Thalia's heart dropped at the sight of her friend. Or, rather, her ex-friend. Avis' grey blue eyes twinkled with sadistic delight. Beside her was Noah, a look of pure guilt and horror etched on his face. He was the only one of the trio not pinned to the ground. Avis had her hand wrapped up in the hood of his coat, her knuckles visibly white even from where Thalia was laying.
"You seem confused still. I expected as much. You weren't exactly the smart one," Avis sneered. She turned to the guards, "take them to the viewing cells. I'm sure I'll have enough time to explain my entire life story to our crew before the show begins."
The guards did not respond verbally, following Avis' orders without protests. Their big hands tightened around the two riders and their knees were removed from the pinned students backs. Devon and Thalia were both lifted to their feet. Of the six or seven that had been surrounding them only three stayed with each rider, their hands latched to Devon and Thalia's shoulders to force them to walk forward. The third guard held a spear and pressed it to both riders' backs giving them no other option but to move.
Devon and Thalia were forced past the main entrance. They seemed to be in a mountain of some kind. The main room was carved into a circular shape with a wide dome roof. Several small areas had been cut out in the main room. They looked like medical areas and weaponry stations to Thalia but the place was teeming with guards so she couldn't see it completely.
The two riders are marched towards the only other door. It was wide, big enough to fit a dragon like Tuuka through as long as he ducked. It was made completely of black iron with minor details to act as decoration. Two guards were standing by it, armed with longswords. The guards pushed the iron door open and allowed the six escorts and their prisoners to walk through.
The hallways was massive. Thalia couldn't even see the walls though she could see the torches that held green fire. Dragons hated green fire. It wasn't one that was commonly produced by a dragon. The dragons that could use it were ferocious beasts, so scary that even the mere sight of their flames sent dragons fleeing. Old legends said that the first king of Waikus rode one and that's why so few skeletons are found at battle sights. The heat from his dragon's green fire simply burned it all away.
Thalia shuddered but the guards mistook it as an attempt to escape. They clamped their hands down harder and pushed down, forcing Thalia to hunch forward. As her spine curved it pressed her back closer to the edge of the spear. She could feel it break her skin.
Her back ached with every step down the long hallway. Her instincts shouted at her to straighten up and fight back but her mind was a mess. The guilty look on Noah's face stuck in her mind like it had been glued to her brain as Avis' words echoed behind it.
The hallway carried an echo. The source seemed to be coming from the wide dome shaped room up ahead. Thalia could barely make it out but it was clear something much brighter was up ahead. People were talking and moving about as if preparing for something. Thalia looked out of the corner of her eye to Devon who was hunched just as she was, staring forward at the approaching room.
They passed under the archway that led in to it. The yellow lights above stung Thalia's eyes. The room was massive, the radius probably coming out to double Tuuka's full wingspan if not larger. On the walls were skeletons, weapons, and scales. They were just pinned to the rocks as if they were decoration. In the center was a carved out smaller circle that took up about half the room. The floor of the smaller circle was made of dust. Surrounding the edges of the circle were chain links wrapped together to form a sort of wall that would prevent anything inside the arena from getting out. To make matters worse, chairs surrounded three quarters of the circle.
This was a dragon fighting ring. This is a spectacle for all humans involved. This was entertainment for these smugglers. Thalia grit her teeth so hard she felt they might shatter. They had to be in the wrong place. She didn't even want to think about Tuuka being forced to fight for his life while humans looked on, betting on his performance like he was nothing but an animal.
The guards walked the two over to a trapdoor on the right side of the arena. The one with the spear behind Thalia walked over and opened it. The two guards holding Thalia's shoulders picked her up and dropped her down the hatch. She landed with a hiss as her ankles stung from the fall, completely unprepared for the height. Before she could even move Devon crashed on top of her, causing them both to crumple to the ground with a groan.
"Sorry," Devon mumbled as he climbed off of her.
"It's fine," Thalia responded, rising to her feet. She brushed the dust from her clothes and looked forward.
Three walls were made of stone but one only had iron bars. They were all close together like it was preventing anything from getting in or out. Behind the bars was the entire arena. Thalia could see two doors on opposite sides of each other.
"Viewing cell seems pretty literal," Devon mused. Thalia nodded silently as she walked to the bars. She reached a thin hand through and wrapped her fingers around one of them. She felt the cold iron. It was sticky on the outside for some reason and she could feel the gashes sliced in to the iron. She yanked her hand away now thinking about what made it sticky in the first place.
