The Silver Dragon (Unpublished, unedited version)

Chapter 13: D.E.D

Silver followed the path that she had been told, Zepos walking right next to her. They were silent, both thinking through what had happened. Silver had always been a free spirited dragoness, loving to try new things and not afraid of danger, and now, she was trapped. Silver had never considered herself claustrophobic, she had spent a lot of her time in caves, but as she walked through the corridor that was so small she doubted she could open her wings fully, she was scared. The bleak walls lit in red seemed to be descending down on her, making her jittery at every brush of a dragon's wing or clack of claws against stony ground. She nearly missed the turn but Zepos caught her and turned her in the right direction.

"Are you alright?" asked the electric dragon.

Silver nodded her head slightly and forced herself to take a deep breath, "Yeah... I'm alright."

He could obviously tell she wasn't but didn't press the matter. Instead they followed the small group of dragons down another dimly lit corridor. At one point a couple of humans with assault rifles joined them. Two out at the front and two at the back. The strong urge to attack and run went through Silver, but with her collar on she doubted she would get far.

The humans lead them through the base at a fast pace. Silver tried to memorize the layout but before long her mind became muddled. It was like a maze. Everything seemed to look the same and Silver swore at one point that they went in a circle. Maybe it was a trick to get the dragons confused about where they were.

Eventually they came to a stop outside a large double door. Growls and grumbles were heard on the inside, followed by the occasional roar. Laughing was also being sounded as well, much to Silver's surprise. How anyone could laugh in this place was beyond her.

The guards opened the door and told the dragons to walk inside. Silver went last, walking in nervously. She was the smallest of the group, most probably the youngest as well, and even with her metal shell and fighting prowess she suddenly felt very vulnerable. She tried to put down her metal shell, but stopped as a slight tingle came from the collar. Putting her shell down would break the collar, and it decided that such a grab for freedom was unacceptable. She had no doubt next time she tried she would be electrocuted.

"And here are this weeks newbies!" said a loud voice over the crowd, "Lets see what we got here."

It sounded like the voice was coming from a microphone, and it was a dragon's voice. She could tell because it was slightly more guttural then a humans, almost like it was growling. No human could make their voice that deep without hurting their throat.

"One...three, nope. Five more fire dragons," the voice continued, "Two earth dragons... a wind dragon, nice. We need a few more of them."

A few chuckles went around the crowd.

"An electric dragon, and..." the dragon hesitated and Silver assumed it had seen her, "What seems to be a new species! Well this just got interesting."

The place was crowded with dragons of every type. From common fire dragons and earth dragons to some species Silver had never seen before. A dragon with a strange light, almost fluoro green colour was eyeing her up and down in interest. She glared at it, causing it to snort and turn away. A strange blue/white coloured dragon flew overhead towards another area of the place.

To Silver it looked like a football oval, but bigger. There was a series of large steps on each side of the area, all covered in dragons. It was like one of the meetings her father sometimes called, but a lot more crowded. She was disliking this place more and more, especially since over the previous year she had spent her time with no dragons at all. Though it was rather lonely she would prefer that to this overcrowded festival.