About Last Knight...

I, on the other hand, seemed to be pretty much unfazed by anything. Although night was my favorite time, I did just as well in the daylight. I couldn't be poisoned...or stabbed easily, or even caught off guard. My senses were sharp as any creatures, my heart was cold and growing colder and my life was utterly empty. With, of course, the exception of all of the fabulous shiny things that I had accumulated over the years. And what good were they? Could they comfort me when I was sad? Keep me warm on cold nights? No...in truth they were really rather useless to me.

The terrible loneliness was beginning to play hell with my sanity. I longed to have a man's arms around me just once more...to have a man kiss me. What was it that Baldwyn had said?

In order for you to return to your former gloriously beautiful self, you must find a knight. Now, no ordinary knight will do. This knight must be willing to give his life for you...and he must prove it beyond a doubt. If you can find such a man, this spell will be broken, and you will return to the stunning beauty you once were.

Again, for what seemed like the millionth time, I cried. No knight would ever willingly offer to die for me. Iknewthat without a doubt. Eternal loneliness. And then, I wept black tears yet again. I was very near ready to give up all hope...completely.

Present day....

Gabriel stood silently watching the dragon. What happened next was even more baffling. She sat back on her haunches regarding him a moment longer, then seemed to make an important decision. She lay flat down, stretching her neck across the cave floor before me.

"What are you up to Dragon? What trickery is this?" He asked, more than a little confused. Was she giving up? Why? He looked into her eyes. They were green, emerald green. Quite unusual for a dragon to have green eyes. They normally are yellow or red...and on rare occasions, even black, but never green. And...was she batting those green eyes at him?

"I am making it easier for thee to slay me, my handsome one." She said quietly.

"Dammit! Get up! Get up and fight like the beast that you are!" He demanded, though in truth, his heart was no longer in it. "And quit calling me handsome one!"

"Very well, as you wish." She said, "I shall stop calling you that, if you will stop calling me Dragon...my handsome one." She was now chuckling.

The knight could feel his face getting red with anger and then he burst out, "My patience is running thin, Dragon! You are more cantankerous than any cold-hearted woman I have ever met!" She certainly took note of his last comment. She looked up at him from the floor of the cave...dare he say it? Hopefully? Another trick? He somehow doubted it this time.

Then, a slow, toothy grin spread across her face as she spoke next. "My name is Arian."

The dragon slayer slowly lowered his sword and stared at her. "I beg your pardon?" He asked.

"Arian. My name is Arian." She told him again. He watched her closely, but held his sword loosely, its tip resting on the ground. He was starting to see this dragon in a completely new light.

"And I am Gabriel, from the South of Colchester." He answered, still being cautious.

"Well now, that was not so hard, was it? But shouldn't that be Sir Gabriel?" She asked him, still grinning from ear to ear.

Gabriel relaxed a little bit, and a smirk spreading across his lips. He chuckled softly and then said, "Well, Dragon, you got me there. Yes, you are indeed correct." Her grin vanished when he called her Dragon again, especially after being properly introduced. Then he said, "I must ask you to excuse my poor manners...my apologies. I meant Arian." She stared at him. His thoughts started running wild. He was becoming hopelessly confused. He needed to get out of here. Perhaps go somewhere, where there were no dragons, retire from any kind of job that required fighting...in any form. Maybe then, he could find a woman willing to share her life with him...maybe...but with his luck, maybe not.

Gabriel turned his attention back to Arian. He could no longer think of her as just a dragon. It was to him, as if her personality showed a few human-like qualities. Did she feel human-like emotions as well? Did she know what it was like to feel anger? Happiness? Could she feel sadness? Fear? Did she know loneliness...heartbreak? It was then, at that moment that he made a decision of his own. Maybe this dragon needed to die. Maybe she didn't. But, if she were to die, it would not be by his hand.

He dropped to one knee and stared back at her. Then he hung his head and whispered, "I have no desire to kill another of your kind. It does no good. There will always be more. I must confess that my days of dragon slaying are fast coming to an end." He did not know what else to say without sounding completely mad.

