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Into the fire
The Hoard

The Hoard

Renna had watched the sleeping beast all afternoon, eaten a lonely dinner and then gone to bed. But sleep was eluding her. She wanted to be near the beast. She got up, wrapped her blanket around her and walked out. The great cavern was cold, because the big iron doors were still open. Torches high on the balconies were going out one by one wrapping the cavern slowly in darkness. There was a red glow around the beast that had been hidden by the daylight from outside and torch light from above before.

She settled into one of the comfortable couches lining the great hall wall. She would be able to watch the beast from here. Soon she fell asleep.

She woke up shivering with the first morning light and felt watched. The dragon was awake, but had not moved at all. It was looking at her. Renna sat upright and tried to wrap the blanket tighter around her, but it wasn’t helping much. Dragon lifted up its giant head and sniffed the air. Then he sniffed around his hoard occasionally digging into it with its snout. He seemed to be looking for something.

One of the fire ladies walked out from one of the many doors lining the great cavern with a tea tray. Hot tea was very inviting to Renna. She picked up the mug and let it warm first her hands and then took a sip. It was made of herbs and spices she did not recognize, but it was wonderful in banishing the cold.

The dragon seemed to have finally found what it had been looking for. Renna did not immediately see what it was because the beast was holding it in its mouth. Unexpectedly the beast extended its neck and dropped it in front of her feet.

Renna looked down on it while still holding her mug of tea. It was a golden bracelet, shaped like a curled up dragon, with rubies for eyes. It was the prettiest thing she had seen in her life. She still remembered the warning though and was hesitant to pick it up.

“Do you want me to look at this?” She asked the beast.

The beast nodded and nudged it towards her with its nose.

“I guess it’s okay for me to look at it if you are giving it to me yourself,” she said.

She put away the tea cup and picked it up. Examining it closely only increased her awe. The dragon bracelet was exquisitely sculpted, every detail clearly visible. Renna suspected it would be worth a small kingdom down there in the world.

“It’s beautiful!” She whispered loudly.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

When she was done admiring it, she got up and took it back to the hoard. Dragon watched her. When she put it down, he picked it up again and folded its neck around her, almost wrapping himself around her and dropped it at her feet again.

“You want to give this to me?”, she asked.

Dragon nudged the bracelet closer to her again. She felt that refusing the gift would have offended the beast, so she picked it up and slipped it on her arm. It was easily big enough to slip over her hand but then the bracelet dragon seemed to curl up a little tighter and the bracelet was irremovable on her wrist. It was quite clearly magical too.

Renna eyed her now permanently decorated wrist and wondered what this gift meant for the beast… And if she maybe had promised a bit more to it by accepting it than she had intended to. It was too late to start thinking about that now she felt and instead smiled at the beast.

She wanted to thank the beast. She stepped up to its huge head and gave it a hug.

“Thank you,” she whispered, “it's wonderful”

And then on a whim scratched the beast under its chin. The beast seemed to thoroughly enjoy the scratching. Renna laughed and started exploring various points that animals usually liked scratched. It seemed that the most pleasant spot was on its back at the root of one of its big back spikes. The great beast flopped over and leaned into her hand to get it scratched and its back leg started twitching in the rhythm of Renna’s ministrations. When she stopped he disappointedly nuzzled her hands and then went out to stretch its wings.

Renna went back in to get dressed. When she returned from her room the breakfast table was set again just for her. She sat down and ate, occasionally glancing at the dragon's gift on her wrist.

It was magical. And she felt now bound to the dragon in a way. She was quite sure that the dragon would never lash out at her, not even if she touched the hoard. But she felt equally certain that a door somewhere had closed for her by accepting this. There would be no escape. They were tied together no matter how this ended.

The dragon returned and went straight back to sleep soon after Renna had finished her breakfast. He woke up again late in the evening and saw Renna exit the human rooms wearing a blanket. An idea formed in its gigantic head. Again he nuzzled around in his pile of treasure until he found a big gilded carpet. He yanked it out from other golden items and laid it on top of the treasures next to himself. Then she nudged Renna over, inviting her to lay down next to him on top of the hoard.

Renna felt drawn to comply. She did not know why, but this beast's shape was comforting for her. She climbed up on the pile, leveled it out a bit under the carpet by trampling in circles as it had before laying down and curling her back against the hot glowing side of the dragon she laid down next to him. The dragon curled up around her the same way the bracelet had curled up around her arm.

Sleep seemed to come easily to her on this pile of gold, with back against the hot dragon. Before sleep took her away, a peculiar thought occurred to Renna - “I am now a part of its hoard!” It should have been a scary thought… but it was not. Dragon protects its hoard. She would be safe.