Stronghold City Draft

Chapter 9

"We got it," said the chupacabra, kicking Rhyssi forwards. The doomed reptile stumbled slightly. "Any more?" asked Anarchy. "No, they're probably as good as gone. There's no reason finding the tongueless one- it can't talk." Anarchy observed Rhyssi closer. He smiled. "MEETING, MEETING EVERYONE," yelled Anarchy. All of the chupacabras ran over and gathered into a crowd around him. After the initial pushing and fighting died down within the crowd, Anarchy spoke. "As many of you are aware, the three saurians brought into this cave escaped. We managed to recover one of them, which is right here." Rhyssi shivered. It was extremely eerie to be surrounded by hundreds of yellow and orange eyes glowing in the darkness, belonging to creatures that wanted her dead. "This saurian thought it could reveal our secrets to the dragons. Today, I'm going to demonstrate what will happen to traitors under my rule." A chill ran down Rhyssi's spine. She turned to run, but Anarchy launched himself onto her with a savage growl, pinning her to the ground. He rolled her over so she was lying belly-up, and sank his sharp teeth into the saurian's throat. He felt her cool blood flow into his mouth and let the coppery taste roll over his tongue. He felt the reptile's body spasm as her life ebbed away. Anarchy released his jaws from the saurian's corpse. He looked at the crowd with a look of utter seriousness in his eyes.

"You'll never believe it, but I just learned who killed the queen," Aviary said to his mate. "Who killed the queen? How? Who or whatever killed her left no trace in the throne room." Arialia looked a bit shocked. "A saurian told me. One from outside the walls. It's utterly insane, but it's true." Aviary paused. "It was a chupacabra." Arialia sat down. "That's not possible. Chupacabras aren't smart enough to figure out how to kill a dragon. They're wild animals driven entirely by instinct. Chances are, that saurian was either mentally insane or trying to cause panic as a prank. You can't trust the saurians that live outside the wall." Aviary shook her head. "She ran into me in a panic and then she told me. Just then, a group of chupacabras crawled out of the alley. One tied her up and took her away. The others tried to attack me. One mentioned the name "Lord Anarchy." I'm assuming the chupacabra that killed Sunstone asserted his dominance over the others and is now some sort of king. I swear to the gods, I could not make this up if I tried." Aviary clasped his wings together. "This sounds like the plot of some poorly written fantasy novel written by a teenager with little to no writing experience. Chupacabras can't do this sort of thing. They're solitary animals. They're more likely to rip each other to shreds over a dead lizard than to start some sort of kingdom." Arialia looked Aviary dead in the eyes. "Please tell me you are telling the complete and utter truth." Aviary nodded grimly.

By the mid-afternoon, nearly everyone in Solis had heard about the chupacabra lord that had supposedly killed the queen. Not everyone believed it. It seemed impossible. After all, the murder scene in the throne room had no clues as to who the murderer was, and it was unlikely that a chupacabra would be smart enough to cover its tracks. On the other hand, a good two-thirds of the citizens of Solis claimed to have seen a chupacabra inside the city at night, and it was true that the chupacabras only started appearing after Sunstone had been killed. A large crowd of dragons had gathered at the center of the city, talking to one another about the rumor. "Wait! Wait! I have an idea for how we can find out if this rumor is true!" said a grey wyvern, pushing to the front of the crowd. "Hm?" said Aviary. "If we can catch a chupacabra, then we can try to press it for information. We can confirm whether the rumor is true or not, and maybe even find out where this theoretical chupacabra kingdom is." The wyvern excitedly fluttered her large wings. "What's your name?" asked Aviary. "Maruu," the dragon replied. "Well, Maruu, you might just be a genius."

For several hours, the citizens of Solis dropped everything and began hunting for chupacabras within the walls. Several dragons made traps hoping to draw one in with meat and catch in. A few chupacabra fur hunters paraded around with their guns cocked before they were told that the chupacabra needed to be alive in order to get information from it. However, it seemed like the chupacabras were doing a good job hiding. One dragon claimed that she finally found a chupacabra, but it just turned out to be a stray dog with mange that had rolled in mud, making it look like it had the trademark stripes on its back. Another dragon ran up to Aviary holding Lucien in his paws before Aviary politely explained that the hybrid was his daughter's pet. A saurian brought his rug from his house, not understanding that they needed a live chupacabra. The hunt dragged on for hours. When it seemed every single inch of Solis had been searched, a dragon ran up to Aviary excitedly claiming he got one. Assuming it would be another false alarm, he exhaustedly padded after the dragon, only to see a vicious ball of tan fur throwing itself against the bars of a cage, snarling and snapping. Its yellow eyes narrowed as it saw the dragons approach. "What do you want," it snapped, sitting down. Aviary's eyes widened. "You look like a dope," the chupacabra unhelpfully said. "You actually got one," Aviary said. The dragon nodded. I was going to call it quits and go home when I saw him stealing a loaf of bread off my kitchen counter. I just grabbed him and popped him into my dog's cage. Thankfully, my dog is big, so the cage was the right size for this guy." The chupacabra made a disgusted noise and rolled its eyes. "Can you help me carry this to the town square?" Aviary said, lifting the cage up. "Hey!" objected the flustered chupacabra.

With a little effort, the two dragons managed to carry the caged prisoner to the city square. The chupacabra hissed with disgust when it saw the crowd of dragons. "Gonna kill me in front of everyone to get your kick?" Aviary ignored it. "We finally got one. Thanks to everyone who participated in the search. Now, we're going to see what he knows." The chupacabra hissed, the spikes on his back rising with anger. "So, you're gonna press me for information, that's what this is about. What if I kept my mouth shut? That would be hilarious." Aviary turned to the dragon who had caught the chupacabra and whispered. "Do you think you could have caught one with a little less sass?" The dragon shook his head. Aviary turned back to the prisoner. "Imagine if I shook your cage so hard you bumped your head on the ceiling so hard you were unconscious for several days." The chupacabra froze when he saw the serious look in Aviary's eyes. "Yes, Lord Anarchy killed Queen Sunstone. There. Is that all you wanted?" The dragons in the crowd started talking to each other. "Who is Anarchy?" asked Aviary. "He's a chupacabra, you dummy." Aviary gave him another hard stare. "Okay, okay. He's our leader. He gathered all of us after he killed your queen. He's very fierce. He'll probably pull your intestines out your nose. That would be entertaining," said the chupacabra. "Can you give us a physical description?" The chupacabra thought for a second. "Tan. Orange eyes. Torn ear. Big claw marks on his snout. Wears a necklace with Sunstone's teeth on it. One of his back legs is missing. He's got a replacement made from bone." In the crowd, Maruu shivered. "What happened to the saurian who told me about Anarchy?" Maruu raised her wing and walked over to Aviary. "Wait. I know that chupacabra. He attacked me. This was before Sunstone was killed. I gave him a thrashing he'd never forget. I gave him those wounds. I still have his leg. I-Is this my fault?" Aviary shook his head. "It's not your fault, Maruu. From the sounds of it, Anarchy is one nasty chupacabra." The incarcerated chupacabra tapped the bars of his cage. "To answer the saurian question, Anarchy killed her in front of everyone. Either she's been thrown out for the vultures or Anarchy is having saurian for dinner." Aviary felt a twinge of sadness. "Is that it? Are you going to let me go, or are you going to sit here and shame me? I answered your questions." Aviary shook his head and smiled. "You're going to show us the way to your secret little kingdom.