"Oh, this is not good. Not good." The hyena sat back on his haunches, sadly confident that his confines had no obvious weaknesses. "I made a list of good things once, and this isn't on it."

Gray, in both fur and mood. Aku, 300 pounds strong, was no small hyena. Unfortunately for the feral critter, the metal bars surrounding him were stronger. He looked through to the edge of the forest clearing, watching the sun drop down behind the tops of the trees, leaving him in the cooler shadow. Crickets began to taunt him, chirping on the other side of the barrier. The day was nearly at an end.

Forests were never his favorite. In fact, Aku was pretty sure they weren't on the list either. He much preferred more arid environments for some reason. But his journey today took him through these woodlands, and he'd hoped to make it through before the day was done.

Aku had been well aware of the diminishing amount of daylight, and was quite hopeful that this clearing would prove to be a lucky shortcut. But in his haste he completely failed to spot the trap. And now that metallic prison, sprung up around him not half an hour earlier, had halted his progress entirely.

"Who would leave something like this unattended? Where are they? I really hope someone comes by to let me out soon," he sighed. "I don't know that things could get any worse."

Woosh! The sound of a heavy flap and a sudden burst of air through the enclosure drew his attention directly upward. He caught the sight of the underside of a large wing circling down toward him. The cage shook and shifted as something grabbed it. Much like his mood, his vision turned gray. Black.

No Turning Back

He awoke with a start. A loud metallic clang echoed around him, the sound driving straight into his brain. He let out a small groan as his vision slowly returned to focus. He squinted in the orangish, somewhat wavering light. Firelight? But with no clear source?

The bars in front of him were lying flat against the stone floor. At least there's that, Aku thought. Beyond that, however, he could only make out darkness. This wasn't the forest, that’s for sure. He wasn't particularly fond of the forest, of course, but from the start he certainly thought he preferred that over this, wherever this is.

The sulfury air tickled his nose. Aku stuck his tongue out at it as he looked around, turning to survey his surroundings. More bars against the ground, with blackness beyond them. He turned, more disassembled cage. He turned, a giant wall of red scales... Yelp!

"It's awake. How .. fortunate for me," the voice boomed. "I do so like it when they struggle on the way down."

Aku gasped and inched backward as the giant beast padded toward him. The hyena had heard tale of such creatures, such raw, savage beasts that they are! But he never really expected to even see a dragon. And now he's met one, face to approaching face!

He gulped hard, looking up at the looming dragon. Compared to this, being trapped inside a cage in an annoyingly wet forest now had a chance at making the list of good things. That'd be just fine, compared to this mass of scales, set of teeth, and deep voice... Suddenly a thought struck him, and made its way out of his mouth before he could think better of it, "You can speak!"

The dragon stopped in his tracks, taking not one step more. He seemed to regard the hyena for a long moment. "So do you," a statement he punctuated with a somewhat exasperated sigh. "And here I was hoping to have dinner in peace. A little whimper or whine, that's fine, but... Well alright, get on with it." With a toss of the head to flick his black mane back, the dragon sat down on his haunches.

The feral hyena blinked in confusion. A moment ago he could have sworn he was toast, literally! He slowly rose from his cowering position, now that the dragon was no longer bearing down on him. But that stare, those draconic eyes focused directly on him, he felt no less uneasy. "Get ... get on with...?" He flinched. "Oh. Y..you want me to make you ... dinner?" He forced his face into a smile, not quite having convinced himself, but still holding some hope that's what the beast meant.

"No." A scaled paw lifted from the ground to point a finger at the hyena. "You are dinner."

Aku's eyes went wide as he whined, "M..me?! Oh, no, please don't eat me!"

"Here it comes."

"I'm not dinner! No, no, that wouldn't be a good idea. Because, uh..." He stammered, trying to think of ways he could reason with this creature. "Because, hyenas are .. gross, yeah! Smelly, smelly. And we taste terrible! You wouldn't want to eat one, would you?" He suddenly regretted phrasing it like that.

The dragon rolled his eyes back toward Aku.

"Um, no! That's the answer to that, no, you wouldn't! And with, uh, icky hyena inside you, you'd be less dragon overall! You wouldn't want that, not at all!" He put on his biggest, most hopeful smile again.

