This awesome commission was drawn by slashfreezen! Go check it out in their gallery here. They've done a great job with this portrait, I love all the detail put into the scales, and into that nice heavy secure headgear! Hueroc's strapped-up snout just looks great like this :D

Dragons were not beasts of burden. No [i]sir.[/i] Yes, they were big, and strong, and they could pull and carry heavy loads, but that was meant to be put to use carrying some big prey animal, or some collected treasure to add to the hoard! It was [i]not[/i] meant to be interpreted as a good reason to bind and muzzle and harness him to a big cart full of heavy rocks to pull back and forth through the quarry... And yet that's where Hueroc was. Punishment for cattle thefts, for scaring travelers, or just because they thought he'd be useful? He didn't get a chance to ask, not when they kept him in that heavy muzzle all the time, keeping his jaws pinned and his speech and fangs and fire at bay...

And those damn reins, always pulling his snout one way or the other, the tight straps on his wings, the mitts and chains on his paws and the whacks they kept giving his flanks with that crop to keep him walking... It made him growl and snort and glare at them, but it also kept him obediently pulling the cart, with no way to resist or to free himself, or to ignore how nice the restraints felt.

Look, don't judge, and the leather was really well-made and fit him so snugly... It made Hueroc feel so strictly held and under control!

But he still wanted to find a way out. This was humiliating! And his poor rump was getting sore from all the smacks they gave it to tell him to walk, and pulling the heavy cart was tiring... And all he could do about it was growl into his muzzle and keep walking. Dragons were [i]not[/i] obedient heavy labor... but here he was!