A/N I'm so sorry guys, but lately my personal matters went haywire, and I also suffered from a strong, acute writer's block. But let the world know: I AM BACK!

With a bunch of dragons, ofc. ;)

Chapter 8.

The sun shone brightly, making the surface of the pond glisten with thousands of sparkles. Slowly but surely, a tiny frame's reflection began to appear on the surface. The hatchling frowned heavily from concentration, her tail swished slowly from left to right as her head drew closer and closer to the water. When her nose almost touched the surface, she slowly opened her mouth, revealing her set of fangs, then her head snapped forward like a snake's, straight into the water. A few seconds later, she emerged from the pond, with a fish fluttering helplessly in the grip of her jaw.

She quickly turned around and dropped her spoil to the grass. As she saw her father's proud smile, she began to bounce from happiness.

"I did it! I did it!"

"You surely did." her father grinned. "You did exactly as we've shown to you, and now you have your reward."

Her mother stepped forward and lowered her head to nuzzle the hatchling, who happily purred in response.

"My little huntress does everything she can to impress Mommy and Daddy." her mother purred into the hatchling's ears.

Upon hearing this, her brother bounced forward.

"My turn!" he chimed excitedly, and threw herself into the water without hesitation, splashing water to the rest of his family. But he didn't notice that at all, as he began to hop in and out of the water chasing the flock of fish in circles. The lack of success seemingly made him even more ardent, and he continuously bounced around in the shallow pond in his fierce hunt.

His sister only frowned at the sight.

"Umm..."

"Well, this is how one should not try to fish." her father commented. Her mother chuckled and then she expressed her opinion as well:

"He's a bit too jumpy to try it the usual way, let him waste some of his energy first. Eventually, he will figure out that something's not right."

All three of them giggled at the male hatchling's flailing, until he slowly stopped, and shot a questioning glare at them.

"Daddy?"

"Yes?"

"These stupid fish don't let me catch them!" he said, now wearing a puzzled expression.

"Come over here and let me show you again." his father grinned at him.

Laranys giggled and shook her head as she watched her brother sadly wading through the pond. Suddenly, an unnaturally thick fog began to blur the surroundings. The quick transition scared her; she jumped to all fours, and cried out:

"Daddy, what's this?!"

Her father looked like he didn't hear her. He sat there motionlessly, eyes fixed on his son. Meanwhile, the fog thickened, and began to darken everything.

"Mommy?"

In the matter of mere seconds, she was completely alone in the darkness. Tears started to roll down on her face, and she cried out in a shaky tone:

"Mommy? Daddy? Where are you?" Her voice echoed emptily in the void.

A blunt, barely audible voice responded:

"Nyssie!"

"Daddy?"

"Nyssie!"

Completely in shock, she collapsed and began to sob.

"Please don't leave me alone..."

"Please..."

"Nyssie!"

"N-no... please..."

"Laranys, wake up!"

Her eyes snapped open, and for a few moments, she had no idea where she is. She panted as if she would have run for hours without stop, her throat was husky, her heart hammered inside her chest as if it would want to burst out and just fly away.

"Nyssie, are you alright?" Volkownyr asked, taking a concerned look at her.

"Yeah, I'm... I'm fine." she finally managed. She shook her head in an effort to clear it a bit, then as she slowly sat up, she realized that her face was wet. With a few quick swipes of a forepaw, she rubbed her tears off.

Volk was still looking at her with full of concern.

"You looked like you were having a bad dream..."

"I was." she confirmed with a sad sigh. Then she took a look around to examine her surroundings.

The last few days brought significant changes. More and more dragons of various kinds were crammed next to them, and they all told things Laranys thought would be impossible.

They proved to be in possession of a good amount of knowledge regarding humans. They told that humans only realized the existence of dragons roughly twenty winters ago. Prior to that, they thought that dragons were a myth, creatures of legends. This alone confused Laranys and Volk, but the things that came after it were above their boundaries of imagination.

