The courtyard is too quiet for what just happened. Nobles and servants alike stare at the smouldering place where a mighty dragon had stood moments before...and where a tall, crimson-haired man is now sprawled on the ground.

Asperian stands motionless - stunned, for one blissful moment, into silence - beside the cracked tiles where his dragon Bloodbane had surged in front of him to take a curse that was certainly intended for him.

The visiting sorceress (a prideful woman from the southern riverlands who hadn’t taken kindly to Asperian calling her a “bog witch”) has already stormed out of the courtyard, but the results of her spell are already evident...if perhaps not in the exact form she’d intended.

Flesh and battered pride. That’s all that’s left of what was once a fearsome scaled beast who’d spanned nearly the length of the entire throne room.

I will end you for this, Bloodbane thinks viciously - though whether that’s intended at the sorceress who’d cursed him or for the current cackling dragonknight who’d been responsible for provoking said curse - is not clear.

“I heard that,” Asperian says between fits of hysterical laughter, “So the bond’s still in functioning order. Oh, gods...your face, Bane...”

“How fortunate.” The former dragon growls, the sound of his own voice strange from a throat a tenth the size it used to be. He shoves himself to his feet, humiliatingly clumsy in this strange new body.

Six and a half feet of corded muscles, with bronzed skin marred by a smattering of red scales across his shoulders, chest and hips - the only lingering traces of who he used to be - Bloodbane strikes an imposing figure, even as a human. Long crimson hair falls over shoulders taut with anger.

He’s entirely naked, of course. A nearby cluster of ladies-in-waiting collapse into a fit of giggles, before scurrying away when Bloodbane's venomous amber eyes fall on them. Asperian laughs again. “For what it’s worth, Bane - you’ve got a fantastic ass for a lizard."

Bloodbane shoots him a death glare. "This is your fault."

"And that’s debatable." Asperian paces forward, circling the broad-shouldered nude man that somehow still manages to radiates the kind of raw menace that used to come with wings and flame. "You’re the one who took the hit for me."

"I thought it was a magical spear." Bloodbane’s glare doesn’t waver. "Not a fucking transformation spell."

"Yes, well." Asperian shrugs, utterly remorseless. "A thousand thank-yous to the honorable Lady Virelle for that dramatic lesson in manners."

Irritated, the former dragon tries to stalk forward by himself. Wobbles. Nearly falls. Growls again and finally accepts Asperian’s hand with the resentful dignity of a captured warlord being aided to his feet.

"Don’t say it."

A smirk tugs at Asperian’s mouth.

"I wasn’t going to."

"You were."

The dragonknight shrugs. "Fine, I was."

A clatter of footsteps announces the impending arrival of the Dawnstar and the rest of the Keepers. Bloodbane grimaces, straightening. How degrading, to be seen like this by mortals who’d once feared him.

He hates it. This body feels weak, ill designed for combat. Already Bane aches for the skies - but with no wings, he’s forced to endure this humiliation. For how long? The thought creeps in, unsettling him. He could hunt down the witch, but curses are rarely easy to undo - and he hadn’t been the intended target...

“What happened?” Sir Whitlock demands as he arrives at the scene, followed by that runt Pascal and the Dawnstar. The knight stops, his stern blue eyes taking in Asperian, the unfamiliar naked man and the ruins of the courtyard with militant efficiency. “Who is this? What did you do, Balefire?”

Asperian just smirks. “You don’t recognise him? To be fair, I suppose he is slightly smaller than usual...” He runs a casual hand through his dark hair before wrapping an arm around Bloodbane’s shoulders, dragging his former mount close as he forces them both into a dramatic bow towards the approaching Dawnstar. “Starlight! You remember my dragon Bloodbane, don’t you? Bane, say hello to the Dawnstar.”

Smoke emerges from Bloodbane’s nostrils. He will kill Asperian for this later, he’s decided. Once he has his body back, he'll be dropping the arrogant bastard into the firey pits of Mt Pyralis.

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