Imperial

Chapter 5

Something slapped my flank, and I hissed in annoyance. "Enough!" Master commanded to me, his voice now impossible to ignore. "Stop this... Wait, what is that?" There was no doubt that he had seen the dragon now as well, even if his weak, human eyes could not know what it was.

Not daring to answer, and putting the wild dragon's life at risk, I hovered uncertainly. How I longed to get a closer look of the wild dragon, but I could not let the humans see it clearly. If they realised that it was a huge dragon the size of Black Beast or bigger, they would not wait another second before forcing us to help them catch it.

A low growl rumbled in my throat, but my eyes never left the approaching dragon.

Yet the wild dragon was not concerned at all as he drifted closer, so close that the humans gasped as they realised what it was. Slowly, the dragon circled us, drawing closer and closer as he did so.

Impressive dark blue scales glittered under the warm sunlight. Striking silver eyes examined us curiously yet calmly, lingering on the red drake beside me. Awed by his massive size, I twisted around, not daring to glance away from the wild dragon. Never had I ever dreamed that a dragon could be bigger than Black Beast, not to mention tower over him.

The dark blue dragon's eyes examined Black Beast's two riders. "You are fools," a sonorous voice thundered, and I realised that it was the wild dragon. Surely for a dragon his size and age he should know that the humans could not understand him!

No. He did know.

Silver eyes glittered with intelligence. He knew – and he knew that the humans knew that his snarl was a warning.

Confidently, he wheeled around, giving us one last glance, his rage and sympathy evident. Perhaps he would have helped us escape had the risk of him getting captured not been so great.

None of the humans had so much as reached for their weapons, too busy gaping at him in awe.

A real-life wild ancient dragon. I couldn't help but be jealous, and wish I was free. Roam the skies as I pleased, without humans controlling my every move. Had that wild dragon always been free? So big, so wild, so majestic... how lucky he was.

"Now you will be punished," Master's rough voice interrupted the silence, as he glared at me. "All of you beasts will be punished... We could have caught that dragon, dammit! How pleased Lord Carlos would have been, when he saw that in our ranks!" He rambled on furiously, only stopping when Lord Raffael gave him a dark, warning glance.

Confused by the lord's response to Master's words, I stared at him. Despite his demeanor being relaxed and calm, his sharp blue eyes were unmistakably colder than normal. Something Master had said had angered him.

In silence, we continued. Master's grip on my reigns was tighter than before. The ring on my tail fins frequently tightened and loosened as Master used his heels to control me. No longer the slight freedom I had had earlier. Better than normal, yes. But it was a far cry from when we had started the journey.

Wings pulsing through the air, I followed the Black Beast.

Yet no matter how far we travelled, I could not forget that wild drake. I could not fathom how he had confidently circled around us, in control of his every move, and not fear being caught. How lucky he was, to be able to soar the sky, without fear!

Eventually, rocky mountains loomed above us, their jagged peaks a welcome change to the endless forest. Yet impressive or not, the human city, Ukurauis rested somewhere behind one of the mountains.

Just the thought of city full of humans made my spine shudder - the few people I knew were already more than I wanted to encounter in my lifetime.

Twisting around one of the rocky peaks, I held my large wings close to my body. Wind screeched past me, almost deafening as I dropped from the sky abruptly, still following the Black Beast alongside the other three dragons.

Behind me, there was a sharp intake of breath. Not in awe, but fear. Whimpering nervously, the pale green dragoness stared at the surrounding mountains, not daring to even try to resist the human on her back.

"We're almost there," she murmured, glancing around at the mountains. I did not need to feel her warm breath on my tail to know that she was trying to peer in front of me, where the city of Ukurauis lay hidden amid the mountains and snow.

"Are you sure?" This time, it was the red drake whom spoke softly. Gold eyes were dark with fear as his gaze raked through the mountains, searching for the city. Despite never having been to the human city, he had heard plenty of horrifying tales of them.

"Ukurauis is on the other side of the mountain," Black Beast rumbled with a flick of his long, black tail. Only moments later we were curving around the base of one final mountain. On the other side, the human city awaited our arrival.

We could only dread what would happen during our stay.

§

2195 words

So the past two chapters will still be edited quite a bit, but in terms of plot, everything should remain the same.

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