And so, day two in the caves descends upon the outcast dragon and her unwilling companion. But there might just be light at the end of the tunnel...

For all his experience in the caves, Rolf had to realise he’d underestimated the problems of sleeping in one. The discomfort was expected, a deep ache throbbed in the places that had been pressed long to the hard stone. Worse was the cold. Where he’d been tucked against the curled dragoness he could feel a pleasant warmth, but the limbs strewn on the ground felt as cold and heavy as the surrounding stone. He forced himself to sit up, back of his head bumping the belly plates.
A moment of renewed tension gripped his chest as he tried to move the sluggish fingers. His blood must be slow as a slush river, he reasoned. What had occurred to him though was that he’d let himself sleep beside a hungry dragon. The cold was proof she’d not eaten him at least. More honourable behaviour than he’d have expected. He assumed she was just unconfident she could follow the river out on her own, or wanted to travel by his light.
The light in question was out, and blind in the absolute darkness he felt for the smooth glass of the lantern. Cursing under his breath he lifted his hands back to his face to blow unto the cup they made. His fingers so numb he couldn’t tell scale from stone, glass from gravel. He didn’t want to break the lantern, not here.
His hand eventually found it, recognised by the creaking rattle as its handle jostled in ungreased sockets. Now to light it…
He hoped the wick wasn’t damp. So close to the river’s flow the air was humid, a humidity trapped and which had, seemingly, attached itself to his clothes. He felt soggy. The wick’s coarseness found his fingers as he pulled open the hatch to the inner chamber. Pinching it, bringing his fingers to his nose. The smell of the oil.
Tilting it back, not too much, positioning the opening before him he felt into his pockets for his flint. A few bright, flashing sparks later and the wick sputtered, and ignited. The hatch slid back quickly as oil seeped up to burn from the lower reservoir. The living cavern he found himself in. Wing above, scales around, lit at last.
Not far off her muzzle shifted, eyes tightening as a low huff escaped the strewn dragon. The wing pulled away, and with it the limited insulation of the pocket of air she’d trapped.
It wasn’t Rolf’s first chill morning… if this for quite different reasons. The initial standing was painful, but once on his feet with the lantern held close he could start to pace and warm.
“This place is horrible” Afriera complained. Her folding wing paused as a trickle of condensed dampness flowed to the ground, gathered amid the membranes “It’s dark, it’s cold, it smells… wet, just, wet and soggy” her eyes flicked at him, before the snout brushed in, and a sharp inhale tugged at his hair “or maybe that’s you…”
“Thanks” he muttered “you smell too” he looked about themselves. Good solid stone. Not what he nicknamed, dirtstone. Hard packed dirt… more prone to just, liquifying. If there was any of that here, it would already have collapsed, he reasoned. That gave him some solace… water normally worried him but, maybe when there was enough water it was a good sign? Or, further down the other way the tunnel had already collapsed to, only a hole big enough for the stream. He feared that possibility. He’d not survive her wrath. Better at that point to jump in the river and take his chances.
“Which way was it?” Afriera huffed, padding in a slow circle “we follow the water but, which one did we use to get here?”
“I made a mark, here” Rolf nodded to the near wall. Just scratching with a stone, from time past. Last time he’d made it here “little house and an arrow for home”
“Oh” She squinted at the pale scratch on the rock. Already mildew had made a home there.
“Come on” Rolf sighed as he manoeuvred around the mound of a dragon “we’re both cold and hungry. And my oil is burning”
“I am not yours to command” Afriera’s voice growled. The sound as always sent a harsh chill down his spine, but Rolf did his best to ignore it. Just walking on, hearing her thumping gait follow.
At points he looked back and, drank in the terror. Lit by torchlight he could only see her muzzle and shoulders, the rest of her bulk a shifting silhouette in the dark. He was pretty sure he’d had a few nightmares like this. Huge monsters lurking in the gloom, or stalking him through the caves.
One look at the sharp, angled features of the sulking dragon and he felt the lanternlight of hope stutter. The incredulity returned of how he’d gotten into this mess. Escorting this maneater around for the promise of his freedom. She’d tried to eat him only two days ago, and he’d been her plaything till death the day before. That fact hung heavily with him. But he saw no other options, and one option was better than none.
The travel was rough at points. He’d not gone this far. The river would cut through the rock through a narrow crevice they couldn’t follow. He wanted to scout a route but, she refused to let him leave her sight. So he had her bulk following when he poked into side tunnels, doubled back, feared her snarling frustration would end in teeth and tried another path till they could progress. One such obstacle saw her claws rip wider a gap she was just a little too big for… in fortune, the whole tunnel didn’t fall on her.
