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Cináed lifted his large head from his nest, sniffing the cool autumn air. He thought he smelled human, but perhaps he was catching the scent from the village down below. Every once in a while a human child wandered too far away from the village and got lost in the woods. Huffing, he lay back down, enjoying the last rays of sunlight warming his ruby red scales. He would deal with the human child later.
Elric approached the top of the hill cautiously. As the youngest knight, and the most expendable, he was sent to slay the dragon that lived above their village and ate all of their livestock. No one truly believeCináedd that he’d make it back alive, but since his parents were killed in the last raid, there was no one to protest his mission. He was the sacrificial lamb, being sent to the dragon’s den for slaughter.
He curled up in his nest, wrapping his long tail around his body and tucked the tip under his nose, not unlike a cat would, although Cináed ate people for sins less offensive than comparing him to a cat. Squinting open one golden eye, Cináed peered at the setting sun. Not long now.
His whole body trembled with nerves. Elric’s shaggy dark hair stuck to his sweaty forehead and his hands shook so badly he could barely cling to his father’s old sword. He could hear the dragon’s rumbling snores. At least it was sleeping. Thank goodness for small mercies.
As Cináed rested, his mind drifted, reflecting on simpler times. Times before the humans came and began wiping out his kind. When the land was lush and green and the deer were plump and delicious. Now, humans entered the dragon’s land, built their ugly towers, and ate his food. The humans, with their filthy magic and their pointy swords, murdered his thunder, and cursed him for life.
Elric thought of the knights that remained in the village below. They laughed at him when their Prince demanded Elric be the one to kill the dragon. Elric’s father had been the one whose mistake had led to their village being raided. The same raid that had killed both Elric’s family and the King. The young Prince, too young to replace his father at the throne, but old enough to have his mother, the Queen’s, ear. Old enough to demand that Elric go on this raid alone. Old enough to understand that he was sentencing the knight to death. But young enough still to not care.
He shuddered, scales crawling at the memory of that fateful night. The night that the young witch decided that dragons needed to know what it felt like to be human.
He wiped away a stray tear. He could see the dragon now, caught the scales reflecting in the last rays of sunlight before day turned to night.
Cináed let out a huff of smoke. Blasted witch. He’d still been a young dragon, he hadn’t meant to burn down that village and piss off the witches. He was still learning to control his fire and it had been an accident.
He froze at the sight of smoke exiting the dragon’s nostrils, not daring to breathe and hoping that his bladder would hold. Body taught with fear, Elric readjusted his grip on his sword, hoping it wouldn’t slip out of his sweaty grip.
Cináed nestled deeper into his nest, ignoring the putrid scent of fearful human. It was close, he could tell, but the closer he got to nightfall the more his keen dragon senses failed him, replaced with the pathetic nose of a human.
Elric thanked every God he could think of. It appeared that the dragon was still asleep. They were notoriously dumb creatures, so the fables go, ruled by fire and instinct. If it had heard or smelled him, he would already be dead by now. Perhaps he had a chance of making it out alive after all.
Cináed dreaded the night and the loss of sunlight warming his scales. The sun kept him fierce and powerful. The night made him puny and weak.
Elric slowly approached the creature, coming to rest in front of its giant head. Gathering all his courage, Elric raised his sword above his head with both hands.
The dragon could feel the ache in his bones, body rippling from the inside out, telling him that it was time.
The dragon shifted, body writhing before him. Perhaps this dragon was sick?
His bones shifted and popped, his body consumed by fire.
With a strangled yell, Elric plunged the sword downward, aiming for the dragon’s head...
Smoke poured out of his nose, and fire raged in his body. Then, with an audible puff it was over.
...and fell backward with a horrified gasp. His sword clattered to the ground.
Cináed looked up with squinty, human eyes. There was a pale and sweaty man before him.
W-what? H-how? Cináed could have sworn there was a large ruby red dragon in front of him not moments ago, and now there was a naked, shivering man before him. How was this possible? Perhaps his ale had been left out too long and he was suffering its effects?
He took a tentative step forward on shaky human legs. It had been nearly a century since the witch cursed him to walk on two legs when the moon shone, but still Cináed was slow to adjust after the initial transformation. His body was much weaker in this form and he despised the vulnerability.
“What are you doing in my nest?” Cináed croaked, voice raspy and unused. He yearned for the ability to roar and breathe fire at this intruder.
“You- you can sp-speak?” Elric stuttered in disbelief. He began to wonder if he had tripped and knocked his head on his way up the hill. He hoped this was all a dream.
“Pathetic human, of course I speak.” The man - dragon? - scoffed. He stumbled, weak-legged, toward Elric, but tripped getting out of his nest. The man-dragon squeaked as he fell gracelessly on top of Elric, landing in a pile of awkward limbs.
The lean man was warm, too warm. Elric could feel the heat radiating off of the other man and sweat trickled off his own back in response to the sudden influx of warmth.
Disgusted with himself, Cináed tried to scramble up off of the other man but his trembling arms couldn’t keep him upright and he fell back into the larger man with an oomph. Right now, he felt like the pathetic human. But this man was warm, under the hard armour, and soft in all the right places. Dragons were notorious for liking soft, comfortable places, and this human may just be as comfortable as his nest was. Perhaps he could get this human to sleep in the nest with him. It had been so long since Cináed had a Thunder to share his nest with.
So very long. Cináed wasn’t too proud to admit to himself that he was lonely.
