She was making her way to another village when she collapsed on the road, to tired from her blood loss and infection spreading down her arm.
Nore awoke inside a cage suspended in the air. Her arm had not been cared for and her body ached all over. She moved to stand but found she could not. Nore tried again and hit solid iron bars. She growled and tried to cast a spell but the magic only burnt her and made her arm hurt worse.
Gritting her teeth, she looked around the room through blurred eyes. It was dark and smelled heavily of sweat, death and ale. They were normal stone walls… but there was no window.
As she had been examining her captive surroundings, a huge guard had opened the door and there, beside him, stood a fat king. Nore's ears went back and she roared at him loudly.
"Feisty ain't she sir?" chuckled the guard.
The king only snorted and turned, leaving. The guard however, advanced on Nore's cage.
She went tense, watching him move around her. He stuck his spear inside the cage all of a sudden and pierced her side. Nore yelped out and grabbed the bars of the cage.
The guard left the spear in her side with a smile as he watched her in pain. She gasped for breath as her side bled heavily, trying not to move for fear the spear would scar and tear her muscles.
He called out the doorway to his fellows and they all came in, grinning at her. Nore could only sit and watch as they all sat and talked.
"She's a looker ain't she?"
"And a fighter too… look at those muscles!"
"I call first dibs tonight boys!" one of them remarked.
Nore wondered what he meant, but she passed out in before she could find out.
A few moments later, blazing hot water hit her hard, making her awaken with a roar. She lashed out at the bars, forgetting where she was until she banged her head on one and grimaced.
"C'mon lassie. Grun's got you for tonight," James said, opening the cage.
Nore leaped out, only to find she fell to the floor. Heavy shackles had been placed upon her feet and hands, weighing her down. She looked up at the guard as he lifted one of the chains with ease and pulled her forward a bit. Her ears went flat and she bit his leg, digging her teeth into it, almost meeting bone.
He yelped and more guards rushed in, whipping her and smacking her away. She was forced to let go as one hit her under her chin with the hilt of his broadsword. Nore was knocked backwards and flat on the ground. They all surrounded her and some bent down, pinning her to the floor. She struggled against them, fighting for everything she held dear.
A flash of metal was what caught her eye next. Then there was pain, lots of pain. Nore looked over and saw they were slashing her arms open, blood slowly leaking from them like wine from a spilled cup.
"Now you'll come eh?" one of them growled at her, picking her up.
She tried to fight but her arms had gone numb from blood loss. Nore still wouldn't give up, kicking out with her legs. Her dragon sized talons ripped out through the toes of her boots and slashed a guard. He immediately fell dead, her talons having ripped his neck apart.
She turned on the next one, but was slashed at with a sword. The blade stuck in her leg and she yelped loudly. Weighing her leg down, all she could do was meagerly struggle.
"All right, now you'll come!" James laughed.
Nore was drug down to a room and thrown onto a bed. Then a guard stepped inside, shed of all his armor. She sat up on the bed, but the guard came at her and she fell back, passed out once again.
If it was night or day, she wouldn't have known. Nore awoke in her cage again. A guard opened the door and the scent of alcohol came over her. She shut her eyes but the guard sent his hand through and forced her mouth open.
"Here ya go! Hahaha!" he laughed, pouring burning liquor down her throat.
She slashed at his arm and he screamed loudly, then she thrust her foot through and gutted him in a swipe. He fell to the floor without a sound.
Nore sat there, wondering how long she had been out. Then she remembered she had been violated thru the night. Growling, she decided to test the bars. As she touched them, something frozen and sharp tan through her veins and she yelped. Another guard came in and saw his fellow laying dead on the floor.
He looked up and shook his head at her with a grin. Then he removed his sword and ran at the cage, holding it before him. Nore tried to dodge it, but she couldn't move around in the tight space and the sword pierced through her shoulder coming out the back. She gasped and choked on her breath as he pulled it out fast.
"Don't even try to pass out," he said to her before he stormed back out and the others greeted him.
Nore was dazed and leaned against the bars, only to feel the sharp tinge of the magic. She yelped again and reached up, touching her shoulder. When she found she couldn't heal it, she closed her eyes and tried to sleep, her stomach growling greatly.
It was impossible to catch any sleep. The dragon had lost so much blood, had not eaten and was unable to lay down that she could barely keep her eyes open. A guard came in every so often and grabbed her, anywhere. Sometimes she was drug to the room with the bed and violated as well.
Soon, Nore tried to get away, fearing she would lose her freedom forever. She waited for one of them to come in one night, staying quiet and making sure he was alone. When he opened the cage, she fell out to the floor and laid there. The guard, who's name was Irun, chuckled and shook his head.He began to drag her out of the room to the bedroom but Nore told herself she would not give in. She got to her feet, hunched over though. The guard was whistling and not paying attention as Nore threw the chains over his head and broke his neck, the both of them falling to the ground.
She quickly bit at him, tearing off meat to eat and becoming quite a mess. Then she grabbed the keys and undid the locks on her shackles… or so she thought.
The key would not undo them so she gave up and listened closely before going up the stairs from what she suspected was the dungeon. A few guards were coming down them so she uttered a spell to manifest a spike trap on one of the steps.
When they passed over it, they both had giant, sharp spikes driven up through them. Nore smiled and ran on up the steps.
When she reached the top, she was in a corridor of the castle. Slinking around, she found a door and lunged for it.
The guards were on her the next moment. Arrows flooded her wings and back, making her roar as she fell down to the floor. She tried to crawl for it, but one grabbed her by the hair and threw her down the steps to the dungeon. He walked down, followed by a small army.
They took her and chained her down to the floor, many of the arrow shafts breaking but still inside her. She fought killing almost half of them in her fury. Many of the bones in her hand broke as she did, and her arm becoming broken as well, twisting it in the shackle.
When she was secured to their satisfaction, one kneeled over her, sitting on her stomach. She couldn't breathe as he leaned over to her hand and was handed an odd looking tool much like a pair of pliers. Nore couldn't begin to think what happened next.
The guard began ripping her claws off her hands and toes.
Nore cried and screamed in agony only to have that burning liquor thrown inside her mouth and burn her insides. She tossed her head but none of it was to her avail.
After they were done, Nore lay defeated and crying, sadly given into them. She was starved, dehydrated and stripped of all her dignity and couldn't bear to fight again.
The guards smiled and congratulated each other as one dragged her back to the cage. She didn't care about the bars, leaning on them and feeling knives slicing through her veins constantly. Nore was a broken shell of a half blood and she knew it.
Unknowing of how long it had been or what time of day it was, she awoke to a scratching noise on a side of the wall. Looking over her horridly infected shoulder, she saw someone was opening the door to her cell. She turned her head and didn't give another thought, thinking it was another guard who was going to violate her again.
She heard the click of the lock on the cage door however and warm hands softly help her out.
"The king says you are to be released. You have done your time he says," the thin man whispered to her.
Nore had no words, no breath to give in response. She thought it a trick of the guards. Following the man up the stairs, she was released through a side door on the castle into the forest.
"Don't even return here or harm anyone," he murmured as he undid her chains and pushed her out, slamming the door.
Nore stood there, then ran as fast as she could to the forest. Every muscle hurt and her skin was bloodied and cut. The gash from the guard was infected so much as to making her arm numb. She clutched it however and ran on.
