Tarkus hastily lifted himself in a sitting position on his hindlegs. His wings were slightly spread, to make the task of holdings his balance easier. Also he contemplated about beating them to create a gale that would certainly keep that thing at bay, if it would close up on him. Disgust crept on his face. His lips rose to reveal rows of teeth and he couldn't help but to instinctively release a rattling growl, that filled the air with vibrations. "Take it away. I don't want it." He said. The jet black pupils of his eyes contracted, as his gaze focused on it. For some reason he wasn't able to look away, even though it disgusted him. It was a chest made of sturdy wood, reinforced with silvery and golden metalwork and encrusted with jewels. It was quite the sight actually and would have been a worthy addition to his riches, he thought. That is, until that hominid, which brought it with him as tribute, opened it up to reveal its content. Tarkus could not even describe something as horrible and disturbing as this, even if he wanted; no matter which language he thought of, none seemed to have a fitting vocabulary for it, not even dwarfish. He couldn’t even say what color it was, or if it was alive. The hominid that brought it hesitated. It shifted its gaze from the content of the chest and back to the dragon in front of him in sheer confusion and uncertainty. Probably he was frightened by the fact that the tribute of his people was not accepted by Tarkus but instead met with disgust and immediately rejected. Tarkus could not bear the thought of looking at it any longer. “I said take it away, human! Right now or I’ll turn you into ashes with it!” He bellowed accompanied by a roar. The sheer force of his voice hit the tiny hominid like a wave and knocked him off his feet. It let out a faint cry of fear and immediately got back up. Closed the chest again, grabbed it, turned and ran off as fast as he could. For a moment Tarkus feared it could fall and drop the chest, spilling its content all over the floor of his home, but even though the human struggled to control its movements, it managed to leave the building without stumbling over his own feet and soon vanished out of sight. Tarkus dropped to all four again and let out a deep breath, that seem to get rid of some of the tension and disturbance that built up in him. For a moment his thoughts returned to the content of the chest. He wondered what it was. But just thinking about it invoked the horrible picture of it in his mind, which made him sick. He snorted in disgust. Maybe he should have just burned it.

-

For some reason I felt like writing something up for it, since I could not help to wonder, what that thing could be in front of him, that ended up giving him this offended and disgusted look. Actually I did not came up with anything 'specific' BUT I thought it would be funny to leave the reader not knowing it. Kinda giving it the same effect as the picture. :D

On a sidenote: At the first glance of the picture, I actually thought he just had swallowed something, that got stuck in his throat and now he struggles to get it down. I guess the way he holds his chest, coupled with his expression made me think so.

This was a Iron Artist Commission from hornedfreak who's quite the talented artist with a really nice and clean art-style. I love how this one turned out. Also I kinda always like dragons in a sitting position :D

Artwork by  Hornedfreak