A Dragon's Slave Ch. 04

"Our plan right now is to get to our destination alive," Nightwing announces, turning the mood rather somber. "And to keep Peter alive until we get there. Which is the main reason as to why I recruited you."

"Recruited me?" He asks, somewhat taken aback.

"I can change that to 'enslaved you' if you wish," Nightwing growls. Demetrius shuts up. "In any case, I am unfamiliar with this humanoid body, and rely upon my draconic abilities in any sort of combat - such as against alligators." I blush and turn away. "But you...from what Peter has told me of your past actions, you are quite adept at hand-to-hand combat. I would prefer for you to train him so that he is no longer constantly endangered."

"Uh...huh..." Demetrius nods to himself. "Well...when would you want me to start training him?"

"I can get you some oil for your arm," I interject. "I think we should start after that - so that that way, your arm isn't damaged."

"Y...You can get me oil?"

"Elvish citizen, baby," I respond with a smirk. The smirk dies as I turn to Nightwing. "Remind me to never use the term 'baby' again, please."

"Gladly." Clearly, she didn't like it either.

Demetrius looks between us, undoubtedly confused by our relationship. I have to admit, I'm right there with him - sometimes I don't know whether Nightwing tolerates me or treasures me.

We fall into silence as we continue to walk through the forest, the only conversation passing between us being brief and sporadic.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Later...

As we begin to set up camp under the moonlit night, Demetrius volunteers to hunt. I nod to him, to exhausted to really say anything in return.

"I can't believe you're still out of shape," Nightwing remarks. "We've been walking every day for the past week and a half, and yet you're still out of breath at the end of the day."

"You try walking with that shit on your back," I grumble, gesturing towards my backpack.

"Respect," Nightwing reminds me, menacingly. I nod, giving her a hurried apology as I start to sit. "And if it bothers you that much, you shouldn't have packed so much stuff."

"Yeah, well..." I sigh. "I've always sort of over-packed."

She nods, and it doesn't surprise me in the slightest as she leans over and begins to massage my crotch. "I know something else you can over-pack..."

I grin and nod at her innuendo. "That's better," I remark. "See? You're getting the hang of it now!"

"I still hate this language," she remarks. "It makes everything so over-complicated...whereas I could just say 'slave fuck me', I have to lead into it with some sort of crap..."

"Yeah, but it's good practice," I remind her. "And besides, it's better to get used to it now than sounding like a weirdo when we've finally reached a city..."

She nods. "I suppose I should thank you for keeping your mind on my social success..." She snaps out of the conversation as she squeezes my slowly-erecting penis through my pants. "But, seriously, I'm horny. Fuck me."

I sigh as I make a show out of begrudgingly complying. Unfortunately, it doesn't go over well.

"You do not have the authority to deny me, human," she growls. "I demand that you strip immediately, so that I may appease my lust."

"I was just joking," I assure her as I begin to strip. "Don't worry..."

She cocks an eyebrow, clearly unimpressed as she moves closer to me and begins to undress herself in our nightly ritual. My cock throbs into life as I see her breasts about to break free, and my heart beats faster as blood rushes to my organ. I reach over to touch her side, and -

"Uh, what are you two doing?"

Nightwing and I freeze, both of us in the middle of taking our shirts off. My boner is clearly tenting my pants, and Nightwing's blush is causing her face to glow, which is actually illuminating my bulge. Nightwing and I remain frozen, but manage to remember to pull our shirts back on at the last second.

"Uh...nothing," I respond, my face actually hurting from the blush. My dick hurts from lust, too, but that's a different story.

"Really? 'Cus it looks to me like you two aren't slave and master," he remarks with a smirk. "To me, it looks like you're lovers."

"Never!" Nightwing exclaims, at the same time that I remark, "I wish."

"What?" She looks at me, seemingly shocked by my remark.

"If we were lovers, I wouldn't be a slave anymore," I remind her. "Duh."

"Oh, thank goodness," she sighs, her hand pressed to her chest. "I think that scared me more than the Void..."

I chuckle, but return to silence as I remember that Demetrius is still there.

"Then...what are you two, exactly?"

"He's my sex slave," Nightwing announces.

"Ah," he remarks. "Well, I seem to have walked into quite the conundrum. Should I just...give you two some time?"

