Blood Shed

Chapter 17 - Levana

I stood in the corner watching the little girl look around the room with surprise written across her face. It made me happy to see someone enjoying so small but made me sad to wonder why her hut was not like this. She turned to look at me, and a grin spread across her face.

She ran forward, arms outstretch and gripped my legs in the tightest hug she could manage. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you so very, very much for letting me stay here! You could get in so much trouble for my actions and lying to the queen's champion."

"Champion?" Scarlett stepped forward arms crossed looking confused.

"Yes, champion. The Queen's most trusted creature alive! At first, he was just her champion, but he started doing more for her like running errands and keeping everyone in check." She turned to Scarlett still hugging my legs tight.

"Wait a minute; I'm not following. Who's the champion?" I questioned leaning down, so I was face to face with her.

"Faolan of course! You know, the one who rescued you?"

"More like captured," Scarlett muttered rolling her eyes.

"So... what does the champion do anyway?" I ignored Scarlett's rude remark and continued my questioning.

"Well, he or she goes into tournaments against other creatures who are the queen's prisoners, or humans... They did her wrong, so she makes them her prisoners, and Faolan fights them. There's one duel every three days or so. Of course, Faolan always wins he rips them apart." She explained looking at both of us back and forth.

"Wait when was the last duel?" I looked at her with a worried expression.

"Hmm, that must have been about two days ago. So the next one due is today!" She looked up at me grinning. "It starts at twelve o'clock." She looked up through the skylight. "It should be about 11 now so in one hour."

"Scarlett you better not show your independent opinion at this duel or you might be next." Scarlett scoffed and went to lie on her hammock. "Ok, I think maybe we should get a little rest before the duel yeah little dragon?"

"Sure, and call me Eliza. That's my human name but the Queen likes to call me Night Terror which I don't usually go by and I'm not terrifying, but I accidentally ripped apart the Queen's old champion in my last duel as punishment for burning down the village when I was sick a year ago." She rambled on without a pause. "He like attacked me so I got scared and the turned like really big and roared. The sound waves shattered his skeleton..." She shivered remembering what happened. Then in a quiet voice, she muttered, "I saw his body collapse as he was running. He was just floppy I guess..." I hugged Eliza so tight in my arms she tried to push off me. "Can't... Breathe..." She gasped.

"Oops, sorry." I unravelled my arms from her reluctantly, and she gave me a big toothy grin then walked to her hammock and sat down.

"I'm going to get as much rest as I can to pass away the hours."

"Wait a minute." Scarlett butted in. "If we are meant to be hiding her, shouldn't she go to the duel?"

"Yes, that is correct. I will stay here while you guys go to the duel! It is a compulsory event and if you do not attend you will get thrown in prison..." A single tear ran down her cheek highlighting the red splotches on her face.

"Scarlett how about we go early? Maybe we can get a good seat and learn a bit about these duels." I suggested while standing and brushing the dirt off my knees.

"Sure why not. Eliza, why don't you stay here and rest and we'll tell you what happened when we come back."

"Fine, but I want every detail when I wake up." She pouted and lay down in her hammock closing the cupboard door.

"Race you!" Scarlett grinned and jumped out of the hut onto a branch.

I stretched my wings and flew out after her dodging the branches and gliding up and down, through the gaps and around Scarlett. I flew into a maze of vines hanging from the tree getting my wings and legs caught. Carefully I unwrapped the vines, wings first, then my legs and flew around after Scarlett. It was hard to see where I was going through this jungle at such a speed. I could still see the shape of Scarlett jumping from branch to branch in a breeze like a monkey. Suddenly she paused and dropped to the ground. I dove after her and finally saw Faolan standing on the ground with his arms crossed glaring at Scarlett. She returned a cold gaze piercing his skin. I saw his aura showing that he felt frightened at Scarlett's gaze but was still tough on the outside. Maybe it was something else that was making him scared. Surely it couldn't just be her stare. I landed beside Scarlett looking between them.

"Great you are finally here. I was just about to get you to head over to the duel."

"Yeah, yeah duel we heard all about it. Now let's go!" Scarlett scowled at Faolan and pushed him backwards. "I said let's go!"

"But how did you-" Faolan was cut off by Scarlett.

"Shut up and let's go!" Scarlett started grinning and ran off through the trees. She disappeared beyond the horizon. A few moments later she came running back. "Ugh, where is the duel anyway?" She questioned.

"I'll show you, but stay with me." Faolan started running off into the tree line heading a little bit to the left of where Scarlett ran.

We all darted after him. I didn't fly this time because I knew my wings would get in the way, so I used them to run at the same speed Faolan ran. Eventually, we ended up at a large building covered in leaves and vines wrapping around the pillars tying them together. There was a little archway leading into the building.

"Ok, we are going to walk in and sit down in the front row. Maybe you could learn a thing or two about how it works. Follow me exactly and don't talk with anyone don't even make eye contact and whatever you do, don't speak your opinion. The queen does not welcome opinions as you saw in her throne room." Faolan looked to us concerned written across his forehead.

"Yeah, yeah. I want to see how this works already!" Scarlett crossed her arms and rolled her eyes.

Faolan sighed and stepped through the archway gesturing for us to follow him. We quietly stepped through and found a seat right next to the steps. Everyone had already sat down, but no one seemed to be sitting in the front except for few people dressed in armour and us. The queen stood on a balcony 10 meters above the seating in the arena.

"Good afternoon my fellow creatures, as you all know we have these duels twice a week. On one of those days we have volunteers, and on the other, we get my stupid human prisoners or other idiot creatures who refuse to follow me. However today, we have a special treat. Today we have neither volunteer nor prisoner. Today... we have a special guest. Today... WE HAVE SCARLETT DRAGONVIEN!" Her voice boomed across the arena, rippling all into a state of shock.

I looked across to Scarlett who was sitting there with her mouth wide open. She looked dazed and scared out of her mind. Some of the creatures standing next to the queen wore armour covered in jewels and shined like diamonds. They marched over to the stunned Scarlett and hauled her up out of her seat. They dragged her into a passageway off to the right.