“Stop fooling around, wench,” Argus roared, though his voice was mostly muffled by the folds of Narina’s dress. “You may have made a mockery of those useless cretins, but it’s clear to me now that I should never have sent men to complete the task of a dragon. Come. We shall have our final battle, right here and now! FACE ME!”
“Oh, my. This… this is… it’s so beautiful and perfect. You’re as graceful an artist as you are a flyer. Argus… could you ever forgive me for those things I said to you just now?” Narina wept in joy.
Her ongoing tears, no longer borne of betrayal but rather relief, doubled in potency and volume. The girl’s saltwater began to collect in the cramped bowels of the ruined lair. Fingers aquiver, she reached inside and plucked the painting off the cave wall, holding it up to her bawling blue eyes for closer inspection. With her opposite hand, she lifted Argus up toward her shoulder, and nuzzled him hard into swirling tufts of silky golden hair. Even here, the dragon could not wriggle out from under the girl’s insistently huggable palm.
“I can’t believe I was ever so foolish to believe you didn’t care about me. But here is the proof, right here in my hand,” the princess sighed. She sniffled, and started to laugh. Her lilting giggles pierced the morning tranquility again, and seemed to lighten the once-dreary landscape yet further.
With a tremendous growl, Argus threw all his strength into an escape thrust. At the same time, Narina chose to let go of the dragon, as she just had to lovingly run her fingers over the intricate detail of the painting. When this happened, and the girl’s palm lifted off in one simple sweep, the dragon’s trajectory sent him hurtling much further than he intended. The humiliated Argus tumbled down one of the smaller mountains, before regaining control of his battered wings and taking flight again in a cloud of ash. Immediately he put distance between himself and the princess, and started laying down a volley of suppressing fireballs, per his earlier strategy.
None of these assaults affected the princess, though, and she reacted with the kind of snickering indifference she might have if a dog was licking her cheek for attention. Narina was far too focused on admiring the painting, wiping away the tears, and basking in the happiness of knowing that her best friend in the world truly did love her back. She choked back a sob, and at last looked up to watch her miniature friend orbiting around her head, his tiny wings flapping like a fairy’s. She simpered.
“My dear, sweet Argus. Oh, you wonderful precious angel. Please, I simply must make amends for having doubted your affections. Come back to me, so I may properly show you kindness that may in some small way repay the goodwill you have gifted me,” Narina begged. A weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She was more energetic than ever, and hiked up her skirts so as not to snag them on the crusty edges of curled mountains while hustling after Argus. “You may fly around as much as you like, but sooner or later, I will reclaim you, and I will give you so many hugs and kisses that you are finally convinced, once and for all, to live with me in the kingdom.”
If any of Narina’s unintentional battle cries at Argus had an effect, this was the most potent. The dragon seethed and spit flame at the very idea of succumbing to the girl’s whims for becoming her personal lapdragon. There was no longer respect in this world for monsters. Not when the tallest and strongest being on Earth was a gentle-souled dolt who wanted to cuddle everything in sight.
“NEVER!” he howled. The dragon ceased his circular attack pattern, as it did nothing anything, and charged straight for Narina through the air. With his wings folded back and his talons reared, Argus conjured a wreath of fire that bubbled around him in a dark magic shield. The princess didn’t even reach out to grab him, but merely smiled and raised a hand in front of her face as shade from the brightness of his flames.
When he reached the wall of her soft hand, the dragon wrenched every drop of fire from his belly and pelted it squarely at the doughy plain of Narina’s palm. In between bursts of flame, he uttered every last treacherous spell at his disposal, channeling his unbridled rage into bouts of blue and white fire he never dreamed he could conjure at once. The flames stormed from his body like a miniature star, piling directly upon Narina’s hand and coiling around her slender fingers. Argus continued this barrage until the very last dredge of flame, when all he had left was a whisper of smoke to steam from his nostrils.
The astronomic young woman combed a lock of hair out of her luminous eyes.