“Is it much further?” she hissed after their next tight section. Forcing her to scratch her belly against one wall as she crawled through on her side
“I have no idea” Rolf muttered “it takes as long as it takes. We hurry, before the lantern can give out” He spared his old friend, the flickering flame a rueful look. He had a decent sense of time. They’d been travelling most of the day. It was slower than yesterday. If the distance was the same, or more to an exit on the other side of the mountain he should have enough oil. But not enough to light a return trip. He wasn’t desperate enough to consider caving blind through a tunnel he’d only seen once. Getting home, he’d need to go around. But unlike the dragoness, he didn’t have to fear the guarded mountain pass.
He saw the gleam of her eyes as she too stared at the little flame. He’d only seen fear, nay, terror in her eyes once before “Hurry then”
Across rough stone, wading in ankle deep water when the river hit something hard and cast itself wide over the entire pathway before reconvening for its journey. The pair advanced through the tightening tunnels, led by the flicker of their little flame and the ever present trickle of water.
It had to be getting late, but determination drove them to keep going. It wasn’t light that offered first promise of escape. A breeze, air backwashed up the tunnel towards them, the stale humidity touched by something, green and living.
Rolf felt scales impact the back of his head as Afriera bounded over him, rushing ahead. He took a moment catching his lantern before following at a pace.
“No” the howl boomed through the tight space, deafening him as the denial rose into a screeching roar, and a savage scattering of rocks ricocheting off every surface
Stumbling forward, holding the light high he illuminated the thrashing dragoness. His eyes found the river, rushing its way out a narrow gap in the rock. He’d fit, she wouldn’t.
“Calm down” he shouted over the cacophony, watching her dark claws raking lines in the stone as she dug, grooved, ravaged the rock around the exit. Hand dropping with his light quickly when a loose bit of stone clinked off the glass as her thrashing dislodged pieces here and there “it’s a cave system, there might be other exits”
She didn’t answer with words. It was the tortured roar of a wild beast. Feral talons reached out for the air, raking back with rivulets of stone. The clear river running brown with dislodged dirt, rising from the dam her gravel was forming. The exit closed over with heaps of rock and rubble. Rolf compelled to flee back as she savaged the wall in her way.
Something cracked. He heard it, it was a fearful sound. The groaning, ancient voice of the stone. A snap, something yielded, the groan punctuated with another low, reverberating crunch of something breaking.
“You’re going to bring the whole cave down on us, stop!” he doubted she heard him over her own frenzy.
A louder crack, this time ahead. And the scrabbling stopped. A tide of evening air billowing in over him as the crackles above increased. Something unseen fell close by.
Rolf ran, towards her, towards her opening. In the now present moonlight he could see her crawling out into the open air. His own leaping form hopping free of the wounded cavern.
Something else inside fell, its crash echoed through the tunnels. Morning… would tell how much damage she’d caused. The rock would settle. But, maybe that route would be impossible for more reasons than light, soon.
Yet, aside from the occasional echo of stone on stone from the gaping hole in the hillside and the soft trickle of the stream as it built up some speed again, the night was quiet around them. Quiet enough Afriera’s panting was the loudest sound. Sprawled on the grass, whimpering to herself, flexing her forepaws with little pained twitches.
Rolf let himself flop down to his back. He was going to ache, but already the ground was softer than the stone. Getting home was the next problem, but, for now he was happy to be out under the open sky.
“Did you hurt yourself?” he finally asked her “you could try dipping your hands… paws, in the cold water?”
Afriera glanced in his direction, shifting on the grass till her talons could drape into the flowing stream “your tunnel led to a wall”
“I told you I hadn’t been this far” he muttered “and I didn’t tell you to panic and rip down a wall. But we’re out now, it worked”
“I suppose we are” she muttered “can you do anything about my claws? I’m bleeding”
“I’m not a doctor, much less for dragons” he let his mind wander to his bag. She’d asked, that was polite, for her “but, I guess I do have something”
He rummaged through his things. Scrapes, scratches were things he knew well in his caving. And, he did like to be prepared for worse. From the depths he revealed a few cloth scraps, selecting the longest, pulled a small pouch of dried greenish powder. Moss and other dried plants, he was given to understand. The herbalists said it helped with healing, whether they were right, he didn’t know, but it was comforting to think so.
By moonlight he considered her claws, raised to his attention. Dragon injuries were, different. Scales were broken, or missing in places but the worst of it seemed to be at the base of the claws themselves… had they been torn a bit loose like a nail or, did it not work that way? He could only try. He wrapped the cloth around the bleeding parts, dusted with green to keep them from being exposed to the dirt. It was all he could really do, but it looked better at least.
