Dragon of Legend: A New Era (BK2) (Published)

chapter 31

Terror, she hadn't felt it in a long time, so long that she had almost forgotten what it felt like. Yet after witnessing the ruthless murder of so many Resistance members, both dragon and human alike, and then being roughly bound up and tossed carelessly onto the back of a dragon, it came back to Akira. And once it became clear that her captor's destination was not Academy City but the quarries, the terror became paralyzing. Their captors had descended in numbers, giving the Resistance no chance and those that survived were currently being carried to a doom most consider worse than death, helpless to do anything against it. 

They flew through the night, Akira getting little sleep with the uncomfortable position she was in on the back of the dragon she had been thrown on, the rider before her doing little to see to her comfort, she was a captive after all. Her bound hands fell asleep to the point that she couldn't feel them anymore. She dozed off, being jerked awake again every couple of seconds as the dragon she was on turned a sharp turn. 

When the screams started Akira at first thought it was part of the vivid dreams she was having, yet when they wouldn't stop after every time she woke the cold truth hit her. The quarries, they had arrived and as though to confirm her realization the dragon she was on suddenly dipped. 

As he flew down Akira slowly opened her eyes, squinting against the sun that was already begging t make its ascent once again. Below her, lit up by the rising sun, she saw a few buildings, sited in the middle of the bleak waste land, steep canyon walls around it sinking the hopes of an attempt to escape. Without a dragon there was neither a way in nor out and Akira had no doubt that the Watchers had made sure that the dragon prisoners could not fly. 

The closer they got to the buildings the louder the torturers screams became and soon Akira was sure that this was not reality anymore, no, it had to be a nightmare. The dragon she was on landed and Akira lifted her eyes to see the few buildings were made of a few planks of wood, looking like they could fall apart at the slightest wind. The stench or urine and rotting flesh that came from them was unbearable and Akira gagged. 

Then hands were upon her and she was pulled from the dragon's back and set on her unsteady feet. No one offered to help her when she swayed but instead someone grabbed her and began pushing her forward, forward to where a group of women from the Resistance were huddled together, fear etched in their faces. 

As she was pushed into the group Akira noticed that three groups were being formed, one of men, one of women and then one for the few children that had been brought along, most of which were crying, shouting for their parents, yet their cries went unheeded. 

"Akira," at the use of her name Akira turned her head to find that Celine was standing beside her, her face filled with not fear but with a deep sorrow. "Akira," she spoke again, her voice sounding broken as she began to weep. "H...He's not here," she wept, falling on her knees. "Rays not h...here...that can only mean he was...k...killed." 

With a feeling of numbness Akira knelt to the ground before her. She would have put a comforting hand on her shoulder if she could. 

"Don't say that," she murmured instead, though even to herself Akira's own voice sounded hollow. "He might be out there right now, alive and well..." she trailed off as Celine looked at her with hope in her eyes. 

"You...think so?" she asked. 

Akira never had the chance to reply as rough hands grabbed both of them and hurled them to their feet. Before Akira knew what was happening her hands were unbound. Pins and needles shot through them immediately, yet before Akira even had the chance to stretch them rough hands pulled them in front of her and clamped and pair of iron clamps around each writs, holding them together. AS she watched a chain was looped through the clamps, a chain that was already attached to the woman before her.