A low grumble sounded from above. Both riders snapped their heads to the top of the bars to see Avis being lowered down by Fern. The blonde is released, falling gracefully to the sandy floor below. She stood freely outside of the cell looking at her former classmates with a cocky grin plastered on her face. The grin only became wider watching as the two began to scowl.
"Oh please, don't be so mad. You'd be wasting your energy," Avis hummed.
"What the fuck Avis?" Thalia snapped.
"You've got such a dirty mouth Thalia. I never liked that about you," Avis calmly responded.
"Shut up, bitch," Thalia retorted.
Avis rolled her eyes, "This is why you're in a cell and I'm not."
"I should-" Thalia reached her arms forward to scratch at Avis. The blonde held a hand up, clicking her tongue, "Don't you want to know how this all happened?"
Thalia paused. She'd be lying if she said she didn't want answers. Her best friend, running a dragon fighting ring. A few weeks ago Thalia would have laughed at the thought. She felt Devon's hand come down on her shoulder and slowly pull her away from the bars.
"That's what I thought. Don't interrupt me, I'd like to be out of here before they throw in our champions," Avis said, "You're really in for a show. You two should feel special," she added with a sickly sweet smile.
"How? Why?" Thalia demanded. Avis sighed, "So pushy."
"Answer the question," Devon growled. His grip on Thalia remained, tightening as the words left his mouth.
"Alright Freeman. Here's what's been going on while you two have been stuck in your own little world. This is the earth forge guild training center. You're currently deep in the Thundering Peaks mountain range, a few miles south of the Gican kingdom," Avis started.
Thalia blinked. The Gican's were a bloodthirsty bunch, so for them to allow such an operation go down in their mountains...
"What kind of shit did you pull to even get here?" Thalia asked.
Avis howled with laughter. After wiping a tear from her eye she responded, "I didn't start this, I simply joined. I could get them better dragons than the pathetic wild ones they were trapping. The Gicans have allowed us to use their mountains because they get served first when it comes to ship them out."
Ship them out? Wild dragon trapping? What the hell is going on?
The confusion must have shown on Thalia's face, because Avis released an annoyed huff and started talking again.
"The Earth's Forge guild takes dragons, makes them fight until the strongest twenty are ready, and then sells them. That's how the one dragon got to Galagore. That man paid a hefty price for him, but once I saw Tuuka take him out without a problem I knew we had to have the Reaper."
Thalia's gut twisted, "You."
Avis made a face, shaking her head side to side, "Nope. Well, somewhat. I helped Gage get in. You ran in to him in your dorm hall I'm really surprised we even got away with it. I didn't tag him, I did help though."
Thalia felt like vomiting. Of course. The man in the common room. Those hazel eyes. He was waiting on Avis. Tuuka was tagged a few hours later. Thalia felt her body begin to shake, prompting Devon to squeeze her shoulder.
"While the rest of you were caught up in sports," Avis made a disgusted face, "I was making more money than you ever could. Who knew dragon trapping was so profitable? Keeps me in the safe zone when war inevitably breaks out, too," She grinned.
"How could you? You know this is wrong," Thalia cried out. Avis smirked, "Morality is subjective. I think this is just fine. Dragons are tools, not friends."
Thalia couldn't even recognize the girl in front of her anymore. The girl she met on the first day was not the one that stood before her now.
Avis kept talking even as Thalia's distress grew, "I knew someone would go after Tuuka. I thought it was going to be Noah, if I'm being honest, but that boy is just full of surprises isn't he? He wasn't in on this but he did kindly inform me of your plan since he was all alone in the cave while you two were off macking on each other."
Both riders scrunched their faces in both confusion and disgusted, prompting Avis to respond, "What, you didn't think you were that sneaky right? Devon was hanging out of the cage for like half the trip. I just thought it would be funny to give you guys hope before I, you know, crushed it all."
Devon's ears turned red as he opened his mouth to argue with her but someone shouted something along the lines of, "Get out of there."
"Whoops. You heard the man, the show is about to begin," Avis lifted a pale hand, latching on to Fern's horn. She was yanked back up in a flash.
Thalia bit her lip, trying not to cry. Devon rubbed her shoulder trying to calm her though he was in no better of a mental state. None of this even made sense to him.
Thalia seemed upset at the mention of Noah's betrayal but if Devon was being honest he wasn't all that surprised. Noah talked too much and thought too little. He wasn't going to share that with her, though. Thalia would probably break in to hysterics if she realized she wasn't as good a judge of character as she thought.
"Show? What do they mean show? Are we about to watch two dragons kill each other?" Thalia's voice cracked as the though crept in to her mind. Devon grabbed her and turned her towards him, leaning close so she could hear him over the excited chatter of the crowd.
