Chapter 39

“Captain!” Christopher exclaimed, looking overjoyed to see him. In any other circumstance I would have left the opposite, but this particular near death instance had me filled with relief.

He nodded to us. “Having trouble?” he asked as he kicked the dragon under him. It writhed, crying out he just otherwise stood there. He took a couple steps forward to us, held up a hand, and swung it in the air. The dragon flopped forward, like it was dragged on a leash.

“N-no,” Sarah muttered under her breath as she saw it happen. The dragon spasmed more as Hector put his hand on its bloody snout, digging his fingers in. I felt the magic in the air, pulsing off of him, heavy like a sound that squeezes the heart.

The kite dragon behind us bellowed, screeching as it saw its partner in agony.

“Hold on, step aside if you would,” he instructed, motioning us to the left. We all did so with various amounts of willingness. “Unfortunately, these two won’t trust humans again, so they’re of no value to us. Here, this is where it gets fun.” He held out a hand to the kite dragon, and another to the fire dragon.

“He’s… he’s torturing them,” Sarah whimpered quietly. “They were just trying to defend themselves and their eggs.”

I had a slightly different take on the situation, wondering if she recalled a moment ago when we were about to be turned to ash. But seeing what my uncle was doing to them sickened me. He pulled on them like puppets, and they moved in jerky, resistant motions. Their heads were pulled to face forward so they could see each other clearly as he stood between them. They were both within arm’s reach and he placed a hand on each snout, and closed his eyes.

The dragons screamed, horrific pained sounds that were worse than any I had heard them make earlier. They shook, pulling, unrestrained but acting as if they were chained to the ground. Hector looked between them. “Annnnd… you.” He focused on the kite dragon. Its fighting movements increased until it was thrashing like a drowning fish. Its motions grew more infrequent and chaotic, spasms shaking its body.

Sarah cried, her eyes tearing up before they spilt out. I held her, a hand on her arm to support her subtly. Even Christopher, who was the most glad looking out of the three of us, was turning his expression as the animalistic howls filled the forest.

The worst wails came from the fire dragon. It gnashed its teeth and tried to pull its head away, but Hector grinned as he yanked it forward, forcing it to stare at its writhing mate. The kite dragon slowed, quieted, until it was still, but I could see its eyes still open just a crack, and Hector didn’t loosen his grip on its snout. He turned his full attention to the fire dragon. Its pained cries of sympathy just became pained cries, and I stood there, watching as the life was drained from it, slowly, methodically, and without mercy. The kite dragon whimpered, but I doubted the fire dragon heard it over its yowls and spasms, as it eventually was reduced to a corpse. Hector let it go, turning back to the kite dragon. He let go of that one, too, and held an open palm over its head. It closed into a fist and the dragon slumped, eyes closed as its body was completely limp.

“The trick is,” Captain Hector lectured as he finally walked toward us, “you torture the first to an inch of its life, so that its partner has to watch.” He motioned from the kite dragon to the fire dragon and back again. “Then you switch for the same effect, before wrapping up the job.”

I had a hand on Sarah’s arm, supporting her. I could feel her shaking, bristling with anger. She stuttered, “Y-You… You—”

“Saved us!” I interjected while jabbing a thumb into the inside of her elbow and squeezing, shocking her into shutting up for a second and reconsidering insulting the man who just took pleasure in not quickly killing two massive dragons.

“Ah, even tears of joy, I see,” he said with a chuckle to Sarah. “No need to fear anymore, dragon hunting used to be a properly enjoyed sport.”

Christopher spoke up, and I was glad for it, not confident there was a proper word between Sarah and I. “Captain, why are you here? I thought that you were going to wait for us to return.”

He nodded. “A report came in the day after you left, confirming the sighting of a red dragon, unlike the green we had previously heard, meaning either there was a fire dragon or at least one of each. I came to warn you four but it seems I was almost too late. Speaking of,” he looked around, “where is Brontus?”

“He… didn’t make it.” Even Christopher, in his attempt at beltstrapped military professionalism, failed to say it without faltering.

“Ah. Well, I take back that ‘almost’,” Hector amended. “Now, if there were two of them, then that likely means a nest, even if they were different variants. Did you find the cave?”

Christopher opened his mouth to speak but I talked over him before he could get into it. “We found the cave, and had the dragon walk in on us. It was empty though,” I lied. “We can show you to confirm.”

“Hmm…” Hector rubbed his jaw, looking very disappointed. “No useful dragon, no eggs, and lost a half decent soldier.” At that comment, I saw even Christopher jerk to a stop, just for a split second, before quickly resuming his pace. “Show me the cave.”

Hector let out a sharp whistle and within a moment a horse trotted over. He held it by the reins, yanking it forward in step with him as he motioned for us to show him the way back. We didn’t take back the way we came, instead I steered us more north. Sarah and Christopher seemed to understand my intention, and while I was certain that Sarah would support keeping the eggs a secret, I was relieved that Christopher did not contradict me at all, following beside me. “This way,” I directed, and I thought I could see Hector looking directly eastward, where the dragons’ bodies lined up, but he followed along. It took a short while to walk, our sprint earlier at least doubling our speed, plus the differing angle, and we didn’t make it to the stone foot of the mountain for about another thirty minutes of walking through forest. Fortunately I recognized the spot we stopped in, only a few paces from the cave we first met the kite dragon in; it was easy to spot with the dried blood bone fragments spilt where the rock met soil. “Here.” I presented the cave entrance to our captain, averting my eyes from the charred dirt mess around. The fire had appeared to consume everything, and I lied to myself that I was just glad for Sarah’s sake to not see a smouldering corpse.

“Hmm…” Hector grumbled as he stepped inside. He held up a hand, swirling magic in his palm casting enough light inside to see. Christopher and I followed him up the internal incline while Sarah waited outside. I didn’t blame her; she still was glaring at the back of his head as soon as it was turned from her. She had offered to hold the horse’s reins but Hector just let them fall; I had a feeling the horse knew what would happen if it wandered away. “Well, these marks look like a dragon’s grooves,” he remarked, running a shoe through the grooves in the stone floor where it had been smoothed over. “Pity. A true waste of a mission,” he sighed.

“And a good soldier,” Christopher chimed in.

“Don’t get sentimental; he died in service to his country.”

I almost said ‘he died protecting us’, but I didn’t think that would be taken well. I was relieved at least that Sarah was outside the cave; I couldn’t trust that she wouldn’t have said what we were thinking.

“Alright, time to move out.”