A/N: I am very very very very very -you get the point- very sorry for my lack of updates. I have been very busy lately, but I promise I will update once a week as often as possible now, or until everyone reviews.
For all fans of Forgotten Freedom: I promise I will either write a sequel, that was the original plan, or end it off better but for now I have to leave it as it is. My muses are forcing me to write Curse of Dragons, and I have yet another idea that I believe is much better than my first fanfiction. Ido not think I will try to juggle two stories at a time until I at leastwrite a draft of the ending for Curse of Dragons. Sorry if I have left you in the dark lately, but I really need to rethink my original plans for Forgotten Freedom.
.:Curse of Dragons:.
.:By: Maiden of the Seven Stars:.
.:Chapter 5: Sacred Power:.
She held her breath as she stepped through the door, yanking on Inuyasha's chain. It jangled loudly and the slow huff and torpid movements of the silver dragon followed.
"Remember, you're drugged… heavily." She whispered and his glazed eyes narrowed in a glare. He snorted, knowingly, but continued in his lumbering, and pathetically slow, pace, his hung head swinging slightly with each step, his entire weight shifting from side to side before he stepped again.
She could hear the dragonboys gasped as she passed them, Inuyasha, padding drunkenly behind. Some narrowed their eyes, one looked as if it were about to say something but Inuyasha took that exact moment to stumble, his head flying dangerously close to the dragonboy's head. They were quiet after that.
"How did you manage it?" Rin whispered as she led an only slightly sedated Mayrei. Her dragon was a blue-black, fading into a blue at the feet and belly.
"I let him gorge… a lot." Kagome whispered. "I got lucky."
Rin shook her head. "You have a way with dragons, Kagome, don't deny it." She paused as Mayrei glanced towards another door where a dragonhead peered over the door. "Mayrei, FOLLOW!" she cried, giving a yank on the chain. The dragon obliged.
"She's ready to go into heat, it's her first time." Rin said. "They'll breed her, I'm taking her to spoil her in the private wallows now. You won't be seeing me for a few days, probably longer. The training compound is at the end, past the feeding room. Bye Kagome!"
She took a guarded door to the right, dragging Mayrei with her, and Kagome barely had time to wave.
"What are we going to be doing?" Inuyasha hissed, slowly, as if drowsily, as they approached the guarded entrance to the training compound.
"I'm going to teach him the basic commands, I think, and maybe let him fly after lunch." She replied, but to the guards. They nodded.
"There's a private feed room over on the left, through the arch-" He was forced to pause as Shippo ran up to the four of them.
"Message, from Lord Naraku." He chirped, waving happily at Kagome before taking off again.
The guards unrolled the scroll Shippo had dropped before turning to her again.
"You're to fly him, chained of course, but the Lord Naraku wants you to fly him." The guard said, trying to hide his disbelief.
"What about the basic commands?" She asked, her stomach lurching at the word fly.
"Apparently the Lord Naraku does not care for basic commands, the next battle is-" But his partner cut him off before he could finish.
"Battle?" She asked but they shooed her in.
"To the right, third arch." One of them said as he clapped Inuyasha's shoulder to get him moving forwards. The dragon didn't move. He had stood stock-still, his ears lifted slightly, his eyes losing their false glaze.
"I thought he was drugged." One of the guards accused.
"He is!" She protested. "Move your silver rump!" She hissed to Inuyasha, giving a savage yank. He eyed her reproachfully but moved forwards, letting the door shut behind them.
"What was that for?" She hissed again as she began to 'lead' him to the right.
He didn't say anything and she turned, only to see one troubled amber eye as his head drew level with her shoulder.
"What's wrong?" She asked, concerned now.
"Nothing you would need to know." He rumbled, but his eyes were still troubled.
"Tell me!" She pleaded, but he stiffened, his eyes narrowing.
"And let you add another little detail to that letter awaiting Naraku in your quarters? I don't think so." He growled and padded forwards, nearly yanking the chain out of her hands.
"But I-" She protested as she was dragged forwards but her mouth slammed shut as his silver head whirled to face her, his lips drawn back revealing long savage fangs, but what shocked her was the faint, yet true, glimmer of pain in his glaring amber eyes.