"No matter what happens in that arena, no matter which dragons come through those doors you need to promise me that you're going to keep your head. We came here for Tuuka, we're leaving with Tuuka and every other dragon trapped in this hellhole. Nuri and Tatsu are probably going to get help. I'll think of a way out of here, I promise," Devon said.
Thalia looked in to his blue eyes and decided she could trust him. She nodded, taking a deep breath and releasing it.
"Okay. I'm okay. We can get out of this," she said, more to herself than to the boy across from her. Devon nodded and patted the top of her head.
The sweet moment died as the doors in the arena made a horrible groaning noise as they opened. Both riders looked to the arena, daring to walk closer to the bars for a better look.
From the left side door a dragon with three tails with barbs on the end, yellow and brown scales, and a wide skull emerged. Its teeth were visible as it roared. They were long and horrid, stained a strange color from the lack of care. Its wings were a little bit small but the dragon flapped twice, lifting itself off the ground slightly, so they were obviously still operational.
"I've seen that one before. Belonged to someone at crossroads. Nuri and I raced it," Devon mused. The dragon had been a fun competitor and the rider was very skilled. Devon and Nuri had lost that race by a hair. He still remembered the cheers from the Crossroads Academy crowd when the referee's declared the tree tailed dragon the victor.
Thalia wasn't listening. Her face had lost all color as her gaze was fixed on the right side door.
A grey snout, covered in small scratches, emerged first. The claws on the front legs of this dragon were overgrown and sharp. The horns were massive just like the rest of the dragon, pointing backwards to act as perfect handlebars for a rider. Its torso was basically it's skeleton, its own ribs coated in scales for a majority of its ribcage until the lower half shifted to look more like a normal dragon. Soft blue wing skin pressed to the sides of its body. Stormy blue eyes without pupils.
They were cloudy, the gentleness Thalia loved was now gone. The blue orbs were filled with fear and uncertainty instead of trust and a certain wiseness. No, these eyes were the eyes of a dragon that had seen too much. These eyes had seen the hatred of another dragon come at them in full force while a crowd roared with joy. These eyes had long forgotten what it felt like to have crowds of children chant his name, chant his rider name, as they completed a peaceful competition. They had forgotten the wave of green and black that greeted him after a job well done.
Thalia let out a pained sob at the sight of her dragon. Her poor Tuuka, reduced to a fighting machine for entertainment. The reptile didn't even seem to hear it or notice the brunette stumbling to her knees as the gong sounded and the dragons leapt at each other.
Devon rushed to her side to pull her close, trying to keep her grounded in reality. He could hardly even believe his own eyes but he had to stay strong for Thalia.
"He's bigger. Tuuka will be okay," He whispered to her.
The dragons were going at it, a horrible cacophony of sounds erupting from the ring as they slashed and snapped at one another. As Tuuka turned to avoid leaving his side vulnerable Thalia could see more scars on him. Massive slashes over his back and lower body wherever there was space to sink in.
The opponent dragon seemed to know about these spots, leaping on Tuuka to jam his barbs in to Tuuka's soft tail skin. Tuuka flung him off, slamming him against the wall and hurrying away. He roared. It was not the same roar everyone at Ridgeview knew. It was a begging roar, pleading with his opponent to give in so it wouldn't have to die.
The three tailed dragon did not obey, blinded by its own survival instincts to indulge in conversation. It charged for Tuuka again, ready to bury its tail barb in to his neck. Tuuka batted him away and did not wait for him to get up. Tuuka opened his mouth and released a weak shot of blue flame.
Clearly he had not been eating well, his fire was dull and weak but enough to hurt the triple tail. It squealed in agony, struggling to its feet. Tuuka watched it thrash about for a moment before lunging forward and sank his teeth in to its body.
The sound it made was awful. It crunched as Tuuka's jaws closed around it. Blood flowed from the open wound. As Tuuka spat the body out it fell aside in several pieces. The body and upper legs, the torso and the base of the wings, the wings themselves, and finally the lower body.
Thalia retched as Devon looked away from the sight. A fight was a fight but this was horrible.
As Tuuka panted the crowd cheered for him, their champion Reaper emerging victorious again.
A ruckus sounded somewhere in the chamber. The entire mood in the air changed into one of alarm as soldiers rushed to their feet trying to find the source. The mountain shook and distantly Devon could hear a familiar screech.
"It's Nuri," he said. More roaring sounded and carried all the way down to the arena. Devon's eyes widened, recognizing the other roar
"No. It's not just Nuri. Hastings is here too," He said.