Dragon Guarded

Chapter Two

 I pressed my back to the unyielding stone behind me and forced my body to stay as still as I could, knowing soon it would all be over. I would be nothing, but perhaps a single mouthful, or a pile of smoking ash. I cast a last look at his body, thin and lithe, gleaming in the dark, coated by his white scales. They were an unblemished, pristine white that I wouldn’t have expected to find on a dragon. They glistened like pure, luminescent frozen snow drops especially up near his head, where scales somewhat faded away to thick, leathery hide. Even in my terror I could not deny, he was a beautifully terrifying beast.

The dragon’s compact ears rotated forward slightly towards me and I made an effort to control my breathing, which was weak and rapid in my lungs. His head snaked back and forth from side to side as steam hissed across his great teeth from someplace deep in his throat and chest.

I held my breath. His movements were odd, almost as if he were still looking for me. I studied his eyes as he looked up and down the wall. Then without warning, he struck.

His jaw snapped shut with tremendous force, a little too far to the right to catch me. He pulled back then struck again, too far above my head. A shower of rubble fell down on me from the hole his teeth punctured in the wall.

Then a roar that sent waves of his anguish and frustration through me tore from his throat. It shook the room and echoed down the halls, ricocheting around long after his voice died down. In anger, he raked his claws down the stone in a wide arch. I pulled at my chains, but knew I could move no further to keep out of his way.

I turned sideways to make myself as small as I could and closed my eyes, waiting for the moment he finally tore me to pieces. To my surprise, it didn’t come. By some chance, I fit neatly between two of his claws. One great claw did catch on my chain though, his razor talon shredding it easily and tearing me free. I fell forward on my knees, lying only a moment in disbelief before clumsily shrugging off my broken restraints. The stone bit at my palms and legs as I scrambled to my feet. Every instinct inside of me told me one thing: run.

My good luck had held out thus far, if I could only make it to the door, perhaps I could live. I could escape and run away. I didn’t have to die.

My foolish dreams were short-lived. Before I made it halfway across the room, Arach pounced, one outstretched leg catching me like a cat would trap a mouse. I couldn’t hold back my scream as I felt one of those massive claws slice effortlessly through the top of my shoulder muscle. Warm blood cascaded down my back as I fell to ground, jarring out my air momentarily. I rolled and looked up, meeting his eyes once more.

Arach stumbled to a stop over me, coiled to strike again, long tail thudding heavily on the ground behind him with enough force I felt the shaking in the stone. I gasped as pain shot through my body, clouding my head. Through my dizzy state I saw him pause, almost as if to study me and raise a massive forepaw with precision, one claw flicking carelessly across my stomach, leaving a wide gash.

Dazzling red blood stood out against his white, my blood. I swallowed, desperate tears leaking from the corners of my eyes. He could smell my blood now, and with my shoulder injury I could barely move. I was defenseless and he knew it. I was out of escapes.

“Please,” I cried in a weak sob. “Aaron help me.” Arron was my older brother that died when I was a child in the plague. I always called to him when I was most desperate and if there was ever a time to be desperate this was it. Dragons tore out the throat of their prey first then ripped them apart piece by piece. Pain pulsed down my arm and side, but I did my best to push it aside and beg again and again until my throat grew hoarse. I didn’t want to die like this, before I’d even reached my twentieth year, before I’d ever married or had a family of my own.

When I looked up again, head swarming with black and images fading in and out of clarity, I saw something strange. My killer was staring down at me, unmoving.

“Aaron,” I choked weakly, thanking him for postponing my death a few more moments. Then again, perhaps it was too late, I was already dead. I was quickly fading, too much of my blood already on the stone. I fought against the force pulling me away, to where I didn’t know, but I wasn’t strong enough to resist for long and soon I was lost to the deep.