The relationship between humans and dragons were generally peaceful for most of the time. Of course, it sometimes happened that hungry dragons in the wilderness ate a human or two, or humans shot down a dragon or two, but the majority of the humans approached the scaly creatures in a friendly way, and soon, the dragons responded as such. Many dragons agreed to, or even chose to live together with humans, establishing family-like bonds and friendships. The dragons were marvelled by the ingenuity of the bipedal, hairless mammals, whose inventions made everyone's life easier and more comfortable. On the other hand, humans willingly shared their food and homes with the curious dragons, who naturally responded kindness and care with the same. This began a huge migration, as lots of dragons decided to give up their old way of life which contained a lot more struggle for survival. Of course, a huge amount of dragons just decided to stay out of this, while lots of them didn't even know what happened.

The latter was generally true for the Night Furies, who were not only one of the rarest breeds of dragons, but they mostly lived in secluded places. Furies were a rare sight in human cities, but it did happen occasionally. Some dragons even began to work together with humans, becoming official and appreciated members of their society.

But during the last spring, strange things began to happen. Flocks of humans began to openly protest against the boundaries of their society, and from what Laranys heard; they weren't friendly to dragons at all. The protests quickly escalated into violent confrontations, with many deaths on either side. After that, it didn't take too long for the humans to bring out their big weapons and begin to kill each other by the thousands.

And what's even worse, those humans who wanted their "change", began to chase away, kill or capture any dragon they could find. The plane which carried Nyssie and Volk stopped at least half a dozen times, loading in more and more dragons. The way they kept them inside has also changed: previously, when there was only Nyssie, Volk and Rak, they were all in a big cage, which at least allowed a few paces of movement. Now, all of them were in tiny, separate cages, with wings kept folded by tight and heavy chains. Their fore-, and hind legs were also chained together, and the chain was connected with another one, permitting them from running or jumping, too. Not that they had and room to do so, their new cages were barely big enough to sit comfortably. T'Arakhniz was in the worst position: his cage was so small, he wasn't even allowed to curl up into a sleeping position, all he could do is sit and lean towards a side.

The many dragons which were brought in later were all different. Six Terrible Terrors were crammed into a cage, and in addition to being understandably restless, they were constantly blabbering and asking questions at the speed of wind. Laranys would have found them annoying if she didn't pity them for their misery.

In an other cage, there were a complete family of Deadly Nadders, father, mother, and five hatchlings. The parents did an admirable job at keeping their young in check, and Laranys found the size of their family very interesting. So far, he thought that having a sibling with the same age is a rare thing, and it was true for her kind. Now, she saw five hatchlings from the same clutch, and upon her question, the female Nadder described that having five hatchlings are completely natural for them. All dragon kinds have different birth-rates, raging from dozens of eggs to a single one. During their talk, Laranys also concluded that the more offspring a specie has, the shorter their average lifespan is. She learned that Terrors for example, who can lay clutches of twelve or even more, only live a few decades, in comparison to Night Furies, who mostly have only one egg at a time, but they live for several hundred years.

Under ideal circumstances of course, currently she wasn't convinced that she'll be allowed reach that age. Food was even scarcer, despite the steady growth of dragon presence. Laranys herself discovered shockingly that she's growing thinner, since her capture two weeks ago. The fully grown Nadders were starting to show their ribs, as they gave all the food to their hatchlings.

Even the two Gronckles on the far side of the cargo compartment looked thinner, but it was hard to tell. They were very quiet, mostly sleeping and they rarely spoke even when they were awake. Laranys didn't know much about them, but she had a feeling that they were actually smarter than others would give them credit for.

There was also a Monstrous Nightmare inside the plane too, but as far as Nyssie could tell he looked very sick. He described that he's able to set his whole body on fire, because his scales are coated with the same oily material he uses to produce fire. But it looks like the poison the humans feeding them to prevent them from breathing fire is wrecking havoc inside him, making him generally feel weak, and visibly drying out his scales. In addition to that, his wings and legs were also tied up tightly; the only movement he could make is crawling on the floor, using his hind legs to push himself forward.

