The Dragon's Arena

Chapter 5 - The Past Catches Up

(Pollian POV)
Pollian paced at the back of her cell all night. No one came that morning to feed her, or even take her up to the arena. The torches that had illuminated her dark corner of the dungeon had been burned out for several days before anyone thought to "visit" her.

"Meal time," an unfamiliar voice growled and a bowl clattered to the ground right inside of the bars. The stench of rotten meat hit her and Pollian almost gagged.

"Do you starve all of your prisoners?" Pollian asked, "Or just the ones that have done nothing wrong?"

"Be grateful you're getting anything Layag. You'll be fighting in the arena tomorrow." The stranger turned to go.

"Before you go, can you tell me what happened to Clyo?" Pollian asked, dreading the answer.

"Seems we had a traitor amongst us," the mysterious guard said and Pollian could just imagine a wicked grin spreading on his face as he walked away. He isn't a traitor she thought as she looked at the rotten meat besides an overturned bowl He just knew too much from living with my people. With a rare outburst of anger, Pollian opened the two slits that were right above her nose and spit a black haze over the whole mess. Watching with satisfaction as the entire thing sizzled and turned into a steaming puddle that slowly started to eat through the stone underneath. The smell that emanated from the puddle wasn't much better though. She still had a decent amount of energy left from her first full day, so she wasn't to concerned right now. However, if this kept up, she would be ending her visit sooner rather than later. Pollian curled up in the back of her cell again and waited for the guards to come to get her.

She must have been sleeping deeper than she normally did because she didn't hear the guards walk up to her cell or open her door. Pollian was rudely awakened by two lassos being roped around her neck and another rope being tied around her snout. The two guards who had come to take her up were both big, heavily muscled dragons. They were at least twice her height with her sail down and looked like they were supposed to intimidate her. However, Pollian was sick and tired of the way their king muscled her into being his entertainment then proceeding to completely ignore her for days on end. With her mind made up and her will solid, she lifted one of her six legs and quietly sliced off the ropes. She stopped and let the ends slide off her as the two dragons continued walking. The guards looked back when the lines they had been holding suddenly went slack.

"So, you want to do this the hard way?" the guard to her right growled, stopping to hold up one of his forefeet and show off his sharp claws. Instead of relenting she bowed her head and secretly slid the ropes constricting her mouth off.

"Go ahead and try," she hissed right back at him.

"Her mouth is free!" the other guard screeched, "quick restrain her!"

"Oh no you don't. I am perfectly capable of walking on my own without you having to drag me. That doesn't mean I will enjoy doing so, but I can see no other option that will let me have a moment's peace away from you and your barbaric king." Pollian finished with a glare in both guards directions. They just stood there, frozen in place as if they didn't know whether to try and get the ropes back around her neck or to ridicule her for disgracing their king. She didn't allow them much time to decide before she huffed and walked down the corridor only stopping at turns for the guards to direct left or right. Pollian entered the arena and extended her sail; she glared at the guards again when they started to protest.

"Got a problem?" she growled out and bared her fangs a little. She then proceeded to march towards the center of the ring. Due to the fact that her first day the guards hadn't followed her too far into the arena, she was not surprised when these guards walked back into the tunnels that are the dungeons. She looked across the arena and saw Clyo being led out from another exit with chains around his wrists. He was a little thinner than the last time she saw him, likely for the same reasons she had been deprived of proper nourishment. One of the two guards was the red dragon, Richard, who had guided her back to her cell her first day. He didn't look happy with the situation of having to lead a senior officer to a fight. Just to be one-hundred percent sure that is was Richard, Pollian stole a glance at the royal pavilion and saw Drake with several guards around him in particular. Bringing her attention back to Clyo, she caught him patting Richard on the shoulder and whispering something to him. After which he turned and strode towards herself. Richard led the way back to the other dungeon entrance as Clyo approached her.

"Ready to do this?" he asked her and extended his still bound wrists out. Pollian snapped them in half with a quick bite, leaving two dangling chains hanging from Clyo's wrists.

"Let's," and she and Clyo started to circle each other. Pollian was strangely excited; she had fought many creatures in her travels around the Sacaran territory but had never dueled someone who knew of her people's tricks. All of the sudden Clyo lunged at her and, with a flick of his wrists, sent the stump of chain that still hung there spinning at her with deadly accuracy. Pollian barely had time to slip away before he was spinning the chain at her again. Using her agility in this fight would be the key to her success. She ducked behind him again and flashed her sail twice as Clyo spun around to face her. The light she reflected at him, blinded him momentarily. Pollian used that to her advantage, and she slid close to his side to put him to sleep. However, Clyo was anticipating that move and sidestepped; leaving Pollian's fangs to snap shut on empty air. Some time later, after many attacks and dodges, when both she and clyo seemed to be spent, Clyo nodded his mead minutely in permission. Having been given it, Pollian slid forward and injected her venom into Clyo's arm; sending him in a long sleep. As she waited for the guards to take Clyo away she heard shouting from the royal pavilion. Drake was being pinned down by several guards; and when she caught his eyes, they were filled with an unexplainable anguish and anger. Pollian was confused, why was he mad? Did he not understand that what she had done was for Clyo's protection? She was distracted by a commotion from across the ring and went to go investigate. The guards were struggling with a Buñaca, large rabbit like creatures that could "elongate" their limbs. This one was a dark red and the "mask" he had on was completely unornamented, so he had to be under 20 years of age. Not that much younger than herself, Pollian mused for a second; then stopped when she caught a glimpse of the Buñaca's tail. Every Buñaca in existence had some difference that was theirs alone that others would be able to identify them, and Pollian knew this one.

Kilsad's eyes met hers a moment later and he froze as well. They would have remained that way for, likely, several hours had one of the guards not taken advantage of his shock and pinned him to the ground. Pollian raced over and body slammed one of the guards, sending him staggering away. She didn't stop to celebrate though. There were still three more guards who had been harassing Kilsad. The other three guards started to slowly back away as Pollian crept forward growling lightly. As soon as she bared her fangs though, they were scrambling over each other to get away. All of them had been witnesses of her battle with Delga, and they knew that she could cover quite a bit of ground in not a lot of time should she choose to.

"Is it just my imagination or have you gotten slower Pollian."

"You try being here for as long as I have and we'll see who's slow then Kilsad."

"Do you know why they have taken us prisoner?" Kilsad asked as he bunched up and layed down on the dusty ground. Pollian glared at the guards who were hovering just out of her range before settling beside her friend.

"Apparently it is their king's birthweek or something like that. Anyway, we are here to provide 'entertainment' for the royal bunch. One of his son's isn't bad though and is a friend to Clyo."

"Wait, like Clyo-" Kilsad was cut off by a slightly more confident guard.

"F...fight, you lousy lot!" He yelled at them.

"Let's go back to my cell before we catch up," Pollian said and offered a leg for Kilsad to climb up onto her back. After letting him get settled into her violet fur she strode regally to her entrance to the dungeons and was surprised to see two gates barring her way. The lock on the gate was relatively small, but she could bet it was stronger that it looked. No matter Pollian thought to herself and opened the two slits above her nose again and sprayed the bare minimal amount of acid on the little lock. After waiting a moment for her acid to eat through the restraining bar, she pushed open the gate.

"Do they know about your...?" Kilsad led the question hang in the air.

"No," Pollian said.

"Won't they suspect now?"

"Let them," and she walked off to her cell.