Short Story: The Snake and the Dragon

The Snake and the Dragon

By Sandra Scholes
QuailBellMagazine.com

The East has much to offer the weary traveller, but some regions have warnings attached to them. One such region was where our own weary traveller now finds himself. Wang had travelled for many days in search of a place to stay without any such luck. For most of the journey he fantasized of an inn that would take him in, one with a comfortable bed and the company of one of the most beautiful women imaginable. He envisioned how she would look: dark-haired, voluptuous and wearing very little other than a smile to cover her modesty. 

After another day of searching, he noticed a small town in the distance. Rushing toward it even though his legs hurt terribly, he stopped at an inn, sighing as he pushed open the wooden doors. All the people at the inn turned from their drinks to stare at him, the atmosphere smoky and dark. 

"May I have a room for the night and some food?" he asked.

The owner looked at his wife and shook his head. 

"I can pay you handsomely," Wang offered, holding out several silver coins that were threaded around a red string. The owner noticed the money, but was not swayed by it, hoping his wife would not agree to take the young man in.  Unfortunately, he saw how interested she was in the money, and in him. 

“It would be great misfortune for us if he left, now wouldn’t it, my husband?” 

Wang let the five coins fall into the man’s palm, while his wife took him upstairs to show him his room.  His new surroundings were basic, but at least he had a futon. It would be the first time he had not slept under the stars in a while. Thanking the many gods for his own good fortune, he drifted off into blessed sleep. 

No sooner had he gone to sleep was he was woken by a feminine scent and the billowing silhouette of a woman drifting toward him. As she stood there, he still thought he was dreaming, though that idea was quashed when he felt an intense desire overcome him, sheer lust knotted deep in his groin. 

“Wang, I know you want me.” He could feel she was using her dreamy dulcet tones to lure him. “It was clear from the moment we met downstairs. Take me.” She opened her robe and showed him her pale, full breasts, pert nipples and, when he looked lower, she waved her hand to distract his attention. When she did this, it alerted him to thinking that she might not be the lovely woman he had imagined. As he shrank from her, she noticed he had not been taken in by her beauty, her body or her charms.

“What bothers you, Wang? Am I not a beautiful woman who promises to give you a night of passion you will never forget?” 

Wang already felt his cock harden at the sight of her full breasts, but he could sense something wrong about her. “Yes, woman, you are beautiful, and your offer is promising, but why do you dissuade me from seeing all your beauty?” 

The lady moved around as though she were in the wind outside.  “I was hoping you would let me save the best part of myself for last.” With one hand, she encouraged him to touch her breasts, feeling her nipples grow hard in his palms.  

Wang caught a glimpse of the scaly serpent form beneath her robes. The way she writhed made him draw back again. He had heard legend tell of a serpent who could transform into a lady in white, but so far he had not encountered one...until this night. 

“My lady, what such enchantment made you a snake?” he asked, hoping if she were evil she might overlook slaying him for a moment. Though he had moved away from her, she closed in, her fingernails now resembling talons. 

“Handsome man, I am no snake but a dragon of the water.”

“If that is so, then show me what you look like as a true dragon of the water.” 

Wang, prepared for her retaliation, brandished a small knife, which he thrust between her breasts. Just as she tried choking him with her snake half, with a last thrust of his knife, Wang fell back and watched her change into the snake she had been all along—her robe falling away into nothing, the human part of her fading away while the snake part died, crumbling into dust. In her place was then a single jade egg. This he would have to bury just as the old man he met had told him before he came here, or her evil form could rise again. As Wang picked up the egg, he felt sorry for the snake woman's poor husband. As he slipped out the back door, he had one quick thought: 

The snake is only interested in trapping its prey, while the dragon is not afraid to show its true form.

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