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“You’re useless, brat! Utterly useless!” yelled a man. The outburst was followed by the faint thud of a body hitting the dirt, which in turn was followed by the sounds of stifled sobbing. “I give you a simple job: shine my blade, and you can’t even manage that! How do you expect to earn your keep around here, boy?!”
The boy in question didn’t answer, focusing instead on trying to contain his tears, he knew his master didn’t take kindly to tears. The angry man grunted and swatted something nearby, sending a few unseen items clattering to the ground, but the boy was too scared to look up. He did his best to suppress a gasp as he felt himself grabbed by the worn collar of his tattered shirt and hoisted up into the air.
“Now listen here, brat! We’re running low on water, so you’re going to go out and find some or I’ll make sure you’re the first one to shrivel up!” The man paused a moment to glare into the boy’s face as the kid was forced to meet his gaze, before throwing him to the mud once again.
The boy wiped an arm across his face and took a sideways glance at the rest of the camp. The other slaves that made up their group were making an obvious effort to pretend they didn’t notice him, going about their jobs with their eyes glued anywhere else.
“Well? Get going!” the man yelled, kicking a bit of dirt on him for final emphasis before turning and walking away. The boy stood up slowly, doing his best to hold himself together. He turned toward the trees and began to walk.
Now, this boy did have a name: Max, but Max doubted that his master actually remembered it, having called him nothing but “brat” or “boy” or “runt” for the many years he had been in the man’s “care”. The rest of his company were hardly better. Sure, they didn’t abuse him like their master did, but they didn’t exactly do him any favors either. No matter what the master did they just kept to their work, hardly ever spoke a word or even spared a glance. And things had only gotten worse since they had set out a few days ago; they were supposed to be headed to a nearby town, but Max was almost sure they were lost at this point.
As he trudged off into the forest and away from the camp, he started to release his emotions, but rather than break down and cry his face began to contort with anger. It wasn’t fair, he told himself; the master throws a knife at him and expects him to somehow know how to clean it right? And he had done a damn good job at it anyway! What had he even done wrong?!
“And now I’m supposed to find water!?” Max yelled, beginning to think out loud now that he was out of earshot, “How in the world does he expect me to do that!?” He kicked a rock into a nearby tree and sighed, “At least I get a chance to be away from them. Maybe I’ll get lucky?”
The young boy carefully scouted the forest before him, looking for any sign of a stream or lake, but he found none. He pouted and continued walking, entertaining himself by kicking more rocks as he went. He kept on like this for a little while, until he heard one of his rocks make a distinctly strange sound as it bounced. Curious, he walked over to where the stone had landed. What he found was a small reddish object, half buried in the dirt. He picked it up and examined it; it looked almost like a layer of rusted metal, but it was smooth and rounded and shone a brighter red as it caught the sun.
Max held the gleaming object out in front of him to get a better look. “What is this thing?” he wondered out loud. Another similar glint caught his eye from further into the woods. He looked beyond his hand, expecting to find another of these objects laying in the brush, but what he saw instead made his stomach drop.
A pair of large, piercing eyes stared at him from the shadows; the eyes of something big, and hungry. His heart skipped a beat as he instinctively realized that he was staring into the eyes of a predator, but before his heart could beat again the thing was already on top of him. Max barely had enough time to put up a hand to cover his face before he felt the beast tackle him, knocking him to the ground and pinning him with one thick limb.
Dazed and panting, Max looked up into the ravenous face of a dragon. The boy screamed and tried to struggle, but quickly found he had no chance of escape.
“Let me go! Let me go!” he yelled, pushing in vain at the leg on his chest. The beast was at least three times his size, encased in a shell of rust-colored scales and solid as a fortress.
The dragon brought his head closer, examining his catch. Honestly, he was a bit disappointed. While a human did always make the top of his list, he had really been hoping to find something bigger; this human was so small, barely half the size of the brawnier ones he was used to. Sure, it would fill him up, but it wouldn’t give him that nice, taut bulge he had been craving.
