Now, Nicole (who quickly corrected her rescuers. Jen? Honestly) had been hoping she'd be able to quickly slit his throat and be done with it. Sadly, she hadn't quite reached the pen-knife on his desk before he dragged her back by the dress and nearly stripped it off her before she twisted free and gotten her hands on a chair, holding him back.
She reflected on these events as the wind blew into her face, clinging to the back of a ridiculously long, serpentile dragon who barely gave her a 'how do you do?' before his werewolf buddy chucked her unto his back. A pair of (admittedly adorable) kids had steadied her before she got swept off, and now she clung to his mane. Clearly powerful, instead of going around or through storms, storms parted for him... Nicole had heard of such dragons, mighty powers of the water, but had thought them confined to the Far East. Evidently not.
I have to admit, the duds are nice, she reflected as she awaited her unknown benefactor's pleasure in a warmly lit room, fraught with pillows and other decorations in predominant blues and reds and golds, in a rock spire jutting over a mighty waterfall. She knew this because she could go up to the window and look down, seeing the terrifying, dizzying heights and feel her stomach lurch with vertigo. She has no fear of heights, but that was a very, very long drop indeed. She didn't exactly sit still, but she couldn't really find much of use. Much of value, certainly, but even a thief of her not-inconsiderable skill couldn't find a way out of this predicament. Sadly, the one secret passage she did find she had no time to use, because a squeaky voice called her name. "Nicole?"
She turned, seeing a lizard in livery there. He had only a coiled dragon for an insignia, a mark she'd seen around here in a few places and presumed to be the dragon's.
"His Lordship, Ezekiel Jones, awaits," it announced, creakily, and led her on.
Ezekiel Jones? What the hell kinda name was that for a dragon? she thought to herself, but shrugged, pressing on.
Jones was in his study when she approached, a small room clearly meant for his human form, dark-paneled woods, books the illiterate thief couldn't read, a fireplace, lamps. Very nice. He gestured for her to sit, and the exhausted, disheveled woman slumped into it. Starving when a witch forced her to become a woman, barely fed by orcs who forced her to commit fellatio on the entire band and fighting off an idiot merchant's boy had left her emotionally and physically drained. She accepted wine when the little lizard presented it... If he poisoned her, it'd be a kindness, and after a pathetic shaman magemarked her so readily she didn't think it'd be any difficulty at all for him to make her do his bidding at the snap of a finger. Which, of course, led her to wonder what exactly all this effort was for...
"I am Ezekiel Jones. I won't bore you with who I am, where you are, or any such things... you can discover them on your own as you choose. I require something of you," he said. He was an intense figure, as a dragon should be, his eyes like bloody augers into Nicole.
Well, that'd be the case if Nicole was normally vulnerable to such intimidation tactics. One of her erstwhile bosses in her old days (heh, as if being male constituted the old days) had been what she was sure was a fiend. Sure because she turned him over to a priest for a tidy profit. She ran a hand through messy hair to straighten it out of her face, sitting up more to look at him. "I'm listening," she said, evenly. No sense antagonizing him, she might get a good deal.
"I want it made clear that your choice in the matter is limited. I've already adjusted the magemark to recognize me as its owner, and if I need to I will compel your obedience. Magemarks are not perfect, however, and the emotional range they can elicit in a compelled subject is fairly artificial... something that would suffice but would not be preferable in this instance."
Nicole resisted the urge to ask him to cut to the chase, simply stating, "Well, I can't say I'd like to be forced into much... unless that thing is being your wife."
He snorted. "Hardly. You could never match the memory of my late wife. Never," he said, coldly, and even Nicole felt a chill up her spine at the threat in that glance.
"Good. You should know, I'm not originally a woman..." she began, but something in his gaze made her trail off.
"I do not care who you are or what you are. Refrain from personal stories, they bore me." He took a seat, folding his hands. "My desire is simple... I would have you become the surrogate mother of my children."
Nicole took a spittake. Contrary to his attitude towards her, she could swear she detected amusement as she wiped pointlessly at her tattered slave's dress. He timed that! "...did the part about me being a man go right past you?"
"They specifically asked for you at the market. None of the other women appealed. Perhaps they detect a certain something about you."
"Doting father," she muttered. Truth be told, Nick had always liked kids. He'd avoid robbing kids, people with kids in need... would give poor children food or money to help them out... but Nick's vision of parenthood had always involved a cute wife and a nice house and no more work. His owning the means of production and care had never come into consideration.
"I aim to please. What say you?"
Nicole sighed. "I won't have to be your concubine? I know it's not a great choice, but if I'm forced into that, at least I can say it wasn't me..."