“Mmm, that was very toasty, puppy. Thank you,” the princess said, rubbing her hands together, so her opposite palm could share in the warmth too. “It reminds me of when the royal cooks used to let me roast hazelnuts over the palace fireplace. Such a lovely memory. Though nowhere near as cherished in my heart as the first time we played together, Argus. You must know that.”
“Why - won’t - you - just -” the dragon haltingly jeered. He couldn’t get the last word of the question out, though, as the princess’s elegant fingers had curled like a Venus flytrap around his body, clamping around his scaly ribcage, and drawing him back toward her. His head was awkwardly scrunched against the smooth slab of her palm, which balled into a partial fist around the upper half of his body.
Though Argus flailed his tail in all directions, just hoping to blindly hit something and render a single miniscule injury upon the regal girl, he felt the fingers of her other hand clapping together. She giggled, trying again and again to capture his unruly tail, until at last she cinched it tight between her thumb and forefinger.
Argus was ironically glad to have his head trapped in the warm darkness of the princess’s half-closed hand, as it meant he didn’t have to face the humiliation of actually seeing what he must’ve looked like now. All it took was one of Narina’s mellow hands to completely encompass his spiny head and neck, while his mighty tail was imprisoned by just two of her fingers. His thorax and haunches thrashed pitifully, at least as long as Argus was allowed, until he felt himself being smothered into the plush wall of Narina’s torso again. She hugged him into her stomach first, but rolled him up the slope, over the hill crest of her chest again, until the dragon was cuddled right into the crook of her neck, just below her chin. Her fingers shifted, releasing his head in favor of clutching the beast’s body. The princess was utterly unafraid to have the deadliest dragon in the land nestled right by her broad jugular.
“There, there, Argus. Come closer. Do you understand now? Don’t you see how much nicer it is to be sweet to others? I could use a personal advisor, after all, to help me decide what kind of new dress I should stitch, and what kind of crops to help the farmers sow. Don’t you wish it was like this all the time, waking up to watch the sunrise, then being nice and warm and safe in my hands all day long, until it’s time to snuggle up close for sleep?”
Years ago, or even as early as the last encounter, Argus would have leapt at this chance to attack. His teeth were within easy striking distance of a tender span of skin on the princess’s hardy albeit still-human body. Her soft neck. All he had to do was open his jaws and clamp his fangs into her flesh, small a wound though it would be in the scheme of her vast body. But perhaps this would weaken her, which would turn the tide of the battle, and grant him the hard-fought victory he’d always craved.
Yet something stopped Argus. Perhaps it was the crooning of Narina’s voice finally dulling his fury, whether he liked it or not. Perhaps it was the fact that he’d just unleashed the most powerful blast of hellfire any dragon in history had ever spat, only to find it did nothing more than warm the princess’s hands. Or perhaps it was the girl’s willingness to keep him near her neck, and her bold confidence that even if she gave him free reign to attack one of her most vulnerable “weak” spots, it would do nothing to harm her. The princess’s loving trust itself had broken his spirit at last. After all these years.
“Oh, please say it, Argus. Please say you’ll be mine?” Narina wheedled. She held her mouse-sized dragon up to her face and pouted her lips. Those blue irises begged behind the veil of remaining tears, but she didn’t blink, determined to requite her friend’s undying loyalty. “Please? Please, please, please, puppy? I’ll love you forever, and make sure you never feel lonely again!”
“FINE!” Argus croaked, defeated. He hung his limp head against Narina’s thumb. “If only it’ll end this torment…”
“Thank you, puppy! You won’t regret this, I promise. I will make you the most important royal pet in all the land. You will want for nothing, just so long as you don’t pretend like you want to escape ever again. Oh, this is so exciting! Think of all the FUN we’re going to have together, you and I!”
The princess’s joy was so palpable in her squeals and dancing body language, it seemed to spread across the land with legendary force wherever she stepped. She planted kiss after wet kiss on the defeated creature’s head. The pair spun in rapturous circles about the mountain range, with the princess holding her best friend by the wings like a puny dance partner, even as she alone guided their flight.
Freed of care or worry in her heart, Narina began the journey back home, with Argus tucked firmly under her arm. The dragon, resigned to his fate at long last, surrendered himself into the girl’s adoring palms.