# Crossing Paths 1: Reunion

By: TheDragonBoy

## Content

“Come on, Rust, we should be able to see it from the top of this hill.”

Rust snorted unenthusiastically as he followed Max from behind.

“Alright, Lily, it should be right over this hill.”

“Uuuuugh, why couldn’t we have just flown here?”

“I’ve been flying all day, my wings are tired.”

“Fine, but couldn’t I have at least stayed in your belly?”

“You’re the one who said you didn’t want to go into town slimy.”

Rust suddenly froze and began to growl as a familiar scent crossed his nostrils. Max stopped and looked back. Seeing how alert the dragon had become, the boy slowly backed up toward him and started scanning the surrounding trees.

“What’s going on?” he asked. He glanced at Rust again. There was something strange in his expression, he wasn’t just on edge, he seemed almost… afraid? He wasn’t sure he had ever seen the dragon scared, what kind of terrifying creature had he caught a whiff of?

“Hold on tight and stay low!” Mallow suddenly snapped.

Lily obeyed quickly, hugging the dragoness’ spine tightly atop her back.

“What is it?” the girl asked quietly.

“There’s another dragon nearby.”

What Mallow didn’t say was that the scent seemed to ring a bell, but she couldn’t quite place it.

Max heard a loud rustling nearby and snapped to it as Rust did. A faint series of thuds began to vibrate under their feet as something huge approached, shaking the trees as it got closer. Just before it emerged, he made out a few flashes of dragon scale from beyond the foliage and his heart skipped a beat. He prepared himself for the worst as a huge head suddenly emerged from the canopy, along with an equally huge leg, extended threateningly in their direction with claws bared.

The enormous dragon locked its piercing gaze right on to them.

“Max!?” came a completely unexpected voice, so unexpected that Max thought he might have imagined it. He blinked and spared a glance away from the snarling dragon’s fangs and toward its back where his ears told him the voice had come from. He had to do a doubletake, but a wave of relief washed over him as he finally recognized the girl sitting atop the dragon’s back.

Mallow was distracted from her growl-filled staring contest with Rust as Lily suddenly slid down her outstretched forelimb.

“Lily!” she cautioned sharply. The girl stopped just a step ahead of Mallow’s paw, staring at the boy now only a few feet in front of her.

“It is you, isn’t it?” she asked. Max took a deep breath to calm his nerves.

“You guys almost scared us to death,” he breathed in reply. That’s when Mallow finally recognized him. She dropped her head down to get a closer look, no longer aggressive but still on her guard.

“So, you’re alive after all,” she muttered.

“It’s nice to see you again too, uh… Mallow, right?”

“You do remember us! I thought maybe you forgot for a second,” Lily said.

“Yeah, I’m not sure that’s really possible…” Max replied.

Rust, having stopped his growling, was very confused at the sudden change in tone. With a puzzled expression, he took a step toward Lily, sniffing inquisitively. Mallow snarled loudly at this and Rust jerked his head back up to look at her. He growled back at the dragoness to try and look tough, but he couldn’t hide the fact that she had made him flinch so sharply that he had leapt back a full foot.

There was a tense moment as the two dragons glared at each other. Up until then, Lily had been so focused on Max that she had hardly paid any mind to Rust, but now that he had caught her attention she stared at him in fixed silence, an uncomfortable expression on her face as she began to remember things that she would have rather left alone.

“He probably doesn’t remember you,” Max said a bit awkwardly, trying to relieve some of the tension “You only met that one time… Rust,” he turned toward the dragon, “this is Lily.” He gestured toward the girl. Rust eyed the human intently for a moment, nostrils twitching, but didn’t dare move a muscle while the much larger dragoness watched over them. Lily didn’t reply, so Mallow chimed in.

“I’d say he remembers me just fine,” she said.

Well, so much for introductions, Max thought.

“So, what are you two up to?” he asked, trying again to break the ice.

“Oh, um, we were going to a nearby town,” Lily replied, pulling her eyes off the dragon to look back at him.

