Sir Phillip Maude left to become a knight years ago, but when the young dragon Howard learns of King and Queen Morose’s true intentions, he takes it upon himself to foil their plans. Hoping to take the secret behind the dragons’ long lives for herself, Samantha and Howard will have to show each other what happens when you try and steal treasure from a dragon.
Written for @aquillis-main and their fic The Dragon that Rhymes. Can also be read on AO3 here.
“Where is he? I demand you give him back to me!”
The sickly queen stared in dumbfounded silence at the brown coloured beast that had just crashed through the window to her throne room. Its wings were flared and tail flicked in agitation as smoke fumed from its nostrils with each heavy breath. The Dragon that Rhymes was here to take back what it believed to be his. Sam quickly regained her composure and straightened out her posture, brushing stray strands of hair out of her face.
“I suppose you’re here for my knight.”
“You believe Phillip is your knight? And just what gives you the right?”
She did not appreciate anyone speaking to her in such an insolent tone, dragon or not. Sam tolerated this treasure hoarder living within her borders and it was high time he learned to show some respect to his queen.
“The fact that he has already sworn an oath of fealty to both crown and country. He will remain in our service for the foreseeable future and you will not interfere.”
Her words were sharp and her voice was carried down authoritatively from her raised throne to the beast still crouched low to the ground.
“Years ago he took my mark and it means more than words to some monarch.” His eyes narrowed as he sneered out his riddlish speech. “Especially when you keep him in the dark.”
“And it means more than the career on which he wished to embark?” she rhymed back, willing to indulge his little game. He did not look amused. “Sir Maude came to us willingly with no objections from you. What makes you think you can contest our claim now?”
He reared his head up to its full height and drew his lips back into a snarl to show his dagger like teeth.
“My eyes have been opened to your treachery and deceit! Your new look with scales is the receipt, to say nothing of the schemes of The Tentacled Beast!”
Irrelevant. Their research had no bearing on ownership rights.
“Then we’re at an impasse. What do you say we settle this as dragons ought to?”
He hesitated and some of the rage faded from his expression, now seemingly unsure of himself.
“Is this really a fight you want to pick? Doesn’t seem right when you’re deathly sick…”
Sam gripped the armrests of her throne with enough force to leave long talon marks in the metal as she glared with as much seething resentment as she could muster. Dragons were honour bound to fight for what they considered theirs and take it by strength or wits. How dare he act like picking up the gauntlet was beneath him, especially when she would do much worse?
“I just gotta tell you the truth. We can tear with claw and tooth. And I’ll get the better of you Morose, though it feels really gross fighting a queen on death’s row. In fact, it seems rather low.”
“All is fair in love and war, so spare me your pity,” she replied curtly. Samantha rose from her seat of power and let the dragon’s blood coursing within her do its work as she descended the steps elevating her throne. The world below retreated as her head rose up atop a serpentine neck, now slinking down the stairs on four limbs like a scaled jungle cat with mighty claws. Twisted horns, crocodilian snout, bat wings, and a flyaway mane down her neck and back; all in ethereal blues.
The pseudo dragon queen stood before her subject and aspiration, her voice booming out into the cathedralic hall. “There is no way you can win.”
Looking up at a such a projection of regality and power was all that was needed for the brown coloured beast to find his resolve and step forward.
“Then I, Howard Plunkett, The Dragon that Rhymes, accept your challenge and will fight for what’s mine!”
They paced around each other slowly, keeping their distance as they sized each other up. He was a decently impressive specimen, though a bit on the small side for his age, likely owing to his refusal to eat any red meat. Both of them were of wiry builds with whip like tails and serpentine necks. The rhyming dragon was stockier than she was, but Samantha was one and a half times his size.
Howard was primarily composed of earth tones with a mostly brown body, sandy coloured claws, and black horns that jutted out from his head at random angles. Except for his pink underbelly and neck, which gave him a bit of an odd look. His snout was shorter than most dragons, a small hard triangle dipping over the front making his mouth almost beak like. He ought to have an impressive bite strength that would crush or cut clean through whatever he got his jaws around.
