Courage Part 2: Convincing
#3 of Courage
Sroth groaned softly to himself and hunched down in the windowless back of the van as it turned for the first time, so he could more easily keep his immobilized paws beneath him as inertia tugged him towards the wall to his right. What now? What was his captor going to force him to do next--and how could it be any worse than what he'd just had to do? His face flushed a little at the memory of all those people staring at him, whispering to each other about him as he walked through them, all their eyes drawn to the restraints trapping him, his exposed and aroused penis, his raised tail and displayed tailhole beneath... And the only thing he'd been able to do was keep walking, ignoring the stares and the whispers he couldn't help but overhear, until finally he was able to slip back into hiding.
And he'd had no choice! Bound as he was, unable to escape and helpless to his captor's wishes, his only option had been to follow orders. What else could he have done? If he'd refused he would have had to suffer those relentless vibrations for who knew how long, and just a few minutes of that torment had been horrible enough the first time. He shuddered at the thought; even the humiliation he'd had to put himself through wasn't as bad as that. Nothing was.
Unfortunately, thinking of the stimulation only made his forced arousal send another shiver of desire through him, and he looked down at his hard cock, trapped snug inside the plastic sheath and kept erect by the cockring around its base, in a mixture of anger and longing. If only his arousal would go away, so his captor couldn't use it to torture him... If only he could touch himself through the sheath, or get out of it, and wrap his paws, tail or even lips around himself and actually be able to bring himself to climax!
He couldn't help but rock his hips forward a few times at the thought, but moaned and forced himself to stop after a moment. Just how long would he be stuck like this, anyway? ...and would his captor be willing to tell him? Growling, he looked around the van, then spoke, hoping he would get a response. "How long is this van ride going to be?"
The voice replied smoothly from the speaker in his earhole a few moments later. "Only ten minutes or so; just having you taken to the other side of the park to make sure you don't run into anyone who's already seen you while performing your second task."
"...and what will that task be?"
"You'll find out in due time, my captive dragon," the voice chuckled.
He growled, tail trying to lash angrily within the straps that held it still. "Who are you?"
Another chuckle. "One who enjoys having fun with helpless dragons such as yourself."
"What do you want from me?"
"A life like the one I lead is dull and boring; playing this game with you provides me with entertainment."
Sroth snarled, wishing his captor was in the van for him to glare at--or better yet, attack. "And what gives you the right to kidnap me and tie me up like this just to amuse yourself? I have my own life to lead!"
"And it will be a much longer life than my own. You can spare a little of your time to make someone else happy, can't you?"
That told him something, at least: his captor was a human--or an old or terminally ill dragon. Not that the fact made him any more willing to be there... "Just how long are you going to keep me bound like this, anyway?"
The voice laughed. "That depends on whether or not you can complete the tasks assigned to you."
"If I can?"
"Oh, not too long, I imagine... But at least long enough to give you that orgasm I promised you for winning the game."
"And if I can't?" he growled.
"A good while longer."
He moaned softly to himself, trying not to think about the possibility of being helplessly aroused and denied for so long. "Why me?"
"There are so many dragons in the world who live traditionally, and government does not monitor them closely... Only a few other dragons will even notice when you disappear for however long I choose to keep you, and they will not think to report that you've gone missing--if they even consider that instead of thinking that you've simply decided to move to another territory. You specifically were an ideal choice because you do not have a mate or hatchlings to look after, so I had you picked up and brought in to take part in my little game."
That was a small relief, at least--if his captor wasn't someone he knew, then it meant he hadn't done anything to provoke this treatment, and that his captor was less likely to be cruel to him because of some sort of grudge. He sighed and tugged his paws restlessly against the shackles binding them to the floor of the van, then asked, "have you done this before?"
"No. But if you'd like to play another game some other time..."
He snorted at the suggestion. "How many tasks are left for me to complete before you set me free?"
"If you can complete them all, you'll find out," the voice laughed.
"And how much more am I going to have to humiliate myself to complete them?" he snarled.
"Why, that only depends on your mindset! Letting people see you all helpless and exposed is only humiliating if you think about it being that way."
He bared his teeth, wondering if his captor could see him as well as hear him--wherever his captor was. "How is having people stare at the erection I don't want to have and the rump I don't want exposed supposed to be anything other than humiliating?"
"All you need is an open mind. For example, did you see any dragonesses in that intersection you would have wanted your display to attract? Or were you too busy wishing you weren't there?"
