# Rusted 3: Trust

By: TheDragonBoy

## Content

Max sat with his back up against a tree, slowly sipping at a flask of water he held in one hand while munching away at a pastry he held in the other. Life had been good for him recently, better than he could ever remember. His companion Rust lazed in the grass nearby, indulging in what was left of his latest meal. The dragon was about a day into the digestion of his newest victim and his belly was now just beginning to return to normal size.

In the weeks since the two of them had settled down in the area, Max had brought his voracious partner a good number of meals. The dragon had never eaten so well in his life, and Max was reaping the full benefits of their arrangement. The boy had quickly started to develop an eye for spotting the most vile (and wealthy) of men, and had developed a few very convincing stories with which to lure them away. Stories he never had to change since no one lived to hear them twice, as every man- or woman- who followed him found themselves stripped of all their valuables before meeting their end in the tight confines of the dragon’s belly.

Those valuables, of course, were put to good use. Coin, well-made tools and the occasional jewel made for good trading. And now whenever Max went into town he heard rumors of the rich, reclusive man who was staying somewhere nearby; who sent out his slaves to trade fractions of his vast wealth for whatever he fancied at the moment. What people seemed to take note of the most were the dragon scales he used from time to time. With Rust’s neck and belly constantly being stretched to their limits, Max found himself in possession of a small handful of dislodged scales after almost every meal, and they certainly seemed to catch people’s attention.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the only rumor the boy had started to hear. A few days ago, someone had been walking down the main road and caught a glimpse of Rust tackling his latest quarry, and ever since then, word had also been spreading of the “rusted” dragon that lived in the woods, ready to snatch up any poor traveler who crossed its path. While Max was worried that this might cause some problems for them, for now he was quite content to relax in his newfound freedom.

*groan* *gurgle*

Max looked over at Rust as a particularly loud sound escaped from his belly. The boy had gotten used to these kinds of things happening for a little while just after the dragon ate, but his belly had already been quiet for quite a while now, and what’s more he seemed a bit agitated.

Indeed, Rust had been feeling a growing discomfort over the last few hours. He had tried to ignore it at first, relishing in the fullness of his stomach, but it had grown to the point where it now demanded his attention. Something was wrong in his belly. It wasn’t something he experienced often, his gut normally proved quite capable of digesting just about anything he could swallow, but for whatever reason there were some things that it just refused to take. And when that happened, he knew there was only one thing he could do.

Max watched as the dragon stood up, a decidedly aggravated expression on his face, and walked a few feet away.

“Rust? What’s going on?” the boy asked. Despite their time together, and the ever-growing evidence that the dragon could understand what Max was saying quite well, Rust still never seemed to give the boy a direct response. Instead, the dragon just arched his neck as a wet retching sound began to fill the air.

The boy watched with a bit of curiosity, which turned to disgust as he saw a tiny bulge form at the base of the dragon’s neck and realized what was happening. As the small lump began to move along, his disgust slowly turned to concern. It was something about the look on Rust’s face, the intensity of the sound he was making, he seemed almost like he was in pain.

Max stood up and walked closer. He had never seen the dragon hurt before, he almost didn’t believe such a thing could happen. But the more Rust hacked, the more pain he seemed to feel. Whatever this was, it was much more than an upset stomach.

Finally, the bulge reached the dragon’s maw and he opened his jaws, gagging as he spat the contents onto the forest floor. The foul liquid splattered onto the grass, and for a moment Max thought that was the end of it, but then Rust roared and shook his head, nearly knocking the boy over.

“Rust!? What’s wrong?!” he asked.

The dragon brought his front limbs across the end of his neck in distress.

“Rust?!”

The dragon threw his head back and forth again.

“RUST!”

The dragon suddenly turned to him and roared in pain and fury, spreading his jaws wide in the boy’s face; the dragon’s breath rushing past his cheeks as he stared down with wide eyes into the red pit. It lasted only a few seconds before the dragon withdrew and went back to clawing at his muzzle, but it left Max paralyzed in fear. The boy took a deep breath, trying to calm himself as the ringing in his ears subsided. It took a few moments for him to fully recover, but once he did he finally processed what he had just seen.

Something was stuck in the dragon’s maw, stabbed into the pulsing muscle; something sharp and reflective, maybe the size of the boy’s hand. Max watched Rust flail around, now with a bit of sympathy in his eyes, but still too terrified to approach or speak up again. The dragon had always seemed so powerful, so untouchable, it was almost unreal to see him like this- hurting. He wanted to do something, but his nerves kept him in place.

It took a few minutes, but eventually Rust seemed to tire himself out, to the point where he stood panting with his wings drooping at his sides and his head hanging low. The sharp pain still struck at the back of his throat, but it was clear that nothing he was doing was helping that. It must have been that last damn human he ate, he thought, even dead it still managed to get its revenge. He growled at his own inability to relieve the pain in the neck.

