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[b][u][center]Not as Tricky as You Think

Part 1

For Lightsun168

By Draconicon[/center][/u][/b]

The streets of Yellowridge were swimming with other people that Kero had never seen before. The guards at his sides and the captain – named Petyr – at the front of their little formation were vaguely familiar, seen at a distance before, but all these other people –

“Look at that dragon!”

“It’s a lizard, hon.”

“What a dick.”

“I don’t know, I thought it’d be bigger.”

“Look at the savage, though. He should be in chains, not ropes.”

“Someone should get more soldiers, just in case.”

It was the eyes of all the other people that cut deeper, and made the march through town more humiliating. It was bad enough that he was naked, completely bare to the world, but to have everyone shouting and muttering and commenting as he passed by…

Kero’s cheeks burned. He didn’t know if the humiliation and shame showed on his face, but he knew that he could feel the burn as he was led through the streets. His arms were tied behind his back, the ropes digging into his chest, along his waist, and around…well, around his groin, as well. The harsh rope didn’t quite touch the sensitive flesh there, but it did trap enough blood to keep him at least half-hard at all times. He kept waiting for his embarrassment to make him go soft, but it was never enough, and all those eyes…

They rounded another corner. There were endless lines of dogs and cats on either side of the cobblestone road, and he huffed and grunted as his soles were pummeled by the rough rocks. It was so much worse than the soft earth that he walked on outside the cities. Gods above, but this was pain.

But not so much as having those stares on him. Whether the townsfolk were staring at his face or at his cock, at his scales or at his nakedness, it was a constant reminder that he was helpless before them. Judged, and judged poorly.

“Nnngh…this isn’t fair,” he whispered. “You couldn’t have let me keep the loincloth?”

“Prisoners aren’t allowed clothes,” Captain Petyr said, the beagle shrugging. “And besides, it’d be ripped off you later.”

“When?”

“When the judge sees you.”

Great. So he wasn’t just being dragged to the town square and the stockades there, but he was going to have to see a judge, too. Great. Wonderful.

He looked to his right, then his left. He saw a panther that sneered at him with the biggest smirk in the world. He saw a Doberman woman that looked away, hustling along in fear. He saw a cheetah that looked him up and down with a raised eyebrow, idly touching himself before turning away. He saw a female calico give an appraising glance with a big grin.

The reactions ranged all over the place, from fear to disappointment, from anger to lust, and more besides. All he could do was keep walking as the beagle guards kept pulling him by the ropes, not giving him the faintest bit of slack to get his footing.

Eventually, they rounded the last corner before Yellowridge’s town square. It was a large bit of space, perhaps a thousand feet on each side, and there were both staffed and abandoned carts spread throughout. Storefronts faced out toward the square, and at the very middle was a stage. Someone must have run ahead, because there was a single stockade on it, set up so that he would be kept kneeling as long as he was in it, and perhaps more uncomfortable than that, besides.

Petyr and the other beagles pushed through the crowd, clearing a path as they led him on. The crowd pushed in, grabbing at him. One housecat lunged forward, punching him in the stomach before the guards pulled him back.

“That’s for all the things you’ve done!” the cat shouted before he was shoved back into the crowd.

Kero barely managed to catch his breath before the guards pulled him along. The lizard hissed through clenched teeth as they dragged him up the stairs toward the stage, shaking his head as he was pulled along. It wasn’t his fault that dragons were such a menace on society. It wasn’t his fault that he was a lizard and not a mammal. Just because the bigger scalies were a danger didn’t mean that he was [i]that[/i] bad. He’d never even stepped foot in town before. Sure, he’d imagined coming in, and thought about what he’d do if he ever got access to the town, but that was as far as that went.

As they led him over to the stocks, some of the townsfolk started moving toward the carts. Some pulled food from the abandoned ones, and Petyr sighed.

“Someone get a handle on the crowd. Now. And you.” He pointed to one of the unoccupied guards. “Get more from the barracks. We’re going to have a dangerous crowd on our hands if we don’t deal with this now.”