"You have no choice, Gabriel. That mob outside is not going to let you come out empty handed, are they?" She told him, seemingly becoming alarmed. "They are not going to leave till the job is done this time."

"I know...I know that." He sighed. He looked at her again, but differently than before. "You know, it's strange," he began, "You don't act like a normal dragon." It seemed to him that she might be more concerned with his safety than her own.

'Ha! You do not need to tell me that, Gabriel." She countered, as she stretched out again. He sat down on the floor, with his back against the wall and his sword at his side, and stared at her. They spent the rest of the afternoon just watching each other, discussing inconsequentials.

The day came to a close, with Arian and him trying to formulate a plan. She yawned and started to close her eyes. "Wake me up, if you should come up with a brilliant idea, Okay?" She said to him as she seemingly started to drift off to sleep. He too slept, feeling strangely safe with this dragon lying next to him. That night was filled with the usual fitful sleep he normally had, mixed in with dreams of his past...lost loves.

Gabriel awoke in the morning and simply gazed at Arian, saying nothing. A short time later, she also awoke. "What? Haven't you ever heard a dragon snore before?" She asked him, raising her eyebrow. He grinned. And she did as well. It became obvious to him that she liked to be smiled at.

He was about to tell her that she actually was not snoring, when with little warning the chamber started to fill with a mob! It was the villagers who had been waiting outside. Apparently, they thought they were coming to the knight's rescue. Their interruption did not please him in the least. They wielded pitchforks, spears, rocks, and a few swords, ready to do some serious damage. One had a bow with a quiver full of nasty looking arrows.

Arian was also apparently irritated with the fact that they had cut in on their conversation and let them know without hesitation. She roared and blew a stream of fire their direction that managed to light a few stragglers up, but missing the majority of the mob, that retreated back the way that they had came. He took a step back, not in their direction, but in hers. Be he right...or wrong, it was time to take a stand.

Then they reappeared, some still smoldering from the last go around, they were definitely not happy with Arian. Before she could dodge it, the bowman in front shot a rather large arrow at her, striking her right in the neck. The pain must have been excruciating. The wound was in the area of the main artery in her throat. Blood spurted from Arian where the arrow had struck her. The mob began cheering. Arian groaned and then fell into a huge pool of her own blood. The bowman made ready to take another shot at her. This time he was aiming at the soft spot on the chest where her heart was. Gabriel saw her closing her eyes. He knew she did not wish to see her death coming at her. The man drew the arrow back.

Then, his mind screamed at him.No! Not like this!He had, in some strange way, unintentionally established a rapport with this dragon...perhaps even a friendship of sorts. He could not just let her die. Not like this...not alone, surrounded by only enemies. He leapt between the arrow as it was released and Arian, even before he knew what he was doing.

The arrow struck him fully in the center of his chest. He grunted as the force of that arrow took him off his feet and he fell. He landed in the pool of Arian's blood. He was about to apologize for his failure, because nothing could stop the mob now, when her eyes opened. For the briefest moment, she seemed dumbfounded. This well-known dragon slayer had risked everything. That he had lain down his life in a fruitless attempt to save her life must have been beyond her comprehension. The villagers were closing in to finish her off. Then, as if drawing on some unknown reserve of strength, she blew out a final stream of fire. This caught the mob totally unprepared. There were short yelps and cut-off screams as all of them, every last one, was burnt to a crisp in but just a few short seconds.

Then the cave went silent for the most part. All he could hear was the crackling of fire as the remains of the villagers burned, Arian's uneven breathing and his own labored breaths. He knew without a doubt, without even looking that his wound was mortal. He could literally feel his heart tearing itself apart against the arrowhead that had penetrated it. But strangely, it no longer hurt. There were no more 'what-ifs' for him...no one to love...ever again. At least the loneliness and emptiness would end. He smiled up at Arian. She looked at him and then inexplicably began weeping.

