"I hereby declare Peridot guilty of treason!" the mallet made a large bang as it came in contact with the oak wood of the judge's stand. "Peridot, you are sentence to death by sacrifice."
Peridot felt her whole body go weak. Why her? Why did this have to happen. Everything was just a big misunderstanding, not like she actually managed to deliver the package. She was tricked! Why couldn't these bozos see that?! Then it hit her, being guilty was one thing... but becoming the latest sacrifice was another. This wasn't fair! She was just a pawn used in this little scheme she knew nothing about. She was innocent, no doubt about it!
"P-please, you're honour!" Peridot pleaded for what seemed like the thousandth time since she been taken into custody. "I'm innocent!"
"Take her away."
"Please, I beg of you if I am guilty in your eyes then at least not make this my punishment!" she cried out. "I'll dwell in the dungeon for the rest of my life! I'll take the iron maiden even! Anything but this!" tears fell from her face, she didn't want to die by being a sacrifice. Drowning, hanging, bleeding, or even consuming the most deadly poisons was far more preferable then being the latest sacrifice.
Rumour was a dragon dwelled underground, or some kind of evil creature. But one thing was for sure, those thrown underground either died at the hands of the creature or met death through dehydration and starvation. Something she didn't deserve! She was but an innocent caught up in a misunderstanding all over a damn package.
See, she was never the wealthiest one in the lands. However, she wasn't dirt poor either, she owned a humble hut and ran her own business of selling eggs from the chickens she owned. It wasn't much, but she made just enough to get by. But she wasn't going to turn down the opportunity to earn a little extra coin. Maybe she could invest in more chickens, or repair the leaky roof of the hut, maybe even a good pair of working boots. It was a seemingly simple task, drop off a package at the lake. That was all she was instructed to do, the pay was a bit more handsome then she would had thought, but she wasn't complaining. What kind of fool would turn down the chance for a little extra money? It was suppose to be simple, unfortunately it was far from simple. She pondered what was in the package as she was on her way to drop it off. What was inside? Silk? books? Seeds? Peridot didn't dare look, now she wished she did. Turns out she was dropping off a package containing secrets about the kingdom she dwelled in, collected by spies from other kingdoms. She wanted to punch herself in the face, how could she be so foolish?! She should had known such luck would never just happen. No one in their right mind would pay to have a package delivered to a nearby location that they could easily walked to on their own. Now here she was... paying the price for someone else's crimes.
The judge said nothing, her pleas were worthless. They we're going to send an innocent to be killed, why did this have to happen to her? She was just a humble villager who raised chickens and sold the eggs they laid. She could only continue to sob as two guards grabbed ahold of her, it was pointless to resist. The rope that bound her legs and arms kept her from attempting escape or fight back. Not to mention she was never much of a fighter. As the two guards dragged Peridot out of the courtroom a crowd formed around them, everyone screaming at her, calling her a traitor.
Her chest tighten as the two guards continued to drag her off. She couldn't walk, her legs had turned to stone. Her eyes were locked on the entrance to the underground. Originally it was but an ordinary well, but it soon became apparent it had another used rather than gathering water.
"No! Please! I'll do anything!" she cried for a final time before the two guards lifted her off her feet, a fellow villager lifted the wooden lid off the well. The lid served as a way to keep drunks who fumbled down the street from falling in. Now it served as the doorway to her doom. She was dangling over the well, her toes curled into her feet, fear and terror flooded over her.
Then, they let her go. Before she knew it she was plunged into the darkness of the well and away from the light of above. She couldn't scream, everything felt like a bad dream. Maybe when she hit the ground she would wake up. Yeah that was it, she was just having a shitty nightmare. She would wake up and find herself in her bed, then she would prepare porridge and a cup of tea for breakfast, get changed out of her nightgown, go feed her chickens, then collect the eggs they laid for her. Yes, that's what would happen. As soon as she hit the ground she would awake from this awful nightmare and live her life normally like any other innocent person.
The searing pain that came over her and the sound her body made when it finally made impact with the ground proved this was no dream.
...
