Imperial

Chapter 2

I woke in a small, cold cell. Darkness surrounded me, but I did not need to see to know that the walls were lined with brick, stone and metal. More from experience than anything else, I knew they were impossible to break out of.

If only, I thought to myself miserably, dragons could actually breathe fire. Then I would be able to melt this place down. Just imagining the Dragon Stables burnt to the ground was strangely satisfying. The only way it could be better was for it to be real.

With nothing else to do, I fidgeted in my cell uncomfortably. Cold stone and brick walls rubbed against my back, and I shivered. For the billionth time, I wished that dragons could breathe fire, even if only to warm myself up.

Curled up in my cell, I waited impatiently for the humans to collect us. Surely it was not too long until day-break? Never had I waited so long for the humans. As much as I hated dragging coal through the vast fields, I could not wait until I was out of this cold, cramped cell.

"They haven't retrieved us yet," a quiet but masculine voice echoed through the building. I knew the dragon it belonged to, a bright red dragon with streaks of gold, close to my age. Few of his scales were scarred and chipped, proof that he was one of the newest dragons here. In a way, I pitied him - barely an adult, and his freedom had been snatched away. But at the same time, I envied him. How lucky he was to have had a taste of freedom, while I had always been working here for the humans. Unlike the other dragons, I was one of the few whom had hatched here.

"Enjoy the peace and silence while it lasts," a much deeper, more sonorous voice snapped back. Behind the words was a lifetime of sorrow, hate and fury. Enough to make my skin crawl. For this wasn't any normal dragon, this was the Black Beast, as younger dragons had nicknamed him. And with good reason, too.

Easily the oldest and largest dragon here, Black Beast had a dark reputation, even among his own kind. Not for injuring anyone. Black Beast scarcely even raised a claw to the humans. No, he was known for the dark and bitter personality that perfectly matched his pitch black scales.

No other dragon had a nickname.

Silence. The occasional shuffle could be heard, but other than that, it was just pure silence. Tension filled the air. No dragon dared speak after Black Beast had spoken. Years of experience had taught us that the bigger dragon would snap if we did.

Minutes passed.

Eventually the silence was broken by muffled footsteps outside. A screeching sound echoed through the Dragon Stables as the humans opened the giant stable door. For a few seconds, the door groaned until it had swung open completely. Harsh breathing echoed throughout our dungeon, as humans hurried through its dark embrace.

Something was different. Very different. Humans never hurried.

Footsteps abruptly stopped outside my door. The human started unlocking my cell. Anxiously, I listened as only a few other cell doors creaked open.

Humans shouted to each other over the sound of grinding metal and groaning doors. It quickly became obvious that they were only releasing a few dragons. I could not recall a time when a dragon had been left in its cell - unless it was being punished. But they couldn't be punishing this many – could they?

Finally, my cell door was fully open. Standing before me, with a face as hard as ever, was Master. "Now, now, beast," fearlessly, he approached me, gripping one of my horns. "Shall we do this the easy way, or the hard way?"

There was something in his black eyes that made my scales itch, something that warned me to do as he wanted. After all, what choice did I have? If I didn't immediately comply, I'd still end up doing the exact same thing - only with an additional painful scar across my flank.