The two of them stayed like this for a long few minutes, Max watching as the dragon occasionally growled or winced, until finally the boy worked up the nerve to speak.

“Rust?” he asked meekly.

The dragon continued to stare at the ground. Humans were the whole reason he was in this mess; he was not in the mood to talk to one.

A few seconds of silence passed.

“Rust?” he asked again, a little more firmly.

The dragon growled again, though whether at the pain or the boy was unclear.

“Rust!” Max yelled.

The dragon snapped his head around and glared at the boy, anger and pain clear in his eyes. But this time Max stood his ground and glared right back.

“I’m sick of being ignored all my life! So will you just listen to me so I can help you?!!” He shouted that last part out like he was angry, but truthfully, he only did that to force the words through his fear- because he knew what ‘help’ would mean.

The anger in Rust’s face shattered. There it was again, that buried confidence that gave the little human the nerve even to bellow at a dragon. But what reached the dragon even more was that the boy wasn’t shouting in threats or curses, but demanding to help- even though that would mean the boy would have to…

Max approached, sensing the change in the dragon’s demeanor, he did his best to keep his voice steady.

“We both know what you need, and we both know how I can help you. So just… open up and let’s get this over with.” It was clear that Max was forcing the words out, trying his hardest to convince himself that Rust really did understand and that he really could trust the dragon.

Rust looked into Max’s eyes intently for a moment. Would he really do it…?

The dragon slowly parted his jaws, opening his maw wide before the boy’s frightened but steady form. Max looked past Rust’s pointed teeth to the back of his throat, and there shone clearly the root of the problem. A badge, made of some strange metal with inch-long spikes protruding from the edges, two of which were embedded in the flesh of the dragon’s mouth and holding the object in place, the wound leaking red blood onto the saliva covered obstruction. Max recognized the badge from the last man Rust had eaten, it had been pinned to his shirt and Max hadn’t had a chance to remove it before the dragon had swallowed the man’s chest. Somehow it had managed to survive a day in Rust’s belly almost unscathed.

Max raised his hand, preparing to reach out, his arm shaking a bit despite himself. He stared into the dragon’s maw. A maw he had watched regularly swallow up men two- even three times his size- now with nothing between him and it but some thin air and a little piece of metal. He glanced down for a moment at the small puddle of vomit that steamed at his feet.

That was a man yesterday… now that’s all that’s left… If I get eaten too, I’ll be sharing a stomach with the rest of it.

Max looked back up at Rust, something was different in his eyes, different from any way the dragon had looked at him before. Was it just the pain? Or was it something deeper, like Max was daring to hope? He bit his lip and slowly reached out his hand. Silently, his twitching fingers passed the rows of sharp, pointed teeth and entered the red world of Rust’s mouth. He stared at his arm, now fully at the dragon’s mercy.

Even after everything he had been through with the dragon, he had never had to put this much trust in him. Sure, he had stuck his hand in Rust’s mouth once before, but then it had been filled with an entire man- it’s not like Rust could have bitten down even if he had wanted to. And of course he had spent the last few weeks living- sleeping- with him, but the dragon had always been fed and lazy and even then Max had always kept his distance.

He had convinced himself that as long as he kept bringing the dragon bigger meals than himself that he would be safe, but would that reasoning really hold up now? Now that he was actually inside Rust’s hungry maw? True, Rust needed him to dislodge the badge, but wouldn’t swallowing him down knock the badge out of place just as easily? It might be a bit more painful, but he’d get a good meal out of it. Or what about afterwards? Once the obstruction was out of the way, what was stopping him from just gulping the boy down or at least taking off his arm? Surely, he had enough room for the boy’s small frame in his belly after a full day of digesting.

But that doesn’t matter now, it’s too late to turn back… and Rust needs my help.

Max stopped his hand just in front of the badge, all the way at the back of Rust’s throat. The spikes were pointed forward and outward, preventing the dragon from forcing the object the rest of the way without ripping through his own muscle. Max would have to push it back into the throat, so he could turn it and pull it out cleanly.

He noticed a bit of drool starting to pool around the dragon’s tongue. Was that just from keeping his mouth open? Or from the thought of having a nice, flavorful human already partway into his maw? Max decided he better not take too long and risk finding out the hard way.

“Okay Rust, I’m gonna do it… I’m trusting you.” Rust didn’t give any direct response, though given their current arrangement there weren’t many moves he could make safely or that wouldn’t perhaps carry a double meaning. And maybe stillness was actually the perfect response, a way for the dragon to show he understood and would keep himself still through to the end. Max didn’t have the time to decide.

He grasped the metal badge, and pushed.

Rust roared in pain for a split second before cutting himself off as every muscle in the area around his throat reflexively squeezed tight, in an attempt to squash the pain into submission. Max felt his hand forced against the slick flesh at the dragon’s throat as the entire passage contracted, but barely had time to process that because immediately after he realized that Rust’s jaws were in the process of instinctively snapping shut.

