Where Smoke Bleeds Gold

Chapter Fifteen - Found

"What in Discord's name are you doing?" Kindling exclaimed, seeing the draggling squirm under my weight. I looked back and forth from them, suddenly at a loss for words
"He-uh-He..." I fumbled back, stepping off of the draggling.
"Is he the us?" The draggling asked.
"Yeah, his name is-" The draggling kicked my gut suddenly, making me stumble back into a wall.
"You tell me his name and I can track you down," He said. "He's Red, your Orange and I'm Copper," He said, obviously after the color of our scales, if it weren't for the purple lights.
"Who is he?" Kindling asked me. I shook my head, trying to regain my breath.
"Maybe I'm a nice Sienna," He said, rubbing his scales.
"Copper said he can get us to the jail," I coughed, regaining my balance.
"Definitely a Sepia, Sienna is too red," He said.
"Sepia!" Kindling yelled getting his attention, "We need to leave soon,"
"Oh yeah, Red, we can move it along," He said, suddenly running down the halls. We sprinted out after him, following him until we reached another door embedded into the walls like the entrance. The door stood out from the andesite and granite walls with expensive metals, heat resistant metals, claw resistant metals. I could've sworn that there was obsidian in the pattern.
"Wait there," Sepia said, leaving us a few wing lengths from him. He knocked on the door. After a moment, a clunk of chains began to click behind the door. The door lifted slightly at first, but then it flew all the way up in the same fashion as the entrance door.
"I need help! Those FireScales have been following me everywhere and I-" He choked, suddenly in tears as he fell onto his knees, "They..." He said, looking up at the grey armored dragon standing above him.
"You," Sepia said, quickly standing up, his fake tears replaced with genuine ones. "Your a liar and a cheat, Quake!" He screamed, the guard standing still. Maybe surprised, maybe disappointed, impossible to tell. "You lied to me! Lied, lied, lied!" He screamed until his voice was hoarse. Sepia ran off in a fit. "You're on your own," Sepia said in a huff.
"Quake..?" I asked, staring at the stiff guard. They turned their head slowly, looking at us. The shadow the helmet cast on their face made it impossible to tell.
"Hi, Flare," She said in a quiet voice.
"Wha- what happened? How did you get like that?" I asked, stepping closer.
"I'm not gonna start that here," Quake said, beginning to walk closer. She pulled off some chains from her gray dented armor.
"Don't break out until I get the jail secured," She said, wrapping the chains tightly around my wings and snout. It didn't seem like she had a lot of chains to work with.
"Can I do you too?" Quake asked Kindling, holding out a small piece of chains to his muzzle.
"O...kay..?" Kindling said, and it struck me he didn't have any context. She wrapped the chain around his snout, not having anymore for his wings.
"Come on," She said, pulling us through the tunnels by the horns. After what seemed like paces of walking and nodding at other guards, Quake pulled us into a sectioned off area. Passing through doors with timed knocks I couldn't remember in time. Suddenly we were pushed into the bright room. The ceiling was high, and the walls were covered in kennels. Dragons of all sorts were locked into the cages, barely small enough to sit in them. Doors with bars kept them locked into the stained stone walls. The room was in an X shape, the cages on the inner corners having the most room, with an extra claw length of space. Kindling was locked into one of them. I was put next to him and down one, in a cramped space. The walls scraped against my scales as I tried to get comfortable. I looked out at the other cells. Dragons of all sorts of colors were trapped here. FireScales waiting for a bail, rogue FrostScales, lost Vinescales. Most of the cells were for Dark and LightScales, only one had multiple colors. I couldn't see Avalanche in any of the cells, but perhaps she was just out of my sight.
"Don't move," Quake said, leaving the cage unlocked as she left the jail. I waited in silence for a few moments. The cell around me was barely bigger than me. I sat up, ducking my head to keep my back from aching. It occured to me that only one CavernScale sat in a cage. I looked at the other dragons, most were lying down in uncomfortable positions, tails and legs hanging out of the bars to give them just a little more space.
