Beau: Chapter Thirty-Eight

It feels like I have been enslaved in this army forever... Oleander's aggression has worsened as time went on. Constant threats and physical abuse. Her grieving self after losing her dragon is becoming a monster. But even as I think about her. I don't think its grief anymore... It's her real personality.

The only comfort I have is that I am not the only one suffering from her abuse of power. Every day there is always someone being whipped. Dragons mainly getting the brunt of it. I roared at an officer and in turn, I was dragged out and whipped. I always thought whips would never hurt me... I was wrong... I now have scars on my back. Those whips can cut deep.

Humans are evil for creating such things... To control us.

"So, Beau... That's what happens when you disobey me. Hurts don't it? If you misbehave, I will place you under mind control. And chuck you back into the mindless army. You don't want that do you? But if you behave, I will reward you with more food each night." As she rides on my back that still stings from the whipping.

The burning sensations still ravage my body as if I experimented this morning. Everything burns... Oh, it hurts. But I am learning to bear it. Mind control can at least numb the pain as I cannot of the pain.

As we travelled further south. We passed many villages and towns. Many under complete control of the Shadow Emperor. People who live there being pushed around and killed. Now they know what it's like to be a dragon. Whose privileges are taken away.

Through all of this, I have never felt so alone... I thought I felt lonely in my herd. But nothing like this... I wish Myshka is with me... My guilt returned once the mind gear was taken off my head. I didn't know... I really didn't... Kaunis had such an influence on me and I didn't even realise... Now Myshka is alone herself somewhere. A small mouse dragon living in a country who uses them for slaves or worse. I hope she escapes and is doing better than me... I don't want to think anything worse happening to her.

Once again, we are resting in a large military camp. A large meeting is being hosted between generals. I stand back as they all look at the maps on the table. I have never seen the map of the world before... It's huge... I can't read it. But the details are beautiful. All the different colours indicating all the different Empires. I have never realised how large this world is...

A man completely covered in sleek brown, purple and red armour slams his dagger into the table. I overheard his name being Lord Commander Oscuro. As I looked at the dagger its pierced location of a city.

"Demir has been taken over. The Shadow Emperor is there now doing clean-up work. The Grand Prince Kaiser is kept alive-"

Another general interrupts. "Why didn't our Emperor kill him?!" The surprise and mumbles from everyone in the room. As I look around, I notice a few dragon generals. They are snaking the bunch of them with their eye bonemarks. Mumbling like they're humans, some even talking in human tongue. I have tried to get along with a few. But they are just as nasty as their partners. They took me down as if I am not a dragon-like them. Making fun of my chin and the fact I have no bonemark. It's like being surrounded by many versions of my brother.

Oscuro looks at the general who spoke.

"It'll be foolish to murder him. He is not like his father and he is well-loved by his people. He will co-operate and make sure the occupation goes smooth. He doesn't want any more bloodshed. But we still must be vigilant. Many will not accept their new leaders."

He looks forward to Oleander.

"General Oleander. Your battalion will go south to a city called Chuma. It's one of the closest cities to the Red border. They are not accepting their new rulers and have shut themselves tight. Beware their city is literally a fortress."

She looks back at Oscuro with a nervous look. "What of the Red armies? They have successfully invaded. Last I heard they were south. I will not have enough men or dragons to fight them off."

"The Shadow Emperor is in the process of discussing a treaty with Empress Vatra. The Reds are exhausted themselves. They have paused fighting as soon as they heard the news. I am sure it was a shock to Vatra to find out we took her victory. But I am sure our Emperor has his reason for killing Emperor Arman Kaiser."

Everyone surrounding me begins laughing.

Someone screaming. "How long do you think that will last?!" As they laugh.

Oscuro claps his hands together. "Silence all! We will bide our time... As we always have! Reds are exhausted. But they are still powerful with plenty of resources. Do not provoke them unnecessarily! If anyone does... They will be punished by the Shadow Emperor himself." Oscuro then folds his arms and stares at all of us. Such a stare that can frighten anyone. He means those words as everyone is so silent you can hear a pin drop.

"General Trevas you will go east to the city of Pavar. General Karan you will go to Denver, General Eyria to Schnarat. General Myrkur to Damaron." With no objections, they nodded in agreement. And with a soft note, he dismisses us. Oleander doesn't seem to happy. All I can hear is her mumbling of wanting to see the Emperor.

She tugs at my lead as she pulls me and ties me to a pole next to her tent. And like a general that she is she commands all her soldiers to prepare and move forward. And like that, we are off again. The mountain ranges are beginning to be so exhausting to climb. And by looking at the dragons and people here they are not used to this kind of terrain. The shadowlands are a flat surface land where they reside in. Me, my family and the herd lived in the rugged mountain terrain of the northern border. Too dangerous for these little daisies to live. It was perfect... Until we had to no choice but to leave due to the lack of food... Which reminded me of the old dragon seer in the cave. She told me to one day come back to her... Although I don't really see why. She must be long dead by now... She was too frail to even walk. And it was too dangerous to carry her through the terrain.

