On a cramped windowsill sat Valentina, with her knees drawn up to her chest. Melancholy was a shroud about her small shoulders; she had recently lost the greatest love of her life, and nothing could console her, not even turning the local peasants into frogs had managed to alter her mood.

She blew her nose into her handkerchief, emitting a honking sound that would've gotten her a scolding from her mother, had she been alive. Valentina pushed a stray tendril out of her eye and turned her head towards the frosted window. Beyond the opaque glass, and the Copse of Corpses that encompassed her tower was her beloved. He has hidden away in one of the countless rooms that comprised King Arthur's castle, doing God knows what.

Even if Merlin had broken off their engagement over a month ago, the pain hadn't subsided. The mere thought of not being able to run her fingers through his long, white beard, or up his bony spine as they made love, was enough to make her collapse in a fit of tears again. Despite the 100 year age gap, she had thought that the two were soulmates.

But after five whole years of romance, Merlin had finally admitted that he had lost all feelings for her. "You and I, my dear, we are just too different," he had said in that raspy voice, "You are a witch, and I am a magician—we are not compatible with one another." She should've ended his miserable life right there and then, but unfortunately, a small part of her had hoped that his words were in jest. But, not even a week later,  he quickly vanquished all hope by throwing himself into the arms of a new woman, Vivien.

Valentina let out another howl in despair.

Her hunchback servant, Godfrey, having heard her silent cries for help, hobbled into the room. As he rushed through the doorway, he almost knocked over a stack of books—good thing he retracted his arthritic elbow just in time. "Milady, what is it that hurts you so?" His voice, nasally due to his sinusitis, was painful to the ear. Valentina immediately stopped bawling and threw him a dirty look.

"Why have you interrupted my suffering, you impertinent fool? Can't you see that I'm trying to be melodramatic here?"

Godfrey immediately ducked his head, hiding the blush that stained his acne-ridden cheeks. "I am extremely sorry, milady, but it has been a while since you left your room. We are all—"

"Silence! Who are you to tell me how I should or shouldn't mourn?" Valentina slid down the windowsill, and in two long strides, was towering above him, her mane of bottle-green hair tumbling over a shoulder.

"P-pardon m-me, mi—"

Valentina wiped the last of her tears and swivelled around.  "Actually, you are right," she said, the sudden change in her mood disconcerting, to say the least, "I have wasted enough of my time already behind that snivelling moron." She floated back to the window, her back ruler-straight.

Godfrey only nodded, straining his neck to look up at his master. The circular room was illuminated solely by beeswax candles, which cast ominous shadows around the books and furniture. It made Valentina look even more dangerous than she already was.

"I will make him pay for what he has done to me. Him and that filthy heathen!" The tone of her voice had de-escalated into a growl, and her hand was a determined fist in the air. It was suddenly ten times hotter in the room, and the servant shifted awkwardly in place.

"What did you have in mind, milady?" He asked with uncertainty. The man immediately recoiled once those poisonous green eyes were fixated on him once again, a darker undertone to their gaze.

"A shall cast...a famine, no a drought, no..."—she swept her hand in a broad arc, slicing through the air like a knife through butter—"a dragon."

"A dragon?" Godfrey echoed, unwontedly raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, a dragon, idiot! Are you also deaf in those cauliflower-shaped ears of yours now?" Valentina snorted, and after turning her nose up in the air she glided towards the exit of the room.

"No, milady," he muttered. He didn't dare to make eye-contact with the most feared witch of all the land. If she wanted, she could disintegrate him on the spot.

"Let's get to it then, shall we?" She rolled her eyes at the stupidity of her servant and descended down the spiralling steps, her red dress shimmying behind her.

-:-

"Can't you just kill him with a disease?" Godfrey shouted, his feeble voice carried away by the infernal storm Valentina had raised inside the cauldron room. As she stirred the green goo with her decorated wooden ladle, a strong wind blew the books off the shelves, smashed potions against the wall, and annihilated the jars full of pickled animal body-parts. The place was in utter chaos. In spite of that, Godfrey was obligated to hold the large incantations book above his head so that his mistress could read the spell.

"There wouldn't be any fun in that!" Valentina countered, her mouth contorted into a smirk. The goo was responding well to the stirring—it was causing a tempest and bubbling up nicely. All Valentina needed to do now was mutter the incantation as she added the final ingredient: a human soul. Her hair blowing every which way, she pulled the ladle out of the cauldron and ordered for Godfrey to close the book.

"What happens now?" the servant ducked just in time to avoid an empty cage that had gone barrelling towards his face.

"Now comes the best part! Come here," Valentina said, her eyes narrowed against the dust that stung her eyes. It was the first time she had ever attempted to cast such a complicated spell, but she was unafraid. Her heart had been shattered into a million pieces—nothing would stop her from taking her revenge.

The servant didn't have time to react that Valentina had already grabbed his robes and was attempting to push him into the cauldron—it was starting to froth and spill over the edges, whilst the tornado in the room got stronger. There wasn't a lot of time left. Either Godfrey got in the pot or the spell would fail and most likely kill them both. Valentina wasn't ready to die.

"Why are you doing this milady!" Godfrey screamed in desperation, trying to wrestle off the witch's claws. Her eyes were wild and she was beyond reason—she wasn't thinking anymore, she was acting purely on instinct.

"Because he left me!" Valentina concentrated her strength in one final heave—with a loud plop Godfrey fell face-first into the cauldron, splashing the area in green.

With an evil cackle, the witch scrambled to her feet, disregarding her dishevelled clothing and hair. It was done. Ignoring the bloodcurdling screams, Valentina watched impassively as her foolish servant melted away into the goo, quickly muttering the spell under her breath. The last thing she saw of him was his hand, which swatted one last time at the air, before it too, was gone.

The cauldron simmered down, as did the wind. All the objects in the room tumbled down onto the floor, and the witch had to cover her head with her arms. Things remained calmed for a heartbeat or two—during which Valentina thought about having possibly messed up the spell—until the cauldron suddenly started bubbling up again, fast than before.

All of a sudden, it began expanding as the creature within began to grow, bigger and bigger until it cause the cauldron to burst like a popcorn kernel, revealing a misshapen green blob, which seemed to grow larger by the second. Valentina's smile vanished, giving away to fear as she frantically searched for a way out. The thing just kept growing and growing, until it broke through the ceiling and the surrounding walls.

Valentina managed to slip through a gap just in time, because moments later, the entire place came crashing down. Wood and Stone came raining down on the fleeing witch, intent to crush her into a pulp. But she dodged each and every one of the as she ran across the clearing and dove into the thick cloud of bushes that lined the edge of the woods.

An ear-splitting screech caused the blood in her veins to freeze.

Slowly, taking good care not to give herself away, Valentina peered through the greenery to take a peek at the abomination she had created. The size of a watch tower, and the width of a mountain, her dragon was the foulest creature she had ever laid eyes on—it didn't look a thing like the one in the incantations-book. It wasn't majestic-looking, with a long and slender body and gently swishing tail. It was fat and deformed, with a bump-laden spine and a limb that was crooked and short compared to the others. The dragon, the colour of vomit, screeched again and swung it's big head, most likely searching for the cause of its forsaking.

It didn't take long for Valentina to realise what this meant.

Godfrey was now a dragon. 

A/N:

Hey, guys! I'm on a roll (lmao) this is my entry for the "To Slay A Dragon" contest. The word count, after a ton of cutting down, is currently 1496. Comment and vote if you enjoyed this!

Update: I didn't win. 😔 But congratulations to the winners! 😜