"Do not cry for me, friend. There is a bright side to this. I am, at least, lucky enough to die in such good company." He lay back and relaxed as best he could. He did not have strength remaining, required to speak anymore. Nothing to do, but wait for the end.

Arian began wailing like a human woman for a lost lover. Perhaps she also saw him as a friend? If so, he was lucky. One does hate to die alone without at least one friend near by.

She cried out, although whom she might be talking to, he had no idea. "This wasn't how this was supposed to end. He saved me. He saved my life. He that came here to slay me. Now, here he is, dying, and I remain a dragon." She took a breath and went on, though her voice was getting weaker. "That spell was all a hoax; that bastard never had any intentions of me returning to what I once was. And now I too, am dying. For the first time, I have come to hate myself. At the end of my life, I lay here feeling sorry for myself, but so much sorrier for Gabriel, who didn't deserve any of this." She became silent and her breathing slowed...as did his. The end was mere seconds away. Then a strange wind started to blow there inside the cave. A wind like no other he ever experienced. He looked at Arian one more time before the blackness took him away....

Gabriel awoke. Oddly, there was no pain. Was this death? No, it couldn't be. He was still in the cave...the dragon's lair. His heart beat normally. His breathing was normal as well. He sat bolt up right, tore away his tunic, pulled his chain mail off and ripped open the undershirt. The wound was gone...as if it had never been. He leapt to his feet. He was uninjured! The dragon, Arian was gone. All the blood was also gone.

Lying on the cave floor, just a few feet away was an auburn-haired woman. He went to her and gently rolled her to her back. She wore a purple dress that had been ripped to shreds. He put his torn undershirt back on, then walked over to a large pile of rags that almost surely served as a bed for the she-dragon. He found a mostly undamaged blanket and returned to the unconscious woman, wrapping it about her to protect her modesty.

Next, he carefully pushed up on one of the girl's eyelids and then the other. Her eyes were green...a beautiful emerald green.

Wait! The dragon had emerald green eyes. The dragon's scales were identical in color to the tattered dress this woman wore. Could it be? What sorcery was this? The dragon was here...now it's gone...and the woman is now here. The knight was completely stupefied! Could this woman be Arian? Shehadto be. But how, he had no way of knowing. He sat next to her and took her hand in his. "Arian?"

Nothing at first.... "Arian?"

Then her eyes fluttered open and she looked at him. "What? Haven't you ever heard a dragon snore before?" The voice! It was her...it was Arian! He said nothing, not knowing what to say to her. "What are you staring at?" He must have been gawking at her. She snatched her hand from his and punched him in the chest. She froze...dumbfounded. She looked at her hand. "My hand! Oh my God!" She squealed. "Do you see that?" She asked me.

"I see it. I'm not sure I believe it, but I do see it." He answered, clearly confused at what had just taken place. He looked at her, not sure what to say.

"You did it. You broke the curse. You have changed me back, Gabriel!" She said, smiling. Then she kissed him, mostly out of gratitude, he guessed...then it changed, became more urgent. She broke the kiss and looked deep into his eyes. Passion burned in hers. "Be careful, sir knight, I've not been with a man in over three hundred years." She put both arms about his neck and kissed him again, then let one hand slip inside his torn undershirt. "You know, it's funny." She said. "I used to dream about the day that I would be turned back. I just knew that the first thing to cross my lips would be a glass of wine...." As her fumbled, untying the string of his trousers. "...or maybe a nice apple or some grapes." She kissed him, reaching inside and then finding what she sought and easing it out. "Never in three hundred years did I think it would be a man's lips...." She kissed him again and then looked down at what she held in her soft hand. "...or his...uh...." She grinned wickedly as she bent down and took him into her mouth.

The rest, gentle readers, is another story.

Author's Notes:

Now...for those of you who might be overly concerned about historical accuracy.... I know...coffee did not come to Europe until around 1616 and not to England before 1650. This is only a story. So, just go with it, okay?

Edited by DragonSlayer_OK