The Chronicles Of SkyArmy - SSundee

Ssudnee- Chapter 7: In The Dragons' Jaws...

I crouched low, running through the forest; scattering the crisp leaves of Autumn. It had been 5 months since I'd been initiated into SkyArmy, (SA) and life had never been sweeter...except maybe if Diamond wasn't gone. Don't say gone. Dead. That's what she is. Anyway, I was out hunting with Mitch. In SA we have a way with hunting patrols. That's what Captain calls them anyway. We have a rota that makes sure that no one goes out twice in a day. And we're always paired with someone else to watch our backs in case something happens. You don't always know when a creepers gonna turn up out of the blue and bust you up. So, that day I was with Mitch. It had been a pretty un-eventful day, till we found the dragon. Mitch had called me over to a patch of bushes; in a clearing not far from the lake where we had the occasional picnic...party. "What is it?" "Shhhh! Look through these bushes...and keep quiet..." I rolled my eyes. "Ugh, why all the suspense and melodrama?" I muttered, before doing as he instructed. What I saw took my breath away and instantly my sarcastic scepticism dissolved. For in the clearing just ahead...lay a sleeping dragon.

It's head was crested and wreathed in smoke from its nostrils. Occasionally tiny blue and green flames sparked up and flickered elegantly along his sleeping head until they died out. The dragons' back was adorned with curved, jagged spikes, and his scales glowed a gentle, ruby red light that lit up the surrounding trees. It's claws were curved and wicked like scythes, glimmering coldly. His lashing tail ended in a lump of bone in the shape of an arrow head; his wings were folded over the lower half of his body, a thick, muscular canopy that had edges of gold and steel. "Oh my god..." Mitch's eyes were open wide, unable to take in the incredulous sight before him. "We've got to take him." I stared at him. "What?!" He grinned. "C'mon Ssundee! This is an opportunity we'll never get again!" I shook my head. "An opportunity to get ourselves killed you mean." He scowled. "Fine, but don't blame me when you're jealous cus I've got all the chicks on my dragon." "Jeez you're insane." Besides, I knew that the only one for me...the only one that WAS for me, was Diamond. And she was dead. Mitch was looking at me funny. "What?" "You look like you're going to cry." "I'm fine." I blinked rapidly behind my sunglasses, grateful that the thick shades hid the true extent of my emotions. "Ok, see yah." "WAIT MITCH, NO!" Mitch ran out into the clearing, sword in hand, ready to take the dragon by force. "Ugh, Mitch you ass!" I scrambled out behind him, and skidded to a halt as the dragons' eyelid slowly opened. I caught my breath. His eye was pure gold, with slit eye pupils like a cat. It blinked, slow and steady, surveying us. Mitch's eyes were open wide as he raised his sword above his head, ready to bring it down.

It all happened very fast after that. The dragon moved like lightning, the sun on his scales flashing sparks of light into my eyes, temporarily blinding me. I staggered back and felt something hit me across the middle; it felt like my stomach was imploding. I cried out and heard Mitch do the same. "Sky! Seto?! Anyone! Help!" I staggered toward the direction of Mitch's cry, only to finally regain my sight in time to see the dragon with his claws inches away from his throat. "NO!" The dragon turned to the sound of my voice. Then I realised why he looked familiar. "Hey, I recognise you, when I was on the run, you attacked me in the mountains." The dragon bared his teeth in a cruel, pointed smile. "I remember too. I remember I was about to sink my teeth into you...and I'll make sure I'm not interrupted THIS time!" The dragons' voice was hoarse and reptilian, rasping over his vocal cords like sandpaper over bare skin. I winced as I realised the only option left. My sword was a few feet away, right under the claws of the dragon. Mitch was unconscious, and had a gash in his leg that was causing him a lot of blood loss. There was only one person who could help me now. "Well, I'm screwed." The dragon laughed, a sound closer to shattering glass against concrete, than to a sound of mirth. "But you're more so than I." It eyed me warily, then sprang forward. Simultaneously I whipped my sunglasses off and braced myself. "Just please don't hurt Mitch, just don't hurt Mitch..." Then he took over and I blacked out to the last view of a dragons' jaws snapping shut and the sound of Derp Ssundee's wild, strained voice- then I was gone...