To The Hand of Clawed Fingers

So many people say “ if someone had told me I would be doing this a year ago, I would think they were nuts.” Sadly I don’t think I can say that anymore. I had been arranged to be married, ran away from home, got kidnapped by a dragon, brought to be their gossip girl, made friends with what seemed to be their queen, and now, after all of it, brought to a coliseum to fight. Somehow this didn’t strike me as bizarre as it should have. No, instead I was running through my head trying to figure out why. Why had the Dragoness brought me to this place, to fight, what seemed to be a dragon hiding in a hole in the wall?!

If I had thought we were somehow friends, I believe I was quiet mistaken.

The low growl came again then all was silent. I couldn’t help but take my eyes off the dark opening to look around me at the other dragons. Some had humorist looks while other looked like this moment was taking up precious moments of their life. I couldn’t help but agree with the second one, id rather be doing ANYTHING than fighting right now. The question why still ran through my head. With a deep breath and a few reminders of the White Dragoness’ teachings I put a determined face on and looked up at the Black and Red dragon.

“Why have you brought me before you to fight?” the question wasn’t to hard to form but it still felt wrong on my tongue when all I wanted to do was scream at them to let me out, who cares about why they WANT me to fight? I just wanted it not to be me! The Dragon seemed to be bemused but answered properly to my question.

“You have been accused of being more than what meets the eyes, and we shall find out if it is indeed trickery or true.” His voice was low and had a harshness to it that didn’t reach his eyes. It was hard to tell if he was accusing me himself or hoping that I wouldn’t understand what he was talking about.

Again I would have to say im going with the last one.

“M’ Lord I fear I do not know of what accusations you speak, if I am to be accused of something, am I not to be informed before my end?” I knew that the last part was a bit stretched but I had lived under my parents guiding help of making people think something subconsciously that I couldn’t help but add it. What if it was to save my life? Better safe then sorry to make them think that if they make me do this they kill an innocent and useful worker.

“A slight grimace seemed to show on his face but he knew I had just skimmed the line and still was within rights for an answer. But before he could say a word a feminine, older looking Red stepped forward after pushing the pinkish one out of the way and stared coldly down at me. I tried not to look scared, but she was menacing, with knowledgeable eyes that pierced you if you weren’t ready for it. It didn’t pierce me, but I was sure I wouldn’t come out of this unscratched.

“She is a lying abomination that has infiltrated our home. The little witch deserves to be killed, she cant be trusted within our home and if she can’t be trusted here, how can we even think of trusting her out there?” At the mention of this an amazingly loud uproar seemed to shake the walls as almost all of the coliseum seemed to pound their tails and throw up their necks in an agreement. Only six dragons out of the hundreds kept quiet with a look of unhappiness. Francis, the White Dragoness, the Red and Black one, the Pinkish one, a Dark red one that stood out behind all the Reds, and a small White one that looked so unhappy I had to look away.

My head was starting to hurt and I no longer wanted to play their games, and I knew I was about to say something utterly stupid.

“ I have done nothing to cause such accusations with such venom. You, yourself must be something of a threat, or a weaker being that you would take a hard worker who was first against their will, and condemn them for nothing! I am tired of these stupid word games and all this unhappiness you have pushed upon me. All I wish is to go back to the routine that has been set upon me or let me go home!”

The white dragoness put her head down in defeat as the last words left my mouth. Shit my unruly mouth had once again got me into trouble. Except this time they might have been my last. But I stood my ground, I would never take back words that were the truth. The red dragoness curled her lips up to show her teeth in what could only be described as a cruel smirk.

“There! See she lets her true self show! She treats our Alfa with less than grace and respect. Even if the witch is as innocent as she proclaims she must pay for the concequences of speaking out of turn and disrespectfully to our Alfa! Then we shall see what she really is!”

I looked over to the white dragoness and saw her tighten her tail around the pink dragonette as she looked over to the Red and Black Dragon, their King. He only slightly glanced back before tightening his jaw and closing his eyes. Then with a burst of light he let out a deafening roar that spewed fire to the cave tops and opened his mind to all.

“You have lived with us for a year now, been taught by one of our greatest teachers of more customs then any of your kind and so will be tried with this knowledge. Therefore the penalty is death.” I felt this blood in my body stop as I went numb. I stared in true fear to frightened to speak. Though in all truth I believed myself to be smarter than to speak at a time like this. With my life on the line. With all these mythical creatures watching me. I couldn’t believe this was happening.

“If you are indeed innocent as you have stated let the Gods be the show of it in mercy. To stay alive means innocents, to die shows truth. Do those in the council agree to this?”
The red and black dragon stood and as he did two dragons and dragonesses stood from each color of the coliseum. I had never known that the Dragon race had a council. I had always thought that it was just a King and Queen that ruled them. I couldn’t help but get a visual of the queen of England and the Parliament in my head. It almost made me laugh.

Almost.

I was still to frightened for my life to do anything but stare straight ahead at the White Dragoness. She was staring at me with a scared yet determined look on her face. I couldn’t help but feel that she had left out a few important things about her kind to me.

As the last dragon stood I heard the rumble like thunder from the other opening of the coliseum. I tried to breath but it got stuck in my throat and I tried desperately to get my heart to start moving again. A coughing fit soon took over and I fell to the ground gasping for breath. There hadn’t been to many times that I had a panic attack, but hey, everyone has their own way of NOT fainting. (I told you I’m not that kind of girl, those were special cases!) But all feelings of panic seemed to disappear when a large and scared Black Dragon came out of the other opening and into my view.

My body seemed to stiffen and tingle with that feeling that was becoming all to familiar to me. The rage started to fill into my toes and then up to my arms. I wasn’t sure what it was but I could feel all of my younger day training coming back to me. Added to that was all of the endless routines that the White Dragoness had been teaching me for the last year. At the look on my face I could feel the eyes of all the Dragons staring at me in fear and surprise. The red dragoness that had accused me and started all of this was smiling so smugly I started to wish all over again that I had never ran away from home. That I had done what my family had asked of me and just married the stupid boy that had snuck into my room none of this would have happened. But…. I wouldn’t have been able to stay myself. I would have been the horrible wife slave of the boy who thought he was a master. Everything that was me would have been sucked away. I had never realized that even taken to be a “slave” in a mountain in the very land I had ran to stay away from, I was more myself than I had ever been allowed to be.

Closing my eyes I felt the peace of this realization and all of the teachings of my younger days seeping away as I remembered all of what the White Dragoness had ever said to me. I felt everything drain from my mind and go blank. I opened my eyes and stared straight ahead to the Black Dragon before me. I took my stance.

Then he came at me.