“Us too,” he said with a hint of surprise, “I was hoping to find someone selling fruit.”

“Oh I love it when they have fruit!” she said with a smile, “Those big green ones are the best. Me and Mallow can never find anything like them out here.”

“That’s cause the traders bring those in from somewhere faraway,” Max explained.

“Really?”

“Yeah, I heard they travel for days just to get it here.”

“Wow…”

“So what are you going to town for?” Max asked.

“I need to find someone to cut my hair.”

“Cut your hair? Why?”

“Cause it’s so long that it sticks to Mallow’s insides and hurts my head,” she explained.

“Oh…” Max dwelled for a moment on the reminder of how the girl commonly let herself be willingly swallowed by the huge dragoness behind her, but he pulled himself out of the thought and back to the conversation.

“It’s been a while since anyone’s cut my hair too,” he added.

A moment of silence arrived as the two ran out of things to say, but then Lily spoke up again.

“Hey, um, why don’t we go into town together?” she suggested.

“Lily!” Mallow scolded.

“What? You’re always saying how you don’t like it when I go by myself; me and Max could keep each other safe. Remember how he saved me that one time?”

Mallow was quiet for a moment. The girl did have a point. Though Max had also once tried to feed her to Rust as an evening meal. The dragoness thought things over….

“Grrr, alright, if you think it’s a good idea. But only if that one stays here where I can keep an eye on him.” She motioned toward the smaller dragon with her snout. Max turned to him.

“What do you say, Rust? Mind staying here with Mallow while me and Lily go into town?”

Rust, refusing to meet his gaze, seemed to think for a moment before giving a quick nod to signal his agreement. The much larger, hostile dragoness still made him nervous, but he wasn’t about to let that show in front of Max.

The next moment, some movement caught the boy’s eye and he turned to see Mallow’s enormous head approaching him. She brought her snout directly above him and inhaled sharply through her nostrils, taking in a long, deep breath. Then she snorted the air back out at him in a hot gust and withdrew, but she kept her eyes locked onto him.

“If anything happens to her, I will follow your scent to the ends of the Earth,” she threatened. Then she shifted her gaze to Lily. “And of course, I could find your scent no matter where anyone would take you, my little snack.”

Max found that nickname rather unnerving, but Lily seemed somehow encouraged by it, cracking a smile on her previously anxious face.

“Don’t worry Mallow, we’ll be careful,” she replied.

…

“Wait, so Rust actually did eat you!?” Lily exclaimed.

“Uh-huh, it was the scariest thing that’s ever happened to me,” Max replied.

“Yeah, I remember the first time Mallow swallowed me, it was pretty scary… but wasn’t it also kind of… nice?”

“Nice!? I was laying on top of bones! I thought I was going to die!” Max insisted.

“You could feel the bones? Usually when Mallow eats something it melts after just a couple seconds.”

“Really? That fast?” The knowledge suddenly made the dragoness seem even more intimidating, if that were possible. “Well, not with Rust. It used to take him days to digest…”

The two kids rounded a corner onto a quieter, empty road as they made their way back out of the town, the sun now beginning to approach the horizon.

“So he really stopped eating people after you asked him to? That’s pretty nice of him.”

“I guess so. He hasn’t done it since then.”

“He must really like you, huh?”

Max’s mind drifted over the past few weeks. It almost seemed weird to say it like that, given his history with the dragon, but it seemed like the truth. Even without their deal Rust was still nearby every morning and every night, keeping an eye on him and even helping him lug around the remains of their ill-gotten loot.

“Eeeep!!”

Max was yanked out of his thoughts. Turning quickly toward Lily, he found that she was no longer walking next to him, but instead was flailing in the grasp of a tall stranger. The man had his arms locked up and around hers, holding her to his chest as her feet kicked frantically below.

“My, isn’t that a pretty dress,” he cooed.

“Let go!” she yelled.

“And let you run away? I don’t think so.” He smiled wickedly.

