A Pet for the Dragons

14.

ARIKA

I was frozen when they started fighting, but when Zorge took Ivret down to the ground, my brain started working again. I had never seen two dragons fight, and even though I wanted to see how it'd end, I rationally decided to run because they were dragons.

I didn't want to see what would happen if they shifted forms. Things could always get out of hand, and the two were too occupied with each other to notice me as I edged closer to the stairs.

This was the best time for me to run. I might not get an opportunity like this again, so I decided to make the most of it. First, I tiptoed my way to the stairs and climbed down the first few stairs silently, pressing my feet to the stairs to make as little noise as possible.

I kept glancing over my shoulder to ensure they hadn't noticed my absence yet. They were too busy throwing fists at each other, and their noise was enough to mask my hurried footsteps.

Once I saw that the coast was clear, I practically flew downstairs, skipping a couple of stairs at a time to get to the door at the bottom of the tower as soon as possible. I was almost at the bottom and surprised that none of them noticed my presence when I heard them.

"I said, wait! Where did she go?" Ivret's voice boomed through the whole tower. I froze on the last step; my heart was thrashing painfully in my chest, and I was afraid that they'd hear it and follow me down here.

"She was just here," Zorge hissed, and I heard footsteps. They were looking for me. They realised that I wasn't there anymore. Silence was no longer useful, not that there was a lot of space to hide in this tower.

I made it for the door. I opened and closed it as quietly as possible. Outside was a long hallway, and I tried to remember from which direction Ivret and I had come. But as soon as I heard urgent footsteps storming to the bottom of the tower, I broke off into a run, not caring where I was going.

I just needed to hide and figure out how I would get out of here. But as soon as I took a turn and came to an intersection where the hallway branched into three different paths, I mentally cursed myself.

Maybe I shouldn't have run. I should've stayed put and tried to play along with them until I had enough information to figure my way out of there. That had been my initial plan, but seeing Ivret and Zorge fighting triggered my fight-or-flight response, and in the heat of the moment, I ended up choosing the latter.

I stared at the three passage openings, wondering which way to go. There was a massive window on the wall of the main hallway. From what I could make out by looking outside the window, a strong storm was going on—so powerful that it would blow me to another dimension.

I cursed myself again because the more time I spent staring at the three different corridor openings, the stupider I felt about running. I should've tried to figure out something else, but I acted entirely on impulse, and now my perfect little plan would be ruined. I groaned, but as soon as I heard footsteps heading my way, I decided to take the middle corridor and started running again.

I was easily out of breath, and my legs ached, and I started seeing black dots in my vision. I started feeling weak all of a sudden, but I pushed myself as much as I could. I couldn't let them catch me. That'd be the end of me.

I wondered how pissed they would be to realise that I'd been playing with them and ran the moment they were distracted. I wondered if they'd tear me to shreds or if they'd make my death slow and painful. Thinking about such things made me run faster, no matter how many black spots appeared in my vision and how my steps faltered.

I went down the twisted hallway until it branched into two more narrow hallways. I didn't know where each one led, but I knew I had to choose one and run before the footsteps could catch up to me.

I chose the one on the left and kept running, but after a while, everything turned dark. I couldn't go back, so I pushed through until I heard strange noises from the hallway ahead. This made me slow down for a bit and wonder where the hell I was going. The footsteps following me grew louder and nearer. My only option was to go ahead and face whatever awaited me in the darkness.

So I pumped my legs harder this time, hoping I'd be able to not only outrun the two dragons chasing me but whatever was waiting for me up ahead in the darkness. The sounds got louder until I realised it was the sound of the storm outside. I felt glad that I found a way out of the castle on my first try, but my elation was soon doused when reality hit me— I wasn't dressed for the weather, and I'd die of a heart attack within two to five minutes of stepping outside because my body wasn't acclimated to the extreme weather outside. It was cold, but nothing unbearable inside the castle; it was deadly outside. I'd first die of a heart attack, and then my body would freeze, and the ice would mummify me for eternity.

But if I went back, those two dragons would probably torture me to death. I shuddered at the thought. Dying of a heart seemed like the best option in this scenario, so that's what I chose. This instant decision-making on how I wanted to die was quite harrowing.

I'd never dreamt that I'd die like this— from a heart attack or being frozen to death. I'd always imagined my death somewhere in the sea with my ship. Oddly, that felt more comforting. I'd been on a handful of drowning vessels before. I had survived two shipwrecks and once gotten lost in the sea but somehow, each time I didn't die. I always knew each time I wasn't going to die, even though death surrounded me in those moments.

However, this time, I felt a dreadful feeling settle in the pit of my stomach. It must've been my body realising what was going to happen to me. I mentally prepared myself as I took a final turn, edging towards the natural light of the outside.

However, when I took the last turn, I wasn't expecting to see another dragon. It was in its human form and seemed to have just arrived from the outside. Its back was turned to me, but as soon as it sensed my presence, it turned around, and in the next moment, I was staring at a pair of red glowing eyes that gripped my heart with fear.

I wanted to scream in terror, but the scream died in my throat. The red eyes were wide with surprise and wonder as they took me in. Behind me, the footsteps had closed in on me.

"There she is!" Zorge's voice boomed through the hallways.

"Radrox is back," I thought I heard Ivret speak, but I couldn't process a thing. All I could see were the newly arrived dragon's red, eerie eyes. His eyes were going to be branded in my head forever. Along with the red of his eyes, more and more black dots covered my vision until I could see nothing but complete darkness.

My lungs seemed to shrink until I couldn't breathe anymore, and the last thing I remembered was falling until an arm wrapped around me and caught me before my head could hit the ground.

"Who is this?" An unfamiliar voice asked above me.

I realised it was the red dragon.

Radrox. 

~

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