Forty One
Alara
I’m back in the cavern after spending the last three nights trying to get others on dragonback, and it’s surprisingly going really well with the help of Drogonah and Rohan guiding them.
My sister has also visited, and we talked for hours about anything and everything. Telling me more about where I came from, my mother and father. How we used to play when we were little. It was bittersweet, but I’m greedy to learn more and spend time with her.
I’ve also been learning the guards’ routine in the cavern as I fulfill my duties, and they don’t suspect anything at all, just like Rohan originally thought.
The guards come and put new meat in the containers at the center as I arrive. Verson tells me the tasks I’m expected to do that day; work on a certain young dragon and then work on the hanging dragon, before leaving a saddle and key, then retiring to the back room.
The woman in robes comes from either the guards’ door or the tunnel, and goes into a separate room on the other side of the hanging dragon’s cage.
The one where only she seems to enter and leave.
I open the cage to a blue dragon, humming as I go.
“Let’s get you some food, okay?”
I grab the spear, stick some meat on the end and enter.
The blue dragon stands as tall as he can, ears alert, teeth bared.
“It’s okay,” I tell him, dropping the meat and then with the hidden dagger Rohan makes me keep, I cut it up into smaller pieces, knowing they struggle through the muzzle.
“It will only take a minute, we’ve done this before, remember?”
I’ve been in here many times now, I know how most of these dragons act… but the hanging dragon…
I look over at her, already dropped and waiting. I can feel her unending fury, the violence swirling around her.
“I bet she’s a great protector,” I tell the dragon. “She is the way that she is through circumstance, it’s not her fault.”
The dragon rumbles, but he picks up the smaller pieces of meat and chews happily.
“We have someone in our clan, Calian. He’s a keeper of beasts.” I cut up more meat. “He feeds our dragons, horses, and livestock. So naturally, while we’re here, he’s been looking after the dragons in the den with us, and he was the one who told me to cut the meat into smaller pieces for you.”
I look up and smile as the dragon sits, tail swishing back and forth, waiting patiently.
I place another piece down, which he gobbles up.
“We have to work together to get out of here,” I whisper, looking at the red dragon next to us. “Okay? We must, and then Rohan, the Dragonbond, remember when I told you about him? He will get you to The Glade.”
I frown, thinking of Sparks before I shake my head.
“The Glade is the safest place for you all. There are so many dragons there, you can be with your own kind.”
Where Sparks should have stayed.
My throat tightens, and I close my eyes.
You didn’t know Alara, it wasn’t your fault, you did your best to—
A bump against my forehead stops my thoughts.
It was a little rough, but not harsh, and I blink my eyes open.
The dragon is closer now, the muzzle a breath away and my shoulders slump.
“Sorry,” I wipe my tears with my arm. “I shouldn’t be sad when you’re like this.”
His tail flicks around and nudges my leg, and I chuckle.
“We’re all just trying our best, you know?” I look up into his yellow eyes. “We are all just trying to be free.”
He blinks at me.
“Okay, saddle time.”
He rumbles.
“I know I know. But we need to pretend, okay? Three seconds of courage and then we can get it over with quickly.”
I grab a cloth and wipe my hands clean before grabbing the saddle and re-entering the cage.
“Turn to the side, please?”
He eyes me for a moment before doing so.
“Perfect, thank you.”
I heave the saddle up, and put it upon his back as gently as possible.
He flinches, a growl coming from him and I pat his side, humming.
I wait until he’s calm before I move it up a little, and then go to the front, looking at the straps that will come from the front of the saddle and attach together at his chest.
“Ready?”
Rumble.
I move the strap forward, before doing the same on the other side. Bringing them together, I buckle them in, making sure it’s not too tight.
I step back, looking him over.
“You look very handsome.”
He huffs.
“Rohan has special reins on his dragon,” I tell him, fiddling with the straps. “He has his mother’s hair there. It’s important for the Dragorie that they respect their dragons.”
I step back once more, seeing the other dragons pressing up against the cages, watching us.
“We have to trust one another,” I say to all of them, nodding. “We have to do our best.”
The dragon shakes out his body, the saddle moving a little but otherwise it stays still.
“Good boy,” I tell him. “We’re trying to get the clan to ride the dragons too. This will help me, and in turn, help us all. We’re doing good so far with Drogonah’s help in scolding anyone who gets too growly.”
He chuffs, tail swishing.
“Okay, I think that’s enough. Let’s take it off and let you rest.”
I remove the saddle and stroke him in thanks before I quickly move on to feeding the rest, putting the saddle on a green dragon who’s more cautious than the last, but I managed to get it on her for a little while before she started to get angry.