The dragon stuck out his tongue and slowly ran it along the side of the boy’s face, sampling his prize. Max froze up and stared fixedly into the beast’s eyes.
“You’re going to eat me now, aren’t you?” he whimpered rhetorically.
The scale-covered face smirked; he rather enjoyed it when his prey accepted its fate, it made things easier.
“This is how I’m gonna die; eaten by a dragon in the woods… all because he sent me out alone…”
The dragon parted his jaws slightly, running the tip of his tongue along his teeth. Max did his best to look past the dragon and into the sky.
“If this is it, I just have one last wish!” he yelled as the beast opened its maw wide. “I hope this dragon finds my master next and eats him too!”
The rusty dragon paused mid-lunge, his teeth inches away from Max’s face. The human’s little whimpers had actually given him an idea. His stomach growled in protest, but he decided the prospect of a nice big bulge was worth a little more hunger.
Max gaped in disbelief as the red, dripping maw before him started to withdraw. The dragon closed his mouth and slowly lifted his leg, keeping his eyes locked with the boy’s.
At first Max was too terrified to move, his heart pounding like a drum in his ears. He watched the dragon take another step back. Was it really letting him go? He slowly- very slowly- tried to stand up, his limbs shaking. The dragon remained still, its ravenous eyes still digging into him. It didn’t really feel like it was letting him go.
“What do you want?” he thought out loud, a quiver in his voice.
To his surprise, the dragon made a small motion with his snout, gesturing for him to go.
Hesitantly, Max took a step back, then another. The dragon stayed in place. So finally, the boy turned and started to run. He scrambled through the trees, tripping over rocks and roots until he lost his breath, and only then did he work up the nerve to look back. Since the dragon had let him run, he hadn’t really expected it to follow him, but that just made it all the more terrifying when he saw the clear form of the beast staring at him from only a few feet away. Max’s eyes bulged, but he was still too winded to run.
“What do you want!? Do you just enjoy this!? Haven’t I been punished enough!!?” he yelled.
The dragon remained still, watching the boy from a distance. To be honest, he did enjoy chasing his prey, but no, this boy had it wrong- this time. After a few seconds of panting Max continued through the forest, not quite as quickly now, constantly looking over his shoulder. The dragon was following him, always silently trailing just a few moments behind like a demonic shadow. The boy began to get the idea that this was too slow and calm to be a chase.
A loud but distant noise made Max jump as the tense silence was broken. Not only had it been loud, but it was also uncomfortably familiar; it was the sound of his master’s voice, yelling at another of his slaves.
“I must be getting close,” Max thought, but his initial relief at the thought of escaping his pursuer was overtaken by the fear of what the master might do to him when he got back. For a moment he hesitated, but one look back at the dragon gave him plenty of motivation to keep going.
“I don’t get it. If it’s not going to eat me then why is it following me all the way back… to the camp…” Max’s jaw fell open as he suddenly realized what was happening. He thought back to what he had said a few minutes earlier: “I hope this dragon finds my master next and eats him too.” It couldn’t have actually understood me, could it!? he questioned. He thought it over as he caught sight of the familiar tents through the trees. But would it really just take him instead because I asked?… No… it wants a bigger meal… he realized.
Max smiled. A small, devious smile that crept onto his face from the normally hidden reaches of his mind. Yes, that made sense, it was following him to a larger meal: his master, and not that he had much of a choice at this point, but he was leading the beast right to him. For a moment he allowed himself to dwell on all the horrible things the man had done to him over the years; on all the cold, uncaring looks he had been thrown by the others. For just a moment, he felt powerful: he was about to make them all pay.
But what if it eats me too?
The thought popped into his head, the smile fading from his face. He paused one last time, at the edge of the tree line.
“It’ll be worth it…” he whispered, and he took his final steps back into camp.
Max stood out in the open for a moment, readying himself for what was coming. It didn’t take long before his master noticed him and came tromping over, apparently already angry from a previous incident.
“So, what did you find, runt?” he asked impatiently.
“Nothing,” Max replied quietly.
