Survivor (Book One- Lei)

11. The Beast Inside

"Ah, isn't this magnificent? Look at all these dragons!" Anneke cackled as she walked between the cages of the confined dragons. "Oh Dagur, you've really outdone yourself this time!"

The Berserker grimaced and nodded quietly as he placed his hand on the bars of one of the cages containing an agitated Nadder as she kept trying to reach through the bars to get to a smaller cage full of baby Nadders. He still couldn't believe he had done this, the one thing he swore never to do, and yet here he was: aboard a dragon hunter ship with dozens of dragons he had been around for two years and on their way to gods know where. Anneke was a young dragon hunter, but a high ranking one at that. Dagur had never met her before, but during his time among the hunters he had heard fearsome tales of the young hunter about how ruthless she was with both dragons and humans that stood in her way.

"She's going to be so pissed when she finds out, this was a huge mistake." He murmured as he tried to comfort the Nadder, only for her to snap at his hands, snarling wildly.

"Who, the bitch you've been obsessed with these past two years?" Anneke scoffed as she walked over to Dagur and grabbed his chin to face her. "You were the one who suggested wanting to win her over, distract her so you could take her dragons for Drago's army."

"And I changed my mind, that's what got me almost killed." Dagur retorts as he yanks himself from her grasp. "I wanted out, and yet you drag me back. I was perfectly content living the new life I had with that girl, and her name is Lei."

"Oh but don't you remember our deal? You do as we say, and we'll give you what was so dear to you, otherwise it's feeding time for the sharks and Scauldrons."

Dagur grimaced at her last part of the statement and Anneke smirked.

"Smart boy. Now wipe that frown off your face, the warlords are coming and I don't want you to embarrass me in front of them."

"Storm's a coming!" One of the crewmen shouted.

Dagur glanced up to see the clouds ahead of them were a dark grey, and even from here he could hear the rumble of thunder. Clouds like that were Lei's favorite to ride through when she rode Striker, dodging the lighting and coming back soaked from the rain that made her feel more alive than ever. Great, now he was going to feel guilty every time he saw a storm cloud.

"Dragons approaching!" Another crewman shouted.

"Don't just stand there you idiots, catch them!" Anneke shouted from the top part of the ship. "Might be some rare dragons!"

Dagur then noticed all the cashed dragons from Lei's island were silent, even the infant ones before they all suddenly started screeching or growling wildly and throwing themselves at the bars of their cages.

"What the hell?" Dagur murmured as some crewmen of the ship tried to shut the dragons up. He had never seen them get riled up like this, not since the time Flaresight left the island in search of Lei and returned several hours later- wait a minute. The BErserker looked to the sky and shaded his eyes to look at the two dark shapes flying in their direction. "Shit! Anneke, she's here!"

"Who?!" Anneke yelled loudly as she stormed over to Dagur. "Wait don't tell me, the dragon bitch who these dragons are "family" to." A loud familiar screech from overhead confirmed that.

"Man the bolas! Get the nets!" One hunter yelled as the other hunters and trappers pointed their weapons in the direction of the two oncoming dragons. Much to their surprise though, the two dragons flew off into the clouds above and disappeared.

"Strange..." Anneke muttered. "Why would they-"

"HIT THE DECK!" Dagur screamed as he dove to the floor as he caught sight of a dark shape dive out from the clouds and fly towards the ship. He heard men scream and the sound of lightning hitting the ship along with an all too familiar dragon screech. He lifted his head and caught sight of a familiar purple and grey dragon hovering above the ship, just barely out of range of the bolas and nets- but with no rider.