“Sir?”

“Get going.”

The beagle ran off, but not before Petyr swung his spear around in his direction. Kero didn’t know what that was about, but if it meant that there was more security for him, he wasn’t going to complain. Not when he was facing…that.

Naked, bound, humiliated as he was, he felt helpless in a way that he’d never felt in the forest. It wasn’t just the fact that he was more exposed than he’d ever been. No, it was the fact that he’d faced such…disdain, such powerful judgment the minute that the townsfolk had seen him. They didn’t just think he was guilty; they’d seen his scales and [i]known[/i] it, even if they didn’t know what he was guilty of. They saw him as someone that was connected to the dragons, and that was enough for them.

They pushed him down, getting him on his hands and knees behind the stocks. The massive wooden block clicked open, and Petyr pushed his head and hands into position.

“Couldn’t you just throw me in jail?” Kero muttered.

“Not with this crowd on our hands.”

“They’re going to rip me to shreds.”

“That’s why we’re here. You might be a thief, but you don’t deserve that kind of death.”

“Hmmph. Still think I deserve death, though?”

“Running the numbers, the law says yes.”

Kero rolled his eyes before the chunky wood came down again, trapping him in place. The other guards slammed the lock into its slot, and just like that, he was pinned. Even with all his strength, he wouldn’t be able to just break through.

“That said, I doubt they’re going to kill you. I’m more concerned about them trying something else.”

“Like what? Booing me to death?” Kero muttered.

“More like raping you.”

The idea hadn’t even crossed his mind, but then he remembered some of the people he’d seen. The panther and the cheetah stood out, remembering how they’d stared at his exposed cock and his ass as he passed by. There’d been others, too, but everything had been so overwhelming that they hadn’t even registered in his mind.

Now they did, and he jammed his tail down between his legs, blushing worse as he covered his ass. The crowd shouted, so loud that no clear sound could be made out from it, but they were clearly unhappy.

“Captain, should we tie his tail out of the way?” one of the other beagles asked.

“You planning to fuck him yourself?” Petyr asked.

“What – no, but the crowd –”

“They can restrain themselves to staring. We’re not facilitating that.”

“But –”

“He’s been caught, but nobody’s pressed charges yet. This is all we’re doing until Castille sees him,” Petyr said.

For all that he hated the beagle for stripping him naked, parading him through town, and then leaving him like this, there was a swell of gratitude that shamed Kero to the depths of his soul. He didn’t [i]want[/i] to feel any kind of gratitude for this. He didn’t want to owe the beagle captain anything. And yet…he didn’t have much choice. He was helpless, completely pinned in place, and if the town guard didn’t do something to keep him safe, well…the townsfolk could do what they wanted.

And they were clearly not happy with him. The only faces he saw in the crowd that weren’t twisted with a wild hate of scaly-kind were warped into teasing smirks or with appraising glances that made him all the more fearful of how safe he actually was. He curled his tail even tighter over his rump, trying to cover it as completely as he possibly could.

As more of the beagles came to the stage, Petyr leaned down. The captain of the guard whispered in the dragon’s ear.

“The judge won’t be here until tomorrow. That means that you’re going to be locked up overnight, for the viewing pleasure of the entire town.”

“What?! But –”

SMACK!

He lowered his head with a hiss as one of the other beagles slapped his ass. He half-hoped that Petyr would berate the guard responsible, but nothing came. Instead, the captain just leaned a bit closer, shaking his head.

“You surrendered, thief. We’re being [i]nice[/i] right now. I’m trying to do the right thing, but if you want me to just leave you to the crowd, I will. Maybe you’ll get lucky and some of ‘em will be better, but looking at the crowd, I wouldn’t take those odds.”

Kero bit back his instinct to rip into the beagle and looked back at the crowd. Even the kindest of faces were the sort that just wanted to ‘enjoy’ him rather than hurt him, and despite the guards standing around him, the crowd surged and retreated by turns. If the guards ever pulled away, he’d be dead even if he wasn’t tied down. A shiver ran down his spine as he shook his head and lowered it against the wood.