"I don't put much stock in that whole 'you are what you eat' idiom," the dragon stated flatly. "I ate a large rabbit the other day, and don't feel blue about it at all."

Aku tilted his head at that. "Wh... Never mind, I don't want to know." With a defeated frown forming, he slunk back onto his haunches. "It's not fair. I'm not just some ... dumb forest animal. You'd really devour another intelligent creature? You dragons really are such monsters."

He paused a moment, squinting at that last statement. His reply slow and deliberate, "I tell you what..." The dragon eyed the mammal in front of him as a grin spread across his muzzle. "How about a small wager?"

The hyena perked a bit at this, "A wager? Ooh, like, a staring contest!"

The scaly muzzle shook side to side. "Not so much, considering you're not some dumb forest animal. Right? Lets see that intelligence fares against a few riddles."

Aku's tail wagged. "I like riddles." He recalled always being quite skilled at them, in fact.

That scaly muzzle grinned its sly grin. "I knew you'd be the type. Lets say, three questions, just three, to decide your fate."

"If I get any of them right, I go free?"

"No, little dinner," the dragon said, shaking his head. "All of them. I suggest, for your sake, not getting any wrong. But if you can outsmart me, show that intelligence, and correctly answer all three riddles ... you can go.”

Hyena smile, “No April Fools?”

The scaly face blinked, “That was yesterday, so no... In fact, I'll even help you get to your destination." He smiled smugly. "Such monsters, indeed! Feh! A monster would do no such thing. I'll briefly be the servant of ... err, what's your name, anyway?"

Bright hyena smile, "it's Aku."

"I'll briefly be the servant of Aku," he concluded.

The hyena beamed, "Wow, I thought these were going to be hard. That was the easiest riddle I've ever heard!" He bounced a little on his four paws.

"What?! That wasn't a riddle, we haven't started yet!"

The fiery look from from big, red creature caused Aku to gasp and cringe. He had the sudden fear that he would be wrapped in flame, but that never came. "You said th ... three questions. That was a question!"

The huge chest puffed as he took a deep breath, the let out a sigh, keeping up his intense stare at the smaller mammal. "Fine. Lesson learned. Good luck on this one, you'll need it."

"Will you be asking about my quest next?"

The dragon snapped, "No!" His expression slowly smoothed, but the dull thumping of that thick scaled tail behind him betrayed some irritation. He let the silence linger for a slightly uncomfortably long moment. Then he continued:

"Some seek my help for their internal fight, but most avoid me with all their might; what am I, me, covered in scales and, just sometimes, sails?" He punctuated that with a shake of his wings, while a smile crept back onto the edge of his lips.

Aku shook his head, "You dragons, so egotistical, you are! Obviously its..." He started pointing at the dragon, but the growing grin on the massive muzzle gave him pause.

"So, your answer is me..."

"Uh, no! No. At least not yet... Give me a minute!" He closed his eyes, mumbling to himself. "Covered in... Gah!" A spotted paw hit the ground, then a spotted head.

Two eyes went wide a brief moment, watching the hyena bump his head against the ground.

"Argh! C'mon, think! Internal fight..." Aku blinked, then looked up at the dragon. "Did you say ... sails? Or sales?"

Two eyes stared back.

"Scales, what if ... like, for weight..." The hyena gasped! "A store’s health and wellness aisle, like ... like, at a WalMart!"

Tail thump... "Correct."

Aku grinned wide at his triumph, and mumbled to himself, "Those were some of the worst puns I've..." He let out a yelp upon catching sight of the dragon's death glare.

"Lets get this over with. Last one."

"Wait, don't..." The hyena peered up at the dragon, regretting speaking up. But he continued anyway, "Don't I get to ask one?"

"No, I'll be the one asking the riddles, precious." The large dragon let out a quiet sigh, but otherwise again kept silent for a long, long moment.

"A path that leads you to a trap. A known route, even without a map. A two-way street turns into a one-way track. Once you've gone so far there's no turning back."