“Just, leave them there till the bleeding stops” he muttered “I can’t do more”
“I suppose we sleep here, on the ground” Afriera lifted her head, to look about
“I guess we do, unless you want to crawl back into the cave” It wasn’t charming, and the sooner they parted ways the happier he’d be. But for tonight, in unfamiliar woods, he couldn’t deny he felt her presence was a ward against everything except herself.
Her answer was a blunt snort. Belly meeting the ground as she curled up. A gap in the tail’s loop for him. Rolf did hesitate before the gateway into a cave made of her body, as he did every entry that fit the description. But, the night’s chill was gradually creeping beneath his clothes and strange noises out amid the trees plagued his imagination.
Her wing spread out above as he moved within her loop. The bony fingers of the limb tucking down upon her tail as she made her tent. Already her breath was filling the chamber. Too humid, too warm… at least he didn’t need to worry about festering meat lingering on her breath. But the lack was a reminder she hadn’t eaten.
Still, he settled and with some effort slipped into uneasy sleep.

Morning was cast in red. Bright light filtered through the membranes above. He found the living ceiling perturbing to stare at. He could make out the swell and pulse in the veins, patterned through the leathery hide. It was altogether too, organic a view for his comfort. Especially in her presence.
Fitful sleep had seen him wake to this light, and surrounded as he was he opted not to disturb the slumbering beast. Yet, he could see himself enjoying this, under different circumstances. The scales against his back rocked him gently with her every breath, warm breeze gusting by his leg where her head was rested. The outside world kept at bay by the walls of this living cave. He’d always liked that about caves. A point he had no intention to mention. It would only encourage her to try squeezing him into a slimy, invasive, shifting pocket inside her.
A faint smile touched his lips. That, wouldn’t be a concern soon. They’d part ways, his life could go back to normal and she… would find somewhere to go. A dragon would be fine. He was looking forward to all this being a memory.
A snuffle broke her steady breathing. A tightening of the scales around her eyes, for just a moment. It was, a curious reflex that brought his hand onto her snout, stroking his fingers forward and back upon the smooth scales. He was seeing the appeal of being around a dragon… not her obviously, one that wouldn’t try to eat you or use you as a toy… but, she was magnificent to behold.
Her eyes opened slowly, staring at the hand petting her muzzle but saying nothing.
“Finally awake?” Rolf petted the snout before pulling his hand away “Sleeping rough comes easily to you, easier than me”
“That’s not a compliment” her muzzle rose high, horns meeting her wings before she yawned “So, what do you know about this side of the mountain?”
“Not a thing” he shrugged “Pretty sure I know which way to follow the rocks to find the mountain pass home though. I can use the sun for basic directions”
“Even here you know more than I about what is where” her wings folded back, her head lifting to survey the lands around “I will need to learn that, I suppose”
“Well, I wish you luck” Rolf rose, arching his back before crouching to fetch his bag, slinging it over his shoulder “I, hope you don’t take to hunting people… it’s really not a good idea, but, maybe you can find someone to take you on as a guard. You’re imposing by nature”
A low huff escaped her jaws, head turning, lowering more to his level “You proved more useful than I expected. It was fortunate, you didn’t just… let me have you, before”
“I’ll take that as a compliment” Rolf sighed, rubbing a hand to his cheek. That was close to a, I’d have regretted eating you… he’d take it that way “You should probably head that way” he gestured down through the trees “I’ve not been but, I think there should be a road in that general direction. Turn right when you find it, and it can act as a guide away from here. Or follow the river” he reasoned, looking back to his own route, the opposite way “and really, I think you should consider finding a new… patron. You can probably get work if you’re willing to swallow your pride a little” he murmured as he considered… should he walk more through the woods at first. Seemed there was some scree run down from the slopes.
“Yeah, no”
His first warning was a gust of hot air before the world sank into darkness. Slimy, squishy mass pushing to his back as he glimpsed teeth shooting down over him.
“Afriera!” he heard his voice echo back to him as sharp teeth pinched at his middle, followed by the pressure of her lips to hold him firm. The head swung, his legs dangling before a bouncing, bounding shook him in the grasp “We had a deal!”
His best efforts failed to pry her jaws open. Any time he got his arms at a decent angle to pry at them her tongue would dislodge him. Saliva soaked into his clothes, down his legs till he felt it dripping off of him to the ground. After the first ten minutes though he was relatively sure she wasn’t just, having breakfast to go.
