Second part of the special! Here we go!

Disclaimer! I own nothing!

Dragon Princess

Chapter 10

The guards did give her a tour of the 'city', which turned out to be little more then tunnels and linked caverns crowded by dragons. Many of the occupants had atrophied wings and shedding scales layered over prominent bones. They appeared to be starving or malnourished and Anzu guessed that they hadn't been outside in many years. She wasn't permitted to speak to those dragons. Instead the guards simply pointed out various sights along the way to the dining hall. Gilded statues of dragons, supposedly the queens themselves, though the magnificent beasts in no way represented the shriveled old creatures in the Royal Cavern, lined every wall. They appeared to watch every dragon moving through the corridors.

They passed by many caverns but there was one that she couldn't refuse to look into, Anzu believed that no female could refuse to resist. In this one, tiny little dragons with adorable, nearly round baby faces stumbled and tripped and fell over their over sized wings as they played with their fellows.

It was a nursery, obviously and the baby dragons looked so cute! She walked a little closer, not daring to actually go into the cavern. One baby, a black and gold female, noticed her and slipped closer to see her.

The little chick squealed and touched Anzu's snout briefly before going to turn back to play. Heavy steps told her that an adult dragon was coming out from the soft gloom.

Anzu was at a loss of words. This female's scales were a bright crimson looking like ruby. Her aura looked like fire. "I see you are smart not to come in here." Her golden spines, teeth, horns, and claws glowed brightly.

"I'm sorry if I have disturbed you. I'm new here and when I saw the babies . . . I just, couldn't help it. They're so adorable." She said, her mental voice sounding close to a whisper. The ruby dragon tipped her head to the side.

"I'm sorry," she repeated. "I'll leave now." Anzu was about to follow the guards but a snarl stopped the female guard in her tracks. Anzu looked over to see the ruby dragon get a bit closer.

"You said you were new here, correct?"

"Yes."

"From where do you come from?"

"From everywhere, I'm an orphan." Anzu explained. She wasn't lying, but she wasn't giving the whole info.

"Have you undergone initiation yet?"

The female guard yanked Anzu from the ruby dragon. Growling, she bared her teeth to the small guard. "If you wish to eat so badly then go!" she snarled. Turning back to the ruby dragon, she continued. "The queens will initiate me tomorrow. They have graciously granted me the opportunity to rest tonight."

"You think they are gracious, do you? Well, new female, you may be permitted a bit of freedom for now, but soon enough you will be just another commoner. Your kind is forbidden to interact with the clutch. You've seen them; realize that you will never have your own in this city and leave, now." The red dragon turned away, dismissing her.

Before she went to the Dining Cavern, Anzu got one last look at the chicks. When she entered with her annoying guard, she witnessed the largest concentration of dragons.

They pushed, shoved, snarled, and growled at each other as they gnawed away at unidentifiable meat. In the far corner another tunnel, guarded by dragons that actually wore metal armor, led away into a heated cavern that the guard referred to as the kitchen. The guards needed armor; she clarified, because many starving dragons tried to raid the kitchens for more food.

The dragons ate in three meal times. The best and most plentiful food came at first meal, reserved for those arrogant claw-lickers lounging in the Royal Cavern. The soldiers, guards, and craftsdragons ate at second meal, and the left over scraps tossed out to the common dragons, those who were the least powerful and least skilled of the dragons, made up the third meal. Anzu realized why they looked so malnourished. So many dragons in one place must strain the food supply tremendously.

The female guard explained to one of the cooks, Anzu guessed. The dragon left but came back and gave her some meat. Looking down, she lost her appetite for the night.

It was a human thigh.

Struggling not to get sick in front of the other dragons, it took her some time to pass it to the guard, explaining that she was too excited to even eat. The female looked at her curiously until she turned to the meat and chomped down. Anzu turned away, making sure that she didn't see.

When the female was finally done, she led Anzu to a nicly sized cavern. The guard left, leaving her alone thankfully.

