Dragon's Teeth

A young dragon separated from his kind must put aside his pride if he's to break the curse he's under--a task unknowingly helped by a certain knight.

Another day, another knight. He didn't know that I had seen him. In fact, I was pretty certain he thought he was being sneaky. I was a good actor, that was for sure, pretending to be asleep with my head resting on my paws just outside the mouth of the cave I had been living in for the past few months. However, unfortunately for the knight, his metallic footsteps did not make for as stealthy an approach as he seemed to think.

The nearby kingdom did not seem to appreciate my presence there so they sent knight after knight after me--I had a substantial armor collection by that point. But what was I supposed to do? After that wretched old woman in the last kingdom ruined everything, I had to leave. And real estate was always a tricky thing. Unoccupied caves big enough for a dragon, like myself, don't exactly come easily. 

My eye cracked open just enough to watch the knight, I observed as he “hid” behind a rock, observing me right back from afar. Perhaps he was not as idiotic as he initially seemed. Was he strategizing or something? That was never really needed, on my part. I had the fire and the muscle and the size. No knight had ever even stood a chance against me. Then again, the others had all just rushed in with their “I will slay thee for the lovely Lady What’s-Her-Name”s and other such nonsense just before I toasted them to a crisp. That new one was different. Under his helmet, I could see his brown eyes staring back at me. He may not be good at stealth--and I mean, he was really bad at stealth--but he was not as stupid as past knights. It would make for a more interesting battle, once he decided to make his move.

He never did make his move. The day simply dragged on, the sun sliding gently across the sky and down towards the horizon. And all the while, he sat in that spot, watching me intently. Was he waiting for me to move first? Well, fine. I did not have much time left, anyway. The sun was sitting just above the horizon. Before long it would be night. And then I would most certainly be done for. So I yawned, pretending to be waking up. It was the first time I had moved since the knight arrived so I had to stretch out my stiff muscles, huffing out small plumes of smoke as I did so. Let’s get to it.

Sure enough, the knight emerged. Here we go, I thought, sighing to myself. He was sure to go off on some tirade about some beautiful woman that he was fighting for. Or better yet, for the glory of his kingdom. But to my surprise, I was wrong. The man was entirely silent. With his sword in hand and a sturdy stance, he continued to stare up at me. I had, by that point, risen up to my full height. Usually, just a little hint of fear would at least show on a man’s face. Not his. He just stared. What is he playing at? 

I stared back but quickly became impatient. I was not going to let him waste my time any longer. With a huff and a roar, I lunged, teeth bared, preparing to bite the man in half. At the last second, however, he sidestepped. I braced for a strike to the neck, trusting my scales to deflect it… but none came. Expressions are not particularly easy for us dragons, but I tell you I looked just as confused as I felt. He was still just simply watching me from behind his visor. It was infuriating!

I lunged again and again, but he was faster than me. I tried to use my fire breath, but he threw up a shield that seemed to deflect most of the blast. From behind it, I heard him shout in pain, but he did not give up, still avoiding each of my attacks. After some time of this, I was beginning to tire. Keeping up with the knight was strenuous and it had left me huffing and puffing. I could have sworn I saw a smirk on the knight’s face when he realized that. Internally cursing, I realized what happened. Oh, he was a clever one. Wearing me out first so that he could finish the job. I reared up for one last blast of fire. If I was going to go out, I was going to do as much damage as I could. But just as I was about to fire and just as the knight raised his sword to strike me down, the last glimmer of the sun slipped down behind the horizon.

As soon as the sky went dark, I was enveloped in a cloud of smoke. I felt myself shrinking, getting closer and closer to the ground. And in an instant, there stood not my gorgeous, dragon self before the knight, but the crouched figure of my cursed, human form. Pale and skinny, dark brown hair draped across my shoulders and down my back, my same green eyes now turned up at him instead of glaring down.

His sword was still raised as the knight’s eyes fixed upon my new shape. It was as if he were frozen in time. I had fully expected to be struck down on the spot. It would have been an easy kill, I was defenseless as a human--as it was intended to be. But his stare was not the intense one of a man who intended to take my life. Instead, he appeared to be just as confused as I had been, if not more so. 

“You… You’re a man?” His voice came from under his helm. The voice of a young man. Couldn’t be more than twenty… just about my age. 

No s**t, I thought. If I knew how to use my vocal cords, I would have said that out loud. Instead, I just hissed and scampered off into my cave, ignoring the knight’s calls after me.

Hiding in a crevice in the wall, I listened as the man lit a torch, entering the cave in his loud, metal armor. Thankfully I was small enough in my human form that I could just squeeze into those little spaces, hiding away as far back as I could go. There was not much to see other than the flickering shadow of the knight on the wall on the other side of the cave, but I would rather not be found.

How pathetic. One moment I was a magnificent, fiery beast, and the next I was reduced to a tiny, quivering human hiding in the wall. I could not defend myself. No claws or fire, and tiny teeth. Not to mention, I had hardly any muscle on that body. Positively the scrawniest most pitiful human to ever crawl the Earth.

