The King's Dragon

Chapter 1

Even as the fire in front of him burned and raged. The screams around him echoed around, getting drowned out by the sounds of swords clashing, curses and spells being cast, Eijiro couldn't move. His entire body froze up. He was paralyzed with fear, forced to watch with horror as he saw other dragons of his clan fighting with all of their might, only to be quickly outdone by the poachers.

It was a sleep spell of some kind. One that would render the dragons unconscious in a matter of seconds. Some never even got the chance to fight, and the others would fall to their enemies unable to retreat. Bloody scales lined the once clear dirt pathways. He didn't know many had already been taken, hauled off into cages, or how many were killed just for their scales, claws and horns.

He screamed at himself mentally, to run, to fight or to get help. But no matter how much he tried, he couldn't move. The fire grew closer to him, catching another building on fire. Dragons were immune to the heat when they were in their full dragon form. Eijiro wasn't. He had just been walking around, saying hi to the people he had known for all of his life, when it started. Despite the flames close enough to lick at his face, he felt a cold, nauseating chill run down his spine.

"There's one more! Get it!" The hunter's yell sounded like it was from the other end of the village. But it wasn't, just past a few buildings he saw the figure running towards him. Only then, did his body finally move. He turned and ran off towards the woods, his wings quickly formed and spread out. He had just barely gotten in the air when he heard more shouted commands before a sharp pain shot through his arm.

He faltered due to the off balance, he looked down seeing an arrow sticking out of his arm. The stone head now painted red with his own blood. Another arrow shot through his leg, taking him down further. They were aiming for his wings. They had to be. He tried to fly higher, out of their reach, he could run now, and get help!

Until an arrow finally hit his wing. He immediately lost balance too much to stay up, though he tried, flapping his non-injured wing in a vain attempt to stay alive. It was futile. He came down in a spiral pattern. His face made contact with a rocky edge of a mountain, a sharp edge cut into his eye, making the only thing he was able to see, red. He finally landed on his back, only driving the arrows deeper.

He sobbed, pitifully as he tried to force himself to stand back up. He used his other arm and leg to at least get himself sitting up, but that was all he could do. He brought his arm closer to his face, trying to see out of his good eye, the arrow was almost completely through. Without thinking, he immediately bit at the middle of the arrow, tasting his own blood before he pulled it all the way out.

Eijiro screamed in pain, letting the arrow fall from his mouth. It hurt so much worse than he thought it would. Normally arrows and swords would bounce off of him. He was stronger than this. He should have been so much stronger than this. He brought his blurry gaze down to his leg. The arrow had just barely missed the back of his knee, and had lodged itself in his thigh. This one was not as far along as the other was.

"This way! I heard it!" It was the hunter's voice. More than one set of footsteps was coming. He grabbed the arrow he had dropped quickly, and again tried to stand. However, the pain that ran through his leg brought him back down onto his knees.

He spread his wings again, roaring as loud as he could. Hoping to scare off the poachers, going after a wounded half dragon wouldn't always be an easy fight. But this would be, he couldn't fight like this, he just wanted to try.

Before he ever got the chance to, more arrows hit him from within the woods. One landing in his stomach, a few in his wings and another in his thigh. He collapsed onto the ground. Barely having any strength to hold himself up, the adrenaline told him to run, but he couldn't. "We found it!" The hunter called, presumably to others.

"Now, don't worry little guy, we just want your scales. And it's just easier if we get them when you aren't moving." The hunter held up a dagger, clearly aiming for the dragon's neck.

"Wait!" another one called, "with how docile it was, how it tried to run instead of fight, we could probably get much more from this than the scales." He said.

"Oh?"

"If we sell it as a full bred dragon, enchant a collar or something to keep it like that, we can make bank, sell it to a king!"

The hunter holding the dagger pulled away, a smirk on his face. "That's a great idea. Put him to sleep."

His partner began muttering some words under his breath. The sleep spell. Eijiro's clouded mind supplied, just as he felt himself drift off into a dreamless sleep.