Imperial

Chapter 27

"Its just a scratch," Rutilus grumbled, raising his gold wing to hide his wound. Dubiously, I watched him for a few more moments, before turning away. I doubted that he would tell me any more than that.

My eyes narrowed. "What happened anyways? Did Kronx -"

"No," the red drake interrupted my question, "After Kronx threw me off, I fought them. He's probably dealing with them right now."

Talons digging into the ground, I glanced around the cave warily. More humans. Kronx had said that we were safe here, yet we had found two groups of humans, merely hours apart. Perhaps there were more humans, searching the mountains. Trying to find us, and capture us.

My stomach clenched at the thought. No, that would not happen. Could not, would not. There was no way the humans would capture us - not if I could do anything about it. Especially now that I could breathe fire.

Extending my wings on either side of my body, I braced myself, readying for flight. If Kronx was out there, fighting humans, then I would help him. Even if the humans were not here to try to capture me, there was no way I'd be able to let them run so freely. Soon enough, they'd learn that I was here and try to capture me. Humans were dangerous, and would do anything to gain more power.

"Wait!" Rutilus demanded, upon noticing me. Molten eyes bright in alarm, he leapt onto his feet, tail sweeping uneasily. Lowering his voice, he growled, "the humans aren't alone. These ones are riding dragons."

Any hope that the humans weren't looking for me dissipated. If the humans were riding dragons, so close to where we were, that could only mean one thing. They were trying to capture us.

A low growl reverberated from my throat.

Sweeping my tail back and forth uneasily, I turned back towards the large tunnel, I crouched down, low to the ground. Bracing myself. This time, Rutilus did not say a word, watching on solemnly as I raised my wings.

There was no way that I'd remain in here, while Kronx was fight humans.

With one last growl, I leapt into the air. Beating my wings forcefully, I raced through the tunnel, trying to reach the other side as fast as I could. Wingbeats echoed behind me - the red dragon was following me. Ignoring his wound.

Far across the tunnel, I could spot glimmering light. Locking my eyes on it, I watched as it became bigger and bigger, slowly opening up and revealing the outside world. Not hesitating a split second, I streaked right out of the tunnel, only to be confronted by bucketing rain and roaring winds.

Snarling in annoyance, I slowed to a halt. Slowly, I raked my gaze against the sky and ground, searching for any sign of the dark blue dragon. Trying to listen for any sound - but the cascading rain blocked out anything I could have heard.

"Over there!" Rutilus roared behind me, his red scales glittering as he twisted away from me. Craning my neck around, I followed the direction the red drake was flying. Sure enough, to the east, I could just make out a dark shape hanging in the sky.

Not wasting another moment, I chased after Rutilus. Beating my wings harder, I fought against the wind, determined to reach the gradually approaching speck. Finally, after several minutes of straining, of beating my wings, fighting against the wind currents, the speck took the shape of four dragons. One of which was massive and dark - obviously Kronx. None of them seemed to be fighting.

Curious, I drew closer.

Kronx turned towards me, silver eyes flashing. "What are you doing here?" His sonorous voice was echoed through the mountains, although his words were clearly meant for Rutilus and I. Shrinking away from his heavy stare, I hung my head.

Perhaps we should have waited for him to come back, and tell us what happened. He was not fighting humans - at least, not anymore.

"I wanted to help," I growled quietly, forcing myself to hold the bigger dragon's gaze.

The dark blue dragon stiffened, and his silver eyes narrowed. "I can manage fine on my own. Next time, stay in the den," he ordered, flicking his tail delicately. For a few more seconds, his stormy gaze held me in place, before he finally turned away with a weary sigh.

Immediately, I relaxed, taking the opportunity to examine the three other dragons.

Although none of them were anywhere near as big as Kronx, the smallest of the three was easily double my size. Yet despite this, they did not appear to be menacing or powerful. Not when they were so thin or bony. Despite being covered in dull scales, I could clearly see their ribs.

Wincing, I lowered my gaze. Not long ago, I had looked like that. All the dragons I had known, aside from Kronx, looked like that. Half starved, and in a desperate need for sleep. There was no denying that these dragons had recently been the slaves of humans.

"You are free now," Rutilus murmured beside me, his voice sympathetic. Yet when he turned towards me, I could spot a horrified spark in his eyes - he had realised that we had once looked like that. "You can hunt, and rest."

The largest of the three dragons turned towards him, her dark green scales glinting faintly as she did so. "So it would seem," she rumbled, her yellow eyes gleaming - revealing her excitement. With a content sigh, she turned back towards Kronx. "You said you knew a place we could rest?"

The dark blue dragon dipped his head. "We'll find food for you. Tomorrow, we shall discuss what to do next."

The smallest dragon, a gold dragoness, raised her head. "Nowhere is safe," she blurted, her bright amethyst eyes raking across the sky. Searching for something, in a desperate attempt to satisfy herself that nothing was nearby.

Exchanging a glance with Rutilus, I watched the gold dragoness cautiously. Waiting nervously for her answer. Even Kronx shifted uncomfortably, examining the area around us himself before his stormy gaze settled back on the gold dragoness.

But she said nothing, staring at something in the distance. Confused, I followed her gaze - but only saw clouds blanketing the sky. I turned back towards her. Each passing moment that she did not speak made my stomach churn uneasily.

"Tell them, Kaiya," the white drake beside her encouraged.

Kaiya flinched when he spoke, whipping her head towards him with wide eyes. For several moments, she stared at him, trying to comprehend what he said. Then finally, she breathed in a sharp intake of air.

"The humans," she whispered, with another fearful glance across the sky. "They are searching the continent for you... for us. Using dragons to help them. But that's not all."

She had not yet told us anything we did not know, but from the way she glanced at the white drake beside her, what she was about to say was worse.

"Fehïrk," Kaiya gasped, and I froze. "The dragons at Fehïrk are being tortured, one at a time."

*~*

1194 words

A bit late - sorry! The past week, I've been a bit busy.

But on the bright side, I've almost finished editing the next set of chapters! :D