It mesmerised Laranys that almost all dragons treated her and Volk with some amount of respect. As if they would be special in a way. The only one, who was hostile towards them, was a young Skrill, who was picked up a couple of days ago. He constantly swore and threatened them, until Volkownyr used his tail sweep a pile of waste into his face. After the flying portion of faeces splattered on his forehead, the Skrill became silent, and he had to suffice with shooting hateful glares at them occasionally.

Nobody had any clue about where the humans are taking them, but Laranys was afraid that if the humans are treating them like this on the way, what kind of treatment they can expect once they arrive at their destination?

At the moment she reached this thought, she noticed that the humming of the engines could not be heard.

"Looks like we stopped again."

"Yeah." Volk confirmed "You were still asleep when they shut off the engines."

One moment later, the cargo bay doors began to slowly open. Once the loading ramp was fixed in its lowered position, humans began to rush into the plane. The Skrill instinctively tried to shoot a ray of fire at them, but he only managed to barf up some green goo. Then, he started to roar at them, straining against the cage walls, but the more he growled, the more hits he earned to his head by the stick-carrying humans, so eventually he became silent and lowered himself to the floor.

The rest of the dragons were smarter than that, they all waited motionlessly, except for the Nadder family, where the parents tried to cover their youth with their wings.

One after another, the humans began to move the cages out of the plane.

"Do you think we have arrived?" Laranys whispered to Volk.

"Maybe... But it would be nice to know- OW!" he was stabbed in the side with a stick, and the human growled something at him in his strange language.

"YOU SON OF A-"

"Volk, DON'T-!" Laranys cried out.

As the Night Fury roared at him, the human reached for his belt, grabbed a stun pistol and pointed it at Volk's neck. Two tiny metal probes, connected to the gun with wires, shot out from the barrel and penetrated the scales of the Night Fury. After a ten second treatment of two hundred and fifty kilovolts of electricity, Volkownyr dropped to the cage floor unconscious, muscles still twitching uncontrollably.

Laranys was horrified, but then the human turned towards her, and growled something which sounded like a question. All she dared to do, is cower, and trying to make herself look as tiny and unthreatening as she could. The human left her at that, and the others continued the unloading procedure. They used hand trucks to move the cages a few hundred steps away, then they began to load the cages up to another mean of transportation, a train, as Laranys heard.

As the sun slowly settled behind the horizon and the first stars began to appear on the chilly winter evening, Laranys silently watching the landscape pass. The constant shaking and knocking of the train, and more importantly, her fear about tomorrow held her back from falling asleep. The cages of others were too far away to talk, and Volkownyr was still unconscious, so all she could do is whisper the question which occupied the minds of the rest of the dragons:

"Will we be alive to see the morning?"

With one last, strong yank, the train came to a halt.

"Volk! Volk, you have to wake up!" Laranys urged desperately.

"Nnngh..."

"Volkownyr, please!"

"I'm up..." Volk groaned, and struggled onto fours. "W-where are we?"

"I think..." her ears flattened to her head as she felt the icy touch of fear running along her spine "We have arrived."

Eye-hurting spotlights tore the night apart, and they were forced to squint as they tried to examine their surroundings. Without the words and phrases they learned from the other dragons, Nyssie and Volk would have no way to describe and understand what they saw. Not that having an idea of what awaits them would offer any comfort.

They saw lots of people around the tracks, walking up and down, preparing the cages for offloading. Another handful of humans were waiting in their white medical gowns, with lots of soldiers patrolling and keeping the area secure. The spotlights were on watchtowers with more guards overlooking the area. Not far from the train station, they saw a tall, concrete fence, which more resembled a wall, and there were spikes and barbed wire on top of it. The area around the train station was hilly, and the two Night Furies slowly realized that the fenced area is right in front of a mountain.