I stand near the containers in the middle, finished with the younger dragons who feel more relaxed than I have ever felt them. I stare at the hanging one.
She’s down, but she doesn’t touch the floor. Her eyes are closed, yet aggression and pain wrap around her tightly.
This is the part I dislike the most.
I don’t like to disturb her, anger her, but I have to try.
I pick up a little bit of meat, ignoring my shaky fingers as I get closer.
Humming on instinct to calm myself more than others, I reach the bars, and she reacts like she always does.
Her eyes flash open, and then she’s snarling and growling, turning thrashing as much as the chains allow.
More blood seeps down to the floor where she hurts herself and I try to hum louder for her, anything to calm her.
I don’t say anything, words mean nothing to her, and I understand that more than she knows.
Instead, I slowly and carefully step between the bars.
She freezes at my entrance, eyes on me and she opens her mouth, that green vapor swirling inside.
She hasn’t got enough to harm me though, not from this distance.
I move forward and place the meat down, mindful of her tail swishing violently when she growls aggressively.
I step out when I’m done, never once stopping my hum and pull the lever.
The cogs grind and then her feet are touching the floor.
She stills, claws flexing, and then she looks at me, then the meat.
She ate it last time, but she doesn’t seem eager this time at all.
“Please eat, you need your strength.”
She takes an aggressive step forward, the chains pulling tight, snarling and I take a shocked step back as she roars at me, the other dragons cowering.
I swallow roughly.
I hold my hands up and take another step back. “Okay.”
I stand and watch her, as she watches me, until the woman comes out of the side door, hooded, face covered.
She walks past me, never once lifting her gaze and moves into the tunnel at the side.
I look back at the hanging dragon, and then to the door she just came out of.
Biting my lip, I make a decision.
She left earlier today, I think, so I may have some time to see what’s in there.
I take a step toward the door, and I’m mere feet away from it, when the hanging dragon simply goes… crazy.
She runs at the bars, claws coming through them toward me and I gasp, backing away quickly. Saliva pours out of her mouth, that vapor wanting to be released, and all I can feel is violence.
Bloodthirsty and murderous.
I rub at my chest again, backing up more and more until she deems me far enough away that she stops, yet her stance is wide, formidable.
What caused her to react that way? To go into such a rage.
I eye the door that the woman came through again, brows furrowing.
Could that be…
The doors open behind me and I turn, watching King Halen enter.
“Have you spoken to the beast?”
“I’m trying,” I say carefully, facing him and making sure to hide my shaking hands.
“Trying is not good enough,” he growls, stalking toward the hanging dragon. “I need results. Now.”
He stops before the crank and pulls until she disappears from sight.
“She’s very angry.”
“So?” he says, nose high in the air.
“I think if she was in a different environment, maybe without chains, she would feel calm enough to make more.”
I don’t know if that’s true, but I have to give him something.
Halen turns to me, and he pulls the crank again, all the way back down.
The dragon falls to the floor of the cage harshly, her pained grunt stilling my heart for a moment.
“Do you think they are smart enough to listen? No,” he sneers. “They must be controlled through fear and pain.” He pulls the crank again, and lowers it just as quickly.
I wince as she’s slammed into the floor again.
He goes to the cage, grabbing a spear and I take a step toward him before I still.
“Give me what I am demanding, beast!” Halen shouts, ramming the spear into her, and I clench my hands into fists, a burning sensation in the back of my eyes.
He does it again, and again, and again, and all that she is able to do is splutter green vapor out of her mouth, wheezing.
“Useless!” Halen shouts, throwing the spear at her and then turning to me. “You are running out of time.” He grabs my arm roughly, the hold bruising. “If you fail, I’ll throw you in there for her to rip you to shreds after you’ve spent more time in the dungeon.”
The reminder of that place, what he and Emerish did to me, makes the breath stall in my lungs.
“I’m t-trying,” I manage to stutter out as he pulls the lever for her to disappear again.
“Are you though?” His eyes scrutinize me. “Or are you biding your time?”
“I managed to saddle one of the dragons… I made progress there. W-what would I bide my time for?” I ask nervously.
“To trick me.”
Why would he think that?
“I-I don’t think I could find a way to trick you, King Halen. I’m just an elf.”
“Hmm,” he hums, eyeing me. “The next time I’m down here, if she doesn’t give me more Nighturn, it will not end well, understand? I need your focus there, more than a fucking saddle!”
“I understand,” I whisper, looking at the blood dripping down from where the hanging dragon is hidden in darkness.