“This is surely just a terrible misunderstanding” The man claimed as his eyes nervously darted from side to side, seeking an escape route among the mounds of glittering gems and golden coins. The boy wore long leather pants and a thick coat more suited for cold climates than the warmth of the massive cave, and was fitted with a hood that currently hid his face as he struggled to free himself. Not that it would have changed anything even with a way out, as the boy was dangling at almost ten meters from the ground because his outfit was currently held between an oversized and scaly thumb and index finger with ease.
“A misunderstanding, hmm?” The second voice belonged to a massive blue scaled dragoness stretched lazily on her back above a bed of priceless treasures and gazing with something akin to amusement at the frantic human in her grasp, before bringing him right before her massive snout to lift him to eye level, ignoring the faint whimpering noises that the intruder started to give off after she delicately removed his hood.
“So let’s see if I have understood correctly… You were hunting in the cold outside to feed your poor and underfed family in this hard winter, when a snowstorm unexpectedly caught up to you and with luck you were able to discover a cave nearby, then proceeded to investigate it with nothing better to do rather than wait, and discovered a veritable fortune in the back, unguarded and unattended”
“Exactly! And this situation would not have happened if I had not been subjected to a nasty falls…”
“Yes, of course, a nasty falls that made you land on a particularly precious mound filled with cut gemstones, and in a sudden stroke of misfortune many of those fell inside your open bag, or clung to your clothes without your knowledge”
“C-Clung to my clothes? What do you mean?” The dragoness smiled at the worried man before starting to lightly shake him, and was rewarded by a smattering of little gems falling on her belly and bouncing off to rejoin her hoard.
“Those jewels were far smaller than the ones in your bag” The massive dragon grinned at his chagrined expression “No wonder you missed them when they fell into your pocket, everyone could make this oversight in the same situation. So do you really not desire even a coin of my hoard?”
“Who, me? No, of course” The would be thief gesticulated wildly to assuage her suspicions, and started to sweat slightly when she grinned mischievously and snorted a wisp of smoke that covered his entire frame and got him into a coughing fit.
“Cough- Cough, really, I just wanted to scout this place, maybe find an ancient ruin or a place for a new shelter, with no reason to believe a majestic dragon like yourself already claimed this place for herself” A pair of clawed feet ruptured thought his shoes and started to grow a noticeable layer of green scales, that unnoticed spread to the rest of his body.
“Oh, and how is that working for you?”
“Ah, I met the most stunning and majestic dragoness I ever met? A merciful and understanding landlady that would let a lowly and common hunter like myself return home to spread rumors of her magnificence?” A pair of short brown horns appeared between his hair and continued to grow by the minute, all under the watchful gaze of the giant reptile, as the dragoness breathed softly a fine mist mixed with ash and intention that swirled unnaturally around the hunter, and changed the man’s very nature without his knowledge, too focused on finding a way to leave with no harm.
“That you did, that you did… But not the most beautiful in the world? Continue, what else?” The would be thief started to scratch absentmindedly a new patch of scales that grew on an exposed part of his belly as he tried to express better the admiration for the master of the cave.
“I didn’t mention that you were the most beautiful in the world? Oh, well, a slip of the tongue, I’m sure” His tailbone extended to form a sinuous tail crested by brown bulges, as simultaneously his face was pushed out and morphed into a fang filled snout. The man went cross-eyed as a green muzzle entered his field of vision, but schooled quickly his panic.
“That’s a bit better I suppose… So do you like my gift to you?” The unnamed dragoness swatted playfully his tail with hers when he made no move to respond, too focused on moving experimentally his new paws “Life here is a bit boring and a servant is always welcome, you love so much my appearance that sending you away would be a waste, so I decided to keep you with me as a minion. This is not free, all this gold must be cared for and a lady such as myself is not suitable for such a loutish work. And who knows” The blue dragoness grinned mischievously at the confused thief, now finishing the changes and resembling a little upright lizardman compared to the matriarch before him “If you do a proper job in a century or two and you grow up a bit I could be tempted to offer you a way to service me in a more… meaningful way, shall we say. In the meantime, those piles of golds will not clean on their own, and the jewels you took do not shine in a suitable manner. Serve me and a little portion of this treasures could be yours someday…” Here the matriarch lifted herself from her almost lazy position to loom over the newly transformed whelp with a frown “Unless my suspicion was true, and you are no more than a little thieving scoundrel, in which case there is always time to change you further, in this frozen climate a shortage of meat is not unusual and there is always room for a quick snack. I am very fond of lamb myself…”
"No more words to say?" The giant mistress of the hoard asked amusedly as a terrified squeak was the only answer she received.