"Do you think they want to lock us into the mountain?" Nyssie asked in a low voice.

"I can imagine anything from these bastards." Volk growled.

Just as he finished his sentence, the gown-wearing humans began to approach their cages, with soldiers behind them, urging them forward. Laranys cowered to the farther side of the cage, but a few of the soldiers grabbed her chains, and forcefully pulled her against the grid. Laranys whined as she was stuck into this uncomfortable, immobilized position, and she could hear Volkownyr's struggling and growling coming from behind. She tilted her head a bit to see one of the guards looking at her.

"Please..." she whined "What have we done?"

For a moment, she was sure she saw a sparkle of pity in the guard's eyes. But it only lasted for a moment, then an other human yelled something in an orderly fashion, and the guard stepped behind. Laranys faintly sensed that someone stepped over to her, then she felt a slight sting, and a weak but strengthening pressure on her neck, as one of the gown-wearers injected the mild sedative into her system.

A few moments after that, she felt her chains becoming slightly looser, but her head became heavy and her muscles refused to obey her will anymore. She helplessly collapsed to the floor.

Minutes passed, and the world reduced itself into a blurry mess of dark colours and obscure shapes. She tried to shake her head in an effort to get things clearer, but all she was able to, was a languid nod. After her cage was lifted off from the flat wagon, she barely realized that they opened her cage. For a desperate moment, the thought of escape crossed her mind, but she couldn't breathe fire, she couldn't fly, jump, run or anything that would offer her a chance. She was so disoriented, she didn't even attempt to bite when two of the humans entered her cage, and strapped a leather belt around her head. She shockingly discovered with her delayed senses that now she can't even bite anymore, her jaw had only a very small amount of movement up and down.

She lay paralysed on the cage floor, and she could only vaguely make out the desperate groans of the other dragons. More humans came, and they grabbed her chains, pulling her towards a direction. Using their pull, Laranys was able to slowly stand up again, and seeing that she has no choice, she obediently followed the humans. Weighted down by the heavy chain, and being half-conscious by the sedative, her steps were shaky and unsure.

After a few minutes of dragging and walking, her foggy mind registered that she went through two gates, a courtyard, and she was dragged into a smaller room. Then, much to her dismay, the floor started to shake, and the whole room began to go downwards.

After around a minute of travelling, she and her captors finally entered a dark hall. She was dragged into a corner, and finally left alone.

She couldn't find the strength or will inside of her to take a look around, so she collapsed to her side, and let the exhaustion overtake her.

Laranys?! By the Spirits, is that really you?

The voice was feminine, shocked, but honestly caring at the same time. It reminded Laranys of her mother's, but it was slightly different. She hesitantly opened her eyes, and slowly lifted her head. She was still squeamish by the sedative, exhausted by the long trip and weak from the lack of food. As she set her eyes on the dragoness calling her, a name slowly crawled into her mind.

"Aelynna?" she mumbled "What... what are you doing here?"

"I was on my way back to home when the humans attacked me and knocked me out of the with a flying net..." she told to her "I've spent days inside the humans' flying and rolling contraptions, until they dumped me here two nights ago..."

"So... others have been captured as well?" Laranys asked, being afraid of the answer.

Aelynna gulped, before beginning to answer.

"I was brought here along two from our clan, Orlengiir and Bernarth. Bernie's here somewhere too, but Orlen... he was seriously injured when they caught him... so..."

"You mean, he couldn't make it to here?" Nyssie asked.

Aelynna shook her head ruefully. "Have you been captured alone?"

"I met with Volkownyr. He should be somewhere near..." Laranys looked around, but much to her surprise, there were dozens of dragons laying or sitting around, talking quietly.

"Bernarth is at the other side of this cave, we always check the newcomers every day. I'm sure he will find Volkownyr, and the four of us can meet up-"

She was interrupted by a harsh, grouchy voice.

