The Dragon King

Phantom's POV - Anecdotes

There was a collective murmur of gasps behind me. I whipped my head round to see five lightning dragons cowering against the far wall. Heffres spoke up first:

"It's impossible. There is no way out,".

I looked at the dragons behind me before saying softly, "It's OK. You can come in - I'm not going to hurt you,".

They walked in and looked at me. The oldest stepped forwards to ask "Will you take me with you?"

I blinked. I was not expecting that.

She continued on "Its just, escaping the palace, you may as well start a rebellion due to the level of difficulty. And travellers whisper of a plasma dragon and her rider. I would like to meet her. She sounds nice and apparently she is very pretty,".

I nodded. "She is very beautiful, and her dragon, my sister also,".

Heffres started. "But, but your rider. He is imprisoned here, is he not?".

I sighed before admitting sadly. "He stopped being my rider many years ago,".

The next few days were a flurry of activity. The young dragons were discovering who would be willing to come, out of the lightning, wind and earth, whilst Heffres was mapping the palace on a piece of papyrus. I was studying the guards, and mapping their patrols. The best time to go would be before midnight. The plan was set. The hour was set. All the dragons would meet at the whipping stations an hour before midnight. I curled up and thought of Liam. Although what I said about him no longer being my rider was true, I still missed him. I closed my eyes and the flashback started.

The dragon couldn't see. He knew that outside of the egg, his bonded, a boy was waiting but all it could see was the yellowy peachy colour of the slimy covering. It was floating in a pool of slime. It used its horns and head butted the egg. A crack appeared on the outside of the egg.

The boy leaned forward eagerly.

The dragon twisted its head and, using its horns, rammed the egg. Cracks splintered along the side of the egg. A small fragment broke off. The dragonet tried to break more of the shell using its claws but the slime meant it could not grip onto the shell.

The boy reached forwards and yanked the shell apart, the dragonet staring up at its rider. The boy smiled at his dragon and the dragon stared up at its rider. Liam smiled:

"Phantom"

"Phantom. Phantom, wake up!"

I stirred and looked up to see Heffres, his ruff waving as he shook me.

"Phantom! It's time,".

I scrambled up, my claws clicking on the stones as we hurried to the whipping courtyard. There, my heart stopped. Close to a thousand dragons were in the courtyard. My planned escape for 10 or so of us would need some improvising.

Heffres nudged me to the podium which the posts were on.

"Explain the plan!" He whispers urgently.

I pull myself up and stand to my full height, looking at the sea of multicoloured eyes before me:

"Hello. I am Phantom, brother to the Plasma Dragon Electra, whose rider is Amy, the Queen of Dragons,". A murmur went through the crowd. One dragon, a plucky Earth Dragon shouted out,

"And how does she treat her dragons. If she treats them the same as the King, we may as well stay here!" I laughed before replying:
"Amy would never treat you like that. She insists you do not call her by her title, she says that her name is enough. As for how she treats her dragons, in her Anchemi there was a traitor, who controlled his dragon with iron. When the traitor was discovered and taken away, she gave the dragon the choice, fly free or bond with another rider and join a new Anchemi. He asked to stay in her Anchemi as a spare dragon. She said it was up to him. He was a Lightning Dragon. For those who do not want to leave, I suggest you go now,". No one left, many still nodding their heads in appreciation of the anecdote about Amy I had just told. "Now then, onto the plan. I want each dragon to get into a group of 20, with Earth, Lightning, Wind and Ice in each group,". Once they were all assembled I gave each group a number. "Now then. When Heffres calls your number, you must rise up as a group and fly as fast as you can to the desert in the distance. You may land and rest there. I must emphasise as fast as you can." An ice dragon stepped forwards, calling out:

"But we are sure to be spotted. There are guards everywhere and the moon is very bright,".

I snorted before replying. "I am a shadow dragon, you know,".