“’Nothing’? ‘Nothing’!? You think you can go out for ten minutes and then come running back with nothing and expect everything to be just fine!? How dare you, you little-” the man, his arm drawn back for a blow, stopped abruptly as he noticed what the boy held in his hand.
“What is that?” he asked in disbelief.
“I- it’s just some-”
“Let me see it!” he demanded, grabbing Max’s wrist and lifting his entire body as he brought it to eye level. “A dragon scale…” he breathed. “You found a dragon scale and you were going to keep it for yourself!!” he roared. He tore the object from the boy’s hand and looked it over quickly before shoving it into the coin pouch on his belt. The man’s face contorted in anger as he glared at Max, the boy had hardly ever seen his master this angry before, and it never ended well.
“That’s the last straw, boy! Get in here!” His master turned toward his tent and started to stomp toward the opening, dragging Max along through the dirt as he went. He struggled against his master’s grip as the man went on to spew hardly intelligible curses into the wind. Just when Max’s mind started to conjure up all the horrible things his master might be about to do, the moment he had been praying for arrived.
A blur of rusty-red flashed before the boy’s upturned face, and a split second later he heard a grunt followed by a loud thud as he felt his master’s hand torn from around his wrist. The dragon had dashed from the trees, clearing Max in a single leap and landing with full force on the boy’s master.
Max sat up and turned to get a better look, and what he saw was an eerily familiar scene. The dragon stood with three of its legs pressing down on the man, its head just in front of his face, staring down into his eyes. The slave master’s mouth fell open in surprise as the situation sunk in, and the dragon gave a devilish smirk before opening its maw wide.
A sudden scream came from nearby as one of the other slaves noticed what was happening, but not even that could tear Max’s eyes away from what was about to become the most haunting, unforgettable sight that he would ever see.
The dragon hurled its open jaws forward like a striking snake, engulfing the man’s head in a single movement. Max watched fixedly as the dragon began working his master’s head around in his mouth before inching up on his shoulders. Slowly the dragon began to feed more of the brute into its gaping maw, releasing just enough of its prey’s body to maneuver him, but not so much that he could struggle free. The boy’s mouth fell open as he stared in fascinated horror at the enormous bulge that was beginning to form in the beast’s neck as his master was guided deftly into its waiting throat.
The others in the camp all began to panic and scream as each one caught sight of the gruesome display. One by one they fled into the woods, some of them grabbing food or even valuables as they made their escape. But not Max. Even though he knew he should get up and run while he had the chance, he had waited too long to see this, to see his “master’s” end; he couldn’t bring himself to look away.
The dragon made a rather large move as it snaked its head down over the man’s body, now clean past the shoulders. He was horrified yet somewhat amazed at the size of the bulge in the beast’s throat, it seemed far beyond the limits of nature, but the dragon showed no signs of stopping and even seemed to be enjoying the process.
And indeed he was. Not only was he proud of the payoff for his plan, but the human struggling halfway down his gullet felt amazing. When he had first seen the man, he had been worried he might actually be too big to swallow whole, but he was so glad he had gone for it anyway. Sure, his neck would be sore for a while, but he could feel his belly practically jumping for joy at the thought of the nice, plump bulge that would be taking up his midsection for the next day or so.
Bit by bit the dragon continued to work its maw around the panicked man, his arms now pinned to his sides by the beast’s gullet. Max could see the periodic ripples that flowed down its length as it attempted to draw the wriggling meal further inside. He thought back to just a few minutes ago, when this same dragon had had him pinned in a similar position, its maw gaping before him like a red abyss.
“That was almost me…” he thought aloud, as another swallow brought the brute in past his belly.
Here, though, the dragon reached a problem. His mouth was stretched to its limit and he had gotten down to the man’s waist, where he wore a thick belt with a number of bulky objects attached to it. Even if he was able to get it past his jaws, he was doubtful that everything would go down without causing some damage along the way.
Max noticed the break in the dragon’s momentum. At first he thought it was just taking a break or maybe savoring its catch, but then he noticed it trying to grind at the belt with its teeth, which weren’t in a favorable position and weren’t helping much. The dragon seemed to get more frustrated, snorting around its meal as it tried in vain to remove the blockage; its front legs had their hands full supporting the massive weight and it was too far out of reach for the beast’s tail.
