Purple Dragon [REPUBLISHED]

Chapter 5: Massacre

Amasya woke to chaos.

Screams and shouts echoed through the camp.

"Hey!" she yelled. "What's going on?" She pounded on the stone door, growing frantic with every minute.

Shrieks and battle cries of the Warriors were the only replies.

"Anyone? Help!" Amasya shouted.
She slid down to the cold floor, miserable.

The stone rock was rolled away abruptly as a dragon whisked in.

"Osma!" Amasya exclaimed, relieved. A young dragonet was with her. Little Ballari clutched her mother's leg, terrified.

Osma's face was wild in the dim light from the torch she was holding.

"There is no time to talk, my lady," she cried. "There is a slaughter out there!"

"What? What happened?"

"A nearby legion has attacked! They caught us by surprise! They are sparing no one, children, unhatched eggs, lowly Servants! No one is safe! They have beheaded the Chief!"

"No!" Amasya gasped.

"Yes!" Osma wailed. "I can't find Tamtun! He was supposed to be following me! My lady, please help me find him! No one else will listen to me!"

"Of course Osma!" Amasya yanked viciously at the chains.

"Ballari, help her!" Osma demanded. Ballari fiddled at the padlock with a smuggled key, unlocking her bindings.

"Hurry! We must hurry!" Osma exclaimed.

Amasya had never seen anything like the slaughter that was before her. Strange Androsythians in full battle armor roared, archers' bows twanged as they found their targets, and spears and swords glinted in the morning light. They wore the seal of a neighbor legion, Rinwell. Small and large bodies littered the ground as Medics flitted to and fro from the rotting corpses.

"Tamtun!" Osma sobbed in relief as she saw a small dragonet rushing across the battlefield. She reached out for him.
The young dragon let out a yelp as a red poppy bloomed on his chest. He fell,stunned. An arrow protruded from his backside.

"TAMTUN!" Osma screamed. She rushed to him and scooped him up. His limp body drooped as she slung him on her back. The shooter of the arrow laughed evilly.

Rage overwhelmed Amasya as she flew in fury, raking her claws across the offending archer. The dragon fell, dead before he ever hit the ground. More soldiers took place of the ones lost.
Amasya had never seen battle before, but her instincts took her. She seemed to be everywhere at once, snarling, fighting, flying. She roared in hatred, and her enemies fell back in terror.

She grabbed Ballari and the sobbing Osma who was clutching poor Tamtun.

"We have to get away!" she cried above the sounds of war.

Swiping at anyone who got too close, Amasya hauled Osma and Ballari away from the horror show.

They took shelter behind a large cliff. Amasya started breathing again.

Osma wailed in devastation. "My beautiful son," she hiccuped. "What did they do to you? What have they done to you?!" She stroked his face. Ballari was pale, tears running down her cheeks.

"Lay him here, Osma," Amasya said. "He's not dead yet, only unconscious."

Osma laid him down gently, her tears splashing his eyelids.

Amasya removed the arrow. She had watched her Mother heal arrow wounds many times. "It isn't infected yet. This is good news, Osma," she said hopefully. Osma nodded, still crying silently.

"Ballari," Amasya said evenly. "I need you to find some chi berry leaves. They have jagged edges and a fuzz covering them."

She could practically feel the sticky fuzz underneath her paws. She could hear Elias congratulating her for finding the leaves they needed. What they didn't know was that chi berry leaves attracted Branwenns. Floressa was wrong. She hadn't endangered her brother and sister after all. This revelation made Amasya's cheeks heat in anger, but she shook her head. There were more important matters at hand.

"You must be wary. Branwenns love the smell of these." Ballari nodded, grateful for something to do. "Fetch some water and a clean bowl for me, Osma. And a stick stripped of the bark."

Once all the materials were collected, Amasya began to grind the leaves into a light paste. Chi berry leaves healed almost anything on dragons.

Androsythians had a terrific immune system. The platelets in the blood clotted faster, and Tamtun's wound stopped bleeding.

Amasya carefully applied the paste onto the puncture wound.

Androsythian flesh usually knitted itself back together quickly, and the paste would speed the process along, killing any bacteria.

She applied a clean bandage and gave Tamtun a drink. "That's all I can do for now," she told Osma. "All we can do is sleep."

"How can I sleep?" she howled. "I shall stay up all night with Tamtun. I will be there when he wakes."

Amasya nodded. She and Ballari curled up and drifted into a fitful sleep while a feverish Osma watched and prayed over her dying son.

...

Amasya woke up in the middle of the night. The sky was filled with billions of stars streaking across the world.
Osma was sitting with her back to Amasya. She rubbed her eyes and sat up.

"Osma?" she croaked, her throat thick with sleep.

"He's gone," Osma said in a dull voice. "My son is dead."

"Osma," Amasya whispered sorrowfully. "I'm so sorry."

"Tamtun never did anything to anyone," Osma said flatly. "He was so sweet. He would pick wildflowers just so I could wear them around my neck. He used to tell me that he hated that I didn't have any fancy jewels like the other ladies. He would tell me I looked more beautiful than any other lady with my June roses around my neck." There were tears in her voice.

"Why would they do this?" Osma cried. "He was just a little dragonet, only a Servant! Why?" she sobbed over the lifeless Tamtun.

"We'll bury him, Osma," Amasya said. "It doesn't matter if the Chief isn't here to perform the Ceremony of Mutuwa."

"Servants don't get a Ceremony of Mutuwa," Osma said bitterly.

"We'll make our own ceremony." Amasya said, a tear slipping down.

Through the night, they worked to give Osma's son the funeral that he deserved. Amasya and Osma worked tirelessly until the sun stretched its warm fingers across the sky.

Ballari, Osma, and Amasya stood before the tiny grave. Amasya set down the Tamtun's lifeless form gently in the ground.

Osma placed a few of his favorite possessions with him and folded a blanket over the arrow wound so that it wouldn't show. Then she kissed the cold eyelids for the last time as she whispered her final goodbye.

A lump rose in Amasya's throat as she carefully brushed the earth back onto Tamtun.

The three figures stood there, the dawn on their faces, savoring the silence.

"He is in a better place," Osma said to her daughter. Ballari nodded, her eyes puffy and red.

"It's time to go, Osma," Amasya said softly. Osma nodded. She placed a hand on the grave and uttered a prayer for her dead son.

The three turned and left little Tamtun resting beneath the earth where June roses bloomed.