# Rusted 4: Encounter

By: TheDragonBoy

## Content

Max was not having a good day. As the boy made his way down the wide beaten path, the sun sinking slowly behind him, he was nervously scanning the trees, dreading the inevitable moment that was to come. Because this time, he was walking down the road alone. Rust, his hungry dragon companion, was undoubtably hiding somewhere just beyond the tree line, waiting for him to return with another tasty human to devour. But despite his best efforts, Max was returning emptyhanded.

He had spent the past two days trying to convince various townsfolk to follow him out into the woods, but it looked like his luck had finally come to an end. Word of the many recent disappearances had spread throughout the settlement and mixed with the growing rumor of a man-hungry dragon lurking outside the town. No matter how convincing a story Max schemed up, it seemed people were just too scared to go out by themselves.

The sudden appearance of the self-proclaimed dragon hunters had not helped things either. The armor-clad man and his son had spent days asking around, trying to gather information on any dragon sightings in the area. Max had made it a point to avoid them at all costs, but also to keep tabs on their activities. He had to make sure he stayed one step ahead of them; the last thing he wanted was for them to find Rust, taking him out of the picture and sending the boy back to his fate as a hopeless slave- or worse, finding out his part in all this, which he was sure would beget an even worse punishment.

And they had been getting close too. Not long after they had arrived, Max had overheard a conversation between them and a local merchant about a child who had been trading in an unusually large amount of dragon scale. Luckily the description hadn’t been any more specific than that, but it was more than enough to make the boy nervous.

…That was until just the other day, when the dragon hunters suddenly disappeared. Max had been hopeful at first, hopeful that the growing fear of the townspeople would subside now that the people stoking the metaphoric fire were gone, but their sudden disappearance only seemed to frighten everyone that much more.

As the boy slowly made his way from the town, he was faced with the unavoidable question of what Rust would do when he saw Max walking back alone for the second day in a row. When they had first met, the dragon had made it all too clear that if he ended up leaving the beast without a meal, Rust would be taking the boy’s own tasty flesh as forfeit. But they had bonded a lot since then, right? Surely Rust would be a bit more forgiving than that… right? Of course he had also never failed the dragon before, and Rust would be hungry…

“Hello,” came a somewhat high-pitched voice.

Max looked up from the dirt with a start and was quite surprised to find he wasn’t as alone as he had thought. Standing in front of him in the early twilight was… a girl? Yeah, a girl. About his age, with a warm smile and a white dress. Max stared silently for a moment, blinking a few times.

“What are you doing out here so late?” she asked in a friendly tone.

“Oh, um… just… walking,” Max replied, regaining a bit of composure.

“But, where are you going so late?” she asked.

“I… nowhere really, I just like to walk before bed, that’s all,” he lied.

“Hmm, it is really pretty when the sun goes down,” she replied, taking a moment to look around at the long shadows streaking across the ground.

“What about you?” Max asked, getting his guard back up a bit; the last time someone had approached him so openly- specifically a child- it had turned out to be the son of a dragon hunter.

“Huh?” the girl replied.

“Well why are you out here so late all alone?” he asked in an innocent-enough voice.

“Oh, I’m waiting for my friend Mallow. She said I should stay here by the road until she gets back.” There was a small pause in the conversation. “I’m Lily by the way,” she added, smiling at the boy a bit wider.

“…Max…” he replied, caught off guard again both by her looks and her friendliness.

“‘Max’. Well, I hope you have a nice- AHHH!”

Max’s heart skipped a beat and his whole body flinched, the shock nearly knocking him off his feet. One moment he had been talking to her, pleasantly distracted, and now it was as if reality had smacked him right across the face, like a blow from his old slave master. Now he found himself panting lightly, staring at Rust- one clawed limb pressed against the white fabric covering Lily’s chest. The girl started to struggle, trying in vain to wriggle out from underneath as she took in what was happening.

“You- you’re not Mallow! Max, run!” she cried.

Rust turned his head toward the boy, a distinctly displeased expression on his face. Max blinked a few times, the hungry dragon’s piercing gaze pulling him sharply back into the moment.

…Of course he’s unhappy, he was expecting me to bring him back something big… If she hadn’t been here…

“It- it was the best I could do, okay!?” Max spat in reply.

Rust growled lightly, angrily flashing a bit of teeth before turning back to his prey.

Lily glanced at Max, her mouth hanging open in a frown, “Max…” He met her gaze as she realized what was happening. “Mallow… MALLOW! MALL-”

Max watched, frozen in place as Rust’s maw suddenly engulfed the girl’s head. Just like always, cutting off his victim’s cries before they could draw too much attention. The boy was overcome with a whirlpool of emotions: panic, terror, guilt and remorse. He had never felt bad about any of the other people Rust had eaten, but she had seemed so nice… so innocent.

But what could he do? Run over and grab her flailing legs? She was so small compared to the dragon’s normal meals that one gulp had brought her in to her chest. There was no way he’d be able to pull her out. And even if he did, what was he supposed to say to Rust? That he hadn’t brought him anything to eat? That even though there was a nice, tasty (albeit small) human right here, Max wouldn’t let him eat it?

