Wings of fire: The Scavengers of Pyrrhia

Chapter 6

Two days later. Nighttime. Minutes before Clay plays "The Dragonets are coming" in the empty arena grounds.

"This is really stupid!" Nixi whispered harshly. "Like, I know boys can be dumb and all, but this is beyond a bad idea!"

"I know, I know!" Terrin shot back. "But this might be the only way for us to escape!"

"You mean for me to escape!" Nixi pointed out. "How likely is it that you're going to make it out alive too?

The two were just barely inside the mouth of the smaller cave. The plan was simple: Terrin would distract the dragons that were nearby while Nixi would look for the other humans she mentioned. Once she found them, she'd look for a way out and escape.

As much as Terrin didn't want to admit it, she was probably right. If he was going to lure the dragons away from her, there was almost no hope that he was going to make it out of there alive.

I'm doing the right thing, Terrin reminded himself. Even if I get killed at least Nixi and the others will be able to live. That's all I really need.

"It's been great to know you" Nixibelle said, hugging Terrin while he was thinking. The boy jumped in surprise but relaxed after a bit. He wrapped his arms around her as well, then the two let go of each other.

His heart pounding, Terrin backed away from her and took a breath. "Here goes," He muttered, looking out at the large cavern in front of him.

"Be careful," Nixi said one last time.

"You too," Terrin added, turning to look her in the eyes one last time.

Then he ran.

It took what seemed like forever to Terrin until he reached the other side of the huge chamber. Luckily, there were no dragons in here, as many of them were probably sleeping. But once he entered the hallway, he froze in place.

Right in front of him was a huge red dragon, it's body covered in metallic armor and its claws holding what looked like an oversized pike. The creature was facing the other direction, but seconds later, low-pitched sniffing was heard from the dragon. It slowly rose its nose into the air, trying to locate where Terrin was.

Immediately, he glanced left and right to look for cover. Aha! behind him was a pile of thick cloth, a large tapestry that appeared to have fallen off of the walls.

Not bothering to think of how a dragon could've made it, Terrin dove into the fabric, covering his body with its multiple dusty layers, causing him to wonder how old the art piece was. Once he felt safe, Terrin stopped moving and tried to make no noise. The muffled whiffing of the dragon slowly became louder and louder, until it sounded like the dragon was right in front of him.

This is it, Terrin thought, closing his eyes tightly. This is how I go, I guess. He pictured what would soon happen to him, pictured himself getting devoured by this dragon, becoming merely its food.

But just as Terrin thought his life was over, the scuffling sound abruptly stopped. Thudding footsteps sounded, slowly becoming quieter and quieter, indicating the dragon was gone.

What? The boy thought, dumbfounded. Why did it leave?

After a long moment of silence, Terrin found the reason - or, what he thought was the reason.

Quietly, in the distance, a faint tune was heard, gently getting louder as time passed. It was unlike any other song he heard in his life.

As the music became louder, he noticed voices joining in one by one adding harmony and melodies to the music, but not one of those voices sounded human. Rather, roaring and bellowing that sounded like...dragons. Each vocal was uniquely different, yet together as one voice at the same time. (Except for one of the dragons; it sounded a little tone-deaf).

That's it! Terrin realized. We're not that different from each other! Dragons are just like humans. They too have emotions, families, and pride for who they are! They simply kill to survive, like us! We're no better than they other! It was strange to think, that these...creatures had intellect equal to humans. But it did explain the tapestry, and why there were cages; because the dragons built them!

Suddenly coming back to reality, Terrin turned around to just barely see Nixi turn the corner of the hallway, unnoticed by anyone else.

I hope she finds everyone else, Terrin thought grimly. He wanted to go with her, to run away from here. But then he remembered what he was doing, why he had to do it.

And with that thought, Terrin bolted out of the fabric, shouting wildly as he ran in a random direction.

Normally, he would've felt like an idiot, and with the new knowledge of dragon intellect, the boy did feel like the dragons he passed by were looking at him awkwardly.

He passed about three dragons before the next one thought about trying to catch him.

A thin dragon that looked like a female tried to grab him with its claws, but missed by a foot, growling in frustration. It tried again, but to no avail.

Two more attempts were done, sending Terrin gliding through the air and onto the ground, knocking the wind out of him as he hit the stony ground. His lungs burned at the shock, gasping for some sort of gas to inhale.

The dragon who smacked him lumbered over to his crumpled form on the ground, grabbing him upside-down with two talons. It sniffed Terrin a moment, then gazed at him dangling by his legs, inspecting him. Without warning, the dragon suddenly tilted their head back in a way that when she let go, would send the human down her mouth.

Terrin didn't even flinch; his part was done. Nixibelle was gone from the cave, probably freeing the others by now. He gently closed his eyes, as if to say to the dragon, I'm all yours. go ahead.

He felt the dragon's claws loosen a bit, but just before it was loose enough, a roar came from behind Terrin's captor. She turned her head and barked a reply. Though the female's head was mostly in the way, Terrin could see tan and yellow scales forming the right side of another dragon.

A third growl was heard from behind the yellow dragon, and at once, the female holding Terrin quickly drew him away from her mouth, sighing what sounded like a militant comply. She turned her whole body to face the yellow dragon.

Without anything obstructing his view, Terrin could see the Yellow dragon more clearly. It had a muscular build, but that wasn't what was most interesting: behind the dragon was its tail, but instead of ending at a point, like the red or brown dragons, was a barb that looked like a scorpion's tail. It was curled next to its body in a way that it wouldn't pierce anything unless it was intended.

There was an exchange of sounds, and the yellow dragon stepped to the side.

 Behind the yellow dragon was another red dragon. One of its cheeks were adorned with a scar. It wore armor like the dragon holding Terrin, but it also had a helmet and the armor was painted, showing an image of a mountain. Probably higher authority, Terrin speculated.

There was more speaking (Terrin had to accept that that's what they were doing) and the female holding him walked away with him.

What's a yellow dragon doing here? Terrin wondered. What were they talking about?

Then, the thought, I'm safe...at least for now.