Karil and the Dragon Pt. 02

Karil was almost done when he felt a pang of sudden fear in his stomach, he looked behind him at the center of the room to see nothing but the golden desert of pieces, random furniture and the deep depression at the center. No dragon to be seen anywhere. He blinked a few times, hoping that the sleeping creature would reappear, but at the third failure he had to face the truth that an invisible fire breathing monster was roaming around him somewhere. He took a deep breath, devising a plan to survive this and he had to act fast. He began by putting his bag down next to the pile of remaining gemstones, then he started to make his way back to the tunnels, slowly going along the wall, fists clenched, listening to the muffled sound of the raging blizzard above, if the dragon-kin could sweat, his sleeveless shirt would be drenched.

The walk back felt ten times slower than the first, especially with Karil's eyes shooting in every direction, searching for any clue of the dragon's whereabouts. As he reached the half-way point, something caught his attention, every few seconds, he could feel hot air on his back, almost scalding, even for him. Karil's hands started shaking even more but he did his best to pretend he had not noticed, his eyes focused on the illusory wall at the entrance of the tunnel he came through. Seconds passed, the breath was still there, worse, he could now even hear the almost imperceptible footsteps of the dragon on the gold pieces, how could such a beast be this silent? Why was it not attacking? Was it waiting for him to reach the exit to kill him? Karil's vision was getting blurry, he was at a loss for what to do, at each second he felt as if the dragon was getting closer to attacking him.

As only a fourth of the distance was left to the tunnel, Karil's calm broke, he couldn't bear the fear anymore and suddenly took off. Sprinting as fast as he could, vaulting above abandoned buffets and chairs and making a terrible racket as the gold pieces dispersed under his leather boots. He did his best to ignore the raging roar bellowing from the drake behind him, a sound so powerful the cavern shook, dust and small stones fell from the ceiling, but worst of all, Karil could now hear the heavy strides of the enraged predator closing in on him. Despite knowing the futility of his efforts, he did his best to outrun the dragon, but it was over in a matter of seconds as he felt a jaw as large as his chest close on his shirt from behind. Next thing he knew, he was thrown backwards, his thin shirt ripping under the strength of the attack. Years of falling had prepared him for such events, he tucked and rolled and ended up back on his feet ready to run again. But what was the point? He knew now the invisible dragon was between him and the exit, and what exit was that? Tunnels that took him hours to navigate and 5 armed angry gang members at its end.

Despair was not enough to describe what Karil felt as he saw his ripped dirty shirt floating slowly towards him, the air getting hotter by the second. When it was a few feet from him, the jaw in which the fabric was trapped revealed itself, red scales reflecting the light above, teeth as long as the dragon-kin's fingers. Knowing that the red dragon was only a young adult did not help diminish the terror coursing through Karil's mind as two piercing yellow eyes appeared. The red dragon was bigger than any animal or monster Karil had had the displeasure of seeing, it was more than 20 feet tall to its withers, at least 25 with the head, it had wings large and powerful enough to carry such a creature effortlessly through the air. Its thick muscular chest and stomach were covered in yellow scales that had less of a shine to them but seemed as resistant as the ones covering the rest of his body. Four powerful limbs carried the beast, each was armed with claws capable of rending any flesh into a pile of oozing meat. Its tail seemed longer than the dragon itself, it was covered in hardened scales forming spikes at the end. But what Karil could not stop watching were its eyes, yellow with one black slit at the center, he could see intelligence in them, arrogance even and he did not dare stop looking, as if it was the only thing keeping him alive.

The dragon's head lowered slowly to Karil's level, he was now a few inches from his face, he let go of the useless torn shirt at his feet. His nostrils sniffed a few times and his bifurcated, strangely green tongue tasted the air around the intruder. After a moment, he opened his mouth: "Distant kin, what are you doing in my lair? Trying to take from my hoard, then fleeing like a mere thief, have you no respect for even yourself?" said the wyrm with a deep and rumbling voice that echoed in the rock chamber all around. It took an instant for Karil to react, he thought himself dead, on top of that, it had been years since he had heard proper dragonic spoken, he searched through obscure memories to find the right words. Without hesitation, he fell on his knees, hands clasped, head low, "I apologize distant kin, had I the choice, I would not have dared entering your lair..." the dragon snorted at that and cut him off.

- "What is the meaning of this? Did you smaller folk forget any kind of honor? Are you such a poltroon that you can not take ownership of your actions?" the voice was now booming with indignation, Karil did not dare look up.

- "I ask for mercy... w-we dragon-kin do not have your strength, many of us are slaves to humans and elves, as am I. I am a slave and my master sent me here to steal from your hoard... hum..." the stress was making it harder for him to remember his mother's tongue, but he managed, "when you awoke I... hum... chose to leave what I had stolen, hoping you would be... merciful, I only ask for you to let me go and, I swear solemnly to you that you won't see me again." the dragon seemed to think for an instant.

- "You say your masters sent you here, but you want to leave empty handed?" the dragon's tail was moving lazily back and forth behind him, scraping the gold coins around as he was thinking.

-"I-I would rather face my masters whip than face your anger. I am aware that I have wronged you by intruding your lair and steering you from your sleep." Karil now had his eyes shut tightly, praying to whatever gods he knew to help him.

