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Psst....its chapter 9!

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Chapter 9: Captivity

James stumbled lazily over a rugged path, his wings and ankles bound by an unseen metal which clanked noisily against the ground, the weight seeming immense but rather easy for his stronger bones to pull. He could not see, for they had slashed his eyes with a blade on the way there, blinding him. He had awoken in the arms of a brutish soldier who had been carrying him on the way to the place they had referred to as headquarters. He knew this place well, but not well enough. All he knew was that this was not an ordinary building or prison, but a stalwart fortress that was made to withstand attacks from dragons of various sizes, complete with large arrow spates and airship docks armed with incendiary arrows. It could be easily said that this fortress was all but impenetrable.

James continued to move, the blood having dried over his eyes. Each time he attempted to open his eyelids, they seared with pain, his eyelids having been slashed as well. Whenever he did manage to keep his eyes open however, his vision was incredibly impaired. His left eye could see nothing but blurred colors that couldnt even make shape, and his right one had completely blacked out. He grieved silently at the thought of never being able to see the marvels of the world again, including Alex.

He stumbled upon a large hole in the ground that made his knees buckle and cause him to lurch forward, almost landing face first into the ground, his palms burning from being skinned afterwards. He felt like the trip there was torture enough. He dared not think what would be forced upon him inside of the castle itself, lest happen to him if he refused to give them the information they wanted.

"Keep moving!" The brutishly large soldier growled, giving him a hard shove forward. "If only we had to keep you alive...The time of the dragons is at an end, no more will your scum kill our families. Nay I say!"

"I am trying to pro--" James began to say, before being slammed against the jaw with a blunt object. Whether it was the soldier's fist or a mace, he could not tell, the force between the two seemed both logical to him.

He spat out a tooth, blood dripping from his mouth and tainting his mouth with its coppery taste. "Alex...." he thought. "Take care of yourself for me..."

As he continued to walk, he felt the pattering of rain against his scales, washing the blood of his eyes and mouth away as he walked, his feet sore from the trek. In a way it was both a curse and a gift. The water provided him something to drink as he began to bend it to his will, forming a large orb of water in the air before drinking it. The idea of fighting back with his element was very tempting, but the odds of his survival were against him. He was blinded...and he did not know where his opponents stood. For all he knew, there was a crossbow at point blank range behind him, but he did not care. He knew that Alex would continue on without him as he ordered her.

He wondered if she had awoken the sleeping dragoness that they had brought to their cave. When they found it, it appeared to be under some sort of sleeping spell, and nothing could awaken her, escape seemed highly unlikely...

James fought back images of Alex attempting to rescue him, only to fall victim to the defenses of the castle... it was something that he dared not bring up again, the first image of her taking an arrow spate javelin to the throat. The image was too painful to him...shunting it away.

It was then that he began to hear the creaking of the two large brass doors that stood nearly twenty feet in height, allowing him entry into what he knew was the copper colored floor. As he passed through the threshold, he felt two large blunt objects hit him in the knees, bringing him down like a slave.

"How dare you! Your kind of taint does not deserve to walk in these hallowed halls, you must crawl..." the soldier said, dragging him by the chain collar now.

He had to grip the chains around his neck to prevent himself from being choked to death by the chains around it, inable to speak a word or make a noise as it contricted him each time the soldier pulled.

James let a tear fall from his eyes and hit the ground below him, his sorrow an immense emotion that even Alex could feel, miles and miles away from his location. He could feel her mourning him, her long powerful roars echoing in his heart and soul, he knew she felt his pain...and he could feel hers.... they were not meant to be separated as such.

He continued to crawl and be dragged by that soldier that was charged with carrying his body to their leader. He did not know who to expect, but he expected that they were well revered in religion and honor. However...he did have a hunch.

"Bring him forth...I wish to look upon his face..." a gruff voice said.

With that, he felt a boot kick him in the hind end, sending him lurching forward once again as he crawled to the voice down what seemed to be a endless room, his paws bleeding his scarlet blood all over the polished floor, eliciting growls of disgust from either side of him.

