[Kachi]: 373.'Drabble' Fiction.High Fantasy.Serpent

A short piece to warm up for National Novel Writing Month 2003; 316 words; one use of strong bad language.

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Serpent

Tip toe tip toe.

Must be quiet. Quietness was of the essence, he knew. One false move and he would be sans head, or any other limb that was accessible to the beast to his left.

Tip toe tip toe.

He wondered again why he was doing this. "For love" was all well and good for an excuse, but really, what was the point? A present for some girl who would probably never return his affections anyway?

It had seemed so simple when she told him.
"Bring me the green crystal from the dragon's cave. And then I'll go out with you." She'd said it with a smile.

And foolishly, he had agreed. It had seemed so, so simple at the time... To sneak into the sleeping serpent's cave and steal the crystal from under it's nose. But now he was wondering just what had possessed him.
He could see it in front of him, sat atop a pile of gold and assorted other riches that the dragon had hoarded. And he could see, from the corner of his eye, the huge beast beside him, snoring lightly. With every breath, a plume of smoke rose from it's nose.

At one point, it had sneezed a little, knocking him over with the force of the gust. He'd froze on the floor, panicking that the noise he'd made would wake it up. But it slumbered on.

He was now just a stretch away from the crystal... And the girl he loved. But... was it what he really wanted? The thought suddenly struck him.
She was selfish, cruel and brattish. He only admired her for her looks.

He sighed a little, looking again to the dragon at his side. "Fuck it." He turned and walked away.

The dragon opened one eye and considered the retreating back of the boy, and smiled in that way that only a dragon can.