Dragons and Pirates

Part 2

My knuckles are white from gripping onto the reins so hard. I feel like throwing up when I look down at the rolling hills and houses. I'm still laying down on my stomach. It feels like I'll fall off if I try to sit up. How did this happen? I didn't even feel the dragon liftoff. Shouldn't I have? I want to go home. This was such a bad idea.
The sun is completely down now, and I see the ocean in the distance. I know I can't stay like this forever, so I slowly move towards the dragon's neck on my stomach. I finally reach it, and I begin to sit up until I'm holding onto its neck. My hands shake.
"Okay... how about we go back?" I say to the dragon as if it'll reply. It just continues to fly forward. Hopes of ever getting home are getting slimmer. My eyes sting and I bury my head in the dragon's scales. I don't fall asleep though. I need to know if we make another turn so I can get back home somehow. I don't need to see when we make a turn because the dragon wobbles a little when we do.
The moon is right above my head when I finally look around. Water is all I see in every direction, and we've gone lower than we were before. A lot lower. I can touch the water now, so I dip one foot into the water, a bit of my skirt going into it too, but I don't mind. It feels cool and relaxes me. That's all I need right now.
The water reminds me of the rain shortage we had two years ago. No rainfall came for a long tIme, and no crops grew. I was twelve at the time, and I remember the hunger I had each night when I went to bed with no dinner. It was painful, and it makes me hungry thinking about it. I remember I bought a piece of bread earlier today and put it in my satchel. I open it with one hand and take the bread out. I pop it in my mouth, and the hunger is instantly satisfied. I wish I could've done that back in the shortage though,
After a couple hours, the sun starts to rise. There's something black on the horizon, and as we get closer it looks like a ship.
My heart stops.
Pirates aren't common, but they can come around at times and raid villages, even cities if they have the guts to. That's only happened once though, and the pirates ended up arrested, but not before they killed a thousand people. This doesn't help my racing heart. Killing me won't be any different.
I grab the reins and pull on them. The dragon growls but doesn't stop going forward. We're way too close for comfort now.
"Come on!" I yell. "Move away from the ship!"
I give another tug, but it still doesn't change direction. I can hear the excited yells of the pirates now. I hear one yell "Dragon! Shoot it down!", and another yell, "We can get a boatload of gold for this dragon 'ere! Get the cannons ready!"
A net captures us both, and we plunge into the dark water below.
~
Water floods into my mouth and nose as I try to swim up for air. It's no use though; the net these pirates used is made of metal, and knotted so close together that I can't swim through. This net isn't like the ones my father uses when he goes fishing. These pirates must be experienced with net making, which is a pretty sad hobby as long as you're not in the net yourself.
I feel lightheaded, and I know I'm going to die if I don't get out of here, but I can't swim up. But, the net finally starts to reel up, and I gasp as I hit air.
We go sideways and finally reach the deck. I peer through the small holes in the net and see a group of twenty people running around us or managing the sails. I get a few glimpses of black teeth and glass eyes and immediately look away.
The net falls on the sides of us, and I quickly scramble under the wing of the dragon. I feel like a coward, but I don't want these people to find me. I close my eyes, but the sounds of chains being shackled remind me that I'm not safe.
I sit like this, and I think I might actually be fine. The noises have died down, and the only sound is the sound of boots on wood. I sigh, then cover my mouth, but it's too late. The wing is pushed away quickly and reveals a short man with a large belly. He grins when he sees me.
"Well well well, what do we have here?" he says, and grabs my arm. I kick and scream and flail around, but this man has a good grip. He drags me to all the pirates, which have gathered together after hearing me scream, and he throws me onto the deck. My head bounces off the floor and I tart seeing blac spots. I even see a man walking from the area where the steering wheel is to me. He has a huge hat covering his face with a feather sticking out of the side, a coat with lots of buttons, a simple shirt, and a pair of pants that are bunched up at the bottom. When he's right in front of me, I realize that he is real.
"Captain! I found this one shaking next to the dragon! Must be crackers if she thinks she can-" the man that threw me says before he gets cut off.
"Quiet Sebastian," the Captain says. His hat tilts up a little, and I see why he has one on now.
Half of his face is burned off, and it looks like someone tried to fix it by stretching skin onto it and failed. The eye on the burnt side is completely white. He smiles at the expression on my face. "Seen prettier faces?"
"Who are you?" I say instead, my voice wobbling.
The smile doesn't come off his face as he says, "John Wolf m'lady."
John Wolf. The dragon killer.
I almost snarl at him. "Stay away from the dragon."
He chuckles. "I'm afraid not, m'lady. That dragon is of.... Importance to me." He looks to Sebastian. "Throw her overboard. I don't have time for children."
My eyes widen as Sebastian grabs my arm again. He drags me to the edge of the deck and lifts me up. It looks like the waters churning below, waiting for its next victim. I scream and scream, but he won't let me back on the boat. This is it, I think. The dragon will be killed, I'll turn into a raisin from too much water, and I'll never get home.
"Wait!" someone yells.
My head turns to see a boy, around my age. His face is covered with dirt, and his clothes are frayed and brown. His hair looks like it's supposed to be lighter than brown too, but I can't tell what color exactly. The only thing that isn't dirty are his eyes, which are a light green and have a frantic look as I dangle over the water.
"Is there something you want to say Wesley?" John asks, looking at Wesley with a look that could freeze you.
"Well I-I uh... why don't we keep her? She can be a maid of sorts, and we'll lock her up in a room somewhere so she doesn't free the dragon." Wesley says.
John seems to think about this, then smiles. "That's a good idea. Grab some handcuffs and old rags for the girl!" he orders to no one in particular. "We have ourselves a new cleaner."
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