If I try anything, Rust will probably just eat us both… that would definitely be a more filling meal than just her. Max thought back to what the girl had said, about waiting for her friend. Who would leave a little girl alone out here anyway? If anything this ‘Mallow’ was probably just trying to get rid of her…

Rust shot the boy another glance, evidently trying to remind him of his part of the deal. More by the dragon’s will than his own, Max took a step forward, about to do as he had done before: search his latest quarry for valuables before Rust had a chance to lose his patience and swallow them down. But this time he stopped, a slight blush appearing on his face. The thought of searching through the young girl’s dress just didn’t seem appropriate. Besides, she didn’t look like she had anything valuable on her anyway.

Max heard Lily’s muffled cries as her high voice bled through Rust’s hide and spilled from his mouth. The dragon was waiting for him to make the next move. The boy tensed for a moment in indecision.

Even if I hadn’t come when I did, Rust would have found her and eaten her anyway. At least this way I get to take the credit for it… It’s better this way- for everyone- this is the way it has to be.

“Just hurry and shut her up!” Max snapped, looking away from the scene.

Rust wasn’t happy with the boy’s tone, nor did he understand why his partner was passing up his opportunity, but he was too hungry to care. Max bit his lip as he heard the all too familiar sounds of the dragon swallowing, knowing that Rust was slowly working the girl down his throat, probably savoring every moment of it, his stomach eagerly awaiting its chance to welcome her as his next meal. He heard her cries getting fainter as she was buried deeper and deeper within the dragon’s gullet.

Just get it over with…

*THUMP*!

A sharp whistling sound filled the air, followed by a sudden crash as something large hit the ground nearby, the impact sent dust billowing out over the road and the impact sent a shockwave through the ground almost strong enough to knock Max over. Before the boy could regain his bearings or wave the dust from his eyes, he heard a growl, deep and loud, followed by a voice.

“Let. Her. Go!”

The voice deformed into a roar as the words came to an end, hitting home all the fury that they conveyed. Max looked around frantically, trying to figure out what had just happened, until his eyes came upon a column of purple scales. He followed the form upward as his mouth fell open and his eyes widened, because he quickly realized he was staring up at the face of an enormous dragon.

The beast stood many times his size, small craters in the ground at its feet where it had landed- apparently at a recklessly fast speed. It was the biggest, most terrifying thing he had ever seen, and it was glaring right at them, eyes ablaze. Max might have passed out right on the spot had it not been for the fact that the dragon wasn’t actually looking directly at him, but more so at Rust.

“Let her go, NOW!!” the voice roared again.

It can talk!!? Max thought in disbelief. He had never heard of such a thing, but there was nothing else around that could have possibly produced such a thunderous sound. Of course what he was even more concerned about was the meaning behind its words.

The boy followed the enormous dragon’s gaze back to Rust. The now-runner-up for the most terrifying creature he had ever seen stood with an understandable mixture of fear and shock on his face. The ends of his latest meal’s legs could still be seen kicking about between his jaws, her muffled cries now mostly drowned out by her surroundings.

To Max’s surprise, Rust appeared to weather the intimidation, his expression became colored with defiance. The smaller dragon growled around the meal still clutched in his throat. Why should this dragon get my meal? It would barely even be a taste to them! And besides, it’s already as good as mine!

The purple dragon brought its head down lower, its eyes practically bulging with anger.

“You release her right now or I’ll cut you open and take her myself!!”

The intensity and volume of the beast’s words was finally enough to send Max off his feet. Now half sitting up, he looked back at Rust, his vision shaking from the tremors that were rolling through his body. Max watched as Rust’s resolve weakened like a burning wall, before finally collapsing under the piercing gaze of his towering counterpart.

The dragon looked away towards the ground, before his neck slowly began to pulse. It didn’t take much effort for Rust to cough up the partially swallowed morsel, depositing the girl back onto the ground in a thick layer of viscous saliva. He cast one quick, spiteful glare at the larger dragon before turning and running off into the darkening forest.

For a moment, Max couldn’t move. He stared breathlessly at the young girl, overwhelmed by everything that had just happened. Lily instantly pulled herself to her feet and ran to the dragon, throwing her arms around one of its giant legs. She stood like that, sobbing for a moment, before turning her head to look right at him.

Max stared into her eyes for a moment. She seemed terrified and hurt; betrayed and shaken. Tears rolled down her face. He couldn’t tell what she was thinking, he could hardly think anything himself at that point, but he could tell she knew he had had his part to play in all this. She knew what he had tried to do.

His attention was suddenly grabbed by the giant dragon. Its head was now pointed in his direction, its angry gaze aimed directly at him. It gave a low, threatening growl. It didn’t need to speak another word in his tongue to get its message across.

Almost before he knew it, Max had scrambled to his feet and turned towards the trees, sprinting as fast as his legs could carry him away from those flaming eyes and everything they were attached to.

He certainly had better odds with a hungry Rust, than anywhere near that dragon.

Originally Published: 14-Aug-2018