The Dragon Knight Prophecy

1-13 Flight of the Dragon

 The morning light brought no relief to Lilly, who groaned as she struggled to move. She lay flat on her stomach with her limbs stretched tight by the magical chains. Her body stung from the strange device the wicked men called whips. Her shoulders ached where the stubs that were once her wings continued to throb and trickle with blood.

She was careful to remain silent and avoid drawing any more of the cruel attention of her captors. She learned her lesson the night before when they ordered her to stop crying. When she failed, they shoved a wooden post in her mouth and wrapped her snout with chains. They pulled them tightly, forcing her to bite down on the post stifling her cries. To test the effectiveness, they beat her with the whips until satisfied she would remain quiet.

Now she lay helpless in some yard that smelled of horses. She could hear them inside the strange building to her right but didn't dare move her head to look. She was terrified to draw the attention of the dozen men who stood nearby, waiting for a reason to punish her. They all wore the same black armor trimmed in red with the emblem of a bird on one shoulder. She knew they were priests, but they were not like Gersius. These men were profane, wicked, and delighted in causing misery. Several times now, one of them had thrown a stone just to harm her, and early one kicked her as he passed. She was an object of scorn to these men, something to be abused and mocked, and she was helpless to stop them.

She tested the pull of the chains flexing her arm ever so slightly to avoid giving away that she was awake. The wicked chains held fast, burning with a strange magical energy. She could feel that power now, strengthening chains and defying her strength while at the same time burning her skin. The pain was dull but a constant reminder that she was a prisoner, and there was to be no escape. She followed the chains with her gaze to see they ended in metal blocks about the size of a man's chest. The blocks glowed with red symbols and were impossible for her to move. However, the priests could move them with ease, waving a hand over them while issuing a verbal command. They could cause the blocks to float and follow them, dragging Lilly along like a pet on a chain.

She fought the urge to cry at her circumstances for several hours, but slowly, that emotion began to change. She started to feel anger like never before as her sorrow and self-pity were consumed. Lilly wanted to kill these men and freeze their precious city in a tomb of ice. She would kill every last one of them and feast on their flesh if given a chance. These rodents didn't realize what they had done and who she was. She was a dragon and would not be treated like this! Her rage needed an outlet and thought of how she had come to be in these circumstances.

"This is Gersius's fault!" her mind echoed in fiery anger. He was the one who brought her here, promising to heal her wings. Then these men who claimed to be of his order came and butchered her instead. They might call on the same god, but they lacked any measure of compassion or mercy. Instead, they were brutal and violent, and she would one day visit that violence back on them.

Even as she tried to curse Gersius for what he had done, she found herself wondering where he was. For a brief moment, her anger cleared, and she began to remember. Didn't he say he would die before he allowed any harm to come to her? Surely he would not have allowed this to happen? Why then was she beaten and chained? He never struck her as cruel in all the time spent with him. The idea echoed in her mind, but she could not make sense of it, not until she thought of something else.

What if this was all a ruse? Maybe he was lying to her the whole time to trick her into coming here. Now that she thought about it, she never saw this messenger that supposedly ordered them to Whiteford. She had nothing to go on but his word and the promise that she would be healed. She pleaded with him to take her into the city, but he insisted she stay in the barn. He hadn't even come back to see if she was safe. Instead, he must have sent those wicked men to capture her and chop off her wings. He seemed hesitant to say her wings would be healed. Was that because he never intended to heal them in the first place?