“Fine.”

“Not that you had a choice, really; I’m not going to let a prisoner get killed on my watch,” the beagle said, standing up again. “Alright, men. Keep an eye on this one. The last thing that I want is to find a body in the morning.”

“Sir, can’t we just…”

The beagle soldier trailed off. Kero couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Sure, he’d been a bit of a bandit, a little bit of a rogue on the trails outside town, but there were reasons for that. Mostly being that he was a scaly and had to make a living in the wild, and he didn’t really have the skills to be a hunter-trader that could make a living on his own, but still. He’d only taken small amounts from the wagons he robbed. Not enough to be worth killing, he was damn sure of that.

To his relief, Petyr walked over and grabbed the other beagle by the ear and yanked him forward. The beagle screamed as he was dragged to the edge of the stage and held there.

“You suggest killing someone without a trial again, and I’ll put you in the stocks, and then tell the crowd what [i]you[/i] did.”

“…”

“Do I make myself clear?”

“Y-yes, captain!”

“Good.”

The beagle pulled his subordinate back from the growling, snarling, jeering crowd, and everyone went back to their positions. Petyr glanced at him again, giving the lizard a small shrug, and then left.

It took a total of ten minutes after the captain’s departure for the first tomato to hit his face. It splattered across his cheeks with a bittersweet red, and he grunted as he tilted his head away. A half-rotted head of lettuce followed, then a couple of bananas. The fruit was all relatively soft, thankfully, but the mess was sticky as could be.

The guards, to their credit, ran into the crowd to start dispersing the angrier troublemakers, but it was too little, too late. The mess was already all over his face, and he grumbled as he struggled to wipe it off. It rested against the bases of his horns and along his ear-fins, as well as down his cheeks. His tail was too short to reach all the way around to touch it, and his hands were bound at the sides of his face, unable to reach far enough to get it all clear from his scales.

And the guards weren’t nice enough to help with that, either. They did the bare minimum to keep the crowd from getting worse, and that was that.

“Fur-killer!”

“Thief!”

“Rapist!”

They were shouting all kinds of crimes at him to the point where it sounded more absurd than anything else. Instead of sounding grounded or like they knew what had happened, they sounded hateful. Comedically hateful, admittedly, but hateful nonetheless. He stared out at the crowd, watching as they milled to and fro.

Some of them tried to sneak around the back of the stage, and for a few brief seconds, he was very aware of the vulnerability of his ass. The guards moved, however, and he was surrounded on all sides by the beagles.

The reality of his situation came down hard. He’d thought that he might have a chance to get the guards off his ass by surrendering, showing a bit of good will, and letting them take him into the city. He’d even thought that there might be a chance to get a good score before escaping.

But this?

There was no getting out of this. Not a chance in hell. All he could do…

All he could do was hope that the guards would keep him alive. They looked down at him, they narrowed their eyes as they sneered at him, but for the moment, they were keeping the crowd back. Even as the jeers and sneers and shouts from the townsfolk grew louder, the guards still kept that crowd back.

[i]Maybe they’ll do their duty…maybe I’ll be safe.[/i]

The sheer exhaustion from his humiliation drained him, and Kero knew he wouldn’t last long. Best to sleep now, he decided, so he’d have energy later if something bad happened. He closed his eyes, adjusted himself as best he could, and eventually, sleep caught him between the shouts of the crowd.

#

Morning came, and with it came the heated feeling of a palm cracking across his ass cheek. Kero roared, clenching his hands into fists as he tried to stand up –

Rattle-crack.

The stockade held him down, keeping him from reacting as violently as he wanted to. His eyes closed tight as he remembered the events of the day before, and he took one deep breath after another. He stank; sweat soaked his scales, and –

And something else. Something thicker, something…muskier. And earthier.

[i]…Please…please no…[/i]

Kero slowly opened one eye. As he had feared, there was a crusty white across his face, and the smell of semen. Someone had climbed on the stage while he slept and busted a load across his cheeks, leaving a white mark all across one side of his muzzle. He could feel and smell it, and the crustiness had soaked into his cheeks as a result. The same feeling covered his rump from behind, and that told him that someone had climbed up back there, too.