"No." Quick and simple. He had about as much desire for her as she did for a sharp, hot iron poker, from the sounds of it.
"What else does it entail?"
"You will become a dragon yourself. Such is within my power."
"How long?"
"Until they are grown. Before you bother, that is a quarter of century's time for the youngest."
Nicole sighed. "Can I go free after?"
"Yes."
Turning into a dragon... well, in the view of many, that's a step up, and Nicole has to agree. Humans like her get a raw deal. As for being a mother... well, the kids were nice enough so far. Even if they're little monsters, a baby-sitter has some authority (she hopes.)
"Okay. I'll bite. I've had worse deals."
"Good. First, you will never desire to harm them, directly or indirectly, beyond whatever discipline you feel is not excessive to maintain authority and assure good development," he said. Nicole felt relief, they wouldn't be able to push her around, at least not more than any normal parent. "You will protect them with your life. I will expect you to teach them as you know best, though I shall not order it, be advised that that may change if you anger me."
He continued to lay out some niggling prohibitions. She isn't allowed to steal or damage anyone in his employ or any of his things or his children. He recited it like a lawyer, tightening the loopholes, and further ensured that she wouldn't simply walk out on the deal in the bargain. Frankly, though, Nicole didn't care. She was tired of running, and twenty-five years taking care of a pair of kids would be, at the least, fairly relaxing.
The Law laid down, Ezekiel rose, and ordered her to follow. Nicole swallowed, knowing what was coming next. A chamber awaited her, warm and cozy despite being a faux artificial cave in the tower. The sturdy window was large and had an open balcony, looking perfect for launching off. Shelves, a large table and a number of chairs. A portrait of a lovely blue and green dragon and another of her in human form. Dang, he wasn't kidding when I said I couldn't compete, she thought to herself, feeling rather plain compared to the green-haired beauty presented in the second portrait.
Ezekiel resolutely avoided looking at either of them, and Nicole continued to glance around. There was no bed, as she knew it, just a pile of-Holy hell! That's a lot of jink! she boggled, looking at the small fortune of gold coins sitting by the fireplace. Her bed, evidently. A few cushions were by that, evidently for human reclining. "Your room. The children's room is in this wing of the tower, you may explore at your leisure so long as you do not disrupt my or its business."
He turned to her then, and Nicole braced herself... in hindsight, she needn't have bothered. It occured slowly, with faint pressure. She was growing, stretching, her hair pulling into a mane and her face elongating, fangs and barbels growing, her long, sinewy form twisting and coiling.
Frankly, she expected it to be a bit less underwhelming... movement, though, belied that assumption. She immediately flopped over, her legs pumping furiously at the air as she squeaked, a depressingly adorable sound. She twisted, her body feeling strange as it was halfway upright and halfway upside-down. She knew he was amused now, she could swear she caught a smirk before his face went blank. Then again, it could have been her imagination...
He patiently waited. A minute or two later, she could take a few, tentative steps. She felt.. bouyant, her wings stretching, eager to fly, but she didn't dare yet. Besides, it'd mess up her new room if she crashed into anything. At a curious thought, she thought about herself as she had been as a human...
...she blinked, looking up at him again from her considerably shorter human height. She grinned, triumphant, thought of how she looked before...
...Guess this is my natural form for the time being... she thought to herself, crestfallen and resigned. She felt her nipples harden at a breeze from the hall, and blinked, quickly throwing her arm across her nude chest and a hand down to her crotch. Even if he looked at her like she was little more than an animal, she didn't like him looking, somehow.
"Good. You'll learn how to take clothes along with the transformation before you meet my children. When you have, you may leave the room."
And with that, he was gone, and Nicole sighed. Compulsion demanded she figure it out before she left, and she got to it. Finding a wardrobe - with more clothes and nicer clothes than she'd ever know what to do with! - Nicole got to work, finding something to wear on the tip of her finger so it wouldn't shred when she shifted and going dragon, then back, trying to get the trick of making her clothes vanish into her when she changed...
******************
Meanwhile, Ezekiel chuckled...
He had lied just a bit. He was interested in her... he had come to see what his children, so much sharper than he gave them credit for, had seen. She had a spirit to match his lost wife, fierce and beautiful, and, so long as he avoided breaking it through compulsion, perhaps he had a chance to find love again.
Assuming she wasn't just another stupid human, of course, unworthy of the honor. Far too many of those.
(Author's Notes: Ezekiel, as presented, isn't a bad guy. Just a Dragon. He's very much only moral towards his equals, with the only exception being people who prove themselves through extraordinary means, like bravery or art.)