Most interestingly was the unusually thick scale plating along his back and wings. Sam questioned how useful it would be when he lacked the bulk to truly be a defensive juggernaut and the back wasn’t where a dragon would typically be attacked anyways.
The queen kept her head lowered and prepared for retaliation as she waited for him to make the first move. A couple false charges and feints from Howard that he quickly backed off from when her talons and jaws moved to be at the ready. He continued to pace while he made the occasional uncommitted swipe to get a read on his opponent and look for an opening.
Finally he made his move; the brown coloured dragon crouched low and rammed into her with a shoulder charge in an attempt to knock her off balance. Her legs nearly buckled with her opponent throwing his weight at her, but his estimations were off. Sam managed to maintain her footing and all she had to do was fall forward to pin Howard beneath her, her forelimbs trembling slightly as she pushed down on his back. He couldn’t keep standing with Sam’s full weight bearing down on him and he resisted with a grunt of exertion before his legs gave out and he was forced to the floor with his limbs splayed out uselessly.
As expected, her claws slid harmlessly off his thick back plating and she doubted her teeth would fare much better. But despite the protection from flames their scales offered, they couldn’t withstand another dragon’s breath at point blank range. The sheer concentration of hot fire prevented them from expelling enough heat to protect the flesh underneath from serious damage.
Sam felt disappointed the fight would be over so quickly. She expected more from such a firebrand beating down the warpath. Oh well.
The draconic queen breathed searing blue flames that poured over his back and wings, the residual heat spilling off her vanquished foe warming her own face considerably. Sam kept the stream of fire going for as long as she could ignore the arid smoke burning her lungs, keeping the flamethrower trained on the smaller upstart until the constrictions in her chest forced her to trail off into sputtering coughs between heaving breaths.
Howard looked none the worse for wear as the scales on his back rapidly cooled off. The plating might offer more protection from fire than the average dragon would possess. How interesting…
Her musing was interrupted by a jaw snapping around her ankle, the sharp teeth cutting through her scales and clamping down harder with a strength that would bite it clean off if she didn’t release the dragon pinned beneath her. She scrambled over his back and leapt a distance away, Howard immediately attacking with his own flaming breath now that he knew she couldn’t breathe fire for very long.
Good thing she didn’t have to. Sam spat a single fireball as wide as she could make it and ran straight towards the inferno, counting on the collision of red and blue to hide what she was doing. Howard continued spewing fire into empty space after the blue flames dissipated before he paused, looking around in confusion with no clue where his foe had disappeared to. He did not notice the now human Sam that had ducked underneath him, neither did he hear the deep, steadying breaths taken as quietly as possible in preparation for what was about to happen next.
The scaled body of the draconic queen erupted from beneath him and Howard was helplessly carried upwards as the ghostly blue dragon flew towards the ceiling with as much force as she could muster. Masonry cracked apart from the force of the rhyming beast that was smashed against one of the arches of the vaulted ceiling. A breathless sound of pain was wheezed out while tiny bits of rubble rained down. Howard kicked, and clawed, and beat his wings furiously to escape the pin, Sam acquiescing with how loose of a hold it was and she ducked away from uncoordinated limbs battering her head. He dived before unfurling his wings and making a circle of the golden throne room, the massive chandelier swaying dangerously as he flew past it.
Sam’s wings were beginning to feel like lead and no longer wished to respond to her inputs, beating out of sync or nearly folding, and she landed somewhat clumsily back on the floor. This was taking more out of her than she thought.
Howard remained airborne, knowing he had another advantage against the sickly queen. He wisely kept far overhead as he breathed streams of fire, forcing Sam to run or choke out more of her blue flames to combat it. Stinging burns started to accumulate under her scales from geysers she couldn’t avoid. Her foe dived down to harass then hover annoyingly just out of reach before she could retaliate, while her attempts at an aerial pursuit tired her too quickly and forced her to land.
“Turning this into a battle of attrition, I see. Good call when fighting an opponent with less endurance than you,” she conceded through heavy pants. “But do you really think you can afford to draw this out? The castle’s guards have no doubt heard the commotion by now.”
