Inferno Legacy: Loyalty of the Dragon (Book Two)

Chapter 29

"Rebecca kept Rose a secret. Not intentionally, but she didn't see the need to announce her birth to the world. Then Whitescales, that is Autumn and Micah, found out. None but the four know exactly what happened, but it is believed that Whitescales was full of rage that a new rider was kept secret. Redscales was taken away and no one saw them for a much longer time. Since then, in my visit to the Cave, Thunder hatched for me and we trained many hours every day with Whitescales, never seeing any of the others. Then Rebecca came to our cave, bloodied and bruised from head to toe.

"'You need to help Rose,' Rebecca begged us. 'Micah and Autumn imprisoned us, and she is still bound in chains with Argos.'

"We rushed immediately to Argos and Heyrone's cave to find the she was right. Rose was chained to the wall, equally as abused as Rebecca. Argos was slightly different, however, as he appeared to be immensely sick, and Heyrone too. They would not even wake to our prodding, though they were alive. We knew then what Whitescales had done, though we never understood why. Needless to say we freed Rose and the four of us fled the cave. But alas, we'd nowhere to go but our own cave, where Micah quickly found us. We were all beaten for helping Rose, and Rose especially for escaping, and we were all chained to the wall beside Argos. Fril and Venom were empathetic, but more so clever. They pretended to be loyal followers to Whitescales' cause, whatever it was, until they were cared for a bit more loosely. Any of their free time not spent caring for us, was spent creating a band of people that were obviously against the new rule.

"On the day we left, Fril snuck off to free us as Venom gathered together our band of renegades, in which Dust Rust and Heddok were included, the second rider-dragon pair to escape Whitescale's notice for a time. We took off faster than anyone would have thought possible, desperate to escape. Fril and Venom managed to keep the dictators at bay just long enough for us to reach the forest opposite the lake, where Whitescales didn't have the resources necessary to track us down and destroy us. We've been on the run ever since."

Cody was silent for a long while, stealing a look at Rose and Rebecca and noticed for the first time the raised scars on Rebecca's face and the bare patches all across Rose's body where the scales had been torn off by abuse. Pippi and Thunder weren't without scars either, and Cody felt suddenly guilty for what he'd done to the purple dragon.

"So Fril and her dragon..."

"Are still in the clutches of Autumn and Micah," Pippi finished with a shudder. " I can't even bare to think of what has been done to Argos and Heyrone that they should be like that, and I don't think I could live with myself if I knew what had been done to Greenscales. Whether they are killed, or given the same drug as Bluescales, I dare not wonder."

"But what of you, Blackscales?" A sonorous voice echoed in Cody and Inferno's heads. "We dragons have been told that you battled the great Fire's Bane, as we've since called Micah. We all thought you dead, or at least long gone into the realm of Semiones."

Cody recognized Thunder as the one who spoke and answered aloud," Inferno and I teleported us all to the land beyond the lake, though it appeared that we had gone to Semiones, at least enough to satisfy Whitescales, we hoped. Our friend Mournful helped to care for Inferno somewhat until we happened across her people-"

"Mournful's people? Who are they?" Pippi asked in sudden surprise.

"They fancy themselves the Dreamkeepers of the Mountain Pass, a race of people as ancient as dragon's themselves," Inferno answered in his deep, resonant voice. "We have since joined them, and they have brought me back to my full health and have assisted in training us dragons and riders by the ancient ways, immensely unlike that of Bluescales's training."