He froze in horror at the thought of Saya seeing him in such an embarrassing position, either in that intersection or during one of the other tasks. How could he ever hope for her to accept his attempts to court her if she saw him so weak and helpless? "If I want to court a dragoness, I'm going to do it properly."
The voice sighed. "I am only offering a way to help you enjoy this game more. If you would prefer to continue thinking of any contact you have with someone else while in your restraints as humiliating, then by all means, go right ahead! It will only make the game more fun for me, knowing how unwillingly you're performing your tasks."
He bucked angrily, nearly losing his balance as the van happened to turn at the exact same time. "What do you think gives you the right to treat me this way? I am not your slave, or your property, and you can't just do whatever you want to me! Who do you think you are!?"
"That is more than enough out of you," his captor said sharply, and a moment later the vibrator in his cockring buzzed to life.
Sroth cried out and tried to bring his paws to his belly only to discover the manacles that held him in the van were too tight for him to get close enough to touch himself--not that he would be able to feel it through the sheath even if he could, part of his mind said, but the thought was buried beneath the desperation of his arousal almost as quickly as it had appeared. He couldn't help but begin to thrust uncontrollably at the sensation; just as before, it was so wonderful, but not quite enough to take him to climax... He had to find a way to give himself enough sensation to orgasm! His paws immobile, he curled his head down and bit down on the sheath, trying to break it open, to put a hole in it he could touch himself through, even just to squeeze hard enough to be able to feel it and strengthen the intense pleasure, but the vibrations transmitted from cockring to sheath to his teeth and jaws, making them rattle painfully, and his jaws went slack as the buzzing made his head hurt too much for him to concentrate.
"I can treat you this way because I have had you captured and bound so you cannot stop me. If you disobey, you will be punished, and I have seen to it that you cannot escape your restraints no matter how hard you try. If you don't like it... Well, too bad," the voice laughed coldly. "You can either obey, do your best to complete the tasks, and hope to be set free, or you can refuse... And be tied down helplessly, constantly stimulated and denied orgasm for however long I want to keep you that way."
He moaned and squirmed, trying again to reach his arousal with his paws, but the fetters held him too tightly and he could only continue to thrust uselessly into the empty air before him, panting and claws clenching tight with arousal. It felt so good... But as the seconds crawled by his body demanded more, that he feel something more wonderful so he could thrust harder and harder until reaching wonderful climax... If only he could touch himself! "Stop it!" he roared, wincing as his voice echoed back at him off the walls of the van. "Let me cum!"
"Maybe I'd leave you to suffer for a week, two weeks, a month... I wonder how long it would take until your mind was so overcome by the need for orgasm that you wouldn't even be able to remember your own name?"
Howling with desire, he twisted his leather-mitted forepaws back towards his belly--too far away for him to touch no matter how hard he tried--then lost his balance and fell forward onto his chest, still thrusting helplessly. Even this new position didn't give him enough range to touch himself, and when he whined and tried to get up again he discovered his paws were so tightly bound that he couldn't push himself back up into a sitting position. "Please..." he gasped, the sensations too much for him to handle any longer, and he could only stare in desperation at the sheath and cockring that trapped and stimulated him so wonderfully, so horribly... "Please let me go..."
The vibrations died away, but it took him a full minute to regain control of his arousal enough to stop thrusting. "Are you still in the mood to be defiant, or are you going to stop complaining, obey me and just play my game?"
He whined and tried again to get up, but even without the stimulation to distract him he was too firmly bound to get his paws beneath him and push himself up. The horrible denial had again washed all thoughts of resistance from his mind, and finally he moaned and said, "I will play."
"That's a good dragon," the voice said softly, and a moment later he realized that the van wasn't moving. "You've already arrived at the location of your second task, so if you'll get out, we can continue the game." The van doors opened behind him, and the shackles that bound him in place in the van released his paws.
Sroth groaned and slowly stood up again, shivering a little at his persisting arousal, then backed carefully out of the van. Once outside he looked around to find himself in another forest clearing; this one had clear dirt path leading out of it and a wooden picnic table at its center, upon which a small metallic box sat. He considered the box for a moment, but then turned and began to walk towards the front of the van, curious: could he see who was driving the vehicle? Was that person his captor, or just someone helping them play the game by driving him around? And would he be more willing to answer questions?