The wyrm stayed silent as he observed the small man prostrated before him, despite looking a bit malnourished, it was obvious that he was a very capable and athletic man. He had enough muscle to provide him the strength to perform the acrobatics needed in his line of work but not too much as to not slow him down and cost him some flexibility. His scales were a lighter shade of red than the dragon's own, he had a tail, small thing, long enough to trail on the ground but probably not strong enough to be used as a weapon. Of course, he lacked one of the best gifts the universe had given to the dragons: wings. As he was bare chested, the many whip scars on his back and front were visible, confirming that he was or at least had been a slave.

The dragon had not seen one of his smaller kin in almost a century, especially this far north. The last he had seen was one of those traitors who sold their skills to the worm-skinned races as dragon-hunters, trusting that it would help forge a lasting alliance with the empires of humans and elves, a mistake in more ways than one. And the intruder was the living proof of that, they were now enslaved, used and killed like cattle throughout the continent. Which was amusing to the remaining dragons but just as unfortunate, since these foolish creatures had their uses, a fact that was making the dragon quite interested in his little intruder. He couldn't help but smirk at the thoughts that now filled his mind, he knew what to do with the thief.

The drake lifted his head back up and took a step away from Karil before exclaiming with a commanding voice:

- "Stand up!" Karil was used to following orders and obeyed immediately, he still did not look at the creature however, "You have lived in the midst of the worm-skinned far too long, you have no notion of our codes and rules." Karil did not dare make a sound, "You intruded my lair only to run away! When you want something, you take it, if you are not strong enough, you either fight to the death for it or pay a tribute. What will it be small one?" the dragon said, lowering his head again, "Choose wisely." he added, making a show of his many teeth to Karil who finally looked back at him.

- "I..." he blinked a few times, fighting the knot in his throat, "I shall pay a tribute to you. But I have nothing more than my skills." He opened his arms to show that he indeed had only his pants and boots to his name, "I can find you treasure to add to your hoard..." he added with a trembling voice before a low grumble that was probably a laugh interrupted him.

- "Look around you, small one!" Karil did not even bother, terror was creeping back into his mind "No, I do not need a burglar, I can find and carry far more loot than you can steal in a year." panic was now setting into Karil.

- "I do not only steal objects or gold... I-I can also steal information for you. I can find larger or rarer treasures!" Karil was talking fast, stumbling on words he was now unfamiliar with, "I can scope a town f-for you, f-find the best times for you to attack..." he searched his mind for more, "I... I c-can also do some sabotage for you. T-There are many things I can do to assist you, I swear and..." the dragon cut him off.

- "Enough, small one." Karil was shaking like a leaf as the dragon took a dramatic pause, "You may indeed have your uses as an... assistant of some sort." the amused tone of the dragon did not reassure the dragon-kin, "Yes," he added observing Karil a little more, "I shall give you an important task, small one. I will not kill you, and I might allow you to take back your bag of gems as long as you apply yourself to paying your tribute to me for both your life and a part of my hoard. Despite your inferiority, you remain my kin, and I shan't betray my word to you." Karil started breathing again, he had a chance to survive, to escape Oskurg once and for all, he did his best not to smile, the dragon had still not revealed the "tribute" he wanted from him and he knew that his distant kin would not be generous.

- "I shall apply myself to provide you the tribute you ask for." said Karil to the visible amusement of the dragon.

- "Good, good. You will need this determination to accomplish your task." Karil did not like the way the dragon was looking at him, like he was a small toy, "I need you to solve a problem I usually have to solve myself as my kindred are very far from here or still deep in their decades long slumber." the dragon took a step forward, scaring Karil who started shaking again.

- "W-What is it, then?" he asked and, with a satisfied laugh, the dragon lifted his left front leg, drawing the dragon-kin's attention between his hind legs and making him recoil in disgust at the sight of the pink wet stub which was coming out of the giant reptile's cloaca. "You're asking me to blow you off?!" screamed Karil.

- "Oh, how I do enjoy the way you smaller folk talk, you are so very direct." the dragon stepped forward again, forcing the intruder to walk backwards to maintain a distance between them, "Yes, small one, I want you to blow me off with all the energy you can muster!" the dragon's cruel laugh echoed in the chamber.

- "B-But I am a man!" shouted Karil desperately, but he quickly regretted it when the drake pounced, throwing him to the ground before pressing his stomach against him, making sure the tip of his cock was a few inches from the tightly closed mouth of his prisoner.

- "Do you think I care about that pitiful strip of flesh dangling between your legs?" his voice was more aggressive, as he was losing patience, "As I told you, you spent too much time with the breasted races. I am more mighty than you will ever be in your pitiful lifetime." as Karil fought to breath under the heavy weight, he could feel a slimy liquid as hot as boiling water leak from the tip of the fleshy hard member pressed against his scaled torso.

- "P-Please!" he could barely speak, "I...can't...breath..." but his pleading was ignored.

- "I could tear off each of your arms, violate you while you bleed on my hoard and burn you alive!" feeling the dragon-kin desperately pushing against him, the dragon lifted himself just high enough to allow his lungs to function, "See? I almost killed you without even trying." Karil did not respond, he was coughing and gasping for air, "I tire of this conversation and as you might have noticed, grow impatient." he punctuated with a thrust of his hips, grinding his cock on Karil's chest and stabbing his cheek with the tip, covering it in precum, "You have one more chance, and to make sure you understand what I want from you, I will speak plainly." the potent smell and heat of the dragon was intoxicating, and after breathing in large gulp of it, Karil realized he was feeling buzzed, the voice of the dragon was booming in his confused mind, "You. Will. Suck. My. Cock." the dragon said, slowly, emphasizing each syllable.