Draconic Desire

The dragon’s great wings rustled slightly as their owner paced around his horde. Like a great wind, the drake let out an immensely satisfied sigh. “Aaahhhh. . . So beautiful. . .”

He picked up a chalice, which looked more like a thimble in his giant claws than a vessel able to hold more than a gallon of liquid. His half-lidded eyes glittered with faint pleasure as he watched the multi-colored lights that flashed all over the cavern as light from magic lanterns bounced off the jeweled vessel. The prettily decorated cup, only one of the several hundred in his collection, looked plain compared to the rest, though opals and pearls almost covereditsentire surface. The dragon contemplated the mountains of treasures scattered around the cave and felt stirrings of discontent deep inside his heart. The shimmer of precious metals, stones, and fine knick-knacks, very nice to look at, incited only one emotion in him: boredom.

Idly, he considered rampaging through the nearest kingdom or setting afire to some puny human village, but then discarded the idea. Doing anything like that would only bring more of those pesty, little, shell-encased knights. They could not harm him and easy enough to get rid of, but their sense of beauty left much to hope for. A little smoke drifted out of one cave-like nostril as Erildecon remembered the last knight. The memory was hideous enough to cause the his lips to curl in disdain. The armor had been shiny enough, but the colors of the surcoat on top! Erildecon delicately shuddered. Even from far away, the blindingly bright yellow and pink revolted his artistic sense. Strangely enough, remembering the colors had him craving for lemonade.

Erildecon snorted, rather unhappy. In order to drink enough of the artificial looking beverage, he would have to revert to his far weaker human aspect. Still, he need not be afraid. His human image looked weak, but its impervious skin and natural strength would be enough to deter any predator. The scent of dragon that hung around him, which could not be smelt by any human nose, would stop any animal intent on some human meat for their stomachs.

With a long suffering sigh, the colossal beast pulled on the magic that enabled him to be what he wished. For a moment, the enormous form of the dragon was obscured by a weird, glowing mist that steadily shrank in size to finally vanish, revealing a slender male figure. Erildecon stood up and shook back his thick mane of glossy black hair. Working his mouth, for he was not used to the dull molars and unforked tongue of a human, Erildecon carefully walked on his two spindly human legs to the nearest stack of expensively tailored clothes some king or other had tried to bribe him with. Shrugging on a fine white shirt, elegant black breeches and hand-tooled boots, Erildecon finished his outfit with a stylish red sash and plum-colored, knee-length vest. He added a sword that though set with dark purple amethysts, functioned perfectly well, to complete the illusion of a well armed and well moneyed traveler. Now, ready to satisfy hisdesire for lemonade, Erildecon swirled a plain black cloak over his underrated finery, snatched up a length of polished wood for a walking staff and headed out of the cavethe boots pinching his longer than normal toes.

There was one advantage of having a human body, Erildecon was forced to admitted. Only six feet from the ground, he could see the trees, animals, and flowers in much greater detail. His slit-pupiled, red dragon eyes remained with him in his human form was able to see over vast distances, but had trouble focusing on small objects in his dragon body. It was a treat to actually be able to see the trees as something other than green blobs on top of brown stick and butterflies were no longer mere specks of scintillating color. Still, the new sights did not block the intense craving for citric juice. Erildecon snarled, almost drooling from the thought of drinking down deep mouthfuls of the icy cold liquid.

Fortunately, before he killed some nearby peasant from frustration, his source of lemonade came into view. The glowing, golden globes of the fruit looked like the Apples of Life to him when the orchard at long last came into view. The person who provided him with his lemonade was kneeling at the base of one of the trees, diligently weeding out unwanted plants. Hearing his footsteps, she looked up and smiled wryly, “Back so soon?”

Few people could use such a tone with him, but since Eldara was the person within a radius of 50 miles to have lemon trees, he tolerated it. Besides, the woman was a powerful sorceress in her own right. He stared impassively back at her, masking his eagerness for lemonade, “Yes, I am.”

Eldara stood up, brushing off her peasant skirt. “Right. Wait in the house for a bit. I need to tidy up. I’m sure you know better than to touch anything.”

Ereildecon nodded; it was routine by now.

Shortly after, Eldara entered the austere cottage that was her dwelling, swinging a tin pail full of ripe lemons. Erildecon’s gaze fastened itself to the fruit and his eyes gleamed with anticipation, but he remained seated at the kitchen table. For such a strong magic user, Eldara lived a life far less opulent than the norm. Erildecon heard the faint squeak of the water pump as Eldara prepared refreshments. And lemonade; Erildecon swallowed hard. He could hardly restrain himself from shouting forthe sorceress to hurry. Faint tinkling sounds could be indistinctly heard as Eldara added the sugar to the lemony water and stirred. That done, she took the cups of lemonade to the table where Erildecon impatiently sat and turned back to the counter for some biscuits.

The moment the cups left the woman’s hands, Erildecon waited a bare moment for politeness’ sake, then snatched up the glass closest to him and drank deeply. He closed his eyes in ecstasy as the cold, citrusy fluid filtered down his throat to settle in his stomach with a tingly sensation.

Finally.

Should I stop? Add more chapters? Slash, or not?

Wrote this in sophomore year for the vocab word "fetish"... Doesn't really fit, huh?

Thanks for reading. Please leave a quick review.