Elric started as the dragon-man curled closer into him. Was he purring?!
“Um, excuse me Dragon -”
“Cináed.” The raspy voice purred as he snuggled closer. “You’re soft.”
“I’m not soft! I’m quite fit.” Elric worked hard for his athletic build. One certainly couldn’t become a night by lazing around and drinking ale all day.
“Soft. Warm.” The dragon - Cináed - grunted.
Elric was speechless. In what world would a dragon decide to cuddle with his prey instead of eat it? Even in human form, shouldn’t the dragon be trying to kill him?
“I don’t kill humans. Anymore.” Cináed responded to the human’s question. He looked startled, like he hadn’t realized he’d spoken out loud.
“Is it because you’re half human?”
Cináed growled as best he could with his human vocal cords, pulling away from the man’s warmth and baring his teeth.
“I am not half human. I am all dragon.”
“But you’re a human right now.”
Perhaps he shouldn’t have said that last bit, the dragon’s face was starting to turn red and his teeth looked sharper than the average human’s. But he was curious as to why this dragon vanished and turned into a human before his very eyes.
Cináed sighed and let himself fall back into the human. “I was cursed by a witch,” he stated glumly.
Cináed explained to the human what had happened when he was a young dragon, how he had accidentally set that village on fire when he was trying to learn control, and how the village witches blamed him and murdered his Thunder.
“They left me alive and cursed me as a punishment.” Cináed said, “Said they felt like it was a greater punishment to leave me alive and alone than to take mercy on me and kill me like the rest of my family.”
“They cursed you to live the rest of your life alone, thinking that it was your fault that your Thunder died.” Elric murmured, his heart breaking for the dragon that was sniffling into his chest.
“It was my fault!”
“You were young, and you were only just learning. It was a mistake. I made plenty of mistakes when I was learning how to be a knight. Swung too hard once and the sword flew right out of my hands and through the neighbour’s window. Landed in her stew, it did. She came out screaming about foolish little boys.” Elric chuckled at the memory now, but at the time he had been but ten years old and the old lady terrified him so badly that he’d wet his slacks.
“Point is, you didn’t mean to hurt anyone, and those witches didn’t need to kill your family to take revenge. They went too far.”
Cináed pondered the man beneath him. His chest felt warmer than it ever had before, lighter. Was it from the extra heat that he was radiating? That didn’t feel right. He thought perhaps that the man’s words had warmed him. How curious. Cináed purred unconsciously and snuggled in closer to the man, wrapping his awkward human limbs around the unnamed human and tucking his head into the man’s neck, only to be met with hard, cold metal.
“Take this off.” Cináed demanded, tapping at his helmet.
Without thinking, Elric complied, and awkwardly shrugged his gloves off as well. He couldn’t do much about his body armour with the dragon wrapped around him as he was.
When the Prince sent him to slay the dragon Elric never thought that this would be his fate. He was a bit concerned that the dragon may still decide to eat him once he returned to his magical form, but that concern faded more and more and the dragon sleepily nestled closer into him. Who knew that dragons could be so cat-like? Elric knew better than to say that last bit out loud.
Elric lay back into the dirt, ready to accept his fate as the dragon’s toy, but was met with hard rocks pressing into his skull. He hadn’t felt them before due to his helm, but now that it was off he was mighty uncomfortable. His left leg was beginning to fall asleep as well. Elric shifted, trying to find a comfortable resting spot.
“Stop moving, human” Cináed grumbled. His human - and since when was this man his human? - kept moving about and was making it difficult to sleep.
“Sorry,” he apologized. “I can’t get comfortable with all of the rocks and branches I’m laying on.”
“My nest is much softer and warmer.” Cináed said unthinkingly. Twitching, Cináed realized that he practically offered up his nest to this human. He hadn’t shared his nest in so very long, was he truly about to ask the human to share it with him? Cináed pondered this, peering up at the human’s open face. Despite the sword and the man’s clear intentions to kill him, he didn’t think that the man was going to harm him now. If he had wanted to, Cináed would be dead by now, his weak human form unable to defend himself. Perhaps… perhaps this man could share his nest. He was only human, but currently so was Cináed.
Cináed trembled, unsure of himself but quietly offered, “We could sleep in my nest if you’d like.”
The dragon was offering to share his nest? From what Elric knew of dragons, which admittedly wasn’t much, they only shared their nests with their closest family, their parents, children, siblings, and mates. Cináed had certainly never heard of a human sleeping in a dragon’s nest, certainly not while alive, at least. This must be a true honor.
“Okay,” Elric answered finally.
He felt apprehensive, as though by accepting he was agreeing to much more than simply sharing a nest for a few hours.
Cináed gleefully released his hold on the human, stumbling his way into the nest which seemed so much larger than it did when he was a dragon. He craned his neck around, checking to see if his human was following him, satisfied to see that he was.
He waited until the man climbed into the nest before grabbing him and maneuvering him into the perfect cuddling position. Cináed curled up beside the other man, throwing an arm and a leg around the light haired man’s midsection and tucking his head back into the curve of the man’s neck. If Cináed currently possessed his tail, he would have wrapped that around the man as well. For now, this would have to do.
Cináed continued to purr, pleased to be sharing his nest for the first time in centuries, not realizing until now just how much he had been yearning for companionship. This human would do nicely.
“Elric,” the man quietly said, “My name is Elric.”
Very nicely, indeed.