"Yes...yes...good...." the voice said, this time, he was able to make out the voice.

"Commander Roland....I should have known...are you the king of this hell hole or are you just put in charge?" James spat.

"How dare you!!" a soldier to his left flank shouted, the sound of a sword being unsheathed ringing in the air.

"Halt!!!!" Roland shouted angrily. "How do you know my name...?"

"Why do you care.... all you care about is slaying dragons.... They.....We....We are not all horrible monsters you make us out to be!!!! You blindly attack peaceful creatures which only retaliate in their own self defense!!!!" James spat.

Roland grew quiet, but he felt anger seething inside of him even though he was blind. He knew what was to soon come.

"You.....You have no idea what I have been put through by your accursed kind! Even before we started hunting you we have been attacked by dragons!!! Do you not see that we are righteous?!" Roland shouted. "We protect our people from you!"

"Do you mean just one dragon?" James asked. "Tell me....what color was the scales of these so called 'dragons' that attacked you?"

"Black....Jet black.... the color of evil..." Roland spat. "You all wouldnt know it any other way...."

"Commander Roland...I am not your enemy...not yet...." James said softly, trying to rise to his feet but unable to, feeling as if his legs had been broken from the force used to knock him down.

"HAH! Are you suggesting peace between our kind and yours even though our sole purpose is to hunt you?!" Roland scoffed.

"Have you ever in your lifetime heard of dragons that were not black in color attacking your villages and towns....?" James asked, raising his head. If he could, he would stare into the eyes of the commander himself. "Answer me!"

"I have never....but what makes these black scaled menaces any different than your kind?" Roland asked. "You all have the potential to turn wild and kill us all."

"You ignorant fool!" James shouted.

"Commander!" a soldier shouted angrily.

"Stay your hand!! Lest you want it lobbed off!" he heard Roland shout.

"Commander....we have a common enemy.... Us dragons are in civil war... but we all regard the black dragons as our enemies, regardless of whether not we are fighting each other or not. I have seen the dragons work together in harmony, as do I with my mate...for she is of the earth clan," Jame said.

"So you know where the other dragons are..." Roland said. "You will give me this information...I will see to it..."

"You are not listening!!!!" James shouted. "You cannot hope to take on Talon by himself...he is too powerful! He brought down all of the other dragons with his own powers...what makes you think you can do overpower him? He has much more power than he did when they fought him many years ago!"

"You have still failed to mention your name to me...fiend....How can I trust your word when I cannot trust thou name?" Roland asked.

There was a long pause, in which he could hear the rain pattering against the brass doors.

"If I told you...you would never believe me..." James said, his head slumping down.

"What is your name boy....?" Roland asked, his eyes squinting.

"It is I....James....Former dragon slayer....The one that you knew the day that your airship fell to the hands of the wind dragons... I survived that fight...as well as you...." he replied.

"It cannot be...you are a dragon...and one that I have never seen in my life..." Roland hissed.

"I transformed when I met the spirit of an ancient dragon, who pardoned my sins for slaying and spilling the blood of the innocent... You have stained your hands greatly with such blood, and will suffer the consequences for it one day, but for now...you can still save yourself from greater retribution...you must help us... if you stand together against the other slayers we may have a chance. They would trust you, and your men would follow you to their dying breath... I AM NOT DECIEVING YOU!!!!!! LISTEN TO ME!!!! The second you sense betrayal you can cut me down where I stand...but do not for one moment doubt the power of unity and cooperation in this matter. Together we can destroy the evil that plagues both of our lands...." James said.

He began to feel the grip on his chains slacken as his words struck the soldiers next to him true. He felt the power of his words in the air.

"You do not know of the pain I have been through ... James..." Roland said, rubbing his forehead.

"Neither do you know of my past...Roland....I wish this dragon dead even more than you do...But I do not wish the lives of the other innocent dragons to be put to waste!!! They are innocent... just as the people of your family were...Roland....imagine yourself in the body of the dragons which you lay waste to...they feel the same way.... Their families have all been destroyed because of you....and because of you and the black dragons, my own clan has become an endangered species....the water clan is nigh extinct, from what I have heard, I am one of the last ones left...if not already..." James growled.

