Sky City Chronicles

Chapter 3: The Dark Truth

The Dark Truth

I woke up with very sore wing muscles, and as I got up and out of my bed I winced as the soreness turned into cutting pain as I stretched the muscles that definitely wanted to stay tight. I limped over to my desk, checking to make sure that none of the papers I had used last night were still in the open, and then snuck out the door to the hall, careful to make sure no one was nearby. I crept down the back halls and through almost forgotten doors, until I reached the main duct system of the building.

The great machine was what had once kept the entire building warm in the cold of winter, huge fires warming the air that was then directed to the rest of the tower through pipes over a dragon length wide. Ports opened up in the walls throughout the building, letting the air heat up the otherwise drafty and chilly rooms to a comfortable level. Now that high summer had come upon us, the fires had been stilled and the ducts left open to let the cooler air outside filter in to cool off the interior. I popped the hatch on the huge furnace, glad that my adventure was happening in the summer so I wouldn't get cooked. I squeezed into the system, having to tuck my wings in to my spine to fit through the gap. Once inside I slid the cover back on and sheathed my claws so that I wouldn't clang and crash my way along the metal. The last thing I needed was to have someone discover me spying on Lord Igneous.

It took me quite some time to work my way through the duct system to the outside of my Lord's lab, mainly because the furnace was located a level below the ground, while my master's lab resided just below his chambers in the topmost story of the Hall. After losing my way several times and having to scale six vertical shafts, I finally made it to the edge of his labs, mostly by following my sense of smell. The scent had a bitter aspect to it that made me want to sneeze, but I found that by breathing through my mouth I could stave off the tickle that threatened to burst out at any time. I found an access port in the side of the tunnel, and peeked through to see if I had indeed found Lord Igneous' labs. The sight before my eyes confirmed my suspicions, and my greatest fears, as I took in the horror that was my master's workplace.

Tubes and wires sprung from generators and pumps, while a great table filled the majority of the room, restraint clamps in perfect position to hold a dragon-sized creature. Lord Igneous himself stood just to one side of the table, fiddling with a beaker that held some dark substance. As I watched the doors on the left wall opened with a bang, and a pair of guards dragged in an unconscious dragon with green scales. The stone ball had been removed from his chains, and in the next moment I saw why. The guards lifted the young female onto the table, closing the clamps around her ankles and wrists with metallic clanks. Only as they turned to leave did Lord Igneous seem to realize that a prisoner had been dropped off in his lab. As the doors closed with a crash of finality, Igneous walked over to the dragon as she started to wake up, though when she saw him she eyes opened wide in fear and she took in a breath to scream. With a wave of his hand a black ooze close off the girl's muzzle, her scream now muffled to a mild groan as she was forced to breathe through her nose. Lord Igneous smiled cruelly as he walked around the terrified dragoness, seeming to check her over with one hand as he made a full circle around her, coming to a stop in front of her panicked face.

"I'm not going to hurt you little one." He said in a sweet tone, "I just need you to do one thing for me and you can go free." He walked over and picked up the vile with the black liquid, carrying it over to show the dragoness, "All I need you to do is drink this and I will let you go without doing anything else to you. Does that sound like something you cannot do?" The dragoness shook her head uncertainly, "Then I will remove the spell on your mouth, but you must be a good girl and not scream. If you do I will have to use more painful methods of getting this into you, so do yourself a favor and do as I ask." He waved one hand and the black ooze blocking the girl's muzzle dropped away to make a puddle on the floor.

The girl looked up and asked in a tiny voice, "You promise you won't do anything else to me? I won't need to do anything else?"

My Lord nodded once, "Drink this and you can walk out of this room without a guard to escort you. You will no longer need to be guarded."

Something about how he said that didn't sit well with me, but the child seemed not to notice and grabbed the vial out of his hand, downing the mixture in one gulp in her haste to get it over with. As the last drops went down her throat, she jerked like she had been struck, and a straggled cry escaped her lips as she curled up on the floor, her eyes screwed shut in pain. Lord Igneous simply walked up to the convulsing girl, bending down his head to speak in her ear. I could barely hear it, but as he spoke a chill went down my spine.

"The liquid you just drank was Bloodbane," he said simply, "it will kill you if it is not treated quickly, and I am the only one who can save you. Will you accept my help?" She was in too much pain to speak, but the vigorous nodding of her head was all it seemed he needed. "Very well, but remember, this was your own choice, not mine." A black fire enveloped his hands, and as he placed them on the girl's convulsing flank, the fire spread to cover her entire body, her features disappearing behind a black haze, and for a moment the convulsions seemed to peak. The body then flopped to the floor, and Lord Igneous removed his hands from the girl's side, the black flames dissolving to reveal her green scales had been changed to pitch, and when she opened her eyes they had been changed from bright blue to blood red.

She stood up and turned to Lord Igneous, bowing her head and bending one knee as she said in a monotone voice, "Hail Lord Igneous, rightful ruler of Drekinia." She stayed that way until Lord Igneous commanded her to stand, and I fled the duct as my throat threatened to let a scream escape at the horror I had just seen.

"Razor was right." I thought to myself as I made my way back to the furnace in the sub-levels, "How could I have been so blind as to not see what was going on right under my nose?"

I clamored through the port in the main furnace and raced through the halls, passing guards that jumped out of my way as I blindly rushed into my chambers, slamming the door shut and throwing the lock home. I stumbled over to the corner of the room and fell to my side as I curled up in a ball, sobs raking my body as I cried for all of the innocent lives I had worked to ruin came to bear in my mind. I didn't know how long I cried in the corner, but at some point my tears dried up and I just hiccupped in my sorrow as the light faded in my window. I somehow managed to climb into my bed, my eyes red and sore from crying, my stomach one big ache from not being able to breathe. I shut my eyes and tried to get some sleep, but the terrified face of the little dragoness haunted my dreams, to an extent that when I awoke the next day, her cries turned into my own as I tumbled from the bed, my limbs flailing as I fought away the terrors of the night. I stumbled over to the mirror at my bedside, and tried to look at myself in the reflection, only to recoil in fear as Lord Igneous' face sneered at me from behind the glass. I stumbled over to my desk, my eyes falling on the schematic of the building, the dungeons first to grab my eyes.

I looked at the picture and saw the faces of all the other prisoners being held in the cells below, how they would look if Lord Igneous got ahold of them in his lab. Foremost of those faces was Razor's, his orange eyes shining with love and understanding, his body fit and ready to fight if the need was there. It was that image that forced my mind to a decision. I knew right then and there what I needed to do. It was either free the prisoners in the dungeons, or lose the small bit of a heart I still possessed. I walked over to the doors and opened the lock, my heart and mind united in the resolution that I would free the prisoners, whatever the personal cost. If my life was to be lost in the freedom of my own prisoners, then that would be my punishment for not seeing the horrid deeds being done around me. I started down the steps with my claws out and my tail blade ready, knowing full well that the chances of me succeeding were next to none.