[02/01/07] [Original Fiction] Busted

[bunnynumber13.livejournal.com]

Title: Busted
Day/Theme: February 01: a beastly proposal
Series: Original Fiction
Character/Pairing: Original characters
Rating: G

***

"I don’t believe you."

He circled around his prey, making a small sound of depraved amusement. Sampling the air, he smirked. Despite her solid expression of determination, he could taste her fear. She knew he knew and gave a barely perceptible shudder of disgust, which delighted him. Yes, it was disgusting he could derive joy and satisfaction from someone’s trepidation but who was going to judge him? After all, he chortled no one expected a dragon to follow the petty rules of human morality.

Still, because he relished in the delicious sensations the rank scent of her fear was causing in him, he had to keep prodding her. "Why?" he pretended an innocence he was far from possessing, running a slick tongue along the razor sharp edges of his fangs. He saw her small, brown terrified eyes follow each glint they made as he moved sinuously, continuously around her small, pale form.

She was blunt. "Because you’re a hideous monster. Anything you speak of is from the Devil’s own forked tongue."

He chuckled, a deep threatening, belly-deep noise that made the girl shrink together. "Rather frank for a princess," he remarked with a breathy hiss. "I wonder, would you be so courageous from within my belly?"

The little thing rose up then, squaring her shoulders, a bit of lost serenity returning to her stricken expression. "You can’t fool me with that one, you heathen. Dragons don’t eat people."

"Oh?" he feigned surprise. "And what drew you to that well-rounded conclusion?"

"There aren’t any bones in your cave."

He smiled. "And what makes you think that means I don’t eat humans? I could be a neat freak for all you knew."

She huffed. "I hardly believe that. What dragon who leaves his stash of gold coins lie about like you do yours wouldn’t treat his own victims in the same manner?" To point, she kicked a coin, sending it rolling far back into the darkness of the cave.

The dragon stared at his intended victim and growled. "I should kill you now."

"Ha." She eyed him. "I’m on to you, dragon. I know of your kind and their wicked ways. I know you cannot eat me because if you did, then my father would not pay for the ransom." The dragon lifted his head up and gazed at the young girl with wide yellow eyes, his face riddled with astonishment. "You stand to add a lot more treasure to your stash if you held me hostage rather than devouring me whole. If food had been all you wanted, any human would have done. But no, you needed a princess, so you kidnapped me."

She fell silent. For a long time the dragon stared at the girl, turning over ideas and discarding each as they came into his brain. Perhaps he should deal with her like he had all of the others: kill her on the spot and dispose of the body in the ocean.

As if she had been reading his mind, she said, "If you make a deal with me, I promise I won’t tell another poor soul about this hideous extortion scam of yours. If you ask me, there are far more clever ways of making money."

He crept in close, making sure she felt the heat of his breath on her face. Never did he want her to forget who was truly in the more advantageous position. (Somehow he had the feeling she was no matter how he wanted to look at it or deny it).

"On what certainty can I be assured of your honesty, fair princess?" he cooed in a nasty hiss. "And what makes you think I won’t just kill you anyway?"

The princess smiled and shook her head pityingly. "Because I know my father, dragon. He holds me above the price of gold or silver. If I am not returned safely, you will find yourself on every dragon slayer’s hit list from here to Camelot. I assure you, my father has many political connections. You would not be safe anywhere."

At the end peak of his frustration, the dragon roared, wanting to rip the scales from his hide. Oh what evil force spurred him to take this creature hostage? She was driving him mad with her level head, her now complete absence of fear and a grim, determined, nonchalant assurance that was telling him he was fast losing this game of wits. Steeling himself, he managed to speak calmly.

"So what is this deal?"

"I want in."

He blinked. "What?"

"I want in. I want to help you." She tilted her head to the side, all previous manner of self-righteous royalty and moral high ground gone from her once innocent brown eyes. "How about it? Take on a partner, keep your secret, keep making that pile of yours grow. We both stand to benefit from this."

"But what about your father?"

She made a phst sound. "He’s naïve, he wouldn’t suspect a thing. I play the part of a perfect daughter so I can get away with murder. You will too if you throw your lot in with me."

He stared at her and then smiled evilly. "Now who is the heathen?" His wings rose and unfolded halfway, stretching them out and blocking the light coming in from the entrance behind him.

"So is it a deal or isn’t it?"

The dragon breathed in the air and then narrowed his eyes, flashing with anger. "No deal."

"What?" She had the good grace to look astonished.

"I said no deal." The dragon stood out of the way and closed his wings again. "You go free. There is no ransom and there is no scheme."

"But what about your secret?"

"What secret?"

"Aren’t you afraid I’ll tell!?" she shrieked, refusing to budge. "I thought you cared about that!"

The dragon smiled. "Scent can tell a dragon a lot of things about his prey or his enemy. Yours is telling me you’re a liar."

"I beg your pardon?"

"Just like I said, fair princess." Another depraved chuckled. "And you were right about my bearing the Devil’s forked tongue." He looked toward the cave’s entrance and nodded. "You were right about her."

"Right about… who are you talking to?" The princess craned her neck around and gasped. "Daddy?!"

The king stepped into the cave, appearing like a storm cloud and resembling one, his fat jolly form shaking with anger. "I didn’t want to believe it," he never took his glare from his daughter’s face. "But I had to find out for sure." He looked up at the dragon with grim gratitude. "Thank you. I hated to put you up to this but I had to be sure."

"Be sure of what?" squeaked the now pale faced princess. "What’s going on here?"

The king looked sad. "I’m not going to live forever. I have to be sure of the hands I’m leaving the kingdom in. Now that I know your true character, I will be leaving my throne and my lands to your younger sister. Clearly you cannot be trusted not to us sell out to our enemies! You disappoint me."

The princess turned scarlet red, lowered her head and began to weep.

Ignoring her, the king turned to the dragon and gestured to the chest of gold sitting just outside of the mouth of the cave. "Your payment, as promised."

The dragon eyed his latest addition to his loot and his eyes flickered with glee. "Appreciated, your Highness." He waved after the king who dragged his still weeping daughter out of the cave and left with his procession of knights and horses.

The dragon waited until they were gone before picking up the chest, hauling it over to his pile of gold and dumping it there with the rest. Then letting himself drop onto it bodily, he crossed his arms behind his head and spread out over his accumulated fortune. Picking up a coin in his claw, he flicked it, flipping the piece in the air and catching it a few times.

All in all, quite a profitable day.