Max’s eyes went wide, he looked away and he screamed as he felt the dragon’s mouth close around his upper arm.

A moment later, as his scream faded along with the dragon’s roar, he found himself panting and shaking from head to toe. But to his relief, he could still feel his fist wrapped tightly around the badge. He had never been so happy to feel the inside of a dragon’s mouth. He wiggled his fingers, just to be sure, and as he did he felt the dragon’s throat relaxing as the shock passed.

Before his scattered mind could process much more, Rust parted his jaws, revealing the boy’s arm once again, still strikingly in one piece. Max forced himself to focus on his outstretched hand. Keeping it as steady as he could, he slowly twisted his arm, taking care not to let the metal he was holding touch any of the tender muscle around it. Once it was at the proper angle, Max slowly pulled back, withdrawing it with a few strands of thick saliva, which broke off one by one as they reluctantly relinquished their hold on the potential meal.

All he was aware of for the next few moments were his rapid pulse and loud breaths as he recovered from the fright.

He almost bit my arm off… but he didn’t. He stopped himself- he must have.

A sudden pressure at his side shocked Max back to reality. Rust had nudged him with his snout. The boy looked at him in surprise.

“That- that’s the first time you ever really touched me,” he managed faintly.

The dragon did little more in response than continue to look into the boy’s eyes.

Max brought his hand up to his face, still gripping the metal badge with compulsive force. He did his best to relax.

“So, this was in your tummy, huh?... N-no wonder you got sick… I guess we should be more careful about what you eat…”

Rust nodded twice.

Now that was a direct answer.

Max continued to stare at the piece of metal in his hand for another few seconds, until Rust nudged him again, specifically in his shoulder. That’s when Max finally got the idea that the dragon was trying to tell him something.

“What-?” he glanced to his side where Rust had indicated and was surprised to see a trickle of blood streaming down his upper arm. There was a sizable cut a few inches below his shoulder, where the dragon’s jaws had closed around him. He gazed at it in disbelief, unable to feel any pain from it, at least for the moment.

His teeth, Max thought, I guess he wasn’t able to control himself that well after all.

Rust made a short crooning tone and nudged the boy softly one last time, breaking his trance. Max looked at the dragon, his eyes seeming to show some genuine concern. Further, they almost seemed to ask the question “What should we do?”

“I- I should go into town, there’s a doctor there who I can pay to help me,” Max said.

Rust seemed hesitant for a moment, but then nodded his head.

Max slowly turned and started to walk- clumsily at first. He stopped at his pile of “loot” and gently placed the badge down on top, picking up instead a small pouch of coins in his good hand. He then continued to walk towards town.

Rust followed until they reached the edge of the main road, where he stopped, but continued to watch Max go until he was out of sight. Whether it was from some genuine affection or just pure astonishment- or perhaps even both- no one could say, but one thing was certain in the dragon’s mind: That is no ordinary human.

Later that day…

The town’s resident doctor didn’t take much convincing. With some clever backstory and a good bit of coin he was more than inclined to take good care of the little “slave” boy. Within an hour the ordeal was finished, and Max was on his way out of town with a bandage on his arm. He knew in another day or two he’d be back, in search of Rust’s next meal, but for now he had too much still whirling around in his mind to think about that.

Which is why he was particularly surprised when someone ran up to him and stood in his way. He looked up from the ground with a start and his eyes fell on the face of another young boy, cheerful and smiling.

“Hi, what’s your name?” he asked.

“Uh- Max,” Max replied, very surprised by the way he was being addressed. No one- not even other kids- had ever talked to him so openly. Had his parents never taught him not to speak to slaves? “What do you want?” Max asked politely.

“I wanted to know if you’ve seen any dragons around, or maybe heard of any around here?” the boy asked. Max took a definite pause, which he tried his best to cover up.

“A dragon? Why?” he asked as inconspicuously as he could.

“Oh, well me and my dad heard there was one somewhere around this town, so I’m helping him gather information,” the boy gestured to a burly man a few dozen feet away with a sword at his hip, presumably his father.

“But- but why would you go looking for a dragon?” Max asked.

“Because we’re dragon hunters,” the boy replied cheerfully. Max’s stomach dropped, but he immediately composed himself, praying it hadn’t shown.

“Really? Real dragon hunters?” he asked with false wonder. The boy nodded enthusiastically. “Well, I haven’t heard of any dragons around here… But I have heard they are very dangerous, so you should be very careful with what you’re hunting.”

“Don’t worry, my dad’s one of the best!” the boy replied. Max paused for another moment.

“Well, I really need to get back to my master,” Max said, and then ran off before the boy could say another word.

Dragon hunters, because I don’t have enough to worry about.

Originally Published: 9-Aug-2018