Acari

Chapter Six

They poured outside just in time to witness a dead body being kicked out and away from a group of burly orange and blue dragons. They each wore shiny silver armor only on their face that reflected a lot of the sun's light into their eyes. The mayor's normally unmoving face was now shrouded with anger and worry as well as her body, as she stormed over to the dragons, ready for a fight.

"Vice Mayor Ragnar of HindFoot," she growled between her teeth. Acari wanted to walk up and whisper in her ear that they were not only big and buff, but they were also from HindFoot, one ministate Aphid says is not to be played around with.

"Mayor Glitter," Ragnar growled back at her. Acari could tell from the way her tail tapped sadly on the ground that she was trying to be bigger than she actually was, being scared out of her mind. She already knew that she would do anything to protect her people, even if it meant dying. Acari respected her for that.

Ragnar however, did not.

"I swear to literally Nepenthes," he hissed. "It's been over four months now. Where is the trade that we agreed on?"

Mayor Glitter clicked her tongue nervously. "We are still processing it. It takes a while. I'm sorry, you'll have to be patient." A bit of mockery tinted her voice. "You can pass by anytime for updates, just no hurting my dragons or the deal is off."

Ragnar's face caught on fire. "The deal is off." Acari could tell that that was the sound of impatience getting the better of him, the way he growled, and she was only later proven right when Ragnar forced Glitter's neck into his talons, and ripped the head attached clean off. Glitter's bright-red blood was splattered all over any nearby surface, mostly on Ragnar's talons and face. Her headless body fell limply to the ground, blood spilling all over the once very clean ground, as Ragnar let go of her neck. Her head in his talons was unmoving and though her eyes still had some color left in them, they were unseeing.

Acari's brain was still trying to process what absolute heck just happened, when something snapped. She realized this wasn't going to be a friendly conversation anymore, not at all. Tears cupped her eyes.

"Ha! Batair is going to love this," one of the other, less-burly-but-still-frighteningly-buff dragons hissed, catching the decapitated head after Ragnar tossed it to him. His voice sent chills down Acari's spine, much like a snake.

Aphid and Mango were still in shock from what they'd just seen, but not Acari. Acari was teeming with rage. She'd finally felt accepted by a dragon other than her close family, a feeling she hadn't felt in so long, but now, just like that, that feeling would be lost forever. All because of the stinky bags of waste that stood before her.

Ragnar.

Acari's ears buzzed. Her eyes blurred; her vision was a stark black and white. Everything moved too slowly. She could only focus on one thing right now; getting revenge. Ragnar and his HindFoot dragons were all screaming their mouths off, shouting something threatening to the dragons of Eyes.

Acari couldn't hear it.

Dragons fled and screamed and chaos ensued all around as Acari was drawn closer to what they fled from. Aphid and Mango tried and tried to call and call her back, that it wasn't safe, she was going to get herself killed, it wasn't worth it. They failed and failed.

Acari couldn't hear it.

Ragnar started to notice Acari creeping up on him and his little army. He shouted something unintelligible to Acari's ears, but Acari knew that he was mocking her, she could tell from his face and his movement. He'd caught the attention of his gang.

Acari couldn't hear him.

Only his screams.

Blood was suddenly dripping from her talons.