Misted Deceit

Who is She Now?

Forrest awoke to a shielded light.  Groggily, he blinked, adjusting to the dark interior of a ... cage?   Where am I? he wondered, feeling around the small area.  A canvas covered the structure and flapped around as he was carried over an uneven terrain.  Nosing at the fabric, he tried to peek outside, but a sharp swat reprimanded him.  He snarled, letting his captors know he was awake, and defiant.  Laughter followed as several voices hissed something inaudible.

"Thiss one'ss a fighter," a trio of voices said in unison.

"We'll ssee how long that lastss!" a second chuckled, "Waccamut and Katiyahri will be happy."

"Yes, yes they will," a strikingly familiar voice replied.  Anger surged through Forrest.  Betrayer!  "Breezy, you traitor!" he yelled, "I trusted you!"

She laughed scornfully, "You were wrong to, Forrest.  But, you were right about one thing; I have been here before.  I live here, dolt!  Oh, and from now on, call me Autumn.  I don't need my past haunting me any more than it does."  Her comment was met with wild mirth.

Sinking back to the floor, he lay there, defeated.  He should have known better than trust her.  From the start, there had always been something off about her, as well, but he didn't have the gut to realize it.  After being rejected by the Dragonian Army, he was relieved to meet another dragon who'd also experienced something similar.  He had let his emotions get the better of judgment, and now he'd landed himself in an impossible situation.  And the plan he had all sorted out crumbled before him.  Yes, he'd wanted to see the hydranian king and queen, but not in this manner, not as a prisoner.  All reasons to trust him and his word were destroyed when Autumn Breeze turned them over, telling the hydras who-knows-what.

At last, he drifted off into an uneasy slumber.

"Wake up, Forrest!" Autumn yelled, ripping off the canvas cover.  He squinted in the new sunlight, then glared at her.  Behind her, a hydra was doing the same to Orchid's cage.  She snarled and tried to pounce at it.  It just cackled and started spitting globs of venom at her.

"Ishnak, stop!" Autumn snapped, "I've already had to punish two hydras; I don't have the motivation to do it again."

"Yes, my lady," he replied, shamed.  She watched him sulk away.  "Tell the captain we're ready to move out!" she called after him.  Forrest stared as Ishnak wove his way to the front of the company, where he disappeared into a pavilion.  He then threw his gaze back to Autumn, "Lady?  Since when did you have a title?"

"Only after the king and queen basically took me in," she laughed, "There is so much you don't know about me."

"You lied, then, when you told us you were held at RiverWide and then ran away."

"Both are true, Forrest, but there is a fifty year difference between the two.  In that time, I was brought before the king and queen, adopted, and made a noble.  As for running away, I had my reasons, none of which I am about to share with you."

He shook his head, "Why would you do it?  You helped us."

"I was only serving my country, just like everyone else," she said before leaving to the head of the company, leaving him alone.

"Forrest!" Orchid called, "What is going on?"

He looked up, "We're minus one ally and about to have a royal audience."

She stared at him in surprise.  "But, I thought-"

"So did I.  Apparently we were wrong.  Not that it makes much of a difference now."

Suddenly, hydras surrounded their cages and two of them, who appeared to be the soldiers Autumn had mentioned earlier, got hitched up and began to pull the dragons until they were near the front line. 

As they moved forward, the cages ended up rolling along next to each other, and Forrest had the chance to assess both of their battle wounds.  Part of Orchid's wing had been torn away, leaving her with a bloody rip which would make flight difficult.  Three claw marks marred her shoulder, revealing the red muscle beneath.  He knew he fared no better.  Guessing by the absence of feeling on his wing-horn, the hydra acid must have burned away both flesh and muscle, exposing the bone, but he dared not look.  And his shoulder was a mess.  Scales had been ripped away and his skin hung loosely open.  Occasionally, it bled a little, but most of it had dried and hardened around the wound, giving it a crackled, even infected, appearance.  He stared at it, wondering if it was indeed infected.

Orchid caught him analyzing himself.  "You know, you should be more careful when you fight.  Some time, you'll be in a battle and not even realize you've lost a leg," she joked.

"I very well could, seeing as I can't even feel my left leg."

"Wait, what-"

"Prisoners are to remain silent!" a hydra commanded, then added mockingly, "Unless they wish to join the others in the Terminator."  The soldiers around him laughed.

Out of the side of his mouth, he whispered, "They must have had a little too much to drink this morning."

Orchid snickered.