Enslaved

Chapter 2

"Grab everyone you can!" His voice boomed across the courtyard, straining to be heard above the chaos that was surrounding him. "Take any children you see first! Go! Quickly!"

His people were a flurry of action, wings flaring open and closed for balance while blades flashed and whistled through the air. His own blades were out and ready at his sides as his gaze roved the crowd, his eyes locking onto the long line of slaves. He started towards it when someone seemingly appeared in front of him, a whip coiled at their side and stained with old, dark green blood. His eyes went cold as he raised his blades and hacked the person down, not even bothering to look into their eyes or to give them a chance to raise their own weapon. 

Murderers. Torturers. Slavers. Murderers. Torturers. Slavers.

 The words looped around in his head as he razed a path to where the slaves were watching in dead silence at the death that ensued right in front of them, the unique patterned scales that lined their cheekbones glittering in the light of the setting sun. With their hands, wrists, necks, and wings shackled, that was the most they could do; the most that they had the courage to do, regardless. He gritted his teeth at the small shape near the front, the child with still growing wings chained right along with the rest. 

With a roar or fury, he burst through the line of slavers and ran to the chains, sheathing one of his blades across his back in between his wings as he did so. He reached the first slave near the middle of the line and swung his blade down on the chains, efficiently snapping them where they connected to the slave in front of them. The slave stared at him with wide eyes as he moved around the back of him and sliced through the shackles there too, freeing the slave from the line completely. He looked the slave in the eyes then, gazing into the horror and panic in their expression.

"Go!" He shouted in their face, not missing their wince at his volume and wishing he had the luxury to be more considerate. "Turn around and run to the edge of the courtyard. I have hybrids waiting in the skies to get you out of here."

The slave didn't move at first, their eyes stricken through with fear and indecision. He snarled at them, hefting his blade higher as he readied for another swing. 

"I know you're frightened but if you get out of here then you will never have to feel that way again." He urged in Draconic, fighting to force his voice to remain calm as his men fought and died behind him. "You need to go. Now."

The slave turned and ran then, their wings dragging in the dirt behind them. He turned and saw that a few more of his men had burst through the slavers and were now assisting him in freeing the slaves one by one and a fierce yet grim smile lit his face. He turned back and sliced through another one's chains but didn't have to say a word to them before they turned and took off, following the other slave. He continued right down the line, hoping that one of his men had gotten to his left and freed the child he had spotted earlier. He had three slaves left to free on his right when one of his men called out and he turned around. Most of his men had either broken through the line or lay in the dust, dead, injured, or helping their comrades. He turned his gaze to the skies where near two dozen of his men hovered, holding the slaves in varying positions to make sure they didn't fall. 

"We need to go!" One of his hybrids shouted near the back of the hovering front, his Draconic echoing across the courtyard. "We can't risk losing anymore of us!"

He growled in frustration but with another glance over his shoulder, he sliced through the slave's chains that were closest to him and sheathed his blade right alongside the other one, scooping them up and unfurling his wings with a mighty whoosh. With one hard down flap that caught the wind he had taken off, the gust of air from his wings buffeting anyone who had been close to him backward a few feet or straight onto the ground. His careful eyes scanned the floor to see his men doing the same thing as he was, taking to the skies in differing speeds with or without slaves and injured rebels. He flew over to one of them without a slave and gave them the slave he had just freed before turning his eyes back to the ground, counting the slaves they had not been able to liberate. Six. Six left out of thirty-one. He looked at each of their faces and felt his soul shred when he noticed the glistening tears on one of their faces, a woman who was staring at one of his hybrids who was hovering a few paces in front of him and holding the child he had seen. The enslaved woman was tied to two others who's eyes were also on him as he hovered there, the closest one to them in their congregation. All of their eyes pleaded with him.

"Take us with you." They seemed to say. "Don't leave us here. Please. We won't survive."

He tore his eyes off the slaves and looked back to the carnage that had ensued when he and his men had landed and started killing anyone who got in their way. The ground stained with red and green blood alike, the thick liquid seeping into the ground slowly. He counted his fallen hybrids, making sure to memorize each and every face he could see, forcing himself to remember them. Eight. Eight hybrids lost to these foul people. He looked back to the slaves just as their slavers reached them, yanking on the broken ends of the chains to encircle them into one big huddle before their eyes looked back up to the skies where they were. Almost in unison, all of their eyes locked onto him, the differing color of his armor marking him as the leader. He grinned down at them, more of a snarl than a smile before he spread his arms about him, gesturing to his force and the freed slaves, the setting sun giving the glittering black scales on their wings the hue of both human blood and anger.

"We will not stop." He called down to them in the human's tongue, the language tasting foul in his mouth. "Not until every single one of my people are free."

One of the slavers barked a laugh, sounding breathless and wheezy. 

"You will never be free from us." His voice was gruff and coarse compared to his laugh. "This was just a small part of how many of you cretin we have in our possession."

His smile widened as he stared down the slaver.

"Oh, we are well aware." He gloated, his force chuckling above and behind him as they figured out what he was about to do just by his body language. "Do not worry. You won't have to worry about them for much longer."

Faster than a python he whipped out the emergency dagger he kept on his hip and sent it flying into the heart of the slaver, his wings compensating for his extra movement and keeping him steady. The man slumped to the ground just as the others let out cries of both alarm and surprise at the sudden throw. He had already turned around and risen into the skies where his men were waiting before any of the human men thought to retaliate. They all watched him expectantly, awaiting his next orders. 

"Let's get going everybody." He said, changing back to Draconic and knowing his voice was heard by all of them even if it wasn't a shout. "Let's show those murderers just who we are."

Their cheers echoed in his heart.