The dragons of my world were rare and magically inclined creatures, divided into families, with each having a unique magical ability. For instance, one family could breathe fire, another could trance anyone with a song, and yet another was able to manipulate water in various ways. Beyond that, the ability to fly was also a natural gift of magic each dragon enjoyed. To top it all off, every dragon could use their power to heal a wide range of wounds and sicknesses, both for themselves and others.
It was this healing ability that led my lord to capture a dragon and imprison it in his palace. He paid handsomely to have an enchanter make a steel collar for the beast. It rendered the wearer incapable of leaving a marked circular area on the floor without experiencing excruciating pain. The poor creature was in a prison with no bars or chains.
So was I, in a sense. I was a scholar, one of the few literate people in the palace. My duty was to read and respond to letters from businesses and other lordships and to record the narcissistic biographies of the court. I loved to read, but the availability of the written word was limited and I was not permitted to seek out more. I was also not permitted to seek out anything beyond the doors of the palace. I think the lord feared me to be a flight risk.
You could call me a hopeless romantic, with the hopeless part was painfully represented in my case. Most of the court believed in a hedonistic approach to love, always seeking out pleasure over other, deeper meanings. Not a single woman there had much in the line of self-control or subtlety.
Well enough of that, let's get back to the dragon. I wound up being the unofficial caretaker of the creature. It was hostile to most people and had to be forcefully restrained whenever the lord wanted somebody healed. I, on the other hand, tried to be courteous to the dragon and it wound up becoming friends with me. Over time, it grew... very friendly. Did I mention it was a female? At first I thought she just wanted company, but I was being naive.
I had once walked in on her when investigating strange cooing sounds coming from her room to find her rhythmically bouncing her lower body against the granite floor. When she saw me she jumped a little in surprise, and after a moment of confusion set her self down on what I briefly saw as a small shallow glimmering pool of liquid. She looked away from me with a sheepish frown. Unless her race's expressions were different from mine, I assumed she was showing embarrassment and shame for being caught pleasuring herself. There was also something in that look, a bit of a smile, that hinted she in fact wanted me to see.
This all began to get quite troubling for me. Most people at the palace were snooty, rich, self-absorbed... well, you probably understand the kind of people they were. The dragon was different as she was nice to me and grateful for my company. However, I was human and she was a dragon. The sexual undertones that grew in our relationship were causing me concern. Sometimes, usually late at night in my lonely bed, I would contemplate getting intimate with the creature, but quickly dismissed these bad thoughts. It was a shame because she was my only friend and the only person I felt any attraction to, despite our severe differences.
One person I certainly wasn't attracted to was the niece of the lord. She was beautiful, but only in her looks. The best way to describe her was that she was a... well, a bitch. She was rude, arrogant, liked to flaunt herself in front of men, drink in excess, and treat her underlings worse than anyone else. She was the antithesis of my romantic image of a woman. But, as with all people I met, I tried to be as courteous as I could stand to her. She returned the favor by not treating me quite as poorly as other people.
The lord's niece was also reckless. Riding horses in a dangerous and irresponsible manner was her favorite past time. How irresponsible you might ask? She usually declined the protection and modesty of underwear and usually wore short dresses, if anything at all. While others would hoot and cheer when she tore by I usually dropped my face into my hands and mumbled a few choice words.
All of this came together with a fateful incident. The niece had a devastating riding accident one day. From the looks of things she must have had an unexpected meeting with the ground, some nasty rocks, and possibly a tree or two. It was so bad that she had bones sticking out in quite a few places. A good deal of blood was escaping from her body.