Aku shook his head, "well, clearly it's..." He blinked, again looking up at the dragon's expression for any hint about whether his answer is correct or not. "It simply sounds like my travels." This time, nothing. "I mean, I could have gone back if I wanted to, and I did want to sometimes. But now that I'm here..." The hyena spotted not a single clue on the dragon's muzzle. "...especially if you do help me deliver my message, I guess I have to keep going. So, what you speak of is ... my journey here."

That expressionless look on the dragon's muzzle remained for a few moments more. "If I were to drop you off at your destination..." He paused again. "...you, if you so desired, could still turn around and return." He lifted himself back onto his feet, a toothy grin finally appearing. "So, in short, incorrect."

He gasped in shock as the big beast took a step toward him, "I got it wrong?!"

"Not completely wrong..." The dragon licked his lips, continuing his slow, menacing stroll toward Aku. "I've been looking forward to this dinner, and this has been a bit entertaining. So that much you got right on."

"No, but... That seemed so right. You tricked me! I..." Aku yelped as he was grabbed by the scruff, the big scaly claws lifting him up by the back of the neck. He whimpered, struggling as his paws left the ground. "Wait! Now that I've answered wrong, it IS one-way..."

The dragon lifted the smaller hyena to eye level, grinning at him and cutting him off mid-sentence, "If I hadn't brought you here, you could find it without a map?" He continued to lift him higher, above his head, tongue sliding over his lips once more before his jaws part wide.

"Okay..." Aku whimpered at the sight, his paws kicking in the air a bit. "Okay, not my journey. So, umm... GAH!" The spotted mammal renewed his wiggly struggle as the slick, broad tongue of the scaly beast curled its way around his hind paws. His mind raced, swirling with all the possible answers. "Oh! Maybe, one of those annoying partially one-way streets in downtown..."

The tongue retreated ever so briefly so the dragon could respond before that thought was even finished, "Still incorrect." And back the tongue slid to continue its work, saliva coating the mammalian paws as they were guided toward the fleshy gullet. The hyena's struggles visible through the dragon's scaly neck. Then the first swallow, then another, throat muscles gripping around those paws, legs, the hyena dropping inch by inch toward his fate.

“Oh no! Think, Aku, think!” The hyena's sense of panic increased by the second, looking down and watching spotted hips, his own hips, disappearing into that fleshy gullet! He could still see them, and his legs, but only through the stretched scales squeezing around them. "This is not helping!"

Yet powerful rippling muscles continued to pull him down, unrelenting in gulping down the dragon's prey. He swallowed steadily. Clearly satisfied the hyena's not going anywhere, he released the hyena's neck scruff from his grasp. And he swallowed steadily. The big, red beast closed his eyes, seeming to ignore the subsequent pleas, guesses, and complaints from the mammal held betwixt his jaws. And he swallowed steadily.

Total panic mode, Aku whimpered, more and more of him sinking into that squeezing throat, his own tongue sticking out as he panted. Shoulders! His mind suddenly reminded him how far down the dragon's gullet he was, before returning to racing, looking for any possibility. "Not fair, oh, this is no fair at all!"

The beast rumbled an almost purry rumble, the edges of his jaws held wide turning up in a sadistic smile as the prey between them struggled. The big predator slid his tongue over his dinner, guiding, pulling down into that squeezing throat. The dragon was under no rush at all, having waited this long, this was a meal to be enjoyed.

The hyena couldn't believe this was happening to him! He watched those toothy jaws rise up, surrounding his head as he dropped closer to the stomach he knew was waiting for him. Suddenly something clicked in his mind. For some reason he thought back to something he'd learned long ago. "Anatomy... Stomachs, I know how they..." He gasped! The back of his head brushed against the dragon's jaw. "And it's a trap of sorts... The riddle!" The dragon's mouth surrounded his head, but he smiled wide.

"The riddle's answer is, your digestive tracMMF..."

The long tongue quickly curled around the hyena's muzzle, cutting him off. His head leaned back as his jaws closed around his prey, and he swallowed hard. He reached up and touched the lump in his throat as it slid downward, the big hyena meal only an outline through those red scales. "Mmm... Oh, so close. It sounded like you almost had it!

"Maybe if you'd said it a moment sooner, but, sorry... It's a one way road from there, no turning back for you now."