Wof: Under a Scarlet Banner

Chapter 13

Last night was really rough, not only did I finally sleep at a ungodly hour, but the sounds that the animals would make during the night woke me up several times. Not to mention there was hard, dusty floor I laid on. I got up, did a couple of stretches and cracked my back. There was a loud noise coming from the corridor leading into the arena. Most likely from the many dragons gathering for Scarlet's hatchday. The sound was almost deafening, even from all the way back in this cell.

Hearing the cry of hundreds of dragons in the arena is when reality finally sunk in for me. I was in a cell, about to be tossed into an arena with dragons, four times my size, who may or may not want to kill me. All I could possibly do to defend myself would be a tiny sword, which I had no experience with, and maybe a word or two. As if Tsunami would listen to me, and if I moved anywhere near Starflight, Tsunami would rush at me like a angry bull.

"Do I really have what it takes to survive? Was I way over my head at the start of this? Would they care to listen to me?"

No matter what the outcome would be, for the sake of my life I knew I had to try something.

"If I do...die, maybe the dragonets would be fine without me. They did before and it's not like I could do much in the story anyway."

And now I'm thinking crazy, supposedly noble thoughts.

"No, I have to do this. It's not about the prophecy, it's not about the war, it's has to be about me right now and escape from this bloody kingdom."

Once again I found myself panicking in a corner, but instead of Cranberry comforting me with a cut of steak, I was interrupted by a Skywing guard tapping on the bars of our cell with a spear.   He had a small cage with him. It had several swords on the floor and it was placed on the ground close to the cell door.

"Well, seer, it's time for you and your friends to come with me. I suppose you know what's coming next."

I was actually terrified and stepped back from the guard as he unlocked the cell door. He pointed his spear at us and directed everyone into the cage. When we were all crammed inside, he closed it and picked us up. It was a far more uncomfortable ride than being held in the claws of a dragon and he wasn't being exactly gentle. The cage would rock back and forth. I held onto the bars that made up the cage walls, but still had a hard time maintaining my footing.

Everyone else had a similar problem with how we were being handled, the difference being that they armed themselves with the swords provided. I reached down on the floor and took one for myself. It was far from pretty, but it was indeed, a sword.

The cries of the crowd grew louder and I could hear Scarlet make her announcement, "Skywing citizens and honored Sandwing visitors! We have for you today an exciting number of games for you all, featuring the Dragonets of Destiny!"

The crowd cheered with thunderous applause, "I know you all want to get to our main event, but don't we want to see how much our dragons of prophecy can take? So, let's begin the day with a little warm up session, starring Tsunami of the Seawings! Let's see how she fares against a pack of scavengers, shall we?"

"Wait are they just now starting? Well, that's a bit new."

Our cage was set on the ground and the door swung wide open, the others rushed out while I slowly walked. The cage and the guard holding it flew off, leaving us alone with Tsunami. As soon as she saw me she gave me an angry snarl, "You..."

"And from the creators of "Welp, I'm dead" comes "I guess you're screwed", two hours of nonstop screaming and running for your life. An exciting adventure for the whole family!"