He circled clumsily around to the driver's-side door of the van, stumbling a little as he struggled to get used to the shorter chain tying his forepaws together and wincing at the pain of walking on foreclaws forced to ball up by the mitts, but as he approached he saw the driver's side window was blacked-out. Growling softly, he tried to keep going to look in through the windshield, but the vibrator again stirred in his loins--not as strongly as it had before, but still enough to stop him in his tracks, shivering and moaning at the sensation.
"You have more important things to do than see which associate of mine is driving the van," the voice snapped, and tormented him a few moments longer before shutting the vibrator off. "Return to the clearing, and I will explain your second task."
Whining, he brought his lust back under control and hobbled to the center of the clearing, approaching the table to examine the box that sat there, and saw a small recessed latch on its front that kept the box shut, its contents a mystery--for now.
"You've found the central object of your second task," his captor said after a moment. "Inside that case is your next piece of restraining gear, but in case you haven't guessed this already, those mitts on your forepaws mean you can't open it yourself--and in fact the latch is small enough that no dragon can, wearing mitts or not. So for this task you must follow that dirt trail to a larger paved path a few minutes' walk from here, where you must convince a human walking past to follow you back here, open the case and put on your new gear for you--and again, you may not attempt to hide your restraints or your arousal from them."
He groaned softly, but nodded in understanding. Hopefully this path wouldn't be as crowded as that intersection he'd had to walk through...
"But when speaking to these passersby, you may not explain the details of your situation: you may not say why you are bound, or for how long, or what you're doing there, or what you need them to do; only that you need help with something you cannot do yourself and that they must follow you back here. Only once you have returned to this clearing with a human may you explain what you need them to do. You also may not force people to help you, by attacking them or touching them at all, or by threatening them, or refusing to let them pass, or whatever other means you might think of; you may only use polite words to ask them to assist you with this task. If you use any improper methods of persuasion or reveal too many details of your situation, you will be stimulated with the vibrator in your cockring until you let them go on without helping you, but will not fail the task because of it, and the vibrator will turn off again once they have left. However, you have only half an hour to complete the task, and I think you know what will happen if you cannot accomplish it within the time limit..."
Sroth shuddered at the thought, whining softly. "I understand."
"Good! If you follow the trail on your left, it will take you along the most direct route to the path closest to this little clearing. Your half-hour to complete the task starts now."
He turned and bounded towards the trail, hoping to move as quickly as possible and stay far from the risk of running out of time, but tripped on the chain binding his forepaws and fell in a heap not even a full length from where he'd stood a moment ago. Grunting with pain, he stood again, then began to walk more slowly to the trail and towards the path it apparently led to. The short chain and the mitts on his forepaws forced him to take small, hobbling steps, moving at barely half his normal walking pace, and he growled at the frustration of having to move so slowly when he had such an important time limit--and would be punished so severely if time ran out! But after a little while he figured out he could move much more quickly if he used his forelegs to push off the ground and rear back a little ways, then took several long strides on his hind legs before planting his forelegs again to regain his balance. It felt clumsy and awkward, and the inability to balance with his tail almost made him fall over again a couple of times, but it let him move faster, and after a little while an opening in the trees came into view up ahead: the larger path he was looking for.
Slowing back down to his shuffling walk, he approached the end of the trail just in time for a human to walk by on the path. The man glanced in his direction, kept going, then took a longer look at him, a strange expression on his face, before looking away and quickening his pace. Groaning softly, he stepped out onto the path and looked around: there was only one human on the path aside from the man who'd already seen him--though the path took sharp bends about ten lengths away in either direction, so there could be more nearby who were hidden from him by trees for the moment. The second human, a young adult man walking towards him from the other direction, slowed at the sight of him and looked away so as not to have to see his exposed arousal, but kept walking towards him.
Might as well get this over with, he thought. "Excuse me," he approached the man, "I need some help..."
The man gasped, blanched, and took a single glance in his direction before walking right past him, hurrying away down the path without looking back.
"Please!" he called after him, but there was no response, and he looked at the ground, tail shivering in its restraints. Hopefully the next person would be more willing to listen...
Two more groups appeared around the turns a moment later: the first, a man and woman, took one look at him before turning right around and disappearing again behind the trees, shouting something about dragons and indecency. But he perked up a little with hope at the second group, a man and a dragon who hesitated when they saw him but continued forward after a moment; maybe the dragon would be sympathetic, and convince his human companion to help him!
He lowered his head as the two of them approached. "Excuse me, but I need your help."
