6.
Penny wakes to a sharp crack and the sight of the Dragon hovering over her. Her heart feels like it stops-just stops. Because there is no way it can contain the fear and horror coursing through her. She'd thought she'd gotten away. Sure she'd worried about wolves, or not being able to find sustenance on the mountain. But the concerns never seemed terribly pressing when she no longer had to face being eaten by the Dragon. To find it hovering over her was worse than before. At least she'd been prepared then. She'd been expecting to die. She hadn't had any hope, she'd been ready to die with her head held high.
Now-Penny closed her eyes and awaits a pain the like of which she hadn't dared to imagine...It doesn't come. She's corpse still, holding her breath, and nothing happens. Her heartbeat sounds like war drums in her ears, and she doesn't know how long it takes for her to realize that she can hear a voice. Let alone how long it takes to realize that the voice is speaking to her.
"...Alright?"
Penny opens her eyes and can't quite comprehend what she sees. Is the Dragon-is the Dragon speaking? To her?
"Have you run afoul of a fellow witch and found yourself cursed?"The Dragon, and Penny was still having trouble believing it because she'd never heard tell of it being so much as a possibility, asked.
"I'm not a witch!"Penny says, mouth running before she could think better of it.
"There is no sense in denying it."The Dragon chides,"I did save you from being burned at the stake."
The silence that follows that particular pronouncement is thick with her disbelief. The Dragon doesn't seem to notice, flicking its tail like a particularly satisfied cat. Now that fear isn't slowing her brain to a crawl she can look at it properly. It's huge, easily four times the length of her former home.
But Penny can't quite wrap her mind around what she's hearing,"Saved me? They sacrificed me to you! Just like they sacrificed every Corn Queen on the Sabbath ever since you flew over our village and decide to live in the mountain!"
"Why ever would they do something as foolish as that?" The Dragons great, frilled head came closer, studying her intensely with slitted eyes bluer than the very skies."I have no interest in sacrifice."
Penny just didn't understand. At least she wasn't dead-yet. And she might just survive the second encounter. If the Dragon was being honest, and truly had no interest in her as a sacrifice.
7.
Sheldon examines the maiden that the villagers had chosen as a sacrifice. She was lovely of course, a beautiful maiden indeed. No doubt as close to a princess as a village girl could get. As had been the other girls that had come before her. Sacrifice, such a silly notion. There was no appeasing a true Dragon if one was unfortunate enough to ignite their rage. He wasn't a true Dragon regardless, merely an enchanted wizard, as he informed the Village maiden.
"And to think, all this time I thought I was being noble, rescuing my fellow magic practitioners. Did the first Village girl they 'sacrifice' never return to clarify my intentions?"
"No."She scowled at him,"No one ever made it back! They probably died, if you just left them in the forest of the mountains. Village girls aren't suited to surviving in mountains! There are wolves, and nearly no food. There isn't even a river anywhere near where you left me!"
"And yet you are faring rather well,"Sheldon mused aloud. He had never considered the fate of the women he had rescued. He had considered his duty to them done by saving them from burning to death. But it seemed he had been the reason they had been tied against a pole in the village square in the first place. He could see the girl's point, the others before her had likely met their end at the hand of the perils of the mountain. When he considered the lack of magic it made the girls survival thus far rather impressive-in fact"Are you quite sure you're not a witch?"
"I'm not a witch!"The girl exclaimed, firm.
"Would you like to be?"Sheldon offered."Magic is far simpler than most are led to believe. Especially if one has the use of opposable thumbs."
The girl gaped at him,"No, why would I want to be a witch? They are hideous and vile-"
"Nonsense,"Sheldon disagreed."Magic is often vilified by those who cannot practice it. You have the gift, why not use it?" There were many spells he couldn't cast due to his condition. Sheldon missed his creature comforts. And the girls magic had to be particularly potent, otherwise her blood wouldn't have worked as well as it did. Dragon tongues were not made to wield human words. And yet Sheldon did not have to suffer any discomfort to communicate.
"I do?"The girl asked, voice soft.
Sheldon nods,"Would you like me to teach you? What is your name?"
"Penny,"The girl says, a whisper at best. But Dragon ears work far better than his human ones ever did. He hears her just fine.
"Well then Penny, I accept you as my apprentice."He had never brought into his fellow magicians belief that women had no true talent for magic. His Meemaw had been quite the adept practitioner. She had taught him more than any number of his professors. He would make sure his apprentice would be fearsome indeed. Ensure she was both strong and wise. So that she may never find herself in his place.
8.
The dragon was beautiful. The thought sneaks in every once in a while, unbidden. When the sun hits the dark scales just right and she can find the blue in them. The Dragon is beautiful, he teaches her magic, makes her stronger, better. The Dragon, the most feared creature she'd ever heard of, is wonderful, harsh task master that he can be on occasion. She never thought life could be like this.
Penny looks at Sheldon, the Wizard cursed to be a Dragon of all things (and what a story that tale had been!), and comes to the realization that she's happy. Genuinely happy. It's a feeling she'd nearly forgotten existed, amid the tedium of tending to the cornfields and awaiting for her mother to find her a suitable match. She hadn't been eager to find a husband.