“Please, I just want to talk!” called out the knight. Happening to step within my limited field of view from my hiding place, I was able to make out more detail about the man than I could when I was towering above him. His armor was not the typical perfectly-shined silver of the knights I was accustomed to. It was scuffed and worn, the familiar symbol of the kingdom carved into his shoulder plate looking like it had been scratched off. Almost as if he had taken a rock and mutilated his armor until the insignia was nothing more than a few dents in the metal.

That was curious. In my experience, the knights of that kingdom would do anything “for king and country.” What had happened to him? It almost made me want to come out of hiding. Well, that was quickly decided for me. The knight must have spotted the glint of my eyes in the firelight of his torch because he turned and looked right at me. However, he did not make any moves towards me. Instead, he slowly sat down, crossing his legs and leaning his back against the wall.

“Listen,” he said quietly, maintaining eye contact. “I’m not going to hurt you. Come out of there when you’re ready, alright?”

I didn’t. I was going to wait until he was asleep and then I was going to sneak out and slit his throat with his own sword. For a time he focused on bandaging the burn wounds on his shield arm, but he did eventually nod off after about an hour, his head resting against the wall behind him. And I did emerge from the wall once I picked up on his quiet snoring… but I did not kill him. 

After stretching out my muscles, which were once again stiff from being cramped up in such a small space, I approached the knight. My full intent was to end his life on the spot. As I drew nearer, however, a thought crossed my mind. If I killed him, the curiosity about the man with the scratched off insignia would haunt me to the end of my days. I would learn about him first. Then once I turned back into my beautiful self, I would have him cornered in my cave and would be able to dispatch him without a problem.

A less-than-gentle poke to the arm roused the sleeping knight, who looked rather surprised to see me crouching there beside him, staring intently into his face with my green eyes. “Oh, hello there,” he said, removing his helmet. For a human, he was relatively good-looking. His black hair was shaggy and he had the beginnings of a beard on his chin, but his face was young and--objectively, of course--handsome. A hint of redness suddenly appeared on his cheeks, likely realizing that I had absolutely nothing on but my skin. Apparently, that was weird for humans. I never understood it. Why did they weigh themselves down with all that fabric? I surely never needed any-- “Here, take this.” To my dismay, the knight unfastened his cloak and draped it across my shoulders.

I shrank under the weight of the fabric, ready to throw it off. A breeze blowing in from outside stopped me, though, and I instead clasped the cloak tighter around myself, suppressing a shiver. Ah, the autumn months approaching. I forgot about those. Having nothing between my fragile, human skin and the elements was likely going to be hell. 

“What’s your name?” asked the knight, tilting his head at me. I have a name, it was just not in any human language. So even if I could speak, I would not be able to pronounce it in his tongue. The human language was something I had learned to understand a long time ago. Speaking it was an entirely different thing. I never had the vocal cords to be able to speak in my dragon form. And in the few months of being a human at night, thanks to that hag, I had never tried to speak. Not like I had anyone to speak to, anyway.

At my silence, the knight frowned slightly. “You can’t speak, can you?” he realized after a moment, sighing. “Well, anyway, my name is Percival. Or Percy, as most call me.” What a typical name. Probably some noble’s son, no doubt. “My father is Lord Gamel Dyneley.” Yup. There it was. Percy noticed the pouty look on my face and smirked. “What, not a fan of nobility?”

I shook my head. Obviously not! They were always the ones either demanding my head or coming after it themselves. Never trust a noble. 

“Well, lucky for you, my mother wasn’t my father’s wife. I’m an outcast just like you. Isn’t that something,” he chuckled. I paused. That was new. An outcast coming after me. He likely had to prove himself worthy to be a knight or something like that by slaying the dragon who had killed so many other knights before him. Surely that would be a goal he would not be willing to give up. I wished I could ask him. I even opened my mouth, trying to say something, but it hurt my throat so I gave up after a few tries.

Percy just watched me struggle, a look of concern crossing his face. “No one ever taught you how to speak, huh? I bet even if you had a name you wouldn’t be able to tell me.” Right again. Smart boy. “I guess I’ll just have to give you a name. How about… Cadmus.”

At first, I wrinkled my nose at the name. But the more I thought about it, the more the name grew on me. If I was correct, it meant “dragon’s teeth.” Fitting. So after a moment of mulling over the suggestion, I nodded in my approval. 

The knight grinned. “Cadmus it is, then.”

The rest of the night was filled with Percy’s ramblings. He told me all about his kingdom, some of which I already knew, but I listened anyway. It was interesting. I was almost able to forget how different the two of us were, and how much I despised being human. So frail and small. At least I was not alone, for once… that was a pleasant change.

I had not even realized that I had fallen asleep until the following morning when I woke to find myself back in my dragon body, the sun shining through the mouth of the cave and soaking into my blue scales. There was no sign of Percy other than the cloak still draped across my back. I should have expected that. Sticking around in the home of a dragon whose intent was to end your life was not smart. And it had been rather clear to me that Percival was anything but stupid. For a human, anyway.

