Dragon Maiden

Elinor is not the first woman I have loved, though she may be the last.  Through the fog of my vision I can tell that she trembles, and I lower my head so as not to frighten her.  The joints in my neck ache.

“Elinor,” I say.  All it took was a whiff of her scent and a glimpse of her face for me to fall.  She is no great beauty, like they used to send me.  Her hair and eyes are dark, her stature small, her figure plump.  It doesn’t matter.  My magic is strong, and won’t discriminate.  “I am Laise.”

 “I know who you are.”  Her hands travel over the walls of my cave like pale spiders, searching for cracks.  The sour smell of fear wafts into my nostrils.  “They told me this was my punishment.  That you were going to eat me.”

 Ah.  I press my leathery wings to my side and tuck my claws beneath my belly.  There is little I can say to the accusation.  It is the nature of my kind to speak the truth, no matter how harsh.  I choose my words carefully.  “I will not harm you against your will.”

The shaking stops, but she does not relax.  For the magic to work, she must love me too, and she cannot love me if she fears me so terribly.  Her people sent me willing women, once.  They used to vie for the honor, but it has been a long time since I’ve flown over the city.  Perhaps it has aged as I have, and Elinor is what they could spare.

“I don’t want to die,” she says.

My heart breaks a little.  I sigh, trying to ease the pain.  “They seldom do.”  Each of my loves has had second thoughts near the end.  Elinor doesn’t wait for me to explain further.  She dashes for the opening of the cave, but I am far, far quicker than she.  I slink to the side and use my body to block her way out.  She stops herself before she can touch me, her hands curled to her breast.

I lit the lamps before she arrived, spread out the rugs, and dusted the furniture in hopes it would make her feel welcome.  My cave is vast as a hall, so I have decorated it as such.  Cassandra, the second of my loves, introduced me to such comforts.  I still remember her bell-like laughter as she scratched the scales beneath my chin.  She took her time falling in love with me, but we’d had a year together.

Elinor and I have ten days.

“Please,” I say, “make yourself comfortable.”

She ignores me and beats her fists against the stone.  Her cries echo through my cave, over and over, until it sounds like I have entrapped a thousand women.  I want to offer her succor, but she can barely look at me.  I cannot blame her.  My form is monstrous, my body sinuous as a snake’s and at least five times her size.

She cries for a long time.  Well into the night, she sags to the floor, her hands bloodied and her shoulders curved inwards, like the sides of a bowl.

I venture to speak again, hoping she has spent herself enough to listen.  “Without you, your city will fall and the delmen will overrun it.”

“Let them,” she says.  The lamp nearest to her flickers and goes out.  The lighting takes on a haunted air, shadowing the space beneath her eyes.  “The city sent me here.  Why should I care what happens to them?”

“They are your people, Elinor.  My magic will save them, but I need your cooperation.”

She wipes her bloody hands on her skirts and looks me in the eye.  “I will never love you.”

Her words steal the breath from me.  I turn my head away and try very hard not to cry.  It has been nearly twenty-five years since the city sent the last woman—Tessa.  She was a thief, and hardened by life in the streets, but beneath the tough exterior was a warm heart.  When the time had come, I’d carved a wind chime of her bones and hung them from the highest tower.  The delmen hadn’t come within fifty paces of the city walls that year, such was the power of our love.  Each time the wind stirs the trees outside my cave, I think of her.