"But you what? You'd never tell? Pah, you females are all the same. Lying bitches, all of you." He hissed angrily, breaking eye contact but not before she was sure she had hurt him somehow.
But he was telling the truth; she had manipulated him, in a slightly vague way. Why did it affect him like this though? Why was there hurt in his eyes?
"Inuyasha-" She started before realizing a figure was approaching them.
"So that's his name, huh?" He asked as he took the chain from her.
"Yeah, he looked more like a dog than the others…" She rambled as the man deftly hooked a far longer chain to Inuyasha' collar.
"For when he flies." He said simply, dragging the 'drugged' Inuyasha across the smooth plains and hooking the chain to a moving hook in the ground.
"Get his wings free." He commanded, seeing she didn't know what to do, and then he began measuring Inuyasha's chest.
She tugged the chain off of Inuyasha's right wing, resulting in a beat that nearly knocked her off her feet.
"Temperamental, isn't he?" The man asked, still measuring.
"Yeah." She said, giving Inuyasha a sharp jab behind his foreleg before pulling the chain off, only to find the man was feeling the spot on his back where his neck joined his body.
"I'll need a snug saddle for him, if we want you back alive." He said simply as he stood back from Inuyasha's twitching wings and strode into a separate room.
"No funny stunts." She said as soon as the man was out of earshot.
He snorted.
"I'm serious!" She said. She did not want to be plummeting off of his draconic back from high off the ground.
"As if I have a choice." He growled tightly in return, but the man returned before she could reply.
"Standard issue, black with red, this should fit." He said, holding the saddle out to her. It was mainly straps and a large padded cushion, though when she felt it it was really like a large pad, held in a rounded shape by rock hard leather, though it's bottom was soft and flexible, able to shape to a dragon's back and withers. Attached to the pad was a large leather loop, which she pulled over Inuyasha's head and tightened a little at the large red spider buckle in the center. Another strap ran to the center buckle and she pulled it down between Inuyasha's forelegs, at the man's command, and hooked two more straps from sides of the saddle to another spider clasp, though it was smaller than the one on his chest.
She fastened the secondary straps, which would hold the saddle on enough so if another strap broke the rider could land safely, and then stepped back dumbly as the man double-checked her work. He then handed her a bridal of the same fashion and she 'coaxed' Inuyasha's mouth open, ignoring his fangs, and inserted the bridal, looping the two long reins back through a loop in the saddle. Again her work was doubled checked and he was satisfied and motioned her forwards, slapping Inuyasha on the near shoulder while he did so.
Inuyasha grunted but didn't move and the man slapped again. Puzzled by the dragon's little reaction he turned back to Kagome.
"Basic commands?"
"We never covered that, Lord Naraku's orders were for us to fly." She replied, and at the look of horror that crossed the man's face she was sure this was a very bad idea, but they both knew better than to contradict their lord.
"Wait here." He said and trotted off, returning with two other pads, smaller than the main saddle, and hung them in what remained of the depression where his neck joined his back, buckling them firmly to the shoulder straps of his saddle.
"Get up." He said and she obeyed, scrambling up an unhelpful Inuyasha until she sat in the saddle.
He handed her a heavy robe, which she tied around herself as tightly as she could, and he showed her how to strap her legs down to the pads, strapping her left leg in for her. She did the right and strapped herself down at the waist, now thoroughly nervous.
"Kiyaaaaaaaaaaah!" The man shouted as soon as she was in place, screaming at the top of his voice while racing back, coming back with a long pole, which he used to prod at Inuyasha's rump.
At once Inuyasha snapped at him, still in 'drugged' mode, and when the prodding didn't stop he spread his wings and beat.
Dust flew into the air, and her hair went whipping out of the tie she had held it in. Her robe was too heavy and warm for whipping, but it still shifted uncomfortably as Inuyasha tensed and flung himself into the air with his powerful hind legs, turning her stomach upside down in the process.
The silver dragon rose with each down beat of his wings, and fell as he pulled his wings back to pump them again, continuously upsetting her stomach. She dropped the half-snatched reins, instead wrapping her arms around Inuyasha's neck and trying to keep from screaming.