No pain, though. No violation.

“Are you awake?”

It was Petyr. Kero swallowed the sarcastic retort that he wanted to give, slowly turning his head in the direction of the voice. Behind him, still.

“Yes…I’m awake.”

“And alert?”

“As alert as I can be with that waking me up…”

“It looks like my guards weren’t as…vigilant…as they were supposed to be,” the beagle said, finally stepping in view with a spear in hand. “I’d apologize, but considering the alternatives…”

“Just…how much longer am I going to be in this thing?”

“Until the judge gets here.”

“And how much longer is…how much longer is that going to be?” he muttered, suppressing the urge to curse.

“Another minute. He’s on his way as we speak.”

That was something, though hardly as reassuring a something as he would have liked. Taking a deep breath, he clenched and unclenched his fists, trying to ignore the slime on his face that he could still –

Gods above, how much of a mess was there? He could smell it, see a hint of it, but why? Why would they have…

“…Can you please…wipe my face off?” Kero asked.

“Does it bother you?”

“…”

“Does it?”

“Yes.”

“A moment.”

The beagle stepped out of sight again, and Kero pulled his tail down a little tighter between his legs. He had nothing resembling morning wood down there, but at the same time, he didn’t want to be showing off. It was embarrassing enough to be stained as he was, and anything else would just be too much.

He felt something warm and wet across his rump. It was just rough enough to be a cloth, and he chose to believe that was what it was. Kero shifted his hips one way, then the other, giving Petyr the room he needed to clean things off back there. There was no delving under his tail. The mess was limited to his cheeks, and he imagined that they had probably been kept to jerking off at his sides during the night. Fucking pricks.

As the beagle walked up to stand by his head, Kero caught sight of someone across the square. A golden-yellow dog stepped out of one of the streets, walking their way.

“That the judge?” Kero asked.

“That’s Castille, yes,” Petyr said. “I’d suggest being as courteous as you can. He’s not particularly patient most of the time.”

“Mmmph…”

“And don’t fucking pout. It’s not a good look.”

“I’ve been tied up all night and I got covered in cum. I think I’m fucking allowed.”

“And don’t curse.”

“You just –”

“I’m a guard, you’re a prisoner.” Petyr stood up, tossing the rag to the side. “And that means that there’s different standards. How about a little gratitude, hmm?”

“…Thanks.”

“For?”

“Thanks for…cleaning me up.”

“That’s better.”

Nodding, Petyr stood up a little straighter, spear thunking against the stage. The other beagles were gone, who knew for how long, and the rest of the square was completely empty. Kero glanced toward the horizon, but the clouds were low; there was no chance to tell just what time it was.

[i]Ugh…[/i]

It was a poor first night in Yellowridge, he’d say that much.

The dog, a Shiba Inu, stopped at the front of the stage. The short canine looked up at him, cocking his head to the side before adjusting his white robes.

“You are the criminal Kero, a lizard that has been raiding the caravans passing along the roads to our town. Is this correct?”

“Do you have proof of the thefts?” Kero asked.

Thunk.

He barely resisted the urge to snarl as Petyr brought the butt of his spear down on his legs. The scales there protected him to some extent, but not completely, and he still felt the impact quite a bit harder than he would have liked. He huffed under his breath, shaking his head as he looked back at the judge.

“That’s me.”

“The Traders’ Guild has been quite adamant about seeing you punished for your deeds. Considering that you’ve held them at knife-point for over a year, they are…very cross with you.”

“Has it been that long?”

Thunk.

“Okay, fine, fine, that’s me,” he muttered, his tail nursing the impact point with the finned end. “So…what’s going to happen to me?”

“If the Guild was not interested in pressing charges, you would have served a small term in the stockades – a week, perhaps – and then been let loose. Without weapons, of course; we aren’t stupid.