The chances of escaping were slim. She had no idea where in the cliffs she lay or how to find an exit. Even if she could somehow move without detection, she didn't think she could fly past the guards she felt certain patrolled the skies. If she was caught trying escape, the queens would try to rip into her mind. But she had some hope. If her iron wall could stop Atem then she stood some chance.

Allowing the slight hopelessness to swamp her for the moment, she laid her head down in sadness and despair. She didn't know if she dozed off or not but suddenly the soft blue glow from the tunnel globes disappeared and Anzu's cave plunged into darkness. She sat up and could make out the form of a dragon that was slightly smaller then herself.

"You guard your thoughts well, stranger, but not enough. The queens' spies are everywhere." The dragon waved a claw and a tiny blue globe burst into light, illuminating them both where they crouched in the cave. Anzu immediately recognized the female from the dragon nursery. She wasn't a dragon one easily forgot.

"Wh-what are you doing here? I apologized for intruding with the nursery."

"That is not why I am here, storm dragon, I came to ask you a question."

Shock flashed through Anzu. "How did you know? I was told that it would be a bit hard to tell what I was because storm dragons are small."

"That is true, but I noticed a spark that the foolish guards missed when you spotted the chicks."

"Oh . . . so the question, what is it?"

"Why are you truly here, storm dragon? Did you actually come to join the city?"

Anzu decided she had little enough to lose at this point in revealing at least some truth. "I grew lost and was about to head home when the guards stopped me."

"So you are not here willingly? You do not truly wish to join the Kin?"

"Honestly, no. But I see little hope in escaping."

"There is no escape."

"Well, that makes me feel so much better! Now if you're done ruining my night I would like to sleep again, please."

"Listen to me! There is no escape but there is another option. Are you willing to take a risk; are you willing to do something dangerous to gain your freedom?"

"Is this some kind of trap? How do I know that this isn't a test and that you were sent by the queens to ascertain my loyalty?"

The red dragon nearly growled in frustration. "Look at me storm; can you see their taint in my aura?"

"No, but maybe because you serve them willingly."

"Nobody serves them willingly! If they cannot control you, they destroy you. The only reason I live, despite the fact that they have not been able to breach my mental defenses is because they control me in another way."

"The guards?"

"Of course not; they are no threat to me. I speak of the hatchlings. The queens threaten to kill them if I leave."

"How horrible! Why would they do such a thing? Why wouldn't they just kill you then?"

"The hatchlings are not all prime bloodline and you have seen that we already have an overcrowding problem. The queens have tried to eliminate those that don't show enough promise already, but I have managed to stall them. They keep me alive because I do possess an excellent bloodline. I am their favorite breeder."

"Then those babies . . ."

"Some of them are mine, yes, but all of the clutches are reared together and the best and brightest hatchlings are selected and taken to the queens for initiation. The rest are taken to the kitchen." The red dragon snarled as a hint of red mist surrounded her body.

Anzu looked closer at the mist and watched it curl closer to her. Taking a rook, she let the red mist touch the rock. A moment later, she was holding a ruby. "So you're a Gem Dragon, do they know?"

The red dragon looked shocked. "Yes . . . I did not know you've heard of our kind."

"I've read about them, but never seen one. So, back to the topic, they eat their own young?"

"Yes, I'm glad to know that it horrifies you just as it does to me. Perhaps you will find my proposal more palatable then.

"I don't understand; are you the only one that can resist them? Are there other strong enough to fight them?"

"There is the fire god, but he cares nothing for us ordinary dragons."

"The fire god?"

"Atem, the fire god that lives in the mountains to the North. Once, he and his friends destroyed this entire city and nearly killed the queens, but her never finished the job and left us to their mercy instead.

Anzu struggled to remain upright, completely stunned by the other dragon's words. Atem, the fire god? What could she possibly mean? "What other gods?"

