Damara’s head was pulsating with pain as she slowly became conscious. The talon wounds burned in her shoulders and her entire body ached. Miserably, she stirred, pulling her legs in closer to her body where she lay.
God, why can’t I be dead? she cried silently as she remembered all that had happened. Dreading, she opened her sore eyes. The world stood at a tilt. She saw that she was still in the mountains.
No dead eyes stared back at her from the ground. Neither of the fallen soldiers were in sight. I must have been moved. Where has Chasm gone?
Chasm. Her breathing became rapid as she recalled his snarling face, teeth stained red. He’s been lying to me all along. He never wanted to be at peace with humans- he wants to kill us! I allied myself with a monster.
What will he do next?
Whimpering with pain throbbing throughout her bones, she lifted her upper body off the ground to better see where she was. It was the first place where Chasm had taken her to meet Hasten and Veer, both of whom were nowhere to be seen.
She froze as a pointed, grey dragon’s tail swept the dirt right in front of her. Slowly, she returned to the ground and buried her face, cowering.
“All dragons dead and the human king left breathing,” Chasm rumbled. “Seems Wystil is victorious.”
Damara could sense him circling her. She could hear the tearing of grass roots as his claws uprooted them. The earth almost seemed to depress around him. The air seemed at an off-balance. There was a heaviness in the space that he filled.
“Look at you,” he murmured. “So childish.”
Damara dared not breathe. She could not stop from shuddering as she felt Chasm ruffle her hair with his warm breath. Her eyes streamed.
Just kill me.
“You really haven’t matured since I nearly got you to eat the firesap fruit. So gullible…so naïve.”
Damara’s eyes opened wide, staring into the dust as his words unlocked another of her memories. She remembered sitting as a little child, peering down at a fruit in her hands. In her ear, a young grey dragon whispered, ‘You want to be like us…’
Chasm! Damara thought, a flame growing inside of her until she was enraged. He’s been misleading me since I was a child!
Her fury seemed to vaporize the tears from her cheeks, and she glared up at him, her vision clearer than ever before. I need to save Wystil. I’ll escape Chasm and warn everyone about him.
Chasm’s mouth turned upwards into a vicious smile. “I’ve never seen anyone as feisty as you,” he purred in appreciation.
She rose to her feet, trembling in anger. Chasm gazed at her, waiting with a smirk on his face. Damara stared at him, fists clenched and muscles seizing up. But as she calculated her options, she found that none ended well for her.
He’s just too strong…I’m just too weak.
Then, suddenly Chasm’s eyes locked onto something else behind her. He narrowed his eyes, slightly tilting his head in an intrigued yet suspicious way. Only when he stalked past her, though, did Damara turn to see.
Not far from them, a female dragon appeared over a mountain ridge. She didn’t seem to notice them as she crouched, head lowered to eat snow from the rocky crags that fractured the slope. She was magenta, with fiery white sparks dappling her form all over.
Soundlessly, Hasten and Veer appeared on the same ridge, behind the newcomer.
“Well, look at this,” Chasm said.
The female’s head shot up and she stared wildly at the dragons surrounding her. She stiffened as her eyes landed on Chasm, who advanced up the slope deliberately.
“I scoured the entire mountain range for my enemies,” he drawled. “And there’s no possible way you could have slipped past me. So where did you come from?”
The newcomer looked terrified as he approached. Damara knew the feeling all too well.
Who is she? she wondered. Maybe we can escape together.
“Evaded the battle, have you?” Chasm asked. “Clearly you are very elusive.”
At this last remark, the female spread her wings, as though to fly away. But Chasm did the same, poising, challenging. Instead of taking off, the newcomer darted down the slope.
“Hold there!” At once, Chasm dove after her, alighting in her way.
Veer and Hasten closed in. The female clearly had no way of escape. Now that she was closer, Damara could tell that the dragon was only slightly younger than Chasm.
“Back off!” the female spat, flashing teeth as white as the dappling of her scales.
Chasm smirked and looked her up and down. “But I have an offer for you.”
The magenta dragon held herself indignantly.
“What is your name?” he questioned. His voice sounded strange and Damara watched him suspiciously.
