Short Story -Dragon's Treasure - Grant Eagar
Prompt: Doing something with their hands.
To order my books:Sheila the Vampire: Dancing with the Enemy
Angelica
a sixteen-year-old witch picked at the black and gold dragon scales with her fingers. A few random
scales remained on her temple near her black hairline, on her biceps, her chest, and her
back. Where did they come from? Would
they eventually fall off? So much for wearing a gown to a ball. She adjusted her
hair to hide the one on her temple.
Princess Hannah swatted Angelica’s hand. “Stop
that, you’re going to get an infection. they appear to be permanent.”
“It’s hard to resist, the scales itch like a
bugger.” Angelica stood and approached some bushes and regarded what was hanging there with her lavender eyes. “What are all these things
hanging on the lilacs drying?”
Hannah gave Angelica a wan smile. “This dragon
magic is highly peculiar. After you turned back into a girl you choked all these
things up and I washed them off.”
“Am I supposed to be wearing these things? What
did the dragon king do while he had control of my body anyway?”
Hannah shuddered and winced. “I’m sorry for not
being forthcoming, but you don’t want to know.”
Angelica picked up the silver chain mail shirt
and rubbed it with her fingers, the silver mail felt cold and soft. She slid
the mail over her head. It came down to just above her knees. It at first made
her shiver since it was still moist from being washed in the stream, but after
a couple of minutes she got used to it, the cool silver metal felt good against
her skin. She then picked up the gold chain and ran it through her fingers. The
chain was as thick as one of her fingers. “A fortune of gold all in a single eight-foot
chain. Is the gold my gift from the beast or is this treasure accursed?”
“You choked up a bit of chain and I pulled and
pulled and pulled and it slowly came out. I thought it would never stop coming.”
“How did the gold get inside me? What did the
crazy beast do when it had control of me?”
The princess nervously rubbed her hands together
and took on a pensive look. “Oh, I’m sure the dragon did what dragons do best;
cause a bit of mayhem. Don’t worry where it came from? Just enjoy it. All you
need to know is that I was rescued by you as a dragon and here we are. You must know
that sometimes the rescuing gets a bit
messy.”
Angelica rubbed the gold chain again. “Do I want
to know what the dragon did? You don’t appear to be forthcoming with the tale. I’ll
enjoy the treasure while I have it. I’m sure someone will be coming along
demanding it soon enough.” She wrapped the chain several times around her waist
then put on the princess’s lavender traveling cloak which matched Angelica’s
eyes. “What do you think of this getup?”
The princess snorted. “The whole thing is a bit
odd, but I’m certain you’ll get used to it. You look like a warrior maiden.”
Angelica grinned. “Do I resemble a beautiful
warrior lady or a trollish battle-hag.”
Hannah giggled and poked Angelica in the side. “Definitionally
the battle hag, when you were asleep you kept talking in that raspy dragon tongue
and occasionally growl, you scared me witless. I didn’t know what you had
become.”
Angelica frowned. “I would have preferred to be a
fine warrior lady, alas I am what I am.” She picked up a short sword that went
from her fingers to her elbow. “I choked this thing up? I’m surprised it didn’t
cut my tongue off.”
“Oh that, it was wrapped in the chain mail. Just
remember you were kind of human and kind of a dragon when you were doing this
bit. She tucked the steel sword into the chain on her hip and fastened it in
place. The sword had an oak handle inlaid with gold and silver. She practiced removing the blade quickly and
beheaded flowers.
Hannah giggled, “You make quite the fearsome warrior.”
“I’m now ready for battle if the rogues find us I’ll
be ready for them. All I lack is the courage to go along with the sword. I had always
pretended to be Angelica the Barbarian as a child, beheading flowers along the
path with a stick, but now I have to be a warrior for real to protect us.
Hopefully, the courage will come to me, for there is none to be had at present.”
Hannah squeezed Angelica’s arm. “I’m confident
your courage, like your magic, will come back to you when it’s needed.”
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