Peridot's eyes slowly cracked open. How long was she out for? Her whole body was sore from the fall, surprisingly she didn't break anything from the impact. But damn everything hurt like a bitch. She didn't intent to remain on the moist stone grounds of the underground. But first thing was first, she had to free herself of the rope that held her. She was pleasantly surprised to see a row of torches on the wall. But this also confused her, who would set up torches? Other sacrifices? The dragon that lived underground? Or some other creature? She could worry about that later, first she had to get out of her restrains.
Her eyes located a sharp rock. Yes, that would do. She dragged herself across the stone grounds, biting into her cheeks to keep from yelling. If there was a dragon or some vile creature in here she had no intention of letting it know she was here. Once she reached the rock she brought her arms to the sharp rock and slowly began to saw away at the rope. Little by little the rope started to loosen up until her hands were freed from being bound. Peridot gave a little victorious smirk. Excellent, now for the legs. She brought her hands to the rope keeping her legs together and immediately untied herself free. Seems like all those times she used to fish with her sister Pearl and untangle fishing lines was finally starting to pay off. Now for the big test, standing.
She took a deep breath, and used the walls of the underground to support herself as she stood up. Everything was sore, but it was her right leg that caused her the most god awful pain. She walked with a limp, but she could walk. In pain, but still able to walk. With the task of walking out of the way she decided to grab ahold of one of the torches to take with her. She refused to sit around and wait for death. Maybe there was a way out? Scaling the stone walls to get out of here was out of the question. Although not a fighter she considered herself flexible, but no way she could use that to her advantage after a fall. Now she guessed she just wandered around until she found a way out, or something to help her survive the night down here and avoid death.
She continued to wander, torch in hand, using the wall to support herself as she walked deeper and deeper into the land underground. So far so good, not another soul aside from her's and a big ugly grey rat that scurried behind a rock at the very sight of her.
She gulped nervously as she traveled, using the row of other torches on the wall as a guide. Where would she end up if not at the hands of the evil creature that lingered in this cave like area? Was it just a dead end? Was there some other way out of this hellhole? Millions of questions flooded her mind. But the main thing on her mind was survival. She had to remain calm, collective, and above all vigilant. There was no telling what dwelled under here, dragon or not she had to remain alive, she had to survive and let nothing come between her and her life. Survival was the upmost import-
"Hey."
She turned around and was met with a pair of big amber eyes and a big fang filled grinning smile. Peridot then passed out.
...
"It's not fair, Lapis! She's so small and scrawny. How come last time you got to eat the sacrifice they were nice and plump? Even decked out in all that flashy gear."
The very annoyed tone caused Peridot's eyes to slowly open. How long was she out for?
"That was a WILLING sacrifice. You know how they are our about us down south. Quit complaining, you're never satisfied whenever it's your turn to chow down. Get over it Jasper, it's either her or you go back to munching on these damn rats until they throw another one down here. Just be lucky it's not one from the west, those folks are far more boney then this one."
Peridot's eyes fell upon two figures about three feet away from her. They certainly weren't human. The one known as Jasper had orange skin with darker orange markings, a set of fierce amber eyes, long wild and unkempt hair, a pair of horns that reminded Peridot of the ram her neighbour Amethyst hunted and roasted at a feast. A pair of leathery looking wings, a long lizard like tail, plump lips that hid a set of razor sharp teeth, and the most striking thing about her was her size and built. She towered over any person Peridot ever met and was made of muscle.
The other one known as Lapis was quiet different then the one known as Jasper. She was blue with short dark blue hair, her horns pointed upwards rather then curl like Jasper's did. Her eyes were round and black, and her wings took on a much more unique shape, the way they were shaped reminded Peridot of water. Like the taller one she too had a long lizard like tail. They were both clad in a similar clothing, a skirt that reached just a bit above the knee and a shirt that showed off their middle. Not to mention both looked rather tattered and with out. On Peridot's guess the outfit was made by taking clothing from former sacrifices. Only main difference was the colour, Lapis's attire was blue, while Jasper's was maroon.
Then it hit her, these were, although more humanoid then she expected, she had no doubt about it, these were dragons.