He clearly hadn’t thought of that. A direct battle against several knights with their swords drawn would be dangerous; his survival was unlikely if any of them had a crossbow. Facing an entire castle’s garrison would be certain death and Howard faltered mid flight.
That was all that Sam needed to take back control of the battle. She leapt with the aid of a single flap of her wings and shot towards Howard, arrow like, to tackle him out of the air and drag him down to the floor with her. They descended into a ball of flashing claws and teeth where she could leverage her greater size to her advantage.
The strength in their limbs was about even, but Sam had more mass to put behind her grappling and she relished the ease with which she manhandled the other dragon. Howard swiped defensively and threateningly kept his jaws opened wide to bite at anything that looked ready to inflict deadly wounds. His claws were nothing to scoff at, but years of use had inevitably blunted them while hers were still wickedly sharp. The only advantage he had was the danger his snapping jaws posed to her extremities and that was easily mitigated when each attempt was met with razor talons that slashed through scaled hide. Howard begrudgingly accepted he was outmatched in this contest and wriggled out from Sam’s grasp, slinking off to the side where his reptilian form was replaced by a human in patchwork leather clothes.
You’re not doing a very good job hiding.
He wasn’t trying to. She didn’t register the ‘Y’ shaped object in his hands before a fist sized stone struck her square in the eye. The queen shouted out in surprise and pain, reflexively squeezing her eye shut before something heavy rammed into her side from her newly created blind spot. The charge succeeded in flipping her onto her back and putting her on the defensive with her underbelly exposed.
Both slashed with talons at limbs and jaws that came near, the blue dragon desperately kicking with her hind legs to create some space. Howard painfully bit down on a forelimb that got too close to his mouth and Sam screamed. He eased up slightly, only to snap harder, his eyes narrowed in concentration as he tried to crunch through her arm. Sam steeled herself with an angry grunt that couldn’t hide the wavery note of pain, and Howard couldn’t react in time to the set of jaws that snaked out to clamp down on his throat.
The brown dragon dropped the arm he was chewing on and tried to back away with panicked movements, but Sam wouldn’t let go of his neck as she got to her feet. Bracing herself with legs set wide apart, she yanked her opponent this way and that as Howard snarled and the coppery taste of blood seeped through his scales. Sam bit harder and backed up with the other dragon’s throat still between her teeth, leaving Howard with no choice but to let himself be dragged around lest a fang tear something important.
A spout of flame spat out in frustration couldn’t be directed towards his attacker and Sam yanked on his neck again. Unable to pull himself free, he resorted to twisting his head at such an angle to jab her in the side of her face with his cluster of horns. Some poked into her gums, another threatened to stab her in the eye, and the smaller dragon pulled his head back for another attempt.
She finally released him and he immediately scurried away before turning back to her with his wings flared like a cornered animal trying to make itself look bigger. Blood dripped from his neck onto the carpet running down the centre of the hall as Howard remained crouched and wary, estimating how much damage he’d suffered. It wasn’t a lethal wound, neither was it intended to be, but a costly mistake nonetheless. One he couldn’t afford to make again.
Sam bared her red stained teeth and made a show of licking the blood off her snout while Howard seethed with resentment.
How invigorating!
This dragons’ grudge match was the most fun she’d had in a long time. A shame they were going to have to increase security afterwards, but it would be unwise to just let an angry reptile barge in whenever it pleased.
Howard took to the air again and peppered the battlefield with bursts of fire, resuming his prior hit and run tactics. Both of them heard the clattering of heavy armour and shuffling of boots from somewhere above and the brown coloured dragon looked unsure about his chances of success.
“There’s no shame in losing to a more powerful opponent,” The queen said simply. “You fought valiantly for what you believed was yours, as any proper dragon ought to.”
Sam made a point of keeping clear of the windows so as not to block off his escape route. She would be perfectly content letting him run off with his tail between his legs after showing him his place in the pecking order.
“Are you sure that you’re a proper drake with all the blood and tears you had to take?” he spat back.