“But as the Guild does want to press charges, that puts us at a bit of an impasse. You see, the goods that you’ve deprived the Guild of, as well as the delays on the road, the amount of gold that you’ve stolen, and the fact that you [i]are[/i] scaly –”

He gritted his teeth. Of course that would be a factor. Why the hell wouldn’t it be?

“Well, that adds up to only two possible outcomes. The gallows, or slavery.”

“I – what? You – you…what?” Kero asked, blinking.

“I’d suggest the gallows,” Petyr said.

“Now hold on –”

“The choice belongs to the culprit, captain,” Judge Castille said, the Shiba Inu putting his hands behind his back. “And the culprit alone.”

“Don’t I get a trial?” Kero asked.

“No. They are limited to those that are charged of crimes that happened within the walls of Yellowridge. And besides…I doubt that I would be able to run a clear court with you in it, anyway.”

Because he was scaly.

Because dragons terrified the countryside, and he shared the same sort of ‘skin’ as they did.

Because people were scared and fucking stupid.

He glared out of the corner of his eye at the captain. The beagle thought that he should just pick death? That he should give up?

[i]Fuck you…fuck you…[/i]

Slavery was hardly a good option, either, but at least if he was in chains, he had a chance to break those chains. If he submitted to the gallows, then there was no chance of anything but dangling from them until they got tired of looking at his rotting body. There was no coming back from that.

“I’ll take slavery.”

“Then we’ll have to take you to the priests,” Castille said. “Captain, if you would oversee our captive until he’s properly marked and sold off?”

“Why me?”

“You [i]are[/i] the arresting officer. And you [i]were[/i] the one that demanded that he have a double-sized attending guard for the duration of his time in the stockade.”

“With all due respect, your lordship, I didn’t want you to come to a body this morning.”

“If I had, the court would have had its business already handled. Since you seem to see fit to lengthen the prisoner’s life, then you may see fit to ensure that the prisoner is properly seen to. Dismissed, captain.”

The beagle saluted as the Shiba Inu turned on his heel and walked away. Kero almost wanted to laugh at the clearly-unwanted duties, but he stopped himself. Even if Petyr had recommended the gallows over slavery, the captain was the only one that seemed even slightly on his side. He couldn’t just ignore that. If he was going to live through this, he needed every ally that he could get.

And that meant swallowing his tongue as he was unlocked from the stockades and helped to his feet. He almost asked for some clothes, but stopped himself. Prisoners weren’t allowed them, after all.

“So…what now?” he asked.

“Now, I deal with your scaly ass for the rest of the day, and possibly into the fucking night, if we can’t find you a buyer.”

“…Is that going to be hard?”

“Depends on whether Salmus is in town or not,” the captain said, shaking his head. “Follow me. First stop, the Temple of the Sacred Den.”

“And what happens there?”

“Heh…we make you ‘safe.’”

#

The Temple of the Sacred Den was as massive as it was obscenely wealthy. The walls were draped in golden tapestries, each of them worth more than Kero would have been able to steal in a decade, all portraying some sort of ancient history or other. Marble statues that would have cost thousands in gold to commission stood in the corners of the great temple, and the ground was decorated with seated gemstones that could not have been any cheaper. Everywhere he looked, Kero saw the signs of wealth, and he shook his head.

“And you people fear dragons?” he muttered. “If there’s not some secret dragon in charge here –”

“There isn’t,” Petyr said.

“Then this has to be lighting a beacon for them. If you’re scared of a dragon attacking –”

“The priests keep this place safe. There will not be one.”

Kero wasn’t so sure about that, but the beagle sounded confident enough. He supposed that they might have some magic somewhere that was keeping all the riches of the building from getting a dragon’s attention. Nobody knew how dragons found all their wealth, but it was common enough knowledge that they had some way of sniffing it out. Kero had always assumed that it was just something that started small until it grew strong enough for dragons to feel it, and so, he always kept less money on him than he needed.

If there was a way to hide it, though…

Petyr led him across the main floor of the Temple, past several acolytes in brown robes. They looked up at his roped-up, naked body as he passed, and he fought the urge to cover himself as he was led along. His cock was still hanging loose, though thankfully no longer forced hard by the ropes. It was still embarrassing enough to have it out, though.