Maybe it can’t do it after all… Then he had another thought, Does that mean it’ll have to spit him out?
Max chewed his lip as he watched the dragon become increasingly frantic, not wanting to give up his meal any more than Max wanted his master back, but it was becoming clear that things weren’t going well. After watching for another few moments, Max took a deep breath and a serious expression spread across his face.
“You’re not getting out of this that easily.”
He stood up and slowly started to walk towards the dragon’s head. Despite his resolve, his legs still shook from fear; here he was walking up to the mouth of a hungry dragon, a dragon which had literally been about to eat him just a few minutes ago. But he had risked too much to give up now; that man deserved what was coming to him. He stopped beside the rusty-red jaws; his master’s legs kicking wildly at the air next to him.
“All I need to do is get that belt off-”
As if the boy wasn’t nervous enough, he realized at that moment that his master’s belt buckle was already tucked inside the dragon’s maw, pressed up against its wriggling tongue. The mere thought of what he would have to do sent a tremor of fear down his spine before he even started to consider it. He looked to the dragon, it looked back at him, its expression unreadable with such a large meal in the way. Max gritted his teeth, a tear falling from his face as he fought back against his mortal fears.
“Like I said, if I get eaten too, it’ll still be worth it,” he told himself. The boy reached out his shaking hand toward the dragon’s jaws, its teeth glinting a striking white as they pressed up against the man’s clothes.
“If you really can understand me, I’m doing this to help both of us,” he said.
With that, Max stuck his fingers between the dragon’s tongue and his master’s waist, barely avoiding the razor-sharp teeth. The dragon’s thick saliva coated his skin as he worked his hand into the tight gap, letting him squeeze more of his forearm inside. He did his best to feel around, trying to ignore the man’s struggles and the constant wriggling of the dragon’s tongue as it undoubtably soaked in the taste of his flesh.
Finally, he found his master’s belt strap. Grabbing it as best he could, he gave it a sharp tug. To his relief, Max felt the latch come undone and he hastily removed his arm from the dragon’s mouth. Now with both hands he grabbed at the side of the belt and pulled. The long strip of leather slid off the man’s waste, clattering to the dirt along with everything attached to it.
The dragon wasted no time now that the obstruction was out of the way and Max took a nervous step back as the beast continued to gulp its latest catch down with renewed vigor. But just as before the boy found himself staring in strange fascination as his master’s hips disappeared between the massive jaws. The dragon’s neck now resembled a living hammock, squirming with the man trapped within, but with his meal so close to his belly the beast was more eager than ever.
The dragon lifted its head slightly, now that its prey was mostly inside, so gravity could help things along. Max found himself walking around to the beast’s front to get a better view as his master’s thrashing legs began to slide down into its maw, the pull of its throat stronger than ever. The boy hardly took a breath as he stared into the dragon’s gaping mouth, watching fixedly as the man’s knees disappeared past the red tongue, then the rest of his legs, picking up speed as it came down to his ankles until finally he saw the last of the man disappear completely behind the drop of the beast’s throat. Only then did the dragon close its hungry jaws, in a slow but emphatic movement.
As the trance of the moment passed, Max suddenly realized that he was now alone, in a deserted camp, face to face with a killer dragon. It looked at him now, with its full undivided attention, and the boy gulped.
“So… you really did it,” he said.
The dragon brought his head right up to the boy’s face, staring into his eyes.
This is it. He swallowed my master whole and now I’m next, Max thought, too terrified to speak. But then the dragon did the last thing he ever expected. It gave a small nod, with what Max could swear was a smirk, before turning away to examine its new, swollen gut.
The boy had done good, led him right back to his “master” and given him a nice big meal- even helped him get it down. He was so full now he probably couldn’t eat the boy even if he wanted to, so he decided there was no harm in letting this one go. He looked back at his squirming gut and gave it an internal squeeze. Yes, this was the feeling he had been waiting for; nice and full.