Her jaws didn’t advance, her head didn’t toss. He was held, but not being devoured. Not that it made the occasional liquidy gurgle of slime passing down her neck any less unsettling. He shouted occasionally over the first hour or so… time was, abstract in her mouth. But he eventually had to conclude it wasn’t that she couldn’t hear, but that she didn’t care.
Eventually the bounce and sway stopped. The pressure relaxed and he slid out to land on his rear in the grass. In a few blinking moments he realised it wasn’t morning but well into day now. There was a beaten track cutting through the trees by him. And above, Afriera’s haughty gaze spoke of expectation.
“What way now?”
Rolf glared up at her, folding his arms to his chest
Her eyes were terrifying but hours of growing resentment held firm against the predator’s gaze, for now “You said right, but I passed the first path, is it still to the right?”
“How would I know? And why would I tell you if I did” he snapped back “we had a deal. I got you through the caves, you let me go. Dammit, just let me live my life”
“You’re useful” she responded simply “so I’m keeping you. You’ll obey, or be useful as food”
“I helped you because there was something in it for me” Rolf held firm, patting slime off his shirt “but you’ve made it very clear you won’t keep your side of any bargain”
“You will obey me, because you find existing here and serving me more pleasant than you’d find your last clawing, screeching, digestive moments in my stomach” her tail lashed to the ground beside “Be useful and lead me, or do not and ride inside… and take your chances at never leaving”
Rolf grunted his disagreement, but couldn’t find good words. She wasn’t wrong. Manipulative and self-centred as she was being about it. The nightmare cauldron of her digestive tract was somewhere he’d serve to stay out of. But envisioning his whole life under her paw was intolerable
“You would have eaten me the moment we got to the other side if you didn’t need something”
“I considered it”
“But that means you need something” he cut back “and you won’t get it from me if you cheat me out of what you promise”
“I won’t get what I need if I let you scurry into the brush” she regarded him from above, paw scratching grooves in the dirt
“When then? When will you have taken enough from me? Because if my life is to serve you till you decide I’m not useful and kill me then…” his voice halted on the words “then just eat me now and get it over with” his heart hammered. Did he mean it, he wasn’t even sure if he was bluffing.
Her gaze turned from him, her head cocked as she seemed to consider the question “I want a new life, a tolerable one. You will serve me till then. If you, assist in that outcome. I’ll spare you. I won’t need you anymore, for food or otherwise”
“Tolerable… with your standards?”
“Yes, tolerable” she snorted “is that good enough for you?”
“No” he felt over his face for a moment. But he didn’t have a choice. It was another dubious promised light but, he didn’t want to die. What else could he do but hope for it? “Why me? What did I ever do to you?”
“You’re the only servant I have left, that’s why” she muttered, tapping her paw firmly “now, which way?”
“I still don’t know” he looked along the beaten track, considering it “but if you kept running in, more or less a straight line, I guess turn right”
“Lead” her muzzle dipped to his lower back, bumping him up to his feet “you’ll speak if we encounter humans”
Reluctantly he obeyed, trudging to the road and starting to walk. Her own heavy gait trudging behind “and what am I to tell them?”
“Convince them I’m harmless” behind he heard the slow, slick sound of her tongue flowing along her jawline
“I absolutely, will not help you kill people” he glared back
“All you need to do, is placate them from attacking. It is in your interest my belly is full”
“I still need to live with myself after”

This new travel was dismal. Scattered hopes of getting home lost to the wind. Rolf was torn, wondering how this would be the end of him. Her betrayal was one option, but as he wandered along he realised it was optimistic. It assumed they got that far. He was hungry, and he knew she was. He didn’t know where his next meal would come from, but he knew hers would be him if she got hungry enough.
Likely as not, he’d be spared starving to death only by her jaws, and she’d probably either die from her inability to hunt, or the blades of some settlement she hunts from.
Fortunately the question of her diet didn’t strike that day. They were driven back into the trees by the winds of an encroaching storm, darkness coming early under the canopy of branches and clouds.
He had the displeasure of listen to the growl of both their stomachs under her wing as the wind whipped over the membrane and rain beat it like a drum.
Morning’s dampness gripped and chilled them both as they started to walk again. To where and what end? The empty answers frustrated Rolf to no end, following Afriera’s vague plan. Yet the day did eventually bring something other than endless trees.
First hinted by a distant trail of smoke that billowed back and forth on its steady rise their path came upon a building nestled just off the beaten trail. A large one, roof arching high over a couple of floors. Soaked thatch dripping from the heavy rains. Beyond and beside the main building was a familiar sort of structure. The half open structure of animal stalls. Occasionally the head of something, probably a horse, poked up into view. Sure enough there was a cart, heavy cloth draped over the contents pushed up against the stable wall.