Then I remember something else she said. I will fly one day. Dragons don't fly and I wish I can because that meant I would have flown far away from everything. I sigh as I dream of my prospects of escape. There will be a moment when I will be free once more.

No humans... Living by my own rules. Maybe becoming alpha... It gave me some sort of comfort.

A week went by and we finally reached the city of Chuma. You can't even see much of the city, it surrounded by a large wall on the side of a mountain. Oleander knocking on the door mockingly yelling her battalion has arrived. And in response, we get rained on my arrows and weapons called a mag cannon. It blasts powerful energy like a dragon would only much more powerful. It killed a few of her mindless dragon soldiers in one hit leaving no corpse behind. We had to pull back out of its reach. It was so stupid and many of her soldiers criticised her for it. I laughed as it made me feel better as she made them all look like idiots. But as she put it, she was just testing the waters to see what they had.

She sent a young boy to be a messenger with a letter and he was taken in. He came back with a letter in response. He was unharmed, so those in the city must have morals. I stand next to her as she read the letter. I look at the boy as he looks nervous. I don't blame him Oleander and many of the generals are assholes. I then see chain link tattoos on his wrists. The human symbol of being a slave.

"Ladies and gentlemen prepare for a siege. We will be here for a long time! We will starve them out. Or until we can get reinforcements. Then we can attack them." As she folds the letter back up and demands the boy to go back to his station. Tending to the other soldiers and their needs.

What's a siege? I have never heard of it before. A long time? How long? I have never had a chance to escape yet. It didn't take long for Oleander to make herself comfortable. Many tried to get to the city, they failed. Some taken enslaved most were killed. Merchants, Green soldiers, bandits thinking they can attack us for our resources, refugees who are fleeing the war.

I won't lie that it has been very boring... And it has only been a few days. And nothing has happened... Until a large group of bandits show up. Oleander being her cocky self was curious as to who they were. She likes to find out about her victims before she does anything to them.

But this man is more confident than she is. Tall dark-skinned with his left eye being completely white and scarred. This human has seen things... That many scars and he still live I am impressed. She questioned him and he never gave her answer. So, like many before him, she beheads him. Oleander makes beheading look so easy... Trained with a great sword she swings it with complete ease. I hear a young girl scream in horror as the bandits as the man's head rolled on the floor. Not the first time I will hear a scream like that, and it will not be the last.

All the soldiers in excitement went for all the bandits. Many of them surprisingly know how to fight against these soldiers. But as I watched the fighting, I see a bull dragon and a rider running away. Oleander in her usual fashion demands for me to go after them. With her on my back with her greatsword out in full display.

I did not take long for me to reach the dragon. They are slow as they a big and bulky with short legs. I jump in front of them as the big dragon skidding to stop.

"MAG ME UP!" Oleander demands and so I do. I have never fought with a human before... She glides on my mag stream to her enemy. And kicks the man off the bull dragon. I see a young blonde girl tied by her wrists to the dragon's saddle. She is Wriggling to set herself free. I had no idea what to do... I looked at the surrounding of dead trees. This is my chance... I can abandon Oleander and RUN! There is no one else around.

I see Oleander have a small moment of looking at the girl as the bull dragon swayed back and forth. That poor human girl... I won't lie that it looked funny. Even better in Oleanders small distraction, the man kicks her off in complete style. I laughed... About time she had some karma back to her...

In my small laughing fit Oleander throws a rock at me. "MAG ME YOU PETULENT DRAGON! TO THE GIRL I MUST HAVE THAT GIRL!"

What I was thinking. I magged her immediately upwards again. I see the bull dragon mag his partner up as well and they both fight above the dead trees. I looked around again... I am wasting my time. I need to run NOW. But it was too late...

The bull dragon rushed right into me during my distraction. Lucky he has no large horns to impale me with... I roar in pain. And with my aching feet, it was hard to try and keep a grip. My sharp claws scraping on the ground. I slip and roar in pain. I instead lift my front paws up and scraped the dragons' sides. As I did this, I notice the girl in front of me. She is screaming.

Telekka she is saying. That must be the dragons' name. She is stick struggling to escape her binds. He is pushing me with ease.

"TELAKKA CLIFF!" The girl shrieks. I had a quick glance behind me. And that was it. The bull dragon, the girl and I fell off the cliff. My mag stream disconnected with Oleander and I see her fall onto a large tree branch. The man, however, was not lucky he fell onto a weak branch and it broke. Him falling with us slamming onto the rocky ground below.

I lose consciousness...

I thought I was dead... Everything went black and I felt nothing... Until A surge of pain surged through me once more. Now it's not just my blood that burned. My legs, tail, claws, head, every bone hurt. I couldn't hear well only muffled crying... I opened my eyes. Everything was a blur.

I shook my head as the crying stopped. And I felt gentle warm touch soothe me. My burning blood even soothed. It was like... My blood was being calmed down itself.

"Shhhh... Easy..." It was muffled. But it sounded like the girl who wouldn't stop screaming.

