Chapter 7: Captured

Thorn stood over the dragon, her eyes ablaze. She felt a sudden surge to stop, that what she was doing was wrong. Why did she feel like this? There was no remorse within her for the unicorn, so what was this tugging in the back of her conscience? Her grip on the staff faltered, and her eyes flickered. Though she hated herself for it, she was hesitating. She gazed down at the red dragon that dare not move, and she bit her lip. The rushing feeling of power had drained completely, and she tried to regain her steady grip. It is evil, she reminded herself. Dragons are terrible creatures.

"Thorn, bring the captive here!" She heard the familiar voice of the Huntsmaster demand. A wave of relief washed over her. She snarled at the dragon, and prodded him with the stick. He glared back at her as she used amazing speed in chaining him. Within seconds his arms were locked at his sides.

"Move it, dragon-boy," Thorn growled, her Huntstaff held threateningly at his back. He reluctantly trudged forward, throwing dirty glances back at Thorn when she urged him on with her Huntsstick. Her confidence restored once again, she bounded into the transfer system proudly. There were less than half the Hunters than there were on the voyage to Magus Bizarre. Thorn's gaze floated over the others. She suddenly noticed something was wrong. Shadow wasn't among them.

"Huntsmaster, where is Shadow?" Thorn asked with a tint of fear in her voice.

The Huntsmaster shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot, avoiding his niece's eyes.

"We haven't found her." He said sternly. Realization dawned on Thorn, and her eyes grew wide.

"You're not going to leave her here, are you?" Thorn pleaded.

"You know better than to ask such questions!" Huntsmaster snapped. "We have no choice. There is not enough time to look for her."

This was too much for Thorn to take. Her eyes flashed, and she glared at her uncle. She silently made her way towards the exit, dragging Jake along with her.

"What do you think you're doing?" The Huntsmaster demanded.

"I'm going to find her!" Thorn said determinedly.

"You know it is too risky. Do not be a fool. We have the dragons down temporarily, but the will recover quickly, and you'll be taken prisoner." The Huntsmaster reminded.

"I won't leave her by herself." Thorn stated strongly.

"Then why are you taking it?" The Huntsmaster said, indicating Jake, who was offended at being called an 'it'.

"Dragons are merciful creatures. Evil, but merciful. If they have Shadow, they didn't kill her, they captured her. And they'd be willing to trade off." Thorn said uncertainly.

"You are willing to risk membership into the Huntsclan?" The Huntsmaster thundered.

"I'll have other opportunities to capture the American Dragon. I won't have any others to save my friend," Thorn said before turning, with Jake in tow, and exiting the transfer.

"Who would of guessed you'd be the ultimate friend?" Jake teased, though he felt a strange admiration for her values.

"Shut up, you should be thanking me right now. I may just have saved your dragon tail…or maybe not." She added slyly.

Jake grinned at her. "I'm eternally grateful," He said mockingly. A small smile flitted beneath Huntsgirl's mask. She withdrew it immediately.

Glancing around, Thorn was in utter shock. She saw Hunter's dead or dying in pools of dark blood, shining in the setting sun. She saw dragons dead, or treating wounds. It was a horrible sight, straight out of the Civil War. The usually vibrant green grass of Draco was splattered with red, people were moaning. Suddenly, Thorn saw something unexpected. It was the unicorn she had killed. It lay there, no longer with the bright pearly aura, but a pale off-white color. Its horn was a dim gray, and its eyes were wide open, staring at her. She backed up several steps, horror filling her heart. She had contributed to this bloodshed, this murderous day. Murder that was what she had committed. It hadn't felt like it at the time, but now she realized that this was the fact. Her vision blurred and her eyes stung, and she knew she was about to cry. No, whatever you do, don't cry. Don't let the dragon see you cry. She turned away, blinking rapidly. Jake knew she was restraining tears, and felt sympathy for her, even though she had cold-heartedly killed this unicorn. He stood behind her awkwardly, until something caught his eye.

"Hey, girl, is that your friend?" He asked helpfully. Thorn spun around on her heels, and Jake noted her eyes were a bit pink, though he made no comment. Sure enough, in the distance, was Shadow…who looked to be fighting a yellow dragon. Or were they quarrelling?

Shadow folded her brow in irritation. The dragon she was supposed to be battling was yellow, with orange lightning bolt-shaped stripes and orange wings, and talked with an Australian accent.

"What's wrong shela?" he asked with one eyebrow raised. "Can't handle all this?"

Shadow growled softly, for the one thing she hated more than boys who were full of themselves were dragons who were full of themselves.

"You might want to be informed that I know ten different ways to kill you with a Popsicle stick." Shadow threatened.

"You know you like it," The dragon replied, earning a snarl from Shadow.

"I hate you," Shadow said in a low voice.

"I love you too." The yellow lizard answered, arms folded.

"This dragon giving you trouble, Shadow?" Thorn bounded over quickly, Jake following her.

"Oh, two shelas, well I'll be darned." The yellow dragon said. His eyes widened when he saw Jake…in chains.

"Didn't take you long to get captured, huh Ja-" He was cut off by a quick kick to the shins from Jake, angry that Fred Nerk had nearly identified him in the presence of two Huntsgirls.

"Ow!" He yelped, grabbing his leg. "What was that for?"

Jake gave a little nod towards Thorn and Shadow.

"Oh, right, no first name basis. Gotcha," Fred said with a sheepish smile.

"Thanks for serving as a distraction," Shadow commented, stepping from behind Fred, who was now chained just like Jake.

"What the-" Fred said in surprise. "How did you?"

"It pays to be a huntress." Shadow smirked. "Where are the others?"

Thorn hesitated. "They left, I think, I'm not sure. They were about to leave without you, but I went looking for you."

"We better hurry then!" Shadow said fearfully. Then they both saw it. A green flash of light, and a loud boom. The Huntsclan had left them.