"All right newcomers, listen up!" The voice belonged to an old-looking Gronckle. He looked impressive in size compared to the Gronckles Laranys saw earlier, but his scales were unhealthily pale and dusty; his numerous scars around his face and missing right eye gave him a rather battered appearance. He wore the same chains as the rest of the dragons, but his voice was still authoritative.

"Welcome to this ugly shithole of the world, we call it The Pit. None of us knows why we are here, but our dear human hosts have other humans down here, living in the same conditions as we are, doing what we do. In one hour, the horn will mark the beginning of the day, and the guards will come to take us to our workplaces. Because we have been brought here to do forced labour for these bastards. That's right, we play pit ponies, and carry weight. Those who wish to stay alive, better do as told, because the humans kill in seconds."

"Just... what?" Laranys whispered in despair.

"He's speaking the truth." Aelynna sighed sadly. "We all are doing heavy work here, for most of the day. They give us a short time to eat something midday, then we have to work until sleep time. We get fed before it, but that's all. What the captive humans dig out, we have to carry it to certain places, rinse and repeat. Over and over again."

"I'm not doin' this shitty job for ya!" the young Skrill cried out loud.

"By the Spirits, not another one of those..." Aelynna let out a resigned sigh again.

The Gronckle shot a killing glare at the Skrill, and he backtracked at least two steps in response.

"You can do whatever you want, if you want to die horribly, be my guest. But if I see that your foolish actions will bring harm to others, I will personally tear out your throat. Those who do not produce the daily standard will get punished, along with the rest of the group. We are all sorted into groups here, and if one member of the group breaks the regulations, the whole group receives punishment. Do not attempt to bite, growl, or disobey and order under any circumstance."

As if to reinforce the old Gronckle's words, a loud horn sounded and all of the dragons began to form a group of some sort. Laranys quietly followed Aelynna and occupied a place next to her. Much to her fright, humans began to appear from the caverns and corridors, but they all wore torn and dirty clothes, and most of them looked just as miserable as the old Gronckle.

The captive humans also formed lines, and everyone was just finished when the doors of the elevator opened, and a contingent of armed soldiers marched in, led by a tall man who wore a long leather jacket, and a black service cap.

The old Gronckle stepped out of the line and approached him. The officer grunted a few unfriendly words to him, then both turned towards the crowd of dragons and prisoners.

"He also acts as a translator; he learned the human language quite well." Aelynna explained quietly.

"How-"

The Gronckle's grouchy voice interrupted her. He shut his eyes and frowned, making it obvious that he loathes every word he has to say.

"By the endless wisdom of the Prophet, you have been selected to work here for the greater good. This way, you can keep your worthless lives, even if you do not deserve them."

"WHERE'S MY FAMILY?!" a Nadder roared and tumbled forward. Laranys was shocked when she realized that this is the male Nadder who was brought along with her, his mate and hatchlings.

The black-wearing man pulled out a long stick which dangerously sparkled at on end, and hit the Nadder in the face with a long swing. The Nadder let out a roar of pain as he fell to his side.

"S-speak only when you are allowed to." the Gronckle stuttered as he translated the officer's words, looking away from the Nadder.

"YOU SON OF A HAIRLESS APE, WHERE IS-"

Without a word, the officer put away his shockstick and pulled out his gun. He pointed it at the roaring Deadly Nadder's forehead, and pulled the trigger.

The loud bang echoed through the mine, the rock walls repeating the sound again and again, until it died away slowly.

The Nadder lay motionless on the ground, in a continuously growing pool of blood.

Laranys stood at her place in utter horror. The officer continued his speech, but she didn't even hear it, she was unable to tear her glare away from the dead dragon. She had no idea that after the two weeks of being dragging all over the world with unbearable amounts of sadism, things could get any worse.

She was wrong. The nightmare only began.

A/N And that's all for this chapter. I'll be coming back with more!

As always, if you found something you like, dislike, or don't understand, use this box thingy here down below: ;)

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