“Hey! Put her down!” Max demanded. The man peeled his gaze off the girl in his grasp and looked over at Max. He scanned him over once, and his smile quickly faded, replaced by a look of contempt.

“Beat it, slave boy!” He adjusted his grip, tightening it.

“Stop that! What do you want anyway!?” Lily yelled.

“Oh, I just want to have a little fun with you, that’s all…” The man shifted one of his arms and brushed a hand tenderly across her face. Max saw her gasp and her eyes grow wide, and he felt something inside him suddenly spring to life. A rush of adrenaline overtook him.

“I said put her down!!” he yelled. He lunged, throwing all his weight into it, hoping to knock the stranger over. He landed solidly on the man’s shoulder, but he was quickly shoved off by a firm elbow. And just as he reached the ground, he was met with a swift knee to the chest. Max collapsed, clutching his ribs, but forced himself to look up.

“Listen you little runt,” the man spat through his teeth, “if you know what’s good for you, you’ll run back home where it’s safe while you still have a chance.”

“Max!” Lily cried, just before the man turned his back. Max glared up at him, his mind clouded but racing, desperately trying to come up with some sort of plan. There had to be something he could do. His eyes were drawn to a bulge in the man’s silhouette: a pouch that rested against his leg, hanging from his belt.

A lightbulb went on in the boy’s head. There was one thing he could do. Something he had a good amount of practice at. As the man took his first step away, clearly assuming he was home free, Max realized he didn’t have any time to work out the details.

Steeling himself against pain and fear, Max pushed himself back to his feet. Closing the distance between them in two quick steps, he reached out, grabbed the pouch with both hands, and pulled as hard as he could. It came loose with an audible snap. Out of the corner of his eye, Max saw the man look down to his side and realize what was happening, but by then Max had already spun around, and was now running at full speed down the road, listening as coins began to bounce around in his hands with every step.

“Hey!! Get back here you little snake!” Max spared a glance behind him and saw the man shove Lily under his arm as he began to chase after his money. Seeing that his plan was working, Max pushed his legs even harder, sprinting down the road and toward the approaching tree line.

The next few minutes were a blur of pounding footfalls and heartbeats as he raced out of town, checking behind him every so often to make sure he was still being followed, though most of the time he could already tell from the slew of threats and insults that the man continued to hurl at him. Judging the landmarks and terrain as best he could, he weaved his way through the trees, working his way back- he hoped- to where they had left Mallow and Rust. Eventually he came to a stop, panting from exhaustion as he reached the top of a large hill.

“Rust!! *pant* Come out!! *pant* I brought you a snack!!” Max called. That should do it, he thought, I’ve never seen him move faster than when there’s a meal involved… As long as he actually is around here somewhere and I haven’t gotten totally lost.

A few moments later, the man came up behind him, sputtering to a stop as he approached. He seemed just as tired as Max, but also highly motivated, staring the boy down with death in his eyes.

“You thought you could get away with that, runt!?” he growled between breaths, “Now you’ll get what you deserve… *pant* …for making me chase you all the way out here!” Max tried to step back as the man advanced, but he tripped over his own tired feet and fell to the dirt.

“Stay away from him!” Lily shouted, struggling even harder now that they had stopped running. The man abruptly released his grip, dropping her to the ground with a yelp.

“Stay right there,” he ordered, “I won’t keep you waiting long.” He reached down and grabbed hold of Max’s shirt, fist shaking with rage, and lifted him up. Max stared him down, trying to hold back the tears brought on by fatigue and fear, as the man reeled back his fist to strike.

But then there was a sudden rusty-red flash and a loud thud, accompanied by a sharp squeal from a startled Lily, and a grunt from their attacker as he hit the ground. Max found himself suddenly flung through the air as the man released his grip, skidding across the soil as he landed. While he shook off the impact, a low, familiar growl reached his ears.

He opened his eyes again to see Rust just a few feet away, standing over the man with both sets of front claws splayed across his chest. On the other side of the dragon was Lily, still panting and frazzled from the ordeal. As she met his gaze, he took a deep breath. He knew it was all over now.

