Prologue 3 - The Liberator

Mousetail's POV (age 10)

Things were so messed up. My best friend had just roasted my last surviving relative and I had just run away with him. I knew that Blaze was just trying to protect me. He probably didn't even know that I was related to the human he just attacked. Even when I was treating my injuries, it felt like I was just going through the motions.

I was definitely in shock for the first couple days on Little Skull. Just doing what I needed to stay alive while I tried to process everything that happened. My little big secret was out. Dad was probably dead, but the only way to know would be to return to the village. If I hadn't been banished or disowned yet, I would be soon.

On the morning of the third day, I heard someone calling my name. Blaze heard it too. I climbed onto his back and we checked the shore for warships. Only a single rowboat was beached on the sand. There were no ships on the surrounding waters either.

Someone shouted my name again and Blaze veered towards the sound. We found Lars hiking through the forest and landed nearby. Lars saw us and approached, clearly surprised to see me riding a dragon and mostly healed.

Lars was wearing his armor and shield. A battleaxe was strapped to his back. Blaze stood defensively beside me, ready to attack our guest if necessary.

"What are you doing here Lars?" I asked, already half-knowing the answer.

Lars looked between me and Blaze before answering. "I came to take you home."

I just snorted and crossed my arms. "To the village? I've been living on Little Skull for over a year now, rowing back and forth every day. That home is just a shell of the word."

"If this is about your father -"

"He's just the biggest nail in that coffin!" I shouted back, "I was born small, remember? That means the other kids either ignored me or attacked me. My Dad beat me and Mom just ignored it. EVERYONE IGNORED IT! Don't even try to insult me with that 'but we didn't know' crap. With the attacks I've dealt with, you'd have to deaf, blind, AND dumb to miss it."

"But running away with a dragon?" Lars countered, "Are you crazy? He'll eat you alive!"

I shrugged. "Hasn't happened yet. We both have wants and needs. We help each other satisfy both."

"HE KILLED YOUR FATHER!" Lars shouted, "Burnt him alive! He succumbed to his burns yesterday."

It took me a moment to absorb that fact. Abuser or not, family is family. 'But did I truly see him as family?' I shook my head.

"I won't shed any tears for him," I declared proudly.

Lars looked like he had been sucker-punched. "You can't mean that."

"I do." I stood a little straighter. "If I accepted that scum as family, then I'd have to also accept that family beats the crap out of family. I won't do that."

"But dragons are vicious, blood-thirsty, monsters," Lars argued, "You should see them in the Carnival!"

That broke my resolve. I uncrossed my arms and asked, "What?"

"That dragon show you've always wanted to see? It's a death-match," Lars explained, "Two dragons enter, one might come out alive. Dragonroot really pushes their viciousness. Lots of people come to the Skullgaze Islands just to bet on the fights."

I looked at Blaze, picturing him in an arena, half-mad from Dragonroot and trying to kill another dragon. Dozens of humans watching them from above, making bets on who would win and who would die. I felt like throwing up. All this time, Blaze wasn't the monster in our relationship, I was.

"You aren't even equipped to run away," Lars tried to reason with me, "Chief Derek is still deliberating between banishing or branding you. I'll take you as a worker and you can stay with me at the Wood Mill."

"You're wrong," I whispered, still trying to keep my stomach down, "Derek the Dazzler doesn't do charity. He does whatever makes the biggest spectacle. My punishment will be fast and permament, likely one death for another."

I turned to look my master in the eye for the last time. Taking off my helmet, I spoke very clearly and honestly, "I'm sorry boss, but I will not return with you or any other Viking. It's time I made my own fate." I tossed the helmet to Lars and climbed onto Blaze, soaring back into the free sky. Lars shouted for me to return, but stubornness was the only Viking trait I had.

That afternoon, I packed up the essentials from my plateau camp. Staying on Little Skull was simply too risky. If Lars reported our meeting (like I suspected he would) then the Cutthroats would easily find us as well. They might not be able to reach our camp, but they would make it hard to gather food and water.

"We'll have to find a new home," I explained to Blaze, "We'd only find the same biggotry and predjudice on the mainland, so we'll go to the northern islands. There should be plenty of places that humans can't reach on their own. We'll find one and return for the rest of the equipment once things settle down."

Blaze looked at me, but he wasn't really listening.

"What is it?"

Blaze looked towards the distant island of Greater Skull.

"Oh no. I have zero ties to that place. There isn't a man alive that can -"

Blaze looked me in the eye and shook his head. He then turned back to Greater Skullgaze and gave a mournful roar.

"Not the men, but the dragons..."

Blaze looked at me and nodded. I sighed. 'The Cutthroats have kept those dragons secure for my entire life. Getting in wouldn't be easy. Getting out would be harder. Freeing dragons I've never met before without getting killed sounds almost impossible.'

'But it would be nice to do something worth remembering before I go...'

"If we're really going to do this, we'll need a plan."

Blaze dropped me off in the forest and waited for me to get to my position. I was still sticky from Blaze's tongue bath. It took a little while before I realized that I needed to smell like Blaze to the other dragons. I was still going to have to bathe for a week after this.

I crept through the shadows on the village outskirts. There was a new moon out tonight. Only the stars and torches could reveal my presence, which would have been disasterous for me and the dragons. But I was the village ghost. I had trained for this night my whole life.

Everyone was talking about how I had 'turned traitor' or 'killed my father with a wild dragon'. They all thought I was gone for good, that I'd never dare show my face again, under penalty of death. That last one would be true soon enough.

The dragon pens were modeled after a barn. They sat next to the arena, promising either a great victory or a painful death. I could hear the head dragon handler taunting the dragons with his dinner. I stuck to the shadows, finding a small hole to survey the interior.