"The other dragon gods that rule, Seto, Yugi, Chaya, Mai, Joey, Tristan, Serenity, Kisara . . . forget it, I'm sure you can find out about them later on." The red dragon said, looking out of breath. "He brought them to this world when he opened a portal. He takes the form of a tri-colored dragon, enormous, probably a human taller then you. When they realized he was the son of Cindara they immediately attempted to capture him, but they weren't strong enough. So they sent us instead."

"A child of Cindara . . . the dragon Goddess?" she said under her breath. She shook her head. "Hold on, what do you mean they sent you to him instead?"

"The breeders, the best that the city had to offer, they sent us to him one by one and he spurned us all. I was the last that they sent. I went by the order of the queens but I had no intention of seducing him, I really went to plead to him to help us. I made a mistake and he wouldn't trust me, he would not listen to my pleas. He forced me from his lair."

Anzu fought a spurt of jealousy, so ridiculous in her current situation but the thought of Atem turning away from this dragon made her seriously doubt that he would ever love her. Of all things she'd just heard, that Atem was a fire god.

"I lost hope, fearing that I and the other dragons must live like this forever. Then I saw you today and realized what you were, though I suspect not even the queens don't know about you. This can work to our advantage."

"What do you mean? Why is seeing me so important? What can I do against a city of dragons?"

"That's just it; you don't need to fight a city of dragons. You have seen the gray sickness in dragons' auras. Not everyone here suffers from it, but those that don't are not permitted to go near the queens. Only those firmly controlled by the queens may approach them; even I cannot go near them. However, whenever a new dragon is initiated into the Kin, they come into close contact with the queens. There hasn't been a new initiate in generations. Now here you are, and better yet, you control skyfire. You can kill them and once they are dead, those they control will be free."

"Wait a minute, are you asking me to fight three dragons at once? What about their followers, before I kill them, won't they attack me as soon as I strike out at the queens?"

"I have planned a coup for over a hundred years. I have brought many dragons over to my side, earning their loyalty they way the queens never had to. I and my associates will charge the first-tier dragons and the guards when you begin you attack. We will keep them occupied while you eliminate the queens. They are old and weak and they haven't personally fought a battle in over a thousand years."

"But I don't think I can kill one dragon, much less three!"

"What choice do you have? Do you prefer this place then the call of open lands?"

Anzu remembered at that moment the roasted human thigh and the starving dragons. The baby dragons . . .

Suddenly she knew what she had to do. She could never live in a place like this; never endure day after day of life in this sick society. "I cannot promise that I will succeed, but I will die trying to kill those queens. I accept your proposal. But I have my own request." The red dragon nearly shook with excitement and anticipation, eager to rush off and inform her companions that the time for revolution neared.

"Anything! You can take the gold, the hoards. We don't care, we just want our freedom."

"I don't want gold. I want any humans still alive and trapped in this city freed and I want the Kingdom that is within your hold released from the oppression of any and all dragons."

The red dragon paused, startled by the request. "Why? What do you care about the humans?"

"That is the reward I demand if I do this for you. Do you accept?"

"Of course! We have no need of the humans; we will see to it that the dragons disperse. Most will not want to remain anywhere near here anyways. I will personally free the human cattle once the queens are dead and see them to safety. Is that agreeable to you?"

Anzu nodded and the red dragon made to leave. "Wait! There is one more thing. I do not know if I will ever see you again. Can you tell me your name?" For some reason, she had to know the name of the ruby dragon.

"I am called Rubeliara, and your name, storm?"

"Anzu."

"Such an odd name for a dragon, but no matter, if you succeed in tomorrow's battle, the name Anzu will be known forever to the dragons as the hero that freed us."

Rubeliara hurried off and Anzu settled down to get some much-needed rest. She realized that all the odds were against her, and she didn't stand much of a chance, but for the first time in her life she felt confident that even though she might die tomorrow, she made the right decision.

So, the fight is next. (This is part of the reason why I made it a three chapter special, you get the whole Circle crap over with.)

Onward to the next chapter!