The other dragon stepped defensively between him and the human, teeth bared, and urged the human on with a flick of his wing. "Yeah, well whatever 'help' you want, you're not getting it from us, you sick heap of scale! Look at yourself! Do you have any idea the kind of image you're presenting? And before you say that you're just having some fun, it's not just an image of yourself, it's of all of dragonkind! It's behavior like this that gives dragons a bad name; you ought to be ashamed of yourself. Go home, take off that ridiculous getup and don't come out again until you're ready to behave like a civilized creature," he snarled, then followed his human companion on down the path without a backward glance.
Sroth whimpered quietly, but let him go; explaining that he didn't want to be tied up like this, and that he especially didn't want to have to walk around in public in such a humiliating predicament, wasn't worth the tormenting vibrations he was sure to receive as punishment. So he stood and waited, struggling against his instincts to hide and avoid any further embarrassment, to crouch down and conceal his penis, to try to escape, to thrust... A couple minutes later more pedestrians came into view, a group of three humans coming from one side and a lone woman from the other. He approached the group first, thinking that three humans would be less afraid of him than just one and therefore more likely to help him.
"Excuse me... I need help," he said, head held low, doing his best to keep his voice even.
"I'll say you do," one of them said, and the whole group laughed before brushing past him and continuing on down the path.
He whined out of the back of his throat and watched them go, then turned towards the woman.
She had already stopped, shaking her head and looking at the group who'd just insulted him. "Some people just have no manners these days... You poor thing, I'd wager you could be out here for days before finding someone decent enough to stop and help you out."
Unable to keep himself from purring softly, he looked hopefully up at her. "Will you help me?"
The human pulled something metallic out of her gray hair and walked over to him. "Yes, I will. I'm a fair hand at picking locks, and I think I can get you out of those chains... Now who exactly was mean enough to tie you up like this, and where are they now?"
He took a step away from her. "I... I'm not asking to be set free," he said quietly, tensing momentarily, but sighed with relief when the tiny bit of explanation didn't stir the vibrator in his cockring.
"You're not?" She hesitated, but didn't put the little piece of metal back into her hair. "Who's been mistreating you so much, you poor dragon? I ought to give them a piece of my mind... People have got to understand that your kind aren't just animals, and you can't be treated like this! Hold still and let me release you, and I'll take you somewhere safe, somewhere happy... You've probably been taught ever since you were taken that you're just a pet, just a slave to be taken advantage of and abused, and I'll teach you to believe in yourself like a true dragon should. I can help you."
Sroth couldn't help but hesitate and consider her offer. Could whatever she had in her hand really be capable to opening the locks on all his restraints? If he let her, would she really be able to let him out? Oh, if only she could take all this gear off him, then he'd be safe from his captor, free again, without having to worry about being punished and aroused, denied, humiliated for disobedience... Or maybe it wouldn't work, she wouldn't be able to set him free, and for letting her try it he would be punished, or made to fail the task and have to suffer through the endless unfulfilled stimulation for who knew how long...
And it was a risk he couldn't take, he realized, shuddering at the thought of how horrible such punishment would be. "Please don't," he said softly. "I don't want you to let me go... You probably can't. I need you to follow me down that trail," he tried to point with his tail, couldn't, and used his snout instead, "and help me with something."
"What do you need help with?" she sighed, putting the thing back into her hair.
"I-- I can't say yet," he shivered. "Please, just follow me."
The woman frowned, but nodded. "All right, I'll help you... but mark my words, I'm going to find out who's treating you like this and give that person a talking-to. Are you sure you can't tell me now?"
He nodded and turned to walk back down the trail, hobbling along the slow way so the human could keep up. "I'm sure."
The two of them walked in silence for a little while, her striding along next to his right shoulder--so she wouldn't have to see his exposed cock and tailhole, most likely--and him shuffling carefully down the trail, doing his best not to stumble on the short chain linking his forepaws. But the farther they went into the forest, the more she began to look around, even once back down the way they'd come, and her pace slowed; clearly she was growing nervous.
"How much farther?" she asked.
"Not too far," he said, not daring to elaborate now that they were so close. It had to have been at least fifteen minutes already, and he didn't think he'd be able to convince someone else to help him in that short a span of time... and he couldn't fail!
"No," she said angrily, and stopped, turning to face him. "I'm not going one step farther until you tell me what's going on here, and what exactly you need me to do for you."
