Content
Well it was official: Rust was hungry again. This, of course, was nothing new, but the timing of his digestion had been pretty poor this time around. He had already started feeling a little peckish last night, as his previously swollen belly flattened out for the umpteenth time, and now after a full night’s rest he was definitely ready to eat again.
The spoiled dragon had already made this quite clear to Max, who had quickly outfitted himself and set out for the nearby town. He would undoubtably return with a nice tasty human to devour, as he did faithfully every few days, but that would take time. Especially recently, the boy had been taking longer and longer to come up with a meal. Supposedly he was spending the time choosing acceptable prey, trying to select only the least humane specimens. Rust didn’t really care who his partner brought back as long as they were filling, but he allowed the boy his input.
Unfortunately, that left the dragon in situations like this: lying in the woods with hours of waiting ahead of him and only a grumbling belly for company. He tried to ignore it at first, trying instead to imagine what manner of meal he might be brought next, but that just made him hungrier- until finally, the somewhat lazy drake decided to take things into his own claws.
Rust rose to his feet and stretched, surveying the sky through the trees. The conditions seemed well enough, and it had been a while since he had hunted anything himself. The promise of easy meals delivered straight to his maw made the effort to hunt seem wasted, but he did miss it in a way. He would go out and catch something small- something easy- just to hold him over until Max came back.
So he pointed himself at a break in the canopy, spread his wings and launched himself into the sky. Gaining altitude quickly, he began to survey the land below for a snack. He didn’t want to fly too close to the town, in case he caused a panic which might make it harder for Max to find him a meal, but he knew from experience that if he stayed near the outskirts he would probably run into…
Perfect. After hardly any time searching, Rust had found his target: a small flock of sheep, spread lazily across an open hillside. He inspected the group from afar; the livestock all had their heads down, grazing in ignorance, ripe for the picking. So he picked one out, a smaller one closest to him, and set himself towards it. Normally he might have gone after one of the thicker options, but he didn’t want to be too full when his main course arrived.
He waited until he was almost on top of it, and then he dove, intending to take his prey down before any of the flock even saw him coming. But just as he finished aiming himself, a flash of deep red darted across the field, and his prey was suddenly gone. Rust flared his wings and came to a hover as a heavy thud reached his ears and the rest of the flock began to scatter. Irritated and surprised, he scanned the hillside to try and figure out what had just happened, but what he found was the last thing he had expected.
Another dragon now stood in the grass, having swooped in low at incredible speed and carried its kill a sizable distance before returning to the ground. But this wasn’t just any dragon, no, he knew those flame-red scales anywhere, but he still almost couldn’t believe it. After all this time…
Rust began to spiral down, making an obvious descent that quickly caught the other dragon’s attention, but all it did was look up and watch as Rust swooped in and alighted on the grass a few feet away. This dragon was slightly larger and taller, with strongly defined muscles that denoted quite an active hunting style. And it wore a welcoming smile, with proud eyes that looked over Rust as he approached.
There was no mistaking it, it was definitely him: Rust’s flame-red brother, strongest of the clutch.
The pair greeted each other warmly, looking each other over to admire their growth. It had been a long time- years- since they had run into each other. It seemed they had both gotten along quite well. Rust complemented his brother on his impressive kill, noting that he had coincidentally been going after the same sheep. The red dragon looked as if he was about to respond, until a subtle, distinct scent caught his sensitively tuned nose. He lifted his snout to the wind, a more serious expression coming over his face.
Somewhat abruptly, he offered his kill to Rust, explaining that it wouldn’t be right to steal a kill from his weaker sibling, before he turned and started walking off, clearly following something in the air. Rust was confused for a moment, until he too noticed the smell. In fact he might have noticed it earlier had he not spent the last couple months getting so used to it.
There was a human nearby. In retrospect that shouldn’t have really come as a surprise; these flocks near settlements often had a human watching over them, and if the scent was any indication, this one had gotten pretty scared when two dragons suddenly appeared from the blue. But it was no surprise to Rust that his brother had instantly jumped on its trail.
Leaving the sheep behind, Rust decided to follow his brother, and as he did he couldn’t help but look over his clutch-mate’s least appealing feature: a long line of jagged scales, running along the side of his underbelly, just hiding the scar left behind by his gravest encounter… Rust frowned as he remembered that day. The pain. The fear. His brother had never really been the same after that, especially when humans were involved. No matter how many they had hunted, he never seemed to satisfy his hunger for revenge.
The scent was getting stronger now, leading the pair straight to the source. Just like old times, Rust followed close behind as his brother quickly traced it to the door of a small wooden shack. The old thing had seen better days; a poor choice of hiding for a desperate man.