“I’m enough of one to deal with the likes of you. And learn to take a compliment already,” Sam said as she rolled her eyes.
“It just leaves a taste in my mouth real sour, to be lectured by one with stolen valour. So do not try telling me what a dragon ought to be!”
Her husband may be baited with insults and do something foolish after flying into a rage, but she would not fall for such taunts.
“If you duelled me for the sake of your honour, rest assured that you have it. But Phillip was never going back with you.”
Something seemed to snap in Howard. With a guttural roar, he let loose a sweeping stream of fire across the room where most of the heat dissipated before ever reaching Sam. Again and again he spewed careless geysers of flaming breath with no purpose beyond venting pointless rage. He attacked furniture in his impotent wrath. Banners, curtains, and carpets were set ablaze, and screaming dragon fire left streaks of black char across golden ornamentation.
Now you’re just being a sore loser.
She waited for him to accept his loss while carefully sidestepping stray tongues of flame that drifted too close, unbothered by the rising temperature of the throne room. Another horizontal sweep of fire through the air and the sight of the raging dragon disappeared, Sam immediately noticing the tiny human form hiding on top of the chandelier.
Stalling for time would only benefit her, so she opted to play dumb and pretended to search the room. He must be acutely aware of the dozens of soldiers mere minutes away from their battlefield and that his audience with the queen was nearly over. Howard was running desperate, out of options, and Sam patrolled around her throne at a leisurely pace.
“I heard The Dragon that Rhymes was cunning for its age, and you did not disappoint.”
Dragons were mighty creatures with scales like tenfold armour, teeth as swords, and wings as hurricanes. But if a dragon is not mighty, then it ought to be cunning.
“Come back in several years and I might actually consider you a rival,” the queen drawled.
“Are you sure you’ll still be around?” A small voice called out from the central lighting fixture. “You might be dead, buried deep underground.”
She offered this upstart runt mercy, despite his intrusion and attempted burglary. Now he dared mock her!? With a furious roar that shook the walls and a single beat of her wings, she launched herself at the insolent brown speck that couldn’t admit defeat, jaws wide open.
A groan of metal and abrupt snap of chains brought the ornate rings crashing down, it’s plethora of candles flickering wildly as the chandelier struck Sam mid flight. The dragon was helplessly pinned beneath it while they both plummeted to the floor and painfully landed with a thunderous crash. Pain radiated from the harsh metal that dug into her armoured hide, the ringing in her ears and swimming vision making it nigh impossible to tell where her opponent had gone. The last thing she saw from beneath the wreck was a brown, scaled body charging deeper into the castle to the surprised shouts of soldiers.
She passed up the opportunity to leave the island with her monster fae partners in order to stay and try and help things, and she's done a lot of growing up! Formed a coven, did some trickery, face got melted a little bit.
previous:
💬 1 🔁 5 ❤️ 6 · Post by @oddityartz · 1 image · Jasper from the gothic iodm campaign, now at 50%!
wow its such a relief how her tf is over
and if your curious about if she'd <left>, well:
💬 2 🔁 7 ❤️ 9 · Post by @oddityartz · 1 image · <a cat> from the gothic iodm campaign, now at ????% not our jasper. the thing about being
Day 18: Hotel!
This is my PC for the Isle of Doctor Moreau tabletop game. I really recommend it I'm having tons of fun. An evil science island resort is kinda a hotel right
Jasper and Valerie from the gothic iodm campaign havin a moment away from their mutual fae benefactor to do normal* human* stuff. Gods most unbothered reanimated corpse and actuary stuck in a whimsical body who betrays her at every turn, what will they do. pet her fat tummy about it.
wow its such a relief how her tf is over already. she's a little freaky and the untethering from linear causality has been hard but she's a fun cat anthro and thats for sure the end of her change please dont look at the number shh
part 3 to :
💬 0 🔁 3 ❤️ 5 · Post by @oddityartz · 1 image · Jasper from the gothic iodm campaign - now at 25%! currently a catgirl, still a crony for t