Damn, two of them? As if one wasn't horrible enough. This was what horrors lingered underground, these two dragons were what was killing the sacrifices thrown down here. This was going to be the the end of her, these two dragons like creatures were going to eat her! Well she sure as hell wasn't going to allow that to be her demise. She needed to flee now! She tried to get up to her feet and run, but upon taking that first step towards escaping the throbbing pain in her right leg decided to give her a little reminder on how fucked up she was from the fall. She let out a cry of pain as she stumbled and fell on her face. Unfortunately this caused Lapis and Jasper's head to turn.
"Oh how cute, dear sister, she's trying to escape." Lapis crackled as her tail gave a small flicker of amusement. "So I suggest you shut your big mouth and get eating."
"Ugh, shut your trap. You tease me like this because you're the older one." Jasper snarled, giving Lapis an annoyed glare. "Whatever, the faster we do this the faster we can see if some other country dropped some sacrifice down here." she returned her attention to Peridot. A wicked smirk on her mouth, she licked her lips as she stared at Peridot, towering over her. "You're hardly a meal, more like a appetizer." she laughed and flashed her fangs. "But better then nothing." she mused.
No way she could run off with the shape she was in. Not to mention Jasper could probably outrun her with ease. She could only quickly get onto her back and crawl backwards until she was backed into the cold stone walls. Oh dear god, this was it. She was going to be eaten alive by some sort of dragon humanoid.
Jasper got on her hands and knees, her tail flickered and her grin widen. She then lunged at her, it was like a cat stalking a mouse for the longest of times. Then striking with the upmost form of elegance, fierceness and control. Certain to bring death upon her prey.
When you're cornered in a situation like this, your body enters a flight or fight response. On Peridot's guess it meant el either you run like hell for your life or you toughen up and fight. She supposed this was what was happening now. Fleeing was of the question with how beat up she was, so that only left the fight option for her to unknowingly make. Before she even had time to process what she was doing she raised her arms, grabbing ahold of Jasper's muscular arms. They struggled, Jasper trying to take a bite out of Peridot while Peridot tried to avoid that fate. It surprised Peridot how long she was able to keep this up, but it wouldn't last forever. She had to think of a way out of this and fast! Before Jasper won this little deadly dance or before Lapis decided to help Jasper. A few seconds... that was all she needed, a few seconds of Jasper not focus on killing her would be all she needed to try to run. Could she on her fucked up leg? Probably not without causing further and permanent damage, but damn she wasn't going to give up.
Taking a quick deep breath Peridot attempted to jerk her body to the left, hoping it would knock Jasper off both Peridot and Jasper's guard. Well it certainly did one of those things. Jasper lost control on her upper half, causing her to fall face first. But unfortunately it wasn't on the ground. Her plump lips pressed against hers, she couldn't flee since Jasper's body weight was resting on her left leg. Although that was painful itself she was grateful it wasn't her right leg as well under Jasper. Still, it rendered her unable to run. Plus how does one go about kissing a dragon?! She sort of just froze up, her heart beating so wildly in her chest Peridot thought it would explode. Her lips were soft and warm, rather surprising since the underground was so cold and filled with icky moistness.
Jasper slowly pulled away, the fierce hunter that had tried to eat her was replaced with a rather dazed and confused dragon. It took about five seconds until Jasper's amber eyes lowered onto Peridot. Immediately a deep red blush covered her cheeks, her hands flew to her face, covering it.
"Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck, fuck, fuck, fuuuuuuck!" she cried.
Gee, what colourful language. This left Peridot confused. How did Jasper go from a deadly and hungry creature to this flustered and confused mess?
"It's okay Jasper!" Lapis reassured, quickly rushing to her sister's side. "I was the only one to witness that, I won't tell a soul!"
"I can't lie about this!" Jasper snapped. "I can't keep this secret! And a human?! What will the clan say?! This is bad, this is very bad!"
"Uhh..." what in heavens name were they talking about? All this fuss over a simple and accidental kiss? She must be losing her mind, but she wanted to know. "What's going on?"
Jasper got up and began to pace around nervously, Lapis turned her head and looked at Peridot
"My name is Lapis Lazuli, this is my younger sister Jasper." she paused and averted her eyes to think. "You see... we dragons are a bit more.... modest when it comes to affection." she continued. "All members of the clan withhold such manners of affection until marriage."
