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Tommy despised his job. It was probably the worst job someone could ever have. And he wasn’t even a someone.
He was a dragon!
Tommy huffed as the chains rubbed against his scales. He was only 50 in human years, which was only just a teen in dragon age.
Did the humans care? No. Of course not. They didn’t care that he had better places to be. A den to be in and curl around all his shiny gold.
But he couldn’t do that because he was trapped in this tight cage with chains wrapped all around him. A muzzle sat tight on his face, keeping him from even opening his mouth a little.
They wanted to prevent the whole fire breathing thing. Tommy squirmed, tail wrapping around himself as he rolled to his side.
He hated his job. A servant to a bunch of ungrateful humans.
His job was to light their trebuchets on fire and to fly high into the sky to rain fiery justice on their enemies. To burninnocent villages full of helpless people whose only crime was being on land that these humans wanted.
Tommy glanced up, looking wistfully towards the little bit of night sky he could see from his cage. Oh, how he missed spreading his wings and soaring.
He missed letting his wings flap without the chains weighing him down. He missed the night he could cuddle up with gold and jewels without the fear of pointy swords and sticks stabbing into his side just to make sure he remembered who he belonged to.
Tommy’s ear twitched as he heard the grass crunch. Tommy’s gaze shifted towards the noise, watching intensely as a human appeared from the shadows of the night.
It was a tall human, but quite lanky. The man was shaking slightly, the sound enchanted by his armor.
Tommy squinted as the man switched posts with the guard standing there. The man turned around, facing the opposite direction. Yet still shaking. Out of fear or due to the cold? Tommy couldn’t be 100% sure.
But from the way that the man kept looking back at him nervously, he had a hunch it was out of fear.
And just for a little fun, Tommy decided to mess with him.
Tommy leaned as far as he could, pressing his nostrils against the cage before blowing. Smoke plumed out, covering the man. The brunet screeched, turning around and pointing his pokey stick at Tommy.
Tommy just smirked, rolling back over and closing his eyes.
He hoped he could have a little more fun with this new officer before he felt scared and they move him away.
-/-/-/-/-/-
Wilbur was not having a good day. He got enlisted into the army and now he had to go miles upon miles just to get to the very outskirts of their kingdom.
Only to then be told that apparently they had an entire dragon. Oh! And to top it all off…
His job was going to be to watch the dragon.
Wilbur sighed as he got his armor on, hating the way it clanged together to announce his anxiety to the rest of the group.
He couldn’t let them see he was such a coward. It was just one of the most terrifying beasts that roamed the earth, no biggie!
Wilbur’s body didn’t stop trembling. It only grew worse as he approached the dragon, watching as it went from pitifully staring out into space to turning to him.
Wilbur gulped, exchanging placements with the guard already there.
The guard seemed happy to leave, throwing Wilbur the keys to their entire operation like it was no big deal. They patted his shoulder and wished him good luck before walking off into the black abyss that was the night.
Wilbur did his best to stand up straight, hoping the dragon wouldn’t smell his fear.
(Could dragons smell fear?)
Listen. Wilbur wasn’t a fighter. He never was one. He was the one who strayed away from all fights with other kids. And if he needed to show another kid who was boss, he knew all the right secrets and lies to tell to ensure that the outcome he wanted to happen would happen.
Wilbur was much better suited from a room away from battle with maps and figurines of little horses.
This was not in his wheelhouse. Techno and Phil were much better at this type of thing than him.
But it didn’t matter now, because he was here. And the dragon was there—
Smoke plumed around him, Wilbur shrieking as he turned around. The dragon simply smiled smugly as Wilbur raised his spear before turning around and completely ignoring his presence.
Well… that was good. He would much rather not have his presence be seen as something bad.
Wilbur turned back around, resuming his regular post.
Still… he couldn’t quite stop himself from looking at the dragon.
It was almost… sad. The sight of it.
Which was silly for him to feel. The only reason he was alive right now was because he was out here and the dragon was in there. And yet… Wilbur couldn’t help but frown at the sight of a beast so powerful covered in chains and locked away.
How sad.
Wilbur would have much more time to ponder on this as the weeks went by.
Every night, Wilbur was put on guard duty. And every night, the dragon would simply stare off into the void of space like it held the answers.
Maybe to the dragon, it did.
Wilbur drummed his fingers in the wood of the spear, whistling. Might as well pass the time, right?
“Hey, uh… My name is Wilbur. I’d you didn’t know…”
The dragon glanced at him, seemingly just as confused as Wilbur was as to why he was talking to the dragon.
“Figured we were both bored. So… it wouldn't hurt.”
The dragon blinked, unsure of what else to do. Wilbur rocked back and forth on his toes. “From what I hear, your name is Tommy. Which is a weird name for a dragon. That seems more like a human name.”
The creature tilted its head, staring at him intently before huffing out another pillar of smoke.