My solitary day felt lonelier than usual that day. I had no one to keep me entertained with stories of kings and queens, no thrilling tales of battles fought and won… I was entirely on my own. That is until night fell again. I was huddled in the back of the cave, the cloak wrapped tightly around myself, when a familiar voice called out, “Cadmus?” The glow of a torch lit up the entrance to the cave. Never in my life had I been so excited to see a human. He had brought me food and actual clothes that time, and so we sat across from each other on either side of a small fire, eating while I listened to him talk on and on, occasionally joining in with a hand gesture or by making a face.

We continued on as such for several months. During the days, I would be alone, fighting off the occasional attacker who would come to kill me. And at night, Percy would come with something he had hunted during the day and talk to me until the sun rose. I learned to sleep during the day so that I could stay with Percy longer. I was learning so much! Culture and economy and everything else I didn’t know. Percy was even helping me learn to speak! And I learned how to make things with my feeble little human hands, my favorite being a necklace strung with dragon teeth that I gave to Percy on his birthday, as a way of thanking him for giving me my name. He said it was gross that I collected my own teeth but accepted it anyway and wore it every night after that.

Then one night, I learned what I had wanted to from the start. Percy was talking about the knights of the kingdom. There seemed to be an infinite number of stories about their various antics. So I took the opportunity to ask a question of my own. “Your armor. The symbol?” I could not speak very well yet, that was clear enough, and it often hurt my throat when I did, but I was so curious I could not wait any longer.

The young man paused, mid-bite into a piece of venison. “Oh, that…” he said, sounding hesitant. There had never been a story he was reluctant to tell of before. “I kind of screwed up. Big-time. I was supposed to fight in the king’s war as any good knight should. But I was so new… I got scared. Everyone called me a coward, adding to the disgrace already on my head from my mother. My father forced me to remove the symbol from my armor and told me I could never return until I had proven I was not. Specifically, by killing a dragon.” He cast a sheepish glance at me, but I merely shrugged. It was a typical human thing. Kill a dragon and you would be called brave for all eternity. Songs and poems and all that other ‘honorable’ stuff. 

“It’s fair. I would have killed you also,” I responded in my broken human speech.

“So why didn’t you?”

The question surprised me. It had been so long, I had to think for a moment before responding simply, “Curiosity.”

Percy raised an eyebrow, smirking slightly. “That’s it? You were just curious?”

I blushed a bit but nodded. “Yes, that’s it… not at all to do with good looks. Objectively!” 

After a slow blink, a bit shocked, Percy burst out laughing. That only made me blush harder. How embarrassing. I wished for my scales back, so they could hide my reddened cheeks. “You are too cute, Cadmus--” Another shocked look crossed his face, that time at his own words. “Uh, I mean--”

It was my turn to laugh that time. “Me, cute? I’m fierce!” I jokingly protested. 

“Uh huh, sure you are,” Percy said with a roll of his eyes. But then he did something I was very definitely not expecting. He leaned forward, gently grabbing the back of my neck, and pressed his lips against mine. I believe that was what humans called a… kiss? A show of romantic affection.

I did not get a chance to ask him about it, as he ran out almost immediately, letting out a stream of curses that echoed behind him. And he left me, flushed and flustered, sitting beside the fire, wondering what had just happened until the sun rose and I once more turned into my draconic self. When he visited the next night, he was quieter and shier than usual. I was not sure if I should ask about the kiss, so I did not until he finally brought it up himself the second night.

“I’m sorry if it was too forward of me,” he began, looking down at his hands. “And I’m even more sorry for running out on you afterwards. You must be confused as hell…”

“That’s an understatement,” I said. Then after a pause, I asked, “You feel… romance for me?”

Percy almost immediately turned beet red. “I-I… yeah…" he admitted rubbing the back of his neck with one hand. "Is that… okay?”

It was more than okay. For the longest time, I had been on my own. Not even my own dragon kin would cast me a second glance after the witch had cursed me just for existing too close to her home. And… maybe for being a bit of a jerk to the people in that other kingdom where I had lived before. It wasn’t my fault, I thought it was all in good fun. But she told me I had to earn the love of people in order to break the curse she had placed upon me, turning me into one of them. The kingdom still despised me, but I had found someone who showed me genuine kindness. He had shown he cared time and time again. We shared everything with each other. It took me until that moment to figure out what the feeling was within my heart. 

Instead of answering Percival’s question with words, I reached forward the same as he had done and kissed him. A shiver passed through my entire body as I did so, but I did not think it was the adrenaline rush the kiss sparked, nor the one when Percy pulled me closer to him. Something had changed within me, though I knew not what until that morning, hours later, when the sun was about to rise. 

Percy was gathering his things, preparing to go out for the day as usual. He gave me a peck on the cheek and told me he would see me that night. But as he turned away, just as the sun slowly began to creep over the horizon… I stayed the same. I did not change back into a dragon, like I usually did. The sun shone on my human face for the first time. It felt warm against my skin, so different from scales. Nothing had ever prepared me for that moment and yet I could never have been more excited. 

“Percy!” I called, leaping to my feet and running after him, a grin breaking out on my face as I tackled him in a hug. “I did it! The curse is broken!” The surprise on his face as my arms wrapped around his neck quickly shifted to a bright grin as we embraced… our first in full sunlight.