They reached an altar that looked like an upside-down V, with a flat part at the pointed top. An older priest, a Dachshund, turned to face them. Kero noted the pendant around his neck – a black gemstone surrounded by twisted wood – and guessed that he had to be a higher-ranking priest than the others.

“Captain Petyr. I assume that this is the…criminal that was on-display yesterday?” the Dachshund asked.

“This is him, yes.”

“Then I presume that you are here for the last rites?”

“What? No!” Kero said.

“Unfortunately, he chose slavery,” Petyr said, shaking his head. “More’s the pity; he’s going to regret that before long, I imagine.”

“Ah. Then…I am to make him ‘safe.’”

“Yes, if you have the time.”

“…I can make the time for that. Bring him along.”

Kero opened his mouth, but a glance from the beagle guard made him shut it again. There was just enough force in it to make him wonder just what was going on.

They walked around the altar to a door at the very back of the room, which in turn led to a staircase that went down. The priest held the door open, and Petyr led the way, guiding the lizard down the steps and muttering to himself as he went. Too quiet for Kero to make out what he was saying, but loud enough that it was impossible to entirely tune out.

They left the well-lit surface behind, and as the light dwindled in the staircase, the sounds of something else rose to meet his ears. He cocked his head to the side, slowing his pace for a moment before Petyr reached back and kept pulling him along. Voices rose from the depths, and he shook his head as they grew louder and louder.

“What is that?” he hissed.

“The Temple of the Sacred Den has a number of duties,” the beagle said, not lifting his head. “One of those is making sure that certain criminals can never do what they did again.”

“What – you can’t have that many scaly people down there.”

“Not just scalies.”

“Then –”

“Rapists,” the priest said behind them. “Rapists and criminals that threatened others…that way. We ensure that they can never, ever cause that kind of trouble again.”

Kero’s breath caught in his throat as he realized what they actually meant by ‘making him safe.’ They wanted him to be controlled, to be unable to rampage. They wanted him to be ‘caged’ in all kinds of ways, just like they had threatened when they caught him. They wanted him not just safe, but sterile.

Petyr and the priest had to work together to get him moving again. They reached the bottom of the steps and into a hallway. Open chambers to either side were filled with whimpers or moans, and when Kero mustered the courage to look through, his heart leaped into his throat.

In each room was another male, all mammalian, and all of them were tied spread-eagle to a standing stone. Their legs were spread wide, and most of them had a mark etched over their crotch, somehow still standing out through their fur. Each one was the same, and it made their cocks glow a deep purple in color. Some of them had more than that, ranging from collars to shackles, and one had a shimmering steel cage over his cock to go with the symbol that held it down.

[i]Why…[/i]

They led him to one of the empty chambers, and Petyr gave him a nudge from behind. He stepped forward without thinking, finding himself staring at the first empty standing stone he’d seen. He turned on his heel, looking back at the priest and the guard. The captain shook his head as Kero tensed up, giving a subtle nod to the rock. It was a message as clear as day: give in, let it happen.

The idea of just surrendering his pride and body to someone else when he hadn’t done anything like the other criminals down here was horrifying. And yet, at the same time, he knew that he didn’t have much in the way of choices. Everything else had been stripped from him. It was either slavery – and being made ‘safe’ for it – or going to the gallows. If he wanted to die, then he could say no. If he wanted to survive, he had to go along with this.

“Well?” the priest said. “Back up to the stone, and we’ll get started.”

Wordlessly, Kero did as he was told.

[b][u][center]The End[/center][/u][/b]

Summary: Kero finds out that being caught and surrendering comes with its own rather serious problems.

Tags: M/solo, M/M, Unseen Masturbation, Cum on Face, Cum on Ass, Naked, Nudity, Embarrassment, Speciesism, Lizard, Scaly, Dogs, Cats, Beagle, Shiba Inu, Series, Bondage, Magic, Fantasy,