Mark Of The Dragon Book I: Past

Chapter 3

Thunder drummed and dark clouds began to roll in above. We all dashed as fast as our little legs could carry us trying to catch up. We pounded along in the mud until the trees started to clear and suddenly we were in a scary situation. The floor underneath our feet was made up of stone and rocks and all over there were little huts with straw roofs. Much more luxurious than my home. At first we all stood there in awe until a woman stepped out of one of the huts, saw us and screamed. We scurried past her following this strange road until we saw the people who took Alexia and Dragoron! They too turned around and I acted on impulse.

I rushed over and bit one of the ropes in the net. A split second after and two dragons came tumbling out.
"Run!" I heard Dracerier shout.
"Dragons! Dragons!" A man shouted. We had to get out of here. We started to run back to the others when Drakako shouted: "Sima! Look out!" He pushed me out of the way and I felt a liquid spray across my body, it hit my face and all I could taste was a metallic substance. "DRAKAKO!!!" I heard Dracerier scream. But I was too disorientated and confused. The pouring rain was battering my worn out body and my eyesight was blurry because of the rain, the liquid and fatigue. I stumbled back to the others but I soon collapsed where I stood.

I opened my eyes hoping I was at home, with my mother, in our nice warm cave. But that wasn't the case. I lay on a cold hard floor with a green blur above me.

"Sima?" Whispered Bas.
"Wha...Where... Am I?" I muttered.
"Well, because you had be a hero and save Alexia and Dragoron, you got us all imprisoned." He snapped back at me with a tone of anger in his voice.
"Well what would you have done!?" I argued back.
"...Anyway we have to get out of here." He replied without the cockiness this time.
"Where are the others?" I asked.
"In one of the other cells, but I'm not sure which one." He replied.

Suddenly some humans walked in. One looked like the large one who kidnapped Alexia and Dragoron. The other wore a dark green cloak and had a long wispy beard. They strolled down the corridor and stopped before our cell.

"Hmm, quite the dragons you've got here." Said the old man.
"Yes... Are they of any interest to you? Bargained the large one.
"Hmm well the other four back there have little value to me. Especially that night dragon." The old man replied.

Night dragon? Drakako or Dracerier? What happened to them? My head filled with worried questions.

"What about these ones?" Queried the large one as he put his head to the bars. "What about this little runt?" He asked as he put his head in front of Bas.

"I wouldn't -" but the old man was cut off.
"OUCH!" Screamed the large one as Bas sprayed acid in his face.

Another thing I didn't mention is our breaths. We all have different breaths. For example you have your typical fire dragons with their typical fire breaths. Bas breathes acid, except he only learned how the other week. It isn't vey strong though, as he's still only a youngling like the rest of us. It actually came as a surprise to his parents. As his mother is a basilisk, she has venom and since his father is a sea dragon, he breathes water. (Or spits really.) So Bas breathes acid. My mother breathes a glamorous blue flare. So one day I hope to breathe the same. Alexia and Dracerier haven't found their breath yet, Drakako has a normal fire breath and Dragoron, has no breath. Another disadvantage of being an earth dragon. I've heard stories though about earth dragons who spit rocks. - Back to the story.

Bas sprayed acid all over the large man's face, which now was swollen and red.

I caught a wink off of the old man as he touched his staff against the door. He then shook his head slightly to the side motioning: 'Go.' We got the hint he was trying to help us and we slipped out of the door as our captor held his hands over his face, covering his eyes.

Bas and me scrambled out of the corridor our cell was in, through the door and into the next corridor. We saw Alexia and Dracerier in the next cell.

"Are you ok!?" I exclaimed remembering the old man's comment from before.
"Yes we're fine?" Replied Dracerier confused.

It must be Drakako.

"The door is open!" Bas shouted.

I guess that old man unlocked all of the doors.

"Where are the others?" Asked Alexia.
"I'm presuming down that corridor." answered Bas.

We ran down the corridor until we saw Dragoron in one of the cells. His face was sunken and grim. It put me off ease as he was always so cheery and happy. I looked behind him and Drakako was there. He was facing the wall.

"Guys we need to go!" Said Alexia
"Drakako?" I asked. "Are you alright?"

He turned around silently. Suddenly everything that happened came back to me. I had been running and he pushed me out of the way. I looked down to my side. Dark purple trickles of a liquid that once was there remained. I looked back at Drakako. His left eye was white. Instead of two dark brown eyes there was only one. The other looked like a fortune teller's crystal ball. There was a huge cut from under his left eye to his forehead and it was still bleeding.

"Do I look alright."

I couldn't identify his tone. He sounded angry but weak at the same time. Worried maybe. No. This was a side I had never seen of Drakako. From this day Drakako was never the same.

"We have to go!" Said Bas, trying to break the silence as I suddenly noticed Drakako was glaring at me. Glaring with his one eye.

We all scarpered out of the corridor into a spiral staircase. We navigated our way up and at the top we were in a small room with a stone floor and ornaments hung on the wall.

"The dragons! They've escaped!" Shouted the large one from somewhere down in the basement.
"We have to hurry!" Exclaimed Alexia.
"Ok, when we get out of this room, we have to go to the forest and get home." Explained Dracerier.

We dashed out of the door and ran through the town.

After we got to the trees we didn't stop running. We raced through the woods not daring to look back. It was now dusk. We didn't speak to each other. Didn't make sure we were ok. We just ran. Just ran.

We burst through the bushes and landed on the meadow. We scrambled up the hill and soon collapsed - out of breath. Suddenly a dark figure swooped down. I blacked out.