Chapter 7
"Urgh."

Acacia groaned, rubbing her sore temples. Where was she? At home?The thing she was lying on didn't feel like a hammock, and it certainly didn't sway in the breeze.

Why does my head hurt? Did I have a concussion?

Then it all came flooding back to her: leaving the village, flying across the savanna for an entire day till her wings hurt, disguising herself and sneaking into Jewel Hive, and the sounds of HiveWings screaming before everything went black.

Filled with shock, she realised something-or someone-had hit her on the head to knock her out.

She tried to wriggle, but something was holding her down, and when she opened her eyes she was met with only darkness on all sides.

"Help!" She screeched in a panicked voice. There was no reply.

Acacia hated the darkness; it had freaked her out since she was a tiny hatchling.

She didn't usually mind being alone, but the thought of being the only thing in a void of empty blackness creeped her out more than any creature ever could, especially when she was pinned down with what felt like chains.

Once she stopped thrashing like a pinned cobra, she finally had time to think, Who kidnapped me and why?

HiveWings, probably. It was definitely the ones that saw me in the market, but where have they taken me?

As her stomach started to rumble fiercely, a new thought popped into Acacia's head:

How long have I been out?

-‐-‐-

Acacia lay there in silence for a while; she didn't know how long. She couldn't exactly track time when there was no light.

At one point, she drifted off into a light doze, but woke up in a cold sweat after she had a nightmare about insects eating a dead LeafWing.

She spent the next few hours drifting in and out of a restless sleep.

It was a day later when she heard the talonsteps.

At first, she thought it was just another one of her fever dreams; a hope of salvation and nothing more.

But when the sound continued and got louder and louder with each step, she became excited and scared.

Are they here to help me?

Will they help me?

Or..

She didn't get to finish that last thought, because a door slammed open and snapped shut with a sharp thump that made Acacia's heart jump.

She jammed her eyes shut, praying it wasn't option two.

The talonsteps got much closer, then yanked something off her head, flooding her vision with low light, which felt like being right next to the sun considering she hadn't opened her eyes in hours.

Once her eyes had adjusted to the light, she looked up to see a dragon three times her size glaring down at her with glowing yellow eyes as she gripped a blindfold in one onyx-black talon.

So that's what was covering my eyes.

The HiveWing in front of Acacia chucked something in front of her. Acacia sniffed it and winced when she detected the scent of rotten wildebeest.

She'd smelled it before, when she passed a wildebeest carcass on her way to Jewel Hive. Some HiveWing had probably been hunting, but gave up halfway, leaving their prey to rot on the savanna. She thought that was a massive waste, but apparently the HiveWings had the luxury of enough food to eat.

"Suck it up," the HiveWing growled in a rough voice, red tail twitching menacingly as she said this. Acacia wondered if there was a stinger at the end of her tail.

The HiveWing reached for a sheath her back and pulled out what looked like a thin metal stick with a wicked point at the end and started to twirl it in her claws like a twig. Acacia, understanding the subtle but visible message, reluctantly bit into the hunk of meat.

Acacia nearly choked in shock. It tasted horrible, rotten and bitter and toxic. It reeked of death and something she couldn't place.

Every ounce of her wanted to spit it out right away, but she didn't want to starve either. She forced herself to eat every last bite, each making her feel the urge to throw up.

When she had finally forced down the final morsel, she gazed up at the HiveWing guard, who had a satisfied look on her face. Acacia tried to arch her neck defiantly, but heavy metal chains wrapped around her neck and torso prevented her from doing anything other than snarl.

"All done, are we?" The guard said with a smirk. "Well, I hope you enjoyed that, because you won't be getting another until the end of the week."

Another week?! Acacia thought, shocked.

"See you in seven days!" The guard said sarcastically, fake waving as she sauntered out through what appeared to be a door about five wingspans away.

Acacia caught a glimpse of bright light and a wall covered in armour before the door slammed shut, and she was bathed in darkness once more.

-

Acacia couldn't stop thinking about what she had seen outside her prison.

There was light-not the sun, artificial light, like from a fire. And that wall was covered in spears and chestplates. Am I in an army training facility or something?

Her mind circled in a track about that for hours, but she couldn't come any closer to an answer. Eventually, she gave up and decided she was going to sleep.

That is, until she heard another dragon.

"Psst."

It was barely a whisper, but clear as a bell in the eerie silence.

Acacia jumped, or would have if she hadn't been chained down. She tried to move her neck to see where the voice had come from, but her chains held her down, feeling tighter than before.

Panicked, she was a millisecond away from screaming, but a fierce hiss from the other dragon silenced her.

"Don't shout. You'll wake up the guards," the mystery dragon said with a hint of worry in his voice.

"Who are you?!" Acacia managed, her lungs too tight to speak.

"Hold still and I'll tell you," the other dragon replied, and it was only then she realised her tail was thrashing around like crazy.

Acacia heard a clink, and then the sound of the mystery dragon fiddling with something. There was the scrape of metal against metal, then a click as something heavy fell to the ground with a thud.

Her chains loosened, and for the first time in what felt like forever, Acacia could spread her wings and move her neck.

"Ow. Three moons, that hurt." She said.

"Chains digging into your scales for five days will do that," the other dragon replied.

"I've been down here for FIVE DAYS?" Acacia loud whispered.

"Yep. You're lucky. I've been down here for at least nine."

Acacia's mind was buzzing with a bunch of questions. "Where are we? Who are you? Why did they bring us here?"

"Whoa, whoa, slow down." The mystery dragon said. "I'll explain it all. Just gimme a sec."

He scrambled through the dark, and Acacia heard him feel through what sounded like a rock shelf.

A moment passed, then Acacia heard something click, and light filled the room.

At first it was blinding as the sun; bright, dazzling rays shining like fire. Then Acacia's eyes adjusted, and she could see far more clearly.

Before, it had felt like she was in an endless pitch black cave, but now that the place was illuminated, she could see that the ceiling was fairly low, just big enough for the guard from before to stand up straight.

There was only enough space for her to spread her wings, any further and they'd scrape against the rough stone walls.

Turning to see who her mysterious saviour was, she noticed he was holding what looked like a lantern with a thread of fire coiled up inside.

Her jaw dropped when she saw he had blue scales with a white speckled snout, antennae sticking out from his forehead and tiny curled up things where his wings should have been.

There was only one tribe on Pantala that looked like that.

Her rescuer was a SilkWing.

Wow, that was a long one! Hope you lot enjoy :D