ShapeShifter (Completed)

chapter 16

     What can we do? What can I do?

     Anger bubbled deep within her body and wanted explode. She felt herself start to shake as the dragon took control of her brain. NO! STOP STOP! it was no use, she had used her power way to many times for her own good and when she feels angry or distressed, that was usually when it took over. In this case, it was both.

     Antariel and Nymos looked at her like she was crazy. Skolris was In fact yelling inside of their brains, things like 'no', 'stop', 'not now', and such.

     She had no control what so ever of her brain or body. She could sense her wings flare and snarls erupting from her throat. The strange ring of people threw their spears at her which fastened neatly in her soft skin. Stop, Skolris! Take control! She screamed at herself but it was hard for her to listen.

     She barely knew what she was doing, but it was probably bad. Skolris had to deal with a mental boxing match. When she thought that she had won, the dragon took over again. When Skolris had finally won her mental battle, more people had shown up, pelting her with spears and arrows.

     Her wings were bound together with the chain they had used on Nymos's griffin. What have I done? Many people were sitting on the ground holding their arm or leg but no dead bodies were littered on the ground. They think im on the bad side now! I ruined everything.

     Skolris looked back at Nymos and Antariel, who had moved away. Antariel suddenly stepped forward,"Skolris! Give in so you don't end up getting killed!" That'd probably be the best solution.

     She then crouched down and flopped onto her side, a sign that she had given up. The people stopped firing arrows and throwing spears. There were probably about 20 lodged in her skin by now.

     The ring of people wore confused faces. They probably never thought the 'dragon' would give up. They expected it to fight to it's death. Skolris could then finally feel all of the objects that pierced through her skin. Why didn't i put scales on my dragon? It felt as if she had been burned intentionally by a serious fire wielders. Her teeth grinded together to avoid whimpering and growling.

     The leader of the people walked forward and confronted Skolris. She never made eye contact with the bulky man for it could mean a challenge. But instead of yelling or threatening or attacking, the man lowered himself so he could look into her orange eyes. "I know you never meant this. You were just trying to protect your beloved friends."

     Skolris's eyes widened. He isn't... angry or frightened. The man looked in the direction of Antariel and Nymos. He probably realized that they were only 15 years old and were really no threat. "You can come, we won't hurt any of you again." He said.

     Nymos began walking bravely towards them. Antariel followed more slowly. Antariel had a look of panic in her eyes as she saw the amount of objects stuck in her skin. "Are you alright?" She asked.

     I'm probably fine. "I guess that's umm ok..." she responded. The leader looked at Antariel, one of his eyebrows raised. "Are you talking with that dragon? How do you do that?" He asked with a curious expression on his face. Before Antariel could answer Nymos pointed to the injured people littering the ground. I did that... im such a terrible person!  "Don't they need treatment?" He asked.

     "Yes, we will go now. You three can follow us." The man ordered. Nymos had taken his griffin back into the tattoo. The other people were helping eachother walk deeper into the forest, arms around eachother's shoulders. I caused all of these injuries...

     Once all of the people were ahead of her, Skolris pushed herself to her feet. When she moved, her skin felt like it had been burned twice. She winced whenever she had to take a step and the fact that she nor Antariel or Nymos had food yet made it even worse. Why does everything have to happen to the 'heroes?'

      They walked for a while before a large hole opened up in the earth. The leader led them into the opening and through a torch-lit tunnel. The tunnel branched off in many directions and people walked back and forth along the paths. Some of them were images.

     "Anyone with injuries must follow me." The leader shouted. About half of the people followed. "You three stay with me." He ordered while staring at Antariel, Nymos, and Skolris. They followed him to the back of the main tunnel and into a huge cave. Everyone knew what to do except for Skolris, Antariel, and Nymos, who stood looking around aimlessly.

     "Shojer! Follow me to my cave. Check over the dragon while we speak." The leader shouted before leading them out of the cave. He turned down another tunnel and then another before entering another cave. Quick footsteps could be heard approaching as a young woman who kind of resembled a toothpick ran towards them. "I'm here, sir." She said breathlessly.

     The leader nodded and entered the cave. Everyone followed. The inside was lit brightly by lights in the ceiling. There was a dark blue carpet on the floor and fancy furniture brought the room to life. "Sit." He said simply.

     After everyone was sitting and Skolris crouching next to one of the couches, the leader cleared his throat. "I have some questions for you." He said. "Us too." Nymos responded. The leader smiled,"so, what brings you to our island?" He asked. Nymos responded bravely. "Well, we came here to rest after a long flight. We hadn't really eaten anything other then stale bread so we were going to also find food." He said.

     "Why were you being fed stale bread? Not to be rude or anything." The leader asked. "Well, how about we start from the beginning." Antariel started. While Antariel and Nymos told the story of being captured and everything, Skolris was left gritting her teeth together as Shojer pulled every one of the spears and arrows from her skin.

     "You were stolen? How terrible, but im afraid that these people are everywhere. My group of people are called Yoihlogs meaning 'Defenders' in the old language. We fight these people but we didn't know that they had started preying on your continent." The leader said. Nymos nodded. "I have a question for you now." Antariel said. "What's your name?" She asked.

     The leader smiled again,"my name is Ananucas."