The Beast

Chapter Seven

They were a depthless, inky black that told their secret mysteries to him in a moment's time. They told not of something once terrible, but something once majestic. Most importantly, they told of loss. Not just loss of pride and respect, but something far greater and more valuable. In those eyes, he nearly saw himself.

And then he heard the words that changed his life forever as those pitiful eyes pleaded with his own horrified ones.

Please... Help me.

Rage. Ylvir felt pure, unadulterated rage. This creature had been something magnificent and respectable once, and it had everything torn away from it. And for what? The entertainment of a few? How dare they enjoy this poor creature's misery! How dare they cage something so beautiful and exploit it for their own amusement! How dare they!

Ylvir's chest rumbled deeply with a powerful growl. When the people heard the deep sound that practically thrummed within their own chests from its sheer power, they initially believed it to be emanating from the dragon, silencing their jeers and stepping away cautiously. But when a dark form in their own ranks grew larger and bristled with fury, they knew they were mistaken, and that the mistake might very well cost their lives.

In Ylvir's wrath, he left the better part of his humanity.

His claws ripped from his gloves and he tore off the cloak as best he could, leaving it in tattered shreds, his wings then able to spread, pushing the villagers alongside him away, then spanning up, far above himself, the black feathered appendages adding to his mass. His lips snarled back to reveal sharp, gleaming fangs, his hackles rose, his spines bristled, his muscles tensed, his red eyes glowed with bestial wrath. He was a nightmare incarnate.

The crowd cowered away from the monster, and when one woman let loose a terrified scream, they all lost their heads, scrambling over each other to get away. Ylvir snarled and snapped at them for only a moment until he turned his focus entirely on the man with the whip.

The man trembled significantly, his limbs shaking visibly. Ylvir approached the man like a predator, stalking him with deadly grace. The man then steeled himself. He dealt with beasts every day. What difference should this one make, even if it wasn't in a cage. He cracked the whip as a threat.

"Stay back, beast. I'm warning you," he shouted, his voice cracking only a little.

Ylvir growled at the man. "Will you put me in a cage, too?" he snarled. "Will you rip me from my family? Beat me 'til I do as you wish, simply for a few laughs?"

The man's face paled, sweat shining on his forehead as the beast grew ever closer. "Y-y-you s-speak?"

"Yes," Ylvir hissed in the man's face, towering over him. "And if you would only listen, you would know she does, too."

The man gulped. Ylvir raised a clawed hand, swiping it across the man's chest and sending him backwards as Ylvir kept a grip on his whip. As the man lay on the ground, writhing and crying pitifully in pain, Ylvir tore the whip to small bits, rendering it useless. He stepped to the cage, approaching the dragon and putting a paw to her head reverently.

She nuzzled it. Thank you.

"How do I free you?" he asked her quietly.

She looked up to the top of the cage. The runes. They are the true bars to my prison.

Ylvir nodded, and with a leap and a swish of his mighty wings, he came atop the cage. Leaning over the edge he took a claw and drew it along the edge, scratching a line through the runes, destroying their power.

As soon as the dragon felt her taste of freedom, she let forth a triumphant roar that had Ylvir smiling victoriously. She rammed her head into the bars and after a few times, found herself able to escape to the other side of her prison after so long. But she did not leave right away. Instead, she faced the boy who rescued her. And bowed her head to him.

I owe you my life.

"Nonsense," he smiled, and patted her head lovingly. "Now go, before you find yourself trapped again."

Know this, Ylvir. I will forever be indebted to you and the kindness you have now shown me.

And then her stiff wings spread openly and after a few warm up flaps that sent gusts of cool, dusty wind through Ylvir's fur and feathers, she took to the evening sky, her long, serpentine body corkscrewing into the clouds as Ylvir watched her disappear, a contented smile on his face.

"Ylvir!"

His head whipped down as he saw his father stomping his way angrily to the cage he stood on, his own fury clear in his gait as well as his expression.

"Uh-oh."

Dedicated to @TheOneWithoutCrown , who hates my cliffhangers. ;)