Stronghold City Draft

Chapter 8

"They're gone!" cried a chupacabra, waking Anarchy up. "Wha-" he mumbled, stumbling out of the new den he had dug last night. "I went to check on the saurians just now and they're gone! Look!" it pointed to the spot where the bound saurians had been laid down last night. Sure enough, they were gone. Scraps of frayed rope littered the ground. "H-how?" he asked in disbelief. He had maken sure the bounds were tight. The frayed scraps indicated they had bitten through their bounds, which made no sense seeing as their mouths had been carefully tied shut. Suddenly, he realized a possible way in which they could have escaped. The reptiles' narrow tongues could have loosened the bounds around their jaws just enough for the saurians to get the rope off, and then they could have easily bitten through the rest of the rope. Anarchy froze in terror when he remembered what the tan one had said to him yesterday. Could the saurian really have gone to the dragon city to inform the dragons about how Anarchy had killed their queen? The dragons could destroy the work-in-progress city in mere seconds if the saurian told them the location. He had to find those lizards. "Go take a party and scout for those saurians around the city. If you find one of them, bring it to me alive. This is urgent," he said to the other chupacabra.

Rhyssi ran through the desert as fast as she could. She could feel the blood pounding in her frill. If she made it into Solis, she could tell the dragons about the whereabouts of the chupacabra city and the tyrant who ran it. Rhyssi didn't necessarily care for dragons, but she knew that if anything, that pretentious chupacabra lord had to be stopped, if only for revenge reasons at least. Besides, she did have family inside Solis, and chances were that chupacabra wouldn't hesitate to kill everyone in the entire city. Rhyssi stopped at a tall wall made from giant blocks of stone. Sharp spikes stuck up at the bottom to deter any would-be climbers. She took a deep breath and prepared to climb the wall. She knew just one wrong step, just one false foothold, just one mistake would cause her to fall all the way down and get impaled on a spike. Still, it was either that or the chupacabras would kill her. At least it was worth the risk, if only a little. Climbing the spikes carefully, she reached out over to the wall and found footholds in the spaces between the huge bricks. Slowly, step by step, she began to scale the wall, climbing higher and higher.

Aviary had decided to start training Lucien to walk on a leash. He was not very well-behaved- he would constantly stop to smell something, rush forwards, and bark at any other dogs he passed. On the previous walk, Lucien had decided to relieve himself on a dragon's foot, and Lucien had spent a good five minutes explaining to the poor dragon that his dog was not well-trained yet, and that he had not meant for Lucien to urinate on her at all. Maya had not come with him because he couldn't trust she wouldn't wander off as Aviary's attention was focused on the dog. Suddenly, a quick-moving tan shape collided with Aviary. "Watch it," he snapped. The saurian that had collided with him quickly got to its feet. This saurian didn't look anything like the proper and well-taken-care-of city saurians. Her frame was very wiry and skeletal and Aviary could pick out every rib in her ribcage, and her body was pockmarked with small scars. This was a wild saurian from outside the wall. She was breathing heavily, her purple eyes darting around. "Are you okay, miss?" Aviary asked. "No, no I'm not," began the panicked saurian. "I'm being hunted. I know a secret. They want to find me." Aviary held his hands in the air. "Slow down. What's going on?" The saurian looked him dead in the eyes. "I know who killed Queen Sunstone."

A shock ran through Aviary's spine. "Su-Sunstone?" he asked in shock. "You'll never believe it. It was a chupacabra, of all things. It's training all the others to climb the wall. It sent out a hunting party and I was taken to this big sand cave. There were chupacabras everywhere, and they wanted us for some reason. I managed to escape them last night. You have to do something. Tell the other dragons." Suddenly, a voice spoke from the shadows of the nearby alleyway. "I'm afraid we can't have troublemakers like you running around causing problems. Lord Anarchy asked me to bring you back, and that's what I'm going to do. No more fun and games." A large chupacabra stepped out from the shadows. It snarled when it saw Aviary. "So you've already tattled. Well, that's too bad for you. You've forgotten that knowing who killed the queen is nearly useless if you don't know how to get to him. You'll never get a chance to tell anyone where Lord Anarchy lives." Aviary blasted a stream of brilliant orange flame from his beaked jaws, but the chupacabra dodged the blast of fire with surprising agility. More than likely, it had trained for a situation like this. Four other chupacabras darted out out the alleyway and quickly trussed the tan saurian with some thick rope. The first chupacabra that had come from the alley took the unfortunate saurian and ran off. Aviary felt a twinge of sadness for the saurian; without a doubt she would be killed. However, he knew there was nothing he could do to save her, as the chupacabra that took her was probably long gone. The four chupacabras it had left behind circled in on Aviary, snarling and snapping. Aviary lashed out with a birdlike foot and sent one of his attackers sprawling across the ground. He blasted a ray of fire, but they quickly dodged it. Suddenly, Aviary heard a whimper. Two of the chupacabras had closed in on Lucien. "Oh no, you don't," Aviary said, sending them flying with a swipe of his great blue wings. A chupacabra approached him from behind and he quickly whirled around. He headbutted it with the bony crest atop his head. Aviary's attackers realized that they had already got their prize, and there was no reason to get killed fighting a dragon underprepared. They skittered off into the alley. Aviary looked Lucien in the eyes, feeling a little uneasy. "Well, that was... an experience."