Finally she felt the chain yank taunt and Inuyasha wheeled into a glide across the top of the pen, the hooked chain moving with him. With a rumble of glee to be back in the air he cocked his head slightly, eyeing her for a moment, and laughed cruelly.
"How's it feel to be helpless?" He growled, suddenly braking with his wings and sending them plunging downwards.
She screamed in fright and he laughed again, stretching out his wings and flying up again.
"Don't do that again!" She yelped, shivering and rubbing her waist where the straps had dug in.
"What's wrong with a little fun?" He taunted, his shoulders tensing as he prepared to repeat his stunt.
"Stop, or you're not getting dinner!" She cried in return, "Or at least, nothing except porridge!"
He resumed his glide with a soft snarl, wheeling around in a sharp turn before flying around in a slowly descending spiral.
Now that his flight was rather smooth she grabbed the reins, which were really long leather ropes, and tugged to the left as if trying to get her mount to move that way.
"Act like I'm teaching you." She called but got no response.
She tugged again with a flourish, though her pressure was still gentle, and this time Inuyasha' head followed her gentle pulling, his entire body turning with another stomach hurling jerk before her soared again.
The ground had never looked so welcoming.
-
"No, I cannot wield a weapon!" She protested, stepping back, but the crimson-eyed advisor, Kagura, grabbed her wrist with a pincer like grip.
"Lord Naraku's orders." Kagura snapped, dragging her down the hallway towards the archery range. "You will learn the bow today, and master it, or at least be sufficient with it, within the moon."
The advisor flashed a blood red spider badge of office at the guards and shoved her into them, where they promptly took her wrists.
"Get her to the archery master, I've no use of her." Kagura snapped again and hurried down the hall.
"I can walk on my own, thank you." She grumbled as soon as the advisor left and the guards set her on her feet.
"Right this way, miss." One of the guards grunted and strode down the hall, another following behind them. She wondered how many guards they had in this place if they could spare two as an escort for a lowly peasant girl. Or perhaps it was because she was the only one who could control Inuyasha.
"Through the arch, miss, to the first courtyard on the right." The guard in front of her said, taking a stand at one side of the archway, the other guard following suit. With a sigh of resignation she strode through the archway, and turned into another courtyard.
There was no one there.
"Hello?" She asked, quickly scanning the archery range and the array of bows and quivers of arrows.
"Oh, hiya!" Chirped an all too familiar voice. She peered down and, to her surprise; a red-haired kistune came trotting up to her, a quiver of arrows in his hands.
"Shippo? You're the archery master?" She asked, staring at him in her disbelief.
"Well, I'm actually the assistant, but the master was tossed from dragon back, so I'm taking care of the training for now." He chirped. "Now, for the bow and arrow."
For the next few hours she learned the use of the bow and arrow. Shippo took her over the proper stance, the way to aim, and then forced her to practice, and practice, and practice. Unfortunately, she was incapable of landing the arrow anywhere other than the piles of straw at their feet, or occasionally slightly down the range.
Finally Shippo called a halt, needing to write a report to the Lord Naraku about her progress.
"Keep practicing, Kagome, until the I get back. I won't be long." He chirped, a little wearily, before bolting off again.
"Yeah, he'll only have about four words down in his report. 'She's an utter failure'." She groaned as he left, but picked up her bow anyways.
She set her feet and knocked an arrow from the quiver on the ground, pulling it back as far as she could and lifting the weapon, sighting along the shaft until the point was aimed for the bull's-eye. She focused on the point of the weapon and the line of the bow, concentrating as hard as she could on the arrow, picturing a line for the shot from the arrow to the target behind her eyelids.
"You will make this work." She whispered fiercely and opened her eyes and shot.
She gasped as the arrow flew from her bow, fairly true to the course she had set for it, and surrounded with an aura of pink-violet.
The arrow clattered to the ground only a few meters from the target, the aura dissolved like rain around the stone tip, and she finally drew breath again.
"Wow, nice shot!" Shippo called appreciatively, seeing where the arrow had fallen.
"Did you see?" She began to ask but he nodded hurriedly, a scroll tucked under an arm.