Forcing himself back to his feet with a grunt, Max staggered over to Lily and offered her a hand. She took it, a hint of wonder entering her eyes as she realized what the boy had just pulled off. But Max missed it, having already turned his attention back to the man, coughing and heaving after having the wind knocked out of him while Rust still pressed down atop his chest.

The dragon turned his head to look at Max, his expression a mix of confusion and pleasant surprise. The boy had made it pretty clear that he no longer wanted to bring back any more tasty humans, but here he was returning once again with a nice, wriggling meal. But before Max had the time or breath to explain, Mallow barged onto the scene.

“I turn my back for a moment and there you go rushing off! I thought I warned you that- Oh, what have we here?” At first the dragoness had only seen Rust, but she had quickly noticed that he was bearing down on top of some human, and soon after noticed the two kids standing nearby.

“Mallow!” Lily cried, rushing over and throwing her tiny arms around her massive leg. The dragoness examined the little girl for a moment, spattered with dirt, obviously upset and smelling of fear. A snarl forming on her snout, the dragoness looked back over at Max with a piercing glare.

“I knew I shouldn’t have let her go with you! What have you done this time!?”

“No Mallow, it wasn’t his fault, really!” Lily defended. The dragoness curtailed her wrath, if for no other reason than to spare Lily the trauma, but continued to inspect the scene with a leery gaze.

“Either way, it seems you two haven’t quite abandoned your ‘deal’ after all.” She gestured at the man, now struggling wordlessly in Rust’s clutches. “Next time keep Lily out of it. She’s been through enough and she doesn’t need to see any more of her own kind die.”

“Wait, that’s not- I didn’t mean for…” Max trailed off as he looked at Lily, only now catching her breath in the safety of the dragoness’ presence. This was so similar to the first time they had met: Lily was scared, Rust was hungry, Mallow was angry, and he was caught right in the middle. And after all, he had led that man here planning for Rust to take care of him, hadn’t he? Despite the circumstances, was this time really so different from the others? Mallow was right, Lily didn’t need to see this.

“Rust… just let him go…” he muttered.

The dragon turned to him and growled sharply in response, offended and annoyed that he was being asked to relinquish his meal.

“Please, just let the man go…” Max repeated.

“No,” came a quiet voice. All eyes turned suddenly to Lily, but she was looking down at the ground. “…Let him do it…” she said. Max gazed at her uncertainly. Mallow stared down with marked surprise.

“Are… are you sure?” Max asked. Lily looked up and stared him straight in the eyes.

“Let. Rust. Eat.” she said slowly. There was something different in her gaze, like a stout flame burning behind her innocent eyes. Max was caught off guard by it, but it was something Lily herself recognized quite well. After all, this wasn’t the first time she had asked a dragon to eat someone.

Rust wasn’t about to wait for her to change her mind, he quickly turned back towards his prey, running his tongue across his teeth as he parted his jaws before the man’s face. Lily glanced away. Rust shot his head forward.

Max watched. He always watched; for whatever reason he could almost never look away. He saw the man’s head make its way into the opening of Rust’s hungry throat, bulging wider and wider as the dragon worked his way up the shoulders in a series of well-rehearsed movements.

This one’s not too big, he shouldn’t have any trouble getting him down, Max found himself thinking- old habits and all.

Before long the man’s flailing arms were drawn inside as well, slipping easily down the dragon’s wet gullet. Rust hadn’t had a meal like this in quite a while, and he seemed very eager to get the wriggling human tucked inside where he belonged.

“Wow, look at his neck…” came a quiet voice. Max flinched. He hadn’t even noticed, but Lily had come up to stand next to him, gazing fixedly at Rust’s meal as it made its way through his jaws. For someone who seemed upset and conflicted a moment ago, she seemed oddly interested now.

“Is Rust going to be alright?” she asked.

“Uh- yeah,” Max answered awkwardly, “He can stretch more than that.”

