Imperial

Chapter 38

Oblivious to our presence, humans stumbled across the fields, towards the Dragon Stables. Slowly, dragons emerged, each accompanied by a human. They were scrawnier than when I had last seen them, and almost all of them limped across the fields.

Rutilus stiffened beside me, leaning towards the Dragon Stables - and away from the safety of the trees. Narrowing my eyes, I nudged him, a silent reminder to stay still. Whilst human sight was no where near as good as a dragons, I did not not want to risk them seeing us - especially since some were heading towards our direction.

But the red and gold dragon paid no attention to me, instead staring at another dragon whom emerged from the Dragon Stables. She must have been a recent addition, I had never seen the dark purple dragoness before.

"Mother," the red and gold drake breathed, staring at her in horror and disbelief. "They... they caught her, too! All this time, she's been here." Golden eyes glittering with rage, he glared at the humans with renewed hatred.

"She was here before I returned from the trip to Ukurauis," the Black Beast rumbled, eyeing the red dragon sympathetically.

"She might have been captured near her cave, despite planning to leave soon," realization dawned on me abruptly. If that was the case, then that was how the humans had found us - having found Rutilus's mother in the same cave. They must have presumed that she was Rutilus's mother, having been found in a similar area as to the red drake.

As I watched, more dragons trailed out of the Dragon Stables. There were at least thirty of them in total, slowly spreading out across the speed. But it was a pale green dragoness that caught my eye, scars and wounds lining her flank.

Numerous bones on her wings had broken, and I cringed, knowing from experience that it hurt a lot. Parts of the membrane on her wings were bloodied and torn, rendering her flightless. Three long wounds sliced across her underbelly.

Her nostrils flared. Raising her head, she stared right over at us. Fire still gleamed in her blue eyes, reflecting her fury and determination. But when she spotted us, they widened in disbelief, shocked that we'd actually come.

"No," she shook her head rapidly, her groan barely audible from afar. "Go. Go while you can."

A whip cracked somewhere near Soriak. She flinched from the noise, quickly adverting her gaze towards the ground. Grumbling at her furiously, a human raised a bloodstained dagger - obviously threatening her.

Growling softly, I glared at the human.

"Rutilus," the Black Beast suddenly rumbled, keeping his voice quiet. "Set their little houses on fire. That way, if we don't succeed, the humans won't be very... comfortable for a while."

Without hesitation, the red drake launched into the sky. Almost immediately, humans shouted in surprise and confusion, some hurriedly mounting the dragons. With a deafening roar, the red and gold dragon circled the sky, allowing some of the dragons to chase him.

"No..." Raegon grunted, watching Rutilus with disapproval. 

Folding his gold wings against his flank, Rutilus dived down, fire streaming from his jaws. The humans jerked away, shouting in dismay at each other as they watched the dragon set the smaller, wooden buildings alight.

Satisfied that he'd done exactly what the Black Beast had commanded, the red drake swerved back up into the sky. But this time, instead of letting the dragons follow him, he headed straight for them, still shooting fire.