"I have to go deliver this, so I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" He said happily turning to go, but she stopped him.
"Wait, could I take back a bow and arrow? So I could practice? My dragon will be drugged after dinner, so the arrow won't disturb him." She pleaded and Shippo nodded.
"Just be careful." He said and scurried off, leaving her to drop off her bow and arrow into Inuyasha's stall then ran for the dining hall.
-
"So what do you think?" She asked, holding the arrow, the same arrow she had shot previously, in her hand.
"I think something's screwed with your idiot mind." Inuyasha snapped from where he lounged in the straw across from her, his eyes half lidded, his dinner stretching the sides of his belly.
"I swear, it was glowing!" She snapped, and the dragon huffed, sending her hair flapping back behind her.
"Alright, prove it, do it again." He growled, his eyes opening just slightly to watch her fail.
She growled, a good imitation of Inuyasha', and grabbed the arrow in both hands. She closed her eyes and focused on the point of the arrow. She willed it to glow like it had before and waited.
Suddenly Inuyasha snarled and her eyes popped open, just in time to see the arrow glowing with the same pink-violet light.
"I told you!" She crowed triumphantly, leaping to her feet but falling silent at Inuyasha's distressed hiss.
"Sit down, fool, I know what this is." He snarled, and she sat, not liking the dark look in his eyes.
"This is power, power in it's purest form, known as sacred power." He hissed when she was settled. "You have power, from holding the jewel so long with you, or perhaps it's just you. It doesn't matter, you have a well of power in you, I've seen it since the first time I laid eyes on you."
"Why didn't you tell me?" She cried.
"Why should I have cared?" He snarled in response, his scales bristling in that curious draconic fashion.
"Anyways, you've tapped into it now, and managed to draw it out in a pure, untainted way. The power you hold in that arrow will decimate anything impure it comes in contact with." He growled, and she noticed he was rising and backing away slightly.
"What's wrong, afraid?" She jeered, unable to resist, and concentrating again, bringing the arrow back to glowing life and waving it at him. He snarled.
"Be careful, wench!" He hissed again, "Put that out!"
"Why?" She challenged, but obliged removing her wall of concentration from the arrow.
"Sacred power, as I said, decimates impurities. They don't call it purifying power for nothing, but impurity also acts as a conduit for it. You know how fire spreads? The same with sacred power, if it had enough impurities to accent it."
"What's so bad about straw?" She couldn't help but asking.
"It's not the straw, fool. You've been letting me groom myself, therefore all of the scales I shed a buried in this stall. I'm an impure creation- creature. If that power touches my scales they'll spread through this stall, lighting on the wood since it's been chopped down, and burn the whole place apart. You and maybe a few others may survive, since you're pure, but everything else will go up in chaos." Inuyasha snarled, and then dragon-frowned at the expression on her face.
It was mischievous, and dark, and clever. It reminded him far too much of Kikyo.
"Inuyasha, I've got an idea on how we can get out of here. Just trust me!" She blurted gleefully. "We should be able to leave, as soon as I can get this bow under control."
"What's your idea?" He growled, but she smiled mischievously.
"I'm not telling, it might not work yet and I don't want to get your hopes up." She said, quickly sliding into her room before he could finish his roar.
"What!"
-
"Kagura." The icy voice snapped, and the crimson-eyed advisor stepped up to the dais and bowed low before her Lord and Master.
"Have you found her?" Naraku demanded.
"It's harder than it-" Kagura began but Naraku waved her silent.
"I told you, I would not accept failure!" He growled and she flinched.
"My spell is ready, it will suck the proper girl's soul right out of her and stuff it in the prepared vessel, but I need to know where that girl is! Where is she?" He demanded again.
"I don't know!" Kagura cried in return, getting to her feet. "I honestly don't know why I have to search like this, you haven't even giving me a single clue, one-who-knows-all!" She screamed in frustration, but Naraku's eyebrows furrowed. The thing was, he didn't even know where to begin, of course Kagura, a part of him, wouldn't either.
"Well then, Kagura, look for a Kikyo."
A/N: Again, I'm very very sorry, give me a few reviews (10) and I will post the next chapter. If you're all quick I'll post it before midnight eastern time.