The head dragon handler was a large Viking with black hair and a flat brow. He held a fish in his left hand, showing off his slavemark in the torchlight. He almost seemed like a Neanderthal, probably from Ugliithug heritage. Several dragons were muzzled with belts and in cages. I didn't recognize most of them. 'Hobblegrunt, Nadder, that one might be a very young Timberjack.' The only dragons that weren't muzzled were much smaller and shared a large cage of much tighter bars. 'Hatchlings. Definitely can't leave without them.'

I spotted the cell key on the wall near the barn doors. One of the Nadders caught my scent and looked around. I backed away from the hole and waited for Blaze to start the mission.

I'm not sure how long I was waiting before the first cries of "FIRE!" and "Dragon Attack!" echoed across the village. I glanced around the corner of the barn and saw Blaze setting the catapults on fire. The teams working them were clearly out of practice, since all three of them were already engulfed in flames and unusable.

I heard Neanderthal march towards the barn doors and off into the night. Once the coast was clear, I slipped inside and grabbed the key. The hatchlings began to squawk excitedly and the older dragons perked up as well. 'A human that smells like a Monstrous Nightmare must be strange to them.'

I walked over to the closest cage and jammed the key into the lock. Someone behind me cleared their throat and I turned around in a panic. It was Aesop.

"You know that those dragons may kill you," Aesop chided, closing the barn door behind him.

"If you're here to talk me out of this, don't even bother trying," I warned Aesop, trying to discretely open the lock.

"This reminds me of a story," Aesop started, "An escaped slave came across a lion in the forest. The slave turned to flee, but the lion didn't pursue. The slave was curious and returned to the lion. The lion revealed a thorn in his paw, which was bleeding and swollen. The lion could no longer walk or hunt. The slave, who had known suffering himself, removed the thorn. In gratitude, the lion became a loyal friend and fierce companion."

"Nice story," I complimented, removing the lock and opening the cell door, "I'm still helping these lions though."

"But they're not the lions in this story," Aesop hinted as he slipped back out the door, "You are."

I turned back to the doors, wondering if Aesop had really been there or not. Only when the released dragon, a two-legged one with purple scales, nudged me did I remember my purpose. I removed the belt binding the dragon's mouth and he gave a happy growl.

"Keep watch for visitors," I instructed the dragon, glancing at the door.

This dragon seemed to have been around people enough to understand me, crouching to attack anyone coming through the door. I continued around the barn, opening cages and removing muzzles. Once all the adults were free, I started to load the hatchlings into a large basket.

"WHAT THE HEL!?"

I turned to the barn doors and saw that the dragon handler had returned. The adult dragons roared and the purple dragon tossed the Viking into it's cage. A green Hobblegrunt squeezed into the cage and began to fight Neanderthal. 'Time's almost up.'

The remaining adult dragons helped herd the hatchlings into the basket and I shouldered the basket onto my back. The barn was already on fire from the handler versus dragon duel. I led the dragons out of the barn and saw Blaze retreating towards Little Skull. I turned to the purple dragon next to me.

"Can I get a lift?" I asked. The dragon lowered itself and let me climb on. I had to keep one hand on the basket strap and another on one of the dragon's spines. "Try to keep it slow for the passengers," I reminded as I gave the dragon a gentle nudge.

Once I was back on Little Skull with the rescued dragons, I set the basket on it's side to let the hatchlings run around. Then, I checked on Blaze. He had a few scratched scales, but nothing serious.

"Did you get all of the catapults?" I asked. Blaze nodded. "And all the sails?" Another nod. "Then we should be safe until tomorrow evening, at least."

All of the dragons were celebrating their new freedom. Some flew off for fresh water or fish. Others doted over their hatchlings. A few more simply watched me and Blaze talk things over.

"We'll rest up tonight," I explained, "In the morning, we'll head north."

I washed off most of the Nightmare saliva with a bucket of water and filled the firepit with wood. Blaze lit the tinder and I leaned against my friend, watching the liberated dragons with amusement. Some of the hatchlings came over to investigate my true scent, but I didn't mind. The adrenaline from tonight was fading and I was feeling too tired to care. I knew the dragons wouldn't hurt me.

After all, I had removed the thorn in their paws.

The next morning, I awoke surrounded by dragons. I wasn't too surprised that some stayed, but I thought more would have flown off the first chance they got. Several of the smaller dragons had curled up next to me. 'Their parents were probably already killed in the Carnival.'

Most of the bigger dragons were still sleeping, so I just relaxed until they were awake. Last thing I needed was a pack of cranky dragons thinking I was still a Viking. Blaze lifted his head and regarded my situation with an amused expression.

"Are the fires in the village out?"

Blaze craned his long neck towards last night's raid, checking for smoke before nodding.

I sighed quietly. "How many of these guys do you think will follow us?" Blaze tilted his head at my question. "We need to find a place without other humans, at least until I'm old enough to not get recognized and choose a new name. Freeing a dozen fighting dragons is bound to get me a bounty or something. The more dragons that come with us, the more secure we'll be, but we'll also need more territory for fishing, which would be easier for Vikings to notice."

Blaze gave one of his apologetic whines, so I gave him a reassuring pat. "I'm not blaming you bud. I'm proud of what I -what we- did last night. I'm just trying to figure out the future."

I angled my neck towards the village that kept me down for the last ten years. Where I was abused, forgotten, ignored, and trapped. That place no longer held any power over me. There was nothing to keep me from jumping on Blaze and flying to the edge of the world. 'Nothing, except a pack of sleeping dragons!'