walked toward the pile and picked up a single piece of gold, examining it. It certainly was real gold. How many had come before him and left with full pockets, only to lose it to the ocean? He tossed it back on the pile and sat down, head in his hands. He would wait until the tide went back out in a day or two to attempt his journey home, and in the meantime would utilise what little fishing gear he had discovered searching the castle to feed himself.

Something did nag at him though. If there was never a princess or a dragon, why go to the trouble of leaving personal items in a singular tower? Why leave a small pile of gold for would be heros? Why had none returned to speak of it?

He got up and went to the window by the great wooden door and gazed out of it. A stone landing, and then nothing but ocean. He tried to push the door open, but it was too heavy for him alone. He contemplated sitting again to think about this all more earnestly, but even with no sign of a dragon anywhere he didn’t much feel like sitting on a pile of once dragon gold.

The wooden ceiling above him creaked with age. He gazed up, finding quickly something gazing back through a gap in the slats there. He gasped and his hand went to the hilt of his blade, but it was all he had time to do before the creature was on him.

How had she reached him so quickly?

She pressed him against the thick wooden door with giant, human like hands that ended in the brutal claws of a dragon. Scales rippled over her jaw, shoulders, hips and knees. She stood like a human, with huge wings flaring from her back. She stood tall as a house, her tail whipping like that of an annoyed cat behind her. She snarled at him with sharp, pointed teeth, uncanny in a human face. Her blue eyes looked furious.

“P… Princess?” He managed to gasp.

She dropped him.

“Another one then.” She hissed. Her tongue was forked.

He coughed and scrambled to his feet. She was so eerily beautiful, something between human and dragon, he felt compelled to be near her.

“Sorry uh… the king… sent me?”

The dragon girl did not look impressed.

“I don’t want your gold, if that matters…” he trailed off.

She still did not seem impressed, but her tail settled into something of a more gentle sway than the casual whipping.

Garret decided to forge ahead. She may have been beautiful, but his skin crawled all the same. She was at the very least still part beast, and powerful at that.

“My mother was sick.” He said in a rush, “and she went to the king and he saved her on account of he wanted to have my sister for his harem, my mother didn’t agree but my sister did and in any case that meant they were both saved only the king didn’t let my mother go on account of, uh…” Garret stumbled over his words as the dragon’s steely blue eyes watched him, unblinking, “ on account of that giving him a certain amount of leverage, and, uh…”

“So he used your mother to convince you to come get the princess.” The dragon stated.

“Yes, uh… Are you Avera?”

The dragon snorted. “Her daughter, Elia.”

“Nice to meet… you?” Garret ventured.

“I wish I could say the same.” Elia said, her tail whipping again.

“Sorry, did I do something? I uh, I put the gold coin back.”

“Yes I saw.” Elia said coldly. “Finish telling your story.”

“Well he just said he would kill my mother if I didn’t come here.” Garret finished with a hapless shrug. “I didn’t really have much of a plan.”

Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.

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