Max couldn’t believe it, had that been a “thank you”? That was the most gratitude he had ever been shown in his life, and it was from a man-eating dragon! He felt his arms grow limp and he had to focus to keep himself standing as all the tension melted from his muscles. The dragon walked a few paces away before laying itself down, its distended belly writhing in the dirt as the man continued to struggle within.
“…Now what?” Max asked himself after a moment. He had been so focused on the dragon since it had shown up that he hadn’t given any thought to what he would do after it attacked. Honestly, he hadn’t thought he would make it out alive, but now that he had… He had nowhere to go. His master was gone- and he was beyond relieved at that- but now he was all alone. For a moment, he considered pressing on and trying to find that town they had been traveling towards, but even if he made it there he would just be treated like a slave again. No one would care for him, even worse he would probably be given a new master, maybe someone even worse than his old one.
“No, I’m not going back to that,” he thought aloud. He let his gaze drift down to his feet and noticed the belt resting in the dirt. He bent down to look at it. It held his former master’s money pouch, along with his blade, a jug of water, a jug of alcohol and a few other items he didn’t immediately recognize. “I guess these belong to me now…” He smirked and drew the short blade partly from its sheath, admiring his new possession. Sure enough, it was spotless.
Just then he had an idea. It was a silly, even crazy idea, but he took an instant liking to it.
“Hey, you can understand me, can’t you?” he called.
The dragon lifted its head and looked at him, a somewhat disinterested expression on its face. Not exactly complete confirmation, but Max decided to take it.
“I have a deal for you,” he said, a newfound confidence entering his voice, “All my life I’ve been beaten and punished and ignored, and there’s nowhere I can go where people won’t keep doing that. But I can’t stay out here by myself either; I can’t find food, or water or anything on my own.”
The dragon seemed to grow even more disinterested, but Max continued.
“But there is one thing I can do: I can convince people to come out into the woods.”
The dragon suddenly perked up, was the boy really suggesting what it sounded like?
“You like humans don’t you? I can tell by the way you ate, the way you licked my hand… I can bring you more- bring them out into the forest for you. And all you have to do, is let me take their stuff before you eat them.”
The dragon could hardly believe his ears. Not only was this boy ready to turn on his own kind, but he actually had the nerve to make a deal with a beast that had just eaten one of his kind right in front of him- heck the man was squirming in his belly at that very moment, listening to the whole thing! But then again, the boy had actually helped him eat the man… Plus, he had him pegged, there was nothing he enjoyed more than eating humans and this was an offer that was too good to pass up. Still, the idea of working with a human did not appeal to him.
Max walked over to the dragon, a bit of fear breaking through his confident facade.
“Well?” he asked and stuck out his hand. He hadn’t really been thinking with that last move, just going off instinct and mirroring what he had seen the adults do when making deals.
The dragon eyed him with a sort of skeptical curiosity for a moment, before parting its jaw and sticking out its tongue. It gave Max’s hand a slow, sobbing lick, folding the wet muscle around his palm. It savored the taste for just a moment before starting to withdraw, and as it did it began pulling the boy’s appendage in along with its tongue.
For a horrifying moment, Max thought the dragon was about to drag him inside after all; kicking and screaming, down into its maw after his master. But then the tongue released him, slipping back inside with unnerving ease, and the dragon rested its head back on the dirt.
“I guess I’ll take that as a yes,” Max said nervously, but he got the idea that it was more of a tentative arrangement at best, and he couldn’t shake the feeling that the beast still intended to swallow him up despite what had just happened. Even so, he sat himself down next to his new “partner”.
“I’m Max, by the way,” he said. “I guess I’ll need something to call you though…” He looked over the dragon, who had returned to basically ignoring him and even closed its eyes. Max had never really tried naming anything before, but there was one thing that the dragon constantly reminded him of. “How about ‘Rust’?” The dragon made no direct response, but a loud gurgle rumbled from his bulging belly as his stomach set to work.
“Alright, ‘Rust’ it is.”