Sroth whined and put his head on the ground. "I can't say. Please... We're so close. Please help me."
"And I'm not about to follow a very suspicious--if pitiful-looking--dragon to some isolated location, alone, without him telling me exactly what he wants from me and why. Tell me, or I'm leaving you here."
His captor's warning about explaining the situation flashed to the front of his mind, and he whimpered. "I cannot tell you," he repeated, trying to emphasize that it wasn't that he wouldn't tell her, but that he couldn't. He kept his head low and looked pleadingly up at her, hoping she would understand and agree to help him, so he wouldn't have to further embarrass himself looking for more help that might not even come, so he wouldn't have to go through the torture of the vibrator stimulating him without letting him orgasm for however long his captor chose... But the thought made another little wave of need wash over him and suddenly he found himself fighting not to thrust, doing everything he could to stifle his horribly timed arousal so she wouldn't see--and be driven away by--his desire to mate.
His hindquarters twitched, but he managed to control himself, and the woman said, "if you tell me, will you be punished?"
Sroth said nothing, remaining absolutely still.
Finally she sighed again, saying, "very well. Lead on, you poor thing... I will help you, if you ever tell me how."
"Thank you," he said quietly, and the two of them struck out once again down the trail. They only had to go a little ways farther before the clearing and the picnic table came into view, and he couldn't help but quicken his pace for a moment at the sight--only to stumble as he tried to move farther than the short chain connecting his forepaws would let him and nearly fall again. But he managed to regain his balance, somehow, then after a few more steps they arrived in the clearing, and he sighed with relief.
His captor spoke in his earhole. "You may now tell the human what must be done to help you... And be sure to tell her to put the gear on you on as tightly as possible, and lock all the buckles with the padlocks in the bottom of the case."
He pointed towards the box on the table with his snout. "I need you to open up that box. Inside there's another piece of gear to restrain me, and I need you to put it on me."
She frowned, glancing towards the waiting van for a moment before returning her attention to him. "What is the gear?"
"I don't know."
The old woman walked over to the table, opened the latch and flipped the top of the box open, then took out some network of leather straps, with a metal bar in the middle... He couldn't suppress a whine as he realized what it was: a bridle.
She looked it over, glanced up at him, then back at the bridle in her hands. "Are you sure you want me to do this?"
I don't want you to, he thought to himself, but you must. "Please... just put it on me. Strap it on as tightly as possible and lock all the buckles with the padlocks in the box." He whined again, but parted his jaws, holding his head where she could easily strap the bridle onto him.
"All right, if you say so..." She held it up for a moment, evidently figuring it out just how it was supposed to fit on, then took hold of either side of the bit and pressed it firmly into the back of his mouth. He bit down on it and held still as she strapped it tight, binding his snout firmly shut, but couldn't keep himself from whimpering as she did. Now not only was he still helpless, but he'd just willingly helped someone bind him further--and to make matters worse, the bridle didn't just keep him from biting or breathing fire, it wouldn't even let him talk! He wouldn't be able to ask any questions of his captor, or protest, or have a task further explained, and even if he worked up the courage to try he couldn't even ask anyone who saw him performing a task to help him escape, or roar for help, or...
Now he was even more trapped.
The woman finished strapping the bridle around his head, then locked each of the buckles shut. "Is that all you need me to help you with?" she asked quietly.
He moaned past the bit in his mouth, but nodded.
She sighed. "All right. I guess now I'm supposed to go away and leave you here?"
Sroth nodded again.
"Fine. But I'm going to tell the police there are still people keeping dragons illegally as pets or slaves or whatever you think you are, so hopefully they'll track down whoever's imprisoning you and set you free before too long. Good luck..." She patted him on the snout, then turned and left him alone in the clearing.
"Congratulations," said his captor, "you have completed your second task, and are now ready to proceed. Like your new gear?"
He fought briefly to open his mouth: as expected he found it impossible to get his jaws even the slightest bit apart, and the metal bit dug almost painfully into his gums. But at least there weren't reins attached to it--yet. "Nn," he growled.
The voice laughed. "Well you'd better get used to that bridle, because it won't be coming off for a while... Oh, and don't worry about that woman's promise to call the police; as I said before, I'll make sure they don't interfere. Get back into the van, and it will take you to your next task."
Groaning softly, he climbed into the van and let his paws be bound to the floor once again, and once the doors were closed behind him all he could do was sit and wait to be taken to the location of the third task.