A/N: I was tempted to write a manga-like story, but I couldn't think of what to write. Then I was telling my younger sister a good-night story and I had the idea of putting it online. I'll be putting the rather teenagery story up here, and keep the fairy tale one for on whether you want any ecchi content, or other manga stylistic tools. Also, all the characters are 18 or older.
Charlotte rode in with the peal of thunder in her ear and her brand-spanking-new coat gusting in the wind.
She skidded to a stop in front of the inn. The horse snorted as she leapt off and turned her stumble to hammer against the inn door.
'Let me in! Let me in! I come to kill the dragon!'
All roiled and ready she stood and waited…and waited…and waited. 'Till, finally, the innkeeper opened the door. Gravy stained his top, drool his chin, and sleep crusted his eyes. He blinked at her. She nodded at him and stood with her hands on her hips.
'I have come to slay your dragon'.
He stared at her a moment longer.
'Hey, you don't need to be afraid. I am here to help-'
'Saki', he roared at the top of his voice.
'Eh, thanks for the offer, but I don't drink before a job…'
Saki as it turned out was a gangly fellow of twenty five with sandy hair and sour pus. Both of them spoke in a fast language that she did not understand. It escalated and she tried to stop her shiver as they shouted. Saki looked at her and shook his head. The in- keep slammed the door in her face and she took a quick step to avoid a black eye.
What the fuck is up with these bumpkins? Their anger escalated and she wondered whether she's have to break them up. For god sake, she came to fight a dragon and save a princess, not end a domestic dispute.
Luckily, or unluckily, the door opened soon after. The son looked her up and down, 'You're welcome'.
'Thank you', she said.
They went into a rom warm with flame and thick with the scent of stew. They sat across from her and eyed her long enough to make her squirm.
'My father got good at bad English', the apparent son said, 'So, he sent me to guide you on this journey.'
The father nodded and clapped him on the back. The burst of language from the both of them was too quick to follow, but filled with pride on the father's point and embarrassment on the son's.
'He tells me to shout at you that I have good at good grasp of your language'.
'Okay…'.
'That…is good. I am better at hearing than shouting. So, help me unload this weight?'
'Finesht'.
'I do not understand this…Finisht?'
'It means…yes. You know?'
'Finisht. Today, this group of people called you here to put to put to rest the dragon and help the princess. Finisht?'
'Finisht?'
'They live at the top of that hill and the princess is guarded by the inner strength of that dragon. You must bring the princess back from that inner-strong dragon, without, most important, harming the hair on its head.'
'Right…don't harm the princess?'
'Finisht'
'What…yeah sure. Well, I'm off.'
'No! No!', he waved his arms and his father shook his head frantically, 'you must wait till light. You are not…muck?'
'Thanks', she clapped the son on the back and the chair creaked as he fell back into it, 'Don't worry your little head about it. You see, I am a mage!'
She flung back her awesome new coat and touched her sword. Her blonde hair sprang free and brought out the emerald of her eyes and showed the strength of her shoulders, 'And I will beat this dragon!'
Without another word she burst through the door and the rain slapped her face like rotten fish. The horse slipped beneath her. It shook its head as she urged it on. She would have this dragon beaten by the time it was morning. The hoofs met mud and churned it into nothing. But there was always more mud. They still and slowed until they slowly slipped back.
After an hour of this, she walked back into the inn. Mud covered her from head to heel. She wiped it out of her eyes and looked down her blouse with a grimace of disgust. A stew waited for her, and the father poured a scalding cup of tea into a cup for her.
She didn't say anything for a while, but ate her stew, 'You know, that rain gets into the damndest of places?'
He nodded, clapped her shoulder and spoke in that incoherent language.
'Damn right.', she saluted him over the steaming cup of tea.
In the morning she was fresh and ready to face this dragon. Her hair was combed, her blade was oiled, her mind rested and her belly full. Birds chirped as she left the inn. Early summer sun kissed her face. And an argument burst from that damn inn door.