"Well I'm most certainly not married to her!" Peridot spat. "I fail to see how this is such a big deal!"
"I'm getting there. See, unlike your culture kisses have a much deeper meaning then just a mere act of lips touching." Lapis explained. "It's the act of confirming marriage, therefore we withhold all kissing until we decided on a mate or one is chosen for us." she glanced at Jasper. "In other words you just married my sister."
"What?!" Peridot exclaimed, utterly flabbergasted by this news. Married?! To a dragon?! She was expecting death the moment she saw Jasper and her sister, not marriage. "I'm not marrying a dragon!"
"You just did!" Jasper snarled as she finally stopped pacing.
"I did no such thing!" Peridot argued.
"Well it's your fault! If you just let me eat you we wouldn't be in this position!"
"Of course, because being eaten alive is so appealing." Peridot rolled her eyes.
"Sure you didn't intent to marry a dragon when you got down here?" Lapis asked. "Because you two already sound like an old married couple." she chuckled.
"I swear to god Lapis." Jasper growled, shooting her elder sister a glare that was as sharp as a knife.
"Well look on the bright side, I overheard mother was seeking out suitors for you. Pretty sure that Marty guy was among a possibility." Lapis stated. "And I know you hate that bastard's guts. Well now you don't have to worry about it!" she gave a careless yet joyous wave of her hands. "You could do a lot worst then this human."
"I'm right here you know." Peridot hissed.
"Shit, you're kidding me? Marty? Thin, lanky, short horns and always seems to be up to no good?" Jasper cringed in disgust as Lapis nodded. "Gross! I rather take the human."
"Again, right here." Peridot said in a annoyed tone of voice, resting her cheek in her palm. Her leg was still fucked up so she still couldn't flee so easily. But even if she could where would she go? She doubted their was a magic stairwell out of here. And these dragons probably knew the underground better then her.
"Human, what is your name?" Jasper asked as she kneeled down next to her.
"Peridot." she replied.
"Peridot, from this moment forward I am your loving wife!" Jasper declared as she jabbed her finger into Peridot's chest.
"But I-"
"Well congrats sis, hopefully the clan doesn't eat her." Lapis chimed in.
"They can still do that?!" Peridot exclaimed in horror.
"Nah, don't worry about it. Once word gets out I'm your wife you're be fine... though I wouldn't suggest covering yourself in oil or taking hot baths." Jasper added.
"Great..." Peridot groaned. She didn't have a lot of options. Even if she did escape the undergrounds, what would she do? Chances are word of her believed treason got out to places around the world. If she were to escape she would be a fugitive. Not like she could just waltz back to her little hut and live her life selling chicken eggs like before.
"Can you walk?" asked Jasper. Peridot didn't even have time to reply before Jasper scooped her up in her arms with ease. "How's that?"
"F-fine." Peridot stuttered, feeling a blush spread upon her cheeks. Damn, she was strong. Not surprising since Jasper was a walking pile of muscle.
"Come on, let's take her back. Rose can take a look at that leg for you." Lapis said going on ahead of them.
"You feeling okay?" Jasper asked.
"Yes, I'm fine." Peridot replied, happy she said that without stuttering.
"Good, and don't worry about the other dragons when we get there, I'll protect you." she smiled reassuringly.
Dare to say Jasper was very attractive. Strong physique, long eyelashes, broad shoulders and fierce. Damn, just her type actually...
"You okay? You're staring off into space." Jasper interrupted her train of thought.
"Oh? I-I'm fine." she replied.
"Good, once Rose patches you up we're introduce you to your mother in law." she explained.
"Mother in law?" well of course she would have a mother in law, Lapis and Jasper mentioned they had a mother. She just couldn't picture her in law being a dragon.
"Yeah, her name's Yellow Diamond. She's the leader of our clan." Jasper stated.
"The leader?"
You know, now being eaten alive seemed more preferable than having to explain to the leader of these dragons that you married her daughter by mistake. She then glanced at Jasper.
Strong physique, long eyelashes, broad shoulders and fierce...
Okay, maybe she could endure this. After all, it would be a shame to disobey what ancient laws these dragons fallowed.