Imperial

Chapter 46

"Cowards," a gravelly voice snarled behind us. A voice that contained almost as much fury and hatred as Master's. How could a dragon and human be so alike? And how could that said dragon be willing to not only maim, but kill another dragon?

Rutilus growled softly, his gold eyes narrowing. Slowing down, he snapped his fangs at the dark green dragon. Thanatos snarled a challenge, a guttural sound that sent shivers down my spine. Perhaps Rutilus and I could take him on, but with so many humans around, I did not want to risk it. Especially with the newly freed dragons so close. How long would it take for the humans to find them?

We'd have to lead them away.

"No," I hissed at Rutilus as he bared his fangs at the dark green drake. Confused he jerked his head towards me, although he still glared at Thanatos. If I didn't intervene quickly, both drakes would be fighting again. Resisting the urge to sigh, I growled,"Follow me. Quickly."

Reluctantly, Rutilus tore his gaze off the approaching drake. Immediately, I quickened my pace, not giving him a chance to protest or argue. He too, sped up, soaring through the sky beside me. Every so often, he'd sneak a glance at Thanatos, growling audibly when the drake taunted us.

Cool wind swept past my wings, and I soared across the sky, only intent of leading Thanatos away - and eventually even losing him, too.

Rutilus pulled up beside me. His golden eyes were narrowed as he glared at me for a split second before staring into the sky. Much to my relief, he did not grumble in annoyance - or ask why we could not simply fight Thanatos.

Behind us, I could hear him beating his wings behind us powerfully. Keeping up with us, although his demeanor had hardened - forcefully trying to not fall behind. Too intent on following us give us.

Not realising that we were purposefully leading him away.

The wind now carrying me forwards, I dared glance behind me. The breeze did speed him up faster, but now, Thanatos's fatigue seemed to be catching up to him as he struggled to keep up. Nonetheless, I couldn't help but noticed that he was gradually lagging behind.

Even further behind, I could see the distance silhouettes of humans riding dragons towards us. But they to, were lagging behind. Unable to keep up.

Good.

We might be unable to fight them, but they were unable to keep up. How far would we have to fly before they lost sight of us, and we could loop all the way back?

"Faster," I hissed to Rutilus, keeping my voice soft enough so that Thanatos could not hear. If we went faster, we'd be able to return sooner, and hide with the other dragons. If we led them away, surely they would not think that we'd eventually go back. There was no reason for them too. Since escaping the humans, we'd never returned to a place aside from Adoria's den - which had been the first place we'd gone to as free dragons.

A guttural snarl warned me that Thanatos had noticed our increased pace. Clearly irritated, he snapped his fangs, determination gleaming in his piercing yellow eyes.

Upon noticing that I was watching him he snarled, lashing his tail furiously. His yellow eyes narrowed, and his nostrils flared. Had he not consumed any water recently, I was sure that smoke would be trailing from his nostrils, and he'd even be shooting a few jets of flame towards us.

But he didn't. Couldn't.

"Weaklings," Thanatos snarled, loud enough for Rutilus and I to hear him. Beside me, the red drake stiffened, barely able to ignore his taunts.

But even his furious roars gradually faded away. No longer could I hear his wing-beats behind us. Nor could I even see his silhouette anywhere in the distance. Perhaps he'd been unable to continue, and dropped out. Or maybe he'd fallen so far behind. Either way, it did not matter. He had disappeared, alongside the humans and dragons accompanying him.

Banking slightly, I swerved around the sky, looping back towards the way we came. Not directly the same direction, because the humans were somewhere along that way. Still, it was similar enough direction that it'd take us back to the cave only a little longer than it had on the way here.

Rutilus glanced at me, having realised what my plan was. "Next time, we wouldn't have to fly as far if we attacked Thanatos once the humans were out of sight."

"We won't attack Thanatos," I declared, shivering at the memory of the dark green dragon. Something wasn't right about him, and unless we couldn't avoid it, I didn't want to fight him again. Especially since he was fighting because he wanted to - and would not hesitate when it came down to killing another dragon.

The red drake huffed, his talons flexing. "Where's the fun in that?"

I did not bother responding. Instead, wind rushed past my wings as I pumped them a little harder, intent on getting back to the cave quickly. Perhaps not the safest place with so many dragons around, but better than being in the open sky, where we could be spotted from afar.

Faster. We needed to get back fast.

Hurtling myself forwards, I streaked through the sky. Despite the wind blowing against me, we were both flying rapidly. My wings reverberated through the air, creating loud thuds that echoed through the sky.

The humans would not hear them. Their hearing was weak, and they were most likely further away. Between their yelling and their dragons' own wing beats, it would be all to easy for them to miss us.

Beside me, Rutilus started to slow down. Confused, I flared my wings, stopping as quickly as possible before glancing at the red drake. His tail flicked back and forth, but I could not tell whether he was impatient or anxious as he stared at a point in the sky.

Following his gaze, I felt my heart skip a beat. Anxiously, I watched as a blue speck glittered across the sky, increasing in size as it rapidly growing closer. Wing beats quickening, I straightened my body. Ready to race away if need be.

Very quickly, I realised that it was a sky blue dragoness with no human on her back. Caelum. Instantly, I relaxed, although still watching her anxiously. Why hadn't she remained in the lake, with Thorak?

"You're safe!" She blurted as she neared us, her own voice full of relief. "When we didn't see you the cave, we were worried you'd been caught.

"Where's Thorak?" I questioned, glancing across the sky. The grey drake was nowhere to be found.

Slightly abashed, the blue dragoness lowered her head. "Still in the lake. I told him I'd go back once I found you... We were worried. Especially when we heard the humans."

It was hard to believe that Thorak would let her go searching for me while he remained in the lake. At the very least, I would have presumed that he'd go with her, or that he'd go and Caelum would remain in the lake. But if he had, we'd have to go back.

"Where's the lake?" Rutilus blinked slowly, glancing from Caelum to me.

The sky blue dragoness brightened, her dark blue eyes gleaming. "I found it. It's really big and pretty, especially at sunset... " she boasted, eager to show off her lake, her gaze landing on the falling sun. "This way!"

Without hesitating, she whirled around, shooting straight towards the lake. Faintly amused by her enthusiasm, I flew alongside Rutilus, still flying fairly quickly towards the lake. Even if we'd led them away, I could not forget that the humans had been here not long ago. Some could still be near by - and if they were, I did not want to be in the sky any longer than we had to.

Finally, we slowed down.

Raising her head triumphantly, Caelum declared, "There it is!"

*~*

1392 words

So, I've planned out the remaining chapters, and have gone well over  50 chapters. Unless anything changes, this book will have a whopping 64  chapters, and a prologue which I'll write at some stage. :D

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