The muck from yesterday had solidified and was warm and firm beneath her horse's feet. Chimney smoke was replaced by the scent of tree and animal. Trees multiplied as she travelled up and up, until at last, at the top of the hill, she ended up in a forest. Such a beautiful sound came from that foliage. The sharp sounds of a singing voice that caressed her ear and made her want more of it.
'Lad, looks like I'll have to leave', she patted the horse in the head and it tried to catch her sleeve in its teeth, 'Let go will ya.'
Trees blocked her horse's entry, but she heard it tear at the trees as she walked further into the forest. Silly horse, still doesn't know who it's master is. She had got in on her first job, and she had yet to train it to obey her.
That sound drew her on, the air grew thick and warm, and the shadows grew deeper. A soft stream intermingled under that voice and reflected light grew brighter as she stepped further into the forest.
The trees opened up in front of her and she found herself looking at the lake. Sunlight shattered the surface and the singing stilled as she stepped out of the trees.
'Hello, princess', she said but only the wind answered her, 'Princess I've come to save you'.
The ground sucked her boot into muck as she skirted the lake, 'Princess?'
'You have come for me'.
That sound came from the lake and she turned as a beautiful woman with blonde hair, pale skin, and a green dress stepped out of the surface of the water. Charlotte squinted as the light hit her eyes, but she raised a tentative arm, 'Howya, I'm here to take you out of this forest. Hurry up and we get you home'
'I am home', she stepped fully from that lake and the rock hard scales of her skin became apparent to Charlotte's eyes, 'and you will never leave this forest.'
'What I don't…oh the dragon was the princess! And the Princess was the dragon! What a misunderstanding'. She shook her head and laughed, 'Jesus, Adam will never…Oh shit.'
The dragon opened its mouth and showed a shining array of teeth, and raised her delicate hands to show sword length nails that hummed through the air. Those nails cut the air where Charlotte stood, before she rolled and ripped out her sword. She blocked the dragon's left strike, she blocked her right, but a kick sent the sword spinning out of her hand.
'Oh shit'.
She did what any mage with a brain would do. She ran for fuckin' life.
'Shit, shit, shit'. Anne almost tripped over a root and heard it snap beneath the dragons feet a second or two later. She had no weapons but her sword and if she stopped to try some magic she'd be dead before she finished it. What am I to do? What am I to do?
A sharp object caught her coat and she felt to the floor. It smacked the thoughts out of her and she could only groan as the dragon stepped towards her.
'Today mage is the day you die', she raised her nails and they caught the light all along their length.
Before the dragon could finish her strike, a familiar neigh came from behind her back.
'What are you-' a thud stopped her words in their tracks and a heavy weight stuck another groan out of Charlotte. The hard scales of the dragon cut into her, and with all strength she shoved her, surprisingly light, body off her.
'What in the world?' she stood up and looked eye to eye with her horse. She looked from its mucky hooves to the blow that had ripped half the dragon-princesses hair off her head, 'Um…thank you?'
Her horse snorted and shook its head. It showed her its rear as it made the trek back to where they had come from.
Guess I'll have to drag it by myself. She worried about the sharp stones on the way but when she bent down to grab the princesses' legs, she noticed that a long rip had thorn her brand spanking new stylish coat. After that, she worried no more.
Her trust steed waited for her, and she decided not to comment on the ripped out trees she saw on the way to it.
'I'm sorry, my father shouts he cannot pay you'
'What', she said and her horse spat, 'but we- I mean I, did what you asked.'
'No, you hurt a hair on her head'.
'That? For feck sake. She still has half a head left. Comb it over and it'll be grand'
He shook his head and stood as firm as his namesake.
'Lad, lets go', she grabbed the horse by the bit and swung on its back, 'You'll be hearin' from my guild!'
His father shook his head and spoke in a sorrowful tone, 'My father shouts you should act more like a lady.'
'What are you on about? I'll show you who's a lady', she said and tried to struggle past Lad. But before she could absolutely hammer them, her horse had pushed her past their sight and she lost the will to fight.
'Jesus Christ, you rid a town of a dragon and they worry over a few split hairs?'
Lad exhaled noncommittally.
'Exactly!'.