"Starshine," I said, getting the sleeping dragon's attention. His back was pressed against the bar with his wings peeking out of the bars. "Starshine!" I said. He was just across the room from me. Barely wing length away. He stirred just for a moment before falling back asleep. I smacked my talon on the stone, unable to wait to tell him about escaping. After a moment of silence, I pushed open the cage door to hear a dreaded squeal of the hinges. Dragons around me shuffled, curious to hear a door open after a guard left. Their eyes widened as they saw my door cracked open.
"Did you break the lock?" A LightScale whispered beside Starshine, pressing his face against the bars. I shook my head, pointing to the chains around my snout as if I couldn't speak.
"You burnt it off?" Asked a DarkScale above the LightScale asked.
"No- I," I said, saying as the loose chains pulled on my snout.
"His chains!" A chained up FrostScale exclaimed, jumping up in their cell.
"Wait," I said, shutting the bars as if protecting myself from their voices.
"Can you let me out?" Asked the first DarkScale.
"He doesn't have to do anything!" The first LightScale said as if it would gain him some good points. In the far cages, the doors shook as dragons tried to get a better look. A FireScale thrashed in their cell trying to ignite a spark on their water soaked Firehorn.
"Please let me out, you won't see me again,'' said another FrostScale between their chained snout.
"Just let me out to stretch my wings-" A dragon yelled.
"Please let me out," Voices called out, begging in their pained tones.
"I can't stand it anymore!" Someone screamed.
"I have family," The LightScale said.
"I was framed!" Someone said. Voices of all sorts called out, begging to be freed. The noise was overwhelming, and worse to hear that some of them weren't supposed to be in here.
"He's a Draggling!" Kindling shouted between chains, over the noise. Some voices quieted down. "He's just too small for the chains," He grumbled, the room now quieting.
"But the lock-" The DarkScale said. Kindling quickly released a growl, silencing any questions. I sat in the door, worried about what I had done. What if a guard came in to see what had happened?
"Flare?" A voice asked. I rolled over to see Starshine, face flushed of color.
"It's okay," I said, putting my talons against the door. My weight suddenly pushed out, and I fell out onto the ground. The door squeaked wildly as it slammed against the other cages. Havok broke loose as they saw I was outside my cage. Dragons screamed to be heard over each other. Heavy clacking of metal armor approached the room. I jolted up, first reaction to slam the door shut, hide and hope they didn't inspect my cage. Instead, I ran to the door, trying to find an emergency lock or anything to keep it shut while I thought of a way to escape. Chains in the walls started clicking as the door rose, a gray dented boot on the guard in front of me. I pulled a cylinder out of the wall, the door suddenly jamming.I held my breath, not sure what to do or if they would climb under the door. I turned around to see dragons silently staring at me as they wondered what to do next. I wasn't sure what to do. A crash of armor clattered down, making me jump as a guard crawled their way under the door.
"Why did you do that?" Quake growled.
"Sorry," I squeaked, taking a step back from her. She brushed past me to Starshine's cell, unlocking it.
"Traitor," Some dragons whispered, more in awe than in spite. Quake didn't seem happy about it either.
"This would've worked better if you stayed in your cell," She said, opening Starshine's door as he stumbled out. Kindling opened his unlocked door, and most prisoners staffled their gasps as he too was a part of this prison break. Kindling looked around the cells, leaving into the far side of the room, behind some cages.
"I didn't think-" I began. Quake narrowed her big black eyes at me, making me stop. "Sorry," I said. The purple goo in the walls began to bleed red, than orange. Suddenly it occurred to me it was a molten metal of sorts, like lava. This had gotten Quake's attention too, as she looked up at the lights with surprise. More dragons would be awake soon.
"Let's get Avalanche," Quake said, following Kindling's curiosity. There was a giant door where they stood.
"Where does this go?" He asked, looking up to Quake. She entered a code into a panel of buttons beside it. With a clunk of chains, it slid open.
"That room is just for the temporary dragons, dragons that need to be bailed or excused to be released," She said, walking into the tunnel. "Dragons can wait there until someone comes, or they can wait until someone doesn't, but that's besides the point," She said, stopping as she looked down the rooms as a pained cry exited one of the thirty rooms.
"These are the rooms where you don't come out from," She said, a grim look under her helmet.