Authors note: I am so ashamed that I have let this story sit for so long wothout updates. I have a thousand different excuses but none of them are good enough. I am so sorry. I will try to do better!

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Narnia or its works

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Dragon … me?

Caspian stirred; he didn't want to wake. He was comfortable and warm. More comfortable than he had been in a long time. In fact, he had not slept this soundly since before … well since before everything had started to go wrong.

As he lay there, he remembered the events of the night before. He had stormed away from the Pevensies, not even hearing Susan out, so incensed he had been that they still doubted him.

And he had found his way to this valley.

Found the dead dragon.

Found Eustace cowering in a cave.

Found the treasure …

With this much treasure he knew that he could solve all of his problems.

He could buy back the slaves their freedom. Buy back anything that they had lost.

He could build a Kingdom unrivalled by any other. A Kingdom that Susan would not, could not resist joining him to rule. And there would be nothing that her brothers could do to stop them. With this much money her could buy countless soldiers. He would be able to fight Peter and Edmund if they tried to stop him. No-one would be able to threaten him, to gainsay him ever again.

Caspian paused … what was he thinking? Raise an army to fight his beloved's brothers! He shuddered as he reflected that perhaps Peter had a point. Perhaps he was ripe for corruption. It would take more than one day, more than one week to complete his path to redemption.

Caspian made up his mind. He was going to go back to the Pevensies, back to Susan and let them know that he was prepared to begin the hard path to redemption. That he knew there would be tests and bumps along the way, but that he was determined to work hard to earn their, and everyone's forgiveness and gain back their trust.

He was about to stretch, to begin to rise to make his way out of the cave, resigned that he would have to get up from his strangely comfortable bed.

That was when he saw the dragon.

The dragon that was lying at the mouth of the cave. Blocking his escape!

The dragon must not have been dead after all! What a fool he had been to think that it was and to not check for himself. He heard of crocodiles faking tears to fool prey, to draw them nearer so that they could pounce. This must have been something similar. The dragon must have been pretending to be sick, to have died, to lure them both into his cave under a false sense of security.

Carefully he drew his leg back under himself, prepared to take his chances and to bolt out the entrance to the cave. To make for the small gap around the dragon that he could just discern in the murky half-light of the cave.

Wait … lure us both … the thought struck Caspian like a thunderbolt as he belatedly remembered that he was not the only person in the cave – Eustace. The poor boy was either still asleep, unaware of the danger, or mute with terror.

"Eustace"

Caspian's voice was barely more than a whisper as he called for the boy, afraid that any sudden noise could wake the dragon.

A terrified whisper drifted back to him from the mouth of the cave.

"Caspian?"

Caspian craned his neck trying to see around the dragon at the mouth of the cave. Eustace's voice had seemed to come from somewhere near the hulking form.

"Where are you" he called as quietly as he could. "I can't see you, are you behind the dragon at the cave's entrance?"

"No" Eustace's terrified voice drifted back. "I'm at the mouth of the cave. Where are you Caspian? I can only see one dragon, the one at the back."

Caspian's eyes widened. He must have imagined it, but it seemed as if Eustace's voice came from the dragon, and now as his eyes became used to the light in the cave, he could see that the dragon was awake, and it was looking right at him. Looking at him with very distinctive blue eyes.

Realisation dawned on Caspian.

Eustace had fallen asleep on a dragon's hoard.

From the brief discussion he had had with Eustace before they had fallen asleep, it was evident that Eustace had dragonish thoughts before he had drifted off. Had thought of using the dragon's hoard for his own selfish gain.

Caspian knew his fairy stories and legends as well as any Narnian.

There was no doubt about it … Eustace had turned into a dragon!

Not sure what to do, but aware that he had to do something, Caspian started to move hesitantly towards the boy / dragon.

It soon became clear that that was not the right thing to do.

The enormous dragon let out a loud whimper and dashed away from him, out of the cave.

Caspian gave chase, wondering as he did why Eustace ran from him. Why would the boy fear him, especially now that he was a dragon?

As he ran Caspian gradually became aware that he was making great deal of noise and that he seemed to be tearing up the ground of the rocky valley as he ran. Looking down, it became apparent to him that he had been running on all fours and the noise was caused by his own large claws as he ran.

Claws!

He too had lain asleep on a dragon's hoard.

He too had had dragonish thoughts.

He, Caspian was a dragon!

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Meanwhile the Pevensies and the crew of the Dawn Treader were becoming increasingly worried.

When the Pevensies had returned to the beach after Caspian had stormed off the crew reported that Eustace was still missing. They had searched all evening for any sign of Eustace, but to no avail. All that they had discovered was the body of a very old, dead dragon in a wind-swept valley littered with gold and treasure.

When they had returned to camp, disheartened from a day's fruitless searching, they had discovered that Caspian too had not returned. Where could the young King be? It was too late to begin searching again as night was swift to fall on the windswept beach and so they settled down for a restless, worried night.

When dawn finally came, the Pevensies and their friends were preparing to search once again. Just as they were about to make their way into the low-lying hills they were stopped in their tracks by a series of loud roars. Craning their necks to see where the noise was coming from, they saw not one, but two dragons sweeping down towards the narrow stretch of beach that they had camped on.

Seasoned commanders that they were, the Pevensies did not loose their heads for a moment. They had faced far worse odds that two dragons.

Peter, Edmund and Lucy drew their swords, commanding the assembled sailors to do the same.

"Archers at the ready!" ordered Susan, drawing her bow, and taking aim at the nearest of the dragons.

The dragons, apparently seeing their peril, swerved at the last minute as they approached and avoided the arrows of the sailors.

But Susan, the archer Queen, was a more experienced archer and adjusted her aim to compensate for the dragons' erratic flight. Her arrow, as promised by Father Christmas all those years ago, did not miss. She hit the nearest dragon, the one with disturbingly familiar bottomless brown eyes right on its chest. The dragon paused, almost flinched in its flight and came tumbling down to the beach in front of them.

That's all for now, please review - even though I don't deserve it! - Maedhbh