"Nah, it's okay," I respond.

"Yes," Nightwing responds. I look to her in shock, and she glares at me.

"How dare you speak for me," she growls.

"Nightwing - that's rude!" I exclaim. "I mean, you don't just tell someone to go away like that! I thought you said you wanted to learn how to behave in public!"

"This is not in public! And how dare you speak to me like that, slave - show some respect!"

After a few moments of arguing, I look up with a huff and notice that Demetrius is gone. "Great - you scared him away! Our only chance of training me how to survive out here, and you went and ruined it!"

"Hey, you hadn't even thought of it, so don't go acting like it was your idea or something!"

~~~~~~~~~

Demetrius:

I take a deep breath to steel my nerves before going back into the campsite with my catch.

"Hey - I got some rabbits," I announce.

"See? I didn't scare him away - he was getting rabbits! Just like usual, always jumping to assumptions - like that it was safe to fish at that lake last night!"

I shake my head as they carry on, the argument growing more heated as Peter grows more flustered. And they say they aren't lovers...they're squabbling like an old married -

Peter lets out a cry of pain, and I realize that this wasn't squabbling. Blood drips from the gash on his cheek, and I can't help but cringe at the sight of the injury. "Learn your place, slave," Nightwing growls, grabbing him by the scruff of the neck and hoisting him into the air. Peter whimpers in fear, and I find myself withdrawing into the shadows, but remain frozen in fear. "If you ever attempt to speak to me like I am an equal, or an inferior, or anything other than a superior, ever again, I will tear your fucking arm off - do you understand me?"

"Y-yes..." He whimpers, still holding his cheek.

"Yes, what?" The frightening dragoness demands.

"Y-y-yes, ma'am..."

"Good," she grunts, before unceremoniously dropping him onto the ground. She approaches the fire the two of them had started earlier, and gives me a glare that turns my bones to jello.

"Well? Get cooking, elf!"

I nod, scurrying about my task in fear of what Nightwing will do to me. Peter slowly approaches, and makes a point of sitting farther away from her, almost like a dog that had been scorned by its master.

"Don't burn mine," she growls. I nod, and begin to cook the meat as Peter stares into the flame, undoubtedly considering the wisdom of surrendering to the dragoness - if what they told me of their initial meeting is true.

Having cooked the current rabbit to a golden perfection, I hand it off to Nightwing. She nods, and accepts it, glaring pointedly at Peter, at which point he blushes. I don't know what the story is behind that, but it can't be good.

I watch in awe as she absolutely devours the animal, and remember that she could easily do that to me, too. I gulp as I cook the next one, and decide to give it to Peter, who accepts it with a nod and a mumbled gratitude. The poor kid needs it more than I do, after - wait, what the hell is he doing?

"Here," he mutters, giving half of his rabbit to Nightwing. Nightwing and I both look at him in shock.

"Peter...I...what?"

"Wasn't that one of our rules?" He asks, neglecting to look directly at her. "If...if I disrespect you, I have to give you half of my dinner..."

I stare at Peter, completely taken aback by his willing punishment. Perhaps...perhaps in reality, he actually cares for Nightwing in some...strange, Stockholm way?

Nightwing clearly has the same idea, but it strikes her in a much more dramatic fashion, as she spreads her wings and takes to the skies without a word. The current of air from her powerful flaps immediately puts out the fire - before I can even cook my own rabbit. Damn these people and their drama...

As I go about manually starting the fire, Peter simply tosses the half of the rabbit he was going to give to his dragoness master down, and eats the half he kept for himself. I watch him in curiosity, and eventually the question bursts forth.

"Peter..." I begin, struggling to find the right words. I decide that being blunt is the best choice here. "Do...Do you love Nightwing?"

He scoffs at that. "No; no I don't love her," he responds. "It's just...I care about her, and I'm loyal to her. Partly because she spared my life, and I'm in her debt..." He shrugs. "And partly because I'm scared of her."

"But...why do you care about her?"

"Fucking someone enough tends to have that effect," he responds, matter-of-factly. I cringe slightly at the thought of them...nevermind.

"Also, it's just...she's so remarkably human, and even though she won't admit it...I know that she's scared."

"Of what? What could SHE possibly be afraid of?" I hate to admit it, but I'm being drawn more and more into the details of their relationship - I find it incredibly intriguing.