He acts differently around her than he does anyone else.
“I think I shall call you Evening,” Chasm decided. “That is, unless you tell me the name you chose for yourself.”
The dragon stiffened. “Iris,” she hissed finally, arching her back with scales rising like hackles.
“Well, Iris…” Chasm flicked his tongue. “You seem rather vulnerable. Have you no one to protect you? No mate?”
“I don’t need anyone.”
“Ah, I believe the others would have said the same. But, of course, they’re all dead now- and for reasons that trace back to me. So you see, you may not be as untouchable as you think. Just look at yourself now…defenseless as a newborn fawn.”
“Don’t insult me!”
“I’m only telling it how it is.” Chasm circled her slowly. “I have an eye for weakness, as well as a solution for that weakness. Will you hear my offer?”
The newcomer said nothing.
“Right now, you are amidst the most fearsome, unyielding dragons there have ever been. We are the Strong Pack, the ones the humans go up in arms to fight, the ones no one can defeat.”
They were the ones who attacked Swaineford! Damara realized. How could I not have known?!
I have to escape, now while he’s distracted. She looked around her, assessing her options. But when she turned back to see the dragons, she found herself staring into Chasm’s eyes. Damara’s muscles locked up in fright.
“Why don’t you join us?” Chasm sneered, and he hooked his tail around her, forcing her to walk with him towards the others.
Damara and Iris made eye contact for the first time. The prejudice in the dragon’s glare was clear as frost. Damara saw it, and knew she was very much alone.
I have no ally in her.
“Meet my human,” Chasm told Iris, looking down on them both. The rope Damara once tied on him as part of a saddle still hung loosely around his chest.
“I could never respect a dragon who lets a human ride on his back,” Iris slighted, without breaking eye contact with Damara.
Chasm paused for a moment, then commanded, “Damara, climb up.”
“No,” she refused, rooting her feet to the ground.
The dragon narrowed his eyes at her. “I’ll kill your brother,” he threatened.
“You can’t,” Damara answered bitterly. “He died on the battlefield.”
“Perhaps,” Chasm replied. “But, even so, I will find his dead body and strip the flesh from his bones until even you cannot recognize him. Then I’ll lead my Strong Pack to trample and burn down your town, killing your friend, her family, everyone. And so, I tell you- climb up.”
I have no choice…
With gritted teeth, Damara boosted herself up and straddled his neck, hating her own weakness.
“You see, I don’t let her ride me,” Chasm told Iris coolly. “I force her to.”
Damara saw how pompously he held himself with her on his back. She could feel the pride hardening his frame.
I’m his prize! He wants to keep me as something to boast about…as proof of his cunning! And now he’s using me to impress this female!
Enraged, she pulled the rope taut around his throat. At once, she was flipped over onto the groun
d. Chasm had her pinned.
“So what?” Iris snarled. Damara could see the vibrant female’s head come into view. “You wish to enslave me, too? I’ve already served under the Golden Dragon. You might keep a human as your own, but you will never keep me.”
“Of course not,” Chasm murmured. “A human is nothing compared to you.”
From Damara’s grounded point of view, she saw the dragons meet eyes. Iris tilted her shoulders ever so slightly, and Damara noticed Chasm’s chest swell, as if in response.
“I only wish to offer you a place with us- as an equal.” Chasm smiled collectedly. “The Strong Pack could benefit from you, and you could definitely benefit from us. Imagine an entire kingdom blessed with flowing water, abundant prey, open space…all for us.”
Damara could see Iris considering his words.
“You’d be a fool to believe him,” Damara rasped. “Chasm deceives everyone.”
Chasm placed a claw on her chest, threatening her. “Shut up, human.”
Damara inhaled, fighting the pressure on her ribcage. She thought she saw Iris sneer.
“Fine,” the female dragon relented. “I will join you. But only if you keep this human under control.”
Chasm scoffed. “She has always been under my control.”
Damara closed her eyes tightly against the bright sunlight, her vision turning red. It burned to realize the truth in his words.
I’m going to escape, she promised herself again. I won’t be his slave.
Chapter 9