What Lies Inside

If It Were Only A Dragon [Chapter 26]

The dragon’s feet were still held in place, but that didn’t stop the beast from trying to break free. I discovered that, in addition to its front ripping claws, it had a rear talon stretching back from the scaly foot. If it noticed I was in range, it would certainly try to slice me right through.

The base of the thick tail continued to swing despite the troll’s best efforts to hold it in place. I dove as far as I could into the grass, the bits still green, moist and able to conceal me just a little bit. Beneath its lower half, I was like a baby, moving hand over hand toward the rear end of this creature. Young children certainly find themselves in dangerous predicaments, wouldn’t you say? Eating strange things, finding potentially harmless instruments that they could easily maim themselves on. Truly, I myself was toddling toward an uncertain fate.

No, the fate was quite certain. I knew my goal, the weak point of this beast. The ancient dragon-killing King of our land had used this entrance to slay a beast such as this. There was no other way.

The beast’s underside was pale but plated with scales no less thick than those up top. Despite its flailing above, the area in my view was mostly restrained. There I saw it, just as the elf had described— the meeting of several scales in an odd formation, where there was an entrance. A narrow, horizontal one, but then again, I had laid my eyes upon its feces that had been released from the very same orifice. The mound of bodily refuse back in the field wasn’t too far off my proportions. And to top it off, its fairly recent evacuation meant that, hopefully, there would be no roadblocks ahead. And so, with one last breath of fresh air, I shoved my first hand in.

There was no time for second thoughts. The moment that the dragon felt me wriggling around, it would cause much more hell. My fists drew this thing… the cloaca… open, wide enough for my head. With my feet on the rough grass below, I was able to force most of myself in. The last bit of myself followed, likely due to some elastic force by the dragon’s anatomy.

Strangely enough, my eyes were able to adjust to the darkness. In fact, it wasn’t pitch black at all. Through the strange, slick, slimy, smelly interior of the being, the faint light from outside could be seen. It is not too different from seeing the daylight even through closed eyelids.

My throat and lips remained sealed tight, fearing the lack of air or the presence of other things within the bowels of said dragon. At times like this, things start going through your head— perhaps the lack of oxygen? Well, I have taken note of a few things of recent.

One fact is that meal ingredients vary greatly depending on their source. In once instance, the king’s court for example, it is very rich and nice. The food held in boxes in the back of a mule-drawn cart and cooked at a campfire is less nice by comparison. However, rich food moves through one’s body often more roughly than plain foodstuffs. Certainly, there is a maze of guts within the bodies of all animals and beasts, making for these differences. I did not know the specifics of these mazes, but with a blade I could easily carve a shortcut to the recently swallowed Farvin.

My arms were stuck out ahead of me by the flesh corridor, but I had already made sure the dagger was at the ready. I slid the blade up my palm from my sleeve and took it tightly in my hand. My feet had lost all traction already, so clawing forward was the only way. And so with a flick of my wrist, I drove the thin blade in for the first time.

I couldn’t tell if it was immediately effective. The dragon had already been thrashing about, both from being restrained and also from my sudden invasion of its insides. I felt the warmth of its blood, though. It was almost cold, much cooler than I would have imagined. It was proof that it could bleed, that it could be defeated. So I stabbed again, up a bit further.

After a few successive strikes, I was making my way forward, little by little. The jostling of the surrounding flesh burrow was even greater now. I continued to squirm my way forward, like a worm in a bad apple. I was at my limit by then and forced myself to breathe. My intrusion had brought in just enough air, but every inch of the dragon’s insides were fetid. I knew I had only a few more breaths before I would pass out, and be passed out.

I felt the contractions about me, like my own body often replicated after a night of drinking. My dagger held firm, though. I met with a turn in the innards, but I decided to keep moving forward. My clothes and armor were already slick with the dragon’s blood. I kept striking, trying to open up a path for myself and closer to Farvin.

I was almost through a fresh membrane when I heard a growl. It was anyone’s guess where it came from, but it was soon accompanied by sudden tossing and turning. I felt as if my body were suddenly falling, even while trapped in a fleshy prison. Gravity shifted not a moment later, stealing all my fleshy progress from me. The blood about me slicked every inch of my body. Something beneath my feet gave way, and I was suddenly falling. The fresh air and light around me invaded my senses, but the ground suddenly beneath my back made the experience less enjoyable.

The dragon had escaped the confines of our party and taken to the sky. Beneath it was a spray of blood, exiting out its posterior like a vile rain. I flapped its wings tepidly, neck wrenching over and over, back and forth. I sat myself up to avoid its attack of fire, but something else came out; a dark spray of sour vomit, mostly liquid, save something the size and shape of a human body.

I blinked hard and tried to suck in fresh air. Nemona’s dark locks appeared above me, her eyes looking me over. “Holy crap.”

I glanced down at my hands, covered in crimson. “I made it bleed.”

“Clearly,” she sighed, looking back up across the burned and bloody battlefield. “It won’t die from that though. And it isn’t backing down, either.”

When I managed to sit up, I saw the occasional arrow flying up into the sky. The dragon remained above, circling in a wide formation about us, far out of reach.

“We need more men,” Nemona said through gritted teeth. “It may try to back off and rest, heal up, though, if we just leave it. We’ll need to send a messenger back, and in the meantime, we can track it to—“

The elf’s plans to usurp my lead were cut short by a deep roar. It was nothing like the cry of our prey, but something much larger. On my feet once more, I glanced about for the source of the cry. The great shadow crawling across the plains alerted me and the others first.

“There’s a second one!”

<– Previous Chapter | Next Chapter –>