Escape Plan

[WP] You are a young rebellious teenage dragon, and you’re absolutely sick of being told to act and behave like a proper dragon. So one day, when your parent/sibling/whatever comes back with a kidnapped princess, you decide to… intervene. from WritingPrompts

“Your father brought you a princess, and you’re going to appreciate it. Go to your hoard, shift your scaly butt out of that stupid human form, and wait for her rescuers,” his mom said. Her large silver wings flapped at Victor’s short, bearded body. The resulting gust of wind blew his green feathered cap off. Victor knew better than to argue with his mother. He turned and walked away, stopping to bend over for his cap. He made a show of letting his bronze tail appear, to make her think he was turning back into a dragon. But, it disappeared again the moment he was out of sight, and he stayed human.

Victor moped through the giant castle towards his hoard in the north tower. He could have flown up to the top of the tower, but the walk gave him more time to be miserable. He reached his room, opened the door, and sighed.  A beautiful, unconscious, young woman occupied his bed. He grumbled to himself and walked to the beanbag chair filled with golden coins, his “hoard”.

“..don’t wanna eat knights..,” he mumbled to himself while he pulled out a loaf of bread he stole the day before. He glared at the woman while spite-chewing the stale bread. “…’at’s my bed,” he complained.  He made it halfway through the loaf before he heard her stir on the bed. He swallowed and rolled his eyes. “Here we go,” he whined. The woman bolted upright in bed and her gaze darted around the room in a panic.

“DRAGON!” she yelled. Her breath sounded heavy, but she calmed down when she saw a short, young, bearded man sitting on a black leather bag. He gave her a half wave with one hand and offered a half-eaten loaf with his other. “Dragon?” she asked. Victor shrugged and nodded. She tried to scoot off the bed in the opposite direction but rolled off the bed. She landed on the stone floor with a thud. Victor stood.

“Are you okay?” he asked. He raised his voice, but only to ensure the question reached her. He hoped to avoid scaring her more. She came into few again as she pulled herself up against the far wall. She tried to press herself through the wall and kept her eyes on Victor.

“What do you want?” she asked. She kept her back against the wall and spread both arms out to feel her way to some sort of exit. Victor let himself fall into his chair again.

“Nothing,” Victor took another bite of bread. Her eyes narrowed, but he noticed she relaxed somewhat.

“Why am I here?” Victor sighed, bread crumbs flew out of his mouth. He gulped down the wad of bread to answer.

“Bait, mostly. Maybe dessert.” Her eyes widened again.

“You said you didn’t want anything!” she shouted. Victor smirked.

“You asked two separate questions. My dad brought here as bait, but I don’t care if you leave,” he used his thumb to point to a large open window next to him.

“I can leave? Just like that?” she asked and inched her way towards the window, still pressed against the wall. Victor nodded.

“The sooner the better. Once your rescue party gets here my dad’ll finish them off even if I don’t.” The princess edged closer to the window, and she noticed Victor had not moved an inch to stop her.    The fingers of her left hand reached the open window and she rushed to look out, ready to jump. But she stopped and stepped back.

“That’s too far for me,” she said. “You knew that,” she realized she turned her back on him and whipped around expecting to see him sneaking up on her. He remained seated, but chuckled.

“Yeah. But it’s the only way out.” The princess glanced at the heavy wooden door that led to the stairs.

“What about the door?” Victor shrugged.

“Try it.” The princess began to shuffle to the door while keeping her eye on Victor, but she finally realized he was not going to hurt her. She willingly turned her back and dashed to the door. She opened and stepped out of the room. At the bottom of the tower, she saw a silver dragon waiting at the steps. She stepped quietly back into the room.

“That’s my mom,” Victor said.

“I just want to clear it up, for myself. You are a dragon, right?” the princess asked. Victor nodded. “But you don’t want to eat me.. or any of my knights?” Victor shook his head.

“No, humans are gross. Somehow they’re fatty and stringy all at the same time,” Victor shuddered as he fought back a wave of nausea. “I can’t deal with your texture.”

“Why are you in human form?”she stepped closer and asked.

“It’s comfortable. I hate walking around on my hands.”

“You don’t want to be here, do you?”

“No, but I’m a dragon, I’ve got nowhere else to go.” Victor sighed. “I can blend in with humans, but I don’t have any useful skills.”

“Useful skills? YOU’RE A DRAGON! Any kingdom would kill to have you on their side. You can fly out of here, right? Take my home and my father will make you a knight.” Victor perked up.

“Really? I can live with humans?” he asked.” The princess nodded. “I don’t want to be a knight though. I want to learn something else. Please?” The princess finally felt completely at ease, she smiled at the man.

“Sure, what do you want to learn?” Victor stood up and large bronze wings grew out of his back. He stepped towards the princess and wrapped his arms around her.

“You’ve got a royal baker, right?” The princess nodded.

“Of course, the best in the kingdom. Would you like to apprentice with him?” Victor nodded eagerly, then jumped out the window holding the princess.

“Yes please.”