Her life had been so much more exciting when she had been younger. She'd heard all sorts of faery tales at her grandmothers skirts. Played pretend she was a princess to her heart's content. Eyed the better looking males around the village and wondered at who would one day be her prince. She'd almost run away once. There had been a particularly strapping lad called Kurt who had courted her. Promised her a life full of wonder and happiness. Sneaking away to see him had been the most excitement Penny had ever known. But her father had caught her one time too many, and told her on no uncertain terms what happened when a woman wasn't pure for her wedding day.
It had been the end of that. Kurt had lost interest when she had stopped responding to what she had come to realize was a slow seduction. He'd had no interest in marrying her. No interest in being with her beyond what lay under her skirts. Penny had been heart-broken.
Now, she woke up to magic lessons everyday. Learned new things constantly, saw things she could have never imagined. Flying on a Dragons back especially was a pleasure she had never dreamed she could enjoy.
If she stops to think about it, some part of her had known it wouldn't last. Nothing that made her happy ever did.
9.
Sheldon is surprised by the village girls aptitude.
Penny, he finds, is a surprising person in general. They spend months learning each other. He comes to find her bravery worthy of his respect, and her stupidity worth his scorn. There is often a very fine line separating one from the other. But her stubbornness is often a match for his own, and he doesn't know whether or not he has been fortunate, to find companionship in someone who willingly goes head to head with a Dragon.
But then-Penny is someone who enjoys flying on his back. Takes to the reconnaissance missions he sends her to villages on with a near disturbing enthusiasm. Her prowess with attack spells has him glowing with pride, and it takes no time at all until she becomes someone he would call dangerous. Oh, he would have still crossed her had the situation called when he had been a sorcerer. But he would have thought twice about it, refuse to engage her until he had taken several precautions.
He'd considered setting her on his enemies, knowing retribution would have been brutal and swift. But he would prefer for his vengeance to be more personal, face to face, once he recovers his original one, of course.
The days pass swiftly. He enjoys guiding Penny with his knowledge. Likes the new state of their domicile. It had taken some doing to arrange a hot spring, but they managed. Penny's simple village upbringing had robbed her of many things it seemed. She'd seemed particularly mystified about why Sheldon had worked so hard for his hot spring (which was more of a hot lake really, considering the dimensions they had to broaden it to in order for him to submerge his draconic body.), until she took a dip of course. Then she had doubled her efforts to learn every other spell that would enable them some more creature comforts in their cave.
For a time they fall into a rhythm. It's easier, more comfortable, than anything he'd ever experienced as a mere mortal.
Then he smells smoke.
10.
Sheldon tells her the villagers have gathered with torches and pitch forks. Penny finds herself almost impressed by their daring. Fear of the Dragon had been commonplace in their village. The idea of so many of them being so brave is almost hard to believe.
"Are you going to drive them of?"Penny asks, curious but not terribly worried. Sheldon hadn't lied when he claimed he had no interest in sacrifice. He was not someone interested in slaughter for slaughter sake. All bets where off once he'd been wronged though, as she was sure the wizards who betrayed him would soon find out. Just as soon as they figured out how to turn him back.
"They seem rather determined."Sheldon sighed,"It seems they have brought a knight. I do not understand why people regard them so highly. They have no magic. Merely armor."
"A knight?"Penny asks, delighted. She had never laid eyes on a knight before. She quickly casts a spying spell Sheldon had taught her, and quickly dropped it in surprise. Her father. She had just seen her father, torch in hand. Was he coming to seek vengeance for her life? Penny frowned. She didn't want him to know she was alive. Not when he had been ready to sacrifice her before. He didn't deserve to know that she had survived. That the Dragon had never actively killed any of the women they had sacrificed to him.
"Penny?"Sheldon questioned,"are you alright?"
"Will you fight them? If they attack you, will you fight them?" She may not be happy with her father, but she does love him still. Feels sick at the thought of him hurt, maimed by Sheldon's claws or his flames.
"Of course,"Sheldon affirmed.
"And if I asked you not to?"Penny asked, hopeful. Sheldon had been kind to her all this time. Perhaps he would be kind again.
"As I see it we have two options. Wait here and engage the murderous ob. Or leave our home, the mountain."He did not sound like he wanted to leave.
"We can always find another, can't we? I'm better with the spells we used on the cave than I was before, surely our new home will be better than this one." Penny pointed out.
Sheldon sighed, deeply this time, the funny storm smell of his dragon breath filling the cave."I would like to point out that we are not fleeing. I am merely indulging your desire not to hurt those from your former village."
Penny beamed. She'd been right then. Sheldon had been kind again, but then, he had always been to her, she'd had no reason to doubt him.
They fly away.
x
Sorry this took longer than I thought. I changed my mind on a plot point while I edited so I had to rework a few things. On a brighter note, that plot point is now being worked into another story, so you know, not a total loss. Hope you guys enjoy this, let me know