Apex [Imperial: Book 2]

Chapter 23

Dumbfounded, I barely payed attention to the human as shoved a saddle on my back before tweaking with its straps.

I had a new Master. And not just anyone - Lord Carlos. The same person whom had been in charge of Fehïrk, and possibly even other places that used dragons as slaves. Someone who viewed dragons as little more than a horse; trophies to be shown off or creatures to use as slaves.

"You'll get your food when you come back from your flight," Keda declared, her green eyes confidently holding mine. "If he's impressed, you'll have a whole deer to yourself - and it might even be fresh!"

Might be fresh. Meaning that there was only a chance that the deer had been killed that same day - and even if it had been, the blood would not be warm. Hunting would always be better than being provided food, no matter how fresh, from the humans.

"And if he's not impressed?" I tilted my head, trying to ignore the sinking feeling in my stomach.

Keda avoided my gaze, her silence confirming my fears. Pitiful amounts of human leftovers - just like Fehïrk. Foul-tasting meals that would hardly sate my hunger.

How were dragon content living in a city - especially when they were fed such food?

"It's not that bad," Keda murmured at last, her tail flicking back and forth as she slowly spread her wings. "I know it's different to what your used to, but you'll get used to this life style. Trust me."

Before I even had a chance to respond, the dragoness raised her maroon wings, and leapt into the air, leaving me alone with Lord Carlos - whom was now perched in my saddle, gripping my chains tightly.

His legs pressed against my flank, as though to urge me forwards. Defiantly, I remains still, twisting my head around slightly to glare at the human. Did he think he could control me like he could a horse?

When I did not move, the human's brow furrowed, his face darkening. "I know you can understand me, dragon," he hissed through clenched teeth, "I am your rider. You will do what I say. Unless, of course, you want nothing for dinner?"

Nothing for dinner. That was barely a punishment compared to the ones I'd suffered back at Fehïrk! But... I was hungry. It had been more than a day since I'd last fed - and during that time, I'd flown far.

Perhaps I would be able to ignore the lord another day, when I wasn't quite so hungry.

"Now, fly!" Lord Carlos commanded, and I reluctantly leapt into the air. Once aloft, he tugged at the chains, using them to steer me. But I couldn't help but notice that he didn't use the tail-fin-ring - nor had he even put one on me.

Stunned, I blinked. Why hadn't he put one on? Was it because we were inside the city, a place that would stop me from escaping almost instantly? Did it play a role in me becoming more tame, more like the dragons in the city?

Probably both, I realised as we circled above the city. The lord remained careful to keep us close to its centre, purposefully making sure that we stayed within the city's borders. Making sure that any attempt of my escape would undoubtedly be impossible.

And yet, I could not help but marvel that he was using no tail-fin-ring. There was a human on my back, but no tail-fin-ring. It was almost to good to be true; especially since I had literally only just been captured.

Then there was also the fact that the humans relied on most of the dragons in the city to not let any escape; they trusted those dragons. If they trusted me like that, then escape would surely be easy!

Doing as such would take time - but surely not too much! With the sheer amount of dragons in the city, surely it would only take a few months to gain the humans' trust. It couldn't take more than  a few years!

Determination surged through me. I'd escaped the humans before, and I would again. All I needed to do was wait. Make them trust me; behave my best. Sure, perhaps it did mean that I'd have to everything the humans told me to, but... it would be worth it in the end. When I escaped.

Suddenly, I no longer cared about how Lord Carlos tugged the chains, steering me across the sky. Not once did I even try to resist his control. After all, in perhaps as little as a few months, I'd be free again. With Kronx, and Rutilus, and the rest of the wing.

Away from Azarin, and its sprawling, stone buildings.

"Very good," the lord sounded as though he was reluctantly impressed, as we glided past the castle. The silver decorating its otherwise blank walls in the sunlight, and the gold statue of a dragon on the top tower gleamed like the sun.

A jerk of the chains took my attention away from the castle as the lord urged me towards a different direction - towards the same courtyard as earlier. Within a matter of moments, we'd landed.

Lord Carlos slowly slid down my flank, and I glimpsed a victorious grin spread across his face before I shifted my attention to the mostly empty plaza. Another dragon was standing in the corner, barely paying attention to the human hastily gearing it for flight.

With a faint snort, I shuffled my wings impatiently. My talons scratched against the pavement as I stood awkwardly, waiting for the lord to dismiss me, to let me go get food - where ever that was. 

I'd have to find Keda, and get her to take me there. After all, I doubted that Lord Carlos would take me there himself. To him, I was just a beast; little more than a horse or cow.

"That wasn't too hard," the lord declared, and I whipped my head around to face him. His smile seemed to have faded; his lips were now pursed slightly. With a slight shrug, he added, "perhaps dragons aren't so hard to tame after all."

I barely restrained a growl.

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1034 words

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