The red dragon gave a devilish smirk, before his eyes bulged with a surge of adrenaline. With a strong swing of his neck, he smashed his head through the feeble wood, almost completely knocking out two of the walls and sending fragments flying across the ground with a loud clatter. Sure enough, a terrified scream erupted from within as the human crammed himself into the only remaining corner of the structure.
Rust looked over their prey: a younger man dressed in white who stared up at them from the ground with horror in his eyes. His brother began to growl fiercely at the human, apparently for no other reason than to scare him even more. It worked. The man squealed, pushing himself back against his corner as if it were a mouse-hole that he could escape through.
The red dragon advanced, slowly, one menacing step at a time, until his snout was just inches away from the man’s face. The man had no choice but to watch, petrified, as the beast slowly opened his mouth, revealing a maw even redder than his scales. His slimy tongue slowly crept out, stroking across the human’s face with deceptive gentleness. The man tried to fight it away with his hands, but he was shaking too much to be effective.
“P-p-please… no…” the shepherd managed. Rust knew that they could both understand his plea full well, but he knew just as well that it wouldn’t do much but encourage his brother further. The red dragon, upon hearing this, stared the man dead in the eyes for a sickeningly long moment. And then suddenly, without any warning, he snapped his jaws forward, engulfing the man up past his shoulders.
The human began to panic and flail, but his predator was ready, pinning the majority of the man’s body against his meager shelter and restraining his one free arm with a decisive set of claws. The dragon seemed to revel in those first muffled screams, feeling them vibrate through his throat. But he didn’t stop there. Next he began to press his claws into the man’s arm, just enough to hurt, sending him into a total frenzy. Only then did the flame-red dragon take a swallow, just a small one, beginning his prey’s slow descent into his oven of a belly. Bit by bit he allowed the man to slip down his throat, pausing at every opportunity to press his claws into the man’s clothes or score the man’s skin with his teeth.
While his brother enjoyed himself, Rust was being reminded first hand just how much his sibling despised humans. Rust himself had always held some animosity for what they had done to his proud brother; and after the incident he had joined right in, hunting them and swallowing them whole just like he saw his sibling doing. But this was a definite step further.
The man was in up to his waist now, but his tortured cries could still be heard, ringing out as muffled wails through the powerful walls of the dragon’s throat. The red beast pressed on with an intensely animalistic gaze, cutting little nicks in his prey’s skin with his pointed teeth and running his tongue along to drink up the tiny fluids that leaked out, letting them bleed into the redness of his maw.
The poor human was hardly really moving now. Normally when Rust swallowed someone, they stayed kicking strong well past their entry into his belly, but this one was just sort of twitching, still alive but too exhausted and overwhelmed to put up any more of a fight. Rust always did enjoy the feeling of a nice human wriggling down his throat, but now he wondered what this must feel like. His brother sure seemed to enjoy it, sending them down slowly and tasting their insides, maybe he would too?
It wasn’t much longer before the red dragon had his meal swallowed all the way to its feet. With the man’s head now poking at the stomach entrance, the dragon gave a powerful swallow, seemingly pressing as hard as he could, burying his prey inside once and for all with a resounding *gulp*. Rust watched as the fidgeting form slid down his brother’s throat, until it disappeared completely into his swelling belly. Another meal to digest; another human to punish.
As the red dragon licked his chops, Rust suddenly found himself thinking about Max. At this point in one of his meals he would usually be looking to the boy now, seeing his reaction; horrified, vengeful, riveted, revolted; never quite the same. He wondered how his brother might feel about their little arrangement: using a human to lure more of their kind? Somehow he doubted that his sibling would approve of any dealings with a human, circumstances be damned. And sure, Max seemed nice and loyal enough, but he knew from experience what came from staying around humans, didn’t he? His brother had definitely shown him that. And in the end, Max was no different than any of the other humans he ate, right? Just the loose end of a little deal he kept up to indulge himself.
Rust looked to his brother’s slightly bulging belly, and tried to imagine that it was Max inside, all nibbled and worn. But he could hardly manage it for more than a second before his mind conjured up an image of the boy’s face, crying or grinning or sleeping soundly. Rust snorted and looked away, at odds with himself. But before he had time to continue his thoughts, his brother turned to him.
The red dragon explained that it was time for him to move on, and that it was nice to hunt with him again- even just for a moment. He showed those proud eyes again- proud of his little sibling. He reminded Rust that the sheep he had killed was his to take, and then the red dragon spread his wings wide, and departed into the blue.
Rust looked over the shattered wooden shelter, then looked back down the hill to his waiting snack. Somehow, he didn’t feel like he had much of an appetite anymore.