"You were always the sweet talker you know...." Roland said, a sense of ease coming from his voice.

"I just dont want anyone else to be hurt...no more innocent lives destroyed, no matter the species..." James said.

"You....you are sure of this....what if we are attacked on sight? The dragons know us as their enemy," Roland asked.

"Sir...you are not actually considering the words of this mongrel are you?!" one of the soldiers shouted.

"Silence!" Roland shouted. "Answer me James...I want the truth."

"I have become an ambassador of our race. I hold within me the sleeping power of the divine dragon, Aegis. With the brand he has given me, they will trust my decisions til the end, even if they give resistance. However...getting them to work together would be a much harder task, in which I myself will have to work alone. The even thought of you working together with me would cause an uproar." James said.

"Indeed....give me your knife....Now!" Roland shouted to one of the soldiers. "Swear now with me, a blood oath...that we will not betray one another, under penalty of death. You swear to aid me in slaying this dragon, and I in helping you escape this mess and giving you inside information on the other slayers. I myself cannot pursuade the others to aid you. I am afraid this 'sinful' taint you have enlightened me on has seeped too far into their souls that we cannot save them from their fates. However, the information I will be able to give you will prove invaluable in predicting where not to go and risk capture. I will be your voice from the inside."

With that, he slit his own palm, handing the knife to James.

James simply took his own palm and handed it out to the air, where Roland took it in his own, noticing that he already had been cut there, lining the slits up with each other and clasping hands vigorously.

At first it stung like several bee stings to the palm of his hand, but shortly afterwards, he felt the pain dissipate and only be replaced by warmth.

Roland released his hand and reached down, placing his hand underneath James' chin, lifting it a bit as if to look into his eyes.

"Look at me boy..." Roland said softly, a soft sense of concern in his voice as he said so. "Open your eyes for me."

James attempted to do as he asked, succeeding in only lifting them halfway to reveal the slits in his eyelids and eyes where the blade had met them powerfully.

"You are not concidering helping him are you?!" The same soldier cried. "This is madness! This is Treason!"

"Are you the one that caused his dragon pain....?" Roland asked, standing to his feet, dagger still in hand.

"Yes....and I saw it appropriate to blind him so that he would never lay his accursed talons on any of us again...he deserved I say. Him and the whole bloody lot. I dont believe a word he said, nope I dont." the soldier hissed.

"Then I make it my duty to repent for my sins in this minor act of retribution. Forgive me..." he said, hurling the dagger at the same soldier he had aquired it from.

The soldier gasped out in horror seconds before it plunged into his chest, a stream of blood spurting from his chest and into the air, tainting the polished floor with even more blood.

"You are going to have to trust me... James... I must hold you in a prison cell before they figure out what has truly happened here. I will say you lashed out but I have taken full responsibility and release you when I have the chance. I couldnt let him go, he knew too much of this conversation," Roland said. "As for the rest of you...."

"Please!! No!!!!!!" they shouted, cowering in fear.

"Breathe a word of this and I will sever your tongues from your mouths myself!" Roland shouted. "I wish I could help your eyes...but I am no cleric nor magician...and the medical facilities here will not offer you medical treatment..."

"Just get me somewhere safe...and quiet...." James said, the satisfaction of having won a friendship back and most of all, forming an alliance with him. He would now have an edge in the war. There was much to do.

He felt the soldier to the left of him pick him up in his arms, not brutishly, but gently, as if the angry giant had suddenly turned gentle and kind. His words had struck like the point of the dagger that had pierced the soldier's heart.

He still felt that he only had this edge because he knew Roland in the past...If it had been any other...he would have been doomed.

At that moment he felt a strong, familiar presence to his right, but could not see or hear it, only acknowledging that it was there with a shift of his head, which was now lolling back and forth lazily.

"I will get you to the safest cell there is...and dont worry...you will be out soon..." Roland said reassuringly

He felt it again, this time he heard something stirring in the distance...what was it? Could it be?

"Sarah...?" he asked himself in his mind.