Wilbur coughed, fanning the smoke away from his face. “Fine. Be that way if you want.”
The dragon stopped, flopping down and staring at him.
Great. Story time for a dragon, Wilbur supposed. “You know, there was this old guy at my village. His name was Tommy too. He was the craziest person you’d ever met—“
And so they talked. Or, well, Wilbur talked. Wilbur did what he was good at. He told stories. He detailed them every night to Tommy, slowly learning the way the dragon communicated through expressions and his limited body movements.
And every night, Wilbur found it harder and harder to look at the chains on Tommy. The muzzle that kept the dragon from opening his mouth. The wounds that were clearly from the guards before him.
It felt… cruel.
Much too cruel for Wilbur to feel happy with himself.
So, one night, Wilbur changed his routine.
Wilbur opened the cage.
Tommy stared at him with intense eyes, tracking each and every one of Wilbur’s movements as the man drifted from chain to chain.
And he unlocked each one. Then, Wilbur got to the muzzle. He gave Tommy a pointed look.
“Don’t burn me to a crisp please.”
The creature nodded, Wilbur sucking in a breath as he finished unlocking it. The muzzle fell to the ground with a loud clatter.
“Go on. You’re free.”
The dragon looked at him to the gate and back again. The creature leaned forward, Wilbur placing his hand against the dragon’s nose.
And for a moment, it was entirely silent. For a moment, nothing else mattered.
The fear that once lingered in the back of Wilbur’s mind was wiped clean.
Tommy blinked, suddenly leaping out of the cage. Wilbur stumbled back, watching as leathery wings snapped open. In a flash, Tommy took off into the air, his wings flapping viciously.
Wilbur laughed, grinning as the dragon began to fade into the distance.
He made the right decision, he just knew it.
-/-/-/-/-/-
As it turned out, not many people agreed with him. Apparently people weren’t a fan when you released one of their most powerful weapons.
Which is how he ended up here, soldiers clawing at him and pushing him around. He was thrown onto a trebuchet, limbs stretched and tied around the rock.
Wilbur pulled at the ropes, hoping one of them would loosen up enough for him to get out of this. But it was to no avail.
Wilbur flinched as he heard the shouts of angry soldiers, all labeling him a traitor and spy. Wilbur tried to deny, tried to craft an elaborate lie about how the dragon had simply broken out.
But his words fell on deaf ears. They wanted his blood. They wanted him gone.
Wilbur felt his heart beat in his ears, thumping in time to the shouts of those around him.
He wasn’t sure how he was going to get out of this. He didn’t think he was getting out of this.
…
He really was going to die because he freed a dragon?
Wilbur wished he could say he regretted it, but he couldn’t find it in himself to wish Tommy was back in that cage, and Wilbur was back outside of it.
It may seem ridiculous to others, but over the month they had been at this camp, Wilbur felt like Tommy was his friend. A dragon trusted him enough to let him touch his snout.
Wilbur yelled as his limbs were stretched, the trebuchet getting ready to fire.
The soldiers all laughed, delighted in his suffering.
Wilbur felt tears running down his face, eyes turning to the sky. He supposed that if he was going to die, then at least he could touch the sky like Tommy had.
Wilbur’s vision blurred, an odd shape forming in the distance.
He blinked away the tears the best he could, gaze turning to the figure. It was…
Wilbur gasped, watching in awe as it approached. The sun shone down on the figure’s face, revealing shimmering dragon scales.
“Tommy…” Wilbur whispered in shock.
The soldiers all looked towards the sky, shouting as they spotted Tommy flying towards them.
But it was too late.
Tommy’s head tilted back before he shot forward, fire roaring out of his throat and engulfing the soldiers. Wilbur watched in shock, trying to pull out of these ropes before he too was caught on fire.
A loud thud landed next to him, Wilbur looking up at the dragon in awe. Large, black claws swiped at him, making the brunet flinch.
Only to find his arms and legs free from their bonds. Just as Wilbur was about to thank the dragon, Tommy put his neck out, giving Wilbur the opportunity to climb on.
Without hesitation, the man hopped on. Tommy spread his wings, flapping them with big, slow strokes as they lifted into the air.
As soon as they were far enough from the ground, Tommy shot another reign of fire and rage onto their camp. Wilbur looked at the ground, watching as they squirmed like tiny ants.
A satisfied smile graced his face.
Justice.
Justice for all those killed by these heartless people. Justice for the kingdom’s warriors simply trying to stop the brigade. Justice for a dragon locked in chains and abused to be a weapon.
Wilbur had never been one for violence or fighting, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have a sense of wrong and right.
As soon as Tommy finished melting down the entire camp, he began to fly off.
Where Tommy was taking him, he didn’t know.
Nor did he truly care. He didn’t have much at home. And he trusted that Tommy wasn’t going to hurt him.
Perhaps they were going on a new adventure.
Wilbur couldn’t wait to find out.