Inferno Legacy: Valor of the Dragon (Book One)

Chapter 46

       The first thing Cody felt was pain. He could faintly register that his bare feet were being scraped roughly against a cracked, jagged stone floor. His first reaction was to moan, but immediately after that he felt his head erupt in pain, particularly in the spot where he had been hit. He slowly grew more conscious, and felt that he was being pulled along by his forearms. The bad part was that the only way he could tell was because something was piercing each arm with several painful points.

            At last he could open his eyes, but immediately wished he hadn’t. His right arm was being roughly pulled in Bleeding Demon’s mouth, and the other was somehow grasped tightly in the jaw bones of a wolf skeletar. Cody forced his gaze to the floor, but immediately vomited. His lower legs and feet were completely coated in his own blood, and it continued to drip and flow down onto the ground from hundreds of scratches, ranging from things like thin, wiry plants to monstrous, jagged rocks. Most of his wounds were relatively deep and most of them would probably get infected if he kept getting dragged through the rocks.

            Cody made one feeble attempt to stand, but the wolves tightened their grips on his arms and made him gasp in pain. He could feel blood streaming down his arm from either side, and immediately went limp again. The only thing he could do was hope that they would be done travelling soon. He fought to stay conscious to find out where he was, but it was only a few moments before he felt his head loll to the side and he lost consciousness again.

            When he finally awoke, he noticed that he was no longer moving. Most of his arms and legs were almost completely numb from the pain, but he knew that it wouldn’t take long for him to begin suffering again. He just enjoyed the moment he was in, resting against the cold, smooth floor. It felt like hours before he cautiously dragged his head around and looked around the room. He couldn’t focus on anything far away, but he knew he was in a room of sorts. He could sense that there was someone in the room with him, but he dared not speak.

            “You are awake,” A cold voice said, a harsh statement that chilled Cody to the bone.

            The rider still dared not even take a deep breath in front of whoever it was. Even if he was willing to risk speaking, he couldn’t begin to think of what to say when he was in such pain. Suddenly, every nerve in his body screamed in agony as not only his arms and legs began to respond, but every inch of his body was attacked by wave after wave of pain.

            The voice sounded closer, “My plan is almost complete. In a month everything will fall perfectly into place. But, maybe if you helped me, I could be victorious in only a few days, and all your pain could vanish.”

            For a moment Cody felt fine and exactly normal. Bewildered he began to stand, but after a few moments the torture continued. Tears streamed from his eyes like rivers, but they felt like acid, making him scream instead. At this point he wasn’t even sure if he could respond if he knew what to say.

            “Just tell me how to reach Argos and Heyrone, and I might let you die a bit more quickly at the worst.”

            Cody forced himself to think about the words for a moment before asking, “H-H-Heyrone?”

            “Oh, Heyrick didn’t tell you,” the enemy asked in mock surprise as he circled Cody. “Heyrone, the stupid dwarf king who desired to conquer Semiones for its vast riches, so that he could sit back on his throne and watch as millions suffered in slavery just below his feet. Such a misfortune that his failure was rewarded with a dragon. Of course the dragon had to have the nickname ‘Lord of the Winds’, I expect nothing less from his highness.”