“Really? I wonder if Mallow’s neck can stretch like that…”

Now Max found himself staring at Lily rather than Rust, eyeing her with an uneasy expression. When he watched the dragon eat, it was always with a sort of horrified fixation- like seeing a natural disaster; but Lily seemed to actually… enjoy it. She even seemed to be cheering up.

The girl kept her eyes intently on the dragon and the ever-growing bulge moving down his throat. The man was in up to his waist now, wriggling as much as he could in the hot, tight confines that continued to engulf his body. His legs began to flail wildly as Rust’s tongue came up over his crotch, pushing against it as leverage to draw him even further inside.

Without a word, Lily began to take a few steps closer as the wriggling bulge that was Rust’s meal began to enter his stomach, causing renewed struggles all up and down his neck. Max wanted to say something to caution her but couldn’t find the words. After a few moments of almost trance-like staring, she glanced toward Rust’s mouth to see that only the lower part of the man’s legs still remained outside.

Taking another few steps, she walked around to the dragon’s front to watch as he lifted the remainder of his prey’s body off the ground, raising his head high to aid in the final swallow as gravity helped his meal slide with unnerving ease down into its new home. Lily stood on her tiptoes, trying to get a glance of the man’s feet as the dragon finally lowered his snout again, but all she saw was a glimpse of Rust’s empty maw before he sealed his jaws shut in a satisfied dragon-grin. Seeing this, she quickly walked back around to his flank just in time to watch the tail-end of the dragon’s meal slip from his neck into his belly, curling up into a jiggling ball as it was packed inside.

“Whoa… he actually got all that into his stomach… Mallow’s belly never gets like this…” she watched the swollen gut wiggle and bulge at odd places as the meal within settled. A loud gurgle came from beyond the scales; a signal that the dragon’s belly was getting to work.

“Um… you do remember that that was a person a minute ago, right?” Max asked.

“Yeah, but he was a meanie who tried to take me away and wanted to see me naked,” she said bluntly.

“Wait, that human tried to do what!?” Mallow bellowed. “Why didn’t you say so in the first place!? Max, the next time anyone tries anything like that, you bring them to me and I’ll eat them!” she declared. Max chuckled lightly, mostly with relief at seeing that Mallow was no longer angry- at least not at him. Lily giggled as well, though whether at Mallow’s statement or his response it was hard to tell.

“On second thought, I’m sure a nice, long stay in that tiny belly will be a much more fitting end,” she corrected.

“Mallow, be nice,” Lily said, “Rust’s belly isn’t tiny.” Max smiled; it was good to see her getting back to her usual self- even if that meant weirdly obsessing over dragon bellies.

“Seriously though, you should probably go before the digestion starts,” Max suggested.

“Aww, but I want to see it,” she replied.

“Trust me, not even you want to see that- or hear it,” he insisted. She paused and thought for a moment.

“…Yeah, you’re probably right,” she admitted, “…But maybe next time Rust eats something that isn’t a person, we could come visit.”

“Next time?” Mallow asked disapprovingly.

“Hey, you said it too,” Lily pointed out. The dragoness thought back on her words and scolded herself internally. No matter how guarded she was trying to be, she couldn’t help but let slip how much that boy was growing on her. And Lily did seem to enjoy his company.

“Alright, whatever you want, my little snack. Maybe you two can run into each other and not have someone attack you for a change.”

“That would be nice,” Max agreed. Another loud gurgle escaped from Rust’s stomach, followed by a rather alarmed grunt from the man inside.

“Alright Lily, time to go,” Mallow said.

“Alright Mallow. Bye Rust, bye Max.” She smiled and waved at them as the dragoness’ jaws swiftly came down around her and scooped her up, leaving nothing in her place as they withdrew. Max heard a faint gulp as the dragoness turned away, sending the girl down to her little pocket within.

“Have a good night, you two,” she said as she began to walk away. “Enjoy your meal, Rust.”

Originally Published: 26-Jul-2019