Survivor (Book One- Lei)

4. Risk Takers

It was just one trapper fort that Lei had stumbled upon a few weeks after Dagur became a part of her family. Hearing all those young dragons crying for their parents, adult dragons crying for their hatchlings or their mates and hearing others cry for help or in pain really hurt her heart. Ignoring Dagur and Flaresight's warnings, she snuck off in the middle of the night and liberated them all with the help of some dragons from her island who were more than happy to help. Both her lover and her adoptive father were not happy when she returned covered in soot and shivering from the cold, but their anger turned to joy when they saw how many dragons she helped liberate. Once Dagur was feeling a lot better, he accompanied Lei on her little night raids, stealing maps from the captain of the fort's quarters to find more forts to raid. After nearly two years they had freed several dragons and destroyed countless forts to bring them back to their island or relocate them to their old homes to be reunited with their families.

At one point Lei had suggested they raid the biggest fort, one belonging to Drago, in hopes of bringing down all the other forts she and Dagur hadn't reached yet and finding new ones. Dagur of course, did not want to do that, pointing out the last time he crossed paths with the warlord he was nearly killed. Lei simply pointed out that if they were careful enough, they would not have to worry about being caught and killed.

"Are you sure we should be doing this?" Dagur asked Lei as they were gearing up to go raid Drago's boat. "It's pretty risky."

"You've done some pretty risky things too." Lei replied as she pulled the hood Dagur had attached to the dark shirt he snagged for her during one of their raids at the trapper forts. "Like I said, we can't get caught if we're careful."

"Yeah but we were attacking trappers. This is Drago we're talking about, the man who almost killed me."

"Exactly why we are gonna go and sneak on there. We'll avoid all guards and make sure not to get caught."

"You aren't gonna listen to me aren't you?" Dagur asked with a frown.

"You should know by now that once I set my mind to something I never give up." Lei said giving a small laugh and gave him a peck on the cheek. "Come on, I know you love the excitement these little raids bring."

"Don't try and butter me up." Dagur snorted as Lei gave him another peck on the cheek before her hands darted to his stomach and began to attempt to tickle him. "Hey stop!"

"Come on, admit if you old rascal, you love these raids!" Lei laughed as she continued to tickle Dagur before he grabbed her wrists and pinned them to her side. "Cheat."

"Only because you're cheating by tickling me." Dagur retorted with a small laugh before releasing her hands and wrapped his arms around her waist. "And these are only fun and exciting because you're with me to save my sorry and slow butt. And I get to save you as many times as I want."

"Aww you do care." Lei teased before giving him a peck on the lips. "Now let's go before Drago decides to move his fort somewhere else and we have to try and find him."

They left their warm and safe island, venturing North where the the winds were harsher and colder towards the icy terrain in search of Drago. Within a few days, a massive fleet of boats appeared in their sights.

"Whoa...that's gonna be worth a whole island of dragons, maybe two or three down there." Dagur muttered to himself.

"This is going to be our biggest raid yet, and if we can't free them all today, we'll come back another time to try and free the rest." Lei said with a nod. "Get ready to dive."

When they were low enough near the water, they both leapt off their dragons and and landed into the icy waters. A Seashocker that was helping them swam up to meet the duo and took them straight to the side of one of the boats. Two Razorwhips, Sharpsteel and Slicer, were waiting to help them up.