"Of being human," he responds. "Or...at least part human. It's just..." He motions towards his own head. "The ratio of the size of her hippocampus to the rest of her brain is way bigger now that she's a humanoid - as well as the rest of her glands. The concentration of hormones in her body...it's completely different than what she's used to, which means that her lust, her tendency to experience intense emotions, the intensity of all her emotions...all of it has sky-rocketed, and she doesn't really know how to deal with it."

He looks to the sky, undoubtedly searching for a sign of the dragoness. "I...I try to look out for her, but sometimes, that scares her even more, because I think she misunderstands the basic gratitude she feels for...something different. And...it scares her."

I nod, the pieces finally falling into place. "So...that's also why she uses you as a sex slave. Because her new libido makes her constantly horny..."

"You have no idea," he sighs. He continues to watch the sky, and I focus on cooking my own rabbit.

A few moments pass before Peter speaks up, startling me out of my reverie. "It's interesting, isn't it?" I don't say anything as I wait for him to elaborate. "We started as total strangers...and now, we're conversing like old friends...all because one dragoness scares us shitless."

I can't help but chuckle lightly and agree. It seems that fear is a powerful bonding agent...

The next hour or so passes in silence, and I manage to cook my rabbit exactly how I like it and chow it down. I look up to Peter to see if he's okay, and find that he's fallen asleep. I sigh to myself as I extinguish the flames, and recline against a nearby tree.

This...this is a risky investment. I know I said I wouldn't back out, what with the end of the world sort of rounding the corner on us, but...I don't know if the three of us alone could handle it, and I'm sure as hell not reaching out to the Elves for help...

Still, the promise of oil for my arm is alluring...perhaps I'll stick with them until my arm is nice and taken care of, and then slip away with some spare oil and try to live out any time I have left...that is, before the world ends, of course.

I sigh as I massage my sore shoulder, where metal and skin meet. I take a deep breath, and wait for sleep to take me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nightwing:

I enter the campsite as silent as a whisper, but only after I know that both Peter and the elf have fallen asleep.

My wings furl to my sides, the leathery membranes swishing silently as they collapse. I kneel down and pick up the half of rabbit that Peter had willingly given me. I had forgotten all about that rule, and yet he had willingly subjected himself to punishment for disrespecting me...

I look to him, and realize that perhaps...respect isn't just about showing reverence. Maybe respect...maybe respect is also fighting with someone when you're trying to teach them something. Maybe respect...is a lot more flexible than I originally thought.

I sigh as I silently approach the unconscious human. These emotions...I still do not understand them, and I doubt I ever will have a complete understanding of them. In that regard, I suppose humans are better than dragons - even the most irrational one seem to have a rudimentary understanding of their own emotions, whereas I...like I overheard Peter saying to Demetrius, I can't even differentiate gratitude from...something else entirely...

I bow my head in exasperation. I don't know if I can handle being human for much longer...

Casting a glance at Peter, I realize that...I don't have to handle it alone. I...I may not be ready to admit to him that I...I rely on him for stability, but...I can cover it up by ordering him to assist me in handling my emotions...

I smirk to myself. He'd probably see right through that...like he always does, whenever I'm scared or worried. Sometimes, I swear he can see the Spectrum, as well...

I sigh to myself as I toss the rabbit half away and lie down next to Peter, not making contact with him at all, yet secretly hoping that he'll wake up and...well...honestly, I wouldn't mind him just, ah...'eating me out', as he puts it. Good thing he's already so willing to help with my libido...

I sigh as I settle into the ground, and prepare for a restless sleep. I have no doubt that I will be plagued by strange dreams yet again, full of both draconic violence and human serenity...

~~~~~~~~~~~

So, what did you guys think? I'm trying hard to not make it a cliché "slave and master fall in love" thing, as I really never wanted it to be that - I wanted it to be that a dragon turned human relies on her slave to achieve stability, and they develop a greater appreciation for one another that never really approaches love.

In any case, I rather enjoyed writing this chapter, and writing it really picked up my mood. I had been feeling down for the past few days, and just going all out on a huge chapter really helped to soothe me.

In any case, look out for the next chapter!