The sign outside, a wooden tankard swaying by its chains in the wind gave Rolf something of a hint to the building’s purpose
“I think it’s an inn” Rolf spoke back to the looming dragoness “a place people stop on the road to, eat and rest”
A grin graced her lethal jaws, a chime returning to her tone as she looked it over “and they have animals, restrained and ready”
“No” he cut in “do not, go after the horses”
“You cannot forbid me all meat” she snorted “well, you can’t forbid me anything… but you cannot complain about all meat”
“Those belong to someone. People care about their animals. You eat their horses, they’ll come after you”
“Slowly, for lack of horses”
“I’m not joking” he pushed a hand down on her snout, earning a low growl “Do you want to be hunted again so soon? Let me go inside, and ask. Maybe we can barter some food for you. You’re a dragon, you’re the strongest creature there is. They might have some work you could do”
Her eyes held his a moment, before breaking away “you may ask. If they won’t give me food, I will eat whatever I please. Horse, owners, witnesses. I have a big, appetite”
“And that’s why you got driven away by a murderous mob” his words lashed, he saw something like a flinch. He didn’t feel, great about that. He knew it was salt in a wound, but much needed maybe. He sighed.
“Just stay out of sight. Let me try to get you something to eat, nice and peaceful. Doesn’t that sound better? A meal you get without antagonising anyone”
“Don’t patronise me” she turned, stalking into the near trees “I will be watching. Don’t try to run. If you’re not out quickly enough for my taste, I will come in after you”
“I won’t test my leash” he bit back, storming down the road. It was tempting. Go in, explain everything, beg sanctuary. He’d risked the ire of the dragon for strangers already, hadn’t he? It wasn’t quite the same situation for them though.

It really struck him how long he’d been living wild, days at this point, when he stepped into the main room of the inn. The glow of candlelight, the warmth of the fireplace, the smells of proper, cooked food and even the sour edge of old ale. The shaded interior was worlds apart from the hard forest ground or the enclosed caves of the beaten trail being followed by dragonbreath.
The ordeal sank in, and he had to fight back an urge to just cry. Why was any of this happening to him? But he was in public, that sobered his emotions enough to keep his purpose in mind. Outside was a hungry dragon, and he was on a time limit.
The man behind the bar was wide shouldered, barrel chested with a beard as wild as he’d likely develop if he spent a few more months under the dragon’s service.
As he stumbled up he was painfully aware he didn’t have any money. Maybe some of the things in his bag were worth trading over but… while an innkeeper, and a roadside one might be more amenable to trading goods than some, it wasn’t exactly socially approved.
Still, he soon had the man’s attention and had to say something.
“Good day, sir” Rolf started “I have an unusual request. I have a need for a quantity of meat, a considerable quantity. Filling a barrow, sort of quantity. Is that something you could accommodate?”
The request earnt the raised brow he expected, but the man did seem to contemplate it rather than laughing “If the larder was just about emptied of all we had set for the next day or so. But that would cost a considerable bit, lad”
“Right” Rolf braced himself “Payment. It’s hard to explain but, I have a companion, a very strong companion, and we were hoping we might be able to barter work in exchange”
“And where might this companion be?”
“She won’t fit through the door” Rolf smiled sheepishly “but I could introduce you around the back, it will make a lot more sense if you see her”
The man paused a little in the glass he was cleaning, before continuing in silence till he could set it down “you’re spinning a strange yarn”
“I know” Rolf conceded “but believe me it will make sense if you, see her yourself”
The man seemed to look off, before sighing deeply “You’ve caught my interest enough to entertain you”
“Great” Rolf stepped back quickly “I’ll just go bring her around the back, it’ll only be a few minutes”
“If you say so, lad” the tone wasn’t especially trusting but, it was better than Rolf had expected. He hurried his way out of the building and towards the woods. Already, he could make out the gleam of Afriera’s eyes. Just maybe he could get her something to eat. It was one meal of however many, but it was a start.

“This way” Rolf beckoned Afriera through the treeline, round towards the back of the roadside inn. The dragoness’s pace a hurried and excited one. Food motivated her, certainly.
The sun struck the building, casting the back submerged in woods even deeper in shadow. A door was built into it, which Rolf assumed would see someone on the staff, probably the fellow from the bar coming to… see.
The thought of that brought him a fresh wave of trepidation. He hadn’t assured her a meal yet. Rather, determined they did have enough for her appetite, if they could pay. There was every chance they’d run screaming at Afriera’s presence… and if they didn’t, there was no guarantee they had work she could accomplish. But, he was sure she had the strength to earn a meal legitimately.