Scale Armor

by: Theo Winters


Written for ArrowQuivershaft


Kawheek let out a long sigh as he climbed up the heavy wooden stairs of
the inn, heading up towards his room. Down below he could hear the rest
of his adventuring group starting to party in celebration of their new
found wealth. They had divided up the treasure between each of them but
as the small avian was just the tracker on this mission he had gotten
the smallest share. It was only a small bag of coins and a thin pair of
bracers made from what looked like red dragon scales.


It didn't really matter too much to him, he wasn't friends with the rest
of the 'party' and in fact had only met them a few days before at that
very inn. They had only worked together because the local village was
offering reward to take care of a minor lizardman problem. It was worth
it for a little extra money and a chance to get closer to the Soundland
Mountains.


He tried to put it out of his mind as he stopped at the door to his
room, fumbling with the head high lock and door handle. One of the worst
parts of spending time in human or elven lands was that everything was
built to their scale. It made it hard for an Asari.


Flaring his wings out, he pushed the door open and stepped inside. He
closed it behind him and walked to the thin bed, fanned out his tail
feathers and dropped down on to it. After rubbing the side of his beak
he bent down and removed the pouch from his upper leg, opening it up and
letting the contents spill out onto the bed next to him.


He counted the few coins one more time, it was enough to get him a few
more weeks closer to his destination. Pushing them aside he picked up
the bracers. They were well made with a great deal of craftsmanship and
care. The red scales were large and stitched tightly together yet with
enough give that they moved without any trouble.


Wrapping one around his left wrist he pulled the straps tight against
his skin, admiring the contrast with the natural yellow scales of his
arms. He pulled the second one on, fumbling with them for a moment until
he had it in place.


Kawheek held his arms up to the fading sunlight that was falling through
the small window.  They seemed to shine, the red scales glittering and
bright. A moment later he felt a cold chill running through his body
ended with a slight jolt of pain behind his eyes.


Grunting, the avian climbed from the bed and rubbed his eyes. There was
an odd feeling running through his whole body that made him slightly
dizzy. He kept rubbing his eyes and tried to brace himself against the
bed.


There was something wrong, he could feel it but he just didn't know what
it was. He rubbed his head, the pressure growing stronger as his whole
beak started to ache.  It almost felt like there was something inside of
it, something that shouldn't be there.


He stumbled over to the small bowl of water and the dirty mirror.
Holding tightly to the table he opened his beak and looked at his
reflection. Things looked off but he couldn't tell how. Snapping it
closed he glanced back in the mirror then let out a gasp.


There was something wrong with his eyes; they weren't brown anymore but a
dark red. That wasn't the only change, the top of his beak were
starting to ripple in an strange way and hints of dark red were painted
over the feathers on his head. At the same time the dark yellow of his
belly was covering the bottom of his chin.


Stumbling back he twisted on his feet and landed hard on his tail, a
jolt of pain running through the length of his body. He sat there for a
few moments, stunted by the impact. It was only the feeling of his tail
twisting under him that pulled him out of it. Jumping to his feet he
craned his head around to look at his tail feathers. They were twisting
together into a single mass that was starting to push out of his back,
growing longer still. The new tail was thick and covered in dark red
scales with lighter scales on the ender side. A fin was starting to grow
up along the length as the tail grew even longer.


Kawheek reached out and grabbed the new tail, feeling its weight and
muscles as it continued to grow in his hands. The color of the scales
matched the color of the braces on his arms.


"Oh no," he said softly as he dropped his tail and started to pull at
the bracers, trying to find the edge of them, trying to pull them away
from his arm, but they didn't move. Turning his arms over, he clawed at
the straps. With a single pull the straps broke free but the bracers
stayed in place.


Letting out a low squawk he pulled at the armor, trying to get it free
as his tail snaked across the floor to smack against the edge of the
bed. A moment later he felt his beak push outwards his eyes being forced
to the side.


He hurried back to the mirror, leaning down to look at his face. His
beak was gone and in its place was a heavy snout that opened into a jaw
lined with a number of teeth. As he watched he saw a thick horn starting
to grow from the tip of his new nose. His whole face and head was
covered in heavy red scales, his eyes burning like fire.


The transforming avian stared at his reflection as horns started to grow
on his head as the scales started to roll down his neck and across his
chest. With a grunt of frustration he slapped his tail down against the
floorboards, hearing them snap and pop under the strike. It wasn't an
Asari head that looked back at him in the mirror but a dragon's head.


Clenching his hands around the edge of the table he heard the wood crack
and break. Looking down he saw that his hands were changing. His
fingers were shrinking back as his wrists and palms growing larger and
thicker, his small talons growing thicker and sharper, breaking through
the wood as they grew.


He bend down even lower to look at himself again, but this time passed
his face. His neck was growing longer and thicker, heavy scales trailing
down his chest nearly to his hips. On the back of his long neck he
could see the thick fins swelling out showing his power and his age.
They were wonderful fins, making him as a powerful dragon.


Kawheek shook his head and pushed away from the table, instead his
powerful arms smashed it against the wall, turning the table into
kindling. "I'm not a dragon," he said, closing his eyes as his fat
forepaws rubbing at his arms, trying to find any sign of the bracers,
trying to stop this before it was too late.


Without warning he felt something smack against the top of his head and
over his horns. Opening his eyes he looked up to see the ceiling
pressing down on him. He snorted and lowered his head, twisting and
falling onto his forepaws.


He looked over his wings, pleased to see that they were still lined with
his familiar feathers but they looked out of place. The colors were
already changing, gone were the familiar browns and grays, replaced with
different shades of red. He fanned them out, touching each wall of the
small room, the backside was the same dark red of his scales and the
inside the light yellowish red of his underbelly. He was wrong though,
there was still grey, lining the very edges of the wings.