It didn't take long for me to come to my senses. But I couldn't move. My eyes cleared and I see the girl tending to my wounds. Her face bright red from tears. I look at her and notice her long dress has been ripped in half. I move my head once more managing to lean up. She looks at me and raises her hands up. It must be to surrender in human terms. For dragons we lower our backs, looking up. Making ourselves look smaller to our opponent.

I look at my feet and I see that they have been tendered too... They don't even hurt anymore... Everything else does though.

I stared at her for a solid minute. If it was any random human, I would have attacked them in a second... But this one is helping me... I see her reach out to my face and pull away. Nope... That is never going to happen.

As I face away from her, I see the bull dragon dead on the sharp rocks. How did I survive such a fall? A question I will probably ask myself for a long time. As I looked to the left past the dragon corpse. I see the man that Oleander was fighting against. He has been stripped of his clothes except for his torn pants. He is clearly dead... His eyes closed with him covered in blood.

I look back the girl who has bandaged my leg wounds. She is now massaging my back. I will not deny this felt so good! I have never had anything like this before... Oh, sweet release this felt great! I felt better after it.

"You're enjoying this aren't you?" She asked lightly chuckling. It sounded fake but I guess she needed something. She has a small gentle voice. Nothing like the overly loud people that I have come across so far...

I don't react and stop looking like I am enjoying it. Even though I am... It felt so good... I want this all the time.

"Ok then." As she continues massaging now all over my body.

She then stops and I immediately get annoyed. Why did she have to stop? That felt great!

I see her bring a bag full of food. She brings out this small stick looking thing. I smelt like meat... But it looks disgusting. I see her chew on this food and she struggles with it. I guess I have no choice I am getting hungry... I eat it and it's the foulest thing I have ever tasted... What is this? I poke my tongue out and lick a nearby rock.

"It's salted rabbit meat. It's disgusting I know... But it's all we have for now." She then sticks half of it into her bag.

We waited a while longer. What is she waiting for? I see her clean and change my bandages in a nearby stream. She didn't give me any more of the disgusting meat... Oh yuck... Just give me fresh flesh anytime. In annoyance, I managed to stand up. I was shaky and it was painful. My legs are so stiff I felt pins and needles, I could barely lift to walk. But I managed to walk. Breathing slowly and embracing the pain. That's a huge relief... Usually, when a dragon leg breaks, we usually kill them. In the wild, we have no treatments for it... Death is much easier to deal with.

"Yay! You got up!" She claps her hands together in some small excitement. Why is she helping me? What does she want? "Now that you're up! You can go back to your camp. I was thinking of leaving, but I needed to know if you could walk first."

I take a few steps forward. Shaky and sore. But I guess it's better than the dead bull over there. I look at the girl again. She is packing up her small items.

"I cannot be around here for long. I fear I have been here long enough. I have done what I can... I hope you heal well. And please as a favour... Don't tell anyone you saw me. I'd greatly appreciate it." And like that she walks away into the dead tree forest.

This is my chance... I AM FREE I CAN RUN BACK HOME! The largest smile appeared on my face. I am so excited! But with my excitement, I felt a bit of curiosity of the girl. By her actions, she stayed behind to treat me. Humans I have always been told are cruel and callous with everything they do. They destroy the world. They are all awful! They will leave their dragon best friend for dead if they have the chance. Yet this one stayed with me and treated my wounds.

In curiosity, I follow her. It didn't take long to realise that she had no idea what she was doing... She is lost and scared. She has a small map and trying to get her bearings. She ends up sitting on a rock crying.

"By the Magna Draconis, what am I to do? What am I going to do? What am I going to do? I am now talking to myself... Great..." She takes out her map again and tries to get a sense of where she is. I walk closer behind her as she is fixated on her map. She jumps as she notices I am behind her.

"Ah! sorry I thought you were going to go the other direction? Don't you want to go back home?"

I do... I need to find my family. I have no idea where they are, and I don't have an idea of where I am. I am far away in another place I don't know. I don't understand maps and the sights and smells here are unfamiliar. I am lost as well. But this girl... She has been nicer than anyone else I have ever met. I can imagine my father scolding me for this whole ordeal that I am in. Brother, I bet is with him right now... Which scares me... Brother has a history with Kaunis. And he left me to be taken eventually coming under Kaunis's influence.

Does my brother have something planned? I don't know... Probably will never know... But I know the Black Empire will want every dragon they can get the disgusting hands on.

"Are you okay dragon?" The girl waves her hand in front of my face. I dazed off into the world of thinking.

I look down at her. She is tired, sad and exhausted. She turns around and I nudge her forward. She looks back and smiles. "You want to come with me?" She smiles at me and this time it's genuine.

I don't know where to begin. I never thought of this... How do I get home? The Shadow armies are everywhere. I can easily be captured and enslaved again...

I will get home. But it will take time. I need to make a plan. I will follow this girl and see where this takes me.

"Come on. Let me introduce myself. I am Iolene Summers!" She says.

And in a small rush to catch up with her, I walk next to her unexpecting the unknown.