Fanning them out Kawheek shifted in the ever shrinking room. It was too small for a dragon and he had to find a way out.


The half dragon half avian let out a gasp and snapped his wings back to
the side. He wasn't a dragon and he didn't want to be a dragon! He was
an Asari! He was small and quick, with skill in hand to hand combat. Not
a monster, not a beast.


He let out a deep cry as he saw the feathers press flat against his
wings and melt back into the flesh leaving only their color behind. He
shivered and shook them, watching as the flesh grew larger, muscles
swelling and pulling from the wings to his chest.


The only part left of the real him was his lower body. His legs were
still they way they should be, feathers running down from his hips to
his knees where the yellow scaling of his avian legs started. If there
was still a part of him left there had to be a way to turn him back. The
little bit of clothing he normally had around his waist had broken off,
but a dragon had nothing to hide.


He shifted around, lowering his head as his back pressed against the
ceiling of the room, the walls pinning his side and tail. He could hear
the floor creaking loudly under him and there was the sound of footsteps
outside of his room.


Without a thought the dragon slammed his tail against the door, buckling
the wall and jamming it into the frame. It sent a jolt up the length of
his growing body, shocking him for a moment and making him shake his
head. Outside he could hear someone pounding on the door but he put it
out of his mind. They were just humans.


Kawheek turned his head back to look at his rear end. His small
feathered legs weren't enough to hold up his bulk and it was forcing his
belly to the ground. He craned his head back, his neck pressing against
the small room as he looked at his splayed feet. The yellow scaled
talons were starting to swell, each toe growing thicker as the tips of
his claws grew larger, digging into the wood floor.


The shape of the scales were starting to change, growing thicker and
wider, starting to become the proper shaped scales for a dragon though
still with the familiar dark yellow coloring. He started to lift his
belly up as his legs grew stronger, the muscles growing and budging
under the feathers that still covered his upper legs.


He watched the growing muscles pushing his feathers apart showing red
scales between each quill, the feathers themselves starting to change
from grey to red.


Looking at the mixture of scales and feathers made the partly chanced
dragon shiver and pull his head back, slamming it against the ceiling,
his thick horns breaking through the wood and tearing it apart. Kawheek
cried out and shook his head, watching the feathers starting to sink
away.


"No, no, no! I'm not a dragon!" he tried to say, but the words only came
out as a long growl that shook the walls around him. It did nothing to
stop his changes as more and more of the feathers on his leg sank back
into scales.


He shifted and twisted around, searching his forelegs one more time,
trying to find any sign of the braces that had started his
transformation. There had to be a way to undo the change, there was no
reason to make a spell like that if there wasn't any way to turn back.


The former avian watched in horror as they very last of his feathers
pressed down against his flanks and became dragon scales. He sat there,
his head looking down over his flank a feeling of deep horror filling
his belly. The room was pressing hard against his body, forcing his
wings against his back and making him twisting his neck and tail.


Kawheek tried to think of what to do, how to get out of the inn, how to
turn back, how to do anything! All he came up with was a blank.


A moment later he heard a crash as the door was pulled away from the
broken wall. A moment later he felt something hard and cold jab into the
side of his tail, right between his scales. He let out a roar and
pulled his tail away from the attack but there wasn't any room to move.
He slammed his flank against the side wall, feeling it smash apart under
his bulk. Now that he had room he flicked his tail against the doorway,
ripping through the wall and the hallway beyond it with enough force to
shake the whole inn.


Around him he could hear people yelling and running, their pounding
steps echoing through the walls and floor as they tried to escape from
the trapped dragon.


Growling he started to thrash around, slamming his head up against the
damaged ceiling, ripping though it and breaking through the roof of the
inn. With a roar he slammed his four paws down onto the floor, hearing
it crack and splinting as one broke through the wood and the beam below.
That was the last that the floor could take and with a loud crack it
buckled beneath him then collapsed.


The red dragon roared out as he fell through the floor and crashed down
into the main floor of the inn, the far wall came down after him,
collapsing on the dragon's back. A moment later the roof sagged and
broke apart, falling down to add to the debris over the dragons back and
head, bouncing off the hard scales and partly burying him.


Silence fell over the remains of the inn for a few moments before the
dragon let out a cry, through his head back and snapped his wings
outwards with as much force as he could muster. The strong wings crashed
through the remains of the standing walls and sending debris flying
around the remains of the inn.


With a roar the dragon reared back on his haunches, rising up over the
building, the glow of the setting sun shining off his dark red scales.
He slammed back to earth, slamming his large feet into the remains of
the debris, flattening what remained.


With a snort the former avian looked around the debris and cracked a
smile. He slammed his tail on it once last time then fanned out his
wings. Hunching down among the debris he threw himself into the
sky.  With a heavy sweep his wings caught the air and lifted him over
the small village. Looking down he could see a few villages joining the
crowd from the inn to stare up at him.


A few people let arrows let loose in his direction, but ignored them,
banking over the village a few times before diving down and taking up a
large cow as a meal. With the animal in his claws he flew towards the
Soundland Mountains. The cares of the small avian he had been left
behind in the debris. All that the large red dragon cared about now was
finding a cave large enough to live in and to start a proper hoard. By
the time the sun set the Asari named Kawheek was simply a scrap of
memory in the mind of a centuries old red dragon.


-=-=-=-=-=-


This story was written and copyright 2010 by Theo Winters, reposting and
archiving are allowed as long as this copyright notice and the author's
name are not removed. This story cannot be published without permission
of the author. The character "Kawheek" is owned by his creator, and is
used with permission. Violators will be transformed.